What is “gegar budaya” in English? What is the difference between “envy” and “jealous”? These were two of the questions from Ivan Lanin at JSCLab Sharing #3 on June 9th, 2023. Are you familiar with his name? Probably you are! If you are not, let me show you. Ivan Lanin is an Indonesian Internet expert who is enthusiastic about the Indonesian language. He founded Narabahasa and calls himself a Wikipediawan. That afternoon, he delivered a material called “Cakap Berbahasa dalam Dunia Kerja”. Curious about what happened? Let us get the whole story!

Hello, Uda Ivan Lanin

JSCLab Sharing #3 started at 15:30 Indonesian Western Time. But, like the professional he is, Ivan Lanin arrived early at our very lab. He entered the room wearing batik, smiling as he was shaking people’s hands. I was like, “Oh, there he is! The life of the party.” 

People usually call him Uda Ivan for his Minangkabau descent. He chatted with some Jakarta Smart City people who had also entered the room. Funnily enough, he confessed that he always uses ChatGPT. As an avid ChatGPT user myself, that interested me. I told him that I use it as “a place to vent”. He giggled, indicating that he understood my behaviour. “It’s because our friends can’t be present all the time.” He got it! He also said that he wishes someone would invent the Indonesian version of Grammarly. Is anyone keen to start KBBI-ly?

Uda Ivan Lanin Now and Then

Uda Ivan admitted, when his son asked what his occupation was, he answered, “I am an Indonesian teacher.” Interestingly enough, he had no educational background in Indonesian studies. He graduated from Institut Teknologi Bandung in 1999, majoring in Chemical Engineering. For his master’s degree, he took Computer Science at Universitas Indonesia. “I get called as a language engineer,” he joked. Everyone laughed, as it is very obvious that there is no such thing as a language engineer.

Uda Ivan became a Wikipedia contributor in 2006, with “Pajak Penghasilan” (2006) as his first article edit. He told the audience why he was fond of contributing on Wikipedia. Apparently, his motivation was simply because of his son. He wanted Arka–his son’s name–to see his name on that website when doing school assignments. One day, he saw his son doing something with his schoolmates, opening Wikipedia. With much excitement, he told his son, “Go look up for dad’s name!” So, he did. He felt proud immediately when his page popped up. “It took so long to make my own son proud of me,” he recalled. As if!

Before delving into the material, he recollected the era when he became a Consultant Governance (Konsultan Tata Kelola). That job position made him start talking to people more, even though he was already used to working behind the scenes. “That time, I experienced a gegar budaya. Does anyone know what ‘gegar budaya’ is in English?” he asked. 

“Culture shock!” our very Senior SEO Specialist, Amira, answered. He smirked, indicating that the answer was right. 

Uda Ivan Lanin the Guru

Uda Ivan reminded us that there is a difference between speaking properly and correctly. If you speak properly, that means you watch the context of your sentence. Speaking correctly means you use the right grammar in every sentence. 

“Hey, chilli seller. It is such a good day. Could I purchase one kilogram of chillies from you?” That is an example of speaking correctly, but not properly. You do not have to speak formally to a chilli seller. Simply say, “Some chillies, please!” Now, that equals to speaking properly.

“If you speak formally during a nonformal occasion, you will sound weird,” Uda Ivan explained. The challenge is that when speaking as a professional, we need to master speaking formally. It is also important to be mindful of the objective of our writing. Be creative if you want to write poems, short stories, novels, or advertisements. For news, essays, press releases, official letters, reports, scientific papers, or contracts, write orderly.

Source: Ivan Lanin

We also got to learn about wording choices. What is the difference between envious (iri) and jealous (cemburu)? “Being envious means you want something that you do not own. Being jealous means you do not want to let go of something we have,” Uda Ivan revealed. That caused the seas of “Oh!” from the audience as a reaction. 

Endless Wisdom, Gifts Aglow

The audience did not leave the event empty handed. Our Community Specialist, Jianly, crafted a fun quiz to be answered. There were three winners in total, getting gifts handed by Uda Ivan. Below is Nida, our Junior Data Analyst, pictured as one of the winners.
 

Little did we know, this was apparently Uda Ivan’s first visit to Balai Kota DKI Jakarta. “What kind of Jakartan am I?” he mocked himself. We can only hope he will cherish this zeitgeist at our lab. Here is Uda Raedi, our Head of Communications who is also Minangnese, passing a gift to remember.

Two hours passed by and it was time to say goodbye to the guru. We hope the JSCLab Sharing #3 brought immense value to everyone. 

Remember, JSCLab Sharing is open to public! If you wish to see a certain speaker, feel free to recommend them to us. Watch Jakarta Smart City’s media social for future information about JSCLab Sharing. See you!