Halo, Apa Kabar?
Allow me to introduce myself as the blogger of this month. The above title show how I greet people in my native language (Bahasa Indonesia), which means "Hello, how are you?". We use that to greet people, especially those we haven't met for a long time. When we meet somebody for the first time, it could also mean "Hello, how do you do?", but unlike English, we don't say "apa kabar" back to the greeter. Honestly, when I first learned English, I found that "How do you do" thing was kind of weird at first. Why -instead of answering the question- do we have to repeat the same question again. Well, I guess that's the uniqueness of a language.
All through this September, I will try my best to keep you posted about many interesting things that happen in my world. I am currently living in Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, a.k.a. one of the most populated cities in the world. Over two hundred millions of people are currently living in Jakarta, and that cause unbearable traffic jam at certain areas every single day. It is very common for us to leave for work at 6 am in the morning, and reach home again at 9 pm in the evening. Is it a normal thing for you?
I am currently sitting behind my office desk now. In case you are wondering, I work as a copywriter. This is one of those jobs that may sound fancy, but actually only related to words and concepts. Don't you just love writing? *seeking approval* I feel that writing could lead to many many things. One of the result is advertising, an interesting industry that I am involved in. When I was a little girl, I loved to watch commercials on television. Whenever there was a new product being introduced, I would come up to my dad and ask for that same thing. My dad said that many advertisements told lies. Well, he might be true at some point, but don't we like being lied to sometimes? I can speak as a woman that I like being told that I have lost weight (when the fact was I just looked thinner thanks to the black dress that I wore). I think advertising sell hopes and dreams. Without those two things, we will not have motivation. What do you think? On my next post, I will share you some of my favorite commercials of all times. Please do come back and leave me a comment. Thanks!
Comments
Hello, Shirley and welcome to the blog. For my awful shame I don't know too much about Indonesia, so I hope this months is going to be very informative for me. Concerning the ads, I agree with you totally, these things can be very interesting and exciting. Recently I've found the first ever commercial of Barbie and must say I received a lot of joy while watching it. It's so... I think I can never find the right words. You must definitely see it yourself; it's quite easy to find this commercial in the youtube by the tags Barbie and commercial. Also I like to watch some videos from Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, everyone can find there something interesting.
Halo shirley, apa khabar ? Welcome to the Student's Blogger! :) I was so surprised and delighted to find Indonesian in here. I am also from Indonesia, my name is Reni and I live in Makassar. I really excited with your blog and I am looking forward to read your story and tell more information about Indonesia and more specific about your work and Jakarta. Thanks and Good luck to you :)
Welcome, Shirley! I hope we all have a month of mutual learning and cultural growth. And I hope to learn a little about your country. Wow, you live in a very populated place! But I think you meant Indonesia when you said "Over two hundred millions of people are currently living in Jakarta". Anyway, I'm trying to imagine how bad the traffic is. I'm lucky because my main destination (University) is only fifteen minutes on foot from my house. About advertisement, this is such a creative and dynamic area! Announcing products, discoveries or whatever plays a great role in our society. I agree with you that it can be stimulating and motivating. But on the other hand, it can be manipulating and used to create false demands. The power of convincing is really powerful! Great first entry. Looking forward to the next ones.
Hi Shirley, At first my warm welcome to you.Hope,we will enjoy all together.With a kind attention I've read your post.Very interesting introduction.It promises a lot.While I was reading,I felt amazed.Taking into consideration the number of population in Jakarta I can imagine such unbearable traffic jam,but for me it's increadible difficult to arrive to home at 9PM.Have you spare time for yourself?To rest yourself,to dedicate to your friend,parents? In Serbia(south part of Balkans peninsula)I work from 7 to 3 PM. Does it means ,that we are spoiled? Regards
Advertising is good industry it will add the value to the product and human needs since advertising is the tool which is use to communicate value of the product to the socity. however always this is not true since unnecessaryly communicate wrong things to the society and force to buy a product.this may change the expenditure pattern of the people.
Hello and welcome Shirley! Yes I found the English greeting weird too, but you know...Every languages have their own rules, and these rules were made by their speaker. Anyway! Please tell us about Indonesia I think it is a paradise. Best wishes
Halo Shirley,big welcome to my favourite blog site to you as a blogger of this month. It's a great opportunity to know about your country and of course,about you.You are talking on uniqueness of language. that's true. scenario of traffic jam and crowd of my city,Dhaka,is as same as your city. But leaving for work at 6 AM and returning home at 9 PM is not common for everybody in my country.Making and selling of hopes and dreams is excellent idea.But all advertisements can do it?Or is it possible? Is it not euphemism about advertising? What do you think? Waiting for next post. Thanks.
