Meet the Team

Team Members

	Sarah Silaban Sarah is a native Indonesian speaker. She holds a degree in Linguistics from The University of Indonesia (UI). During her final semester, she worked part time as an English-Indonesian translator. As soon as she graduated from college, she joined The Language Mission of The US Embassy of Indonesia in Jakarta as a Language Instructor where she taught Indonesian to American staff. Having spent her childhood in Bali and Yogyakarta–of which both provinces are known for their cultural heritage–Sarah was exposed to different cultures and people at very early age. Despite the fact that she had always lived in Java and Bali Islands, Sarah actually belongs to a North Sumatran tribe called Batak.
	Ed Luna Ed Luna, originally from San Diego, California, currently resides in Mokpo, South Korea. He hosts the Indonesian Absolute Beginner and Bootcamp Series, as well as Indonesian Survival Phrases. He holds a doctorate in Linguistics from the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), where he specialized in topics relating to discourse analysis and Austronesian languages, specifically Indonesian and Balinese. He is also an longtime scholar and practitioner of the music and dance from the regions of Bali and Central Java. His future research plans include incorporating how performers frame their interactions and language while rehearsing (and even performing) their arts.
	Ferry Liu Ferry was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, and raised in Sidoarjo. He attended State College of Accounting in Jakarta and Yokohama National University in Japan, where he majored in Economics. He speaks Indonesian, English and Hakka, and has a passion for learning languages and public speaking. Working in the public sector in Jakarta, he enjoys culinary traveling, reading fiction and meditation.