Bahasa Indonesia Baru

Kalau anda orang Indonesia yang telah meninggalkan kampung halaman untuk tinggal di luar Indonesia lebih dari 10 tahun, anda akan merasa sangat sulit untuk mengikuti perkembangan bahasa Indonesia terutama kata-kata baru yang diucapkan sehari-hari oleh orang Indonesia di Indonesia. Apalagi kalau anda jarang pulang kampung dan jarang berhubungan dengan orang-orang di Indonesia.

Terus terang saya sangat merasakan hal ini. Kemampuan berbahasa Indonesia saya terbatas oleh kata-kata yang saya tahu terakhir kali sebelum saya meninggalkan Indonesia sehingga ketika saya berbicara bahasa Indonesia akan terdengar sangat resmi, lucu, dan ketinggalan jaman. Akhirnya, daripada saya menjadi bahan tertawaan, saya memilih untuk berbahasa Inggris saja karena saya juga merasa lebih familiar dan mudah menyampaikan maksud saya.
Akibatnya, bahasa Indonesia saya tidak berkembang dan bahkan cenderung kaku karena saya jarang memakainya.

Tentu saja sebagai bahasa ibu, sulit bagi saya untuk melupakan bahasa Indonesia. Tetapi setiap kali saya mendapat email dari teman-teman atau keluarga saya yang masih tinggal di Indonesia, selalu saja saya menemukan banyak istilah-istilah baru/kata-kata baru yang saya tidak pernah dengar sama sekali sebelumnya. Ada juga kata baru yang sudah pernah saya dengar tetapi artinya dan penggunaannya sungguh berbeda dengan yang pernah saya tahu sebelumnya. Kebanyakan kata-kata baru tersebut digunakan untuk bahasa sehari-hari atau lebih akrab disebut sebagai bahasa gaul.

Seperti bahasa lain, bahasa Indonesia pun mengalami evolusi dan ini adalah bagian dari evolusi bahasa Indonesia. Terus terang saya merasa penasaran untuk belajar bahasa Indonesia baru ini karena saya merasa janggal setiap kali mendengar/membaca kata-kata baru tersebut tetapi saya tidak tahu artinya.

Tetapi sayangnya, setiap kali saya menanyakan/mencari tahu arti dan asal kata-kata baru tersebut, selalu saja saya ditertawakan terlebih dahulu baru diberi jawaban. Bahkan kadang kala tidak dijawab sama sekali karena banyak orang kira saya hendak melucu. Mungkin saya tampak seperti mahluk Mars yang ingin belajar bahasa Bumi. Atau mungkin saya tampak seperti orang 'tempo doeloe'. Untung saja jaman sekarang adalah jaman internet dimana Google.com adalah senjata saya untuk mencari tahu hal apapun termasuk kata-kata baru bahasa Indonesia yang saya tidak tahu.

Selama 10 tahun lebih tinggal di luar Indonesia, sengingat dan setahu saya, kata-kata baru yang saya pelajari adalah:

1. BT (saya mulai dengar kata ini pertama kali tahun 2000) - yang sampai saat ini terus terang saya tidak terlalu tahu pasti kepanjangannya tetapi setahu saya, BT banyak dipakai untuk mendeskripsikan keadaan yang membosankan.
2. Jadul (pertama kali baca tahun 2006) - ternyata singkatan "jaman dulu".
   
3. Jablai (pertama kali dengar kata ini tahun 2007) - ternyata singkatan "jarang dibelai".
4. Kopdar (pertama kali dengar tahun 2007) - singkatan "kopi darat" yang banyak dipakai untuk menerangkan pertemuan yang diadakan oleh mereka-mereka yang sebelumnya kenal melalui internet.
   
5. Secara (pertama kali baca tahun 2007) - Setahu saya, pemakaian kata ini adalah untuk mendeskripsikan kata "dengan cara" + kata sifat. Tetapi sejak 2007, saya penasaran sekali ingin tahu arti pemakaian kata "secara" yang sering sekali saya temukan ketika berkomunikasi dengan orang-orang di Indonesia. Rasanya pemakaian kata "secara" sudah tidak pada tempatnya. Selama setahun saya mencari tahu mengapa orang Indonesia memakai kata "secara" tidak pada tempatnya dan saya baru saja menemukan jawabannya di sini: http://ronny.haryan.to/archives/2008/04/18/secara-goblok/#comments

Saya rasa masih banyak kata-kata lain lagi tetapi saya sudah lupa karena saya jarang memakai kata-kata baru tersebut.

