“Why write in English?” people ask me. The answer is pretty simple -and no it’s not because there’s not enough people in Indonesia to read Bahasa- it’s because every single foreign word I say or write impose less burden, carries less obligation. For me it’s like a lighter baggage. And who doesn’t like a light carry-on that can fit in the cabin?
For example, saying ‘I love you’ is easier then ‘aku sayang kamu’. Does it imply that I’m less earnest when I say the first? Maybe.
My mom always say that a book loses its soul when being translated into another language. See language is, I think, very personal. Every word is attached to a particular emotion, experience and culture. So when we say something in our mother-tounge, it just…affects us and the other person… deeper.
So I, probably unconsciously, try to avoid depth (and having my words taken against me) by using a language not my own. And the only other language I can speak is English . But the things I say and write in English, they’re not entirely devoid of emotion, nor earnestness, just less serious.
So there you go.
