WHICH ONE IS RIGHT, APOTEK OR APOTIK?

Apotek is Indonesian term for pharmacy or drugstore. In daily basis, Indonesian people often spelled it as ‘apotek’ or ‘apotik’. Some people called it ‘apotek’, while some others called it ‘apotik’. Have you ever thought about the right one? Or, do those terms have different meaning? In order to answer those questions, here is the discussion.

The different way of writing the term ‘apotek’ or ‘apotik’ is an example of misguided case in the use of good and correct Indonesian language. This case can happen in various circles, including mass media. The term ‘apotek’ and ‘apotik’ are absorbed from Dutch term “apotheek” which means to sell and sometimes to dispense medicine. The Dutch term “apotheek” itself is borrowed from Greek term “apotheca” that literally means “storage” or “depository”.

From the original language, we can see that the vowels used on the third syllable is “ee”, not “ie”. According to the guidance and rules of adjusting foreign term to bahasa Indonesia which are already arranged in the Enhanced Indonesian Spelling System (EYD), the vowel “ee” is absorbed in Indonesia to “e”. That is why Indonesian standard word for pharmacy is “apotek”, not “apotik”. Then, the expert in medicine is called “apoteker”, which is absorbed from “apotheker” in Dutch term, not “apotiker”.

All this time, the misguided case in writing word in Indonesian language is considered normal for most people. However, if one keeps doing it repeatedly without no one correcting it, that person will keep thinking that what he wrote is right. As long as other people understand, there will be no problem.

Actually, language is more than just a communication tool. Language is an identity that shows how people think and also a tool to unite the country. If there is difference in writing for only one word in a country -moreover if that word is absorbed from foreign language-, how other countries will perceive us?

Franz Magnis Suseno, S.J. (Indonesia culturist figure) once said, one of factors that cause average people in Indonesia to be less fluent in Indonesia is because they are too lazy to find the right and correct word according to Enhanced Indonesian Spelling System (EYD).

So, Sobat Sehat, you do not want to be considered as a careless person in speaking, do you? Enhanced Indonesian Spelling System (EYD) is not created without thought. That is why Apotek K-24 uses the term “apotek”.

From now on, let’s get used to write “apotek” instead of “apotik” and “apoteker” instead of “apotiker”.