Reflection - As English Spreads, Indonesians Fear for Their Language

I read a writing “As English Spreads, Indonesians Fear for Their Language” by Norimitsu Onishi for one of my classes. After reading the writing, I feel happy. The reason I have such a feeling is that it shows me something I have not imagined before in my life. I have learned two things from the writing.

First, I learn a new concept related to the culture, language, and identity. The concept is the language used affects the social rank of the language user. I chose the concept because I ever found the concept happened in my life. Some of my friends argued that speaking by using English is cool and we will look more educated. Therefore, because I learn English and I can use it to communicate, they consider me as a smarter and more educated person than them even though in fact, they are smarter than me. In here, the use of English makes its user looked more educated and had a higher social rank (in terms of the level of intelligence) than the one who does not use it.

Other than language use, the writing raises my awareness with regard to the impact of learning English. In your writing, many Indonesians are scared of the recent situation in which English developed quickly in Indonesia (even more developed than Bahasa Indonesia) and control almost all aspects of life (e.g. job, business, school and etc.), so that many people learn the language and try to acquire the language. Many Indonesians are scared if the learning of English will affect the learners’ fluency in using Bahasa Indonesia. Honestly, I do not know whether I have to agree with the opinion or not because it can be true or false. Based on what I experience so far, learning English has not affected my fluency in using Bahasa Indonesia, but if I used English to communicate in daily conversation and used Bahasa Indonesia rarely, perhaps I will lose my fluency in using Bahasa Indonesia.

Reading this story also raises several questions with regard to the impact of learning a second language (e.g. English). The question is if learning a second language will influence learners’ first language fluency, what should learners do to deal with that kind of situation?

Finally, this writing is an interesting and inspiring writing for me.