You Maybe Asked This Funny Questions When You were In Indonesia

When I was in college studying English, a friend of mine told me a story. One day he went to Lovina, a tourist town nearby where we lived to practice speaking English. He waited in one of a crowded road for a tourist who happen to walk along the road.

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A tourist came by and he was ready to say the greeting he had memorized.When he saw a tourist walkng by, he politely greeted them, "hello sir where are you going?"

The tourists just looked at him for a moment and replied, "hello, it's none of your business."

My friend was startled by tourist's reply. He has asked the question politely but the reply was not so friendly, he felt.

This is just simple example of a cross cultural misunderstanding. In Balinese language or in Indonesian, it is very common to ask questions such as "where are you going?" to people or friends.

The Indonesian phrase is mau kemana? It means where are you going. While in Indonesian languge it's quite common to ask this question, it may not be the case in English language.

Eventhough, we had learnt how to greet people in English with phrases like," Hello, good morning, nice weather, isn't it?" Or "How do you do!", but when nature calls, we probably would greet with: mau ke mana? or "hello, where are you going?" .

And if you visit Indonesia, chance you will be asked this question. To reply, you just say. "jalan-jalan." which means taking a walk. The reply is not as important, it's just a starting point for a conversation.

Another questions that commonly asked between friends is sudah makan? This means have you eaten yet? In English speaking country, it's probably not common to ask somebody "have you eaten yet?" when you meet a friend, unless you were very hungry and wanting to get something to eat.

The question "have you eaten yet?" is probably meant to show care to the people we talk to. When people have enough food to eat, they are well off. You could say this question is similar to "how are you?" in English greeting.

There are probably more such questions that you will encounter when you learn a new language like Indonesia. It is true that when you learn an Indonesian language it means you will also learn Indonesian culture. To learn a new language is also to learn it's culture.