"This program provides an opportunity to Indonesian language foreign learners to have a conversation using the language without feeling under pressure,"
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Embassy (KBRI) in Canberra, Australia, has launched a program called Kawan Ngobrol (Chatting Friend) to assist foreigners seeking to learn the Indonesian language.

"With the aim of assisting foreign learners of the Indonesian language, we have launched the Kawan Ngobrol Program," the embassy's attaché for education and culture, Mukhammad Najib, informed in a statement received from the Education and Culture Ministry in Jakarta on Friday.

He said that the Kawan Ngobrol Program offers Indonesian language learners in Canberra an opportunity to gather and casually communicate with native speakers of the language on a monthly basis.

The program is meant to help Indonesian language learners enhance their speaking skills, he added.

"This program provides an opportunity to Indonesian language foreign learners to have a conversation using the language without feeling under pressure," he said.

Currently, the Indonesian language is being taught at 16 schools and two universities in the Australian capital, namely the Australian National University and the Canberra Campus of the University of New South Wales.

Najib underscored that a relatively high number of foreigners have been learning the Indonesian language, but it is still difficult for them to find a community that can help them put their learning materials into practice.

"For that reason, the Kawan Ngobrol Program is a means to create an Indonesian language community in Canberra that can help the language's learners practice their speaking capacity," he pointed out.

The program is not exclusively for students, but also open to Australian citizens who once resided in Indonesia and wish to maintain their Indonesian language speaking capability.

Steve, an Australian who worked in Indonesia for two years, said that he could not find a partner to practice the language with after returning to Australia, which led him to lose touch with the Indonesian vocabulary he had learned.

Another Australian national, Phil Domaschenz, said that he has been missing the Indonesian language and culture ever since he completed his one-year stay in Indonesia.

He expressed the hope that the embassy's program would help him once again get to know Indonesia, along with its people and food.

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Translator: Astrid F, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Arie Novarina
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