Do you speak bahasa?
I, too often, hear non-Indonesians refer to Indonesian language as bahasa. “Do you speak bahasa?” foreigners in Indonesia ask each other. In US, I found out that some Indonesians refer to their own language as bahasa as well. And sadly, some Indonesianists also do the same thing! Come on, you are the expert, you should know so well that it’s wrong!
Oh, this really drives me crazy!!
Guys, I tell you this: In English bahasa is translated as “language”.
I speak bahasa Inggris (English), really bad bahasa Belanda (Dutch), and bahasa Sunda (Sundanese, my local language). All languages are bahasa! Everybody in the world speak bahasa.. their own bahasa !!!!
So, the word bahasa doesn’t mean anything but language. If you want to use Indonesian word for “Indonesian” (language) then use the complete term “Bahasa Indonesia”.
Asking “Do you speak Indonesian?” is much much better than “Do you speak bahasa?”
Ok. From now on, I hope everybody around me will stop making this mistake. Or else, I’ll sue you!!!!!
p.s. dedicated to H, a friend in Berkeley, who consistently condemns the abusive use of the word “bahasa”.
yo mer, let’s speak bahasa..huahuahua
))
mer: gue getok!!! lama2 gue kesel, elu gue ban lho….
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guggaaauuuu
)
mer: auwwwwwwwwwwww
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let’s speak like bramus
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Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!
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yoi.. this is really irritating!
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saya juga paling sebel disini kalau ada orang melayu yang tanya: “Kamu cakap bahasa tak?”
boro2 bule yang nanya gitu, orang melayu singaparna aja mikir kata “bahasa” gak bener.
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do you speak baha….*kabur, sebelum diomelin*
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Koq lucu ya… biasa mah org nanya Indonesian? koq ini Bahasa… Terjadi juga di High school guru2 pada ngomong inggris tp tanya bhs Indo kayak gtu. Dengernya aneh…
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Coba baca
Wikipedia – Bahasa
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Additional note: The Hindi word for language is ‘Bhasha’, the Tamil word for the same is ‘Bhashay’, this indicates the commonality of the Indo-chine group of languages.
mer: thanks, masindi… your info and wiki ref are very useful!Â
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great the editorial of ‘bahasa’ section – consice & bold in writing.
Maybe Indonesian, Melayu, Hindi & Tamil are sub-sets of ‘BAHASA’.. So.. nothing wrong with the question of :”Do you speak bahasa?” – Geee “the world is flat” !
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haha rini indrani also gave ‘angry’ comment on my posting as to why i still use ‘bahasa indonesia’ instead of indonesian.
it’s salah kaprah on the part of english speaking people. but when the salah kaprah happens widely, it becomes a ‘right’ word against which our message won’t be understood.
in indonesia, the word ‘canggih’ which stands for sophisticated is actually a mistake. but everybody uses it now. no problem. in the end of the day, the function of language is to make our message understood by the listener/s. if “bahasa” more understandable and more unumbiguous to english speaker, so what gitu lho? hehehe
mer: I will not be angry with your using “bahasa Indonesia”….
as long as you don’t use “bahasa” only! 
And you’re right… the function of language is to make our message understood. But if we can use the word correctly and appropriately, why not do that?
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totally agree! awalnya saya binun, tapi trus kok ikut-ikutan salah kaprah ya. sekarang salah kaprah ini musti dimulai untuk dihilangkan.
mer: iya, sama, saya juga ngalamin ikut2an, emang susah juga untuk ngga keimbas ya. Â
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dari jaman gue SMA Anton Moeliono udah berbuih-buih mengingatkan segenap bangsa Indonesia tentang kesalahkaprahan “speaking bahasa.” dari jaman dulu sampai jaman sekarang, kagak ada perubahan yang berarti. nasiiiiib… nasib!
mer: soal Anton Moeliono, Hendri Seattle kasih aku link ini: http://kompas.com/kompas-cetak/0308/30/naper/511320.htm
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speak bahasa litle-litle aja..
mer: ya, little-little too no what-what. not will di what-what in koq.
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methinks we should be proud… that means that the term ‘bahasa’ automatically refers to Bahasa Indonesia. Consider this, “do you speak *the language*? ” its as if your are part of a very exclusive club. a club that has *only* 220mio card-carrying members. salam, (which means peace) Wicak.
mer: i really like your answer!! guess if it’s the case, i don’t mind using the word bahasa!. salam, too.
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wah…topiknya bagus banget nih. Rasa bangga sebagai bangsa dipupuk dari penggunaan kata dan istilah yang benar dengan cara yang benar. Pemakaian bahasa untuk menunjukkan bahasa memang salah kaprah.
Tapi di dalam negeri juga terjadi lho. Saya sering sekali jengkel mbaca koran atau nonton berita di TV yang menggunakan ‘dirinya’ untuk menunjukkan orang ketiga objeck ‘nya’ sampai kadang-kadang mikir juga, jangan-jangan editornya nggak pernah belajar Bahasa Indonesia. Padahal media masa itu gerbang pendidikan bahasa untuk anak-anak.
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Bagus sekali! Saya adalah guru bahasa Indonesia di A.S dan setuju bahwa frasa:
“Do you speak bahasa…?” adalah salah!
It should be followed with… …Indonesia? for a more proper sentence.
Bravo!
mer: terimakasih untuk komentarnya bu Grace! untung ada guru bahasa Indonesia seperti Ibu yang berusaha mengajarkan yang benar!
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So, when someone says the word Bahasa, knowing that it translates as “language” in English, what “language” was it translated from, in order to become the English word “language”?
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