Archipelago Folk Tales. Written and Narrated By Dayu Juni Newman. Mission Statement: The folk tales of the Indonesian Archipelago come from a rich and ancient oral tradition.
Before universal education brought literacy to the Islands, storytellers and puppeteers, traveled around from village to village telling folk tales. These provided both entertainment, and food for thought to the people. The stories evolved with their telling.
By collecting many different versions of these, now written stories, extracting their essence and re-telling them orally, I am returning to the roots of the storyteller's lore. As a teacher, my incentive for doing this is not just to bring to life these parts of my cultural heritage, but also to create a guide for foreigners, learning to speak Bahasa Indonesia. When we learn a foreign language, an important part of the process is listening to the spoken words, absorbing vocabulary and beginning to converse by replicating pronunciation. Unfortunately, native speakers, often speak quite rapidly, using slang, abbreviations, and even words from other languages. This can make it difficult for the language learner to follow.
By presenting these folk tales, spoken in slow paced, clear and pure Bahasa Indonesia, I hope to provide a resource for my students to expand their abilities in both comprehension and expression.
Please enjoy
Cerita Rakyat Nusantara,
by yours truly,
Dayu Juni Newman.
