The Language of Medan not just ‘Kaleng-kaleng’

KOMPAS/NIKSON SINAGA

An announcer of Radio Visi FM Medan greets listeners with the Indonesian dialect of Medan, North Sumatra, on Saturday (13/8/2021).

Thousands of new terms in the spoken language have appeared in the city of Medan, North Sumatra. The variety of new words has produced a unique linguistic culture. Hundreds of years of multi-ethnic interaction have not just produced kaleng-kaleng (nonsense).

An episode of the Pagi Berisik radio program on Visi FM Medan that was presented by Atto Hiria and Dicky Naibaho on Friday (13/8/2021) morning began with the greeting, “Entah hapa hapa aja kamu, jangan menyebar berita sembarangan [whoever you are, don’t spread false news or hoaxes].”

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Atto had a dialogue in the Medan dialect announcing the extension of level 4 public activity restrictions (PPKM) in the city.

"[It has felt] slow, but it has been one month, Wak," Dicky told Atto. The word wak is a familiar nickname for a friend.

In the afternoon, there is also a typical Medan talk show called Kedan. Kedan in the Medan language means friend. There are interactions between the announcer and his listeners in everyday language.

"If you use the Medan dialect, many people understand it. It is the best and easiest to understand," said Atto.

New terms are also growing in cafés, traditional markets, mainstream media, social media and campuses, but they are still based on their main roots, namely the national language of Indonesian.

For example, onces means teenager, merepet (nagging), oyong (rocking), selemak (messy), kereta (motorbike), and doorsmeer (car washing station).

This means, the teenager was covered in mud because the motorbike he was riding had plunged into the rice field. When he got home, his mother scolded him.

Onces itu badannya berselemak lumpur karena kereta yang ia naiki masuk ke sawah. Sampai rumah, dia direpeti mamaknya. This means, the teenager was covered in mud because the motorbike he was riding had plunged into the rice field. When he got home, his mother scolded him.

These terms are even printed on T-shirts sold in souvenir shops, including in the Tauko Medan store, which was established in 2006. “I didn\'t know what it really meant. I only knew a little bit,” said the founder of the typical Medan T-shirt shop, Fathraria.

KOMPAS/NIKSON SINAGA

A car wash using the word "Doorsmeer" in Medan, North Sumatra, on Friday (13/8/2021). The Medan dialect has a very wide variety of languages.

Fathraria produced T-shirts that read "Jaga Jarak, Lae Latteung" as part of a campaign to encourage people to keep their distance from each other during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lae means brother, and latteung is a curse word taken from the Batak language that is often heard in everyday conversation. It means a useless person. In fact, latteung is the name of a fruit in the eggplant family that cannot be consumed. Meanwhile, Tauko Medan itself means "You know Medan".

Often, Medan people do not even know that the language they use is characteristic of the city. Medan people who go to other regions are often confused because the people they talk to do not understand what they are saying.

The head of the Public Information Management at the North Sumatra Communications and Information Office, Harvina Zuhra, laughed remembering how the trainees she taught were confused when she used the word rondok when discussing an incident. The translator at the training session, which was attended by foreigners, was also confused.

"My friends from Aceh and Pekanbaru did not know [the word]," she said. She realized that not many people from outside Medan knew the word rondok, which means to hide.

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Medan residents who visit other cities often have difficulty to find doorsmeers (car washing stations) or are often confused about whether kereta is a motorbike or a train. In Indonesian, kereta means “train”. They often use terms that are only understood in Medan.

The situation also often confuses people who come to Medan for the first time. The head of the North Sumatra Language Center, Maryanto, for example, was surprised to hear the news of a train accident at the market.

"How come there was a child hit by a \'train\' at the market? I was confused. It turned out that \'train\' meant motorcycle and \'market\' means road,” said Maryanto with a laugh.

KOMPAS/NIKSON SINAGA

The founder of the Tauko Medan t-shirt shop Fathraria (left) wears a t-shirt with the words \'Talk of Medan\' written on it in Medan, on Thursday (12/8/2021).

A journalist from Jakarta was also confused when he asked residents where to find a gas station (SPBU). The person being asked was also confused because in Medan, SPBU means “gallons of oil”.

The language center has also published a dictionary of the Medan language.

As a linguist, Maryanto understands very well that the interactions of various ethnic groups in Medan for a long time has formed a variety of spoken languages typical of the city. However, all of the terms are rooted in Indonesian. The language center has also published a dictionary of the Medan language.

According to a retired petroleum journalist in Medan who is also the author of the Medan Conversion Dictionary, Choking Susilo Sakeh, the variety of Medan dialects is indeed very rich. “There are thousands of words, most of which only Medan people know and use in their daily conversations. The vocabulary is formed from the absorption of regional and foreign languages. There are some changes in intonation and in meaning," said Choking.

Ethnic diversity

These terms emerged as various ethnic groups assimilated over hundreds of years. They were influenced by the original inhabitants, namely the Malays in the lowlands and the Karo in the highlands. The language is mixed with terms from the languages of local ethnic groups in North Sumatra, such as Toba, Mandailing, Si Malungun, Nias and Pakpak.

In addition, the arrival of people from outside the region, such as Javanese, Minang, Acehnese, as well as foreign ethnic groups, such as Chinese, Tamil, Arabic, Dutch and English, further enriched the language mix.

KOMPAS/NIKSON SINAGA

Head of the North Sumatra Language Center of the Ministry of Education and Culture Maryanto in a seminar themed "From Barus to Barus, the Concentration of Malay Culture in North Sumatra Warding off the Language Tsunami Wave", in Medan, on Thursday (20/2/2020).

A lecturer at the University of North Sumatra School of Cultural Sciences, Budi Agustono, said Medan was different from other cities in Indonesia. In Medan, there was no dominant ethnic group, so everyone had blended to form a new culture.

“This is what caused the formation of a rich vocabulary in Medan. This does not happen in other cities, which are usually dominated by certain ethnic groups,” he said.

In the process, the Medan dialect has helped unify the city\'s residents. The dialect of the Medan people is not just kaleng-kaleng, lae!

(This article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi)