| Light-hearted Swearing
in Australian and Manadonese Culture |
Indonesian students, especially those who come from Java, might be surprised
to hear that many Australians use swearing in their daily conversations
with each other. For example, when someone is taking a long of time to
do a writing assignment in class, his friends might tease him by saying
“will you bloody well hurry up!" This phrase might sound impolite
or taboo to some of us, but in Australian culture, swearing is quite common
and it is something that shows that people feel close to each other.
Even in Australia, overuse of swearing can lead you into trouble.
The Eastern parts of Indonesia have the same culture too. We often use
light-hearted swearing in our daily conversation to show closeness and
in this context these swearing words are not impolite. However, it is
important to use swearing carefully either in Australia or Manado. You
have to make sure that you are really close to someone before you use
swearing words. Overuse or misuse of swearing will definitely lead you
into trouble!
(Chandra ADS 6A)
| Mispronunciation Leads to
Miscommunication |
I have a story to tell about my pronunciation. This happened on Thanksgiving
Day. I was invited to one of my friends’ houses in Toronto. We had
a feast; turkey, mashed potato and cranberry sauce and the food was fantastic.
The host asked me “How’s the food?” I happily answered.
“It’s extraORDINARY!!” and my friends smiled. Later,
when we were doing the dishes my friend said "Dorrey, I believe that
you said something wrong, well, inappropriate, but luckily since English
is not your first language we understand". I said “Which word?”
"The extraordinary word” she answered. "You should pronounce
it exTRAWdinry and then it means fantastic, but when you say extraORDINARY
it means really ordinary, in other words BORING!” Whoops! We both
laughed. (Dorrey)
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Where on Earth am I Now?
Luh Sriasih
Notes from an IALF teacher on exchange in Australia |
As a teacher who sometimes talked about Australian culture with my students
at IALF Bali, surprisingly I was very shocked when I actually got to Australia.
The differences to Indonesia were massive. The weather and the food were
the first two things I found a bit hard to adjust to but after one month
I got used to them. However, I am still in the process of understanding
the habits and customs here. Some things are quite acceptable to my Indonesian
point of view but plenty are a bit strange. Among them, communication
and manners seem to be the things which often confuse me.
| Australian Communication
Style |
Most Australian are very decisive and determined in their communication
style. They say yes or no very confidently and they refuse something if
they don’t want or like it. In contrast as an Indonesian, I find
it very difficult to show my “I don’t like it” feeling.
I am afraid of making people disappointed and upset. Australians are also
very open. They will say ‘bad or good’ depending on what they
think. In Indonesia however, people try to please their new acquaintances
by only saying good things.
| How Australians Use Slang |
In Indonesia, ‘bahasa gaul’ is usually only used by young
people in cities. In contrast, in Australia slang is used by both young
and older people to create a sense of closeness and informality. Some
slang is quite easy to understand because it still has a connection with
the real meaning, like footy for football, ‘built like a brick shit
house’ for a massively strong man, telly for television. I was totally
confused however, when my friend said “Bob’s your uncle”
because the fact is I don’t have an uncle named Bob. Later, I found
out what he meant was “everything is A OK!”, or "I agree
with you". Australians also really like saying” up” and
“down”. They often say things like ‘the bag is up here’…or
‘I live down here’…. Even though sometimes the thing
they refer to is neither up or down but is in a flat place.
| It’s interesting that you mention how Australians use up or
down. It’s because in Australia we learn to see the location
of things in terms of two-dimensional maps which have an ‘up’
and a ‘down’ side e.g. Queensland is ‘up’
and Tasmania is ‘down’. We rarely ever think of locations
in terms of their cardinal position e.g. north, south, east or west,
which is why we feel very confused when we ask for directions in Indonesia! |
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