The Homestay Complaint Letter
For the writing section you must produce a 200-250 word letter in Indonesian to a homestay agency. Your host family in Yogyakarta has been kind, but three problems have arisen: the wi-fi only works in the living room, your room has no desk for study, and dinner is served at 5pm, before you return from school at 6pm. The task instructions say the letter must be polite, must request specific solutions, and must not damage the relationship with the family. You have 25 minutes. You are tempted to open with "Saya sangat kecewa" (I am very disappointed) because it feels direct.
1. Should you open the letter with "Saya sangat kecewa"? Explain your choice with reference to the task constraints.
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No. The task explicitly requires politeness and preservation of the relationship, and sangat kecewa frames the whole letter as a complaint about the family rather than a request for help from the agency. It also risks sounding as though the family has behaved badly, when the problems are largely logistical. A better opening acknowledges the family's kindness first, e.g. Keluarga angkat saya sangat baik dan saya merasa diterima, tetapi ada beberapa hal yang ingin saya sampaikan (My host family is very kind and I feel welcomed, but there are a few things I would like to raise). This satisfies the politeness constraint, signals that a request is coming, and keeps the agency as the addressee rather than turning the letter into a confrontation with the family. Directness in Indonesian formal letters is usually achieved through clarity of request, not through blunt emotional language.
2. Draft the three requests so that each is specific enough to be acted on. What makes a request "specific" here?
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A specific request names the problem, the desired outcome and, where possible, a workable option. For the wi-fi: Apakah mungkin dipasang penguat sinyal, atau saya diizinkan belajar di ruang tamu pada malam hari? (Could a signal booster be installed, or may I study in the living room in the evenings?) - problem, two concrete options. For the desk: Saya memerlukan meja kecil di kamar untuk belajar; apakah agensi dapat menyediakan satu? (I need a small desk in my room for study; can the agency provide one?) For dinner: Karena saya pulang sekolah pukul 18.00, apakah makan malam dapat dijadwalkan pukul 18.30, atau makanan saya disisihkan? (Since I get home at 6pm, could dinner be scheduled for 6.30, or could my portion be set aside?) Each request uses a modal question form (apakah...dapat) and offers the family a low-cost alternative, which protects the relationship. Vague requests such as "please fix the wi-fi" give the agency nothing to act on.
3. How would you manage tone and register across the letter, and what would you check in the final two minutes?
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Register: use formal Anda for the agency, keep sentences moderate in length, and use softeners (mohon, apakah mungkin, terima kasih atas perhatiannya). Avoid slang and avoid kamu. Tone: appreciative at the start, factual in the middle, constructive at the end, closing with thanks and a willingness to discuss. Structure: greeting, thanks to the family and agency, three clearly separated requests, closing. In the final two minutes, check four things: (1) word count is within 200-250; (2) each of the three problems is mentioned with a request attached; (3) verb forms and prepositions are consistent (di ruang tamu, pada malam hari, pukul 18.30); (4) no sentence could be read as blaming the family. A quick reread for tone is worth more than adding a fourth idea, because the task rewards control, not volume.