Yi Fong Loh
2023 WISLI Indonesian Student
Why did you choose to study at WISLI? What motivated you to choose our program?
My university doesn’t offer Indonesian language classes so I liked that this was an intensive summer course. As a first-year PhD student with a requirement to fulfil and research interests to match, this fit perfectly! This was especially complemented by how SEASSI is more than language classes. I somehow came to know by talking to faculty associated with Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Minnesota (UMN) that SEASSI was about community too.
How has learning a less commonly taught language enriched your personal and professional life?
Trailing off from my previous answer, studying Indonesian as a less commonly taught language has enriched my professional and personal support network as a historian of science interested in Southeast Asia and Indonesia in particular.SEASSI offers film and lecture series as well. Being UW-Madison in 2023 as a center helped meeting people from all over, of which I am especially thankful to meet people interested in or studying Southeast Asia since UMN supports comparably large numbers of students who are Southeast Asian Americans and/or members of the Southeast Asian diaspora, but without historically enjoying a corresponding Center for Southeast Asian Studies. It was great working and meeting with everyone here. I am thankful! What makes studying a language at WISLI/UW-Madison unique to you?
The Indonesian SEASSI program itself has a long history! Bu Sakti was the lead coordinator along with Bu Hany, Pak Abi and Pak Imam. They really did their best and continue to inspire me. As a PhD student we also have to TA and thus know how much work it takes to prepare classes. Indonesian classes at WISLI/UW-Madison are very structured and support learning well. They are thus also inspiring for someone like myself with peripheral interest in Education Studies, out of personal commitment and interest to be a better teacher rather than a claim to expertise.
How do you plan to use the language you’re learning in your personal/professional journey?
I’m pursuing a doctoral degree with the Program in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. The History of Science Society has signalled a strong interest in going beyond geographies which both scholars and the public may traditionally associate with science or technology (see e.g., https://fhsasiahss.wordpress.com/ or recent conferences).Like many scholars who study Southeast Asia, Bahasa Indonesia is a gateway into better understanding Maritime Southeast Asia! As a student of the Big Ten universities of which both UW-Madison and UMN, I am able to continue this journey both personally and professionally through CourseShare of the Big Ten Academic Alliance.What were some of the highlights of your program? What events did you particularly enjoy?
The highlights of the program are definitely the people I met. They really are both the teaching faculty, members of Indonesian class, and SEASSI students across languages, as well as some friends from across WISLI whom I met at the student conference.As a student of poetry since secondary school, my favourite event is SEASSI 2023 Poetry Night! Listening to poetry across languages allows a glimpse to both literature in the language one studies. It is also an invitation into comparative literature and a larger plurality world beyond Global Englishes.
What role did the WISLI Tuition Scholarship play when you were making decisions? How would you encourage other students who might be interested in the scholarship to apply?
WISLI Tuition Scholarship played a large role in helping me accept the offer, and decide to headover to UW-Madison! I am extremely grateful for both the scholarship in particular, as well as the experience of SEASSI as a whole. I would encourage all students to be aware of this opportunity and to just apply!What advice would you give to students who want to study the same language as you?
Read and learn about the history of the language, Bahasa Indonesia! Post-colonial literary scholar Abdelfattah Kilito, in “Thou Shalt Not Speak My Language” ends his book with a quotation of unknown origin that “We are the guests of language”. The element of untranslatability here in the English quote, with Adab in Arabic meaning both “good manners” and “literature”, resonates with the Indonesian word “Bahasa” which also means both “language” and “decorum”.While many people think that “Indonesian” is one of the “easiest” languages to learn because it is romanized, that is in part stems from a failure and empathy to understand the history of Indonesia and their language. What one untranslatably calls “Indonesian” is really Bahasa Indonesia which is originally written in Jawi. Jawi is a script in its own right derived from Arabic’s script. “Indonesian” itself is thus also evocative of the larger Nusantara or Malay Archipelago rather than Indonesia in particular. Rachel Leow(2016)’s “Taming Babel: Language in the making of Malaysia” is a terrific introduction with intellectual wonder (and rigor) that stands on its own.What is your favorite expression in the language you studied this summer?
Kita mengungkapkan rasa sayang dengan “I love you” yang artinya “Aku sayang kamu”. With great bias, my favourite phrase is “rasa sayang“. In some ways, the reification of a song which goes by that name resonates with the pan-colonial history across both the Dutch East Indies and British Malaya. Rasa itself may be translated separately (if again, with a tinge of the untranslatable), as to mean both “taste” and “feeling”.Etymologically, it originates from Classical Malay’s rasa, from Pali rasa, from Sanskrit रस (rasa). Cognate with Thai รส (rót), Lao ລົດ (lot), Lü (lod), Burmese ရသ (ra.sa.), Khmer រស (rŭəh). Doublet of raksa, raksi and resi. It’s a word that can be shared for good vibes with the rest of SEASSI 🙂 and moreso amongst speakers of these cognate languages from which one refers to as/in present-day “South East Asia”.