International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology

Vol. 29, No. 4s, (2020), pp. 1678-1683

LANGUAGE, BUSINESS, AND CHARACTER BUILDING

Bambang Sumadyo*1, Elyza Martiarini2, Heppy Atmapratiwi3, Nurhayati4,
Yulia Agustin5, Yayan Sudrajat6
1,3,5,6
Indonesia Language Education Department, Indraprasta PGRI University, Jakarta,
Indonesia
2,4
English Language Education Department, , Indraprasta PGRI University, Jakarta, Indonesia

Abstract

The problem of character is not something new for the Indonesia. With the provision of glorious character,
we are known all over the world as a nation with the language hospitality. The nation's character is seen
as a system of cultural values and beliefs existing in the culture of society and become the main character
of its nation, so it is highly responded as a social identity. However, at this time we have serious issues
where a number of deviations occur on various sides of life. Character education is considered to be
necessarily developed. Building the nation’s character is a big idea that was coined by the nation’s founder
who viewed that as a big nation consisting of unique diversity cultures, we need to have the same overall
cultural prospective. it is very important to equalize views and understandings for the common welfare and
prosperity of all the Indonesia. The alternative way to realize that right is by word processing business.
This research is aimed at gaining a deep understanding to the readers about how important a character is
in a better nation’s development. This research is conducted by recording and analysing available words
and surveying to citizens to get respond related to character.

Keywords: language, business, character

A. Preface
Trying to find a relationship between words, language, business, and character is not a simple thing
because the three of them have a relatively different meaning and scope. Language is related to
communication tools. Business is related to buying and selling or marketing. Character is related to
behavior. All three are independent vocabularies in their respective fields. As the author's know, no one has
tried to link language and business, neither are linking language, business and character. This research will
ultimately try to look for the relationship between language, business, and character.
Discussions about character have been carried out by various parties and in quite a long time, starting
from the term education, formation, or character building. Next, experts try to define and classify the
characters themselves.
According to the Ministry of National Education Language Center (2008), character is innate in the
heart, soul, personality, character, nature, mind, personality, temperament, and emotional. Character can
also be interpreted as personality, behavior, mood, emotional, and mind. According to the Ministry of
Education and Culture, character is a form of way of thinking and also behaves of a person who will then
be his special mark. According to Soedarsono, character is a value that has been engraved in a person
through experience, education, sacrifice, and experimentation, as well as environmental influences which
are then combined with the values inherent in a person and become intrinsic values expressed in the power
system struggle which then underlies attitudes and behavior, as well as one’s thoughts.
According to Lickona, the notion of character education is a deliberate effort to help someone, so he
would understand, observe, and carry out the core of ethical values. According to Santrock, character
education is a school that is carried out with a direct approach to students to instill moral values and give
lessons to students about moral knowledge in an effort to prevent prohibited behavior. According to Elkind,
the notion of character education is an educational method carried out by educators to influence student

ISSN: 2005-4238 IJAST

Copyright ⓒ 2020 SERSC 1678
 International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology
Vol. 29, No. 4s, (2020), pp. 1678-1683

