Why We Learn English Literature in Indonesia

English Literature is one of many majors studied in higher education around the world, including Indonesia. By learning English Literature, we would analyze works from around the world that are written in English. Nowadays, the number of English Literature students in Indonesia is growing, albeit not at a fast rate. Why? One of the main reasons is that while people are choosing their major, they often stop to think, “Why should they learn the major?” or, “What is the benefit of studying it?” In other words, people need to know the importance of English Literature in Indonesia.

So, why should we study English Literature, as we are Indonesians? Shouldn’t we learn the Indonesian language instead? Well, although learning our mother tongue is important, learning another language is also just as important, especially English. As we know, English has become an international language, used by people from around the world to communicate with each other. Indonesia is not an exception.

In English Literature, we study more than just learning how to speak and write in English. After all, literature is one of the most interesting and significant expressions of humanity (P.T. Barnum, 1865). C.S. Lewis stated that literature adds to reality, it enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides, and that’s true. We learn how to be more creative and critical in this major. Being creative and critical is actually helpful in becoming better at problem solving in all aspects of your life. Students of English Literature are pushed to read, analyze, and write many texts in English. For example, writing essays, especially for assignments, is completely normal for students in this major.

After all, literature is one of the most interesting and significant expressions of humanity (P.T. Barnum, 1865)

Taking English as your major will give you many benefits! First of all, there’s a higher chance to earn international scholarships and make friends from around the world, as English is used for international lingua franca. Getting a job is also one of the many benefits. People often ask, “What can you do with an English Literature degree?” Well nowadays, there are actually many jobs that require English skills. For example, the job of an English teacher, translator, copywriter, editor, and many more.

As the English language is often used for business, it can also be used for entertainment. Many literary works around the world, such as books and movies, are delivered in English. While some English books are translated into Indonesian, there are many books in Indonesia that are not translated. However, we are still able to enjoy more books in English when we have the required English skills. Many movies with English as the spoken language are translated too, in the form of subtitles. Unfortunately, there are times when the subtitles cover some parts of the scenes in the movies. If we understand English, we can watch the movies without looking at the subtitles, and perhaps the movie can be more enjoyable without any distraction? Meaning, by studying English Literature we learn how to fully understand and interpret books and movies properly. By doing that, we are able to enjoy and appreciate English literary works better. The same goes for the internet and social media. Most of the people on the internet and social media use English as a medium to communicate online. As the internet is full of information from around the world, we are able to gain more knowledge when we understand completely what the information is about. Not only that, but we are also able to share the knowledge that we have with people around the world. With social media, we are able to interact and connect with people internationally. We are also able to share knowledge of our nation’s language, cultures, and traditions with them so that people will know more about Indonesia as a country.

To sum it up, we learn English literature in Indonesia because by doing so, we gain more benefits than expected. We gain more than just learning how to speak and write in English. We are able to improve the necessary skills that we need in our daily life, to improve ourselves in every aspect and our life.

Editor: Handiko Wijaya