Multilingualism has always been a part of my life. It was something that stood out to me, something I thought of while just browsing through the course catalogue for our LTWR113 class. Though the course catalogue utilizes the words “Code-switching” and “translanguaging,” these terms felt familiar to me, without having any formal introduction to what they mean.
English is my first language, but since I am half Indonesian, it means I automatically would have two more languages under my belt–Indonesian and Javanese. Every island or region in Indonesia has its own language (not just a dialect!) It is one of the most multilingual countries in the world. It has always been normal to me to switch between languages (and at time cultures) at home or in the outside world.
The first pages of Dictee I read while sitting next to my friend Jackie. She was glancing over my shoulder when she saw that there were some pages in French. Lighting up upon looking at the page. She exclaimed in a question “You’re reading french?!” I told her no, that it was for one of my Lit classes. I found this to be an serendipitous display of multilingualism, considering where I was, what I was working on, and who I was with. But the truth is, multilingualism exists everywhere around us, it might be a bit ignorant to consider it coincidental.
“There is no people without a nation, no people without ancestry.”
“You are bi-lingual. You are tri-lingual. The tongue that is forbidden is your own mother tongue…One that is yours. Your own.”
I wonder how this can play into our greater radio project. Maybe it means I don’t let myself stay within the constraints of English. Though I speak it often with my family, I rarely write in Indonesian, despite my affinity for writing. The Javanese sanskrit is another story. Maybe this all comes into play somehow? Another wonder would be…where?
Radio Chthulucene 87.9 FM 
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