character. In this case it appears that the teacher not only teaches subject matter, but is also able to be an
example.
To achieve these goals in the students must be instilled the values of character formation that comes
from religion, Pancasila, and culture, namely honesty, tolerance, discipline, hard work, creative,
independence, democratic attitude, curiosity, nationality spirit , love the motherland, appreciate
achievement, friendly attitude, love peace, love to read, care for the environment, social care, a sense of
responsibility, and religious.
The government has set the goal of national education, which is to educate the nation’s life and develop
Indonesian people as a whole, namely people who have faith and are devoted to God Almighty and virtuous
character, have knowledge and skills, physical and spiritual health, a steady and independent personality
and sense of social and national responsibility.
Thus, it is very clear that the government is very optimal for shaping the golden generation of Indonesia
in the future. All regulations, requirements, and forming the superior generation have long been very well
prepared.
The fact that is happening in the field is far from the fire. What has been declared or determined by the
government is still quite far from expectations. An example is the honesty aspect. The tradition of cheating
during exams is still a tough task for supervisors during the exam. The tradition of corruption is still rampant
from the grassroots to government officials.
There are some interesting stories / articles related to honesty. A person who is conducting further
studies in Europe and graduated with a near perfect title is guaranteed to be refused a job applying
throughout mainland Europe for committing fraud when riding public transportation recorded on CCTV
and a data base.
Thomas J. Stanley’s research mapped 100 factors that influence a person’s level of success based on a
survey of 733 millionaire in the US, ten of which are honesty (being honest with all people), hard discipline
(being well-disciplined), sociable or friendly ( getting along with people), companion support (having a
supportive spouse), hard work (working harder than most people), love of what is done (loving career /
business), leadership (having strong leadership qualities), competitive personality or being able to compete
(having a very competitive spirit / personality), an organized life (being very well organized), the ability to
sell ideas or creative / innovative (having an ability to sell ideas / products). The interesting results of his
research are that it turns out that good grades (i.e. NEM, GPA and ranking) are only the 30th success factor,
the IQ factor in the 21st order, and go to favorite university / school in 23rd.
The above description is only one aspect, namely honesty, not yet the other, namely discipline, care for
the environment, love for peace, and others. We still have to re-evaluate what was actually done and
addressed. This research tries to trace from different ways and ways in fostering the character of Indonesian
people in general and students in particular.

B. Theoretical basis
1. The Nature of Language
In Ritonga’s opinion, “Language is a communication tool between community members in the
form of sound symbols produced by human speech tools. The understanding of language covers two
fields. First, the sound produced by the instrument of speech and the meaning or implicit meaning in
the current itself. The sound is a vibration that stimulates our hearing devices. Second, content or
meaning, that is the content contained in the flow of sound that causes a reaction to what we hear.
Henceforth the sound current is referred to as the speech flow” (Rina Devianty, 2017).
Based on opinions expressed by Ritonga, Language is a communication tool in the form of sound
symbols produced by human speech tools. Understanding language were two fields, namely first, the
sound produced by the utterance and the meaning implicit in it and second is the meaning or meaning,
namely the contents contained in the sound and cause a reaction when we hear. Then it can be concluded
that language is a means of community communication in the form of sound symbols produced by
humans and in which there are meanings or meanings that cause reactions when heard.

ISSN: 2005-4238 IJAST

Copyright ⓒ 2020 SERSC 1679
 International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology
Vol. 29, No. 4s, (2020), pp. 1678-1683

2. The Nature of Business

The word processing business is a form of entrepreneurship that has very good potential and
business opportunities and is in demand by the community because of the uniqueness of the words that
are processed and felt to represent the character who bought it.
Entrepreneurship is an important issue in the economy of a developing nation. The economic
progress or decline of a nation is largely determined by the existence and role of this group of
entrepreneurs. Drucker states that the whole process of economic change ultimately depends on the
person who caused the change, namely the “entrepreneur”. Most companies that are growing and that
are innovative show an entrepreneurial spirit. Corporations strive to encourage their managers to
become entrepreneurial people (Sulistyowati, 2016).
Based on the results of a simple survey conducted, the word processing business, whether through
t-shirts, or other souvenirs, is increasing. Business competition becomes very competitive. Starting
from simple reasons such as the hobby of writing beautiful literary words, and the ability to read the
market that highlights the difficulty of someone expressing words directly. Then entrepreneurs who are
able to see this opportunity, make a serious business that is considered very promising. Call it the
Yajugaya (Jakarta) brand, Damn! I Love Indonesia (Jakarta), Gurita T-shirts (Bandung), Dagadu
(Yogyakarta), and the Joger brand (Bali) which for the past 30 years has called its efforts with the Joger
Word Factory. Evidenced by enthusiasm and high demand from the community, the production is
carried out continuously and is always increasing. The idea to always be creative to create words to
think of patents of words that are used due to piracy, makes a challenge for business people if the word
processing.
The focus in this study is on the ability of the user community and readers of words that exist in
the media of t-shirts and other items, to associate these words with 18 characters developed by the
Ministry of Education and Culture.

