The University of New South Wales

Department of Chinese and Indonesian Studies

Terms and Processes in Translation
between Indonesian and English


Richard K. J ohnson

A thesis submitted in fulfilment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy


February 2006

2






Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge the inspiration and help from my
supervisor, Dr. Rochayah machali, from the very beginning of the
work in 1997. In approaching translation, from the mid 1960s I
have been indebted to the late Mr. H.W. Emanuels, lecturer in
Indonesian, and the late Professor A.R. Davis, who taught me
Chinese translation.
3

Synopsis

This thesis aims to examine particular problems that the Indonesian language
poses for translators, whether translating from Indonesian to English or
English to Indonesian. The notation Indonesian~English translation
substitutes the swung dash ~ substitutes for the hyphen -. This notation is used
in this thesis to indicate translation either from Indonesian to English or from
English to Indonesian. It is a convenient way to make it clear when translation
is in both directions.

A multifaceted approach to translation will enable translation to be viewed in
much the same way as the kinds of demands it places on the translator, who
needs constantly to be aware of author~reader, source~target culture, syntax,
semantics, semiotics, even geography and even politics. The use of metaphor
and illustrations to describe the theoretical processes of translation is justified
in the same way that imagery is justified in literature. To go a step further, it
is important to see through the artificial distinction often made between
interpretation and translation, so that translation acquires flexibility and a
deeper ethical structure. A symbolic approach may be used by the translator.,
involving the perception of modules within text, identified with symbols, that
can facilitate the process of translation.

With Indonesian, the influx of foreign words occurred in three identifiable
stages, Sanskrit, Arabic and Dutch/English. In relation to Indonesian~English
translation, the levels of J avanese and the co-existing presence of the J akarta
dialect may be compared to English vocabulary levels, for example Anglo-
Saxon versus Latinate forms. This means an awareness of the existence of
layers on the part of the translator. It does not imply a match between the
layers in each language, philological layers between English and Indonesian,
or strict equivalence between one set of borrowings in English and one in
Indonesian. The hypothesis put forward is that there are advantages for the
translator in being aware of waves of foreign and regional input that are part
of the history of Indonesian as well as English, and that there is potential for
creative utilisation of the resources of the two languages. Although a match
between the layers in each language or strict equivalence between one set of
4
borrowings in English and one in Indonesianis not implied, it is useful to
recognise word origins where this may impact on the appropriate translation.

Examination of the corpus presented in this thesis has shown that the history
of Indonesian words can readily affect their meaning, while the history of
English words may affect the choice of terms/. Nevertheless it has proved
difficult to demonstrate any particular effect of the history or layer of meaning
on the choice of terminology in translation. It seems that once the Indonesian
term has been understood, the translation that will emerge will not particularly
be bound by reference to the history of English terminology. The hypothesis
then may be reduced to an observation that the derivation of Indonesian terms,
like that of English terms, is important in fully understanding the scope of
meaning of the terms.

The other hypothesis in this thesis is that texts or terms can be viewed as a
root system containing various nodes content that the translator can respond to
and wrap into the translated version, with the form of the target text possibly
differing from that of the source text. The process of translation can be
compared to a process of unpackaging various semantic and other elements in
a unit to be translated and repackaging them for the target version. The
undbundling~rebundling hypothesis is in the end a very practical matter. It
aims to enlarge the discretion of the translator to carry over content with
judicious changes in form.

It is fair to summarise examination of the corpus by concluding that evidence
of the need for unbundling~rebundling has not been convincingly presented in
this thesis. It is also fair to say that in general the English translation has
followed the order of the Indonesian original quite closely, and this means
that a process of unbundling~rebundling is often unlikely to be necessary.
Nevertheless the validity of the unbundling~rebundling approach remains,
and if a text requires this kind of analysis there is ample justification for its
use.

5



Contents



Chapter One Introduction

1.1 Aim of the Thesis 8
1.2 Communication Models 9
1.3 The Translation Process 13
1.4 Indonesian~English Translation 20

Chapter Two Literature Review

2.1 Purpose of the Literature Review 25
2.2 Translation Method and the Practice of Translation 25
2.3 First and Second Language Translation 39
2.4 Concepts and Translation 31
2.5 Culture and Translation 38
2.6 Social Aspects 39
2.7 Conflicts in Language Use 47
2.8 Textual Issues 53
2.9 Symbolic Treatment 56
2.10 Language as Art 75

Chapter Three Hypothetical Framework

3.1 Propositions 84
3.2 Hypotheses 86
3.3 Layering 86
6


Chapter Four Methodology

4.1 General Approaches 88
4.2 Methods of Research and Analysis 90
4.3 Ethnographic Methodology 95
4.4 Explanation and Prediction of Translation Processes 96
4.5 Characteristics of English 97
4.6 English as Metalanguage 101
4.7 Characteristics of Indonesian 103
4.8 Semantic and Pragmatic Frames 107
4.9 Culture and Translation 118
4.10 Translation and the Creation of Myth 124
4.11 Translation Style 126
4.12 Selection of Texts 135
129
Chapter Five Case Examples

5.1 Beyond Word Equivalents and Basic Grammar 131
5.2 Options in Indonesian News Reports 136
5.3 Translation of Material on Islamic and Political Issues 142
5.4 Defining Unlisted Terms 159
5.5 Style 162
5.6 The Social Role of Rhetoric 163
5.7 Abbreviations and Acronyms 164
5.8 Translations of Indonesian Documents 171
5.9 Translation from English 179
5.10 Opaque Indonesian Text 180
5.11 Humour 183
7

Chapter Six The Potential Impact of Translated
Items


6.1 Religious and Political Issues 187
6.2 Rules of Rhetoric 189
6.3 Affixes 192
6.4 Translation of Formal Phrases 201
6.5 Poetry 203
6.6 Translation of English Fiction 215
6.7 Indonesian Writing in English 218
6.8 Pramoedya Ananta Toer 222
6.9 Unbundling and Rebundling 228
6.10 Layering 231

Chapter Seven Analysis

7.1 Dimensions of Vocabulary 240
7.2 Undbundling-Rebundling 243
7.3 Symbols, Concepts and Intuitive Factors 248
7.4 The Transeme 250
7.5 Philological Layering and Linguistic Interfaces 262
7.6 The Background of English 266
7.7 Differences Between Indonesian and English 269
7.8 Influences on the Translation Process 270
7.9 Symbols and Culture 272

Chapter Eight Conclusion

8.1 The Layering Hypothesis 284
8.2 The Level of Indonesian~English Translation 287
8.3 Literal Translation and Interpretive Translation 289
8.4 Drafting the Translation 291
8.5 Unbundling~Rebundling 302
8.6 Issues for Indonesian~English Translation 303

Bibliography 309

8







Figures


Figure 1.1 Schramms Communication Model 9
Figure 1.2 A Translation Model 11
Figure 1.3 An Overview of the Translation Process 13
Figure 1.4 The Actual Process of Translation 15
Figure 2.1 Depth of Field 108
Figure 2.3 Fractal Images 111
Figure 2.4 Gunungan 115
46gure 7.1 Bundled Sticks 246
Figure 7.2 Symbols, Concepts and Intutive Factors 249
Figure 7.3 Transeme Root System 251
Figure 7.4 Identification of Relevant Meaning 252
Figure 7.5 Nodes of Elements in a Root System 253
Figure 7.6 Root Systems 253
Figure 7.7 Differing Root Systems and Foliage 254
Figure 7.8 Nodes of Various Kinds 281
Figure 8.1 Analogies of Translation Processes 305


9
Chapter One
Introduction

1.1 Aim of the Thesis

This thesis aims to examine particular problems that the Indonesian language
poses for translators, whether translating from Indonesian to English or
English to Indonesian. The notation Indonesian~English translation
substitutes the swung dash ~ substitutes for the hyphen -. This notation is used
in this thesis to indicate translation either from Indonesian to English or from
English to Indonesian. It is a convenient way to make it clear when translation
is in both directions. Apart from an introductory study of classic translation
difficulties in Indonesian, the approach uses contemporary materials where
there is considerable contact between the two languages and where new
concepts and terminology often emerge. Indonesian magazines and
newspapers, and the Internet, are key sources. Some Indonesian poetry is
examined as a genre that tests the limits of translation. The thesis puts
forward a framework for understanding key elements in translation between
Indonesian and English, and for diagnosing errors in translation and
misunderstandings of cultural events between the Indonesian and Western
culture. The unbundling~rebundling hypothesis developed here provides a
picture of the workings of the translators mind during translation that give a
translator confidence in personal ability to undertake translation effectively.

The thesis, focusing on concepts and structure in translation between
Indonesian and English, also aims to examine problems faced by translators
generally. Out of the research here, propositions have been evolved, supported
by evidence and argument. The capacity of translated documents to acquire
status in their own right as valid texts is one issue. The Bible in English is an
example: extremely exacting demands made of the translation, to the point
where it is as far a word by word rendering as possible, have been allowed
10
because of the sacred nature of the text. The translation then exerts a back-
influence on the language into which it is translated. The standing of the King
J ames version is legendary. In other words a translation can become a
definitive text in the language into which it has been translated. This feedback
concept can be applied to consideration of English semantic, syntactic and
even phonetic influences on Indonesian. One of the implications is that
subsequent translations may be able to utilise terms that have already been
translated rather than having to devise new equivalentsand that the target
language may have undergone partial but definitive change.

1.2 Communication Models

The linear model of communication
1
has a certain applicability to the written
translation situation, but needs to be adapted since there is a strong
concentration on text to text rather than person to person. Schramms early
model of two parties communicating is very simple. It has a source, encoding,
signal, decoding, and destination.


Figure 1.1 Schramms Communication Model


source ------- encoding ------- signal ------- decoding --------
destination


1
For example as shown in http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~culler/cs258-
s99/slides/lec03/, accessed 3 April 2003.

11
The encoding and decoding fields are not directly part of the conceptual
structure of this thesis, although they may relate to the hidden semantic
infrastructure discussed under unbundling~rebundling in following chapters.
Schramms model two encloses the process in a field of experience, and only
the part that lies within the field of experience of both communicators is
communicated. Information theory, deriving from the work of Claude
Shannon and Warren Weaver, marked the beginning of communication theory
proper. Information theory had important applications in engineering and
other disciplines, and it brought in basic terminology, such as source, message,
receiver, information, noise and redundancy.
2
The communication model
involves the source/sender, who needs to encode the message. The message is
influenced by the media. The receiver needs to decode the message sent by
the sender. In the end, the receiver will respond with feedback. The feedback
from the receiver can vary, and the feedback does not necessarily mean that
the receiver will react positively. The audience must be able readily to
understand what is being put to them. In addition, various kinds of noise may
be present to affect the receipt of the message. The communication model can
become part of an interactive marketing communication model. This version
of communication process also depicts a two-way communication. It is also a
loop that starts with the sender, where the receiver on the other side return
responds to the sender. The interactive model appears to have become more
popular with the coming of computer technology and the Internet in particular,
because interaction is now more convenient and economical.

The communication definition is flawed as applied to translation because it
has a double encryption stage which does not involve translation. In
translation the message is actually the target text. The only appropriate
concept is the draft which may be usedand this could involve the use of a
metalanguage in relation to aspects of the source. The result may be shown as
follows, with modular gaps for filling in technical elements as appropriate:

2
www.colorado.edu/communication/ meta-discourses/Theory/infotheory/sld002htm,
accessed 25 December 2003.
12

Figure 1.2 A Translation Model








The world in which the linear model of communication was developed was a
different world in many ways. Waisbord goes to the heart of many
communication issues when he asks whether a prime minister or presidents
broadcasts developed national sentiments, whether Hollywood helped
integrate migrants, whether Life Magazine helped form a national
consciousness. These questions go far beyond what a two dimensional linear
diagram can effectively demonstrate.
Was the globalisation of television responsible for redrawing nationally
bounded cultural maps and heralding a global consciousness? Do new
information technologies generate transnational affiliations and
communities?
3


These questions have been important in communication studies for some time,
and interest travels across boundaries between subjects also. By eliminating
distance and bringing together remote locations, technologies make possible
the development of cultural bends not tied to the immediacy of space.
4
The
technology is not to be equated with communication itself. But
communication relates strongly to technology. Distance however is not to be
eliminated so easily. ustralias interest in Indonesia and Indonesian is related

3
Waisbord, S. 1998, When the cart of media is before the horse of identity: a
critique of technology-centred views on globalisation, Communication Research,
August, vol.25 no.4 p377ff.
4
ibid.
graphics

layout

summary

comment
13
to distance, and the proximity factor appears to have resulted in the significant
research from Australian sources into Indonesian affairs.

The linear communication model is old now. Its usefulness in terms of mass
communication has been marked, and this seems to be because factors like
non verbal communication may not be as important when it comes to mass
communication. Culture, however, is still important, and the nature of the
medium used is very important. The coming of the Internet does mean that the
sender-receiver model of communication is simplistic in terms of
contemporary needs. This does not mean that the model is no longer of any
use. It still represents aspects of the process that is taking place. Problems of
encoding and decoding as well as noise need to be emphasised however. The
fact is that this model is not the whole reality of communication. It is an
approach to understanding communication, and it represents a stage in the
evolution of such approaches.

Marketing is a field where a great deal of work has been done on defining and
understanding an audience. Arguably, linguistic research cannot afford to
ignore marketing research or to consider it too commercialised to be accepted
in the same way as social science research proper. Demographic and
psychographic enhancement data can dramatically improve a target marketing
program because this information is critical to determining what to promote.
The data can be used to create a database and build predictive models
5

Strategic communication standards need to include openness and accessibility,
truthfulness and responsiveness. Lukaszweski argues that communication
priorities in a crisis should emphasise first the people most directly affected
by the crisis, employees, those indirectly affected, and the news media, in that

5
Wheaton, J . 1998, 'Unleashing the Power of Enhancement,' Target Marketing
vol.21, no.10 (October), pp.106-111.
14
order.
6
It should be noted that the concept of priorities in translation is not
represented in the linear model. The concept of stakeholders seems to be
relevant to a translation model also.

1.3 The Translation Process

The process of translation might be pictured in various ways. One way could
be as follows:

Figure 1.3 An Overview of the Translation Process



















6
Lukaszweski., J .E. 1997, Establishing individual and corporate crisis
communication standards: the principles and protocols, Public Relations Quarterly
vol.42 no.3, Fall, pp.7-8.




TRANSLATE

SOURCE TEXT

TARGET TEXT



STYLE
DICTIONARY


CONTEXT


CULTURAL
BACKGROUND
15



It is always worth considering whether a name is appropriate to what it stands
for, and whereas source text is likely to be accurate, it may be questioned on
occasion whether a resulting text is in fact the same as the target. In a
heuristic process the resulting text may well be different from the original
target, and it also needs to be kept in mind that there may be various different
versions of a translation. It is not wise to ignore developments in the
treatment of literature. Modes of poetry is one issuethe end of rhyme and
the change in metre. The rise of the short story and the demise of the long
novel is one thing. Then there is the rise of multimedia and impatience with
wordy writing; and the Internet has meant less reliance on printed forms. All
this means that a translators work is in a different relationship to the world.

Along with these changes there will be other changes, so that the result often
merely approximates the original. This can all come to a head when a word
like becak is to be translated, for example. A becak is a three wheeled vehicle
with a seat for two in the front, with the driver pedalling behind. If the
translation pedicab is used, the impact is misleading, with pedi- of Latin
origin and cab referring to a taxi. Clearly the equivalent tricycle
7
is
inappropriate because it refers to a childs three-wheeler. The word becak can
be retained in the translation with an explanation. This is of course very
different from using an Indonesian word to convey local colour when an
English equivalent is readily availablesay sepeda bicycle, mobil car and
so on.

The following diagram expands elements of a diagrammatic representation so
that what actually takes place in translation becomes clearer. It should be

7
Tricycle is used to explain becak in Echols, J .M., and Shadily, H. 1994, Kamus
Indonesia-Inggris:, 3
rd
edn., rev. & ed. Wolff, J .U., and Collins, J .T., in collaboration
with Shadily, H., PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama, J akarta.
16
noted that although translators need a language study background and also a
certain linguistics background, it is insufficient to regard the conduct of
translation as purely a process of matching linguistic forms to approximate
meaning. An aim of this thesis is to demonstrate that impact and
atmospherics among other elements are key determining factors in
translationand to apply an overall analysis to the conduct of
Indonesian~English translation. The aim is to show that there is useful
comment to be made about the practice of Indonesian~English translation.

Figure 1.4 The Actual Process of Translation

In the above diagram, the arrows identifying the relationships between the
identified elements in the translation process indicate the centrality of the
translator function. This marks the act of communication through translation
as different from communication in general. This diagram however also gives
recognition to the important role of the client, that is the one who
commissions the translation. The client has to be satisfied with the work,
otherwise he or she may not pay for it, or may decline to recommend the
translator or translation firm in future. The translator is central and pivotal
and cannot be dispensed with. The relationship with the client for example is
likely to vary greatly Client involvement may vary from heavy to very slight.

source
text

target text
translator
client
audience
17
The client may be dominant and demand extensive briefing, or willing to let
the translator foresee and handle every possible issue. Nevertheless client has
a key role, and it may well happen that it is the clients interpretation of
audience demand rather than any other interpretation.

In the model put forward here, the convention of left to right is adopted to
avoid possible confusion. A recursive process of comparison and alteration is
however part of the process, something that is quite different from the
consecutive and simultaneous interpretation process. In addition, certain
elements can have their translation deferred, whether because the precise
translation has yet to be decided, because more information is needed, or
because translation of the text as a whole would proceed more efficiently by
being deferred.

There is an argument that traditional linear theories of communication,
persuasion and management cannot sufficiently describe the fluid,
multichanneled and at times disorganised communication in many
organisations.
8
This leads to the idea that chaos theory and complexity theory
may tend to be suitable to the realities of modern day organisational
communication. Instead of attempting to control and forecast communication
and its outcome behavior, communicators can take advantage of the dynamic
and important elements of complex organisations. Complexity theory says
systems are generally not externally controllable.
9
Chaos theory says that the
behaviour of individual elements in systems cannot be predicted and are
beyond our control, even though on the surface they may seem to be orderly
and well-behaved. Chaos theory is the qualitative study of unstable aperiodic
behavior in deterministic nonlinear dynamical systems which are complex
but not random. It is important to consider that small variations in initial

8
Gayeski, D.M., and Majka, J . 1996, Untangling communication chaos: a
communicator's conundrum for coping with change in the coming century,
Communication World vol.13 no.7, September, pp.22-25..
9
ibid.
18
conditions can result in huge transformations in consequent events.
10
The
press immediately becomes obvious as a medium for the firm's message,
alongside the visual media and the graphic imagery of advertising. A two
dimensional, or even one way, model can represent a view of the real world,
and can be a valid view. Where the linear model could fail is in the eyes of
those who may take it as an accurate and comprehensive view of the process
of communication.
Fillmore notes the importance of the level of language to which the student is
exposed, and holds that the realistic assessment of quality has often been
swamped by devotion to particular methodologies on one hand and by
unwillingness to hold up high academic standards on the other.
11
It is strange
that the idea of quality is so valued in production and management and so
little esteemed in theoretical discussions of language. In applying for a job,
for example, 'you will tend to be at an advantage the closer your habitual
English usethe one in which you were brought upis to standard
English.'
12
To evolve a realistic theory of quality in translation, it is important
to have in mind a social background where bilingualism is readily but quite
uncritically recognised. Novelty becomes more important than quality.
Foreign languages, and particularly Oriental languages, can acquire a
mystique perhaps best described in terms of an Ooh-ah phenomenon where
they are held to have a difficulty that marks practitioners of translation in
those languages as particularly talented. Possibly sometimes out of hubris,
translators can foster this image, but as a general principle supported in the
course of this thesis translation had best let the mundane and ordinary in one
language remain mundane and ordinary in the other, while directing attention
to various core elements of meaning that are genuinely difficult to translate.

10
www.duke.edu/~mjd/chaos/chaos.html., accessed 3 October 2003.
11
Fillmore, L.W. 1991, 'Second-Language Learning in Children: A Model of
Language Learning in Social Context,' E. Bialystok ed., Language Processing in
Bilingual Children, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, pp.128-33.
12
Thwaites, T., Davis, L., and Mules, W. 1994, Tools for Cultural Studies: An
Introduction, Macmillan Australia, Melbourne, p.186.
19

Both to the translator working through difficult material and to the reader who
has to come to terms with new sets of concepts, the idea of an incremental
process of understanding seems to characterise the learning process. To take
an example from language learning, learners seem to come to know grammar
through hearing things they understand but which are a little above what they
knew. Swain and Lapkin have argued that comprehensible input is not alone
sufficient to explain the development of grammatical knowledge, because
native-like standards can be achieved by receptive skills. To perform in a
language needs more complex skills than to comprehend. note that the role of
input in second language learning can be enhanced as learners notice
problems in producing target language utterances, and they may turn to input
with more focused attention.
13
So actually producing the new language is
essential in order to provide practice in its use. Learners may raise their
awareness of new input through producing the new language, but if they are
always able to turn to a handy equivalent, there may be a drag on their
development in the new language. Childrens English is unlikely to be good
enough to stand alone in the first few years, and code switching is an obvious
mechanism. What this implies for Indonesian~English translation is an
awareness of the processes involved in comprehending and then using the
second language.

The quotation a translation is no translation unless it will give you the music
of a poem along with the words of it
14
represents a noble aim, but in practice
it may be very difficult to ensure both the words and the music at the same
time. And it just may not be possible to capture the music of a poem at all.
Yet somehow a reader may hope to find such a translation for a poem. A
witty observation of a certain piece of work was that the original is

13
Swain, M. & Lapkin, S. 1995, Problems in Output and the Cognitive Processes
They Generate: A Step Towards Second Language Learning, Applied Linguistics
vol.16 no.3, p.386.
14
J ohn Millington Synge (1871-1909), in 1907. Augarde, T. 1991, The Oxford
Dictionary of Modern Quotations, Oxford University Press, Oxford, p.289.
20
unfaithful to the translation.
15
This remark is not without relevance to cases
where a translation has become accepted as the representation of a writers
work. The King J ames version of the New Testament is an example and the
Quran is the opposite example, where traditionally the original Arabic text
should be used. The most insidious and influential supplanting of an original
by a translation may be in the semantic area, where terms may be held to
contain various implications that are unlikely to have been present in the
original, whether anachronistically, through English interpretations placed on
koine Greek terms or through harmonisation of different versions. made the
memorable remark, the only tribute a French translator can pay Shakespeare
is not to translate him.
16


A meaning oriented approach is reflected in the flexibility of Yen Fus
translation approach. Yan Fu (1853-1921) translated into Chinese Thomas
Huxley's Evolution and Ethics Herbert Spencer's Study of Sociology, Adam
Smith's An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, J .S.
Mill's On Liberty and Montequieu's De l'Esprit des Lois.
17
Yan Fu
concentrated on transmitting the meaning of the original texts, but since he
did not know English or French had to rely on interpreters.
18
It was primarily
the meaning of these texts that was transmitted to Chinese readers at a critical
stage of the nations intellectual development, substantially dissociated from
the form of the original text. If, despite the role of Yan Fus style in creating
an impact on the readership, the translation may have diverged from the
original to whatever extent, it is still reasonable to conclude that the task of
translation was worth carrying out. There may be a lesson here that the
impact of a translation may outweigh any minor problems with the text.


