Appendices A
List of Interview QuestionsPersonal Data :
1. Name :
2. Age :
3. Occupation : 4. Country of origin :
5. Town :
Language Spoken:
6. Language spoken
English (how well) : Indonesian (how well) : Other (how well) :
7. When did you start to learn Indonesian? Why? Before coming to Indonesia
8. What did you think about Indonesia before you arrived?
9. What did you think or expect about your journey to Indonesia at that time? Arrival
10. When did you arrive in Indonesia? 11. With whom did you come here? 12. What are you doing in Indonesia?
13. Who were you staying with in Indonesia? 14. Is this the first time you have left your country?
18. What do you do with them?
19. Were you in good health before you left your country? 20. What did you feel before you left your country?
a. Enthusiastic b. High‐spirited c. Excited d. Happy
e. Nervous
21. Why did you feel like that?
22. What did you feel when you arrived at the airport? 23. Did it look different from your country?
24. What did you think about the condition?
25. If you were surprised or shocked, can you tell me why? a. The climate
b. The people c. The language d. Pollution
e. The environment f. Food
g. The customs h. The habits
i. The public facilities
26. After a few days in Indonesia, what did you feel then?
27. What are the activities that your neighbors do? Do you find it strange? Can you accept them? Why or why not?
28. If you were shocked by those things done by your neighbors, can you tell me more about it?
30. How often do you get involved in conversation with them?
31. When you talk or involve in a conversation with someone or few people, what do you feel about it? Some experiences maybe?
32. If you were lost in the conversation with people, could you tell me what made it that way and why?
33. If you have been distracted by things that you feel uncomfortable with so far, would you mind sharing with me what they are and why?
34. So far, what do you feel about the culture and people here in Indonesia and why? Some experiences maybe?
35. How do you feel staying here in Indonesia so far? Why?
36. How have you found the process of living in a new culture after being here for the few months?
37. If you have ever found any difficulties in getting along with the culture and people here in Indonesia, would you like to share what they are and how did you cope with those things so far?
38. If you were ever introduced to the term culture shock before your coming here, how would you define the term culture shock?
Appendices B
Transcribe of the First Subject Interview
This is the transcribing between the researcher and subject 1. The interview with the
first subject was done on Thursday 10, November 2011 at 5.30 pm in fellowship house.
Researcher : Hallo, good afternoon.
Subject 1 : Good afternoon. (She was smiling).
R : Thank you very much for doing me a big favor. I would like to ask you some questions. What is your name?
R : How old are you?
S1 : I am twenty four years old. R : What do you do here?
S1 : I am in Indonesia, studying Indonesian. R : Where are you from?
S1 : I am from America, I live in Poria in the state of Arizona. R : How well do you speak English?
S1 : Well, like how did I learn to speak English?
R : Yeah.
S1 : Well, I learn to speak English through growing up in America.
I did school in English. Yeah, now it is just so easy! (while laughing). R : So what about your Indonesian?
S1 : That is a different story! (giggling). My Indonesian is still difficult to use because I have to think really hard for I say what I want to say or have an idea but I cannot explain it. Because I do not know many words yet. So, it is a lot more difficult and I do not feel like I get my point across very
well.
R : Any other language that you can speak? S1 : No. I wish I could speak but I cannot.
R : When did you start to learn Indonesian and why?
S1 : Oh..I started learning Indonesian in February of this year I think. I
started learning it a couple weeks after I got here and I moved here because I wanted to learn Indonesian from native speakers and to live around people that spoke Indonesian but I did not start learning Indonesian while I was in America. I waited until I got here and I did that so I could hopefully sound more natural and in the future, I want to be able to serve the people in Indonesia. And it will help if I can speak their language.
before you arrived?
S1 : Uhm…. Before I came, I really had heard a lot of really good things about Indonesia. I thought that everyone would be friendly, it would be pretty and that the food would be really good and I thought the weather would be a lot hotter than in America. But it is really hot here
(gigling).
R : What did you think of or expect about your journey to Indonesia at that time?
S1 : Well, like flying on the plane? Well, I thought it would be long. I also thought that uhm… once I got here, I would feel a lot more overwhelmed but I did not feel like that. Flying, I was able to sleep and I was with a friend so that really helped. So coming here was not really that hard. I thought it would be harder but it was actually kind of fun.
