Hello, Ma’am Abbi!

Let us welcome the Department’s newest lecturer of Bahasa Indonesia/Malaysia, Therese Maria Abigail V. Ledesma! Read more about her background, research interests, and future goals in her Faculty Spotlight!

1. What got you into Bahasa Indonesia/Malaysia (BIM)?

I began studying Bahasa Indonesia after my first trip to Indonesia in 2017. It was for a church event. I made new friends and I also stayed with a Chinese Indonesian family for a few days. Only their youngest daughter spoke English and it was quite difficult to communicate with my foster parents. It was at that time when I promised that I would learn Bahasa Indonesia and talk to them in Indonesian when I visit them again. And I did follow through! I celebrated Chinese New Year with them in 2019.

2. Can you tell us more about your background?

I come from a mixed Chinese and Filipino household and I was born and raised in the province of Tarlac. I largely attribute my being multilingual to this family experience and being Tarlaqueña. I remember admiring how my mom and grandma switch from Tagalog to Kapampangan to Ilocano or sometimes to Hokkien real quick. Although, I confess that I still need to gain fluency in those languages too.

For my educational background, I have a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from CSSP UP Diliman and I’m taking my master’s in Asian Studies specializing in Southeast Asia at the Asian Center.

3. What are some of the highlights of your experience in learning the language?

The highlight of my experience in learning the language is having the opportunity to study at Universitas Indonesia through the Darmasiswa Language and Culture Scholarship from the Indonesian government. I realized that there are a lot of people from other countries who are also learning Bahasa Indonesia. Majority of my classmates were Korean and Japanese. Some came from countries I’ve only heard in the news or seen in maps before (I had batchmates from Kyrgyzstan, Syria, and Senegal). Not only did we learn the Indonesian language within the language classroom but we were also able to apply what we’ve leaned in our everyday lives interacting with Indonesian locals and learning more about the Indonesian culture through arts, music, and dance. I also had the privilege to represent my class and my university in various competitions and fora for international students. Winning awards related to my Bahasa Indonesia skills has helped me my boost my confidence.

4. What is something that you look forward to in teaching BIM to undergraduate students?

My wonderful experience of learning Bahasa Indonesia in Indonesia is what inspired me to pursue a career in teaching. I look forward to sharing my knowledge mainly about Indonesian culture and language and its the similarities and differences with Malaysian and even with our own Philippine languages.

5. Can you share some tips for learning BIM, especially for students who might be intimidated by the language?

After learning quite a few other Asian languages, I can say that Bahasa Indonesia/Malaysia is the easiest to learn. I highly recommend exposing themselves more to Indonesian pop culture by listening to Indnesian songs and watching Indonesian movies or short videos on Youtube and Tiktok. They can try to pick a topic they really like and start from there. For me, it was mostly fashion hauls and makeup tutorials. ^-^

6. What are your ongoing projects or future research plans?

I am currently in the process of writing my master’s thesis on Indonesia’s soft power diplomacy through the teaching of Indonesian as a foreign language. Majority of papers for my master’s program in Asian Studies have been about languages too. I have written about comparative national language policies, learning Chinese as a heritage language, and Indonesian language learners’ social media language choice. I plan to do more research on Southeast Asian languages and how they relate to politics and governance in the future.

7. Finally, what is something that you enjoy during your leisure time (e.g., hobbies, things that you are learning)?

During my leisure time, I usually watch foreign films and series– mostly, Korean and Chinese, but I also found myself enjoying Turkish, Brazilian, and Italian movies and series recently. I like familiarizing my ear about how other languages sound like and maybe I’ll learn them too in the future.

I also really love traveling. I find joy in exploring historical places, relaxing in nature, meeting locals and other travelers, and trying new food.