15
J orge Luis Borges (1899-1986), in E. Knowles, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of
Quotations, 4
th
edn., Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2000, p.64.
16
Max Beerbohm (1872-1956) in 1899. Augarde, op.cit., p.30.
17
Xinhua 19 Nov 2001.
18
Schwartz, B. 1964, In Search of Wealth and Power: Yen Fu and the West, Harvard
University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

21
Another issue in relation to the impact of a translation is the method
employed. The concept of unbundling~rebundling in this thesis in simple
terms means breaking down elements in meaning in the source text and
reassembling them in the target text, rather than concentrating on word to
word equivalents. The thesis also develops the concept of layering in
Indonesian and English. These concepts are explained in Chapter 3 and
following chapters.

The discipline of linguistics has grown and spread rapidly in the last several
decades. There are a great number of theories of language. A feature of a
good theory is that it is not only accurate but neat and economical. To amplify
this criterion, one could add that where terms used can be simplified so that
they are clear and unambiguous, this should be done. In other words there is
little point in inventing new terms for old phenomena. The emphasis in this
thesis is on the practice of translation: what works and what may work better.

Words will translate differently according to their function in the sentence and
in the broader utterance. Since it is written translation that is the primary
concern here, that utterance may take the form of a document. It may well be
that the translator will prefer to work with the lengthy report form rather than
with the repetitive documents that take so much administrative time by
comparison with the actual work of translation. However the fact is that
document translation is an ongoing need which the qualified translator is able
to meet. Having advertised translation services, the translator may find it
difficult to avoid translating at least some official documents for clients.

1.4 Indonesian~English Translation

Indonesian~English translation will take place in an age of constructive
description and imagery. It is an age of postmodernism or the deconstruction
of a translation infrastructure, but an era of strong continuity both in the
22
English-speaking world and in Indonesia. The pattern of continuity includes a
self-conscious treatment of Indonesian terms to a degree that often means that
the internationalist tendencies in Indonesian are exposed in its coverage of the
affairs of international organisations.

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis sees a systematic relationship between the
grammatical categories of a persons language with the persons
understanding and behaviour.
19
Whorf argued that thought and action were
linguistically and socially mediated, and the world is presented in a
kaleidoscopic flux of impressions which has to be organised by our minds
and this means largely by the linguistic systems in our minds.
20
At the same
time there is a quite different tendency with regard to English expressions and
even ways of thinking flow relentlessly into Indonesia. English infiltrates
Indonesian. English alters Indonesian. English corners Indonesia, limits
Indonesian. English gives freely but takes little. In very broad terms, this can
be compared with the influence of Romance languages on English. Within the
archipelagoNusantaraIndonesian permeate regional linguistic life.

It remains true that the Indonesian translator of English is following a course
which is likely to win social acceptance across a wide variety of fields. The
translator of Indonesian on the other hand has a narrow specialisation of
mainly academic interest. The social function of translation in each country is
different. The rewards of translation differ: there is the commercial versus
artistic pride, or routine work versus academic study.

This thesis aims to depict the art of translation as it applies to the two
languages Indonesian and English. It aims to draw out of that process various

19
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapir-Whorf_hypothesis. Edward Sapir (1884-1913)
and Benjamin Whorf (1897-1941).
20
Whorf, B.L. 1956, Language, Thought, and Reality: Selected Writings of
Benjamin Lee Whorf, Carroll, J .B., ed., MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, pp.
212214.

23
issues that give appropriate depth to Indonesian~English translation. It aims to
open up bundles of meanings and symbols and suggest how the bundles might
be put together in ways that imitate the actual processes of translation.

A map of Australia superimposed on a map of Indonesia would reveal that
Australia has a large land area as against Indonesias large sea area. For both
nations, it would reveal a very wide national coverage of the national
language. What it does not reveal is the weight of Australias language
internationally when it is considered alongside the other English speaking
nations. Yet to take a different picture, when Indonesia is considered against
Southeast Asia then its own body of Indonesian speakers carries considerable
weight. Indonesian does not have the international significance that English
has, but in a regional context it is of considerable significance. As this thesis
will show, the Indonesian language contains not only strains of the Malay that
has been a lingua franca for the archipelago, but definite components from the
influential J avanese ethnic group, and a rich conceptual heritage from India.
The extension of Islam into Indonesia has left a sizable stock of Arabic terms,
enabling the language to be potentially a step closer to Middle East thinking
than English is. These could be the elements of a map of a kind. Conventional
maps are based on equating a unit of map length to a much larger unit of
mapped territory. Scientists also use a nonlinear map, the logarithmic scale,
which enables an effect comparable to the background mountains and
foreground trees in a perspective paintingthe tiny mountains in the
background and the large tree in the foreground do not follow the same linear
scale, but assume a reality based in perceptual experience and the rules of
perspective painting. The logarithmic scale however as a single line marked
at equal intervals can appear either as a straight line or a curve.
21
If various
nations could be represented physically on a map in terms of their importance
to J akarta or to Canberra, they would appear very differently. In terms of
language, the translator operates in a world of considerable precision, but at

21
G.C. Strait, 2000, Mapping Our World, World and I vol.15 no.9, Sept, p.156ff.
24
the same time that same world is subject to various kinds of indirect and
imperceptible influences.

Indirectness in Indonesian partly relates to cultural differences within
Indonesia. In any case it should be seen within an overall cultural and
symbolic context where the intended meaning is still conveyed. This applies
also to the presentation of different versions of situations. The generalisation
that Indonesians are indirect needs to be treated with caution. This is true for
other generalisations regarding both languages. And yet without some kind of
generalisation regarding culture it may be difficult to go very far in portraying
one set of cultural symbols to people who use another set.

One of the major problems in producing good text in the target language is
consistency of word usage, or style. Venuti favours translation that shows
differences between languages, and he deplores fluent translation in the sense
of translation where the text becomes in effect totally just a text in the target
language, with loss of meaning of course.
22
Yet there are many demands for
translation, many audiences, and many translators.

There are some Indonesian words, including some J avanese words, that seem
to depict situations and movement that do not quite fit well into English and
need special treatment. Wayang, gotong royong and other Indonesian national
symbols are relevant.

This thesis explains the possibilities of analysis of translation units
transemesin terms of modules and submodules that may be identified and
then reformed in the target text. Symbols are a way in which the translator can
handle complex groups of meaning. Semantic interactions from syntactic
equivalents and move towards .


22
Venuti, ed., The Translators Invisibility pp.1-2.
25
The importance of translation can perhaps nowhere better be seen than in
dealings between governments, where each side should at least understand
what the other is saying and ensure that its own views are properly
represented. It does not seem a satisfactory approach for say Australia to
imitate indirect phrasing used by J avanese political figures. A nation ought at
least to express itself in its own language and its own terms, however much it
may learn to understand the nuances of utterances by another nation. Yet it
appears that the diplomatic and linguistic expertise of an embassy is capable
of going beyond transmitting government statements on both sides, and
actually colouring them to achieve particular aims. This colouring will often
involve omission of fact and change of tone, with unconscious bias in
translation. Further, by selective translation of articles from the press. This
comes down to language performance if there is evidence of distortion of
meaning and attitudes in oral interpretation or in written translation.

This thesis employs two perspectives in examining issues in
Indonesian~English translation, that is the unbundling~rebundling concept
and the layering concept. With unbundling~rebundling, the process of
translation can be compared to a process of unpackaging various semantic and
other elements in a unit to be translated and repackaging them for the target
version. Elements of the source text may be rearranged in the target version.
Layering here refers to waves of foreign and regional input as part of the
history of Bahasa Indonesia as well as English. There are advantages for the
translator in being aware of this layering process in the two languages. There
is a potential for creative utilisation of the resources of the two languages in
line with resources of vocabulary. Knowledge of word origins where this
may impact on appropriate translation. The two hypotheses based on the
unbundling~rebundling concept and the layering concept are set out in
Chapter Three.
26

Chapter Two
Literature Review


2.1 Purpose of the Literature Review

The literature review sets out a broad foundation to explain the setting in
which the thesis develops its themes. One theme is the existence of words of
foreign origin in both Indonesian and English, and the way in which the
history of words can affected meaning in translation. Another theme is the
view of texts or terms as a root system containing various nodes of mainly
semantic content that the translator can unbundled or respond to and then
rebundle into the translated version, with the form of the target text possibly
differing from that of the source text. Metaphor is part of the art of conveying
the essence of the original. This literature view has a broad scope. This is
because translation as a practice and as an art has potentially a very broad
scope.

2.2 Translation Method and the Practice of Translation

Vinay & Darbelnet describe seven translation methods in increasing order of
difficulty.
23


borrowing To overcome a lacuna, usually a metalinguistic one (e.g.
a new technical process, an unknown concept), borrowing
is the simplest of all translation methods.
calque a language borrows an expression form from another, but
then translates each of its elements literally.
literal translation this is more convenient between members of the same
language family; it is frequently enabled by similarity of

23
Vinay, J .-P., and Darbelnet, J . 2004, A Methodology for Translation, tr. Sager,
J .C., and Hamel, M.-J ., in Venuti, ed. , The Translation Studies Reader, pp.128-137.
27
thought and structure.
transposition transposition is the replacement of one word class with
another without changing the meaning of the message.
modulation modulation is a variation in the form of a message that
occurs because of a change of viewpoint. It is typically
used when a translation though correct is unidiomatic or
awkward. Fixed modulation will occur in accordance with
frequency of use, general acceptance, and confirmation
from dictionaries or grammar references. Free modulation
will tend to use optional means to attain a suitable
translation.
equivalence Vinay & Darbelnet argue that most equivalent phrases
between languages will be fixed by the phraseological
repertoire of a language, and in any case the translator
would be advised to use traditional forms of expression
rather than emulate the creative writer.
adaptation a correctly translated text without adaptation may be done
by a translator who has not ventured into the world of
oblique translation.

These seven approaches are useful ways of viewing translation, although
logically any list of approaches to translation and translation methodologies
ought to be open-ended, because definitions of translation itself vary and
approaches may be categorised in different ways.

McCarthy & ODells treatment of another formal aspect of vocabulary, word
formation, can provide a useful basis for the translator to build a comparative
perspective of the way in which English and Indonesian form words from
sememes and morphemes. English is the object of study of so many students
that there is naturally a tendency for there to be extensive compilations of
materials that form overall a characterisation of the English tongue.
24
Such
treatments of concepts, feelings and actions offer an excellent base for the
compilation of a resource that might be described as a bilingual thesaurus if
such a resource is undertaken. Whether the translation is from Indonesian or
into Indonesian, there will naturally tend to be reference back and forth
between English and Indonesian bodies of knowledge and skill.


24
McCarthy, M., and ODell, F. 1994, English Vocabulary in Use, Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge.
28
In an ethnographic context, Porter considers that translators like researchers
are often seen as technicians who are in a short term capacity. However just
like researchers they do not just mechanically arrange information: they
construct research concepts. Yet the circumstances of their tenure could
influence the resulting translation work.
25


Artemeva in relating field experience with translation from Russian noted that
Canadian managers often found format and sequence in reports to be artificial
and not always logical. Templates should be used as guidelines to help writers
focus on sections rather than as rigid frameworks.
26
In a working context,
however much cultural tolerance people may have, it can be difficult to have
to reconcile very different formats with the structural requirements in ones
own office. Artemeva as writing consultant and cultural interpreter focused
on the translation layer between the Russian and English versions of reports,
communicating differences between Russian and English grammar and
rhetoric to both the Russian translator and the Canadian managers and group
leaders.

What is particularly useful about Artemevas impressions is that they derive
from the practice of translation and analysis of translation. Artemeva sees the
Russian and English grammatical systems as fundamentally different, a
statement that in a context of the languages of the world is surely hard to
justify, especially given the genetic relationship between the two languages.
Yet it remains true that if grammatical systems do not match they can cause
problems for the translator, whatever the degree of difference. It is
particularly useful then that Artemeva goes on to speak of issues that are less
able to be quantified or specified. The six issues listed in fact would often be

25
Porter, M. 1994, 'Second-hand Ethnography': Some Problems in Analysing a
Feminist Project', in A. Bryman and R. Burgess (eds.), Analysing Qualitative Data.
London: Routledge, cited in Temple, B. 1997, Watch your tongue: issues in
translation and cross-cultural research, Sociology vol.31 no.3, August, pp.607-618.
26
Artemeva, N. 1998, The writing consultant as cultural interpreter: Bridging
cultural perspectives on the genre of the periodic engineering report, Technical
Communication Quarterly, Summer, vol.7 no.3 p.285ff.
29
relegated to the category of style, possibly because they are more readily felt
or learned by experience than derived from analysis, and yet they are factors
which may more readily capture reader attention that sheer grammatical
correctness: the degree of shared knowledge between reader and writer; the
top-down approach in North American technical texts versus the
chronological approach in Russian scientific texts; one paragraph, one idea
in English technical and academic writing versus the looser paragraph
construction in Russian scientific texts; subsections; the English one
sentence, one concept versus long compound sentences in Russian; and the
theme/rheme distisnction in Russian and English.
27
The value of this analysis
is that it comes from the actual practice of translation as opposed to
theoretical work which may often be found to be of little relevance to the
actual work of translation.

There is a great deal that is routine in the translators workTemple argues that
the translator will have a far more important role than merely that of a
technical worker, and also that the involvement of interpreters and translators
is bound to alter the nature of research and also the theoretical perspective
involved.

Translation/interpretation is inseparable from the application of a theoretical
perspective. Both provide accounts which assume a position that has been
constructed using a different language. If language constructs as well as
describes a society, the figure of the interpreter/translator must come out
from behind the shadows.
28


Temple reasons that researchers who need to use translators should debate
conceptual issues with the translators. Moreover the reason for anxiety
should not be the translation of words but an alien framework of thought
which is based upon an alien set of universal principles about the world.
29



27
ibid.
28
Temple, op.cit., pp.607-618.
29
ibid.
30
It is natural to think in terms of what is known, but new concepts and
practices may emerge to influence translation, with the computer and the
Internet for example. Developments with regard to symbolism for example
could mean significant changes in translation.

2.3 First and Second Language Translation

Whether translation should be entirely into the native language of the
translator is a vexed question to which there will probably not be one clear,
definitive answer. Not all translation needs to be of literary quality, and
translation will often be a commercial undertaking where various other factors
are important. Comprehension in a first language may be superior to that in a
second language. Skill in composition does not necessarily equate with first
language competence; and it cannot always be assumed, even if a translator
has balanced bilingual skills, that either of the two translation languages are at
a very high level. Editing of a translation will often be carried out by someone
other than the translator. The question of second language competence may be
summed up by asserting that a well composed, natural target text is much
easier to achieve translating into the first language.

native writers can manipulate all the devices that go to make up natural-
looking texts. The same case could be argued at finer levels of linguistic
analysis; first language writers are, presumably, less likely to make
grammatical errors and unfortunate vocabulary choices than second
language writers.
30


Yet in practice economic and administrative factors mean that translation will
often be required into the second language, where despite advantages of
probably better comprehension of the first language source text there is the
difficulty of composition into the second language.
31



30
Campbell, S. 1998, Translation into the Second Language, Longman, London. p.
57.
31
ibid.
31
Structure within a language, however complex, seems to cause little difficulty
for native speakers. However it may often be difficult for foreigners to
replicate or master that structure. This can imply difficulty in translating from
the structure of one language to another. The question of the use of di- versus
me- in verb formation, with associated fine distinctions of meaning, has been
set out well by Bambang Kaswanti Purwo,
32
and the translator will understand
the use of these forms. In translation, however, it is important not to be
restricted, for example, by invariably translating di- with an English passive.
It is important to convey the emphasis in an Indonesian sentence appropriately
in English, and an active~passive distinction may be inadequate to convey
what the Indonesian conveys.
33


The requirement for good translation could be expressed as the requirement
for a good translator who is aware of the linguistic subtleties involved, who
knows both languages well and who can write well in his or her own language.
This is a requirement for an authentic translation. It is very different from the
production of a failure to be authentic, that may be called a fake version.

When an object was authentic, say, in a homogeneous society of the past, the
object had an integrity in itself, between the materials, the structure, the way of
making, and the shape. To compare, today, when the development of
technology has provided with the means of communication, transportation, and
of construction, the integrity of an object is a difficult goal to achieve. When
we try to create a conventional form, there tends to be a discrepancy in the
product, for we have already changed the materials and means of construction,
thereby creating a fake. The piece may visually resemble the original, but is
quite different from the original in how it is made.
34


Translation aims to produce an authentic version rather than a fake. A
translation can be a work of considerable artistic achievement. In translation it

32
Bambang Kaswanti Purwo. 1989, Diatesis Di Dalam Bahasa Indonesia: Telaah
Wacana, [tr. as Voice in Indonesian: A Discourse Study] Serpih-Serpih Telaah
Pasif Bahasa Indonesia (A Fragmentary Study of the Passive in Indonesian),
Kanisius, Yogyakarta, pp. 345-441.
33
The passive is discussed further in Chapters 5 and 7.
34
Handa, R. 1999, Against arbitrariness: architectural signification in the age of
globalisation, Design Studies vol.20 no.4, J uly, pp.363-380.
32
seems that the process is best into ones own language, essentially because
one will tend not to make mistakes in ones own language. This is true except
where it is not true. It is certainly true that a translation into the translators
mother tongue will appeal more to an audience. It can be racy, immediately
comprehensible and of course quite grammatically correct and natural. The
catch is of course that audience will not be able to judge how the translation
compares with the original. On the other hand a translation out of the
translators native language will not be likely to misinterpret the original, but
it may well alienate the esthetic sympathies of the audience, who may feel
that the translation is clumsy, incomprehensible in places, and inappropriate
in diction. The audience would rather have the translation done by their own
translator. Yet somehow neither translator is entirely satisfactory. To attempt
to solve this dilemma by speaking of a bilingual translator is to speak of hens
teeth, and this especially applies where there is one Asian language and one
European being considered. Cultural and linguistic amphibians to the degree
of intellectual attainment required for excellent translation seem to be
exceedingly rare.

2.4 Concepts and Translation

Concept charts may be best perceived by foreign speakers but require
authentication by native speakers, who can affirm taxonomic relationships.
Illustrated dictionaries are a useful resource. This can indicate problem areas
and outline possibilities, although not necessarily enable translation without
further verification. Symbolic representation systems are not generally well
developed, and it remains true in general that the translator will be left to
handle translation of concepts on an ad hoc basis. Graphic dictionaries can be
useful in technical translation. Line drawings tend to be convenient. The
Chinese work cited here contains an exhaustive coverage over about 560
pages. However pictures tend to be dated, with drawings of record players and
typewriters as well as many mechanical devices, and the drawings often
33
strongly convey Chinese characteristics. There is very detailed coverage of
objects. The Chinese graphic encyclopedia is presented in painstaking and
orderly detail. The problem with it is that it quickly becomes tedious.
35
This
sort of graphic information should be presented alongside verbal definitions
so that they are readily accessible. Another important principle is that they
should be edited for relevancepartly to avoid overly technical detail and
partly to ensure correct semantic placement.

Although it was a bible for many students of Indonesian, and it had little
competition in its time, Echols and Shadilys 1963 edition has a poor analysis
of word equivalents and a simplistic taxonomical arrangement that apparently
derives from listings of uncritical catalogue card entries. For example the
simple and basic word baik is explained as follows:
36


1. good, nice Ia orang baik, Hes a good man.
2. well Saya tak bisa melihat baik, I cant see well.
3. nice Guru baik sekali kepada saya, The teacher was
very nice to me.
4. well (of health) Apa ia sudah baik lagi dari penyakitnya? Has he
recovered from his illness?
5. yes, all right Baik, tuan, saya mau pergi. All right, sir, Ill go.
6. better Baik kita tunggu. Wed better wait.
7. favourable (of weather)

There is little point in differentiating good, well, and nice, for example,
because dealing with such minor variations in form and meaning should be
readily familiar to competent language students. To examine the examples,
being good to someone appears in no.1, so that no.3 may not be necessary.
Nos.4 and 6 may be useful in showing the usage of the word baik. No.2 may

35
Hanyu Tujie Cidian (Chinese Dictionar in Diagrams)Shanghai Cishu
Chubanshe, 1995, pp.442-446see p.482.
36
Echols, J .M., and Shadily, H. 1963, An Indonesian-English Dictionary, 2
nd
edn.,
Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York. The author of this thesis wishes to take
the opportunity to record his debt to this dictionary. However much it has needed
improvement, the fact remains that it was a fundamental reference for the study and
use of Indonesian for the following thirty years or so.
34
readily be guessed, as with nos.5 and 7. To summarise, baik means good,
well, and its usage can be illustrated by nos.1, 4 and 6.

There are many such examples in the dictionary, probably showing the
method of compilation. To go to the 1989 third edition, baik is explained as
good, fine, kindhealthyyes, all right. The examples are better
chosen than in the 1963 edition.

Echols & Shadilys 1994 Kamus Indonesia-Inggris: An Indonesian-English
Dictionary is an important work. Salims 1993 Advanced English-Indonesian
Dictionary is valuable. The Indonesian language Kamus Besar is may be said
to be quite invaluable. These thrree key dictionaries may be listed as follows:

Echols, J .M., and Shadily, H. 1994, Kamus Indonesia-Inggris:, 3
rd

edn., rev. & ed. Wolff, J .U., and Collins, J .T., in collaboration with
Shadily, H., PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama, J akarta.

Salim, P. 1993, Advanced English-Indonesian Dictionary, 4
th
edn.,
Modern English Press, J akarta.

Tim Penyusun Kamus Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa.
1988, Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Departemen Pendidikan dan
Kebudayaan: Balai Pustaka, J akarta.

For an English thesaurus treatment, a listing can be carried out literally or in
the form of the Microsoft Word thesaurus, which jumps from word to word
and finds correspondences. Use of a thesaurus implies taking time to consider
alternatives and may not always be possible in the context of urgently
required translation. Two could have some use, Harimurti Kridalaksanas
Kamus Sinonim Bahasa Indonesia
37
is an alphabetically arranged dictionary
of synonyms, from Indonesian to English. The Tesaurus Bahasa Melayu,
38


37
Harimurti Kridalaksana. Kamus Sinonim Bahasa Indonesia, Seri Data Dasar No.2
Lembaga Riset Kebudayaan Nasional and Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia,
Penerbit Nusa Indah, Ende, Flores, 1974.
38
Madya Noor Ein Mohd Noor, ed. in chief, 1992, Tesaurus Bahasa Melayu, Times
Books International, Singapore.
35
entirely in Malay and also arranged alphabetically, is useful. Sarwono
Pusposaputros Kamus Peribahasa
39
is valuable for reference, probably more
for understanding Indonesian expressions rather than as a source for
expressions to be used in translation.

