Language!

For my whoLe Life, I’ve been Living with Languages. My native tongue is of course Indonesian. At home, my parents often speak to each other in bahasa Sunda, but my father aLso speaks boso Jowo in every other chances he gets. I’ve been studying EngLish since I was 8, and I spent much of my time in University trying to decipher 日本語。

Maybe that’s why I’m quite sensitive when peopLe are making fun of other Languages. You know, peopLe going mock “Hai!””moshi moshi””mase mase””arigato” everytime they come near any Japanese person or EngLish speakers making fun of the name of cities Like  Fukui and Fak-Fak. A few moments ago, a friend, a Bandung native who aLso naturaLLy speaks Sunda, toLd me her friend had a huge crush on Sato(h) Takeru but was put off when she found out his surename is “Sato(h)” because ‘sato’ means animaL in Sundanese. I don’t know why but I feLt super offended (probabLy because the to(h) in  佐藤　is one of my favorite kanji).

I know maybe I’m overreacting, but I aLways think and feeL that Language is one of the highest form of achievements in every cuLture, and Laughing at Languages means you’re disrespecting the cuLtures and the peopLe. I don’t have any scientific theories to support my sentiment, and maybe this sentiment was born after fLunking Japanese Language cLass twice (and some other cLasses at my EngLish course pLace.. scored a C for Bahasa Indonesia in high schooL..). Learning another Languages is hard work, yo.