2 ITB Students Chosen as 2020 National Indonesian Language Ambassadors

By Adi Permana

Editor Adi Permana

BANDUNG, itb.ac.id - "Prioritize the Indonesian Language, preserve local languages, and master foreign languages" is the main point of Trigatra Bangun Language, a principle initiated by the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemdikbud) in building and increasing awareness of the nation with language.

This principle also underlies the holding of the 2020 National Indonesian Language Ambassador Selection. Moch Akbar Selamat (Management 2017) and Tjia Alphani Anugrah Putri (Entrepreneurship 2019) managed to qualify for the final round. They won Best Champion II of 2020 National Indonesian Language Ambassador 2020, as the representatives of West Java Province.

This competition is held annually by the Language Development and Construction Agency under the Kemendikbud. The agency aims to improve the Indonesian language understanding for the community through National  Indonesian Language Ambassadors.

It was not a short journey for Akbar and Tjia to accomplish its victory. They have to do various activities, namely cultural performance exercises, interviews, communication exercises and prepare presentations at the West Java Language Center. After that, Akbar and Tjia attended the National Language Ambassador Selection activities in Jakarta, 19-24 October 2020.Akbar said that, on the first and second days, he and Tjia, along with other participants, were given material about language and literature presented by Drs. Muh. Abdul Khak, M.Hum. (Head of the Center for Language and Literature Development), Prof. Endang Aminudin Aziz, M.A., Ph.D. (Head of the Language Development and Development Agency), Hj. Desy Ratnasari, M.Psi., M.Si. (Komis X DPR RI), H.E. Dr. Darmansjah Djumala (Indonesian Ambassador to Austria), and others.On the third day, 21 October 2020, there was an assessment of language and literary skills, knowledge for each participant through various tests such as psychological tests, warteg tests, picture tests, and Focus Group Discussions. Apart from language skills, each participant must display their respective home provinces' cultural skills.

On the following day, a linguistic interview was conducted, a presentation on Krida Bahasa (a program related to language and literature that has been designed by each provincial Language Ambassador). On this occasion, Akbar and Tjia presented Talking Robot. This artificial intelligence aims to provide linguistic insight through games and information sharing. In the end, Akbar advised ITB students to improve their Indonesian language skills because language is closely related to communication.


Reporter: You One Van Tomi (PWK 2017)

Translator: Billy Akbar Prabowo (Metallurgical Engineering 2020)