The English and Indonesian vocabulary in Parnwells Picture Dictionary
40

could give the impression that equivalent terms for objects are the normal
pattern between the two languages. However even if the pictures are constant
throughout a multingual series, they are sufficiently clear and represent
sufficiently common objects that little bilingual challenge is presented. The
picture dictionary would no doubt be useful to learners of Indonesian or
English, and occasionally to translators. The 1992 Tesaurus Bahasa Melayu
is alphabetically arranged, but could be useful in defining a list of Malay
words, especially those of Arabic origin, which are distributed differently
from Indonesia. The 1989 Kamus Dwibahasa (English-Malay) is similarly
useful.
41
Simanjuntaks Kamus Sinonim Antonim
42
follows an English to
Indonesian format. It gives synonymous Indonesian equivalents for English
terms, with English meanings, followed in many cases by terms that are
supposed to be antonyms. The English antonyms are sometimes defined in a
shaky manner, as can be seen from the antonym rejoicing given for the term
complaint, and chipher [sic] as the antonym for decipher. All in all the
dictionary is strongly biased towards English. This kind of dictionary may be
useful to translators who are natives of either English or Indonesian, but when
even the compiler of the dictionary displays some lack of language
competence, and when the basis of the dictionary is words that are translated
and acquire synonymous terms, the strong lodes of meaning that underlie

39
Sarwono Pusposaputro, comp. Kamus Peribahasa, PT Gradmedia Pustaka Utama,
J akarta, 2001.
40
Parnwell, E.C. 1981, Oxford English Picture Dictionary (Kamus Bergambar
InggrisIndonesia), tr. Wahyudi, Pustaka Ilmu, J akarta.
41
Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. 1989, Kamus Dwibahasa Bahasa Inggeris-Bahasa
Malaysia, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia, Kuala
Lumpur.
42
Herpinus Simanjuntak. Kamus Sinonim Antonim, Kesaint Blanc, J akarta, 2002.
36
words are apt to be lost. For example, corruption is rendered into Indonesian
as korupsi, and then synonyms are given as defilement, perversion,
debasement; the antonym is given as purity. This is careless and confusing. It
does however mirror much of the usage of English in Indonesia. For
Indonesian users, it has to be pointed out that it is necessary to understand
each word from within first; otherwise the synonyms can be a distraction.

Hildred Geertz remarked forty years ago that the Leiden school sees
antitheses between inland and coast, male and female, sacred and profane, life
and death and so on as elements in a cosmology proposed for Indonesia that
owes more to Christian metaphysical systems than Oriental. It is true that a
preliminary framework will be necessary to deal with large amounts of data,
but the presuppositions should be regarded as hypotheses rather than
doctrines to be illustrated.
43
Coming to the Indonesian language, from early
encounters with Malay in the archipelago it is clear enough that there were
alien elements as far as Europeans were concerned, and the Hindu-J avanese
and Arabic currents in the emerging vocabulary of the Indonesian language
lend weight to a definite otherness from the languages of Europe, instanced by
religious differences but moderated by a characteristic Indonesian flexibility
over the entry and presence of new concepts. That Indonesian tolerance and
the familiarity that has existed between Indonesia and the West across a range
of cultural aspects should not however obscure the fact that Indonesian does
represent the language of an Other. This will mean that the translator has to be
aware of the conceptual framework on each side.

It is clear that without any understanding of organisational power and politics
it would be difficult to understand organisations. However it may be even
more difficult to understand the nature of power than to understand
organisations. After all organisations can be viewed, listened to, charted, and
so on. Politics tends to defy definition. The point is that this kind of

43
Geertz, H. 1965, Comment, The Journal of Asian Studies vol.24 no.2, February,
p.294.
37
understanding is relative. The above discussion has tended to indicate that the
organisation can be viewed as the locus of interactions of power and means to
power. Further development of theory will no doubt shed more light on the
patterns of power and politics in organisations.

Scheiderer argues that linguistic appropriateness in J avanese relates not only
to forms of address or choice between two pronouns but to the vocabulary as
a whole. The complicated etiquette rules of the J avanese language
immediately indicate that J avanese society is rigorously stratified, for it would
have to be in order to find such a system necessary and in order to maintain it.
Stratification and the need for choice at various points mean a linguistic
output for which analysis is complex. However this thesis argues that
utterances in a language where there are no such obligatory points of choice
may also be highly complex in semantic terms.
44


In relation to the question of whether meaning is constructed or discovered,
concepts of signifier/signified, discourse and intertextuality may be relevant.
The concept of signifier/signified derives from the work of de Saussure. It can
describe the process by which a unit in a language system unites an invariant
form with an invariant meaning.
45
De Saussure stressed the arbitrary nature of
the sign, with the controversial view that each language divides the world
arbitrarily different waysa view contested by some who see an underlying
reality assembled differently by various languages.
46


A study examining whether semantic processes were mediated by a common
neural system in English and Spanish demonstrated a shared frontal lobe
system for semantic analysis of the two languages. The results are consistent
with cognitive research on bilingualism indicating that the two languages of a

44
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/main/newMN_PPM.htm, accessed 2 April 2004.
45
Matthews, op.cit.
46
McArthur & McArthur eds., op.cit.
38
bilingual person access a common semantic system.
47
A difficulty here is
that English and Spanish are likely to have similar semantic systems, and thus
to some extent the study has already assumed the point that it is setting out to
prove. When languages with very different semantic systems, such as English
and Indonesian, are compared, it seems difficult to come to the conclusion
that a totally shared semantic system would be used, whether in bilinguals or
in non-bilinguals.

The order that is used as a framework for English words in Rogets Thesaurus,
originally published in 1852, was an attempt to interpret the universe of
languageor a language of the universe perhaps.
48
Some more recent
editions have reorganised the vocabulary into alphabetically listed items with
synonyms and antonyms. Microsoft Office 2000 includes a thesaurus
component which can be convenient. The idea of a visual thesaurus that
presents vocabulary information
49
has a certain appeal, and as an example of
this the University of Queensland has developed Leximancer, a software
package that supports the analysis of natural language, extracting semantic
and social network maps from texts, producing a kind of automatic relational
content analysis.
50
The concept is potentially useful, provided the equvialents
produced are natural in terms of what the translator would be prepared to use.
However in the practical world of translation it is important for the translator
not to spend more time on the construction of such models than is justified by
their specific results in relation to the translation.




47
Illes, J ., Francis, W.S., Desmond, J .E., Gabrieli, J .D.E., Glover, G.H., Poldrack, R.,
Lee, C.J ., and Wagner, A.D. 1999, Convergent Cortical Representation of Semantic
Processing in Bilinguals, Brain and Language 70, pp.347-363.
48
Roget, P.M. 1953, Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Classified and
Arranged so as to facilitate the Expression of Ideas and to assist in Literary
Composition, Penguin Books, Ringwood, Victoria.
49
Anonymous. 2003, Grokking the infoviz, The Economist 19 J une.
50
http://www.uq.edu.au/journ-comm/index.html?page=23763&pid=0.
39
2.5 Culture and Translation

In this case as in many other cases, the idea of 'culture' that explains every
kind of complex problem in the interface between languages can always be
correct if it remains broadly based enough to explain every phenomenon. But
the concept can be so vague as almost to acquire the status of a mystery. To
go further and use the idea of 'Indonesian culture' to cover cases of difficulty
in translation can be to depart from analysis of the specific and take refuge in
a kind of linguistic nationalism. The culture that characterises the difficult
areas of translation between English and Indonesia may be defined by the sum
of the specific cases encountered. A preconceived and generalised Indonesian
culture concept that would characterise technical translation in those cultural
terms only while similar cases are occurring in other languages will not in fact
be able to characterise translation adequately.

Yengoyan in reviewing Becker's 1995 work involving studies of Indonesian
and J avanese notes that his overall approach is to develop and enhance a
theory of translation in which the analytical procedures of glossing and
parsing are accomplished within a philological framework, one in which texts
are historically and culturally grounded.
51
No doubt some translation can be
carried out with little thought, but there will be many instances in which deep,
thoroughgoing thought is required. Keane discusses the idea of language
ideology, concerning what people believe and assume about their language,
and giving meaning to linguistic hierarchies.
52
This concept is no doubt
approximately both true and false, useful and superfluous, depending on the
use that is put to it. Language and ideology can go hand in hand, whether in
Konfrontasi, Nekolim and so on or in deep analyses of texts to discern
ideological tendencies. Yet reading the daily news editorial intelligently

51
Yengoyan, A.A. 1999, ,' Oceania vol..69, no.3 (March), p.221ff. (review of
A.L.Becker. 1995, Beyond Translation: Essays Toward a Modern Philology, The
University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor).
52
Keane, W. 1997, Religious language., Annual Review of Anthropology vol.26,
pp.47-71.
40
requires awareness of this interrelation between language and ideology. One
might go further and isolate instances of argument ad hominem to link logical
argument to politics as found in language. In the end it must be the usefulness
of the theory that is significant: its tendency to enlighten; and to the translator,
its ability to contribute to productive methodology.

2.6 Social Aspects

Clifford Geertz threefold analysis of J avanese society as comprising
abangan, santri and priyayi strands is instructive: abangan refers to nominal
or statistical Muslims, where belief in kebatinan is common, that is mystical
practices concerned with spiritual self-control, encouraging devotions to local
and ancestral spirits; santri is used to refer to orthodox Muslim believers,
who are largely either traditionalists trying to protect orthodoxy from the
demands of the modern state or modernists trying to adapt Indonesian Islam
to the demands of the modern world in general; priyayi denotes refinement
and class.
53
Geertz anthropological/ethnographic approach has been valuable,
but the translator may feel with this and other examples of cultural analysis
that it is difficult to find equivalences that bind to each categoryand it has
been objected by many that Geertz categories were too absolute.
54
Geertz
himself gives a critique of other generalised interpretations of Indonesian
culture. All of these propositions and projections are however valuable in the
kind of interpretation and formation of conclusions that can help the translator
of Indonesian become increasingly sensitive to Indonesian culture and
knowledgeable about Indonesian life and thought. To speak of a spectrum of
variations in the two cultures is a more realistic description. The santri
Muslim in J avanese society as someone who is different because of religion
from the abangan social and cultural environment. Moreover distinctions

53
Library of Congress Country Studies.
54
C. Geertz, 1964, The Religion of Java, Free Press, New York. It is worth noting
that this was translated into Indonesian by Aswab Mahasin as Abangan, Santri,
Priyayi Dalam Masyarakat Jawa, ed. Bur Rasuanto, Pustaka J aya, J akarta, 1989.
41
such as santri versus abangan in J ava, and even modernist versus traditional
streams of Islamic thought, are not likely to be clear-cut. These frameworks
are not a model which can provide the elements necessary for operation. They
are analytical guides. Geertz' 1964 work The Religion of Java has tended to
solidify and be accepted as an accurate picture of J ava, when it would ideally
have served as an introduction to an emerging, complex picture of Indonesian
society and state versus global Islamic civilisation. The concept of a santri or
Islamic stream in J avanese society is valuable without the need to identify
precisely what is santri and what is not.
55


Clifford Geertz describes how an art exhibition is organised around the
concept of the heirloom, pusaka: a pan-Indonesian concept, neither vague
and abstract like "the commingling of male and female" nor vague and
esoteric like "the union of divinity and king," but concrete and accessible. He
notes that nearly all the attention given to Indonesian art both inside and
outside the country has focused either on folk art or classical ancient art.
56


Different preoccupations run through Australian society, where the
rectification of language is hoped to remove gender discrimination. The
University of Sydney Non-Discriminatory Language Guidelines hold that

Language and the way it is used are major vehicles for the expression of
prejudice and discrimination. It not only reflects and maintains any
discriminatory values and practices in our society, but is often inaccurate
and perpetuates false assumptions and stereotypes.

The argument proceeds to justify non-sexist or gender inclusive language as
a way of ensuring that bias is not expressed in favour of one sex over
another. The use of man and he/him/his as generic terms is argued to be a
common form of sexism in English; using man generically can be confusing

55
ibid.

56
Geertz, C. 1991, Beyond the J ava Sea: Art of Indonesia's Outer Islands, The New
Republic vol.205 no.17, 21 October, p.30-36.
42
and discriminatory, and humans, woman and man, people or humanity are
suggested as alternatives. Other examples include

manned staffed
man-made handcrafted, artificial
manpower workforce
one-man run by one person
tradesman tradesperson

Rejection of the generic use of man is an abrupt change in direction of the
English language. One is free not to follow the suggested changes, but the
translator will need to take them into account. The changes suggested in
relation to pronouns may be far-reaching. The Guidelines hold that instead of
he/him/his, it is acceptable to use the plural they/them/their, add the female
equivalent or omit the pronouns. The following are examples.

When a lecturer commences he must /when lecturers commence they
must /When a lecturer commences she/he must

Each student must bring with him /Students must bring with them
Any student wanting his work /any student wanting their work
evaluated...

An alternative is to omit the pronoun entirely:

Each student must bring along
Any student wanting work evaluated

This is a university standard and not necessarily a standard for all English
usage. However once the idea of a disclaimer is dropped, stating that all
masculine nouns and pronouns are to be taken as referring to both females and
males, the use of their is difficult to avoid; yet for many in the community the
use of the plural pronoun may be unacceptable when reference is to a singular
43
noun. If the pronoun is omitted altogether there may be implications for the
structure of the sentence.

Each student must leave his belongings outside.

This could become

Students must leave personal belongings outside. Or
Students personal belongings must be left outside.

The result here may be to allow the word personal a greater role in the
language, or to favour the use of the passive in many cases. There may be
definite changes in the use of English as a result of strictures on the masculine
gender, and these changes could take a direction away from plain English.
Syntactic gymnastics necessary in order to avoid using the masculine pronoun.
may result in practices of indirect reference and use of abstract nouns in the
English language, in order to avoid concatenations like he or she . his or
her him or her and so on. It is difficult to say for the present whether they
will be able to function in place of he or she. The pace of change is quite
rapid. Within this changing society, the translator needs to be abreast of
change, without however being a mindless follower of new schools of thought.

Sex role stereotyping is an area of focus for the University of Sydney, with a
statement that occupational terms or job titles that relate to only one sex are
inaccurate and discriminatory, and should be replaced with neutral, generic
terms. Essentially two kinds of example are given. One is chairman which it
is argued should be replaced by chair or convenor (some replace it by
chairperson). Certainly professors and their wives excludes female professors;
a woman doctor also discriminates against female doctors. The other kind is
say actress or headmaster/headmistress, where the objection is to
characterising a role in a profession in terms of sex, so that waiter/waitress
should become only waiter. However although restricting the use of actress
44
and waitress within an academic community may be possible, the change is
not intuitive and does not appear to have much popular support. There seems
little advantage to be gained by speaking of female actors and female waiters.
The University of Sydney view that such gender descriptions imply deviation
from the norm is no doubt not generally held, and if speakers of the language
wish to use or even create feminine forms this need not be considered to be a
form of discrimination, nor to be irrelevant or gratuitous.

Patronising expressions and stereotyped images extend into the territory of
semantic and pragmatic issues rather than issues of gender per se. The
University of Sydney suggests reversing the order occasionally for
expressions such as men and women and his and hers because men usually
precede women in phrases. This can do violence to phrases like brothers and
sisters or men and women, where reversing the order tends to imply a special
reason for doing so. On the other hand there are phrases like mother and
father, girls and boys, ladies and gentlemen, where the female comes first. It
is often difficult to see any particular significance in the order of a set phrase,
except that the order is often fixed: *mouse and cat or *raining dogs and cats
would be seen as absurd. The University of New South Wales Guidelines on
Non Discriminatory Presentation & Practice do not refer to the question of
masculine-feminine order in phrasesa sensible omission, because to speak
in terms of the University of Sydney Guidelines where inversion of normal
order is difficult to justify and in any case is not made mandatory,
undermining the point of the exercise.
57


In noting how men and women are often described the University of Sydney
Guidelines set out the following oppositions:




57
University of New South Wales. 1995, Policies and Guidelines: Non
Discriminatory Presentation & Practice: Part 2 Guidelines. www.unsw.edu.au.
45
women words men words

aggressive/pushy assertive/ambitious
domineering strong
hysterical angry
stubborn firm

This no doubt can reflect bias in describing the sexes, and the translator needs
to be constantly aware that the translation should not contain bias that is not in
the original.
58
Yet the translator is logically free toand arguably bound to
reflect bias when it is in the original.

One view is that the abstract concept of feminine and masculine is not a
matter of biology and it is not gender, which is the social response to
biological affiliation. The difference is arguably a matter of spiritual attitude
which exists in a society.
59
For the translator it is perhaps not so important to
go into philosophy of gender so deeply. However inevitably the translator will
have policies on how to treat gender, as well as how to treat the concepts of
masculine and feminine. Van Vliet points out that French has a grammatical
morphology that is prefixal in nature, unlike Latin and most languages,
inflectional or not, and its grammatical gender could be subject to change in
due course.
60
It is not only French that has this problem.

An interpretive framework characterised as feminist sociolinguistic is used to
examine gender in language. This sees sexism as a cultural phenomenon
which transcends national boundaries and the differences among languages.
It examines the sexist attitudes and practices which are systemically encoded
in the structures, grammar, and connotations of a given language: particularly
in the Romance languages, where gender differentiation plays a crucial role in

58
The University of Sydney. Non-Discriminatory Language Guidelines.
www.usyd.edu.au.
59
Milcinski, M. 1997, The notion of feminine in Asian philosophical traditions,
Asian Philosophy vol.7 no.3, November, p.195ff.
60
Van Vliet, E.R. 1999, Gender Loss in Modern French, Women and Language
vol.22 no.2, Fall, p.59.
46
the linguistic organisation of social functions.
61
The systematic encoding of
sexism in language would make language a tool of social practices, yet surely
there is a very selective way of analysis at work here. Gender and selective
language are part of the history of English but are anything but systematically
encoded. It is true that for example man is grammatically masculine, yet it is
also true that it was frequently meant to represent both genders. It is also
worth noting that there are derivations from the Latin manus, hand, that do
not represent discriminatory language. The use of English is now undergoing
very significant change to adapt to the gender consciousness of the late
twentieth century and beyond. But discriminatory language will continue to
exist in relation to gender and many other forms of communication. The
translator needs to recognise discriminatory phrases and deal with them fairly.
A balanced translator viewpoint could be to accept the existence of
discrimination in various ways, and to accept that such discrimination is often
reflected in language. However to argue that discrimination can then be
removed by the rectification of language, although it could be useful for high
school and undergraduate university students, is a punctilious burden for
competent practitioners in the field of translation.

At this point it may be useful to consider whether the translator should feel or
be made to feel that someone is looking over his or her shoulder to see
whether each word is translated the right way in every case. The result of that
attitude could be awkward translation. The translator has to give expression to
the process of linguistic change from both sides. The objection to he/his as
being able to represent both genders is a change from the tradition in English.
That tradition is of very long standing in Latin, French and other languages
also. The current taboo on this practice causes stylistic difficulties in
translation where the translator is trying to convey the whole meaning of a

61
Moscovici, C. 1997, He is the sun, she is the moon: a feminist sociolinguistic
approach to teaching the French language,Women and Language vol.20 no.2, Fall,
pp.53-57.

47
text in detail, and where in Indonesian the text will not specify masculine or
feminine. It is difficult to avoid some effect on the translation. For example
the translator may well come to write, instead of feel that someone is looking
over his or her shoulder a roughly synonymous phrase such as feel that there
is someone watching everything. The version is a little awkward and unnatural,
but it demonstrates the way in which language can reflect the moods and
restrictions of the times, and the way in which syntactic adjustments are liable
to occur.

In some ways English is a good target for the degendering of the language
because gender is mostly confined to pronouns. Yet Indonesian has been
productively making up forms ending in wan/-wati, such as karyawan/
karyawati male/female employee. In fact there are languages, like French
and the other Romance languages, which are far more gendered than English,
while Indonesian despite sets of gendered forms that have arisen in recent
years seems not to be heavily gendered at all. It would probably be very
unwise if, with all the existing reactions to a kind of Ugly Westerner
attempted dominance in Indonesia, Westerners began to target Indonesian
gendered expressions as evidencing some kind of sexism. In the case of
English it is difficult to make out a convincing argument that the linguistic
treatment of gender as set out above has any relation to discrimination against
women. But some of the strictures on language should probably apply on
occasion to the translator; in particular the style of writing where he is said to
include the sense of she and they. Referring to an infant as it seems to have
been disliked by fond mothers but observation suggests that the practice
continues, whether as in Isnt it cute, or It puked all over my lap.

The Indonesian language reflects a different world view from that of English.
There is a more intimate style, often a written style, which has engkau/kau as
subject and -mu as object or possessive: Aku tidak mau melupakanmu, kau
jangan melupakanku, I wont forget you. Dont forget me. But Indonesian
48
often tends to avoid the rank-laden second person pronoun, as for example
Anaknya berapa? How many children do you have? which leaves out the
pronoun, with nya functioning as the in English. The words ibu, bapak, tuan
and so on are commonly used instead of the second person pronoun kamu.
The Indonesian tendency to prefer the third person pronoun could be tied into
the use of the honorific beliau instead of ia/dia to refer to respected persons.
Thus in Indonesian there is avoidance of the second person pronoun, which it
person pronoun is avoided.. Thus in a curious and roundabout fashion there is
a comparable tendency to avoid direct use of a class of pronoun in both
languages. Other words or phrases may be used to clarify meaning as
appropriate. There is an English admonition to children to refer to a woman
politelyShe is the cat's mother.' In an English translation instead of he/she
various synonymous terms may be appropriate, such as The President, This.....
In any case care needs to be taken with the use of the third person pronoun in
English, as it may be considered abrupt if it is not carefully placed in context.
In general terms this is consistent with the requirement to use deicticsit, this,
thatwith some precision in English composition. If terms are to be rectified
then Indonesian could be a target also, because of references to relative social
status. However this has been established by social convention, it represents
changes over traditional ways of expression, and any direction of change
ought to be a matter for Indonesians themselves to decide. In both English and
Indonesian, the translator has to reflect current realities as they affect
language, and produce an acceptable, coherent style.

2.7 Conflicts in Language Use

The Hebrew and Christian scriptures become problematic if language is to be
balanced in terms of gender, because the original references were not
composed in that way. It is very difficult to take the formula of God the
Father, God the Son and Mary the Mother of God and reconcile it with a
policy of gender neutral nouns. That said, English is not an especially difficult
49
case because gender is not pervasive through the nominal structure of the
language. In the Romance languages the problem may be much greater. For
English, there may be a desire by some to change to a gender neutral personal
pronoun system. For the translator, the change in styles of reference to gender
and certain other areas of social distinction can be the occasion of some
careful thought. On the one hand there is the undeniable tradition of the
English language and before it the traditions of Latin and Greek, which are
even more imprinted with gender distinction and where there is a practice of
using the masculine to represent both genders in the plural for example. This
is a very different pattern from Chinese and various other languages, which
however much they may have been patriarchal did not employ grammatical
gender. On the other hand there is a perception that to continue to allow a
masculine focus in society reflects male dominance in society. The question
then becomes how to change that situation, a situation which has obtained for
a very considerable period of time. Observation does not show that public
opinion in Australia for example is greatly concerned about this matter.
Nevertheless there is a movement for change, and the translator needs to take
careful note of it. The translator in particular will no doubt not be strongly
interested in doctrinaire principles, but a translation will hopefully emerge as
a seamless piece of writing in the language of the audience. A key difficulty
in translation is to answer the question, If the gender loading is subtracted
from a certain piece of writing, what compensating features need to be
considered. For example, the sentence Dia lupa membawa bukunya, where
there is no context of a masculine of feminine name to indicate gender, might
be in draft form

He or she forgot to bring his or her book.

The main difficulty with this is that there would not be a person who could be
masculine or feminine as it suits. Someone is a useful device:

Someone forgot to bring their book.
50

The difficulty here is that someone is characteristically regarded by those who
teach grammar as singular, and their in literary texts should be plural,
although it is commonly used in speech as singular. This version is natural
spoken English. None of this helps the translator to guess how many books
there were, however, and the ambiguity underlines the need for context. The
awkwardness of his or her constructions means that they should be avoided
where possible. To take a sentence like the following:

Dia tidak mau membawa bukunya itu dengan sendiri.

