Perlukah Kitab Vortaro? (Bahasa!, Tempo, 9 Mei 2010) [Do We Need a Kitab Vortaro? (Bahasa!, Tempo, 9 May 2010)]

Abstract

A piece by journalist Bambang Bujono in Tempo's Bahasa! (Language!) column on the use of foreign words in Indonesian. Starting from the First Indonesian Language Congress in Solo, 1938, when Amir Sjarifuddin warned that every language would face the problem of adapting foreign words and concepts, the author traces the history of the use of Indonesian by the nationalist movement, the role of the press, such as Soeara Oemoem, in popularizing the word "wartawan" (journalist), up to the Japanese occupation. He highlights the Kitab Vortaro, a dictionary of foreign words compiled by Kwik Khing Djoen and published by the newspaper Sin Po in the early 1920s, refers to the study by Jérôme Samuel, and proposes a dictionary of a similar kind as a practical handbook for journalists and the general reader.