R : About the arrival, when did you arrive in Indonesia? Like exactly. S1 : Uhmm… I think February Eighteen.
R : Thanks,you remember that. With whom did you come here?
S1 : I came with my friend, M and another married couple and their son. R : Who were you staying with in Indonesia?
S1 : I live with my friend, M that I came here with and we live in a house that we rent. I do not live in a boarding house or with anyone else. It is just us and a cat.
R : So, is this the first time you have left your country?
S1 : Yeah. Actually I have been to other countries before. I have been to Mexico, Grenada in the Caribbean.Uhmm… Brazil and Canada. R : Cool! So, who are your neighbors here? Are they Indonesians or
foreigners?
S1 : Oh…uhm.. My neighbors are Indonesians. R : Do you communicate with them? How often?
her for about twice a week or three times a week. But then our other neighbors, I say “Hi!” when I pass them. But they are not at home very often because they work a lot. Uhm… we do not have like normal
neighbors.
R : Alright. Do you meet people from your home country here and how often?
S1 : Oh yeah.. I see my American friends a lot. I also meet people I did not know before I came here and have been surprised to see people I did not know who live here but yeah I see my friends who are Americans maybe twice a week.
R : What do you do with them?
S1 : Ok, when I am with my American friends, I uhm… usually talk. We just usually talk about what is going on and what is happening back home because our Indonesian friends sometimes actually know more about what is going on back home than I do but we talk about our friends our family, and we usually… maybe watch a movie.
R : Were you in good health before you left country?
S1 : Yeah.
R : What did you feel before you left your country?
S1 : Uhm…mostly I thought I was really busy because I have got so much to do and not very much time do it. But I also felt sad with knowing I was going to leave my family and my friends. But also all of the same time, I felt excited too.
R : Why did you feel like sad like leaving your family back home?
S1 : Oh… that is a good question! Uhm… I felt really really excited and sort of relieved that the trip was over and that I was finally here. But mostly I felt like I could not believe it if it was real. My feeling was like, “wow I am really in Indonesia!.”
R : Did it look different from your country? S1 : Yeah. It really looked a lot different.
R : So, what did you think about the condition like your first impression? S : Oh well, I thought that it was a lot busier, people drove quite a bit
different and that uhm… everyone had motorcycle, not cars and there are a lot more little small stores and restaurants. In America where I lived, everything is a lot bigger.
R : If you were surprised or shocked, can you tell me why?
S1 : I think a couple things I was most surprised about were uhm… the weather. I thought the weather would be a lot hotter because in Arizona. It is really really hot. So this feels really nice to me. And I thought that the food would be a lot more vegetable. But people fried things a lot more than I thought they would.
R : But you are not vegetarian right? S1 : No no. I like meat a lot!
R : After a few days in Indonesia, what did you feel then?
S1 : I think I just felt ready to start studying because I wanted to be able to communicate better and I knew that I was not able to say things I wanted to say and go to places I wanted to go. And uhmm.. that was sort of hard
but kind of feel exciting because I was learning new things and I like that. R : What are the activities that your neighbors do? Do you find it strange or
something?
We do not sweep the yard everyday. We maybe clean the house everyday.
R : So if you were shocked by those things done by your neighbors, can you tell me more about it?
S1 : Yeah. I just realize that what we think is important in America, You guys do not really see it as important and then what you think is important here, I do not really see as important. Sometimes I think “oh I wonder why they are doing that!”.
R : How do you feel when you communicate with people around you like friends, neighbors, or even somebody else whom you just meet on the street? Could you give me some examples too?
S1 : Yeah, when I am able to communicate with people, first of all I feel like most everybody I talk to is really friendly and easy to talk to and want to try to understand why I am saying. And when I actually can get my point across, it feels really cool. I feel very excited because I can actually communicate what I am thinking to them and then I can understand what they are saying too.
R : How often do you get involved in conversation with them?
S1 : Oh I would say, usually everyday, if I see somebody in the store, I will try to talk to them. If I meet my friends, I always try to talk to them and my neighbors, if I had the chance, I would try to talk to them.