In draft this could read,

He or she did not want to bring his or her books himself or herself.

It should be noted that even though their could be used for his or her,
themselves could not be used for himself or herself, and themself is regarded
as an uneducated form. This kind of sentence easily produces a headache,
even though it is very simple in Indonesian. If the sentence were cast in a
prescriptive mood, the sentence could take the form

Everyone should bring their books themselves.

Still there persists the difficulty that everyone is singular and their, themselves
are plural. When the sentence is descriptive, as in the case being discussed,
the essential difficulty is the lack of ambiguity in the English form in terms of
number and gender. In the past, that is say forty years ago or even less, the
masculine form could reliably be used to allow for the feminine. The
disallowing of this practice sometimes causes difficulty in translation which
may be solved after a fashion by either seeking more information or opting
for the most likely case to appear in the translation. Cases where the facts may
be very significant may be dealt with in a footnote. Other cases may simply
51
have to suffer in precision because of the different semantic loading of the
respective languages.

The question of reversing conventional ordering of phrases is different. This
can be a course of action designed to break down conventions which are
deemed to be bad purely because there is a numerical preponderance of
masculine preceding feminine. Translation need not be thought of as a vehicle
for change, but rather a rendering of text into the current state of the target
language. The translator could adopt particular phraseology, but is not under
any obligation to do so.

In Chinese there is a form for the feminine third person pronoun, singular and
plural, and even sometimes the second person pronoun, in the written form
only. There is another form for the neuter gender in the singluar and plural
The standard form remains for masculine or indeterminate in the singular, and
for masculine or masculine plus feminine in the plural.
62
With Indonesian, it
may be thought that the third person should be quite easy to translate.
However Indonesian has features which need particular attention. For
example there is a tendency in Indonesian to use feminine forms of
occupational terms, such as pramugari flight attendant (earlier air hostess)
or wartawati journalist. In the translation of these two terms it is of course
necessary to keep in mind that there is a feminine semantic loading which
should be observed: it should be clear that the flight attendant is female. The
Indonesian tendency may not be taking the same long term direction as the
rails laid down for English, and current Western trends in this regard will
need to been seen in a longer perspective. Although bodies such as university
senates and the Commonwealth Public Service in Australia may have their
own views on English usage, the translator needs to make sure that a
translation reflects the thinking of the Indonesian author and not some
equivalent that may be culturally adjusted to reflect a Western trend. For

62
Yin, B.. amd Felley, M. 1990, Chinese Romanisation: Pronunciation &
Orthography, , Sinolingua, Beijing, p.192.
52
example, although Miss and Mrs may not be default terms in English, Nona
and Nyonya are not in disfavour in Indonesia. The reader should have access
to a window into Indonesia, not a projection of Western thinking.. The
differing environments of Indonesia and the West demand sympathetic
translation. A traditional Indonesian reluctance to criticise the President and
the Presidents family is an indication of a deep-seated instinct to give
deference to authority. This contrasts with the attitude to royalty and authority
generally in Australia, and yet in Australia there is acute awareness of the
penalties for contempt of court. The difference may not be precisely definable,
but there is a difference. Somehow the translator has to achieve a good
balance between description and euphemism, between the graphic and the
factual. The translators skill may be seen in the deployment of devices to
make the translation natural while achieving the degree of anthropological
insight required. The translator certainly ought not to ride ideological hobby
horses. Whatever the material that the translator brings to the job of
translatorand there is a wide range of tools that can be brought to bearthe
result ought to be that the translator is a transparent medium or at least a
translucent medium.

Venuti cites Graves fluent translation with disapproval because it caters to
the English reader at the expense of what the original is saying. Venuti aims
to force reflection on the ethnocentric violence of translation and to recognise
the linguistic/cultural differences of foreign texts. Translation is a rewriting
of an original text. He holds that it is important to elaborate the theoretical,
critical and textual means for study of a translation as a locus of difference,
instead of the homogeneity that widely characterises it today, by which he
means the typical fluently readable translation. He sees translator invisibility
as a mystification of troubling proportion, an amazingly successful
concealment of the multiple determinants and effects of English language
translation. This invisibility hides an insidious domestication of foreign
texts, in a process that consists in rewriting them in the transparent
53
discourse that prevails in English and that selects precisely these foreign texts
amenable to fluent translating. It is essential to recognise the manipulative
processes of rewritingand translation implies rewriting: All rewritings,
whatever their intention, reflect a certain ideology and a poetics and as such
manipulate literature to function in a given society in a given way.
63


In essence the aim of discussion in the field of translation studies will not be
to restrict the work of the translator. The methodology that the translator uses
ought to be characterised by a free hand and a deep knowledge of the subject.
Change in language, however, is something that can be particularly difficult
for a translator who is not living in the country where the foreign language is
spoken. This thesis touches at various points on some of the changes that have
befallen the Indonesian language in recent decades. Some of these changes
are ephemeral colloquial affectations and will seldom need the translator's
attention. But some of the changes have affected the way the language
habitually expresses itself. Language can be seen as a symbolic system which
shapes social norms and relations. There are top down principles for the
handling of reference to matters of gender in Australia, yet examples from
popular literature can demonstrate a gap between official and popular usage.
The translator may be said to have a bridging function here; of conveying
what one side wants to say to the other in such a way that there is no
distraction over issues that are not of prime concern in the intended
messagelocal expressions reflecting a sense of gender (or absence of such a
sense) do not become so prominent as to obscure the message.

While a freeing from the bounds of gender has its advantages, it should not
entail deconstructing gender dualisms out of existence. Arguably, what needs
to be defined is continuing power and pervasiveness relating to gender
dualism in English, with its varying forms and effects.
64


63
Venuti, The Translators Invisibility, pp.41-42,16-17, vii.
64
Cameron, D. 1998, Gender and Language Gender, Language, and Discourse: A
Review Essay, Signs vol.23 no.4, Summer, p.945.
54

Religion is one area that may be termed conservative in relation to gender.
The Vatican has instructed the international commission that translates
liturgical texts into English to stop circulation of its 1993 translation of the
Psalms, characterised by the use of non-gender specific or inclusive
language.
65
It seems to be a reasonable view that gender in texts cannot
always be neutralised or denied. It is a matter of history. It is also a burning
question as to whether gender can be neutralised in respect to the deity in
current language. In the Hebrew scriptures God is frequently
anthropomorphised, virtually always as male.

2.8 Textual issues

Kamus Ungkapan
66
could be useful for Indonesian translators working into
English with its supply of colloquial English, though the level of expression
of some equivalents needs to be treated with caution. To take just one
example, for the word menghuni, to live, the example is:

Orang-orang gelandangan menghuni gedung rusak itu.

Kamus Ungkapan provides the following English equivalent:

Bums dwell in that dilapidated building.

However bums is not a value-neutral term, nor is it proper to international
English. Sudah rusak implies more than just dilapidated. Further, the
emphasis in the Indonesian appears to be on the specific object gedung rusak
itu rather than the general orang-orang gelandangan, and so a natural English
equivalent would be:

65
Allen, J .L. 2000, 'Vatican Wants Inclusive Translation Pulled,' National Catholic
Reporter vol.36, no.23 (7 April), p.6. Allen 2000.
66
Hadi Podo and Sullivan, J .J . 1985, Pandai Berbahasa Inggris: Kamus Ungkapan
Indonesia-Inggris, 2 vols., PT Gramedia, J akarta.
55

That derelict building is occupied by homeless people.

Thus just one example requires some work to be usable. This and other
examples the need for caution with dictionaries that provide equivalents for
the translator in the second language. Apart from the clear advantage of using
an Indonesian-Indonesian dictionary where necessary for the English-
speaking translator translating Indonesian into English, with a dictionary such
as Echols & Shadily as a supporting reference work, there could be some
advantage in referring to Kamus Ungkapan on occasion. However for the
Indonesian-speaking translator working into English, Kamus Ungkapan is
likely to produce some odd phrasing.

Heron in discussing the assessment of a translated target text puts forward a
formulation which he holds seems common to virtually all approaches, that it
seeks to measure the degree of adequacy of that text with regard to the
semantic, syntactic and pragmatic givens of the source text and also the
expressive possibilities of the target language, always with a view to the
function ascribed to the target text.
67
This sounds straightforward, but there
are two distinct areas involved which are of great concern in the translation of
Indonesian into English and English into Indonesian. First the translator must
try to take the source text and render it into the target language as fully and
precisely as possible. At the same time, or subsequently with editing, the
target text must reflect good style in the target language, that is in so far as the
source text would demand a certain style. The difficulty here is also twofold.
First of all, how can a non-native in the target language translate into that
language with systematically good style? Secondly, can a non-native speaker
fully grasp the meaning of a text in the source language. The answer to the
first question is that it is possible for a non-native translator to produce high

67
Heron, D. 1998, Translation Assessment: Notes on the Interlingual Transfer of an
Advertising Text, International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language
Teaching vol.36 no.2, May, p.95ff..
56
quality target language texts, either unaided; or with reference help and
especially the help of native speakers in editing the target text. However this
process is likely to be inefficient if compared with the ability of typical
experienced writers working in their native language to produce high quality
text. As for the second question, there seems to be a far greater chance here of
good understanding of the source language text. To begin with, experience in
the Australian language community, for example, shows that immigrants after
a certain period of time in Australia can have very high levels of
comprehension of English, even though they will typically still make errors in
speech and writing. Furthermore, it is possible for students of Indonesian and
Indonesia to achieve good anthropological knowledge of Indonesian society,
politics and language. And there are dictionaries and other instruments
available to clarify meaning, apart from the possibility of asking native
speakers for guidance on particular terms. It seems that accurate and efficient
translation is possible from Indonesian to English by English native speakers,
and this observation is supported by experience. However it is also true that
this process has produced poor translations.

Herons work is a useful point for practical consideration.
68
Heron discusses
the properties of a text that should not be changed. Parameters would have to
be defined and assigned priority to determine application to a source text that
is to be translated. This however could be a fairly substantial undertaking.
Heron notes that any textual analysis would be made complicated by the
competence of the translator, cultural and specialist knowledge, hermeneutic
factorsthat is factors that relate to the methodology of interpretationand
the problem of relating linguistic form to textual function. Herons outline of
analytic models appears to go beyond translation proper and migrate to a
theory of translation. It must be questionable whether such theory is of
practical use in the actual art of translation, although no doubt it may
contribute to the knowledge of the translator. Faced with an actual task of

68
ibid.
57
translation, the translator could apply an analytical model of one kind or
another, and this could relate to the efficiency of the translation project.
However a translator would probably already have personal methodologies
adequate for the task, or at least would have the resources to develop a new
specific methodology on the spot. Heron also discusses the overriding strategy
that controls the production of the translation text: the status of the original in
the translation process, the question of retrospective versus prospective
concepts of translation, and the controversy over the notions of equivalence,
adequacy and correspondence. It should be noted that the purpose of the
translation will generally be determined by the client or by the translator if
there is no client. These strategies are useful as background to the decisions
that will need to be made on textual and layout matters.

The phenomenon of proverbs from sources very different from those of
English can relate to the thinking of Indonesians, and there could be a
divergence in terms of metaphoric views of life. It may be of considerable
concern to the translator that if translation is carried out more or less correctly
by using English equivalent phaseology the imagery may be lost. As a guide
to Indonesian expressions, Pusposaputros Kamus Peribahasa
69
provides a
general explanation of the meaning of many Indonesian sayings, under topic
headings. The work is entirely in Indonesian. There are a number of web sites
representing Indonesian publications and other organisations. Typing
Indonesian terms into a search engine such as www.google.com can locate
examples of usage. The study of sayings and proverbs in both languages
reflects a fascinating kaleidoscope of language use.

2.9 Symbolic Treatment

There are linguistic concepts that can be applied to interpretation of Pablo
Picassos 1937 painting Guernica, which was created in Paris in 1937. It is oil

69
Sarwono Pusposaputro, ed. 2001, Kamus Peribahasa, PT Gramedia Pustaka
Utama, J akarta.
58
on canvas and measures 3.5 metres by 7.8 metres and is held in the Museo
Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofa, Madrid. Guernica speaks without words.
It expressed in a form known as synthetic Cubism the horror of Picasso at the
bombing of the Basque town of Guernica during the Civil War. More broadly,
it expressed a horror of war in general, together with compassion for its
victims, appearing in pieces on the canvas of Guernica.
70
Guernica was kept
in the United States during World War II and was not returned to Spain until
the 1980s.
71
Painted only in black and white and grey, Guernica can be seen
as a narrative. Several human figures and a few animals occupy the painting.
The figures are dismembered in a kind of memory of the real life victims of
the Fascist war machine. There are interpretations that can be applied in terms
of symbols and concepts, and intertext will be a feature of the interpretation,
as the visual impact of the is offset by the one word Guernica.
72
In an
atmosphere of speculation over the precise meaning of Picassos imagery,
Picasso has been quoted as saying, It isn't up to the painter to define the
symbols. Otherwise it would be better if he wrote them out in so many words!
The public who look at the picture must interpret the symbols as they
understand them.
73
comment is characteristic of Picassos view of his art. He
said elsewhere,

A painting is not thought out and settled in advance. While it is being done,
it changes as one's thoughts change. And when it's finished, it goes on
changing, according to the state of mind of whoever is looking at it.
74


Picassos approach for the purposes of this thesis can certainly be seen as a
kind of unbundlingwithout a subsequent rebundling in coherent form. The

70
Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973. www.emory.edu/PHILOSOPHY/ART/artistbios.html
#picasso. accessed 15 J une 2003.
71
Anonymous. 2002, Picasso's War: The Destruction of Guernica and the
Masterpiece that Changed the World, Publishers Weekly vol.249 no.34, August 26,
p.57.
72
www.tamu.edu/mocl/picasso/study/ guernic2.html, accessed 17 February 2004.
73
ibid.
74
Picasso, P., in Guernica: Testimony of War. http://www.pbs.org/ treasuresof the
world/ guernica/gmain.html, accessed 10 April 2004.
59
insight provided by Picasso can be related to the twentieth century Cubist
school. Georges Braque (1882-1963) and Pablo Picasso are considered joint
creators of Cubism Picasso once said, painting is not made to decorate
apartments. its an offensive and defensive weapon against the enemy.'
75
Here
work by Picasso has been used to demonstrate how the translator can mentally
dissect phenomena, or unbundle them. The analytic power of Guernica,
however much it may unbundled an incident of violence or the phenomenon
on violence, does not rebundle into anything. Neither can the viewer readily
unbundle Guernica. In other ways also Picasso created imagessuch as the
mythical Minotaur figurethat have a dissipated force. The translator can
learn of the unbundling technique and even the creation of images, but the
translators task is not to remain in this early dawn of an urban wilderness,
understanding and commenting on facts. In translation terms this urban
wilderness may be explained as an academic environment where the intended
output is not translation per se but the study of translation for purposes of
linguistics or for other reasons. That kind of research can inform the attitudes
and practice of the translator; and it all contributes to a capacity to unbundle
source text. As for the rebundling process, it is difficult to say much about this
because it appears to be substantially intuitive and to emerge from the
translators competence in the target language. The Picasso orientation
however, perhaps a form of reframing, deserves some serious thought. This is
because translated text must fit into a target context, and this could have
important stylistic considerations; also a text may have meanings at different
levels which the translator will need to account for--syntactic, semantic and
semiotic perspectives being prominent.

Picassos modern perspective of cubism at this point appears to impinge on
the postmodern approach known as reframing. Modern and postmodern
frameworks and templates are placed over a long period of intellectual history,
with no necessary reason for there to be a choice between the two approaches,

75
http://www.compulink.co.uk/~phreak/picasso/guernica.html, accessed 10 April
2004.
60
and especially no real reason to assume that a postmodern interpretation
should be favoured over any other. Instead of a simple fixed viewpoint,
Cubism used many viewpoints so that the same image could depict different
aspects of an object.

Simultaneous visioncombining different viewpoints of a subject into a
single imageis an artistic concept that is a useful description of what the
translator has to do. Purely formal properties of abstract art were stressed
during the 1950s and 1960s. Later it was held that the meaning which was
recognised to exist in abstract art was coded or imbued with signs.
76
If the
translator is able to use this mode of perception to create a translated version,
without explicit unbundling and rebundling, this would not necessarily
discount the validity of the unbundling~rebundling insight but would no
doubt indicate that the translator was competent in conceiving relationships
between numbers of terms in two languages.

Analytic cubism (1909-1911) is characterised by the taking apart of objects
and their being analysed into compound elements before being rearranged on
the canvas in a new and exclusively pictorial order. The emphasis on
physical structure meant downplaying colour, and key analytic Cubist
paintings are monochromatic. In Synthetic Cubism (1912-1914) on the other
hand, the image was built up from pre-existing elements or shapes rather than
through fragmentation. The question arises here whether there is a natural
comparison between the phenomenon of Cubism and the art of translation, or
whether it is simply an analogy taken from another intellectual sphere. The
answer is that there is a remarkable analogy to be made. The example of
Picasso and Cubism graphically illustrates a principle that can be extremely
useful as a routine method in handling difficult texts and also an excellent
way of explaining why certain translation decisions are made. The analogy
with painting seems particularly apposite and lends force to a more general

76
Masterworks Fines Arts, http://www.tamu.edu/mocl/picasso/archives/
2002/opparch02-105.html, accessed 10 April 2004.
61
conclusion that the mind is able to dissect and dissemble phenomena and so
achieve analytic insights that will not be possible by an approach of simple
depiction or equivalence of other comparable phenomenathat is to say, in
translation this approach can produce a more meaningful result than merely
searching in dictionaries and glossaries for matching phrases.

Guernica is a discourse without words, and this concept is essential in
understanding much of the work of the translator. The becak or the Borobudur,
the Australian billy or billabongthese are realities that can be described by
language but may be very difficult to define in language, and more difficult
still to translate. Yet the translator generally does not have the liberty or the
discretion over what must be translated. Pak, Bu, Mas, Kakak, Dik,
77
are
terms that are so simple within the Indonesian sphere and yet so unattainably
difficult to put into English contexts. They cannot really be translated but
neither can they really be quoted. Similarly the Australian mate, cobber, love,
barbie and a myriad other expressions may be understood and mimicked by
speakers of other dialects of English and other languages, but sometimes with
enough inaccuracy in usage to indicate that they are not fully understood.

Postmodernism is an underlying reality that can be difficult to place in
categories. Postmodernism is an element in a whole literature of sociology..
The unfettered observation, analysis, and interpretation that postmodernism
has encouraged in the humanities may appeal to sociologists concerned with
the historical specificity of and reflexive relationship with their material.
78

Dani Cavallaros Critical and Cultural Theory: Thematic Variations is a work
that may generally be classified as postmodern. Cavallaro argues that at
ideologies and world views are preserved through the written word, the
spoken word, the visual arts, the media, codes of behaviour and ritualised

77
Pak: Sir, abbrevisation of bapak father; Bu: lady, abbreviation of Ibu mother.
Mas: older brother (J avanese), used as a general term of address, Dik: Adik, younger
brother or sister, used as a general term of address.
78
Smith, J . 1995, Emancipating sociology: postmodernism and mainstream
sociological practice, Social Forces vol.74 no.1, September, p53-80.
62
conventions. The Other is anyone and anything deemed capable of
disrupting the social fabric and the integrity of its imaginary identity. There
is the obvious objection here that anything other may not want to disturb the
identity of the culture. Cavallero has a postmodern vision where psychology
may well become more significant than logical analysis. The catch is that the
method may obscure the object of the investigation. Cavallero examines
some philosophical approaches to the idea of the Other, referring to J ean-Paul
Sartre and Existentialism. Cavallero asserts that in Western culture,
dominant ideologies have time and again defined themselves in relation to a
subordinated Other. In the end it has to be recognised that the Other is in
us, and when a culture, society or community marginalises certain
individuals as Other, what it attempts to exclude or repress is actually a part of
itself which it finds difficult to understand, let alone accept.
79


It is easy for this to appear to be very far from the realities of translation or the
ordinary parameters of Indonesian. However here the overriding importance
of Islam and thus of Islamic vocabulary need to be carefully considered.
However much Westernism is routinely accepted in Indonesia, it remains true
that Islam is far from being readily understood in the West. Even without the
adversarial currents that appear to have surfaced since the September 11
incident, it seems fair to characterise views of Islam in the West as attitudes
towards an Other. To ensure adequate translation of Islamic concepts as they
come up is very much the duty of the translator. The way in which the
translator treats such detailed theological content will no doubt vary
individually, but surely it is incumbent on the translator to ensure that the
English reader understand the key religious principles involved, including the
tenet of faith that the Quran is to be read in the original and not in translation.
That fact immediately puts linguistic explanations relating to the Arabic of the
Quran in a different category from specialist theological analysis of Greek and

79
Cavallaro, D. 2001, Critical and Cultural Theory: Thematic Variations, The
Athlone Press, London. pp.xiii, 122-129.
63
Hebrew texts, which after being used in medieval times by the clergy in Latin
are read by the faithful in the vernacular.
80


Metaphor has been emphasised by Gareth Morgan, professor at York
University in Toronto.
81
A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or
phrase is applied to an object or action that it does not literally denote in order
to imply a resemblance.
82
Morgans approach has led to new ways of looking
at organisations. Morgan describes his approach as postmodern. Morgan
stresses new ways of looking at things rather than deeper study of existing
approaches. He invites readers to use their imaginations and to find new ways
of seeing, understanding, and shaping their actions. His book is really a
collection of his consulting experiences. He challenges readers to view his
stories critically.

Rapid digestion of complex organisations, deconstructing and
reconstructing them while in the early stages of exploring their construction,
however, raises concern regarding the depth and accuracy of conclusions.
83


The metaphors support Morgans theories and interpretations, and this
reinforces their validity in the eyes of clients. Morgan mentions consultants,

80
Campbell, S. 'The Arabic Element In Indonesian: What Do Students Need to
Know About It?' http://intranet.usc.edu.au/wacana/4/campbell.html, accessed 19
J anuary 2006.; Laffan, M. 'Dispersing God's shadows: Reflections on the translation
of Arabic political concepts into Malay and Indonesian,',
http://www.anu.edu.au/asianstudies/ahcen/ proudfoot /mmp/laffan_apc.html,
accessed 19 J anuary 2006; Andaya, L.Y. 2001, 'The search for the 'origins' of
melayu,' Journal of Southeast Asian Studies vol.32 no.3, Oct, vol.32 no.3,
pp.315-330.
.

