Batak toba love poem

The translation of my little love poem into batak toba (Batta), a language of the southern group of Batak languages.

Batak toba is one of the 200 languages spoken in Indonesia. This Austronesian language is spoken by one of the Batak populations, in the north-central part of the island of Sumatra around and south of Lake Toba, on the island of Samosir.

There would be a total of 3 million Bataks including 1 million Tobas speakers (this is the most spoken of the 5 dialects). The other four dialects of the Batak language, in addition to toba, are karo, dairi (pakpak), angkola (mandailing) and simalungun.

Batak toba can itself be divided into 5 sub-dialects: Samosir, spoken on the island of Samosir, Toba Holbung in the lowlands (east and south of Lake Toba), Humbang or Toba na Sae in highlands (south of Toba Holbung), Hullang (mountainous regions southwest of Humbang), and Silindung (valley south of Humbang).

There is a batak script to write Batak languages (surat Batak). This cute Kavi-based script has 19 base letters. It was replaced by the Latin script, and today only a few people who can read it. The Bataks use it especially in particular situations (magic, prayers).

Bahasa Indonesia and English are the other two languages that Bataks are generally likely to learn. In the big cities they are most often bilingual, Indonesian for conversations outside the home and Batak with the family. On the other hand, in the countryside, speaking Indonesian is really very occasional, and the Batak language represents almost all the exchanges.

Batak literature often refers to works of mythology, astrology, and even magic.

The Bataks are made up of 6 groups, that speak distinct languages. Here it is that of the Tobas, which are the most numerous and which are found near Lake Toba and Samosir Island.

In Indonesia they have the reputation of being very good musicians. Each Batak tribe is grouped into hamlets and consists of exogamous patrilineal clans.

These people of the mountains that they cultivated in terraces or on burning, have migrated today towards the slopes of Toba and Medan. Although they are Islamised, they still retain their traditional beliefs.