English used by souvenir vendors in interacting with foreigners in Borobudur, Magelang, Central Java

ABSTRACT

Indonesia is well known in almost all parts of the world for its valuable and beautiful nature. And Magelang is as one of places in Indonesia, exactly in Central Java, which has popular tourism, Borobudur, has remarkably attractive scenery. Borobudur temple is considered as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. This temple is located at Borobudur District, South of Magelang, Central Java. Its beautiful range of temples has been a enchanting visitor for years. Magelang is also rich in cultural traditions, including the talented Magelang people in art and handicrafts, which offer a fresh and unforgettable image to the visitors.

Those are some reasons why many foreigners coming from all over the world often visit Borobudur. This condition gives an opportunity to the Magelang people, especially souvenir vendors, to introduce and sell their splendid handicrafts to the foreign visitors. In order to attract their customers to buy their wares, the vendors learn to have competence in a foreign language, especially English, because English is an international language which is widely used by foreigners coming from many different countries. The language skill that the vendors commonly master is the speaking skill for communicating with the foreigners when they can not speak Indonesian.

This is a descriptive study, which is meant to describe how English used by the vendors in Borobudur, in promoting their wares. The aspects of English Which are analyzed in this study are utterances which they uttered, the problems they usually faced during the interaction and the ways they use to cope with the problems. The place of the research was in Borobudur area. There were 8 subjects chosen to be the source of the data.

The result of this study shows that English used by the vendors are good although there are weaknesses in their performance. The vendors used the utterances were similar with each vendors. Commonly the vendors just imitated the conversation from the other vendors when they communicated with foreign customers, so most of their utterances were the same sentences.

The problems that arise were not dealing with the using of English although their English were not good because they only imitated the sound of the words, phrases and sentences they heard and apply them in their exchanges. If there were difficulties in their interaction, the vendors usually used gestures. The problems that the vendors usually faced concern about the personality of the tourists, strict rules in the Borobudur area which are lately established by the authority of the Borobudur, and the language problem when they happen to communicate with non- English speaking tourist. The solutions were the vendors do the best they can in promoting their wares by establishing a warm and friendly atmosphere, and smile in their interacting with the customers. The vendors obeyed the rules although most of them dislike the rules. They usually waylay the tourist before they go to the restricted area on the Borobudur. The vendors often used the gestures together with English when they communicate with non* English speaking tourists to promote their wares.

The result of this study gives evidence that although the vendors have only low educational background, they can apply their communication skill in English, with some weaknesses though. It can be a good example for students of English to learn English harder and find better learning strategy, and for teachers of English to provide enough English environment for the students to practice their English more often.

The writer suggests that the vendors improve their English since there are many weaknesses in their English performance. Good performance in English will help them to promote their wares more successfully. For further research, it is quite challenging to study the influence of the vendors, native language on their production of English in everyday communication with foreigners.