Welcome Shirley! I hope you enjoy your time as blogger. Well, I´ll try ever now and then to drop you a comment here because unfortanetaly I´m not having enough time on the Net during the week. But be sure I´ll be reading all your enters during the weekends :-). Best wishes, Ana Paula.
Dear Shirley, Very welcome!! I am really forward to seing your favorite commercial. I love those wich make me laugh, I hope yours will be one of this. I am curious about how advertising is in your country and whether it is very different from advertising in western countries. Is far as I know most of the people are muslims. Does it have an influence in the way you do publicity? Regards
Halo, Apa Kabar? Shirley, I read you wrote:" Over two hundred millions of people are currently living in Jakarta", while I read Wikipedia says: over twenty millions live in Jakarta." I wonder which one is correct? The first time i read you wrote " two hundreds of people line in a city( Jakarta" I was shocked, Taiwan has only twenty three million population, and, Jakarta, is a city, unexpectedly has over two hundred millions population, it's a surprise to me. At last, warmly welcome to this blog, I would learn more about Jakarta and Indonesia from you during this month. Best wishes, James.
Shirley, Halo, Apa Kabar. You're the first student blogger from Indonesia. We welcome you to the blogland and hope that we will read interesting stories from you. U said u like advertisements since childhood and they give you hope and dreams. I agree with you because through advertisements we know about the latest products. But sometimes the qualities they mention are not all correct. So we can't buy things by just watching their commercials on television or through another media. Do u work from 6 am to 9 pm, my God its too much. I can't imagine myself working like that. In Pakistan office timings are from 9:00 am to 5 pm. Is Do you get Saturday and Sunday as an off day or you’ve to work? I’ve to go now. Bestwishes and keep writng! Mahjabeen.
Hi Shirley, Welcome here.. It was nice a introduction. Though am not a frequent visitor of this site, i just happen to visit this site after along time. And, the best thing is you just started blogging, so i can follow it. I'm from India, i agree to your comments on traffic congestion, these days its madenning and we are left with no choice but to leave early mornings to office to avoid the congestion. However, its not that bad that we have to leave at 6 am. We start like 8 ish in the morning. Regards
hi,Shirley, really nice to see your blog. good commercial ads are really a kind of art they not only attract you but also reveal some wisdom in themselves..looking forward to seeing your next blog
Hello,Shirley. Nice to meet you! I am Fuligao,from chinese mainland.I kown there are many Chinese in Indonesia. I am a allegiant member of bbc learning English.I hope to know Indonesia with your bloger. I hope you introduce your country for us.Thank you!
Hello Shirley, Welcome to the blog and best wishes for your blogging. I was really impressed to read the definition on advertisement as you said it sells hopes and dreams, instead of saying their products. In which I realized selling the products is as simple as creating the hope, and not just only the hope but also the fancy, pride in the form of dreams go with that product through the advertisement. However, it would be difficult for the consumer to find the better product of their choice by simply following the advertisement where many of them could be fallacy. Looking forward to hearing from you more in this month. Thanks
I.m very happy about know some information about your country. I am english student in Tirpilo - libya. can I get more information about your country.
Hi Shirley, Welcome to blog world. It's really nice to read your first blog. So you leave 6 am for the work and arive at 9 PM. Oho no ! so busy life. I used to work from 8.30 to 5.30 and I was very tired of that work. But that was much relaxed one than yours. This shows how busy people are in this competitive world ? Thanks for sharing this shirley. see you in Next blog.
Helo shirley. Welcome to the blog. your first post is so interesting. and I hope to hear a lot about you and your place. you know what I do also like commercials becuase I am graphic designer so I do design a lot of Tv commercials and its kinda exciting. anyway Thanks. and waiting forward to hear a lot of interesting things from you. bye
I've heard there was a earthquake in Indonesia. I hope everything is fine with your relatives as well as your friends. Regards
Hi, Shirley : Are you fine?. I just read that an earthquaque of 7.0 degree hit your country, thanks God the news say nothing about dead or injures.I've known the fear of living a moment like this.Perhaps in your next comments you can tell us more about it. Bye.
Zilions of welcom to you Shirley.You are really challenging my mind with this nice entry. Yes ,i do not mind to be lied to sometimes but not by making me buy stuff i do not need as they do in most commercial ads
Hi Shirley My name is Rodrigo and i'm starting the english language. I liked the new post. Thank you for help and teach this amazing language. Thank you. Rodrigo Abreu
The word "I think advertising sell hopes and dreams" show your positive thinking. You have to quite success .