3. Character
Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia provide a philosophical
foundation and various basic principles in building education. Based on this philosophical foundation,
the national education system places students as creatures created by God Almighty with the task of
leading a dignity and dignified life (Kristiawan, 2016).
Every human being must have a unique character and is different from one another. Human nature
and character are not born by themselves but through a long process as a result of the influence of the
physical and social environment, so that they will cling to themselves and become a characteristic that
is reflected in how a person thinks, behaves, speaks, and behaves in his daily life.
Basically, etymologically the characters come from Latin: “kharasiin”, “kharassein”, “kharax”, in
English: character, in Indonesian: “karakter”, which means to make sharp, make it depth (Juwairiah,
2017) . Whereas in the Psychology Dictionary (Chaplin in Marlina, Nurman, Technology, & Unimed,
2017)), the word “character” which means nature, character, and character has several meanings; 1)
One quality or nature that is permanent and continuous and eternal that can be used as a characteristic
to identify a person, an object or event, 2) Integration or synthesis of individual traits in the form of a
unit or unity, 3) A person’s personality is considered from ethical and moral point of view.
Furthermore, for the understanding of character education Lickona (Aeni, 2014) mentions
“character education is the deliberate effort to help people understand, care about, and act upon core
ethical values”, this means that character education is a deliberate effort to help people understand,
care, and act based on core ethical values.
Based on the understanding in etymology and terminology, it can be concluded that the character
is something that is abstractive and deeply attached to the human soul that can be identified concretely
from the way how humans are patterned and react naturally to the surrounding environment, which
makes the manifestation said to be a personal, behavioral, and characteristic unique someone.
There are 18 characters developed by the Ministry of Education and Culture namely religious,
honest, tolerance, discipline, hard work, creative, independent, democratic, curiosity, nationality spirit,

ISSN: 2005-4238 IJAST

Copyright ⓒ 2020 SERSC 1680
 International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology
Vol. 29, No. 4s, (2020), pp. 1678-1683

love of the homeland, rewarding achievement, friendly / communicative, love peace, love reading,
caring environment, social care, and responsibility (Ambarwati, 2012). These character values will be
naturally implemented by humans naturally based on the situation, under the influence of their
conscious, and the strength of their minds. If these values are able to be implemented in human daily
life, it can be said the humans will have a strong character.
The process of how humans obtain information that affects the process of character formation will
largely determine whether an individual will be of good or bad character. Character will be formed
from habits that are patterned from an early age. The factors that affect character according to Suparno
(Juwairiah, 2017) are:
a. Family
The family is the first place where children are educated and raised, parenting parents are very
influential in shaping the character of children. Parents are people who have the first role in
educating children’s character, which character values will be emphasized at school, need to be
communicated with parents so that there is cooperation, between teachers and parents, for example
at school emphasized so that children respect others without distinguishing skin color, groups,
ethnicities, economics, religion and so on, then parents are also invited to instill this value in
children.
b. School
School is one of the right places to implement character education, every child will take
education or study at school, what is obtained and learned at school will also affect the character
of children.
c. society
The community is also an important educator, if in school emphasizes character education,
while the community does not support or support it, then education becomes heavy or even fails,
for example schools teach the value of brotherhood, whereas in society always seen conflicts
between tribes, children will find it difficult to develop unity, here a lot of problems occur, children
are helped in good schools, but because the environment in the community isn’t good enough, then
the child will imitate the community environment that is not good.
From the description above, human character is not formed by itself outwardly, but can be
determined by elements or factors that influence it such as family factors that are dominated by
parenting, then school factors, the place where character formation is very dependent on the role of
teachers and education formality, and also from the surrounding community, namely where individuals
can implement their character through their behavior, speech, and mindset. These three factors greatly
influence the individual will be of good character or vice versa.

