Learning to speak Indonesian is TOUGH! Even thou the language is easier than most, I am still struggling. There is plenty of English in Indonesian, but the pronunciation is usually different, HELLO become HAH-LO, SULFUR becomes SOOL-FOOR -- OO---OO sounds. So, in a way it is almost like learning a new word.
I have lots of sources to learn Indonesian, songs, google translate, various aps and movies. The problem is I have nowhere to speak the language with a real person. I cannot find any real Indonesian people here in Edmonton to speak to.
If I do this, I will probably be landing in Jakarta with some language skills but never having been in the country before and never having really spoken the language before. Everything will be new and confusing. I have read that 10% of the country speaks English. In Thailand supposedly 24% speak English, yet I am constantly speaking Thai in Thailand. I expect to need the Indonesian language even more in Indonesia than I now need the Thai language in Thailand.
Going into a new country to make social documentary photos while speaking a new language at 59 years of age will be daunting! I have lived in Thailand and feel comfortable there, but this whole Indonesian experience will be challenging and potentially dangerous.
Some subjects that might be possible, include the scavengers in the various volcanos and people working in various dumps around the country. I might also try photographing in an area of slums to tell those stories, like I do with THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY in Klong Toey Slum, Bangkok.
I have donation money from the Thai projects so I could use some of that to help the people in the pictures in Indonesia. I want to give back to the people in the photographs.