Kalau anda pembaca setia blog saya, anda tahu bahwa saya selalu menggunakan bahasa Inggris. Tetapi kali ini, saya mencoba untuk menggunakan bahasa Indonesia karena saya ingin tahu apakah blog entry saya kali ini akan terasa aneh/kaku bila dibaca oleh orang-orang Indonesia baik yang tinggal di Indonesia maupun yang tinggal di luar Indonesia.

Saya akan sangat bersyukur bila anda sudi memberikan komentar anda.

Happy Father's Day

To all fathers in the world,

May God bless you always and give you health, strength, and guidance to pull through each and every day of your life together with your loved ones.
May you always be great father for your children and great husband/partner for your wife.
Love and protect your children with all your heart and mind. In return, you'll gain their love and respect you deserve.

Happy father's day!!

World Environment Day (WED)

Today, 5th of June, is World Environment Day and the slogan for this year celebration is Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy. For more information about WED 2008, visit http://www.unep.org/wed/2008/english/About_WED_2008/index.asp

What have I been doing to take an active part to celebrate WED?

1. Recycling: I've done this for nearly 6 years now. I separate my household waste into recyclable materials (such as cloths, paper, glass, plastic, and other things that I can send to recycle center) and non-recyclable materials. Some of the recyclable materials I recycle at home by turning them into beautiful decorative items and re-use them. I like to use old printed papers for my origami projects. I diligently send the old newspaper & magazines to the recycle center for some pocket money.. :) Sometimes I can even use the money to pay for the newspaper monthly subscription. So, it's really a recycle thing.. :D
   
2. No Air Conditioner (A/C) when it's not an emergency: Since I don't come from a rich family, I'm used to live without A/C. My skin can cope with the hot and humid weather very well as long as it is not a direct heat from the sun. I can see a huge drop in my electricity bill when A/C is not in use.
   
3. Switch off electrical power when not in use: Every night before I sleep, I'll make sure I only use the least amount of power at home. I unplug all the electricity plugs that I don't use at night. It helps me to reduce my electricity bill and also reduce the risk of fire (from short-circuit). I'm so particular about this until I know exactly which main switch controls parts of my house switches so I can isolate them.
   
4. Switch off the lights when not in use: not only this will reduce my electricity bill, switching off the light when not in use will also help to prolong the life of the bulb.
5. Close the water taps tightly: I get irritated when I hear water drips so I always make sure all water taps are closed tightly and fix all the leak pipes around the house. It saves my water bill.. :)
   
6. No driving when it's not necessary: I prefer to walk then to drive. Driving is a stressful thing to do for me and it can burn a hole in my pocket because of the expensive petrol. Walk is a lot better. It's environmentally friendly and good for my health.
   
7. Sign up for electronic bills/statement as much as I can.
   

So far those are major things I've been doing to support the Green day every day move. Some people very close to me says I am very frugal because they get annoyed when I ask their help to do all the above. they said it's a waste of time. One person even gets very angry with me every time I ask him to reduce the use of paper. I'm just playing my part to save this earth. But unfortunately, these people think that what I've done will not give effect at all so why waste time to save the earth when the rest don't even care.
Hmmmm... I never even think like that. In my opinion, I should start every thing (especially good thing) from my part and spread the good things to others.

There is still 1 important thing that I promise my self to do: stop using plastic bag.
I've been trying to reduce the use of plastic bag as much as I can but I still need to use plastic bag to throw the rubbish. I plan to make a carton box from recycled papers (something like the egg carton) to throw rubbish so that I can stop using plastic bags to throw rubbish.

So, what have you done and will do to support World Environment Day?

Sharing important knowledge

Some of the information below I received when I attended an ante-natal class.