C. Discussion
This study uses qualitative methods, namely surveys and data analyzed with descriptive analysis
methods. The sources of data used are primary and secondary data from surveys, interviews, and literature
studies. The theoretical basis used is the nature of language, the nature of business, and the nature of
character.
Based on the findings in the field related to the word processing business which was reviewed through
surveys in the community, the results can be seen in the following table:
No. Type of Char. Value Percentage
1 Religious 11,4
2 Honesty 7
3 Tolerance 3,1
4 Discipline 1,5
5 Hard Work 9,4
6 Creative 4,4
7 Independencies 3,2

ISSN: 2005-4238 IJAST

Copyright ⓒ 2020 SERSC 1681
 International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology
Vol. 29, No. 4s, (2020), pp. 1678-1683

8 Democratic 5,6
9 Curiousity 2,2
10 Nationality 9,1
11 Love the Motherland 8,6
12 Appreciating achievements 2,7
13 Friendly / communicative 4,8
14 Peace lover 7,5
15 Likes Reading 8
16 Environment Care 4,8
17 Social care 6,2
18 Responsibilities 0,5
Total = 100%

The table above shows the number of community responses related to 18 types of characters. The
highest value was found in religious characters of 11.4% of all findings in this study. The second place is
in the character type of hard work as much as 9.4%, then the spirit of pride is 9.1%, love for the country as
much as 8.6%, likes to read 8%, peace lover 7.5%, honestly 7%, social care 6.2%, democratic 5.6%, friendly
/ communicative and care about the environment have the same value of 4.8%, creative as much as 4.4%,
independent 3.2%, tolerance 3.1%, curiosity 2 , 2%, discipline 1.5%, and responsibility as much as 0.5%.

The findings above can also be illustrated in the following diagram:

Rekapitulasi Nilai Karakter

12
10
8
6
4
2
0

Rekapitulasi Nilai Karakter

D. Conclusion
From the results of the discussion above, the community’s process of obtaining information that affects
the process of character building will greatly determine whether an individual will be of good or bad
character. The character will be formed not by itself but rather influenced by the family, school and
community environment.
Based on research findings, religious character, honesty, tolerance, discipline, hard work, creative,
independent, democratic, curiosity, national spirit, love of the motherland, respect for achievement, friendly
/ communicative, peace lover, love to read, care for the environment, care social, and responsibilities

ISSN: 2005-4238 IJAST

Copyright ⓒ 2020 SERSC 1682
 International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology
Vol. 29, No. 4s, (2020), pp. 1678-1683

represented by the word processing business contained in souvenirs in the form of t-shirts, glasses, stickers,
and so on.

References

[1] Aeni, A. N. (2014). Pendidikan Karakter Untuk Siswa Sd Dalam Perspektif Islam. Mimbar Sekolah
Dasar, 1(1), 50–58. https://doi.org/10.17509/mimbar-sd.v1i1.863
[2] Ambarwati, A. (2012). Penguatan Karakter Gemar Membaca Melalui Cerpen Humor Untuk Anak
sekolah Dasar.
[3] Juwairiah. (2017). Membentuk Karakter Anak Usia Dini dengan Mengenalkan Cerita Rakyat Dari
Aceh. Bunayya: Jurnal Pendidikan Anak, 3(1), 1–18.
[4] Kristiawan, M. (2016). Telaah Revolusi Mental Dan Pendidikan Karakter Dalam Pembentukan
Sumber Daya Manusia Indonesia Yang Pandai Dan Berakhlak Mulia. Ta’dib, 18(1), 13–25.
https://doi.org/10.5772/46145
[5] Marlina, L., Nurman, G., Teknologi, P., & Unimed, P. (2017). Pengembangan Pendidikan
Karakter Dan Kebangsaan Di Smk Pab 1 Helvetia. 1(1), 321–324.
[6] Rina Devianty. (2017). Bahasa Sebagai Cermin Kebudayaan. Jurnal Tarbiyah, 24(2), 226–245.
[7] Sulistyowati, N. W. (2016). ASSETS : Jurnal Akuntansi dan Pendidikan, Volume 5, Nomor 1, April
2016 `. 5(April), 65–72.

ISSN: 2005-4238 IJAST

Copyright ⓒ 2020 SERSC 1683