I
learned English since 11 years old, when I was in the first grade of Junior High
School. At that time, in my Junior High school, my English teacher always gave
motivation to her students so that the students would not afraid to learn
English. I was one of her students who were motivated in learning English.
Although, I was not quite good to speak in English, I always tried to speak until
I brave enough to speak in. I started to be active students in my English
class. Also, I practiced my pronunciation in order to get better pronunciation
in speaking. Besides, I had positive
experiences in learning English, when I was in the second grade of Junior High
school ;I joined an English Speech Competition in my school, and I was the
first winner in the competition. From that, I felt more motivated to learn
English. Then, I also joined the private English lesson because I wanted to
improve my English proficiency.
When
the first time I learned English, I wanted to be like International journalist,
Television Anchor, and English teacher. Being International journalist and
Television Anchor were required good English proficiency and wide experiences,
so I tried to improve my English proficiency in order to be International
Journalist or Television Anchor. While, being an English
teacher was also one of my expectations when I learned English, because the
English teacher should have good ability to teach others. Why English teacher?,
because I thought the English teacher
could help the Indonesian students to be international students by learning
English.
Furthermore,
my ideal models of English were American and British’s English speakers. They
became my English models because they had good English proficiency, such as :
good pronunciation in speaking. At that time, I thought they had perfect
English, because English as their first language, so I believed they were
master of English. Actually, I got exposed them through TV show, and songs. For
instance : when I watched Oprah TV Show , Oprah Winfrey as the host had a very
good American English accent, pronunciation, and intonation . In short, I liked
the way Oprah Winfrey talked to the audiences or guests star in the show. Besides,
being the International Journalist, Television Anchor, and English Teacher were
my imagine communities. Those imagine communities also affect me on the way I
learned English. I was more motivated in
learning English by watching English TV Show, English movies, and listening
English songs in order to enhance my English proficiency especially in my speaking
skill. Moreover, I also tried to imitate the way American and British native
spoke the English word or sentences.
Learning
English in the University, especially in the English Department give big chance
for me to learn English deeper. My expectations before coming to the university were I would be able to improve my skill in English, knew
the new knowledge related to English
lesson, such as ; grammar, speaking, listening, and writing lesson. Yet, I was
surprised after coming to English
Department ,because I also have some of the native English lecturer and learned
the literature of English itself, such as; drama, prose, poetry, and etc. Moreover,
I find many special things in the English Department of Satya Wacana Christian
University. Furthermore, the lecturers
give a big chance for each student to be active in a class; in this case
students will be able to share their thought, opinion, argument, give question,
do the presentation task, writing assignments and etc. Regarding to those
things, I think materials that is given in English Department is very valuable
and important in order to enrich my English proficiency.
Graduating
from the English Department with title
Bachelor of English Education is my first expectation, and then I hope I can
continue my language learning plans and goals. My plans are I want to continue
study in learning English in Magister of English Education. The reason why I
will continue my study is that I want to learn more about English, especially in
English Education. From that, I will become an English teacher, so I can teach
English to the Indonesian people. Then, I expect I have own English private
lesson in my village. I want to the villagers also know and learn English. So,
English is not only learned for people in the city, but also people in the
village.
Talking about culture is very important. As I
am Javanese and Indonesian, I have Javanese and Indonesian culture which should
be preserved. As the time goes by, learning English affect my culture,
especially in my language. In my daily conversation, I use code-mixing between
English, Javanese, and Indonesia when I talk to my friends. For instance, when
I say thank you to my friend, I will say “
Maturnuwun ya, sudah menolongku, you are
my best friend”, it means “ Thanks anyway, you have helped me, you are my
best friend” . Regarding to my code-mixing, I think it is okay to use
code-mixing as long as I know where, when, and to whom I use it.
In
my view point, learning English affects 10 % on my culture, especially in the
part of languages itself. It can be seen from the way I communicate with
others, especially with my friends by using code-mixing between English and
Bahasa Indonesia. Besides, English also affect my view on my culture. At first,
I only view my culture as my important heritage which must be preserved in my
local society. Through learning English, I also think my culture should be
introduced internationally, so that there will be balance between English and
my culture. All in all, it can be concluded that learning language also can affect
the culture.
