Article

2007-08-23 Down Under

Indonesian navy washes up on Australia's East Coast

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Posted by Oztralian 2007-08-23 00:00|| || Front Page|| [7 views ] Top

#1 So, these assclowns managed to run this three-masted yawl rigged beauty aground? Indonesia couldn't even bother to man the vessel with crew that spoke a smidgen of English? Afraid they'd all jump ship in Oz?

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2007-08-23 04:39|| 2007-08-23 04:39|| Front Page Top

#2 Hey, Zenster. How much Bahasa Indonesian do you speak? Take it easy on these kids. They are cadets in the Indonesian Naval Academy. Looks like some did speak English unless ole Bob Elmer knows more than "terima kasih".

Posted by Jack is Back!">Jack is Back! 2007-08-23 10:26|| 2007-08-23 10:26|| Front Page Top

#3 How much Bahasa Indonesian do you speak? Take it easy on these kids.

Jack, re-read my post. I ran down Indonesia's government for not manning the ship with people who had some command of English. After all, they were being sent to an English-speaking nation so it would only make sense to include one or two fluent people. Likewise a competent captain and first mate, but we won't go there. Besides, Indonesian isn't this world's de facto second language.

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2007-08-23 16:41|| 2007-08-23 16:41|| Front Page Top

#4 Indonesia and Australia are very close geographically. But, I would guess there are a lot less Australians who speak Indonesian than Indonesians who speak English -- even though Indonesia is the fifth most populous country in the world, and its language is an official language of Singapore and Malaysia, and also is not infrequently spoken in the Netherlands.

English and Indonesian come from very different language group families. Knowing one language really will not help you to learn the other. And, a lack of practice of disparate languages really makes one rusty -- which is probably the case with the Indonesian naval cadets -- since English is commonly learned at the higher educational levels in Indonesia. For example, saying something like

Can you help me? I am a naval cadet and my ship just got grounded in a storm. Boy, I wish I had more training on sail powered ships, or was on a ship that had a motor!

Would look something like this in Indonesian:

Bisa kamu menolong saya? Saya seorang kadet militer angkatan laut dan kapal saya hanya kandas di angin topan. Ya, saya menginginkan saya sudah belajar lebih banyak di kapal layar, atau kami akan pakai kapal yang mempunyai mesin!

Posted by cingold 2007-08-23 21:22|| 2007-08-23 21:22|| Front Page Top

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