81
Morgan, G. 1997, Images of Organisation, 2
nd
edn., Sage Publications, Thousand
Oaks, California.
82
Collins English Dictionary Updated Third Edition, 1995, HarperCollins
Publishers, Sydney.
83
McCourt, W. 1997, Discussion note: Using metaphors to understand and to
change organisations: A critique of Gareth Morgan's approach, Organisation Studies
vol.18 no.3, pp.511-522.
64
board members, senior executives, and managers.
84
Morgans Images of
Organisation has indications of postmodernism in its strong element of
paradox and relativism. In a way the metaphor has an element of the gaze
that is part of postmodern philosophy. The old story of the blind men and the
elephant is instructive: the elephant can be seen as different things to different
people. However the metaphor of the overall organisation, to be valid, needs
to be a fair characterisation of the organisation and not a distortion based on
partial observation. Morgan suggests that modern managers should
imaginise and use metaphor to find new ways of seeing, understanding, and
shaping their actions. Morgans work has been characterised as an anthology
of short stories about his consulting experiences, with short, strategic
interventions, designed to create new momentum in stuck situations. A
process of imaginisation promises to mobilise insights and interpretive
abilities to find creative ways of reshaping unsatisfactory situations. Morgan
sees his metaphoric approach as obviating a claim to universal, authoritative
explanations of society. He prefers a postmodern relativism.
85


Morgan's cast of mind is protean, with a habitual preference for moving on
to fresh fields and pastures new rather than consolidating existing work
[this] gives his work an impressive fecundity, vigour and density, but it
may also militate against a systematic presentation of his main ideas, where
due weight is given to his critics and where both limitations and strengths
(to use Morgan's favourite opposition) are made explicit.
86


Morgan's method avoids the question of how subjective meanings become
objective facts as socially constructed. This is a basic objection because the
findings will have to compete with the carefully compiled and tested findings
of others. To take up the relevance of the metaphor concept to translation, it
may be in the fact that a rebundled transeme is like a virtual image. Its reality
is an attributed reality, or a metaphorical reality. If a metaphor is used
however, it should suit the situation. It should not exaggerate and it should

84
Boje, D.M., and Summers, D.J . 1994, Other reviews - Imaginisation: The Art of
Creative Management, Administrative Science Quarterly vol.39 no.4, p.688ff.
85
ibid.
86
ibid.
65
not be used as a form of sarcasm. If Morgans metaphors are derived by rapid
digestion while exploring complex structures, then this is similar enough to
the way the translator under pressure needs to formulate text, expression for
expression. A good metaphor can provide new and unexpected insights.

The concept of metaphor embodies a concept of imagery. It is an active
concept where the organisation actually becomes the imaginised image for the
purpose of the exercise, or in a looser way it can apply to the device of simile.
The purpose of a rebundled metaphor is to make the target expression more
understandable and more immediate. Morgans metaphor is a valuable insight
which depends on in depth insight and understanding by the translator. The
requirement for the appropriate use of metaphor leads back again to the
assertion that ideally translation will be into the translators native language.

A 1996 work by Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen, Reading Images: The
Grammar of Visual Design focuses on visual rhetoric. It puts forward a
grammar of terms to analyse texts. Based on ideational, interpersonal, and
textual aspects, the book puts forward a grammar of terms that is used to
analyse texts. It is not easy to devise or use a syntax of description for images.
However the images are unquestionably saying something.

Our insistence on drawing comparisons between language and visual
communications stems from this objective. We seek to break down the
disciplinary boundaries between the study of language and the study of
images, and we seek, as much as possible, to use compatible language, and
compatible terminology in speaking about both, for in actual communication
the two and indeed many others come together to form integrated texts.
87


There is a need for a vocabulary to express what the images say,
88
and three
interrelated systems may be used to analyse an image. One is its information
value, where elements are given specific informational values attached to the

87
Kress, G., and van Leeuwen, T. 1996, , Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual
Design. Deakin University Press, p.183.
88
http://students.washington.edu/~flores/additional2.html, accessed 3 September
2003.
66
various zones of the image. Another is salience, where the elements of an
image attract the viewers attention to different degrees by placement, size,
contrast, colour and so on. The third element is framing devices which
disconnect or connect elements of the image in terms of whether they can be
seen to belong together. Yet despite the need for analysis, what is most
important is the composition of the whole, the way in which the
representational and interactive elements are made to relate to each other, the
way they are integrated into a meaningful whole.
89



Kress and van Leeuwen are acutely aware of the need for a vocabulary to
express what the images say.
90
. It could be argued that although they may
have a certain degree of success they will in the end fail because of the
structure of the human brain, which is divided into two hemispheres, one
dealing with visual material and one handling speech. It is true that some
people merge the two capacities better than others.


The two authors however do put forward three interrelated systems to analyse
an image. One is its information value, where elements are given specific
informational values attached to the various zones of the image, left and right,
top and bottom, centre and margin. Another is salience, where the elements of
an image attract the viewers attention to different degrees by placement, size,
contrast, colour and so on. The third element is framing devices which
disconnect or connect elements of the image, with the meaning that they
belong or do not belong together in some sense. However despite this analysis
Kress and van Leeuwen are basically concerned with the composition of the
whole, the way in which the representational and interactive elements are

89
Kress & van Leeuwen, op.cit.., p.181.
90
http://students.washington.edu/~flores/additional2.html.
67
made to relate to each other, the way they are integrated into a meaningful
whole.
91


From the point of view of the present thesis, there may be a process of
deconstructing imagery and then reconstructing it. If one identifies a
discourse of reflection and analysis over a number of decades, whether in
relation to words or images, it seems reasonable to see this as a reaction
against the restraints of conservatism. Postmodernismeclectic, chaotic,
relativistic, pragmaticthen produces many different approaches. The
existence of parallel or even conflicting viewpoints can be found in post-
modern society.

The phenomenon of visuality, of seeing in historically and culturally specific
ways, cannot be separated from the production of meanings, the active role of
values, categories of identity, and power relations.

We seek to break down the disciplinary boundaries between the study of
language and the study of images, and we seek, as much as possible, to use
compatible language, and compatible terminology in speaking about both, for
in actual communication the two and indeed many others come together to
form integrated texts.
92


The concept of unbundling~rebundling is a very broad one, and discussion of
this subject could continue for some time. However to conclude this chapter
the process should be set out in terms of frames or metaphors. The concept of
a frame is a psychological one. It is a way of employing a concept similar to
that of an image. The frame concept comes from social psychology and is
related to the capacity of a social situation can be defined in accord with basic
principles that will affect or even control the way people interact with that
situation. This refers not to objective reality but to the way the frame is an
agreed and accepted form for people to perceive and experience an

91
Kress & van Leeuwen, op.cit., p.181.
92
ibid., p.183.
68
organisation.
93
. Hatch speaks of a symbolic perspective on organisational
life.
94
The idea of frames has been used as a way of viewing an organisation
in different ways. Four frames are often raised in relation to idea of reframing.
They are structural, human resource, political and symbolic. Reframing means
that someone learns to see an organisation from a different perspective. So
multiframing really refers to the same process. Then by seeing the
organisation in a fresh light there is the possibly of handing organisational
matters differently. The structural frame can be viewed as an factory or
machine. The human resource frame can be seen as a family. The political
frame may be appropriately thought of as a jungle. The symbolic frame as a
temple or theatre.
95
People tend to adopt fixed perceptions of problems, and
therefore set solutions to problems. The number of frames is not fixed. The
work of de Bono in lateral thinking provides informal background to
reframing, drawing out the general concept of creativity to suggest new ways
for government and business to step aside from their bureaucratic structures to
feel for alternative methods of doing things.
96



Disciplines rise and fall and influence perceptions and findings. Linguistic
theory has developed from de Saussure, to Whorf and Sapir and through many
theorists to the present. Concepts have developed and been formulated and
solidified for student consumption. Poetry has suffered a loss of position in
the life of English speaking people that may partly be due to factors such as
the exhaustion of the capacity of the language for rhymes. Meanwhile

93
Reber, A.S. 1985, The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology, 2
nd
edn., Penguin
Books, Ringwood, Victoria, p.298. Bolman, L.G., and Deal, T.E. 1997, Reframing
Organisations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership, 2nd edn., J ossey-Bass Publishers,
San Francisco, is a well known on the subject of reframing, meaning the process of
seeing an organisation in different ways.
94
Hatch, M.J . 1997, Organisation Theory: Modern, Symbolic, and Postmodern
Perspectives, Oxford University Press, Melbourne.also provides background on
reframing.
95
Bolman & Deal, loc.cit., p.15.
96
de Bono. E. 1992, Serious Creativity: Using the Power of Lateral Thinking to
Create New Ideas, HarperCollinsBusiness, Hammersmith, London..
69
translation studies is developing the scope of an ancient art. Translation is
frequently contrasted with interpretation in terms of accuracy and precision, to
the extent that with translation world lengths and even punctuation must
match, original to salinan.
97


But there is a question: who oversees the concepts and the processes? On
Nidas dynamic or functional translation, Venuti argues that Nida is
improving the English-language valorism of transparent discourse on every
foreign culture, masking a basic disjunction between the sourceand target
language texts which puts into question the possibility of eliciting a similar
response. Nidas advocacy of domesticating translation is explicitly grounded
on a transcendental concept of humanity that remains unchanged over time
and space.

Nidas concept of dynamic equivalence in Bible translation goes hand in
hand with an evangelical zeal that seeks to impose on English-language
readers a specific dialect of English as well as a distinctly Christian
understanding of the Bible. When Nidas translation identifies with the
target-language reader to communicate the foreign text, he simultaneously
excludes other target-language cultural consistencies.
98


The illusion of transparency in fluent translation leads to domestication, that
conceals elements of the source text and blocks thought about cultural and
social alternatives that do not favour English social elites.
99
This last fear
appears heavily exaggerated and much would depend on the original language
and the subject matter. It is difficult to imagine that the translation of Latin,
Greek or the Chinese classics have been prevented from reaching English
records. And in fact this is not the case. for example philosophy, classics,
literature. Any perception that some kind of force field has surrounded
English needs to take account of the many foreign texts introducing foreign
ideas. Further, English is spoken far more widely than just in England, and

97
Salinan is copy or translation. Menyalin is copy or translate.
98
Venuti, The Translators Invisibility, ibid., pp.21-23.
99
ibid., p.42 .
70
the notion of English social elites would specify a particular instance of the
English speaking world. It seems to be a question of whether the English
language is receptive to foreign concepts; and in general it is true to say that it
has been receptive without being labile. It is true however all the same that
adjustments have been made to English ways of thinking.

Yet the King J ames version is so faithfully executed that it is hard to argue a
barrier to influence. The King J ames and the Word was God implies some
interpretationyet the translation overall like the Revised Standard version is
a very fair one. To take the body of information that has flooded into the
English languageand what is there that has not flooded its way in?it is
difficult to argue the existence of a barrier. Rather this could be an osmotic
membrane.

Fluency however is an issueand this is where the native speaker has an
immense advantage. For the reader may simply not care to read marred
material. J ust like the term transparency, Venutis use of the word fluency
seems not entirely to take into account usage in terms of material or reader
preference. This could support a view in favour of natural translation into the
target language, with the translator making judgements on the way in which
foreign cultural elements might best be expressed. In Venutis chapter on
fluency that there is a predominance of classical material rather than
contemporary texts. He makes the point that the invention of a discursive
strategy can be foreignising, and so can the mere selection of a text to be
translated.
100
If the author and the translator live in the same historical
moment, they are more likely to share a common sensibility that will increase
the fidelity of the translation.
101


Knowledge of the source language culture, however expert, is insufficient to
produce a translation that is both readable and resistant to a reductive

100
Venuti, The Translators Invisibility, p.186.
101
ibid. p.272.
71
domestication; translators must also possess a commanding knowledge of
the diverse cultural discourses in the target language, past and present. And
they must be able to write them.
102


A factor often contributing to the quality of the handling of English material
by Indonesians relates to this. English is commonly used and is familiar, but
in terms of precision and accuracy there is a significant gap not only in using
English but in understanding English. This is not only grammatical, insofar as
errors in substantive content often persist. It does appear that overconfidence
with English causes mistranslation both ways. The pool of expertise is
important to the state of the art in translation. Dictionaries are a key part, and
knowledgeable informants are very important. The internet and a wide store
of magazines and newspapers also form an element in the pool of expertise. It
is tempting to adopt an attitude towards Indonesian that might be termed
endocultural,
103
where translation into the language will be within the cultural
limits and parameters of the language. For example with proverbs and sayings
the English style and metaphors would be avoided. The result would be an
Indonesian construct with an English form. Yet this approach would
underestimate the Indonesian habit of using Western idioms. From the other
side, translation of Indonesian texts into an English that does not owe
anything to Indonesian cultural concepts and terms might be disappointing
and colourless; it might well be felt to be an inadequate rendition. The
conclusion to be drawn from these two scenarios is that the cultural nature of
the source text should not be ignored. It should not be made to wear the garb
of the target culture. The overall impact and taste of the translation depends
on the judgement of the translator. This is a strong reason for translation being
into the mother tongue of the translator. The fact is that excellent translation
demands excellent knowledge of the target language and excellent grasp of

102
ibid. p.309.
103
Coining this term may be useful here. According to a search in www.google.com
(accessed 8 April 2004), the term seems to exist so far only within a Spanish-
speaking environment.
72
usage and composition skills in the target language.
104
The effectiveness of
back translation as a checking method can reveal to the client how well the
work has been done. In any case, at the very least, the back translation should
give an idea of trouble spots. In complicated areas this however could
conceivably inject double barrelled error, for example by erroneous correction
of an original translation that was itself in error.

The attachment of Indonesian to Dutch in the past meant an alienation to a
certain extent from the potential of English and international terminology,
although it is true that Indonesian could always access Western terminology.
Structural elements are largely predetermined, and structural elements are
defined for each language. Semantic elements however interplay and because
of the interface of languages with reality they go beyond individual languages;
there is thus a weight of presumption that semantic elements will be decisive..
Semantic and cultural elements should accord with the target language or
change the target language. Translation may achieve this, as in the case of the
King J ames Bible. However good translation should not be predicated on this.
The Indonesian practice of readily accepting English terms as well as Sanskrit
and Arabic and J avanese terms
105
is an indication that translation may have
the function of a facilitator within the field of linguistic usage. The idea that
one word must always be translated by one word seems to have little basis.
With the translation of religious texts, for example, a word for word
translation can be important, but this can imply a definite if limited
acculturation process, where the process of translation is capable of working
cultural changes within an evolving area of language use.


104
This is something that is for Indonesian very far above what is required say by the
NAATI Translator examination into Indonesian, let alone the examination into
English.
105
J ones, R. 1984, `Loan words in contemporary Indonesian,' in J .W.M Verhaar (Ed.)
Towards a description of contemporary Indonesian: Preliminary Studies, Part 2.
NUSA Linguistic Studies in Indonesian and Languages in Indonesia, Vol. 19, p.1-38.
73
The psychological reality of schemata would seem to be an intuitive
possession of most translators. Wilss explores schemata by defining a scheme
as a piece of generic knowledge or a kind of encapsulation of our knowledge
in configurations with a wide range of applicability. But also, schemata are
continually modifiable, depending on the number of slots in a schema.
106
This
could be as simple as assigning operators in a sentence to slots like Subject
VerbObject. Wilss goes on to argue that little attention need be paid to
structures from text that will match initially assigned categories, so that there
will be more time and energy to devote to more unusual and thus more
innovative items. This is intuitively and practically true in translation work,
but Wilss goes further to postulate that when it fits into a scheme text is more
memorable, and when material is inadequately organised then recognition and
handling are more difficult. Wilss concludes that texts with a high
proportion of schematically organised text elements may be handled by the
translator with a minimum of cognitive effort.

In general, Wilss exposition seems rational and useful enough, but it lacks
illustrative examples and supporting evidence. This is shown when he
discusses schema theory and translator performance. He argues that
expanding and telescoping experience is essential to building translation skills,
formulating norms for expectation becomes more chancy as style becomes
freer, but there can be an analogy/typification effect coming out of familiarity
with a genre.

It is possible to raise objections to Wilss because being standardised may not
accord with the quality of the final result; it does not follow that the schema
will be equally recognisable to a native/non-native translator; and it does not
follow that this will make translation into a target framework easy, exact or
accurate, let alone meaningful. Wilss steps onto swampy ground when he

106
Wilss, W. 1996, Knowledge and Skills in Translator Behaviour, Benjamins
Translation Library, vol.15, J ohn Benjamins Publishing Company, Amerdam; pp.69-
70.
74
asserts in regard to typification that the criterion of validity means that
epistemic knowledge can be developed and that expert knowledge means that
a text has a stable and respectable meaning. This is without any illustrative
examples, and makes no reference for example to poetry or to translation of
other types of text where there may be a strong emotional or other identifiable
component. He then goes on to say: The theoretical aim of any scientific
discipline is the attainment of epistemic thought, and its practical aim is
agreement that this truth has been achieved.
107
Intuition is the most delicate
stage in the development of translation skills. it occurs within a framework
of subjective traits and knowledge basis and is a long way from a system
theoretically related translation procedure. Wilss notes that creative
translation can come about only when an individual has achieved a high level
of mastery in his or her field, although intuition and performance criteria
should be based on explicit and plausible criteria.
108


Darwish notes the unfortunate effect on the Islamic world of the use of the
word crusade by President Bush in his declaration of war against global
terrorism. American Psychological Operations specialists, have had an
insensitive approach to the Islamic world.

For instance, during the war against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, the
US Department of Defence offended Americas Afghan and other Muslim
allies by designating its military campaign as Operation Infinite J ustice.
Muslim clerics and groups were quick off the mark to protest this codename
because Islam teaches that only God provides "infinite justice". In an
attempt to recover from this temporary lapse of good judgement, the name
was quickly changed to operation Enduring Freedom.

In relation to the performance of many Arabic translators, Darwish notes that
when the level of uncertainty is high, the translator tends to adhere to the

107
ibid., p.71.
108
ibid., pp.71,28-29, 51-52, 55.
75
surface plane of text.
109
This may be safer for the translator but unhelpful to
the reader.

Several websites offer facilities for finding vocabulary equivalents between
Indonesian and English, but they are generally characterised by a limited
selection of items that is far from the capacity of a good dictionary. The
KEBI dictionary site, http://nlp.aia.bppt.go.id/kebi/, could have value but is
extremely slow and thus not particularly useful.

In focusing on particular messages and particular information, it is easy to
forget that a Western reader has a Western educational background that
informs a treatment of material., say historical figures or figures in
mythology. This is unlikely to be so when it comes to Indonesian terms that
may be mentioned. Key figures in Indonesian history around the beginning of
the sixteenth century are the Trenggono, Demak and J epara. Trenggono,
grandson of Raden Patah, became prince of Demak. Demak was the main
power in J ava at that time, and J epara was a close naval power. Later under
Surabaya, there were Gresik and Pasuruan. Banten was a Hindu power under
Pajajaran until the arrival of Sunan Gunungjati. Around 1524 much of J ava
including Banten, Mataram and Central J ava, and Surabayabegan to accept
Islam.
110
Some aspects of Indonesian history are mentioned in Pramoedya
Ananta Toers work for example. The translator may need to explain some of
the background to historical or geographical terms.




109
Darwish, A. 2004, How Arabic Translators Frustrated America's War on Global
Terrorism! 22 May.
110
Mangunwijaya, Y.B. 1994, The Indonesia Raya Dream and Its Impact on the
Concept of Democracy, Bourchier, D., and Legge, J ., eds., Democracy in Indonesia:
1950s and 1990s, Monash Papers on Southeast Asia no.31, Centre of Southeast
Asian Studies, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, pp.79-87. Sejarah Indonesia:
An Online Timeline of Indonesian History. http://www.
gimonca.com/sejarah/sejarah.shtml, accessed 12 August 2005.
76
2.10 Language as Art

Alongside a work of art, language may exist, with its typically more concrete
and specific habits of expression. Discourse analysis can examine the textual,
social, and psychological significance of language in a way that is different
from the process of interpretation of art but possibly relates to the
appreciation of poetry.
111
Unity and coherence of text is a focus of discourse
analysis.
112
Discourse analysis can be motivated by social and political
causes, but for the translator it is a tool that can help to adjust and fine tune
the balance between the source and target texts.

The art of rhetoric has its own literature of cases, and a literature review may
refer in some detail to an Indonesian and American speech. The role of style
in combination with meaning in conveying a forceful message is well known
in the case of President Sukarno. The Lahirnya Pancasila (The Birth of
Pancasila
113
) speech is a classic example of Indonesian rhetorical style.
Rhetoric can be of decisive importance in politics and society. Sukarnos
rhetoric demonstrated great facility in the use of the young Bahasa Indonesia,
with the admixture of Dutch that it still carried.
114
The speech caught the
imagination of listeners. It moved, it persuaded. By whatever means, the
translator ought to convey this. Sukarno argued his case step by step by
reference to concrete examples from everyday Indonesian life, and that the
feedback from the audience played a role in the impact of his rhetoric. It was
crucial that the audience accept the premise that Indonesia should not wait to
declare independence. The speech takes some time to make this point

111
Cook, G. 1992. Discourse, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. ix.
112
Matthews, op.cit.
113
Pancasila is the Five Principles of the Indonesian nation. The principles are Belief
in the Divinity of the Great One, Humanitarianism, National Unity, Consultative
Deliberation and Social J ustice. Pancasila is discussed in Chapter Five, section 5.3.
114
Sukarno. 1945, Pidato Sukarno: Lahirnya Pancasila. Sidang Dokuritsu Zyunbi
Tyoosakai, 1 J uni 1945. www.geocities.com/didonk19/pidato_soekarno.htm. From
Lahirnya Pancasila, Penerbit Guntur, J ogjakarta, Cetakan kedua, 1949. Publikasi
28/1997 Laboratorium Studi Sosial Politik Indonesia). Extracts from the speech are
set out in Chapter 5 below.
77
precisely because it had not been established as a commonly held point of
reference. A note from a translator filling the context would be useful,
particularly for a reader who might like to go to the most significant parts of
the speech rather than read the whole text. Similarly the 1961 speech by
President J ohn Kennedy is imbued with great power which should be
expressed in a translation also. It demonstrates considerable speechwriting
skill as well as the personal charisma of Kennedy himself. A translation of
text like this demands literary skill on the part of the translator. And it is
important to note that no matter how good the style, the slightest grammatical
error or unnatural phrasing would spoil the effectsomething that strengthens
the case for native speaker translation, or at least checking, of material where
style and presentation are important.

In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted
the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not
shrink from this responsibilityI welcome it. I do not believe that any of us
would exchange places with any other people or any other generation
And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you
ask what you can do for your country The energy, the faith, the devotion
which we bring to this endeavour and the glow from that fire will light our
country and all who serve itand the glow from that fire can truly light the
world.
115


Between English and Indonesian there is a feature of the speech which should
be maintained in the translation: its persuasiveness. Whether or not a leader is
relying on a good speechwriter, the force of personality in the delivery of a
speech, and the rhetorical persuasiveness of the speech, seem to belong very
firmly within the mother lode of the language in which it is spoken. To
translate from an original speech into the translators native language is
feasible, but it would be difficult to imagine an effective speech being written
by a non native speaker.


115
Kennedy, J .F. The Torch Has Been Passed to a New Generation of Americans,
Washington DC, 20 J anuary 1961, in MacArthur, B., ed. 1999, The Penguin Book of
Twentieth-Century Speeches, 2
nd
rev. edn., Penguin Books, Ringwood, Victoria,
pp.297-301.
78
In relation to poetry, Nabokov takes up the question of whether a translation
can faithfully render the whole text and at the same time retain the form of the
original with its rhythm and rhyme. Actually what happens is shorn of its
primary verbal existence, the original text will not be able to soar and to sing;
but it can be very nicely dissected and mounted, and scientifically studied in
its organic details. Nabokov also said that for the translation of poetry he
wanted copious footnotes and absolutely literal translation.
116


There are symbolic as well as textual considerations in translation between
Indonesian and English, just as there are political, cultural and social factors.
The sources referred to in this chapter form a background to the direction of
this thesis. The thesis aims to depict the art of translation as it applies to the
two languages, and to draw out of that process various issues that give
appropriate depth to Indonesian~English translation. It aims to open up
bundles of meanings and symbols and suggest how the bundles might be put
together in ways that imitate the actual processes of translation. It also seeks
to demonstrate how the layers of foreign influxes of vocabulary exist within
each language and how awareness of these layers can influence perception of
meaning. Overall it seeks to develop explanations of the symbolic nature of
language and how this impacts on translation methodology. This thesis
applies elements in the literature reviewed here to Indonesian~English
translation. It also develops its own theory to underlie a methodology of
translation between these two languages. That theory does not derive from
the literature reviewed, but touches it at various points as it hopes to describe
the interaction of these two languages.