Hi Shirley, My name is Luigi and I am from Sardinia, Italy. I always follow other sections of bbc learnig English. I've just read something of this one and I think it could be intersting for me, both to improve my English and know much more of other countries. I look forward to learning more of your country and your job. Have a good day Luigi
Hi Shirley,I found your post really interesting and we seem to share a passion for writing. I think your job takes a lot of creativity, there's a friend of mine who's in this business,she's just brilliant! and you`re totally right, whithout dream and hope life has no meaning. And ohh, isn`t black the colour of heaven? LOL xx
Hello Shirley, Welcome to the blogland. your first post is so interesting. I hope to hear a lot about you and your culture & place. You know what I also like commercials, simply because I am graphic design and I do a lot of Tv commercials. I am waiting forward to hear a lot from you. Thanks, bye.
Hi Shirley, Welcome! Although I liked your first post, I'm not sure if I agree with you about white lies. But, like you, I do love commecials, so I'm looking forward to reading your next post. Once more, welcome! That's all for now, P.S.: I simply love your name. It's beautiful!
nice to meet u,shirley.i loved to watch commercials too when i was younger so i think we have a common but i think ur dad is right about the fact that advertisments told lies,i agree with him.
welcome again and i expecting the things coming soon you going to tell us.And i just have a question,is that true over 200 millions people living in jakarta?It's too crowd,i think so.
it's wonderful to meet you! I like your view of advertisements which advertising sells hopes and dreams. On the other hand, I am a bit sceptical about it as a consumer. On the other hand, I am a bit sceptical about it as a consumer. My augment is that many commercial products are fancied by exaggerating ad and People may be lured into buying unnecessary products by clever advertising.I alway take them a pich of salt.That's all by now and looking forward to hearing from you soon.
hi,everybody.nice to meet you.thank much.this is the fist times i join in blog by english.i hope that you will help me.
Hello Shirley and welcome to the blog! I hope you will have a good time here! My name is Gabija, and I am from Lithuania, the country which is very far away from Indonesia. So I hope you are going to tell us a lot of interesting things about your homeland, it's culture and traditions. Well, I found your attitude towards commercials quite extraordinary, because here in Lithuania we all just can't stand them! Although I can fully understand your view that advertising sells hopes, I think commercials fool people(maybe not all). You can buy, for example, new remover or cleaner, which was introduced in TV as brilliant and acting at lightning speed, but when you try it and see that this "special" thing is just rubbish..Well, I think there's nothing good about it. Bye! Looking forward to your next posts!
Hello, Shirley My name is Andrey, from Kiev, Ukraine. I am very impressed about your traffic problems in Jakarta. Kiev has 3 million population and has big traffic jams as your city. I hate myself staying in traffic jams for an your, burn fuel and pollute the air. I imagine what big jams your city may have with such a huge population. I sympathize you with that. And, how do you cope with such tight working time-table? You seems don’t have spare time for yourself and your family at all during your working days. I can’t imagine myself waking up earlier than 7.30 in the morning.
Hello shirly, You are welcome to the to the Blog and nice to meet you as a blog student and hope we will be able to Know much about advertising industry and your country.
Since I'm a new member here I can't welcome you. Reading your blog was really interesting; thinking of the congested streets Jakarta and about commercials. I can imagine how strenuous it could be getting home after work. Concerning commercials, I don't share your view completely. It's interesting to how creative people are, but at times it is manipulating(making people buy things that they don't need or are not good for their health) and that is not good. Nice blog and please keep us informed about Indonesia. I'm looking forward to your next post!
Nice to meet you Shirley. It's quite long time since I last visited the blog and Here you are as a this-month blooger. I have an experience of getting up at 6 and taking an underground in the very early morning to go to college. I hated this, and that's why I have moved near my college. Anyway, I like watching advertisements especilly in the cinema. Well, for me it looks more creative than the commercial on TV. I guess you're an innovative and creative person. I'm looking forward to the next blog
Hi Shirley, a huge welcome to you. Unnecessary advts make viewers materialistic as a result it corrupts mindset of society and give birth to many evils harmful to entire world. Thanks
Hello Apa Kabar, My name is Charly and I am planning to take an english exam next year for my application in US. I am not a native speaker of english so I came up to this new blog to widen my knowledge in the world of english. Although, way back in my school years the medium of teaching in my alma matter was english, my mother tongue is not the same, so sometimes I had hard time of picking the best word to fit for a sentence. Anyway, talking about the commercials, you mentioned I am quite skeptical about it because there is a great impact to the viewers especially the youth. I am afraid they have a bad influence to these teenagers since they tend to immitate what the see in the media. So, I guess they should provide an advertisement which is educational and a good example to these new generation.
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