Different Pond Different Fish


Issue 11	April 2005

Language Problems

Berapa Harga Dalam Celana?

An Australian man visited a supermarket in Indonesia. He had just started learning Bahasa Indonesia, so he could not speak very fluently. He wanted to buy some underwear so asked the shop-assistant in Indonesian, "Berapa harga dalam celana? (How much for underneath the pants?). This guy thought that the Indonesian language had the same structure as English! Of course the shop-assistant laughed and the Australian man had to ask him for clarification. Now he understands about the structure of Indonesian!
(Alfons Arsai)

You're a Turd!

One day during our EAP class in Bali, my teacher played a game. After the game was over, I pointed to one of my classmates and said to my teacher "she's third", meaning she got the third position in this game. My teacher just stared at me and said, "Do you mean third?" "Yes" I replied." But you pronounced 'third' like 'turd', which means 'shit'. I was shocked but then he told me that I had a problem with pronouncing the "th" sound. I thanked him for fixing my mistake. I can just imagine what would happen if I said that to someone in Australia! (Iwan)

He Left Forever

When I was in senior high school, I got to know an Australian man - a father of three children. This man was the foster father of one of my classmates. This Aussie and I wrote letters and sometimes I sent cassettes because he liked dangdut songs. One day, the father of a mutual friend had an accident and I wanted to let my Aussie friend know, so I wrote in my letter, "Her father left the family forever". My Aussie friend was shocked and wrote back asking why my friend's father had left the family forever. I then explained that my friend's father was dead because of the accident. I realised then that we can't just translate Indonesian expressions like 'meninggalkan keluarga untuk selama-lamanya' directly into English. Instead, we have to say 'passed way'. A different language, expresses the same ideas in a different way. (Nur Fatimah)

Letter from the Editors

Well almost another year has passed and finally another edition of DPDF, this time with the theme of Academic Roles and Relationships - Different Expectations. We hoped to get this edition out earlier but we've all been busy preparing for the imminent move to the new IALF building at Sesetan. It's a very exciting time for us at IALF Bali and we are looking forward to settling in to our new premises and of course starting to collect contributions for the next edition of DPDF. It will have the theme of "What is critical thinking and how do you do it?' We would like to say a very big thanks as always to Pak Bun for his great cartoons for this edition. We think you'll like Pak Bun's new all-colour look. (Sonja & Indah)

We hope that you enjoy this issue of DPDF and feel inspired to share your cross-cultural experiences for future DPDF editions. Just email any stories, reflections, letters, poems etc. to selsegood@ialf.edu or fax them to 62 361 263509. Remember the online version of this edition of DPDF can be read on the IALF website.

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