116
Nabokov, V. 2004, Problems of Translation: Onegin in English, in Venuti,
ed. ,The Translation Studies Reader, p.121.
79
Michel Foucault has often been thrown into a postmodernist basket.
117

However the independent nature of Foucaults thought shows that in order to
understand organisations it is necessary to understand power. The
understanding of organisations is relative, but an organisation can be viewed
as a locus of interaction of power and as a means to power.

The Whorf Hypothesis states that assumptions buried in language are
projected into belief systems which reflect actuality.
118
The hypothesis is
often coupled with the thinking of Sapir to form the Sapir-Whorf
hypothesis. In general the hypothesis holds that speakers of different
languages will interpret the world differently and their way of thinking about
the world will be determined by their language. Their real world is thus
partly the product of language. The status of the Whorfian hypothesis within
psychology has changed from one of broad acceptance before about 1970, to
one of general rejection since 1970.
119
It is a key question however whether
the hypothesis can be verified or disproved by quantitative research, or any
research.

Foucault is frequently closely associated with the concept of postmodernism.
That concept may be clear in the minds of those who understand the depth of
its significance, but it is a concept that resists definition in so many words. It
really requires an understanding of intellectual and artistic movements under
the name of 'modernism', and an understanding of the step further into
postmodernism. In a similar way, Foucault himself resists precise definition,
and whether he is speaking about architecture, surveillance, human freedom

117
J ohnson, J . 1997, 'Communication, Criticism, and the Postmodern Consensus: An
Unfashionable Interpretation of Michel Foucault,' Political Theory, August 1997
vol.25 no.4 (August), p.559ff.
118
Wanderer, R. 1994, Warum sagen sie das Fraulein?. ETC.: A Review of General
Semantics vol.51 no.2, Summer, p.227-228. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/
Ithaca/2985/t-distinct.htm, accessed 27 March 2003.
119
Davies, I.R.L., Sowden, P.T., J errett, D.T., J errett, T. , and Corbett, G.G. 1998,
A cross-cultural study of English and Setswana speakers on a colour triads task: a
test of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, British Journal of Psychology vol.89 no.1,
February, pp.1-14.
80
or any of many other topics in which he was interested, it seems that his own
name is the best defining feature for this thought.

The idea of precise verbal definitions is often a constructive one. However in
everyday life description is enough, and definition would be a very
demanding task. To come to the record of a conversation between Foucault
and two others on 'The Eye of Power,' the Panopticon concept, the language
will of course not have the considered and thoughtful precision of written
article. Yet that need not be a negative point. The only problem that might
concern someone tracing the inner sources of Foucault's exposition of his
ideas on this could be the logic of his rhetorical approach. Some might allege
that Foucault's logic is deductive, that he is simply explaining the
ramifications of a preconceived theoretical framework.

Wilss sets out in chart form four types of translation product differing in their
qualitative balance between source and target language requirements.
120
The
Australian NAATI test requires a natural target language text: the translator
sample test suggests asking a target language native speaker to comment on
the student's trial translation paper. Naturalness however cannot be said to be
an absolutely necessary requirement of all translation at all times. Above all
the aim of translation is to convey the essence of something in one language
into another language. And on occasion unnaturalness with a strong
impression of faithfulness to the original text can best achieve that.

The more obvious and definite elements of a text may be classified as
semantic, and the more subtle, indirect elements as pragmatic. Leech
considers three approaches to the relation between semantics and pragmatics:
semantics based; pragmatics based; and semantics and pragmatics as

120
Wilss, W. 1982, The Science of Translation: Problems and Methods, Gunter Narr
Verlag, Tubingen, p.82.
81
complementary in the study of meaning.
121
These are categories of
interpretation rather than classifications inherent in meaning itself, and it is
quite possible to argue that the placing of a dividing line between semantics
and pragmatics is arbitrary, so that the denotation includes connotation. After
all in the garden bed of a young discipline pragmatics is still a sprout. Green
argues that the broadest interpretation of pragmatics is that it is the study of
understanding intentional human action.
122
However pragmatics also
involves the study of unintentional human action, as the following
examination of Chinese poetic texts will show. In the poetry itself the
intentionalwhat the poet meantis part of the pragmatic content. This
relates strongly to culture. In translation of poetry, the intention is largely to
convey the meaning and possibly the form of the poetry into the other
language. It is often the unintentional failure to do so adequately which is a
focus of pragmatics.

Mastery of sociolinguistic skills in a language entails mastery of speech act
conventions, norms of stylistic appropriateness, and the uses of language to
establish and maintain social relations.
123


The concept of signifier/signified derives from the work of de Saussure, and
was used to describe the process by which a unit of a language system unites
an invariant form with an invariant meaning.
124
De Saussure stressed the
arbitrary nature of the sign, covering two notions of arbitrariness. One was
that there is mostly no connection between the two parts of the sign. In
addition, sound symbolism, when a group of words in a language is
characterised by a particular sound is also language-specific and conventional.
The other is controversial, that each language cuts up the world in different,
arbitrary ways. This viewpoint is controversial, as linguists are divided as to

121
Leech, G. 1981, Semantics: The Study of Meaning, 2
nd
edn., Penguin,
Harmondsworth, p.341.
122
Tarone, E., and Yule, G. 1989, Focus on the Language Learner, Oxford
University Press, Oxford, 1989, p.7.
123
ibid.
124
Matthews, op.cit.
82
whether there is an underlying reality which is assembled differently by
various languages, or whether the cutting up is as arbitrary as Saussure
suggested.
125


Fillmore notes the importance of the level of language to which the student is
exposed, and holds that the realistic assessment of quality has often been
swamped by devotion to particular methodologies on one hand and by
unwillingness to hold up high academic standards on the other.
126
It is strange
that the idea of quality is so valued in production and management and so
little esteemed in theoretical discussions of language. In applying for a job,
for example, 'you will tend to be at an advantage the closer your habitual
English usethe one in which you were brought upis to standard
English.'
127
To evolve a realistic theory of quality in translation, it is important
to have in mind a social background where bilingualism is readily but quite
uncritically recognised. Foreign languages, and particularly Oriental
languages, can acquire a mystique perhaps best described in terms of an Ooh-
ah phenomenon where they are held to have a difficulty that marks
practitioners of translation in those languages as particularly talented.
Translators may deliberately or inadvertently foster this image, but as a
general principle translation had best let the mundane and ordinary in one
language remain mundane and ordinary in the other, while directing attention
to various core elements of meaning that are genuinely difficult to translate.
Adorning a text will tend to distract attention from the detail and also the
charm of what has been written. A translation is no translation unless it will
give you the music of a poem along with the words of it.
128
This is a noble
aim for a translation, but it can be readily seen in practice that it is difficult to

125
McArthur & McArthur eds., op.cit.
126
Fillmore, L.W. 1991, 'Second-Language Learning in Children: A Model of
Language Learning in Social Context,' E. Bialystok ed., Language Processing in
Bilingual Children, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, pp.128-33.
127
Thwaites, T., Davis, L., and Mules, W. 1994, Tools for Cultural Studies: An
Introduction, Macmillan Australia, Melbourne, p.186.
128
Words by a character created by J ohn Millington Synge (1871-1909), 1907.
Augarde, op.cit., p.289.
83
ensure both the words and the music at the same time. And it just may not
be possible to capture the music of a poem at all. Yet somehow a reader may
hope to find such a translation for a poem, and a translator may at least strive
towards achieving a balance between plain expression, accuracy, and an often
elusive beauty or charm.

A meaning oriented approach is reflected in the flexibility of Yen Fus
translation approach. Yen Fu (1853-1921) translated Thomas H. Huxley's
Evolution and Ethics Herbert Spencer's Study of Sociology, Adam Smith's An
Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, J .S. Mill's On
Liberty and Montesquieu's De l'Esprit des Lois. Yen Fu did not know English
or French and used an interpreter to understand the meaning of the source
texts. The translations were influential in China in their time.
129
This
underlines the importance of translation as primarily conveyors of ideas.

A 1996 work by Kress and van Leeuwen, Reading Images: The Grammar of
Visual Design focuses on visual rhetoric, putting forward a grammar of
terms to analyse texts and draw comparisons between language and visual
communications.

We seek to break down the disciplinary boundaries between the study of
language and the study of images, and we seek, as much as possible, to use
compatible language, and compatible terminology in speaking about both, for
in actual communication the two and indeed many others come together to
form integrated texts.
130


There is a need for a vocabulary to express what the images say,
131
and three
interrelated systems may be used to analyse an image. One is its information
value, where elements are given specific informational values attached to the

129
Xinhua 19 Nov 2001; Schwartz, B. 1964, In Search of Wealth and Power: Yen
Fu and the West, Harvard.
130
Kress, G., and van Leeuwen, T. 1996, Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual
Design. Deakin University Press, p.183.
131
http://students.washington.edu/~flores/additional2.html, accessed 3 September
2003.
84
various zones of the image. Another is salience, where the elements of an
image attract the viewers attention to different degrees by placement, size,
contrast, colour and so on. The third element is framing devices which
disconnect or connect elements of the image in terms of whether they can be
seen to belong together. Yet despite the need for analysis, what is most
important is the composition of the whole, the way in which the
representational and interactive elements are made to relate to each other, the
way they are integrated into a meaningful whole.
132
The idea of a grammar of
imagery could be better served by a syntax of imagery because is free ranging
and grammar must be tightly structured. It is not easy to devise or use a
syntax of description for images. However images may certainly say
something. The translator may be able to deconstruct images in the source text
and then reconstruct them in the target text.



132
Kress & van Leeuwen, ibid., p.181.
85
Chapter Three
Hypothetical Framework

3.1 Propositions

Translation will of necessity involve a wide range of issues, from the
grammatical and syntactic to the semantic and semiotic. It will involve
lexicography. It will bring in issues of style and rhetoric. It can touch on
political, social and economic issues. There are two matters that perhaps need
justification in this thesis. One is the wide ranging approach to translation,
both theory and practice. This multifaceted approach enables translation to be
viewed in much the same way as the kinds of demands it places on the
translator, who needs constantly to be aware of author~reader, source~target
culture, syntax, semantics, semiotics, even geography and even politics. The
other issue is the use of metaphor and the use of illustrations to describe the
theoretical processes of translation. This is justified in the same way that
imagery is justified in literature, for example: the metaphor and the
illustration is immediate and efficient in conveying concepts to the reader.
Neither the metaphor nor the illustrations claim to be exclusive, and both may
prove provisional and hypothetical. However they are not the less useful for
that.

Various propositions are examined in this thesis. Key propositions are as
follows.

English is powerful as a translation language because of its history
and also because of its quasi universal status. Indonesian has a more
regional locus and is also changing very rapidly.

86
It is important to see through the artificial distinction often made
between interpretation and translation, so that translation acquires
flexibility and a deeper ethical structure.

A subjective aspect may operate to exaggerate various linguistic
tendencies, for example, for example native tongue bias in
concentrating attention on English meanings as opposed to Indonesian.
This could mean being exacting with English text while not fully
appreciating the meaning of Indonesian terms or phrases.

If it is accepted that a translation is a work of literary composition,
then it should be accepted that the translator needs to be able to
compose to that level in the target language. Native language ability
and bilingual ability are difficult to define, but this does not obscure
the fact that they do exist as factors in the translation equation.

A symbolic approach may be used by the translator., involving the
perception of modules within text, identified with symbols, that can
facilitate the process of translation. Indonesian~English translation
may often be carried out efficiently through the use of symbols in
analysing and creating text. Conceptual schemes, for example based
on Hindu and Arab patterns, could be used. Chevalier and
Gheerbrants Dictionary of Symbols
133
contains extensive explanation
of symbols of the world, with a tendency to concentrate on symbols
that broadly belong to the Western tradition. A question is whether
design or other visual effects need to be adapted to accompany
translation.


133
Chevalier, J ., and Gheerbrant, A. 1994, A Dictionary of Symbols, 2
nd
edn., tr.
Buchanan-Brown, J ., Penguin Books, Ringwood, Victoria; 2
nd
edn. of the French
edn. pub. 1982.
87
These propositions are examined in following chapters. More importantly,
there are three key hypotheses that are examined. The first is termed
unbundling~rebundling, the second the layering view of Indonesian~English
translation, and the third the role of symbolic thinking in translation.

3.2 Unbundling~Rebundling

The hypothesis is that texts or terms can be viewed as a root system
containing various nodes content that the translator can respond to and wrap
into the translated version. The form of the target text may however differ
considerably from that of the source text. For example the prcis form can rid
text of verbiage. Many phrases can simply be omitted with no noticeable loss
of meaning. The translator should ensure that the context is clearly
established, but should not add or subtract meaning because of historical
considerations or for geopolitical considerations, however apparent it may be
that a text misrepresents, for example, political or economic factors or
actually conveys deliberate falsehood. The process of translation can be
compared to a process of unpackaging various semantic and other elements in
a unit to be translateda transeme in the terminology adopted hereand
repackaging them for the target version. This hypothesis is predicated on a
human tendency to recognise and retain elements of meaning rather than only
words or phrases. The undbundling~rebundling hypothesis is in the end a very
practical matter.

3.3 Layering

Waves of foreign and regional input are part of the history of Indonesian as
well as English. There are advantages for the translator in being aware of this
layering process in the two languages and of the potential for creative
utilisation of the resources of the two languages. With Indonesian, the influx
of foreign words occurred in three identifiable stages, Sanskrit, Arabic and
88
Dutch/English. Categories certainly appear definite for Sanskrit and Arabic
because of their broad scope. With English, the influx of Latin, Greek and
French words has been considerable. The pre-existing organisation of Latin
and Greek has meant that a lexical order has been imported with the
vocabulary. In Indonesian/Sanskrit/Arabic vocabulary is a set of layers. In
English Greek/Latin/French/Anglo-Saxon is a set. In relation to Indonesian~
English translation, the levels of J avanese and the co-existing presence of the
J akarta dialect may be compared to English vocabulary levels, for example
Anglo-Saxon versus Latinate forms. This means an awareness of the existence
of layers on the part of the translator. It does not imply a match between the
layers in each language. philological layers between English and Indonesian,
or strict equivalence between one set of borrowings in English and one in
Indonesian. For the translator, it is useful to recognise word origins where this
may impact on the appropriate translation.

89


Chapter Four
Methodology

4.1 General Approaches

From the beginning of research into this topic, there has been a definitive
decision to use qualitative methodology. This chapter explains the
justification for this, and sets out in some detail the approach to the study of
terms and processes in translation between Indonesian and English. The
Literature Review in Chapter Two has made reference to some outline
research in the field. The purpose of the Literature Review was essentially to
point to areas and ways where this thesis might extend the scope of current
research through specific methods. The topics of research here, particularly
the notions of unbundling~rebundling and layering , appear to be novel in
some respects. The methods for interpreting textual material through analysis,
commentary and summation of findings are well known in the fields of
Indonesian studies and for example Sinology. The use of footnotes,
unfortunately largely superseded by the Harvard system of annotation and not
restored by the widespread use of sophisticated word processing software, has
been used here because it enables the economical placing of reference
material in a way that is convenient to the reader.

Reference has been made to theory of translation in the Literature Review and
other places. This thesis has not aimed particularly to pursue translation
theories. Rather, it has concentrated on giving depth to perception of the
Indonesian and English languages in a translation context, and to put forward
translation techniques which could enhance the translators capacity and the
quality of the work. An appreciation of Indonesian cultural concepts, and also
90
cultural concepts relating to the English-speaking world, ought to be closely
tied to any approach to translating these two languages.

With unbundling-rebundling, just as with transformation analysis, it is the
perception that this is possible that is important, rather than necessarily the
sheer number or frequency of examples that can be shown to demonstrate the
value of the concept. Among the examples cited in Chapters Five and Six,
many contain references to Indonesian cultural concepts. The
unbundling~rebundling process is demonstrated by adding notes and moving
various vocabulary items and particles around the text. The concept is flexible.
Elements of semantic or syntactic significance can be flexibly identified and
given equivalent translations involving relocation within a text. This process
can include the subtraction or addition of explanatory material, or even the
use of illustrations or other media, in the interest of effective communication.

The other particular area of concentration in handling examples from the
corpus is layering, which involves awareness of different eras of linguistic
borrowing in each language. The translator may utilise this awareness in
developing appropriate translations, or may not, but the languages have used
borrowing at different times and their structures have been influenced by
those borrowings.

No single theory of analysis of syntax or semantics is presented or followed in
this thesis. This study is broadly within the field of Indonesian studies, and
various approaches are used to elucidate the interactions between Indonesian
and English. There has been no attempt to encompass the lexical stores of the
two languages or to put forward theories that might have general, predictable
application for translation. Examples given have been taken from the vast
storehouse of Indonesian expressions to illustrate processes that take place in
translation or that could take place in translation.

91
4.2 Methods of Research and Analysis

The approach adopted is qualitative and not quantitative. Qualitative research
may be studied from the point of view of qualitative methods; of verbal
descriptions portraying phenomena; of unstructured data sources which lead
into exploration of the topic; of inductive logic and the need to find
explanations from perceived relationships. In particular qualitative methods
are useful in constructing explanations.
134


The present study extensively uses Indonesian examples, but these are
examples from which conclusions may be drawn. There has been no
procedure to ensure that the examples are typical in terms of frequency of
usage. Semantic issues predominate. This resembles an ethnographic
approach, which handles qualitative research and assesses validity in those
terms. This Literature Review aims to help conceptualised the problem and
refine it. It aims to determine major variables in the phenomenon and to locate
a frontier of research, while relating the problem to existing theory and
rationales in the field. It can help avoid mistakes and provide suggestions and
generally save research time through making clear what is already known.
The formulation of the problem may often be modified by what is found in
the Literature Review.
135


With the case of Indonesian being translated into English, an English
speaking observer can readily gauge difficulty, whereas gauging English-
Indonesian is another matter. Thus one method here has been to take several
passages from different types of English and gauge the difficulty of
ascertaining the Indonesian meaning from dictionaries and then from context,
as has been done with Indonesian meanings. Points of possible confusion
should especially be noted.

134
Krathwohl, D.R. 1998, Methods of Educational and Social Science Research, 2
nd

edn., Longman, Sydney. pp.5,12.
135
ibid., pp.101,103.
92

Part of the general methodology in this thesis is to identify difficulties or
anomalies. One example that has been found is the word firman, which is not
readily found in Indonesian dictionaries. The term is discussed in Chapter
Seven. The point here is the reasoning that may legitimately be used to derive
conclusions from the use of this particular word in translating the first chapter
of the Gospel According to St J ohn into Indonesian. Now both the original
Greek and the English translation use a simple and common term, logos and
the Word respectively. The use of the word firman appears to come from an
evangelistic approach to the translation of the New Testament into Indonesian,
whereby it is apparently directed especially to Muslims who may already be
familiar with the term firman. It is a reasonable objection that firman has its
own associations that do not entirely correspond with St J ohns Word. It is
also an objection that the audience for the translation should not be assumed
to be Muslims already acquainted with some Arabic.
136
It is part of the
working method of this thesis to point out the arcane orientation of the New
Testament translation in this case, to note other examples of subtle or unsubtle
dystranslation, and to show how even one word can be imbued with meanings
that should be expressed clearly and honestly in the target language. To take
the other side of the coin, what some readers may consider difficult may not
prove to be difficult for the translator. English speaking people may feel that
certain words will be difficult for foreign speakers. This kind of perception
could be flawed, because some Romance terms for example could be better
known as translation equivalents for Indonesians than terms of Anglo-Saxon
origin. The actual choices that the translator makes may be based on various
criteria for which there may not be precise general rules.


136
Laffan, M. 'Dispersing God's shadows: Reflections on the translation of Arabic
political concepts into Malay and Indonesian,'
http://www.anu.edu.au/asianstudies/ahcen/proudfoot/mmp/laffan_apc.ht
ml, accessed 30 J anuary 2006.

93
In approaching the study of a topic which aims to cover a field of interaction
between two languages, it is natural to try to perceive problems in terms of
their extent, that is the frequency with which they may occur. This may give
rise to statistical studies based on occurrence of terms; or in this case it could
mean the citation of large number of cases of equivalents of given terms.
However averaging, or lowest common denominator effect, can have
problems. This thesis asserts that the depth of meaning of a term, including its
provenance and the history of its use, and the breadth of its usage, meaning
the way the term is used in its respective society, is more to the point that any
catalogue of ways in which a term has been translated. The approach of
Echols and Shadily's 1963 edition is sufficient to warn of this. That dictionary
appears to have gained great following because there was no real competitor.
It appears to have accumulated entries in a filing card system which were then
subsumed into the body of the dictionary. But an absence of taxonomic
analysis and a repetitive treatment of dictionary entries reflects the obvious
situation, that little real thought went into the compilation of the meanings of
entries. What is stressed is the occurrence of words and related terms.
137
The
use of quantitative data in some studies may seem more objective. However
the validity of findings based on frequency of use is very much open to
question The thesis aims to examine the particular problems that the
Indonesian language poses for translators, whether translating from
Indonesian to English or English to Indonesian. Research uses contemporary
materials where there is considerable contact between the two languages and
where new concepts and terminology often emerge. Indonesian magazines
and newspapers would be key sources. Research would focus on difficulties
in translation from Indonesian to English as well as in the other direction.
Analysis would utilise semantic and syntactic theory as well as observations
on translation issues, not least the aspect of culture, from a variety of sources.
The thesis aims to put forward a useful framework for understanding key
elements in translation between Indonesian and English.

137
Echols & Shadily 1963. See Chapter Two, 2.4.
94

The thesis tries to distinguish what will be a useful line of enquiry rather than
simply one which throws theory and data into some sort of interaction. It is
worth noting that, because it is essentially a qualitative approach rather than a
quantitative one, the examples chosen and used in a study may tend to align
along the theoretical lodethat is to say, the theory may impact on the
examples and possibly become self-demonstrating propositions. The
argument here is that a real problem will tend to produce a better study than a
topic which tends to demand only a descriptive treatment.

A principle of self-ordering is useful, and the examples in this chapter show
how research can suggest methodologies. Examining translations for evidence
of mistakes or inadequate translations, and from there building a theory of the
difficulties of translation, might be one possible approach. However that
involves the invidious task of systematically criticising the work of others, in
a systematic way, and still the essential problems of Indonesian~English
translation might not become apparent. It may well be comparatively easy to
point up cultural and semiotic issues through mistakes in translation. These
may however be cheap shots. It is the principles that are importantthe
things that cannot be derived from dictionariesthough it has also to be said
that a sound knowledge of the languages involved is a sine qua non. Issues
can be subtle. For example in the Indonesian short story Ave Maria, the use
of the hymn of that name may leave readers uncomfortable with the use of a
Western element in a foreign setting, having in mind that the choice of
symbolic music is heavy handed and clich. The choice of Ave Maria is
unsubtle. Avoidance of a symbol which could be personalised effectively
might potentially indicate either he or the audience is not confident in
referring to Western artistic works unless they are most well known. This
judgement may not be true, and if it is true it may be harsh, but the judgement
of the body of readers could be even harsher.

