Intercultural Communication Patterns for the 2021 MBKM PMM
(Independent Student Exchange): Participants at Lambung
Mangkurat University, Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, Indonesia
Harri Yanto and Danang Trijayanto
Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 Jakarta, Indonesia
Keywords: Intercultural Communication, Language, Student Exchange
Abstract: Independent Student Exchange Program (PMM) is a place for students to study through different campuses
outside their area, with a credit transfer system of 20 credits. However, this is a challenge because it is
necessary to know that there are cultural differences that produce miss communication and information
barriers in it. This research aims to determine the Intercultural Communication Patterns of MBKM
participants in the 2021 Independent Student Exchange MBKM at Lambung Mangkurat University,
Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan. This research uses a qualitative method with the object of students taking
part in the PMM Program at the ULM Campus, South Kalimantan. The results showed that communication
between local Banjarmasin students and PMM students experienced communication barriers because of the
use of regional languages in daily activities in conversation or what is called Intercultural Communication.
The effort to overcome these problems is through the adaptation process.
1 INTRODUCTION
In order to improve the welfare of education in
Indonesia, the government has taken various ways
and created many programs, such as in 2021, the
Indonesian government created a program for
lectures known as the Merdeka Campus. The
programs provided are 9 programs such as the
Independent Student Exchange program, Certified
Internship, Indonesian International Student
Mobility, Certified Independent Studies,
Humanitarian Projects, Research or Research,
Village Building (Thematic Community Service
Program), Teaching Campus, and Entrepreneurship.
(Dikti.Kemdikbud.go.id) These 9 programs are
included in the Merdeka Campus program, the
Independent Campus is a program created by the
Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and
Technology (Kemendikbudristek) to provide
opportunities for students in Indonesia to hone their
skills. even better, especially in the world of work.
One of the programs that researchers want to
research is the Independent Student Exchange
Program (PMM) Batch-1, because this program
provides an opportunity for students and students on
the home campus to be able to experience learning
directly on the receiving campus or campus outside
their domicile area, such as university students. from
campus A in Java who were accepted to study at
campus B outside Java, for example, Kalimantan,
from this it could be found several new things that
would be accepted for these students, namely
experiencing first-hand learning on campuses in
other areas, then they will also learn the culture in
which they are placed, and of course, can build the
values of tolerance and unity.
However, it cannot be denied that there are
obstacles that will be experienced by some students
who take part in the program, namely barriers to
cultural differences such as communication, both in
the way they communicate, the language used, and
their communication behavior, for that it is
necessary to know the intercultural communication
patterns of each student This is because each student
has a different communication pattern because they
have different cultures, thoughts/ideas, and ideas,
especially those from various regions, brought
together in one campus which is also on different
islands and different cultures, both in terms of
learning, group and its environment.
Therefore, researchers are very interested in
knowing more about the intercultural
16
Yanto, H. and Trijayanto, D.
Intercultural Communication Patterns for the 2021 MBKM PMM (Independent Student Exchange): Participants at Lambung Mangkurat University, Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, Indonesia.
DOI: 10.5220/0011864500003582
In Proceedings of the 3rd International Seminar and Call for Paper (ISCP) UTA â
˘
A
´
Z45 Jakarta (ISCP UTA’45 Jakarta 2022), pages 16-21
ISBN: 978-989-758-654-5; ISSN: 2828-853X
Copyright
c
 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

communication patterns of the students who are
selected to join the Independent Student Exchange
program who have different campus backgrounds,
different majors, and different cultures placed on
one campus outside their island. Intercultural
Communication is a communication process carried
out by two people or groups, who have different
cultural backgrounds. As stated by Samovar and
Porter (1976:4) they convey that this intercultural
communication occurs when the communicator and
the communicant have different cultural
backgrounds. Therefore, researchers are interested in
knowing the intercultural communication patterns of
the PMMM participants at Lambung Mangkurat
University, Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan. What is
the Intercultural Communication Pattern for the
2021 MBKM PMM participants at Lambung
Mangkurat University, Banjarmasin, South
Kalimantan
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
There are previous studies that investigated the
existence of communication barriers between local
students and overseas students or those who came
from Eastern Indonesia to study there, the obstacles
found were differences in language, speech
intonation, different perspectives, and lifestyles.
