THE MANAGEMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A LANGUAGE REVITALIZATION PROJECT IN MALAYSIA AND INDONESIA

There is now a complex generational rift reflected in attitudes towards language choice and language use due to the rapid expansion of schools, communication networks and new roads in both Malaysia and Indonesia. In the last 20-30 years, many communities have shifted from their traditional languages to dialects of the national languages of these two countries. This paper outlines the management and the implementation of a language revitalization project funded by the Toyota Foundation (Japan) in different villages, i.e. Tellian village (Mukah, Sarawak, Malaysia), Desa Pagal (West Kalimantan Barat, Indonesia) and Sepa (Seram, Maluku, Indonesia). The objective of the project was to survey the rift in language choice among the oldest generation, their children and youth under the age of 25 at these three villages. Then, the research team worked with villagers to find ways to bridge the intergenerational gap. The activities organized in this language revitalization project were: sponsoring local language contests, encouraging local language teaching in pre-school, meeting with villagers as well as government officials, distributing t-shirts with slogans in the local languages of the project, distributing captioned videos through YouTube and other electronic media. Through the in situ interactions with the local communities, it was learned that the loss of minority languages is an ongoing and critical phenomenon. Through these experiences and strategies, the team members realized that the path towards ensuring language maintenance is the commitment of the language community is to the transmission of its heritage language to the youngest generation by using it and by making it a valuable part of day-to-day life