Axon wrote:Adrianslont wrote:I think your perceptions are being influenced by your US background
You are 100 percent right, and I'm pretty ashamed of my comment in retrospect because I try to be as conscious as I can of US-centricism. Just because I don't see lots of Indonesian people in California doesn't mean they're not in other parts of the world. In fact since I've studied Indonesian I've only been basically in my hometown, China, and Indonesia - so if I heard people speaking it on the street in the past I probably wouldn't have even recognized it!
No worries. I’ve spent time in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the Netherlands, either holidaying or working so I’ve had that first hand experience of the Indonesian diaspora around me in all of those places. And I just happen to live very near where many Indonesians in Australia live! That sent me to Wikipedia out of my own curiosity to see how the numbers stacked up. And then, because I’m a bit obsessive about US-centrism on the web, how people’s opinions are coloured by their own situation generally, and facts, I couldn’t help myself and had to point it out!
YOU have no need to feel ashamed - you are obviously not US-centric. And like I said, my own perception that the Filipino diaspora was much much bigger than the Indonesian diaspora proved untrue - my perceptions were also influenced by where I have lived and travelled!
Yes, Indonesian could do with some good courses - but I think most languages could. And I think, with digital/mobile platforms we are living in a time where there is a real shake up of what a language course actually I s anyway - see duolingo, Memrise, Assimil, Glossika etc - and the dust has yet to settle. The main problem I’ve noticed with Indonesian courses is that they tend to be quite old - they don’t get updated as regularly - like every couple of /few decades! Or never. I’m done with courses now, though. My Indonesian is not great but it will continue to grow with native materials - they are more fun.