If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about,
don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or
walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
I was born and brought up in Java Indonesia, The language of Indonesia is
Bahasa Indonesia, However The language of Java is Javavese an offshoot of
Sanskrit. Like Sanskrit Javanese is a multi-tiered language, it actually
consists of three different languages with a shared gramatic structure. It is
class orientated. Low Javanese, Middle Javenese and High Javenese ( there is
actually a 4th called Royal Javanese, spoken by the royal family members only
) Low class people speak low Javanese to each other, however they must speak
middle Javanese to Middle class and High Javanese to High Class.
We Dutch Indonesians were placed in the Middle class. The point is my
Father always considered it wrong to speak to low class in Middle Javanese, He
spoke and he taught us also to speak all levels and to speak to each
class in his or her own language, he considered it pedantic and rude to force
low class people to struggle with higher class languages than their own.
It upset the status quo but we thought so what!
Nowadays Bahasa Indonesia is the great equaliser!
Woody
p.s. by the way my English has gotton better
since I started with this chat group.
See IRG research reports