95
Two conceptual systems illustrate to some degree the approach used in the
present thesis of a network of sources of information that give rise to a
theoretical framework and are at the same time formative expressions of that
framework. Gere argues that the concept of the brain has become a metaphor
that negotiates the distinction between the human and the technological. A
world or global brain depends on the connectivity enabled by information
communications technologies to create forms of distributed intelligence.
138

Carvalho, Scott & J effery Process engineers can utilise descriptive modelling
analyse existing practices, whereas grounded theory is qualitative and
inductive, allows the emergence of theory and models. The basis of grounded
theory is that theory is developed inductively from the data, being therefore
generated (or grounded) in a process of continual sampling and analysis of
data. The dynamic relationship between data analysis and data collection is a
significant characteristic of the grounded theory approach.
139


Qualitative methodology can be used to examine the information worlds of
ordinary people. Social norms, world view, social types and information
behaviour can be used to develop a conceptual scheme in which to examine
small world life, that is the life of ordinary people J ust as with quantitative
methodology, it is a key principle that qualitative research should consider
reliability and validity. Validity is the degree to which a researcher has a true
or honest picture of the phenomenon being studied. Validity is adequacy in
meeting certain conditions, and research results are considered valid if they
can be justified in reasoned terms.
140
To test the validity of data, one strategy
is construct validitywhich as notably applied in psychometrics is the extent
to which a test measures a specified construct or hypothetical construct,
determined by interpreting the psychological meaning of test scores and

138
Gere, C. 2004, Brains-in-vats, giant brains and world brains: the brain as
metaphor in digital culture, Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and
Biomedical Sciences vol.35, pp.351-366.
139
Carvalho, L., Scott, L., and J effery, R. 2004, An exploratory study into the use
of qualitative research methods in descriptive process modeling, Information and
Software Technology vol.xx, pp.115.
140
Colman, A.M. 2001, A Dictionary of Psychology. Oxford University Press.
96
testing implications of this interpretation.
141
The concept of hypothetical
construct is pertinent. This is something that is not observed directly but is
assumed in order to explain an observable phenomenon. The hypothetical
construct possesses meaning that is not only supplied by the relationships
between observable variables but goes beyond them.
142


4.3 Ethnographic Methodology

Ethnography is a area of anthropological activity focusing on the description
of a culture. Ethnographic research uses qualitative research methods; it
describes the origins, values, roles, and material items of a targeted cultural
group.
143
It aims to discover underlying patterns: for example holistic
perception sees symbols not in isolation but as elements of a whole;
conceptual mapping is a patterning methodology in the terms used by
members of the culture themselves to obtain a cross sectional view of symbols
across varied contexts.
144


Indonesia is a nation whose varied cultures have been the subject of a great
deal of research, and Indonesia seems particularly suited to ethnographically
oriented research. Wertheim, referring to the abangan-santri distinction of
Islamic religious orientation, held that this kind of dichotomy would prove in
the long run, too rough for a deeper understanding, and a more graded scale of
possibilities will have to be elaborated to leave room for the fine shades.
145

Geertz' 1964 work The Religion of Java should ideally serve as an
introduction to an emerging, complex picture of Indonesian society and state
versus global Islamic civilisation. The concept of a santri or Islamic stream

141
Pendleton; V.E.M., and Chatman, E.A.. 1998, Small world lives: implications for
the public library, Library Trends vol.46 no.4, Spring, pp.732-751; Colman, loc. cit.
142
Colman, loc. cit.
143
Byrne, M. 2001, Ethnography as a qualitative research method, AORN Journal
vol.74 no.1, July, p.82.
144
http://www2.chass.ncsu.edu/ garson/ pa765/ethno.htm, accessed 4 August 2004.
145
Wertheim, W.F. 1995, The contribution of Weberian sociology to studies of
Southeast Asia, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies vol.26, March, pp.17-29.
97
in J avanese society is valuable without the need to identify precisely what
santri is and what it is not. The concepts can be regarded as analytical guides
rather than a clear cut dichotomy. Yet there must be a limit to the number of
interpretations of Indonesian culture. It has been argued that in
ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, analysts' interpretations are
irrelevant unless they can be securely grounded in participants' orientations.
This discussion can readily go to the question of whether the analyst ought to
construct interpretations or even construct reality, on the grounds that that
would be intrusion into the cultural sphere.
146


4.4 Explanation and Prediction of Translation Processes

Patterns may be determined in the study of the phenomena of language and
transfer from language to language. However this thesis asserts that the task
of explaining and predicting the processes involved in the transfer of meaning
and structure from language to language has not yet been carried out.
Disparate and inchoate patterning could result from forcing interpretations on
the transfer phenomenon. A precise final diagram may contain logical
reasoning without necessarily representing efficiency in methodology. Clarity
of analysis may not be readily represented in diagrammatic form at all,
although diagrams may serve as indicators or hints of involved processes, to
indicate structural analyses that are more intuitive and usable. Finally a
diagram from a translators point of view might show the structure of a
sample of text from a language is not haphazard but does have lacunae; filling
in the lacunae might be a task to be completed in the course of the translation.
This thesis advances the proposition that it is primarily the capacity to see the
overall framework that will be most important in guiding the translators
thinking on the optimal presentation of the semantic, structural and semiotic
content of the text. This proposition may then apply to the methodology here.

146
Watson, G. 1996, Listening to the native: the non-ironic alternative to dialogic
ethnography (as well as to functionalism, Marxism and structuralism), The
Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology vol.33 no.1, February, p73ff.
98
t may not be necessary to advance step by step in some traditional format
while the very methodology used in the art of translation itselfthe object of
this studyuses another framework of thought and practice. To use an
analogy based on traditional board games, chess in the European style limits
the moves by each piece very strictly, and strategies and tactics in the game
absolutely require skill and forethought based on those limitations and
requirements. When it comes to Go however, the rules are different and the
patterns of thinking are perforce quite different. The rules of weiqi (Go) are
quite simple and easily learnt.

The object of the game is to gain control of territory on a board ruled into a
1919 grid. Two players take it in turn to place pieces on the grid
intersections. These pieces, traditionally called stones, are not moved; but
they may be captured, singly or in groups, by surrounding them along the
lines. The winner is the player holding more of the board at the end of the
game (which comes when both players agree that it is over).
147


On the basis of the analogy between chess and weiqi, and in consideration of
the fact that the way in which translators may actually carry out their
translation work will vary considerably, it must be considered highly unlikely
that one particular algorithm for translation can be developed.

4.5 Characteristics of English

English has achieved an international position of considerable dominance,
although to go further and link it with the fashionable trend of globalisation
may not be entirely correct. Modern Standard Chinese has a greater number of
speakers. The French still guard their cultural traditions in which their
language was once the language of international diplomacy. Throughout the
vast areas of the former Soviet Union Russian is the key language, and
through most of Latin America Spanish is in common use. Arabic is the
language of various Middle Eastern countries. These are the languages of the

147
http://www.cam.ac.uk/societies/cugos/tesuji/weiqi_chinese_culture.html, accessed
20 September 2004.
99
United Nations, but English is in the strongest position in the world today, and
none of their languages can match the position of English in the international
community. For convenience, then, English may be called a global language,
because it is more global than any other language. For the speakers of other
languages, the preeminence of English may bring problems. One is an
increasing number of borrowed English terms and even syntactic structures
coming into their language. Another is a threat to the status of other national
languages, which may be felt to be less useful than English and to have a
lower status than English. In relation to the methodology of this thesis,
English is not taken as Australian English, unless this is specified.

There can be a tendency to use printed source materials in English, which will
generally mean looking to American or British work to the exclusion of others.
When researchers try to publish their articles, however, knowing that English
journals are the best accepted, they may find their work rejected largely
because their English is not good enough. The dominance of English speaking
researchers grows. The main problem, as in probably every forum or every
university where English is used, is that the playing field is not equal. To
some, English is the parent tongue and they can use it skilfully without too
much effort. Others may use English unskilfully with a great deal of effort.

One of the key questions is whether English is suited to the role of global
language. The grammar of English is unnecessarily complex and demanding
in some respects. Its spelling and its tense, number and gender systems imply
that it is not suited to a global role; and its phonological structure is a source
of difficulty and embarrassment to many foreign learners. For example nearly
everyone finds difficulty with the distinctions between i and i: and e and .
This could be demoralising for non-native users. These problems tend to
deprive the foreign speaker of a dignity associated with the use of language.
The use of English at different social levels is perhaps a reason for the pre-
eminence of the language, but code-switching nevertheless takes place when
100
speakers of other languages communicate.
148
Yet this would no doubt happen
with any international language. The economic role of English is perhaps
more significant. English costs money to learn, and thus it supports
continuing inequality. English is the language in which the best textbooks
tend to be written. The English-speaking countries tend to attract overseas
students who hope later to acquire positions of social influence. It tends to be
associated in many countries with official power. English has the form of a
democratic language, and is not particularly marked by signs of status.
Paradoxically, however, it may be true that the more English is consolidated
as a global language the more it may entrench social inequality in some
countries.
149


Another feature of English in the role of an emerging global language is its
inertia.
150
Language learning and the whole process of gathering and storing
information demands an enormous investment of time and resources. It has
taken decades for English to reach its present position. It would not be easy
for another language to take over from English. Whatever inadequacies
English has will tend to persist. In any case, the vast number of English
scientific terms would be unlikely to be replaced in a short time.

Even in a basically English-speaking country like Australia, multicultural
education needs to educate children from various cultural backgrounds in the
English language traditions of the modern world. It is the grammar and
spelling and concepts of English that count in the world in which these
students have to strive to be successful. Cummins has noted that bilingualism
'may have positive effects on cognitive and academic development if a certain
minimum or threshold level of bilingual proficiency is attained but negative
effects if the individual develops low levels of proficiency in both

148
Graddol, D. 1997, The Future of English? The British Council, London, pp.12-
13.
149
Ibid., pp.38-39.
150
Crystal, D. 1997, English as a Global Language, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, pp.22-23.
101
languages.'
151
Any procedure aiming to assess whole ranges of cognitive
functioning in this connection is very ambitious. Personality factors come in
as well, as do questions of which languages were selected for comparison.
Observation, however, tends to support the general thrust of this idea.
Knowing another language can be a very good thing, or it can be a burden. It
depends on the person, the languages, and social circumstances. The study of
a foreign language can be a discouraging experience. English or any
internationally used language will not have been chosen especially for its
suitability to that role, because languages differ so much and in so many
different ways that it is difficult for one way of expressing something to mean
the same to everyone else.

The fact that the playing field is not level between native and non-native
speakers will tend to limit any eventual fully global role that English might
adopt. The use of English tends to reflect the economic and political
dominance of the United States. This is in a way like saying that the power of
Rome reinforced the role of Latin, and the factor of Islam reinforced the role
of Arabic, while colonial power stood behind French, Spanish and Portuguese.
In the use of information, English is very convenient and the more subtle
aspects of English usage need not become a problem. However when good
written skills are needed, or when ready comprehension of journal articles is
required, the foreign speaker is generally at a disadvantage.

'The most obvious future for English is at a powerful, standardised,
international level co-existing with a localised, non-standard, indigenous
level.'
152
It may be that at some time another language will replace English in
its present globalised role, but it is difficult to imagine that any of the five

151
Cummins, J . 1984, 'Bilingualism and Cognitive Functioning,' Shapson, S., and
D'Oyley, V., eds., Bilingual and Multicultural Education: Canadian Perspectives,
Multilingual Matters, Clevedon, Avon, pp.55-70, p.55.
152
McCrum, R., MacNeil, R., and Cran, W. 1992, The Story of English, rev. edn.,
Faber and Faber Limited & BBC Books, London. McCrum, MacNeil & Cran 1992,
p.394)
102
United Nations languages will do so. Except for French, those languages tend
to be geographically and culturally restricted in a way that English is not. The
Spanish-speaking nations do not have the prospects for political and economic
power that would support a challenge to English. The five United Nations
languages all have their deficiencies in terms of a potential global role. Any
natural language will have native speakers and non-native speakers, so that no
matter what language might become globally used, a key problem facing
English would persist. A solution along the lines of Esperanto could solve
many specific problems that English faces,
153
as long as it was designed with
the whole range of users in mind. However although it seems that the real
deficiency of English as a global language lies in its reflection of the
international power structure with all its inequalities, there is no evidence so
far that a new global language can be created to replace it.

4.6 English as Metalanguage

It is natural for English to be used as a base for lexicography and in
international fora as a semantic and syntactic model for the translation of one
language into another. A study comparing Indonesian and English in
translation can be valid, although it needs to be recognised that at the same
time as it is a language for comparison, English has a metalinguistic role. This
may influence perception of a languagehere Indonesianwhich the
metalanguage is used to describe. Embedded metalinguistic mechanisms in
language may demonstrate the operation of units of language as models of
themselves and of similar units.

metalanguage activity is also carried out in a more explicit manner: from
clearly expressed "personal theories" of language study and activity, to less
obvious beliefs concerning the essence and the character of language units
and actions mythologemes of language activity.
154


153
Phillipson, R. 1998, 'Globalising English: Are Linguistic Human Rights an
Alternative to Linguistic Imperialism?' Language Sciences vol.20 no.1, pp.110-111.
154
V.B. Kachkine, Aspects of Metalinguistic Activity, http://cogprints.ecs.soton.
ac.uk/ rchive/00000221/00/EAspectsMeta.htm, accessed 30 August 2004.
103

It is natural for English to be used as a base for lexicography and in
international fora as a semantic and syntactic model for the translation of one
language into another, and for English terms to be used in linguistic analysis.
This kind of role could be filled by another language, though at present it
largely goes to English by default. English is already cosmopolitan. English
has already played a considerable role in the formation of a corpus of
scientific and sociopolitical vocabulary in each language. However that may
figure in percentage terms, the English-generated examples in each language
will not necessarily match those in the other. English is the language of one of
the dramatis personae, and it is often the language of the playwright too.

A metalanguage has been defined as a language that can be used to describe
languages, or as a logical term that means a language in which to discuss the
truth of statements in another language.
155
If it is countered that English in
practice is mostly not a metalanguage but an intermediate language, then it
could be worth investigating whether translating into and then out of English
is a satisfactory method of conveying important information. If English were
to be viewed as a metalanguage in such as case, with no additional
information available, this might surely mean that a very large load of
information would have to be stored in that metalanguage. For example the
significance of Indonesian kinship terms as opposed to Chinese kinship terms,
or the terms of address for officials, would have to be specified. Whereas a
translator working directly between the two languages would be aware of
appropriate renderings in the target language. Taxonomical study, for example,
would no doubt evidence similarities and differences in quite different
patterns from the English perspective. Translation between Indonesian and
English often follows a script that will have, ceteris paribus, been rehearsed
in different theatres at different times. What is particularly difficult to
translate may tend to be the unique cultural features of J avanese and to a

155
http://www.hyperdictionary.com/computing/metalanguage, accessed 10 February
2004.
104
lesser extent the national denominator of Bahasa Indonesia. That is because
the definition is a little sharp for the English lens.

It should be questioned whether all concepts can be effectively analysed in
logical terms alone. Often for example words can refer to common human
experiences which need not be finely analysed; definitions may be not
intuitive; and there is no reason to suppose that every term in language can be
defined. With Indonesian, for example, the use of a common term such as
adik reflects not only younger brother/sister but younger extended family
member and even younger member of a (not strictly defined) community.
The novelty of some English expressions may not be remarked on because
there is a continual exposure to English usage in Indonesia. The concept of
semantic primes can come into the unbundling~rebundling hypothesis, as
identified components of semantic content of a termnodes in the illustrated
root system. However the present thesis does not accept that analysis into
minimal semantic components which does not include identifiable cultural
components is feasible. In any case, in relation to translation between
Indonesian and English, carrying out in depth logical analysis of semantic
components in depth would require the use of a metalanguage other than
English.

4.7 Characteristics of Indonesian

The layering concept applied to English and Indonesian in this thesis applies
chronologically and not in geographical terms. Thus in Indonesia the concept
of Bahasa Indonesia is the operative one. This does not imply that
Indonesian is focused in any particular location, whether J akarta, J ava or any
other geographical area. The concept of Indonesian implies that it is
Indonesias official language but allows that it is also spoken widely through
Indonesia in variant forms. Bahasa J akarta for example varies from standard
Bahasa Indonesia, though some of its colloquial forms are used more widely:
105
nggak ,for tidak not, lagi for sedang in process, semau gue whatever way
one likes, and so on.

To look critically at the state of research into the translation of Indonesian,
one could readily project a picture better represented by something as
puzzling as a maze of conflicting directions as represented. It might not even
be clear, try to reverse engineer the Indonesian language from what is said
about it, what one might end up with. Indonesian is a language that can reflect
class but is democratic; it is a borrower from English but a language with a
striking degree of originality and flair, and one in which large volumes of
English text are translated daily; it is a labile recipient of foreign words that at
the same time energetically creates its own terms. Indonesian is an ancient
language that has a brief modern history. It is Muslim but not necessarily
Islamic. It bears a heavy J avanese influence yet is often direct and overtly
forceful. An implication of this shower of conflicting characterisations of
Bahasa Indonesia is that an existential approach may better than a structured,
systematised analysis. After all the translators education and experience
provide a reef on which multicoloured corals may emerge and grow according
to the local situation.

The concept of layering as used here does not entail detailed reference to the
history of the evolution of Malay into Indonesian. The focus here is on waves
of introduced vocabulary. Nevertheless there can be considerable value in
observing changes in Malay, all the more because of the closer contact with
English. Although Malay may be considered to be within the bounds of the
same language as Indonesian on the grounds of mutual intelligibility as well
as phonetic, morphological and syntactic criteria, at the same time there are
wide differences in vocabulary usage in particular, and Malay will be seen to
be quite distinct from Indonesian by Indonesian speakers. Nevertheless there
is a large body of linguistic information and history that remains in common
between the two languages, and following on from this there is a good deal to
106
be gained from examining the kinds of choices that have been made in Malay
as they relate to matters that will be of concern to the translator.

The processes of creating compounds can be seen as contributing quite
significantly to raising communicational efficiency and precision in the Malay
language; some words and expressions underwent semantic expansion
consequent on the growth of ideas and knowledge in Malay society, and
formerly area-specific words became general. Disused archaic forms were
resurrected for a role in conceptualisation and terminology. Acronyms
became more prevalent.
156


It is common to work from a corpus of detailed examples and form
conclusions about general scope. Chee makes such a conclusion, generalising
from examination of many examples:

The cumulative changes occurring in the Malay language are fundamentally
induced by the growth of cognitive awareness consequent on the changes
occurring in the cultural, intellectual and intellectual realms. This has led to
the need to develop the language as an effective symbolic system for cognition
and categorisation.
157


There is no particular reason to quarrel with this general statement, mainly
because its net is spread very widely. Chee then puts forward a principle of
focus and attribute which is argued to provide a guide to understanding
Malay linguistic and thought structures.
158
However on analysis it could be
argued first of all that a general theoretical interpretation has very limited
value for the translator, whose interest is not in the extrapolation of cultural
insights but in the capacity to translate particular examples of usage correctly
and well. Further, considerations such as which is the head or focus in a
compound and which is the attribute, although they are based on a useful

156
Tham Seong Chee. 1977, Language and CognitionAn Analysis of the Thought
and Culture of the Malays, Chopmen Enterprises, Singapore, p.126.
157
ibid., p.135.
158
ibid., pp.138-139.
107
conceptual insight format, become to the translator probably about as relevant
to the translator as they are to the native speaker. There is then in the
observation of the Malay language in a cultural framework an area of culture
and also of linguistics which is not without interest to the translator in
principle, but which is not likely to provide much concrete assistance in actual
translation. Writing about translation is not translation.

Indonesian is studied and used for various purposes. Discourse analysis
examines how sections of language, considered in their textual, social, and
psychological context, become significant for their users. Elements of the
discourse tie themselves together so that the text is unified and coherent. In a
critical approach to discourse analysis, a social or political situation as
constructed through language use can become explicit and can be in effect
deconstructed.
159
Translation from English has been affected by such
concerns. If Indonesian becomes affected by concerns relating to the
connection between language and society, this could mean that the translator
would have to be conscious of yet another constraint on the way translation is
carried out.

Indonesian versus Malay demonstrates a real difference in style. Surely a
view that a different style can be what differentiates the two languages
referring to them as distinct languages here for the sake of convenience
must indicate an ambiguity in terms of standard language concerning what
Indonesian actually is. It is difficult to pin down style to a standard. This
relates to the matter of standard dictionaries. Usage is still fluid, particularly
in Indonesian, and both languages are still growing.





159
Cook, G. 1992. Discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. ix; Matthews,
op.cit.
108
4.8 Semantic and Pragmatic Frames

Comparison between two analytical frames, the semantic and the pragmatic,
has a certain complexity because pragmatics itself is usually considered to be
a branch of semantics concerned with meanings in their particular context or
under certain presupposed conditions. Pragmatics as part of linguistics dates
only from the 1970s.
160
The aim of pragmatics ought to be to recognise and
make explicit some of the subtle underlying factors that exist alongside
utterances. The aim of a semantic-pragmatic analysis is to elucidate the
meaning and also the impact of texts.
161
Morgans metaphors tend to
proliferate.
162
However these reflections and theories may arise or fall in the
potential translators sea of consciousness; they have to form a common focus
for the translator. At least the options will be clear, and the chosen course of
action must be clear. But images can be separated outas with images in
graphics software, layer by layer of conscious attention. However accurate an
image may or may not be, it is likely to be far more intuitive and usable than a
chart of syntactic analysis or a matrix of semantic elements.

The concept of depth of field is very productive in ensuring that the force of
an utterance has been correctly understood. The depth of field concept,
illustrated below, can apply to Indonesian verb form focus, and is particularly
useful in understanding the function of the di- prefix in contradistinction to
the me- prefix. In general terms, the di-nya construction characteristically
places emphasis on the object of the verb. This is taken up in Chapter Seven.





160
Matthews, ibid., p.290.
161
http://datas.ncl.edu.tw/theabs/1/, accessed 2 May 2005.
162
Morgan, G. 1997, Images of Organisation, 2
nd
edn., Sage Publications, Thousand
Oaks, California.
109
Figure 2.1 Depth of Field



Focusing on an image implies
depth of field.
163
This depth of
field is a form of focus that is
relative and not absolute. This
diagram illustrates the concept,
which is fundamental to the art
of photography. The F chip is
slightly out of focus, the O chip
is in focus, but the three chips at
the back are out of focus.

There are many metaphors and similes that can be usefully applied to
translation, just as in the Gospels the Kingdom of Heaven is said to be like
unto a grain of mustard seed/treasure hidden in a field, or a merchant in
search of fine pearls, or a net which was thrown into the sea.
164
Metaphors
can have great graphic force and can used naturally without doing violence to
the structure of a text. An example is the concept of overlapping plates where
one plate is to the foreground, also illustrated in the insert. This is slightly
different from the idea of depth of field, but related. If it provides insight in
the course of translation then it will be useful.

