What is your interest in 'your' language and what do you hope to accomplish this semester?
Upon coming to Richmond, my global focus was primarily on the Middle East. As such, my sight was in either Arabic or Hebrew. Both languages offer great personal growth in terms of learning a new culture and point of view (as all languages do). However, there is one language that offers such growth to a great extent for me: Indonesian.
A year ago, I would have never thought Indonesian would be my language of choice. Yet, Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian language) enables me to grow as an individual on numerous levels.
First, learning Indonesian expands my curiosity in global affairs. As mentioned, my long-held, yet limited, deposition was in the Middle East. Indonesia -- comprising 17,000 islands -- is a proverbial goldmine for further scholarship in culture, a topic I enjoy immensely. Next, with the recent U.S. "pivot to Asia" declaration, Asia, especially South East Asia, will be a hot topic years to come.
Second, my interest in Bahasa Indonesia can be attributed to my girlfriend, who is from Bali, Indonesia. It is because of her that I am taking Indonesia, and learning about a wonderful country and its many cultures. Indonesian will allow me to communicate with her family and friends. Indonesian will allow me to have the confidence to travel throughout the country, unfettered by a language barrier.
I hope to gain a base for the language whereupon I can build from there. What I mean by this is that I can continue my studies in Indonesian during my years here at U of R so that I can become proficient in Bahasa Indonesia.
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