R : Alright! When you talk or involve in a conversation with someone or few people, what do you feel about it? Like some experiences maybe?
S1 : Yeah. When I go talk to my friend who owns a store down the street, usually I know what she is talking about and I understand. But
talked slower so that is usually kind of so lost when people talk to quickly and they are talking about something that I do not understand like I cannot relate to.
R : So what you are trying to say is it is about the speed and the slang used?
S1 : Yeah!
R : If you have been distracted by things that you feel uncomfortable with so so far, would you mind sharing with me what they are and why?
S1 : Well, sometimes I have been uncomfortable when I go to a friend’s house and I do not know how to act. I do not know if I should mingle with people. Like should I sit in one place and wait for people to come talk to me or should I go talk to other people? And when I eat, you know uhm… should I try to keep talking or just sit and then I feel just sort of strange. Oh, I do not know how could be like the way that Indonesians would be, so I feel a little strange when that happens.
R : So far, what do you feel about the culture and people here in Indonesia and why?
R : How have you found the process of living in a new culture after being here for the few months?
S1 : I feel like I thought that it would be harder than it has been. So the process of living here has been really good. First when I came here, I did not know how to go to the store, I did not know how to say what I wanted to buy, I did know how to use money. But now, with time and learning, I can do it a lot better! And I feel comfortable and I know oh I can go to this store or the local market and buy this. And I think through the process of living here, I have just become more knowledgeable about life and how to live here. So it has been really good.
R : if you have ever found any difficulties in getting along with the culture and people here in Indonesia, would you like to share what they are and how did you cope with those things so far?
S1 : Yeah. I have noticed that people here do not always tell you how they really feel because they are afraid of hurting your feeling or they promise to come help, fix something and then they do not come because they do not want to tell you they do not know how to fix it. They are embarrassed to say “I have no idea what is wrong”. Uhm…like with the internet or something like they come to our house and they say ‘ oh it is okay, it is
not broken but it is broken and then we show them it is broken but they do not want to say “we do not know what is wrong. In America, we always say, “I do not know”. But I feel like here people do not want to embarrass
something wrong, they might not tell me but I want to learn. Sometimes they are kind of shy. Maybe they do not want to offend me.
R : If you were ever introduced to the term culture shock before you came here, how would you define it?
S1 : I would say when you come face to face with a situation, or a type of people or a language that is completely different or even just a little different than what you were used to it when you like experience it personally. It surprises you and makes you think you were not ready. It was sort of like catches you by surprise and you do not know what to do next. It is like when you experience something that you do not know how to respond after it becomes so different from the way you were raised or the area you are from.
Appendices C
Transcribe of the Second Subject Interview
This is the transcribing between the researcher and subject 2. The interview with the
second subject was done on Friday 11, November 2011 at 4.30 pm in the subject’s friend’s house.
Researcher : Hallo…good afternoon
Subject 2 : Good afternoon. Have a sit please! (She offered the researched to sit in front of her).
R : What is your name?
S2 : M M.
S2 : Twenty six.
R : What is your occupation? S2 : I am a student.
R : Where are you from?
S2 : I am from Michigan, America. R : How well do you speak English?
S2 : Well, I grew up in America and all of my family speaks English too. R : What about your Indonesian?
S2 : (laughing) Well, I am still learning Indonesian, so it is not very good yet. But I am learning Indonesian by going to school and studying it and also by talking with my friends who are Indonesians and grew up speaking it. R : Can you speak any other languages?
S2 : I cannot speak any other languages.
R : When did you start learning Indonesian? Why?
S2 : I started learning in Indonesian in February in 2011. It’s been about eight months. I did not study before I came here. I started learning it when I got here. Because I have been told that sometimes if you study languages before you move to the country, you learn wrongly or incorrectly. So I waited to come here so I could learn from actual Indonesian context.
R : Cool!
R : Before coming to Indonesia, what did you think about it before you
arrived?
S2 : Uhm…before I came here, I did not know a lot about Indonesia. But I had some friends here already and I emailed them and I knew a little bit. I thought it was going to be a lot harder than it was. But I was really excited to move here and I was excited to learn when I got here. R : When did you arrive in Indonesia?