Later in the study, he found a pattern of intercultural
communication between Eastern Indonesian students
and local students from the Pancasakti University of
Tegal, namely the pattern of cultural understanding,
in which to achieve this cultural understanding they
carried out various stages such as the first
impression stage, the introduction stage, the
friendship stage and finally at the first impression
stage. cultural understanding (Hesty. 2021) .
Subsequent research also found that there are
communication barriers between cultures such as
local students and immigrant students, where the
barrier is language, as experienced by the immigrant
student, he has difficulty understanding the local
language, because he has a different understanding
and most of the local students use more Slang, so the
newcomer must try to understand it. It was found
that the communication patterns of these students
were primary (direct) and secondary (indirect) /
through the media, and their way to avoid conflict
with these cultural differences was to communicate
with each other, respect each other, maintain kinship
ties, and most importantly, one must be open-
minded (Nadziya, 2021).
3 METHODS
Author uses qualitative research methods and the
research used in this research is descriptive. The
qualitative research method is a method that uses
more analysis of the process and meaning being
studied, according to Prof. Deddy Mulyana, M.A.,
Ph.D. in his book entitled "Qualitative Research
Methodology" 2013 stated that qualitative relies on
cues, social actions, and real or actual speech.
(Mulyana, 2013 page: 150).
3.1 Data Collection Technique
To obtain research data, the author uses data
collection techniques through in-depth interviews by
collecting interviews from several PMM Batch 1
participants who take courses at Universita
Lambung Mangkurat, Banjarmasin, South
Kalimantan. This interview activity is via Zoom,
considering the location of the sources outside
Jakarta. An in-depth Interview according to Prof.
Deddy Mulyana, M.A., Ph.D. is an unstructured
interview that is similar to an informal conversation,
of course, aiming to get certain forms of information
from the respondent, but the order and wording can
be adjusted to the characteristics of the respondents.
3.2 Object of Research
The object of this research is the participants who
take part in the 1st Class of 2021 Independent
Student Exchange program who conduct or take
lessons at the Lambung Mangkurat University
campus, Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan.
The following are the participants:
Name : Yenti Santika
From: Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 Banyuwangi
Domicile : Banyuwangi, Jawa timur.
Courses at ULM: Modul Nusantara
1. Name : Patricia Pavita Saputri
From : Universitas Atma Jaya Yogyakarta
Domicile : Semarang
Courses at ULM: Komunikasi Antarpribadi, Lobi
dan negosiasi, Modul Nusantara dan Komunikasi
Bisnis
2. Name : Firli Juli Prayitno
From: Universitas Bina Insani, Kota Bekasi
Courses at ULM : Pengolahan Citra Digital,
Pengantar Web 1, Organisasi Komputer dan Modul
Nusantara
Domicile : Bekasi
3. Name : Nadia Nur Padila
From : Universitas Djuanda, Bogor
Intercultural Communication Patterns for the 2021 MBKM PMM (Independent Student Exchange): Participants at Lambung Mangkurat
University, Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, Indonesia
17

Courses at ULM : Modul Nusantara, dan Ekonomi
Kependudukan
Domicile : Cileungsi, Bogor
4. Name : Sahal Abdillah
From: Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 Surabaya
Domicile : Pati, Jawa Tengah
4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Verbal and Nonverbal
Communication
Verbal communication is communication that is
usually carried out orally and in writing, such as in
the presence of words, but nonverbal communication
is communication that uses signs, symbols, body
movements, and signs.
According to Nurudin (2016: 120) is a form of
communication that is conveyed by the messenger or
source to the recipient of the message whose
message content is carried out through words both
orally and in writing.
