The Indonesian language and its potential to become an international language

Abstract

The potential shown by the Indonesian language in less than a century for a neutral lingua franca is continually progressing, not only for the nation alone but it is indeed becoming more popular abroad thanks to Darmasiswa and other Indonesian scholarship programs offered to foreigners. Besides the cited phenomena that has seen an increase in the use of the Indonesian language all around the world, there are many other factors to consider in the potential success of Indonesian as an international language used not only by locals but also by foreigners either for daily conversations, for academic purposes, medical or any other needs inside and outside of Indonesia. The present paper approaches this phenomenon from a sociolinguistic perspective in field. Keyword: Bahasa Indonesia, standardised language, second language, international language.