“Dollar-ize” English?

”Dollar-ize” English?

“Why? Our ministers were answering in the English language as questioned by foreign reporters. Their specialties are financing, economics, banking not fluent English. And they were questioned so rudely as though to interrogate someone at fault during the press conference on the 3rd agreement with the IMF.” So said si Upik indignantly when she saw this on TV.

“What if we reverse and question them rudely in fluent Indonesian while they’re so polite to answer, though in broken Indonesian? How would that feel?”

“Well, shouldn’t we be proud of to speak Indonesian? Let them learn the Bahasa or have a translator do this for them. Why be ashamed, feel inferior if one doesn’t speak English very well or doesn’t want to speak in English? Would we ‘dollar-ize’ English as the dollar?”

“No. We are dollar-izing, … eh, English-ing Indonesia, ha, ha, ha.” si Buyung jested.

“I imagine that Francoise Mitterrand, Helmut Kohl, Hashimoto, Yeltsin, Li Peng, certainly are capable of English but perhaps prefer to speak in their own mother tongue. During a U.N. Conference, delegates of different countries could have their speeches in their own language. It isn’t degrading the speaker or his country. I think that there are a lot of good, valuable works on science, art, business, trade, travel originating in many foreign countries.” said si Buyung.

“So, have the best, most valuable works translated from foreign languages into Indonesian for our own good, advantage, interests as soon as possible. The whole world would then be eager to learn Indonesian. What an honor. Ha, ha, ha.” si Upik clapped her hands.

“It’s a shame when we become so foreign-minded that we are as though foreigners in our own country.”

From Bisnis Indonesia May 2, 1998

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