In carrying out learning activities at Lambung
Mangkurat University, PMM Batch 1 students
mostly use verbal communication to discuss either
through writing from WhatsApp or verbally via
zoom.
"Often discussing with friends directly
during zoom, and sometimes discussions
through groups without lecturers, but
sometimes they use their regional language,
so sometimes I get confused about that, but I
ask my local student friends what it means."
(Yenti Santika, 2022. Interview).
Student Yenti said that she often discusses with
her friends using verbal or verbal communication,
such as discussion time in Zoom. Not only through
zoom, but most of Yenti also conducts discussions
with her friends through groups without lecturers,
but because of discussions with local Banjarmasin
students, sometimes there is information or
discussions delivered in their language, so Yenti
finds it difficult. It is understood that local
Banjarmasin students also use verbal or written
communication via WhatsApp groups without
lecturers, to conduct discussions, and use written
language or text in their regional language.
"It's often spoken, yes, when interacting
with lecturers, I often interact verbally via
zoom, where the sharing is spoken, but to
other students, I use chat more often" (Sahal
Abdillah, 2022. Interview).
Sahal can conclude that he often uses verbal
communication to interact with his lecturers, and
with other students, even though he is more active
with students who use the chat.
"When interacting with lecturers, I often
interact verbally via zoom, where the
sharing is spoken, but to other students, I use
chat more often". (Sahal Abdillah, 2022.
Interview).
4.2 The Difference in the Use of
Language in Conversation Becomes
a Communication Barrier for
Newcomer Students
After the author conducted in-depth interviews with
5 PMM Batch 1 students who were the objects of
research, the authors found that there were
communication barriers resulting from the use of
local languages by local Banjarmasin students at
Lambung Mangkurat University, through WhatsApp
group discussions, as conveyed by the resource
person. that is:
"I've met, I often chat in WhatsApp groups,
so when I'm discussing them, local students
often use their local language, I don't
understand that myself, maybe they just see
me from outside, so they often use their
regional language, and that was enough to
prevent me from having a discussion.” (Firli
Juli Prayitno, 2022. Interview).
The communication barrier experienced by Firli
was that during discussions in the WhatsApp group,
most local Banjarmasin students often used their
local language, especially when conveying
information,
"When they are discussing, local students
often use their local language". (Firli Juli
Prayitno, 2022. Interview).
This made Firli not understand the information
conveyed because it hindered Firli from having
discussions with local Banjarmasin students in one
of the ULM courses. So that makes Firli unable to
understand it and finds it difficult to have
discussions with foreign students.
"Yes, at that time, for the first time, I
entered the class group from ULM, if for
example from each course there were
lecturers, some were not, well the first time
the lecturer gave me that information, but
the information was not clear, because they
used Banjar language, then I just thought,
what are we talking about, fortunately, I
have a friend from Kalimantan too, so I can
ISCP UTA’45 Jakarta 2022 - International Seminar and Call for Paper Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 Jakarta
18

ask him”. (Patricia Pavita Saputri, 2022.
Interview).
The communication barrier that Patricia
experienced this time was when there was a lecturer
who used her regional language, namely
Banjarmasin,
"the first time the lecturer gave me that
information, but the information was not
clear, because he used Banjar language, then
I just thought, what are we talking about?"
(Patricia Pavita Saputri, 2022. Interview).
This obstacle can be found when Patricia says
the information is not clear because she uses the
regional language, namely Banjarmasin, so she asks
what it means.
"The lecturer gave me that kind of
information, but the information was not
clear, because I used the Banjar language, so
I just thought about what to talk about."
(Patricia Pavita Saputri, 2022. Interview).
“When going to group activities, group
zooming, I had difficulties, so there was
once a local student who said ulun-ulun,
right there ulun means me, well I thought
ulun was someone's name, finally I was at a
presentation, because failure to understand
their language, I finally tried to ask
Ms.Ulun, it turned out to be a laughing stock
for the people there”. (Sahal Abdillah, 2022.
