Tetum, A Language For Everyone: Tetun, Lian Ida Ba Ema Hotu-Hotu

 The author, Yohanes Manhitu, was born in the village of Sunu, South Amanatun (Amanatun Selatan), East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia, and grew up in the East Timorese enclave of Oecusse-Ambeno, where he acquired the Tetum language in his childhood. For one year, he served the West Timor-based United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Kupang as a translator and interpreter of English, Indonesian, Tetum, and Dawan. He now lives in Yogyakarta and works as a writer, translator, and foreign language instructor. Besides writing dictionaries, language books, short stories, and articles on language and culture, he pens poetry in Indonesian, Dawan, Tetum, English, Esperanto, etc. and enjoys participating in literary activities. “This book has been developed from the simple handouts I prepared in 2006 for teaching my first English-speaking Tetum student. At that time I was in the process of compiling my 'Kamus Indonesia-Tetun, Tetun-Indonesia' ('Indonesian-Tetum, Tetum-Indonesian Dictionary'), so I included a great deal of dictionary material in the handouts...