Australians

Where on Earth Am I?
by Luh S., Indonesia

As a teacher who sometimes talked about Australian culture with my students, surprisingly I was very shocked when I actually got to Australia. The differences to Indonesia were massive. The weather and the food were the first two things I found a bit hard to adjust to but after one month I got used to them. However, I am still in the process of understanding the habits and customs here. Some things are quite acceptable to my Indonesian point of view but plenty are a bit strange. Among them, communication and manners seem to be the things which often confuse me.

Most Australian are very decisive and determined in their communication style. They say yes or no very confidently and they refuse something if they don’t want or like it. In contrast as an Indonesian, I find it very difficult to show my “I don’t like it” feeling. I am afraid of making people disappointed and upset. Australians are also very open. They will say ‘bad or good’ depending on what they think. In Indonesia however, people try to please their new acquaintances by only saying good things.

Cartoon "What do you think?"
How Australians Use Slang

In Indonesia, ‘bahasa gaul’ is usually only used by young people in cities. In contrast, in Australia slang is used by both young and older people to create a sense of closeness and informality. Some slang is quite easy to understand because it still has a connection with the real meaning, like footy for football, ‘built like a brick shit house’ for a massively strong man, telly for television. I was totally confused however, when my friend said “Bob’s your uncle” because the fact is I don’t have an uncle named Bob. Later, I found out what he meant was “everything is A OK!”, or "I agree with you". Australians also really like saying” up” and “down”. They often say things like ‘the bag is up here’…or ‘I live down here’…. Even though sometimes the thing they refer to is neither up or down but is in a flat place.