Noobie: A college girl who wants to improve her ability speaking english

[xoxoandri]

Just don't push it too hard, because that can earn you an uncomfortable reputation. You'll see what I mean if you've been here a bit longer. Dibawa sante aja, with grammar...

sure (Y)

[Sari.D]

Aaaww you remind me of myself back when I was 18. Writing and listening were easy , but I had an issue with speaking. I was too afraid the other person would have a hard time understanding me, so I was speaking so softly and often tried to translate from Indonesian to English in my mind before I said anything. WRONG - the key is NOT to translate what you want to say. Through time I learned to start thinking in English, and 'magically' my sentences became a lot more fluid. At this point I started speaking with more confident, shortly after, my friends and colleagues often forgot I was an International Student because I had lost my accent completely

Edit : I just read your comment about how people would call you 'sok bule', YEEEPPPPPPP that happened to me too lol

but hey, look where I am now and look where they are! Incase you ask, 'where are you now, anyways?' - well I'm a 29 y/o Indonesian female with a successful career in Finance, well on my way to six figures salary and living in Paradise (Cayman Islands in the Caribbean). Which happens to be one of the top world's financial centers. I'm not bragging or patting myself in the back, really and truly being able to speak english properly has opened so many doors for me. And it will do the same for you - it will bring you places, the world will be your oyster. I am a living example of it. So to those who made fun of me in Jakarta - I'd say, 'Eat my dust, Muth*f**ka'!' ROFL and if you keep up the effort, you will be saying the same thing to those people!

Take it from me - don't be discouraged!

[sweetmaria]

Edit : I just read your comment about how people would call you 'sok bule', YEEEPPPPPPP that happened to me too lol
!

There was one time that I got such remarks.

I had English teaching for my degree and my husband happened to be a Dutchman who tries his best to remove his Dutch accent when speaking English.

We were waiting for the train that will bring us to Yogya for our annual holiday when two ladies, middle age sat next to us and started a conversation with me in Indonesian.

One of them asked me, "so, how long have you been together?"
I answered, "we're only together for two years now."
She replied, "and what do you use at home? what language? can he speak Indonesian?"
I replied, "we use English at home, and yes he does speak Indonesian."
One of them replied, " ah. no wonder. Your Indonesian accent sucks. You don't speak proper Indonesian anymore. Be proud of your own language. Don't be sok bule."

At that time, I was like..... WTF!! He's not the reason why my Indonesian accent sucks, WENCH! I work in an English speaking only environment and I spent 5 years learning to be able to teach that language and NO, my Indonesian speaking is not sucks, but my writing does. I always have to consult my fellow secretaries from other companies for the format of writing formal Indonesian letters. Got no problem whatsoever if the letter must be written in English.

[ricky_id]

There was one time that I got such remarks.

I had English teaching for my degree and my husband happened to be a Dutchman who tries his best to remove his Dutch accent when speaking English.

We were waiting for the train that will bring us to Yogya for our annual holiday when two ladies, middle age sat next to us and started a conversation with me in Indonesian.

One of them asked me, "so, how long have you been together?"
I answered, "we're only together for two years now."
She replied, "and what do you use at home? what language? can he speak Indonesian?"
I replied, "we use English at home, and yes he does speak Indonesian."
One of them replied, " ah. no wonder. Your Indonesian accent sucks. You don't speak proper Indonesian anymore. Be proud of your own language. Don't be sok bule."

An essentially Indonesian saying: Sirik tanda tak mampu.

[shenzoku]

Hello I'm Andriani, 18, I'm a college girl (faculty of economics and business) who dreams to study abroad for my master degree.
I like to chat with foreigners and they said my english is not bad, but i'm not fluent.
I might be good at writing and chatting but i'm lack of confidence when speaking english, especially with natives.
I never took professional English course, tho. I learn English from novels, movies, and music.
So, maybe i can get some help to improve my english ability in this forum.

Oh and I'd like to talk about anything, I'm open-minded and very positive thinking. and if you understand economics its better.

Thanks before

Practice makes perfect, and as well as the surrounding of yours. Just try your best to express yourself when you speak in English. Sometimes when comes to communication main issue will be how to express and deliver your message so that other ppl understand what you trying to say.

[Nimbus]

The first thing you need to worry about is whether the other guy understands you. Grammar is important but it can wait, clear accent is nice to have but not vital, perception of other Indonesians is not important.

This might sound corny, but the way to improve your speaking ability is by being 'nekat' (bold). Don't worry about mistakes because you WILL make plenty of them before you get better, and you WILL sound stupid before you get more fluent. Just remember that if you refuse to appear stupid by striking a conversation then you will remain stupid forever, but if you just start talking then eventually you WILL improve.

Nobody in Indonesia accused me of speaking like a bule, when I speak Indonesian I still sound every bit like a Jakartan that I am. But, everybody is different. I know of an Indonesian who doesn't (yet) speak in fully fluent English, but has messed up her Indonesian accent. Just don't worry about it, if you know what you're talking about and you convey it well, only bigots will care what accent you speak it in.

While I like to chide Cinta Laura as much as the next guy, I do it because I suspect that she's faking it. It becomes sort of her trademark.

[jstar]

Well, Cinta Kiehl, being born abroad and having lived outside of Indonesia practically half of her life, can be forgiven for that mishmash.

But my hair stands up in the back op my neck when I hear all these local selebritis throwing in English all the time.

And for the Indonesian people here: please stop saying lah after every second sentence. Some think it's cool and gives a Singaporean flair to their English, but it ads no value and it's only perceived as annoying by foreigners.

Shyness doesn't get you anywhere; as stated before, don't be afraid of making mistakes and start talking.

[Hombre de Maiz]

Tall-poppy syndrome. The nail that stands out gets the nail. That's what underlies these invidious remarks of sok bule.

[jstar]

The first thing you need to worry about is whether the other guy understands you.

Fully agree. Look at this, I know about cars and the components and what he probably means but I just can't understand what he's saying:

[naughtygab]

nee Jstar.. afaik , cinta laura is absolutely indonesian product. her dad was the GM of a hotel in jakarta... my friend was one of his staff and saw cinta laura when she was 2 years old running around the lobby. later on my friend's son happened to be in one school with her, her daily accent is actually like almost all local jakarta.
she exagerates her english accent just for her brand image.

Well, Cinta Kiehl, being born abroad and having lived outside of Indonesia practically half of her life, can be forgiven for that mishmash.

But my hair stands up in the back op my neck when I hear all these local selebritis throwing in English all the time.

And for the Indonesian people here: please stop saying lah after every second sentence. Some think it's cool and gives a Singaporean flair to their English, but it ads no value and it's only perceived as annoying by foreigners.

Shyness doesn't get you anywhere; as stated before, don't be afraid of making mistakes and start talking.