As many as 13 universities in China had opened Indonesian departments by the end of 2014.Beijing (ANTARA News) - Indonesias national language bahasa is no longer considered a foreign language, especially by a majority of traders in the Silk Market, one of the famous markets in Beijing, China.
The merchants are able to speak fluently in bahasa, although they havent mastered much of the vocabulary, even when serving Indonesian buyers or tourists.
"Murah, murah (cheap, cheap)," is a word they often use while offering various items to Malay or Indonesian tourists, ranging from clothes, accessories, to unique Chinese souvenirs.
The Silk Market is one of the favorite haunts of foreign tourists. It is located about three kilometers from the Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
The market consists of six floors with every floor has merchants selling different goods. The ground floor is a supermarket with stalls of bags and shoes, while the upper floor is for mens clothing, such as t-shirts and winter jackets. The third floor is for selling womens clothing.
There is also a floor that specifically uses selling jewelry and crafts, such as ceramics and typical Chinese paintings.
Tips for shopping at the Silk Market or other similar markets in Beijing is to not shy from bargaining and not be fooled by the branded stuff, which is actually fake.
"Ini semua harganya sama (these are in the same prices)," Li Wei, one of the merchants told an Indonesian, who wanted to buy Chinese souvenirs.
The Indonesian language is also used in other markets in Beijing, such as the Pearl Market, as well as some souvenir stalls in the alleys along the famous shopping street of Wangfujing.
"Many Indonesians come and shop here, that is why we learn a little of their language," Li stated.
The Education Attache at the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing, Priyanto Prabowo said that as many as 13 universities in China had opened Indonesian departments by the end of 2014.
The oldest campus, which has an Indonesian major, according to him, is Peking University, while the campus which has the most number of students studying an Indonesian major is Yunan University.
"So far, Yunan University has the highest number of students, with more than 100 Chinese students studying Indonesian," he said.
However, the number of teachers majoring in the Indonesian language in China is still very small.
Based on data from the Indonesian Embassys Education Attache, the number of lecturers for the Indonesian major taught both at Beijing and Yunan are only eight.
Besides Peking and Yunan universities, some Chinese universities have also started an Indonesian major, such as the Beijing International Studies University, the Tianjin Foreign Studies University, the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, and the Shanghai International Studies University.
A lecturer in the Department of Indonesian Language and Literature at the Shanghai International Studies University, Huang Yue Min, said 30 Chinese students in the campus are currently studying in the Indonesian department.
Every two years, the campus opens up an enrollment for students, who want to learn the Indonesian language.
Huang said the number of students studying the Indonesian language at the Shanghai International Studies University is growing, partly due to close international relations between Indonesia and China.
"Indonesia and China have a similar mission and potential for gaining prosperity through the optimization of sea lanes, in particular after Joko Widodo became the President of Indonesia. By learning the Indonesian language, we could develop a stronger partnership between the two countries," he said.
Not only the language, students of the Shanghai International Studies University, also study politics, culture, and the economy of Indonesia.
One of the students undertaking Indonesian studies at the Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU), Mengjiao Huang said the Chinese people often find it difficult to understand Indonesian, partly because the language barrier.
However, she felt optimistic that it can be mastered through a mutual learning process.
Huang is very interested in learning the Indonesian language in order to understand Indonesia as a country.
"Indonesia is an influential country in Southeast Asia. The more I know about Indonesia, the more I like it. Orang-orangnya cakep dan geulis (the people are handsome and pretty)," she said while using a little of Sundanese, one of Indonesias traditional languages.
Following her passion, Huang who has the Indonesian name of Ani, decided to learn more about the Indonesian language at Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia in Bandung, West Java.
"The Indonesian language is difficult, but fun to learn. The Indonesian people should be proud of their language," she stated.
A similar sentiment was expressed by Hou Hong Bo, a BFSU student, who has also studied the Indonesian language at Universitas Negeri Jakarta. His initial interest in learning the Indonesian language came from attending a lecture in Beijing.
"My teacher said Indonesia is a large country with richness of resources. It also has big influence in Southeast Asia. Now, as I am gathering more knowledge about Indonesia, I am sure that it can potentially become a well-developed country in the future," he stated.(*)
Reporter: Rini Utami/Yashinta Difa
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