Interview).
Sahal had difficulty having discussions with
local Banjarmasin students because, at the time of
the discussion, there were local Banjarmasin
students who said ulun-ulun, which Sahal thought
was the name of a person or individual, but ulun-
ulun is a subject word that means me.
"I was having a hard time, so there was once
a local student who said ulun-ulun, right
there ulun means me, well I thought ulun
was someone's name". (Sahal Abdillah,
2022. Interview).
Because he misinterpreted a regional word, Sahal
became a laughing stock, when Sahal wanted to ask
the presenter and he said “ask Ms ulun”. The Ulun
language is a Banjar language which means it refers
to the subject, namely me. (kata.web.id).
4.3 Language Usage
Every human being when carrying out
communication activities will certainly not be
separated from the use of language, because
language is a communication tool or tool for
thinking that allows humans to live in society and
give birth to their culture. (Sadarno, 1982:7).
Because language is a means of communication
or a tool for thinking and giving birth to their
culture, therefore the author finds that local students
and immigrant students both use Indonesian
although sometimes they use regional languages, as
conveyed by Firli, namely:
"I've met, I often chat in WhatsApp groups,
so when I'm discussing them, local students
often use their local language, I don't
understand that myself, maybe they just see
me from outside, so they often use their
regional language. , and that was enough to
prevent me from having a discussion.” (Firli
Juli Prayitno, 2022. Interview)
"Often discussing with friends directly
during zoom, and sometimes discussions
through groups without lecturers, but they
sometimes use their regional language, so
sometimes I get confused about that, but I
ask my local student friends what it means."
(Yenti Santika, 2022. Interview)
It can be found that they often use the regional
language from Banjarmasin to carry out daily
conversations, and the existence of this colloquial
language also has an impact on students from
outside the region who come to study temporarily at
Lambung Mangkurat University.
“When going to group activities, group
zooming, I had difficulties, so there was
once a local student who said ulun-ulun,
right there ulun means me, well I thought
ulun was someone's name, finally I was at a
presentation, because failure to understand
their language, I finally tried to ask Ms.
Ulun, it turned out to be a laughing stock for
the people there”. (Sahal Abdillah, 2022,
Interview).
For example, one of the research sources named
Sahal Abdillah, had the experience of being laughed
at because he misunderstood the local language,
namely the word from "Ulun", which means "I", but
Sahal misinterpreted it by thinking that ulun was a
person's name. Due to cultural differences in daily
conversations, the communication between students
from outside is affected.
The researcher also found a fact that was
experienced by one of the 1st PMM students,
namely Sahal Abdillah, with other PMM students
such as an individual who came from Madura,
according to him the way he discussed with the
lecturers might be for Sahal's area of origin, namely
Intercultural Communication Patterns for the 2021 MBKM PMM (Independent Student Exchange): Participants at Lambung Mangkurat
University, Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, Indonesia
19

Parit, Central Java. not polite, but in Madura, it is
normal or polite for them, because of that he was
surprised but tried to understand the language and
had to be tolerant with PMM students from Madura
and all.
"So there is a PMM student from Madura,
who speaks to the lecturer as being
disrespectful in my opinion, but according to
him maybe it is a polite thing because the
intonation and way of speaking are very
different from what I understand here".
(Sahal Abdillah, 2022. Interview)
4.4 Stereotypes of Students
According to the Big Indonesian Dictionary (KBBI),
a Stereotype or Stereotype is a conception of the
nature of a group based on subjective and inaccurate
prejudices.
The stereotype is a generalized impression of
someone who is seen from his psychological
character or individual personality. (Matsumoto,
Liliweri, 2005).
The author found a stereotype from one of the
1st PMM students interviewed, namely:
"I get stereotypes about Banjarmasin people,
it's a bit loud and a bit loud, but it turns out
that when I did an independent student
exchange in Banjarmasin, it wasn't all like
that." (Patricia Pavita Saputri, 2022.
