Hibatullah Putra Adhirajasa

17202241056
B Class

Assignment 4
Bahasa Indonesia Learner Interview

Bahasa Indonesia is the official language of the Republic of Indonesia, thus its usage
is encouraged throughout the Indonesian archipelago. Bahasa Indonesia is a symbol
of national identity and pride, and is a unifying language among the diverse
Indonesian ethnic groups. It also serves as a media of communication among the
Indonesian provinces and differentiates the regional cultures in Indonesia. The
language is used as the national official language, the language of education,
communication, transaction and trade documentation, the development of national
culture, science, technology, and mass media in Indonesia.

What about Bahasa Indonesia learner, what do they think about Indonesia? What is
his motive to come to Indonesia? Do they have any problem with culture in
Indonesia? A few days ago, I conducted an interview with some international college
students in Yogyakarta in order to see their views about culture in Indonesia.

First, his name was Ian, Sebastian Aguirre. He came from Mexico, precisely he came
from Monterrey, Monterrey was the capital and largest city of the northeastern state
of Nuevo León, Mexico. The city was anchor to the third-largest metropolitan area in
Mexico and is the country's ninth-largest city. Ian came from Mexico to Indonesia in
2009, which mean Ian had been in Indonesia for 10 years. At the beginning Ian came
to Indonesia to continuing his study in Gadjah Mada University. So, Ian took double
degree program in his university in Mexico called University of Monterrey and then
he continued in Gadjah Mada University. Now, the reason he came to Indonesia had
changed. He’s teaching now. He teaches Spanish in Lembaga Indonesia Spanyol
(LIS) Yogyakarta. I also asked for his favorite word in Spanish, he said “ La
Comunicacion es la Llave del Mundo “ which means communication is the key of the
world.

When he first came to Indonesia, he found that there was just a little difference in
Mexico and Indonesia. He said that the weather was not much difference because the
tropical area. The food was as spicy as in Mexico but the main point was the
differences among the people. People in Indonesia and people in Mexico was totally
different. In Indonesia the people is so friendly, talkative and have great curiousity.
He said that when the first day he went to campus, on the way to campus, a lot of
people want to took a picture with him. He think learning Indonesian is not hard
because he excited to communicate with people. He started learning at 2010, he learn
by memorizing common phrase and pronounce that correctly.Then he joined in South
American group in Indonesia and learn by doing some activities with that group like
inviting the native Indonesian at their speaking club and many more. He mastering
Indonesian in 2 years, and now he can speaks Indonesian fluently but with some
Mexican accent. After he finished his college, he applied to work at LIS. He loves the
Indonesian culture because it so many. He once came to Bali, came to Sulawesi, and
came to NTT. He found that Indonesia has many cultures, it’s different with each
other. He must adapt with so many cultures so he’s little bit confused. But he also
happy to met different people throughout Indonesia.
 Hibatullah Putra Adhirajasa
17202241056
B Class

Assignment 5
Reflective Paper

In this semester, I have a chance to learn about the culture diversities and how we can
understand it. This course we often called as CCU (Cross Cultural Understanding) or
the official name is An Introduction to Intercultural Communication. The reason why
I took this course is when we faced culture, we often shocked and sometimes feel like
unbelieving it. It can make our credibility as a teacher low to not knowing about the
culture. We as a future teacher should understand the cultural background of our
student, so we can applying the best methods to teach them.

This course using a book called An Introduction to Intercultural Communication, 4th

edition written by Fred. E, Jandt. This book has 13 chapters but we are not studying
all of the chapters because we don’t have much time to do that. Not only using a
book, but also we’re using interactive media learning like video or movie. We
watched a movie titled Outsourced. This course is amazing because the material is
very related to us, we’re living in culture even we’re culture itself, we must respect to
other culture if we want to get respect too.

The first chapter is “The Dispute over Defining Culture”. In this chapter we learn
about what is the definition of culture, and the differences between high culture and
sub culture. Before I read the book, I have not any idea about the differences between
them.

Then, we’ve an assignment to write an essay paper about our cultural background, in
this essay to appreciate my own culture before I respect the other. I think I’ve no
problem in this chapter.

Then we’re moving into chapter called “Communication Variables”. In this chapter
we learn about barriers to intercultural communication such as ethnocentrism and
anxiety. I also learn about the differences betwees stereotypes and prejudice which
leads to racism. Next, we learn about dimensions of cultures in one chapter called
“Cultural Values”. In this part we’re offered with some cases about culture like
individualism and collectivism in Japan and long term versus short term orientation in
China. We’ve interesting learning experience by learn the Algerian culture by guest
lecturer originally from Algeria, she’s very beautiful.

Then we’ve to do our assignment to interview Indonesian learner. In this assignment I

interview Mexican named Sebastian Aguirre. He had been in Indonesia for 10 years,
first he came here to study in Gadjah Mada University, but now he works at Lembaga
Indonesia Spanyol. This assignment is very interesting because I can meet new
people with new language and also new culture. I learn a lot from him.

After joined this course, I’ve become more understanding person. I try to understand
an respect other cultures. I’ll give the explanation how I applying the material I got
from this course. I’ve a friend from eastern part of Indonesia, his way of speaking is
so direct and blunt. Before joined this course I can’t stand against his way of speaking
because I think that is so rough, it may caused hurt feeling to other. Now I can be an
open minded person that always understand people and think positively.