Today I had
my first class at Pusat Bahasa (Language Centre) – my first formal language
class since before I studied in Yogyakarta. I was (probably a bit too) excited
to learn about some variations in Indonesian, particularly between Indonesian
in Makassar and Yogyakarta. I think it is amazing how much variation exists and
it really shows how much of an influence local languages and cultures have on
the national language.
For example,
mbak and mas are used all the time in Java to address people a bit older than
you, but not as old as an ibu or bapak (which I am thankful for because I
tend to forget names a lot). But in eastern Indonesia (Sulawesi, Ambon, Papua
and Nusa Tenggara Timur), mbak and mas are only used for people who work in service areas like
shops, restaurants and hotels. Instead, kak
(or kakak) is used in the same way
that mbak and mas are used in Java.
So if you
want to address someone as “you” in Makassar, in general, the options are kak, ibu
or bapak. Anda is only for very formal situations and kamu is considered too informal so isn’t used as often. The happy
medium for “you” in Makassar is kita
(which in Indonesian outside of Makassar means “we [including the people you
are talking to]”). If you want to say “we” in Makassar, regardless of if you
are including the people you are talking to or not, you just use kami. I was a bit devastated to find
this out because one of the many things that I love about Indonesian is that
when saying “we” you can distinguish between who is included or not. But wait,
there’s more… If you go to Manado (in
northern Sulawesi) kita doesn’t mean “we”
or “you”, but means “I”! What an amazing, and confusing, pronoun!
Learning
about the variations has made me a lot more aware of how I use Indonesian. For
example, I am much more used to referring to myself as aku not saya, because
most times I am talking in Indonesian is with friends. But in Makassar aku is apparently barely
used, with saya being an all-purpose “I”.
I also learnt that while sudah and saja are shortened to udah and aja in Jogja, in Makassar they like their full
words. It is similar with base words and prefixes; I had never really thought
about it like this before, but in Jogja often a word can be shortened by “chopping
off” part, but not all, of the affix. For example, in Makassar someone might
use the base word obrol (to chat) or with
the prefix mengobrol, but in Jogja it
is perfectly fine to sit on the fence and use ngobrol.
Then there
is also a whole bunch of little two-letter pronouns that come from Makassan and
are used in Indonesian here, but their use ends up changing the sentence
structure. I won’t go into that too much for now though, other than the fact
that I was very excited to find out some extra meaning behind a shirt that I
bought here a couple of years ago.
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| What I always thought said "Don't be afraid" actually says "Don't you be afraid" |
Sampai jumpa!