Interview).
“The stereotype is that "Banjarmasin people
speak a little loudly, a bit loudly." (Patricia
Pavita Saputri, 2022. Interview).
So Patricia experienced stereotypes about
Banjarmasin people, but it turned out that after she
was directly involved in talking with Banjarmasin
people, it turned out that not everything was like
that.
Because he experienced these stereotypes, at first
he chose kind and polite words to communicate with
the Banjarmasin people, even though only through
WhatsApp chat and talking through group
discussion zoom. And that doesn't limit him from
communicating further with them
4.5 How They Deliver the Message
Stereotypes can also be taken from the description of
the way someone conveys a message such as:
"I get stereotypes about Banjarmasin people,
it's a bit loud and a bit loud, but it turns out
that when I did an independent student
exchange in Banjarmasin, it wasn't all like
that." (Patricia Pavita Saputri, 2022.
Interview).
Patricia catches the impression from people that
the Banjarmasin people's way of conveying is a bit
louder and taller. However, when Patricia felt and
interacted directly with the people of Banjarmasin, it
was not all like that.
The same thing was experienced by PMM
students when their class interacted with other PMM
students.
"So there is a PMM student from Madura,
who speaks to the lecturer as being
disrespectful in my opinion, but according to
him maybe it is a polite thing because the
intonation and way of speaking are very
different from what I understand here".
(Sahal Abdillah, 2022. Interview).
What is conveyed by Sahal is a stereotype in
which to get an idea of how the message of people
from the Madura tribe is conveyed. This is
reinforced by a journal that discusses the
communication culture of Madurese in which in his
research he found that Madurese more often convey
messages with a high accent, loudly, quickly, and
directly express their intentions (Mahfudlah, 2016).
4.6 Intercultural Communication
Communication between one party with another
party who has different behavior, attitudes, values,
and culture, is what can be called intercultural
communication. Intercultural communication is the
process of delivering information from
communicators of different cultures/backgrounds to
the communicant, thus requiring agreement and
understanding between each other for effective
communication to occur. This is supported by a
statement from Liliweri (2004:9).
The author finds the occurrence of intercultural
communication between immigrant and local
students and their efforts to adapt so that they both
understand each other, namely:
"After entering the study at ULM, they use
the Banjarese language, so I am interested in
learning the Banjarese language". (Patricia
Pavita Saputri. 2022. Interview).
Patricia at the time of studying at ULM,
experienced intercultural communication because of
the conversation using the Banjarese language
during lessons, while Patricia was a student from
outside Banjar who came to experience learning
directly at ULM. The same thing happened with
other 1st PMM students, such as:
ISCP UTA’45 Jakarta 2022 - International Seminar and Call for Paper Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 Jakarta
20

"Often discussing with friends directly
during zoom, and sometimes discussions
through groups without lecturers, but
sometimes they use their regional language,
so sometimes I get confused about that, but I
ask my local student friends what it means."
(Yenti Santika, 2022. Interview).
Yenti is one of those who experience
intercultural communication, namely the existence
of conversations using different languages, but Yenti
tries to understand it by asking directly the meaning
of their delivery.
5 CONCLUSION
Based on the data that has been successfully
collected, the conclusions of the study are:
1. The first batch of PMM students who were
accepted at Lambung Mangkurat University
experienced Communication Barriers, due to socio-
cultural differences, namely intercultural
communication because immigrant students and
local students had a variety of different cultural
backgrounds.
2. Local Banjarmasin students often use their local
language for daily conversation through WhatsApp
groups, so that newcomers cannot understand
everything.
3. The efforts of PMM students to overcome this are
by adapting and communicating well with other
local students, understanding their culture and
language with a personal approach, and accept
differences in attitudes.
REFERENCES
Mulyana, Deddy. (2007). Ilmu Komunikasi Suatu
Pengantar. Bandung: PT Remaja Rosdakarya.
Nurudin. (2016). Ilmu Komunikasi Ilmiah Dan Populer.
