Promote and Support Indonesian Language as an International Language

 By  A. Zamroni Sw.

http://www.damniloveindonesia.com

Language and nation are two entities that influence each other in relations between countries. So far, the adage applies that "language denotes the nation" so that as a consequence of the close relationship between the two, this phenomenon appears: the role of the nation will determine the degree of the language of the nation concerned. English can become the main international language in the world because of the role and dominance of the British people in international forums that exceed other nations in the past centuries.

The phenomenon and experience of England has further confirmed the fact that the status and degree of a language in the midst of world relations is largely determined by the role of the nation that owns it. The same is true of the Indonesian language and nation. The role of Indonesia is quite important in several regions and international organizations have contributed to increasing the popularity and frequency of use of the Indonesian language in world forums.

Our country has a big role in Southeast Asia and in ASEAN. Indonesia has an important position in the Non-aligned Movement because Indonesia is one of the countries that initiated the establishment of the Non-aligned Movement. Indonesia also occupies a strategic position among Asian-African countries. Because of its crucial and strategic role and position, many Westerners (United States, Western Europe, Canada, and Australia) consider Indonesia an important country so that it needs to be a friend and partner for cooperation in various fields. In an effort to make Indonesia a collaborative partner and to get to know the culture and life of the Indonesian people, several Western countries have made Indonesian as a subject and subject in their schools and universities. The same is done by other countries outside Western countries.

This causes the popularity of the Indonesian language and the mastery and use of Indonesian by foreign nationals to increase. Coupled with the beauty of the natural panorama and the stunning wealth of Indonesian cultural arts and the large population of Indonesia, the interest of foreign nationals to learn and master the Indonesian language is getting bigger. The objectives of foreigners (foreign countries) to master the Indonesian language, among others, facilitate their efforts to learn Indonesian culture, facilitate efforts to make friends with the Indonesian people, and facilitate communication with the Indonesian people in marketing goods and services.

This series of phenomena has made Indonesian a language that is widely used in other countries and in international forums. The symptom that sticks out is that Indonesian is developing into an international language. Keeping in mind the predictions of experts that in the next 20–50 years Indonesia will be among the top ten countries in the world so that Indonesia's role in the world will become increasingly dominant, the position of Indonesian as (one of) the international languages ​​will be even stronger.

However, this positive development certainly requires concrete support and participation from the government and the Indonesian people. The Indonesian government needs to make policies that are able to encourage and strengthen the status of Indonesian as an international language; for example, by promoting the ease and practicality of Indonesian as the official language in international forums. As a form of support, the Indonesian people themselves must also increase awareness to use Indonesian properly and correctly for various purposes in order to show foreigners who are in Indonesia that Indonesian is a language that is easy, simple, communicative, intellectual, and at the same time deserves to be one of the international languages.