1. Breast milk is the best: I was successfully breastfed my son for 15 months and I can't stress enough how important it is to give your babies, from newborn - 6 months old, only breast milk (exclusive breastfeeding) because breast milk is the only thing that their tiny stomach can digest. Breast milk also provides complete nutritions for your babies to grow while helping all the internal organs to mature and can function properly. It's cheap and convenient. It protects your babies against infection and allergy. You will see that the rest of the information I give below will always referred back to breast milk as no. 1 solution. It is also important to know the correct way to breastfeed your baby, again I stress the word, breastfeed. Not nipplefeed. Make sure baby is latched on properly to the breast so that mother doesn't feel the pain on the nipple during breastfeeding. Many women do not want to breastfeed because they can't stand the pain.
   Visit La Leche League website for more info about breastfeeding or ask guidance from other breastfeeding moms.
2. Breastfeeding moms must be relaxed and happy to help increasing the milk production. For more information about how breast milk is produce, read here: http://www.babies.sutterhealth.org/breastfeeding/bf_production.html
3. Breast milk produces at night so breastfeeding mothers have to breastfeed their babies at night so that the breasts will not be too full. Full breasts are very uncomfortable and painful.
4. Do not put breast milk in a glass because breast milk can loose its important nutrition when it's put in a glass. Use a plastic cup/container instead.
5. No water for newborn to 6 months old babies. Only breastmilk (or only if mother can't produce breast milk, then give formula): According to the latest news I read from Reuters, giving too much water to babies below 6 months old and younger can put babies at risk of a potentially life-threatening condition known as water intoxication because their kidneys are not yet mature. Too much water will make babies' bodies to release sodium along with excess water and losing sodium can affect brain activity.
   You can read the rest of the article here: http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSCOL76777020080527
   
6. When your baby has jaundice (yellow skin): Jaundice is caused by the excessive amount of bilirubin in the blood. It is dangerous when bilirubin level is more than 15 mg. The treatment: Blue light - to help to bring down the level of bilirubin faster, give breast milk NOT water because bilirubin will come out together with the stool not with urine. Water will come out as urine which won't contain the bilirubin. So, beware when someone asks you to give more water to your jaundice baby. Read more about jaundice here: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001559.htm#
   
7. When your baby has wind/colic: No traditional herbs for breastfeed moms. Breastfeed more. Do not apply oil/ointment on the stomach because it can caused liver damage (some mothers like to apply oil/ointment such as minyak telon/minyak kayu putih (Cajaput oil) to baby's stomach every time after bath. This is dangerous because after a warm bath, baby's skin can absorb the oil/ointment very well.
   
8. Nappy rash on baby: Change the nappy frequently. Even if you buy the most expensive nappy, you still have to change it frequently because you do not want the urine to stain your baby's skin that can cause the rash.
9. When your baby has eye discharge: The treatment for eye discharge: antibiotic eye ointment or drops, frequent cleaning of the eyes carefully and gently, massage the tear duct which may be blocked.
10. When your baby has heat rash (red rashes on the skin): Do not over-cloth the baby. Bath the baby more to cool down.
    
11. No pacifier: I don't recommend to give pacifier to your babies because: it's unhygienic (your baby can get oral thrush - fungal overgrowth in baby's mouth). Pacifier can cause nipple confusion on breastfed babies, and it's dangerous when it's accidentally swallowed (baby will die because of choking).
12. Sleeping position for babies: Back is the best. Lie on the back to sleep. Never leave your baby sleep on the tummy. It's a common cause of SID (sudden infant death/cot death).
13. Always strap in your babies (children) in the right car seat for them when traveling: the baby car seat must be properly and securely installed at the rear (back) seat of the car. Do not install baby car seat in the front seat and the passenger side with airbag when your car is equipped with airbag. Visit this website for more information: http://www.edmunds.com/advice/womenfamilies/articles/104581/article.html
14. Get as much as information you can and always check with your paediatrician/other specialists before you do anything dangerous to your children.

Love and protect your children. Unconditional love is the most important thing you can give to your children because it will teach them how to love others unconditionally as well.

These are all important information I can think of to share with you for the moment. I hope this basic information can help you to become more knowledgeable and wise parents.