Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences - Institute of Asian and African Studies

Office: Invalidenstraße 118, Raum 102 (10115 Berlin)

Phone: (030)2093-66021

Office hours: appointment via E-Mail

Education / Studies

Esie Hanstein was born in Pontianak, West Kalimantan. As she was one of the best students in the whole of West Kalimantan when she graduated from school in 1990, she was offered a place to study English at Indonesia's oldest and most prestigious university, Universitas Gadjah Mada in Yogyakarta on Java.

In 1996, she moved to Germany to study German and English at the University of Leipzig, but then quickly switched to teaching herself, working with Prof. Erich-Dieter Krause for the European Social Fund (ESF) to train future media analysts in her native language, Bahasa Indonesia.

Teaching / Certification

After Prof. Krause's retirement, Esie Hanstein took over the entire teaching of Bahasa Indonesia at the University of Leipzig in 2000, both at the Language Institute and at the Oriental Institute (A1 to B2 according to CEFR).

The standardized certification of language skills has always been a focus of Esie Hanstein's work. From 2015-2020, she developed Indonesian language tests for the tourism industry for the Institute for Test Research and Test Development at Leipzig University's Herder Institute.

At the Language Institute of Leipzig University, she has been responsible for the Germany-wide certification of Indonesian language skills according to the CEFR for over 20 years, and since 2023 she has been a commissioned examiner in the language assessment for the recognition of Indonesian as a language of origin at the Saxony-Anhalt State Education Authority.

Publications / Conferences / Memberships

As a translator, she initially worked with her husband on the translation and adaptation of the Leipzig Arabic textbooks into Indonesian. She has also translated short stories and legal texts for GTZ and translated songs into Indonesian.

Esie Hanstein regularly takes part in international conferences and workshops, often as a keynote speaker. She is also an active member of relevant international organizations. For a complete list see here.

Projects

In addition to her teaching duties, Esie Hanstein organized and accompanied high-ranking delegations from Indonesia for the Federal Foreign Office and the DAAD to initiate academic cooperation as well as in the context of interreligious dialogue and in relation to gender mainstreaming, including including the state visit of Indonesian President Yudoyono to Berlin in 2013, with H.E. Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, with representatives of the Mahkamah Syar'iyah Aceh, with representatives of the Aisyiah and with representatives of the Muhammadiyah.

After the 2004 tsunami, Esie Hanstein organized the restoration, digitization and online cataloguing of historical manuscripts in Aceh and later also in Java with funding from the Cultural Preservation Programme of the German Federal Foreign Office.

Social involvement

As a founding member of the "Strahlendes Lächeln e.V." project, Esie Hanstein is actively committed to the sustainable improvement of the dental health of orphans in Indonesia. She has been looking after three orphanages in her home town of Pontianak for several years and has also been able to convince ophthalmologists and dermatologists to volunteer.

In 2021, Esie Hanstein took over the translation of the song created by Peter van Ham into her native language as part of the non-profit initiative "The Seventeen Global Goals Song Project". The song addresses the 17 goals for sustainable development that the UN wants to have achieved worldwide by 2030. There are now two versions of the song with video in Bahasa Indonesia, which can be streamed for the good cause on all popular video and music platforms:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYZdRSPVf3w      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bRx04BzJH8 

Esie Hanstein was accepted into the Berlin Committee for UNESCO Work e.V. in 2024 for her social commitment. The association, which can only be joined via an internal nomination, has set itself the task of making the goals and work of UNESCO visible in Berlin and the surrounding area.

Arrangement of semesters abroad and internships in Indonesia / Networking

Through her diverse and long-standing activities and cooperations in Indonesia, Esie Hanstein has been able to build up a lively academic network, and so she has also made it her mission to actively support her students in their search for universities in Indonesia for semesters abroad and in finding internships in social projects and universities in Kalimantan, Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi, Bali and Lombok.