Aan Mansyur explained the power of language at cultural congress

News24xx.com - Indonesian poet and author, M. Aan Mansyur, explained about power of languge during Indonesian Cultural Congress (KKI), which was held during December 5th to 9th at Education and Cultural Ministry office complex, Senayan, Central Jakarta. The discussion was titled “Kegamangan Puisi: Antara Bahasa Ibu, Bahasa Indonesia dan Bahasa Asing (Indecision in Poem: Between Native, Indonesian and Foreign Languages).

During the discussion, Aan encouraged the audience to use language more critically. According to him, it is more than just a tool of communication.

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Aan came from South Sulawesi regency of Bone. He mainly spoke Bugis language as a child and Indonesian language was considered foreign for him at that time. According to him, Bugis language can make intangible concepts tangible. On the other hand, there are many “indecisions” in Indonesian language which makes it hard for him to express all of his ideas.

Despite having Bugis as his mother tongue, Aan uses Indonesian language when he is writing. However, the poet often feels restricted because he finds it hard to search for the right vocabulary to express what is in his mind. He keeps trying to make intangible things tangible in his mind. He gave the example “listening” which can change to “your voice touches my ear”. His explanation shows how complicated the connection between language, ways of thinking and culture is.

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“Perhaps it’d be more interesting for poets to return to their mother tongues to find new methods of writing. Poets who grew up with different languages may see the Indonesian language differently,” he said, as cited from Jakarta Post.

Aan does not mean to tell us to use our Native languages instead of Indonesian language. He was asking whether there was a possibility to return to their Native languages to make Indonesian poetry more diverse and rich.

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