STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD LANGUAGES

Being able to speak more than one language is beneficial; especially for Indonesian people, those who can speak English are supposed to be bilingual and multilingual. Accordingly, they should speak at least three languages: the Indonesian language, English, and their mother tongue or local language such as Javanese, Sundanese, Bataknese, and so forth. Unfortunately, fewer and fewer Indonesian people speak their regional languages/mother tongue because they have been shifted into Indonesian, especially when children start school. This paper thus investigates language attitudes of university students toward their regional languages, Indonesian and English: how they value those languages, and their use of the languages. To answer those questions, the writer distributed a questionnaire to 22 students from three universities in Jakarta and conducted some interviews with five of the participants. The results indicate that all students have positive attitudes toward those languages. However, the positive attitudes toward the regional languages are not congruent with the language use. Lacking regional language users and its exposure is why students feel difficult to apply their regional language. As for the Indonesian language, it is the most valued and used as the unifying national language. The English language is considered more comfortable for those who can speak English because there is no difference for language users to talk to their interlocuter’s level. For example, in English, the pronoun “you” can be referred to anyone regardless of their age or status. In Indonesian, we have to differentiate between Kamu (you) and Anda (you) depending on whom we talk to. To our parents, we cannot say Kamu nor Anda; but we mention it daddy or mommy, and the like. Finally, while the Indonesian government has successfully implemented Indonesian as the unifying language of the nation (Paauw, 2009), the government is also expected to encourage more on the use of regional languages into the school curriculum to enforce its usage.