VARIETIES OF ENGLISH SPOKEN IN INDONESIA

English has developed from a tribal dialect into a world language. As a tribal d
ialect, it was used by new settlers who had migrated in groups from the area aro
und Northern Germany. As the groups consisted of the Jutes, Angles and Saxons, t
he dialect was also called Anglo-Saxon though in historical linguistics it is of
ten referred to as Old English. It was still a dialect because of its mutual int
elligibility with other Low German speeches. In England it developed into the la
nguage of the new settlers defying Celtic, the language of the local inhabitants
. As the settlers empowered themselves as rulers of England, this evolved into t
he national language, the language of the new fledgling nation of England. After
three centuries of Norman French domination, where English was only the languag
e of the lower class, English finally gained its place as the official language
of England after the Kings of England lost their French-speaking territories in
France (Baugh and Cable, 1979). With lexical enrichment from other European lang
uages, English developed into a modern language on a par with French and Latin.
When England ruled the waves, English was spread all over the world, not only in
the North American continent, but also in Asia, including Indonesia. Currently,
English is definitely the language of not only England or the US but of the wor
ld as well.
Though for a short period, parts of modern Indonesia were under British rule the
impact of this was quite negligible English was introduced to Indonesia basical
ly by another European ruler in Indonesia, the Dutch. It was included in the cur
riculum of Dutch-speaking schools as one of the language subjects. When Dutch, t
he language of the former ruler of Indonesia, was banished from Indonesia with t
he collapse of Dutch rule, English remained in Indonesia as the first foreign la
nguage.
Adopting English as a means of communication also means participating in several
aspects of British, American or perhaps Australian culture. However, when Indon
esians speak English in an Indonesian context, the basic cultural content and th
e physical aspects are still mostly Indonesian. Therefore, the English of the In
donesians is characterized by their physical nature and local culture. As a resu
lt, their English might also be influenced by the Indonesian language, both ling
uistically and culturally.

The following are some examples the use of English spoken in Indonesia:
1. In Term of Pronunciation
2. In Term of Intonation
3. In Term of Grammar
a. Lack of plural form
English spoken by Indonesians is often lack of plural form.
For instance:
• There are three students in the classroom. (English English)
• There are three student in the classroom. (Indonesian English)
• Some teachers are in the office now. (English English)
• Some teacher are in the office now. (Indonesian English)
b. Error in pluralization
English spoken in Indonesia is often generalized in term of the use of suffixes
(s/es) in pluralization.
For instance:
• Some children are playing in the garden. (English English)
• Some childs are playing in the garden. (Indonesian English)
• We saw several oxen in the meadow. (English English)
• We saw several oxes in the meadow. (Indonesian English)
c. Error in verb agreement
Error in verb agreement very often occurs in English spoken in I
ndonesia.
For example:
• She visits her grandma every Sunday. (English English)
• She visit her grandma every Sunday. (Indonesian English)
• The boy has changed his plan. (English English)
• The boy have changed his plan (Indonesian English)
d. Error in pronoun agreement
Some errors in using pronoun also often occur in English spoken in Indonesia.
• Every student should submit his paper the day after tomorrow. (English E
nglish)
• Every student should submit their paper the day after tomorrow. (Indones
ian English)
e. Error in tenses
When speaking English, many Indonesians often pay less attention to the use of t
he tenses. Thus, it causes errors in the use of tenses
• They were still very young at that time. (English English)
• They are still very young at that time. (Indonesian English)
• I have collected the paper to the class monitor. (English English)
• I have collect the paper to the class monitor. (Indonesian English)
4. In Term of vocabulary
5. In Term of Phrase

6. In Term of Code Mixing

English in Indonesia is often spoken along with the use of slang particles in In
donesian language.
No. English English Indonesian English
1. I think...
e.g.
A: Which one do you want?
B: I think I'll choose the blue one. Deh
e.g.
A: Which one do you want?
B: I think I'll choose the blue one deh.
2. Soften prohibition or command
e.g.
Don’t set it so loud, please. Dong
e.g.
Don’t set it so loud dong.
3. By the way (changing topic)
e.g.
By the way, do you remember this place? Eh
e.g.
Eh, do you remember this place?
4. I mean
e.g.
Didn t I give you two hundred... I mean two thousand? Eh
e.g.
Didn t I give you two hundred... eh two thousand?
5. Question tag
e.g.
It is good, isn’t? Kan
e.g.
It is good, kan?
6. Why
e.g.
Why are you late? Ko/koq
e.g.
Koq you late?
7. Asserting or making sure
e.g.
Don t forget to come to Adi s birthday party Lo/ lho/loh
e.g.
Don t forget loh to come to Adi s birthday party
8. But (sometimes the sentence stops there)
e.g.
Can you play guitar? I can, but... Sih
e.g.
Can you play guitar? I can sih, but...
9. expressing dissatisfaction (in front of sentence)
e.g.
Sadly, Juventus is again lost. Ya/ yah
e.g.
Yah , Juventus is again lost.