Jakarta: PT. Rajagrafindo Persada.
Alo Liliweri. (2004). Dasar-Dasar Komunikasi
Antarbudaya, Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar.
Alwasilah, A. Chaedar. (1989). Sosiologi Bahasa.
Bandung: Angkasa.
A.Samovar, Larry dan E.Porter, Richard. (2010).
Komunikasi Lintas Budaya : Communication Between
Cultures. Jakarta : Salemba Humanika.
Badudu, J. S. (1987). Inilah Bahasa Indonesia yang Benar
II. Jakarta : PT Gramedia.
Nadziya, Farida. (2021). Pola Komunikasi Antarbudaya
dalam mencegah konflik pada mahasiswa lokal dan
pendatang. E-journal Indonesia Sosial Sains. Vol. 2
No. 10 oktober 2021.
Heryadi Hedi, Silvan. (2013). Komunikasi Antarbudaya
dalam masyarakat Multikultur, E-Journal Kajian
Komunikasi, Volume 1, No. 1, Juni 2013, hlm 95-108.
Prasanti Ditha, (2018). Hambatan komunikasi dalam
promosi Kesehatan program Keluarga Berencana
(KB) IUD Di Bandung, E-Journal Penelitian
komunikasi dan opini public Vol.22 No. 1, Juli 2018 :
52-63.
Komasari Hesty. (2021). Pola Komunikasi Antarbudaya
mahasiswa lokal dengan mahasiswa asal Indonesia
Timur di Universitas Pancasakti Tegal. Ilmu Sosial
dan Ilmu Politik Universitas Pancasakti Tegal.
Fajrie Mahfudlah, (2016). Budaya Komunikasi Warga
Madura (Kajian Komunitas Profesi Pangkas Rambut
Maduram di Kecamatan Tahunan Kabupaten Jepara).
E-Journal Wahana Akademika. Vol. 3 No. 1 april
2016
Nurul Silmi, (2021). Komunikasi: Pengertian Para Ahli,
Fungsi, Tujuan dan Jenisnya. Kompas.com.
https://www.kompas.com/skola/read/2021/08/05/1200
00469/komunikasi--pengertian-para-ahli-fungsi-
tujuan-dan-jenis-
jenisnya?page=all#:~:text=Pengertian%20komunikasi
%20menurut%20para%20ahli&text=C.,secara%20sen
gaja%20dan%20tidak%20sengaja.
Raihan Amalia Yasmin, (2020). Komunikasi Verbal Vs
Komunikasi Non Verbal. Binus.ac.id.
https://binus.ac.id/malang/2020/06/komunikasi-verbal-
vs-komunikasi-non-verbal/
Vanya Karunia, (2022). Hambatan Komunikasi:
Pengertian serta Bentuk Hambatannya. Kompas.com
https://www.kompas.com/skola/read/2022/01/28/1100
00869/hambatan-komunikasi--pengertian-serta-
bentuk-
hambatannya#:~:text=Hambatan%20komunikasi%20a
dalah%20segala%20bentuk,psikis%20dari%20individ
u%20yang%20terlibat.
Husnul Abdi, (2021). Stereotype adalah Penilaian tak
seimbang terhadap suatu kelompok masyarakat,
kenali jenisnya. Liputan6.com
https://hot.liputan6.com/read/4715076/stereotype-
adalah-penilaian-tak-seimbang-terhadap-suatu-
kelompok-masyarakat-kenali-jenisnya
Nikmah Suryandari, (2019).Komunikasi Lintas Budaya.
Surabaya. CV. Putra Media Nusantara.
http://komunikasi.trunojoyo.ac.id/wp-
content/uploads/2019/07/GABUNGAN-BUKU-BU-
NIKMAH-SURYANDARI.pdf
Intercultural Communication Patterns for the 2021 MBKM PMM (Independent Student Exchange): Participants at Lambung Mangkurat
University, Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, Indonesia
21