The Beauty of Multilingualism: Discovering Indonesia’s Unique Language Landscape

By Suzuki Kenshi – CEO of Lex Hippo Family Club

Exploring Multilingualism in Indonesia: A Unique Language Landscape

Last November (2015), I traveled to Jakarta to record the Indonesian version of the “Ichiro Story CD,” one of the audio materials for the LEX Hippo program. It was my third visit to Indonesia, but this time, I discovered something new and fascinating that I had never noticed before.

I learned that Indonesian is a relatively young language. When Indonesia gained independence from its colonial ruler, the Netherlands, in 1945, the Riau dialect of Malay—a trade language or lingua franca in the region—was chosen as the national language. However, Indonesia remains a deeply multilingual country, with over 583 different languages spoken throughout its vast archipelago, including local languages like Batak, Sundanese, Javanese, and Balinese. This information comes from the official website of the Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Indonesia.

While recording, I worked with Ali, a multilingual participant who attended last spring’s “Multilingual Snow Camp” in Nagano, Japan, alongside 44 other young people. Ali is fluent in Japanese and English and has no trouble reading or writing in Arabic. Originally from Bandung on the island of Java, he still speaks Sundanese at home with his family. Yet, outside the home, he conversed in Indonesian and was educated in it from elementary school onwards. This situation reminded me of rural Japan, where local dialects persist even as Japanese serves as the unifying language. However, the key difference in Indonesia is that Sundanese and Indonesian are entirely different languages, often mutually unintelligible.

Our interpreter, Mr. Deddy, brought another layer of multilingual richness to the experience. Hailing from Sumatra, he is an Indonesian of Chinese descent and grew up immersed in multiple Chinese languages, including Hakka, Hokkien, and Mandarin, as well as Indonesian and Minangkabau, a regional language in Sumatra. He is also fluent in English and speaks Japanese with such ease and fluency that he could pass for a native.

During the recording sessions, I noticed a striking difference in how the team interacted with language. When recording in languages other than Indonesian, lively debates would frequently break out over the correct wording or phrasing—”This is right!” “No, that’s not true!”—with numerous disagreements. However, when recording in Indonesian, the atmosphere was more relaxed, marked by phrases like “Hmm, I guess so?” or “Well, isn’t that fine?” The sessions proceeded smoothly, with fewer disputes. I experienced something similar when recording in Swahili, a language used as a lingua franca in a multilingual environment.

These experiences highlighted the beauty of flexibility in multilingual individuals and the adaptability it fosters. It was a valuable and rewarding experience for those of us dedicated to creating an environment where multilingualism can thrive naturally.