Fluency?

A night thought.

As an English community, we get this a lot; "how to be fluent?"

And as a 'senior', I simply thought; I know most of these students came here to learn, and further, to be 'fluent'.

Truth is, I want to tell you all, pals, that it is not-'that'-necessary. Here in Indonesia, we highly value our Bahasa Indonesia as our daily language, and we use English since we want adapt to this highly advanced global community and to compete with those of other countries, in this era of super globalization.

Fluency adds burden. In my opinion, it is a word that is like--a high level an English speaker may achieve. Referring to the word 'fluent' in Merriam-Webster Dictionary, it is defined as 'capable of flowing', 'capable of using a language easily and accurately'. Let's highlight the world 'flowing', and 'accurately'.

From those references, I can define that fluency must have something to do with 'how much time you spend'. It is no doubt that those with English as first language is fluent on it. But we're not. We use English as a part of effort to connect to the global world; to experience the culture in most countries; to compete in this globalized market of jobs; to talk to foreigners; oh, and to pass the test.

As a learner, one shall not bear the burden of 'wanting to be fluent'. You do make mistakes, you're learning from it. Such burden is the one that leads us to some of these prejudication; e.g. thinking you can correct someone's grammar in public, mocking someone who speak English in local dialect (yes, that happened, even to someone as respected as our President)--and so on.

Unless you are eager to work professionally in a fluency-needed jobs and companies, don't let the burden to be 'fluent' affects your learning. It's okay if you talk 'Javanglish'. Yes, Javanese English. Japans had their own Japanglish ("Mak-ku-do-na-ru-do", ever heard of that?), and Singaporeans had their own Singlish ("Wah, so fat already ah!).

Despite of those, I think it is okay to still assume we need English as our Second (or third, fourth) language, as a lingua franca, as a global citizen. (However, still, Bahasa Indonesia and your local language is a must! Javanese, Melayu, and those from all islands in Indonesia had their own color in language.)

In this part of my writing, I'd like to encourage everyone to never stop learning and go through all the barriers exist; you don't have to fear anyone's judgement, you don't have to fear your lack of progress. You're learning, and you're moving--you're making progress. Don't worry. Keep a support system. Keep an encouraging environment. Keep trying.

And here's some last words. Here in ISEF, we never discourage anyone. We won't judge. We're all learning. We're all helping. Try to learn as much as you can. Keep an open mind and be ready to learn anytime. Everything is a source of learning. Take all the chances. Be active. We'll help. You're in good hands.

Regards,

A polyglot,

(Indonesian, English, and three kind of Malay language lol).