www.unesa.ac.id
Unesa.ac.id-Surabaya, Indonesia consists of thousands of islands that has a variety of regional languages. However, although each region has various regional languages, the national language that’s used is Bahasa Indonesia. It aims to facilitate easier communication between tribes or regions.
The diversity of Bahasa Indonesia was conveyed by Unesa as the host the East Java Exploration (EJx) 2020 batch 2 on Saturday (03/10/2020). The event was attended by 30 students from various universities in Asia, Africa, America, and others and Unesa explained about the Diversity of Bahasa Indonesia.
Two keynote speakers presented by Unesa were Asrori, S.S, M.Pd, Head of the Office of International Affairs (OIA) Unesa and Prima Vidya Asteria, S.Pd, M.Pd, Lecturer of Indonesian Language and Literature, Unesa.
In his explanation, Asrori said that Indonesia has 17,504 islands and 16,056 islands of those have standard names at the United Nations (UN). Interestingly, almost every island or culture has its own local language.
Furthermore, he explained that Indonesia's population consists of 268.6 million inhabitants, 1340 ethnicity and 742 languages. And the 10 largest tribes include 10% of Javanese, 15% of Sundanese, 4% Batak, 3% of Madurese, 3% of Betawi, 3% of Minangkabau, 3% of Bugis, 2% of Banten, 2% of Banjar, and 2% of Aceh. Interestingly, each tribe has its own characteristics and regional language.
Asrori also explained that there are 10 regional languages with the most speakers in Indonesia, namely Javanese (84,300,000 people), Sundanese (34,000,000 people), Madurese (13,600,000 people), Minangkabau (5,530,000 people), Musi (3,930,000 inhabitants people), Buginese (3,500,000 people), Banjarese (3,500,000 people), Acehnese (3,500,000 people), Balinese (3,330,000 people), and Betawi (2,700,000 people).
"Despite of having various ethnic groups and regional languages, the National Language of the Republic of Indonesia is Bahasa Indonesia, in order to make it easier for Indonesians to communicate with each other. Bahasa Indonesia is commonly used in the field of academic, administrative and other formal activities," he explained.
After Asrori’s presentation, the participants were invited to practice how to introduce oneself using the Javanese—Suroboyoan language. This language practice was guided by Ashar from the Office of International Affairs (OIA) team.
Meanwhile, Prima Vidya Asteria delivered “Bahasa Indonesia is Fun”. She taught the basics of Bahasa Indonesia to the participants of the East Java Exploration (EJX) 2020 and the various uniqueness of it.
"Bahasa Indonesia is unique, for example, it does not use time ruling, it is fun, simple, and it has loanwords (kata serapan) from various languages so it is easy to learn," Prima explained. (wulida/sir)
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