Indonesian
Language
and
Culture
Web
SITE GUIDE

Selamat datang di Universitas Sunshine Coast (voice recordings)

[Welcome][Hypermedia][Netscape][The Grammar Reference][Dictionary]

Welcome to the Indonesian Web site at the Sunshine Coast University College.The purpose of this hypermedia web site is to provide online interactive multimedia materials with which you can learn Indonesian language. We invite you to act in an academic adventure. Have you ever read a 'choose-your-own adventure book? With all the choices and navigational paths it offers, this site is something like that. You can proceed at your own pace, revisit places you've been before, and just explore. Have you ever used a 'talking book', something people with impaired vision and children learning to read find enjoyable. You can hear the book on audio cassette as well as - or instead of - just reading the written script. This resource is like that also. But it's also like having a video player and a telephone and a typewriter and a mailing system and a dictionary and an encyclopedia all in one. At least, that is the intention. As you will find, this site is "Perpetually Under Construction". But please be reassured that all feedback - gripes, grizzles, growls or groans of delight - is welcome by email or telephone (07 5430 1254) or face-to-face, Room A 2.24.

This is a hypermedia web site. That means many of the words which are blue and underlined not only mean something but are a clickable (hypertext) link to further related information on the same topic. Some pictures are also links (acting like icons or buttons if they have a blue border) or are sensitive maps (clicking different sections of the image will activate a link to a different destination). The site brings together text, still images, video clips, voice and music audio files.

It is unlikely that the designer of this web site can predict every choice you will make. Therefore, while lots of links have been built in and return links to the page you may have come from, it is impossible to predict all your moves. Or cumbersome to build too many links. So, you may need to use the Back Button on your web browser to return to the previous page you were on. You can also use the Go Menu to get to the previous page or any other pages you have looked at. The Go Menu on Netscape shows the history of your web session (all the pages you have visited). You can also open a History window by using Command-H

Using Netscape

The mouse

Your mouse, if held down, will also give some controls, such as "Back" or "Back in Frame" or "Pause" if you click it on a voice or MIDI music icon. You need to experiment and watch the mouse's behaviour (usually it gives a pop-up menu such as in the graphic below) as you move it over certain areas or click. The Macintosh single button on the mouse has some different functions to the PC left and right buttons. Which are you using?

Mac Mouse PC Left
right mouse button
There is an excellent tutorial on the World Wide Web and the use of Netscape at the University of Alabama library and Information Services site. Go to: II. Browsing the WWW and then read the whole tutorial if you ever have the time, especially those who want to design their own WWW pages.

The location box

Above the Window in which the web page is displayed are button bars, a kind of visual menu. There is also the Location Box, which displays the URL (Uniform resource

Location) or electronic address of the document you are viewing.

If you happen to know an URL from a newspaper or TV (say, www.abc.net.au), you can just type it into the Location Box and press the Return key on the keyboard.

If you are already at a site and its URL is showing in the Location Box, you can chop off bits of the address and thus go back up the directory path. So if you were at

http://scuc.edu.au/Arts/Internat/Indonesian/tata.html
you could click in the Location Box at the end of the URL, press the Delete/Backspace key and wipe out tata.html. Press return and Netscape will take you back to

http://scuc.edu.au/Arts/Internat/Indonesian/
If there is a default page called index.html or welcome.html, you would be shown that. If not, you will get a list of all the files in that directory, Indonesian. This can be very handy if you're truly browsing or surfing out of curiosity and trying to get an idea of what's in the site (out site seeing!) Browsing is useful in libraries; also in Web sites.

You can learn a lot about using Netscape by just using Netscape (or Microsoft Explorer or other Web browsers). It's a bit like language learning, swimming and music - just have a go! You can't break anything.

Using sound

Music - some pages have MIDI music files which will play by themselves when you open the page. You can turn the music off if you are staying on that page a long time. Just hold the mouse down over the LiveAudio icon on that page, a menu of chocies should open under your mouse, you drag down (without letting go) to the Pause option, let go the mouse button. It should stop.

