English skills

As presented in sub-chapter 5.1, the research participants faced challenges in their daily lives due to the fact that they did not know the host language, and in general,

Indonesians’ English skills were very limited. Many of the respondents pointed out that not sharing a language in which they could be mutually understood was the biggest challenge when communicating with the host nationals. Not surprisingly, the data indicate that this language barrier indeed was experienced to inhibit relational development with host nationals. With Indonesian AIESEC students, however, the language problem was not present as the local AIESEC students were perceived to have a good command of English. Furthermore, other international students’ and other international sojourners’ (who were not participating AIESEC or AFS programs but who some of the respondents met during their sojourn) English skills were perceived to be very good as well. Good English skills of these people were seen as one of the most important reasons that enhanced relational development.

RP10 explains that she found it hard to understand Indonesians’ English accent. She further explains that as Indonesians had poor English vocabulary, communication with most Indonesians was quite limited. As a result, she could only discuss simple topics with the host nationals, which again affected building relationships.

(37) It’s a little bit difficult to form real relationship with them: Language obstacle (they can’t explain themselves or understand me very well so most conversation was quite basic). (RP10)

RP10 further experienced that it was difficult to form relationships with Indonesian people due to cultural differences, in terms of different social norms, which caused occasional misunderstandings.

The respondents repeatedly reported that they would have wanted to talk more with the local people and get to know them but the language barrier was an obstacle that they could not pass, which inhibited relational development with the host nationals. RP3 describes his experience:

(38) I seldom had “structured” relations with Indonesians, also due to the fact that for a number of reasons (AIESECERs were quite busy during my stay and to a large extent, poor understanding of English among Indonesians made it quite difficult to getting to know people from other environments). (RP3)

In the following extracts RP6 and RP5 explain why they felt it was difficult to establish relationships with Indonesian people. They both report that Indonesians’ poor command of English slowed down the communication process.

(39) It was difficult to me [to establish relationships with Indonesians], because I was trying to explain and communicate in English and it took more time to understand what they are saying to me and what I was saying to them. (RP6) (40) Sometimes it happened that it took me quite a while to explain to people what I actual mean. In general many people in Indonesia have very basic English skills and mostly only the richer families are able to speak proper English. My host brothers for example had a private English teacher that came once, or twice a week to educate them. (RP5)

RP5 goes on to explain that his host family brothers’ English skills were good. Later he notes that he became close with one of the host brothers.

Many of the research participants reported that as they noticed that they could not get their message across when they were trying to communicate in English with host nationals, they relied on body language to be understood.

(41) In my host family house, the mother only understood English very well and with other members it was difficult to communicate. I used the signal language in many situations. (RP6)

(42) Yes, I did experience difficulty in communicating with others in English many times... I had to adapt to their ways of speaking English, with an accent, and using body language and signs MANY times... (RP7)

(43) At first I did [find it hard to establish relationships with Indonesians] due to the differences in culture and spoken language but towards the middle part of my stay, I realized that speaking was not the only way to communicate with people.

(RP8)

(44) They [family in her neighborhood] could hardly speak English, but with little English from them and little Bahasa Indonesia from me, hands and feet, we could communicate. (RP1)

It became evident from the students’ answers that Indonesians’ lack of English skills inhibited the relational development with them. Simplifying their English and using non-verbal communication helped in creating mutual understanding with the local people, but the relationships remained on a superficial level as intimacy in the

relationships could not be developed as the language barrier prevented discussion on more intimate topics.

Data clearly indicate that the good level of English of other international students was perceived as one of the most important reasons that enhanced the relational development with other international students and local AIESEC students as well as with the other international sojourners.

RP10 discusses the role of language and cultural differences in relationship development. She does feel that good English skills was indeed a reason that allowed relationships to develop but she felt that it is not the only factor that enhances relational development. She explains:

(45) I think it takes more than language for people to bond with each other and communicate. But in daily life, English is definitely very important to get things done and get message across. People who could speak better English would usually have more advantage in the communication process. In terms of relationship building, I think English is just a tool for people to communicate, there are a lot of culture things that would affect how easy it is for two people to bond with each other. So in short, language is definitely not everything in the communication process, but it still acts an important role. Culture influence is very critical in the process. (RP10)

The next sub-chapter presents the findings on these cultural factors that influenced the respondents’ relational development. RP10’s experiences on culture’s effect on establishing relationships, to which she is referring in above extract, are discussed on pages 84-85 in the following section.