Fax vs Faks: When English Spelling Overrides Indonesian Language Rules

The spelling 'fax' continues to persist widely among Indonesian speakers for several fundamental reasons. First, the word arrived alongside the technology itself — imported fax machines were already labeled 'fax' from the outset, embedding that visual form firmly in users' minds. Second, the dominance of English in business and technical domains leads speakers to retain the original spelling rather than adopt the Indonesianized version. Third, the letter 'x' in English feels more concise, modern, and 'international', creating its own aesthetic appeal. As a result, many people are unaware that the standardized form in Indonesian is 'faks'.

The word 'faks' is a loanword from the English 'fax', which is itself an abbreviation of 'facsimile' — derived from the Latin phrase 'fac simile', meaning 'make alike' or 'make a copy'. Facsimile technology enabled the transmission of documents over telephone lines, and the term 'fax' gained global popularity throughout the 1970s and 1980s. When the word was absorbed into Indonesian, its spelling was adapted to conform to the phonological system of the language, following the rule that the /ks/ sound at the end of a word is written as 'ks' rather than 'x', resulting in the officially standardized form 'faks'.

In the context of Indonesian corporate culture and professional communication, the use of 'fax' reflects a strong tendency to employ English-based terminology as a marker of modernity and professionalism. Official business forms, company letterheads, and office signage frequently display 'No. Fax:' rather than 'No. Faks:', illustrating how deeply this foreign spelling has been internalized in everyday practice. This phenomenon also represents a broader sociolinguistic tension between national language standardization and the pressures of globalization — where foreign technical terms are often absorbed wholesale, bypassing the proper process of spelling adaptation.