For my cultural artifact, I decided to focus on two news articles and a video about a phenomenon in Indonesia surrounding anak Jaksel. Anak means child and Jaksel is an abbreviation of South Jakarta (Jakarta Selatan). This phenomenon refers to the trend of kids/teens from South Jakarta using a mix of English and Bahasa Indonesia in their everyday speech. For example, a sentence could be spoken in mostly Bahasa, but include common English phrases such as “literally,” “basically,” “you know,” and many more. A few reasons listed in the article include the desire to stand out, force of habit, and experience of study abroad.
The teens shown in the video were asked about their understanding of the term “anak Jaksel” and the use of proper Bahasa Indonesia. One of the interviewees, Vita, described how the mixing of the two languages is not limited to anak Jaksel, but it has become a trend among young people from all over Indonesia. Regarding the proper use of Bahasa Indonesia, all of the interviewees agreed that learning how to speak properly is a necessity as Indonesian citizens who were born and raised in Indonesia, but learning/speaking English does not make them any less Indonesian. Another interviewee from the video compares the use of English to Dutch and relates it to Indonesia’s colonization. Back then, there were some who mixed Dutch and Bahasa Indonesia, though it carried a negative image and was not encouraged.
Even though the phenomenon includes interesting aspects of linguistics such as code-mixing and has garnered an abundance of online jokes, some have voiced concern regarding its socioeconomic implications. There is heavy criticism on how the stereotype of anak Jaksel is not accurate, as the phenomenon mostly refers to the wealthier youth who attend international or private schools and frequently consume western media. Thus, it does not include the lower-class youth who also live in South Jakarta but have very different lifestyles and do not speak using the English/Bahasa mix. Other points of criticism include how the popularity of code-mixing may lead to a loss of Indonesian language and culture in the future.
I was not aware of the phenomenon and image of South Jakarta youth before, but I have been exposed to the mixing of English/Bahasa in the past when speaking to family and I sometimes use it myself as well. With the popularity of social media, spread of western pop culture, and development of English education in schools I think it is natural to want to incorporate English in everyday life. However, I agree that there should be an emphasis on building a strong foundation of Bahasa first, before learning English or making the habit of using English words. There are merits of bilingualism such as the wider spectrum of thought and more ways of expression, though I think it is different in the case of code-mixing. There may be issues that arise from the lack of mastery of both languages and the tendency to only speak in mixed sentences.
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