Javanese or Basa Jawa is a language spoken by more than 80 million people in the world in which a small group is in Suriname. Last year I wanted to get in more in touch with roots and the best way to start was speaking the language of my ancestors.
Why now?
It was something I’ve always wanted to do but never got around to it. Although here are no exact numbers, the amount of Javanese speaking the language in Suriname looks to have drop. And it seems the numbers are going down each year. What could have been the cause of this?
When I started the class, there was a variety of people there. Much to my surprise there were people much older than me.
As we got around to introducing ourselves we got to listen to a little history of how come they never learned to speak Javanese.
The younger generation don’t speak this language as much or as fluently because it’s not he language spoken at home where it might be Dutch or Sranan Tongo ( literally translates to Surinamese Tongue). And as to why some older people don’t speak the language it seems that their parents deliberately didn’t speak it home. Yes, I was surprised to hear this also.
Crazy reason
Why did they do this? Well it seems to main reason would be that they were ashamed because of this language you would develop a thick accent when trying speaking to Dutch. They’re not wrong. You can definitely hear the difference between people from the city and people of the district where they still speak Javanese freely. It seems that the parents were scared that people would take their children seriously when they would speak with such a thick accent and that would stop them from getting ahead in society.
It was a crazy way to think, but that’s the way it was. Especially the parents who just immigrated to Suriname. And I get it, you’d want to have a better life than you did when you came to a new country with nothing. And it seemed over time it stuck.
Luckily not everyone had this thinking and they kept talking the language each generation. But down the road the language also got mixed with the various cultures in Suriname and you could say nowadays we’re speaking a “watered down” version of the original Javanese language.
Good example:
You want to say :that man is on the street
wong iku ana ing dalan
Wrong : wong iku ana ing strati
Strati is not actually a Javanese word, but a loanword from Sranan Tongo and it would not be the correct way or not the pure Javanese language.
Bad example :
Mati in Basa Jawa means dead.
Mati in Sranan Tongo means friend.
If you wanted to introduce your friend you’d have to say: Iku kancane
And not : iku mati
Finding a course
So far I’ve only found one place where they teach Basa Jawa and that’s at the Indonesian embassy, once a year. You could enroll in three courses: Basa Jawa Basics, Basa Jawa Advanced and Bahasa. Basics were on Friday and advanced on Mondays. And I could tell you it wasn’t always easy giving up your Fridays to attend a course. But I stuck trough it and I finished it. I’ve learned quite a few new phrases and enrich myself with the culture the older generation brought with them.
History of the language
Javanese or Basa Jawa is one of the oldest language spoken in the world. And I was surprised to learn so much about it. Even though it isn’t recognized as an official language.
There are three yes three versions of Javanese :
- Ngoko
- Krama
- Krama Inggil
Ngoko
Is the version mainly spoken between persons of the same class or when an older person is speaking to a younger person. This is the version mainly spoken in Suriname.
Krama
Very much like Ngoko, but a bit more formal and spoken to people with a higher rank than you.
Krama Inngil
Krama Inngil is spoken to people with a high status like a king or even celebrities. This version is spoken less nowadays
My overall experience
Basa Jawa is easy to learn, but like most things you have to keep busy with it. It’s a very flexible language, but I guess the flexibility is what made it later harder for me to master. I’ll be adding some words and sentences in another post or page. Let me hear your thoughts on this.