R : Okay. With whom did you come here? S2 : I came with my friend V.
R : What are you doing in Indonesia?
S2 : Right now, I am studying Indonesian at IMLAC.
R : Who are you staying with here in Indonesia or with any other person? S2 : V and I live together. Just the two of us.
R : Is this the first time you have left your country?
S2 : No. I’ve actually…Where I am from America is very close to Canada on the border. I went there quite often and I have also been to Thailand
twice.
R : Who are you neighbors here? Indonesians or foreigners?
S2 : I do not live by any foreigners. I have one neighbor but we do not know her very well because she is older and she likes to clean the entire house. But we do have some friends that live at the end of the street and they own a warung (stall) and so we will go and talk to them and their family. R : Do you communicate with your neighbors. How often?
S2 : I do not speak with my neighbors very often unless I meet them on the street and I say hi and ask them how they are doing. But with my friend live at the end of the store, I step into her store a few times a week and we talk. I bring magazines to her store when it is not busy and we talk about things in there.
R : Do you meet people from your own country?
S2 : Yeah. I was really surprised when I got here and there were a lot of people here from America. And some of them I already knew but a lot of them I did not. So it’s fun to get to know them, too.
R : What do you do with them?
and eat together and watch tv.
R : Were you in a good health before you left your country?
S2 : Yeah.
R : What did you feel before you left your country?
S2 : Before I left to move here, I was very very excited but at the same time, I was very sad. In English, we said “bitter sweet”. Because it is a sweet thing that I get to move and do things that I want to do but it is also bitter that I have to say goodbye to my family and friends and leave things that I know and I love.
R : Why did you feel like that?
S2 : Uhmm… I think it is all like that because there are just a lot of things going on at that time. Uhmm.. there are two big things happening. It
is exciting to go to and sad because it is already know that you are going to miss people you leave.
R : What did you feel when you arrived at the airport?
S2 : When I got in the airport in Jakarta, I was pretty nervous because I did not know if my luggage had made it and we had to go get all of that and we still had to go through immigration and I did not know how to speak any Indonesian so if there was any problem, I did not know how to fix anything at all. But when we got the airport here in Semarang, I was a lot happier because I already knew that all my luggage was here and
everything was okay and also two of my really good friends were at the airport. So it was really good to see them again and I knew that they would be able to help me. They already spoke Indonesian. They could help if any problem happens.
R : Did someone talk with you in English or Indonesia? S2 : Like when I got here?
R : Yeah.
nice when I first got here. I could still communicate with a lot of people. But now I try to use Indonesian.
R : So about the condition here in Indonesia, did it look different from your
country?
S2 : Yeah. Indonesia looks very different from America. R : What did you think about it?
S2 : Uhmm.. I was very excited . It all looks new and exciting to me. We did a lot of driving the first day. We had to drive from the airport back here. And the mountains, we do not have mountains where I am from and I have always wanted to live by mountains and I was so excited that there are beautiful mountains here.
R : If you were surprised or shocked, can you tell me why?
S2 : I was surprised that it was not as hot as I thought. That surprised me a lot. I mean it was good. I was very excited. And I was also surprised at how friendly all the people were that I was meeting, all the Indonesian people. Uhm… They are just being very friendly, very welcoming and I did not expect that.
R : After a few days in Indonesia, what did you feel then?
S2 : Uhm…after a couple of days, I was really really tired. It took me a long time to get over jetlag which I was not expecting because it was twelve- hour-time different from where I lived in Michigan. Indonesia is twelve hours ahead. And before when I traveled to Thailand, it was also two hours different. But this trip, it took me so much longer. That was shocking to me. For the first couple days I was so tired and wanted to unpacked everything but I did not have any bookshelves or anything I could unpacked things. But it was still very disoriented and I was not quite set up yet.
S2 : Yeah, our neighbors do a lot of things that are different from what I do. They get up really early in the morning and I am not used to that. In America, we do not typically get up that early do a lot of housework But here, they get up really early and always sweep outside their lawn and outside the road. That is very different. We do not do that in America either. We usually sweep inside the house but not outside the house. And at night time, they have like a watch guard / watchman that will come around and he has a little instrument I guess that he makes noises all night long. That was strange, too. But now we are used to it and we know that it means that everything is okay. At first we did not really know and it was strange to us.
