Bahasa Indonesia Is Spoken All Over Indonesia, But I Don’t Speak Bahasa Indonesia Nor English

Believe it or not. When you travel to inland Java - from the tip of Ujung Kulon in the west to Banyuwangi in the east - you will certainly meet some people, especially elderly people who have a very limited ability to speak Bahasa Indonesia.

They watch TV in Bahasa Indonesia. They love Indonesian TV series locally known as ‘sinetron' aired by most of Indonesian TV stations. They definitely understand Bahasa Indonesia, but they are rarely exposed to a wider world. They tend to interact with their own community where they live and consequently speak their own mother tongue, either Sundanese in West Java, Javanese and Maduranese in Central and East Java or any other dialects. Therefore, they are not used to speak Bahasa Indonesia.

Although Bahasa Indonesia is spoken all over Indonesia, but still, some people do not speak bahasa Indonesia. Bahasa Indonesia has been spread out and learned as a second language for most of Indonesian people.

That is an interesting fact. Bahasa Indonesia can live side by side with local dialects and languages of Indonesian people. Bahasa Indonesia does not threaten the local languages in Indonesia. Few TV stations in Java and other regions in Indonesia produce programs in their respective languages in the regions. And, they receive very positive supports from both local and national governments.

The local people where the language is spoken also appreciate the efforts of TV stations to revive their language. So wonderful!

So, I smile when people say that they can not speak Bahasa Indonesia but they do understand bahasa Indonesia very well. They are just similar to most of high school grads who acknowledge and admit that they understand English but they do not speak nor write in English language.

Bahasa Indonesia is spoken all over Indonesia, but I don't speak Bahasa Indonesia. And so is English also spoken all over the world, but I don't speak nor write in English language. Hahahaha.