[lg policy] Indonesia: Preserving the Balinese Language for Generations to Come

Fri Jan 29 15:49:54 UTC 2016

 [image: BASAbali Software | Photo by BASAbali]
Preserving the Balinese Language for Generations to Come

Richard Horstman <http://indonesiaexpat.biz/author/richard-horstman/>Jan
25, 2016
<http://indonesiaexpat.biz/lifestyle/preserving-the-balinese-language-for-generations-to-come/#disqus_thread>
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*Language represents culture. In culturally-rich Indonesia this is
especially true; being an archipelago of over 17,000 islands with around
300 distinct native ethnic groups and 706 living languages.*

With the formation of the nation, and the Indonesian national language 65
years ago however, some of the country’s minority languages declined. The
Balinese language is one of these, and one of the linguistic treasures of
Indonesia that needs to continue to develop and be maintained, along with
other regional languages (and Indonesian, of course).

“Our goal is to celebrate how Indonesia’s minority languages can co-exist
and thrive along with the national language,” says Alissa Stern, Founding
Director of BASAbali, a US-based not for profit organization that is
dedicated to the promotion and preservation of the Balinese language.

Considered by experts a difficult language to master, Balinese is greatly
complicated by its caste influences. There’s high Balinese, low and middle
Balinese, plus a number of variations of the three languages.

The Bali Cultural Agency estimates that the number of people still using
Balinese does not exceed 1 million on an island with a population greater
than 4 million people.

Balinese is mostly spoken in social and culture interactions; Indonesian,
however is increasingly the language of commerce, in schools and public
places.

“We need to take seriously the proposition that languages are part of a
person’s – and a society’s – identity, and we need to value languages as we
do other precious resources,” Stern adds. A graduate from Harvard Law
School, with a BA in Anthropology and Southeast Asian Studies from Cornell
University, who is now pursuing a graduate degree in linguistic
anthropology at George Washington University, the spark of initiative that
led her to consider the possibilities of studying the Balinese language
from afar occurred after a conversation with a Balinese priest in 2009.
“You can never really understand how someone else makes sense of the world
unless you speak their language,” she says.

Stern then set out to discover her options. After engaging with several of
the top Southeast Asian language programs in the US, and Balinese experts
in Bali and around the world, she found that aside from a couple of books,
dictionaries, and studies, there were almost no resources available.
BASAbali brought together linguists, videographers, anthropologists,
language software specialists, language teachers and others who could share
their knowledge and experience with language learning programmes to create
a unique fusion of tradition and modernity. Their goal: to create a fun
contemporary approach to learning, blending technology, images and sounds.

“We believe that the planet thrives when there is diversity and BASAbali
wants to strengthen Balinese while there is a solid base of speakers rather
than waiting until the language is endangered,” Stern says. Located in
Washington DC, BASAbali is a virtual community of volunteers and experts
who are linguists, anthropologists, students, and laypeople, from within
and outside of Bali, who are working to keep Balinese strong and
sustainable.
[image: Self teaching method in BASAbali software | Photo by BASAbali]
<http://indonesiaexpat.biz/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Self-teaching-method-in-BASAbali-software.-Image-BASAbali-.jpg>

Self teaching methods using BASAbali software | Photo by BASAbali

With money raised through crowdfunding and software generously donated by
Transparent Language, BASAbali engaged the help of Visual Bali, a local
videographer and linguists from Udayana University, who produced 24
dialogue videos and accompanying language exercises. Patricia Chan, a
Javanese digital media specialist helped with a series of modules to teach
the endangered Balinese script. The program is given to non-profit
organizations free of charge while the software has been incorporated into
the regular middle school curriculum in Denpasar. The program offers
instruction in Indonesian for native Indonesian speakers, or in English,
and is available online, as a DVD, and for mobile devices.

“During 2014/2015 we engaged in some very exciting projects,” says the
Director of BASABali in Bali, Ayu Mandala, a driving force behind the
organizations operations in Bali. “Working with students and professors
from DwiJendra and Udayana Universities in Bali we translated over 7,500
phrases needed to translate Google’s home page into Balinese as a part of
Google’s effort to provide a web presence for minority languages.”

“We partnered with Banjar Bali USA along with Balinese communities in eight
other countries in a unique event in November, commemorating the Balinese
Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art and education – Saraswati.
Coinciding with Saraswati Day, a celebration of the riches of languages
with the performance of poetry in Balinese, Indonesian, and a number of
other world languages simulcast in participating countries was held.”

Working with Balinese communities in different countries along with the
relevant Indonesian embassies participants
[image: Students using BASAbali Resources | Photo by BASAbali]
<http://indonesiaexpat.biz/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Middle-school-project-at-SMP-12-Denpasar-using-BASAbali-Resources.-Image-BASAbali.jpg>

Students using BASAbali resources | Photo by BASAbali

engaged in the reading of Balinese poetry in different languages. Winners
were drawn of a monthly online poetry contest that encouraged people to
write in Balinese and to contribute to a free, online ‘living’
Balinese-English-Indonesian wiki dictionary, underscoring the international
importance of Balinese.

“A live annual poetry slam in honour of Saraswati Day will be an ongoing
event, along with a monthly online poetry contest,” Mandala says. “Our main
programme in 2016 is continuing the development of our
Balinese-English-Indonesian wiki dictionary which the public can use and
contribute to, which is innovative as both a resource and as a tool. As a
resource, it functions as a modern, up-to-date Balinese reference
dictionary with example sentences taken from real live sources and with
videos of native speakers.”

“Tool-wise, through the Banjar Project we are going into *banjars* to
develop ‘wiki ambassadors’, so as to encourage people, especially parents
with small kids, to take videos and upload them so that they become part of
the process of helping their language.”

Nowadays governments are often concerned about cultural homogenization and
promoting one unifying national language. The international community often
focuses on commercially viable languages or ones with significant political
sway. Yet BASAbali perceives our world as a world of living languages.
Visiting their website gives an insight to the breadth of their commitment
to the Balinese language via networks and team work.

“We thrive on challenges,” Mandala says. “Creating suitable programs that
can reach all levels of education and cross sections of community requires
enormous deliberations. Our mission is to encourage people, native or
otherwise, to speak in Balinese in more places, more of the time.”

“This is an immense local and international effort working together with
many experts to successfully create our events and programs. Presenting
universal interactive media is an incredible achievement and is enormously
satisfying.”

*For more about BASAbali, please go to: www.basabali.org
<http://www.basabali.org>*

*The free multimedia Balinese-English-Indonesian dictionary, wiki is at
http://dictionary.basabali.org <http://dictionary.basabali.org>*

http://indonesiaexpat.biz/lifestyle/preserving-the-balinese-language-for-generations-to-come/

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