Reclaiming the language of East Timor
By Jon Land
Standard Tetum-English Dictionary
By Dr Geoffrey Hull
Allen and Unwin
$24.95
As the transition to independence begins in East Timor, a debate around language is assuming critical importance. What will become the official language? Will it return to Portuguese, the choice — for now — of the National Council of Timorese Resistance? Will Tetum, the main indigenous dialect (which had been suppressed during the Indonesian occupation), eventually become the official language? Who will decide?
The issue of language in East Timor is tied to both the legacy of the colonial past and the new challenge of reconstructing and rebuilding a shattered nation. Overcoming illiteracy was a major focus of the independence struggle in the period prior to Indonesia's invasion. Illiteracy still remains a major problem.
Student and independence activists, mainly from Fretilin and UNETIM (National Union of Timorese Students), carried out intensive literacy campaigns over 1974-75 as a means to involve people more actively in the political process. Through applying the teaching method of the Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, the literacy campaign helped strengthen the anti-colonial struggle.
While Portuguese was the official language, fewer than 15% had a working knowledge of it and even fewer could read it. This compared with about 80% being able to understand and use Tetum.
The Standard Tetum-English Dictionary will no doubt play an important part in the campaign to improve literacy. No other reference as detailed as this has been compiled before. It will be an important aid in improving communication between different generations of East Timorese, and between those forced into exile and those who have remained in East Timor.
Dr Hull's dictionary, many years in the making, was made possible by the close collaboration of staff and students of the University of East Timor and the Nossa Senhora de Fatima Seminary. Dr Hull, who is executive director of the Academy of East Timor Studies within the faculty of education and languages at the University of Western Sydney-Macarthur, travelled to East Timor on a number of occasions to conduct field work for the dictionary.
On the afternoon of November 7, 80 people filled the top floor of Gleebooks in Sydney for the launch of Standard Tetum-English Dictionary and the East Timor Book Appeal (to have copies of the dictionary sent to East Timor). Speakers included John Dowd, president of the Australian section of the International Commission of Jurists, Shirley Shackleton and Filomena De Almeida, coordinator of Fretilin in NSW.
Funds raised through the appeal will also contribute to providing scholarships for East Timorese students to attend UWS, and books and resources to the University of East Timor and the Balide Seminary.
(Donations to the appeal can be made by sending a cheque to: East Timor Book Appeal, Gleebooks, PO Box 486, Glebe NSW 2037. Please make cheques payable to Gleebooks. To find out more about the East Timor Book Appeal, contact Jane Durie on (02) 9772 6319.)