R : Was it annoying?
S2 : Not for me because I can sleep through anything. So, once I was asleep, it did not bother me at all.
R : How do you feel when you speak with people around you like
talking with your friends, neighbors, or even somebody else who you just meet on streets. Could you give me some examples?
S2 : Sure, I usually feel self-conscious about my language ability. I say something in Indonesian and then I always wonder “ Oh no. did I say it right? Did they understand me? Did I mispronounce the word and say something wrong? But usually people are very nice about it and they are very encouraging even when I say wrong thing. But I always still get nervous when I speak in Indonesian.
R : How often do you get involved in conversation with them?
S2 : Uhm… I speak with my friends and neighbors everyday in Indonesian. Different people everyday, not always the same one.
R : When you talk or involve in a conversation with someone or few people, what do you feel about it? Some experiences maybe?
something that I want to tell them that maybe relate to what we are talking about but I cannot think that is enough to say it to them in Indonesian and uhmm…sometimes I do not know what is appropriate to ask someone here. Because I know in America how we introduce ourselves or how we carry on a conversation but sometimes it is hard to know what the social rules are in Indonesia, what I can ask and what I cannot ask. So it can be frustrating when I just want to get to know someone and show them that I am interested in them but I do not know how to do that yet. Sometimes it also happens when I talk with
Indonesian people in English, I can tell that they feel the same way that I do when I try to speak in Indonesian. So I try to help them by slowing down or by waiting for them to think of how they want to say something. R : If you were lost in the conversation with people, could you tell me what
made it that way and why?
S2 : Yeah, that happens a lot (giggling). A lot of time especially when there is a big group of Indonesian friends. If they are talking to each other, I cannot follow the conversation for a while, sometimes they talk too fast, I lose track of what is happening or a lot of times they start speaking in Javanese, I do not understand Javanese so I cannot understand the conversation. But usually after a little while, my friend who is sitting next to me will stop and explain what happened so that I can get in the conversation and start following them again.
R : If you have been distracted by things that you feel uncomfortable with so far, would you mind sharing with me what they are and why?
S2 : Sure! Uhm…probably the most distracting thing right now because it just starts to be the rainy season, are the little bugs that come in our house every night after it rains. We have screens on our windows but they come
in our house and literally the whole windows were just covered and bugs, they all came in and our floor was covered by their wings. It happens every night but now we know to turn our lights off so they do not want to come in but it is annoying because I want to be doing something. I have to have the lights on.
R : So far, what do you feel about the culture and people here in Indonesia and why ? Some examples maybe?
S2 : So far, I really like the culture and the people here. I think they are very friendly and very welcoming especially when I first got here. For example, I have been invited to watch the different events where I can observe the culture like wedding, a baby dedication, engagement party and I have been able to go to some funerals. So, I have just been very impressed that people who I do not really know yet are still opening their houses to me and letting me come to their events and the special times in their life.
R : How do you feel staying here in Indonesia so far and why?
S2 : It feels very much like home now. I am starting to be able to do a lot of things on my own and that is really exciting that makes it feel more like the home now for me because I am not just staying here for a little while but for a long time.
R : How have you found the process of living in a new culture after being here for the few months?
S2 : Actually, it is a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. I thought that a lot more things would shock me or make me not comfortable but they have not really, so far. So that is really good. And also I have a lot of friends and people that help me when I get stuck or I do not know how to do something. There are always people willing to help me out. R : If you have ever found any difficulties in getting along with the culture
and how you cope with those things so far?
S2 : It is a hard one. Uhm… there has definitely been time that it has been hard to understand the culture or why someone is doing something that they are not doing. A lot of times when I go shopping, I will be standing inside the store looking at something, trying to decide if I want to buy or not and the store employee will come stand right next to me and watch me. And that is very different. In America, the employees do not usually come near you. They let you shop on your own. But here, I know that they want to help you and if you need something, you ask them and they get it for you. But sometimes, that is still annoying and I have to remind myself that that is how it is done here and you have to be patient about what they do it towards how it is culturally done here.
R : If you were ever introduced to the term culture shock before your coming here, how would you define it?
