Language

Languages I speak

1. Bahasa Indonesia (mother tounge)

2. English (near good I guess, I’m still learning how to think quickly in English, speak English reflexly and all full packed with full expressions), my heart speaks and counts in English, I dream mostly in English. My friends who are native speakers said to me that my English is fluent, that Arie is a quick learner, and they always encourage me to speak up, that there is nothing to be afraid of while speaking whatever that is. They said this to me because I was afraid to talk and seldom talk (in 2007, not anymore though since 2008!)

Languages I have been learning

1. French / francais (not bad so far, meaning a good friend of mine who is a French will say that, but if a French native speaker speaks to me I don’t think I can follow smoothly, I must get lost, I need to practice my French more often)

2. Japanese / nihon go (not bad so far, meaning I once only remembered 500 Kanji words then decreased because I didn’t use it, I forgot many kotoba / japanese words). I started learning Japanese by myself since I was a 2nd grade student at Senior High School. I didn’t learn Japanese from anime because that’s not the right way to do it. Learn from books, video (dorama), cassette, go to Japan, learning by doing, practice it.

3. Javanese (not bad err just say bad so far, because I can understand Javanese, but I just don’t feel like speaking javanese).

4. Banjarese (bad so far, I was born in Samarinda / Capital City in East Kalimantan or Borneo island in Indonesia, Samarindanese people don’t use Banjarese as pure as people in South Kalimantan, we use Bahasa Indonesia intuitively mixed a bit with local accent, but since I often moved to other islands then my Bahasa Indonesia accent’s got mixed). Remember there are so many tribes in Indonesia, that’s why we need Bahasa Indonesia to understand each other, Bahasa Indonesia is usually average Indonesian second language, their first language is their tribe language, depends on which island in Indonesia they were born, for example, a javanese might have javanese as their first mother tounge language then Bahasa Indonesia then English (if they can).

5. Kutainese (bad so far, I can hardly understand my families speaking in Kutainese).

6. Bahasa Malaysia / Melayu / Malay (bad so far, I can only guess and 60% understand it, It’s hard to mimic malay because I don’t want to actually, so I just use English because it’s used everywhere in KL).

Languages I really want to be able to speak

1. Russian. Why? Because I’m interested in Russian culture. I once been living with European colleague. I felt welcomed. They’re warm.

2. German.

3. Dutch. Why? Because I’m interested in Dutch culture. I feel welcomed in Dutch culture.

4. Spanish. Mexican would come first I guess, the root of the toltec should come to my mind first. CMIIW.

5. Hawaiian. Why? Because I like Hawaiian music that is so relaxing. I feel relax. And I feel the touch of this relaxation through Hawaiian language.

6. Balinese. Why? Because I might want to be a Tourist guide in Bali after visiting Bali very often. FYI I’ve never been to Bali.