Voice recordings. When you see the blue underlined link called Dengarkan! click on it with the mouse. This should activate a new windowor a console so that the pictures and text you have open remain visible to you. A LiveAudio wav console (on PC's) or (for Macintosh) a helper application called QuickTime Player will give you a controller slide-bar to hear the recording. You can play it by clicking on the forward symbol, pause it by clicking on the same symbol, adjust the volume, or dismiss it (make it vanish) by clicking in the little box in the top left. If you make it disappear accidentally by clicking in the other window, don't panic. You probably still have the player open behind the other web page. Just shift your web page by clicking in the title bar up the top and drag to the left while holding the mouse down or use the Reduce arrows on a PC top right.

Use the sound files several times each, especially on new materials. Look away from the text version or hide it. Repeat aloud after the recorded voice. Stop the voice. Rewind it. Answer questions in Indonesian out loud to yourself. Don't be embarrassed. Computers are not much use as conversation partners but they can be good tools for practice. Later, if you have learned the online materials well, your performance in real conversation will be much better.

Graphics and Videos

This site is graphics intensive. What is the point of offering just text on a computer when a non-flickering page is quite suitable for that and more beddable. Besides, Indonesia is said to be one of the most photogenic places on earth. To learn about people and culture, seeing is at least as important as reading (and hearing is certainly a biggie in language learning!) So be patient if your author has gone overboard on a page and it takes a few parsecs to load on your browser. Learn some vocab already!

Once in a while - and often if you're getting freezes or crashes - you should flush the cache on Netscape. Just open the Options menu, choose Network preferences. A dialogue box will spring up and you see a button labelled "Clear Disk Cache Now" which you click. Followed by a click on OK. This is like a change of undies for Netscape and allows it to forget all the images and sounds and text you have loaded in the session and start on your new selections with a clear conscience. Closing any other applications which you don't need is a big help too to the computer's memory.

Pertanyaan

Questions (pertanyaan) are provided for almost everything you ever read on this web site. You should awer them for your own satisfaction. Better still, if you have a friend on the same computer or next to you, ask each other so that you 'work the new language' and really make it your own. Yopu are welcome to submit answers to the lecturer for feedback if you wish. Use your usual email program if Netscape's email if not set up properly.

Keeping a site diary

The designer of this web site values all feedback. It is hoped we can soon have a site diary where you can keep reflections or notes or website addresses, etc. For the moment, any feedback on things technical or linguistic or whatever you care to make should be

1. through this page hosted at GeoCities, especially if you wish to send something anonymous.

2. through your usual email (Groupwise) program, just save an email from your lecturer and hit the REPLY button on it. A short note from you each time you go near the site would be wonderful (eg, "Phil, the #@*&!!! server was down when I came here with two hours to spare Wednesday morning!" or "Just did the becak story and was moved to tears!")

The Grammar Reference Utility

The first of the grammar pages is the alphabetical index called tata.html The grammar section gives notes on all important points of basic Indonesian sentence structure, includes some socio-linguistic comment and also key word search. Many points have been included in direct response to frequent errors made by students in their written assignments.

You are advised to read the grammar section inside the bottom frame if you only want a one-minute info bite. If you really want to read extensively (and I hope you do often) expand the grammar frame into a full window by holding down the mouse on the frame and choosing "New Window with this Frame". You can have more than one Netscape window open at a time and click back and forth between the two (or three or however many your computer's memory will tolerate). You can often follow links in the grammar page to "Further explanation and exercises"

Major launch points in the grammar files are:

Passive or Object Focus Construction

The Dictionary Utility

The Kamus is still under development but should contain most new words in the module you are studying at present as well as many you should already know. Please advise the author of any omissions which cause you serious trouble.

Searching On any Netscape window, as with other applications, you can always use a Find function to see if a certain word is on a page. So, you can use the Find Command under the Edit menu (or keyboard Command-F) to search for a word on the dictionary page (or any Netscape page). A dialog box will appear, you enter the word you want and Netscape will find and highlighht it if it occurs. In some pages, you are notified that the text itself is studded with hypertext links to the dictionary. In this case, you need only click the word in blue and underlined to be shown an English equivalent, like this kendaraan in the dictionary. In the advanced modules, an explanation and equivalents in Indonesian rather than English are supplied. eg sopir= orang yang menjalankan mobil, taksi atau truk. Click Kamus to have a look at the dictionary now. Use the Back button to return here if you wish.

Don't forget, this site is so be forgiving if there are bugs. But do let me know about them so I can fix them up. Terima kasih banyak.

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