The structure of language is often spoken of as if it were fixed, like that of a
snowflake for examplea fixed crystalline structure. No doubt a translator
may be able to carry out linguistic analysis that may be similar in definition
and complexity to a diagram of a crystalline or snowflake structure.
However it is a real question whether the translators mind will be on the
structural analysis or the emerging translation. A snowflake structure is
evidenced in a productive creation of like elements. A kind of honeycomb or

163
http://www.invisiblematrix.net/photography/tutorial.php?tutorial_file=dof.php,
accessed 2 February 2005.
164
The Gospel According to Matthew, Chapter 13, The Holy Bible, Revised Standard
Version, The British and Foreign Bible Society, Sydney.
110
interlocking box structure may often represent thinking about language. One
apparently common conception of text to be translated is a concept of
interlocking boxes. This is about as true as it is false: terms and phases do
interlock, but they relate throughout a text, not only in their immediate
context. This may relate to individual differences among translators, but again
there is the question of whether such a representation will be efficient for the
translator. One might even go so far as to wonder whether this and other rigid
structures are efficient in linguistic analysis in general, in particular in cases
where detailed, painstaking analysis of sentence structure is carried out.

Whether these various representations demonstrate a tendency to an emerging
comprehensive structure that may efficiently interpret language and
translation which will take in the phenomenon of language, and this in turn
implies that language will in the end be a known phenomenon. This would
mean that language could be fully understood and predicted; and furthermore
that the interaction between two languages would be predictable. Whether that
might happen one day is outside the scope of considerations in this thesis, but
structure can hide a multitude of sins. For example a clever hypothesis that
would interpret native speaker competence in terms of statistical inerrancy in
grammar could be perversely made into an obtuse proposition that native
speakers never make mistakes. A definition of bilingualism that does not
include native speaker or quasi native speaker competence can underlie large
numbers of experiments which taken together imply conclusions about
bilingual behaviour that could really be disparate observations of good
speakers of a second language, or migrant children who have learnt some
English, or children who have maintained some knowledge of their parents
language, and so on.

Transformation analysis and tree structures are helpful in seeing how a
structure is built up in each language. Mathematical formulae can also be used
to express translation processes, and semantic or logical overlays can be used.
111
The ability of users and researchers alike to picture an ideal structure does
not guarantee that the result of research and speculation actually form such a
neat picture. The best metaphors relating to translation may be not mechanical
but either biological, showing affinity between cells, and entailing the ability
of cells to multiply, or on the other hand related to factors in the universe such
as gravity, magnetism or the spectrum. These are metaphorical descriptions
but they are not definitions. Other structures designed or formulated by
humans may be neither intuitive nor functional. Perhaps the achievement of
perfect machine translation could disprove the argument that language still
transcends total comprehension. This would be a great achievement, provided
it could handle the translation of poetry and other problematic literatures.
However diagrams on developments in the field of translation may not always
accurately describe developments, and representation could well take other
forms. One question could be whether translation may include instinctive as
well as learned behaviour. Another might well be whether translation ought to
be regarded primarily as a form of rhetoric bearing a literary seal.

Diagrams and illustrations of various kinds can to some extent portray what is
implied within various metaphorical descriptions of language, but fractal
imagescreated out of geometrical formulaemay be another way to
illustrate the forces underlying the transition from one state to another. Fractal
graphs are nonlinear, nonintegral systems. They have the potential to graph
complex information with visual simplicity. Fractal geometry is a description
by algorithm. These images need to be understood as illustrating principles of
translation rather than demonstrating the validity of particular translation
approaches. A red core with cold outer colours for example might stand for
the essential meaning of a word or phrase with extraneous matter surrounding;
the actionable part might be translated to another diagram, with a different
spectral composition. Colour has a certain potential, hard to portray because
of the need to be precise in creating colours, especially on a computer screen.
However for illustrative purposes, colour has impact and is a natural means to
112
express the concept of components being maintained and yet transformed into
markedly different hues. The following fractal graphs suggest the idea of two
counterbalanced entities.
165


Figure 2.3 Fractal Images









There are other ways of using metaphor to portray aspects of translation. A
process of electrolysis in many ways can represent the translation process,
with ions flowing across an enabling solution. The diagrams suggested
hereand mostly not illustrated in the textare in line with a belief that
visual presentation can be fundamental in understanding the process of
translation. A background to this is the left-right distinction between language
and image in the human brain. There are powerful implications in the
depiction of processes in images as well as verballyfor the use of
propaganda, to persuade through overlays of suggestive images, with the
potential intention to deceive. There are also however important implications

165
Created in the program Ultra Fractal 3, Version 3.03 (Program supplied by
Frederik Slijkerman), 20 April 2004..
113
for a quality of translation which seeks to use tabular and graphic material to
convey effectively the message of the source text. The source text may have
no such material; or it may have such material that can be used directly in the
target text; or it may have material that needs to be presented more effectively
in translation. Whatever decision is taken on such a question, the translator in
aiming at an effective presentation based on the message of the source text
may well feel that the message can be conveyed more effectively by some
attention to its graphic content. Freedom to rearrange material in such ways is
an ingredient of the theoretical process advocated in this thesis of
unbundling~renbundling.

Various ways of representing the translation process are possible. As this is
attempted, the question will arise whether this is an infringement of the
integrity of the source text. In fact much more serious questions regularly
arise in the line by line written text of a source text. The rendering of Arabic
terms can be difficult and this is likely to be a continuing problem in view of
reports and discussions on tensions and violence in the Islamic world. It is
difficult to avoid having a translation which consists of various
approximations to the original. To convey an Islamic text to an English-
speaking audience might by-pass a great deal of verbal explanation and
annotation by including graphic material, including charts and photographs. If
it is objected that there is potential distortion of the meaning of the source text,
then it is also relevant to point out that the perceived content of a translated
text may not fully correspond to the meaning of the original in any case.

To consider the question of steps in the translation process, it is important to
note that analyses of the process can only be general and approximate, as it
occurs holistically within the human brain, and the result may be the result of
progression and regression across a number of identified steps. Deacon in an
interesting but inconclusive book on the co-evolution of language and the
human brain reiterates the importance of symbols, both to human beings and
114
to animals.
166
Symbol in one sense is a kind of shorthand by which complex
series of data can be easily retrieved, much like the process of selecting icons
on a computer desktop. For unsophisticated users of foreign languages, the
difficulty may well be that pressing the usual buttons can result in very
different reactions. For example, Australians and Indonesians in general have
different views of life. Add to that the observation that Muslims and
Christians will tend to differ substantially in world view. In terms of
Indonesian history, where the war of independence was fought partly on the
grounds of opposition to a proposed federal arrangement, federal can have
different emotional impact from its positive associations in Australia. It may
be considered also, even on a small scale, that the Indonesian tendency to use
feminine forms for women in some occupations is opposed to the tendency in
Australia to avoid such distinctions: karyawan/ karyawati 'worker,' sastrawa ,
pramugara/pramugari 'air steward/air hostess.' Sayings and proverbs are
another element, and jokes are another element again. It is the job of the
translator to try to bridge any communication gap between two languages.

To avoid error and in the interests of efficiency the translator should have a
large vocabulary in both languages. The translator's contribution is the
working of his or her mind. It is the work of thought that he or she does. This
proposition leads to the next: the translation is a work of composition into the
target language, and so that translator requires considerable capacity in the
target language.
It is important to accept that there is a historical process in the understanding
of communication and in the actual nature of communication. The Internet
has gone a step further, so that the rapport between organisations and their
publics is becoming more interactive and multidirectional. The new medium
has the power to affect the relationship between corporations and their

166
Deacon, T. 1997, The Symbolic Species: The Co-evolution of Language and the
Human Brain, Penguin Books, Ringwood, Victoria.

115
audiences. Marketing is a far reaching activity which is pursued on the basis
of highly powered research and which exists within an interactive
environment where the Internet is having a definite effect on the
communication scene.
167
Electronic mail is a way of life for most
organisations. But although technology has enabled the transfer of
information rapidly and in large volumes, there is still a challenge as to how
to cope with the interpretation of meaning.
168
This opens the possibility that
there is also a challenge in relation to translation, which so fundamentally
relates to meaning and the communication of meaning and needs to speak to
audiences cogently and eloquently.
This thesis in dealing with terms and processes in translation also emphasises
imagery that portrays language and translation.. Images may be conveyed
through verbal texts but exist in and beyond texts. Yet it is natural for words
to accompany symbols and other images. The symbols of the English
speaking world are also worth attention, even though they may typically be
thought to be universal. Symbols of Indonesia are special and worthy of
notice, with their definite impact on Indonesian audiences. The national
emblem incorporates an eagle, which will be widely appreciated, but with the
Indonesian interpretation as Garuda.
169
Binneka Tunggal Ika verbalises the
complex of symbolism tied to national consciousness. In addition, wayang
figures may show various emotional characteristics, and taken together may
form a complex of figures representing a range of human emotion. An
Indonesian symbol might be the gunungan in its dramatic role. The gunungan
is a representation of an ancient Indian tree motif. It is used to mark the
beginning and the end of a wayang performance, and also to mark scene
changes, strong emotions, and the elements of fire, earth, air and water. The

167
Ihator., A. 2001, Corporate Communication: Challenges and Opportunities in a
Digital World, Public Relations Quarterly vol.46 no.4, Winter, pp.15-18.
168
Gordon, G. 1998, Corporate communication: where do we stand?
Communication World vol.15 no.4, March, pp.9-10.
169
http://www.info-indo.com/history/maja03.htm, accessed 4 August 2005.
116
gunungan may suggest the idyllic world of pre-existing kingdoms.
170
Placing
the gunungan at the middle of the wayang screen signifies that the
performance is over.
171
As a general proposition, the methodology used here
consistently aims to take symbolism and imagery into account along with
semantic and grammatical/syntactic features.


Gunungan (www.ilicos.unmer.ac.id/ wayang/)


The comparison between two analytical frames, the semantic and the
pragmatic, has a certain complexity because pragmatics itself is usually
considered to be a branch of semantics concerned with meanings in their
particular context or under certain presupposed conditions. Pragmatics as part
of linguistics dates from the 1970s.
172
Sometimes there may not be a very
clear distinction between the pragmatic and the semantic, though the
observations of pragmatics as part of the field of linguistics may nevertheless
be valid. The aim of pragmatic analysis should be to make explicit some of
the factors that subtly exist alongside utterances. In the translation and

170
http://www.semarweb.com/ wayang.html, accessed 4 August 2005.
171
http://www.petra.ac.id/eastjava/culture/gunung.htm, accessed 4 August 2005.
172
Matthews, op.cit., p.290.
117
teaching of poetry there may be gap between the meaning on the page of the
book and the meaning that will be found by the eyes and ears of the reader.

The importance of taste and insight in poetry can be more significant than
with less concentrated forms of communication, that is prose communication.
However real comprehensiongetting the pointis a most important
requirement that is sometimes more honoured in the breach than the
observance. Poetry is a literary form that highlights the use of various means
of signifying meaning, often indirectly. Matthews notes that the concept of
signifier/signified derives from the work of de Saussure, and was used to
describe the process by which a unit of a language system unites an invariant
form with an invariant meaning.
173
De Saussure stressed the arbitrary nature
of the sign, covering two notions of arbitrariness. One was that there is
mostly no connection between the two parts of the sign. In addition, sound
symbolism, when a group of words in a language is characterised by a
particular sound is also language-specific and conventional. The other is
controversial, that each language cuts up the world in different, arbitrary ways.
Linguists are divided as to whether there is an underlying reality which is
assembled differently by various languages, or whether the division is as
arbitrary as de Saussure suggested.
174
To a speaker of a language in a defined
culture, terms can be so direct in impact, have such an inseparable relation to
self expression, and are so tied to a speakers past and future, that arbitrariness
is scarcely an operative consideration. It becomes a matter for speculation.
Descartes in his statement Cogito ergo sum, I think therefore I am, signalled a
new foundation for knowledge through the process of radical doubt. This
marks a new beginning in philosophy, yet at the same time it was philosophy
that was developed in the shadow of the medieval theological traditions. To
apply the workings of philosophy to translation, it may be worth asking
whether the approach of de Saussure or that of Descartes is highly relevant.
Translation ought not be delayed by speculation. It needs to be efficient. In a

173
Matthews, op.cit.
174
McArthur & McArthur , eds., op.cit.
118
translation, shoes, ships, sealing-wax, cabbages or kings may have concrete
equivalents, but not necessarily any more so than pleasantness, coquettishness,
fierce hatred, binary computation or Pegasus. Borscht could conceivably be
more trouble to translate than antidisestablishmentarianism. On the other
hand becak might be slightly inconvenient to render into English, but dong
175

from the language of J akarta is sure to be troublesome. These examples give
rise to a hypothesis that the issues thrown up by translation may differ
considerably from issues of current concern to linguistics in general, and
conversely that the results of linguistic research will not always be usefully
applicable to the field of translation.
The concept of metaphor is a concept of imagery. But it is an active concept
where the organisation actually becomes the imaginised image for the purpose
of the exercise. The organisation is whatever and in becoming that brain or
that organism can be understood better because of that. Clearly a useful
metaphor will depend on in depth insight and understanding, which Morgan
no doubt has but not every manager may have. However it remains true that
Morgans metaphor is a valuable insight in itself. It is a critical problem with
the use of metaphor in translation that the referent may be differently
understood in the different cultures. If translators have never lived in the
target culture, then confusion due to metaphor is difficult to avoid. It can
result in, for example with China, the use of outmoded social categories in
interpreting situations. It can result in wrong assumptions of moral values. It
can easily result in the labelling of Indonesian political movements in terms of
Western perception rather than the perception of those who live with those
political developments. All this is through translator inadequacy. However if

175
The dong in Bahasa J akarta may not be so difficult to use. However it is not
always easy to account for as an input to a target sentence. Echols & Shadily (1994)
describe dong as a colloquial particle which asserts that the interlocutor should
already know or do what is being asserted. Kamus Besar (1988) has the intuitive
explanation of the particle as pemanis atau pelembut maksud, a particle which
sweetens or softens the sense of a word or sentence. Both these explanations need to
apply to the definition of the function of dong.
119
the translator is adequate to the task then translation through metaphor can be
a very true form of translation.
The theories of translation described in this thesis essentially relate to
metaphors. The metaphors are mixed: cogs, bundles of sticks, colouring and
so on. The concept of a taxonomic tree advanced by linguistics scholars is like
these metaphors a description of the reality of complex semantic structures.
The words, phrases and sentences of text have their independent existence and
if they were able to be torn apart and examined would not show evidence that
they contained cogs or sticks or that they could possess different colours. To
go on from this observation, good translators will generally be aware of how
to bring out the meaning in one language and give expression to it in another
without making the elementary mistake of selecting dictionary equivalents
without regard for essential meaning. The good translator will have a good
knowledge base and a dedication to building on that base over time; the good
translator will be tenacious and determined to produce as good work as
possible in whatever circumstances obtain; and the good translator will be
able to adapt to the scholarly, commercial or literary requirements of those
circumstances. It goes without saying that a good knowledge of both
languages is a sine qua non. It also goes without saying that the translator will
use whatever reference materials come to hand. In this way it may be argued
that for a good translator there is no conflict between emphasis on translation
technique and emphasis on knowledge of the languages concerned, because
skill and knowledge will grow together over time.

4.9 Culture and Translation

'Culture' is often used as a defence against what appears in fact to be
inadequate translation. Sources of non-native error include lack of knowledge,
poor structural understanding and competence, and lack of knowledge of
idiom. The thesis takes up the idea of specific culturally oriented terms in
Indonesia which are notoriously difficult to translate and approach this
120
problem specifically with semantic and pragmatic analysis, with the aim of
casting out cultural devils and resting on a scientific foundation of translation
from one language to another. In the case of Indonesian, the influx of English
terms and expressions is obvious and unstoppable, but the influence of
Indonesian on English is marginal. Seen from this point of view, the problem
of linguistically handling culture largely relates to Indonesian-English
translation. Indonesian culture will not be likely to alter English, and the
problem of effective translation will remain. Translation of English into
Indonesian has typically resulted in significant alteration of Indonesian
terminology (and syntactic structures if one goes back to Dutch, the pioneer of
Western language in Indonesia), with large scale acceptance of Western
cultural concepts. Usually the transmission of the concepts is outside the aim
of translation, whereas with translation into English of Indonesian, the reason
for choice of particular texts and concepts is often precisely that these novel
terms need to be better understood in the West. Translation can thus become a
hopeful projection of Indonesian cultural terms onto the international stage.
This is a very different matter, with different techniques, from the filtering of
international terminology and concepts into Indonesian.

The deglorification of culture is important. Professionalism in Indonesian
~English translation needs to be stressed. However from observation
Indonesian people frequently seem and claim to be using terms with heavily
loaded cultural input. Colour is important in language and its role includes
language. The spectral sequence is a useful basic reference point. Yet the
classification of colours does not entirely accord with the spectrum approach,
because the Indonesian approach to colour very fundamentally is often to
refer to the colour of something, such as coklat chocolate or merah jambu
the red of the jambu fruit, pink, whereas grey is expressed as kelabu or
abu-abu, that is in terms of ash. This tied reference to objects that possess
colour may need to retain the link to the object rather than be expressed as an
equivalent colour such as pink or grey.
121

Lies and mistaken beliefs can be a problem for the translator. To the present
day many beliefs circulate in societies throughout the world, through tradition
and perhaps a need for spiritual comfort. It is certainly the duty of the
translator to convey beliefs inherent in documents along with the words of the
document themselves. However it is here argued that underlying beliefs and
premises need to be made as clear to the target audience as they are to an
audience for the source document. This implies making some implicit
ingredients explicit, perhaps by footnote or perhaps by other means. But not
to ensure that the target audience understands the underlying presuppositions
in the text could be to invite ridicule or distaste. This appears to be a prime
element in Muslim~Christian relations, and the translator could have a
significant role in explaining the cultural and religious background to various
kinds of documents. Simply by pointing out elementary facts about the
society from which the translation comes, there is the opportunity for the
reader to have some measure of sympathetic understanding of what is being
said. At the same time it is true that an extremist piece of writing should come
into the target language also as an extremist piece of writing. But relevant
religious elements can be stated as footnotes. For example to pray five times a
day and to fast in the fasting month should not be understood as religiosity,
because these practices are obligatory in Islam.

Much of the terminology used to describe Indonesian culture and society, as
well as the Indonesian vocabulary itself, could be opaque to readers of
English. The presentation of material rich in such terminology presents a
problem in presentation because in effect the reader is being asked to learn a
large number of new concepts in a very short space. Such material needs to be
presented in a way that will facilitate reader understanding. The translator
ideally will play a key role in decisions on editorial matters.

122
Much of the value of symbols and references is in their immediacy and their
intuitive nature, so that the words that are used appear simple and
conveniently grasped whereas in fact they contain great depth of meaning.
Intertextual significance needs to be understood, as in the case of Kartini,
Angkatan 45, Sukarno, Nekolim, PKI
176
and many other names and concepts
that may not be well understood by English readers. The translator can
provide brief notes such as in the footnote here, but there will be cases where
the translator could arguably feel a duty to the reader to convey something of
the emotional content of terms such as these. For Indonesians, given the scope
of English as a global language, there may well be the impression that
concepts and phrases are transparent. However there will be unknown phrases
and there will be phrases that to Indonesians have connotations other than
those current in the domain of English. There are various means of ensuring
that the intended meaning gets across.
177
In real translation situations, there is
often a similar pedantic requirement by others with varying degrees of
control over translations for the text to be one to one. Yet it should also be
pointed out that the Bible may have had a role in the formation of Indonesian
style as well as reflected it. The potential for this kind of one to one
translation may in fact relate to a tendency of Indonesian to be labile, as
indeed English has been over history. This tendency may be demonstrated
over time in Bahasa Indonesia, and could be indicated graphically by a curve
away from Bahasa Melayu as the language increasingly reflected Dutch and

176
Raden Adjeng Kartini (1879-1904), a national figure in the development of
womens rights and education (http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kartini, accessed 3
August 2005). Angkatan45 was a movement of writers influenced by social,
political and cultural events. Sukarno (1901-1970), the first President,
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Sukarno, accesssed 3 August 2005). Sukarno opposed
NekolimNeocolonialism, Colonialism, and Imperialism. The PKI, Partai Komunis
Indonesia, was formed in 1920. It was banned after an abortive coupG30S or
Gerakan 30 Septemberoccurred (http://countrystudies.us /Indonesia/20.htm,
accessed 3 August 2005).
177
However the attitude of NAATI in its marking policy for translator examinations
is not helpful in this regard, because NAATI demands one translation for one
particular piece of text, without any elucidation in parentheses. In an examination
situation this can naturally tend to literalness and to a stilted translation, because the
candidate will fear being misunderstood. In any case the whole question of the
audience to which the translation is being directed appears to be ignored.
123
then English and at the same time registered the input of J avanese, Sundanese
and Bahasa J akarta. This conclusion is hypothetical and as it concerns
linguistic history is outside the scope of the present study, but the hypothesis
would explain a great deal about the divergence of Indonesian from Bahasa
Kebangsaan as well as Indonesians apparent capacity to absorb foreign
language structures and styles and adapt to them.

In political, economic and technological terms the content of general English
material is quite likely to be seen as quite important in Indonesia. However
the specific importance of Indonesian text in the West will tend to be confined
to specialist research into Indonesia. In this context it may well be observed
that even if specialists do not know the Indonesian language they will tend to
be aware of the depth and breadth of meaning of various Indonesian terms.
Thus to them the specific value of translation diminishes somewhat. On the
pages of Western news media, of world news media, the details of Indonesian
developments must compete with those of many other countries, and the
niceties of translation of specific terms cannot rate very highly. However, to
use an example to illustrate the point, a term depicting the tiniest detail of
operations of the New York Stock Exchange, if it became significant for the
valuation of the United States dollar, would yield space to few issues in the
press of the nations of the world. This may seem obvious, although a doctrine
of cultural relativism if pushed to a strictly logical conclusion would deny the
relevance of this observation in assessing the background to the perception of
Indonesian linguistic phenomena in relation to English linguistic phenomena.
Yet the fact is that English is dominant in the world in this age. English has
also been quite some time in achieving its present status, and it can be shown
that it has acquired a certain maturity as the conveyor of concepts in common
international use. It is true that Indonesian to some extent and particularly its
J avanese contributor has unique capacities to define and express certain social
realities. But it seems to be a fair observation that Indonesian in many ways
still relies on netting foreign terms and distributing them domestically, in an
124
process that relies on a level of popular knowledge of English and also that
tends to imply error related to domestic transmission in spelling, syntactic use
and meaning.

The political importance of translation may mean material falling into
different categories, where say correspondence on a mundane topic may
requires little care in the translation of particular terms, and the other where
the words may carry extreme sensitivity.

To return to the subject of written translation, in publications there are
movements that had best be followed through observation of the newstands.
Various cover illustrations convey impact through associated imagery in
addition to the text of the translation. Here the translator should be consulted
with regard to possible impact on the meaning of the text.

The presence of trade names and slogans in translations needs to be watched
particularly carefully. Some names can be offensive or humorous when
transported into another language. The translator is responsible to alert the
client to any problems that could arise from the inclusion of such material. A
J apanese brand of insect spray distributed in West J ava in 1975-1976 was
labelled Piss, and the label described how it should be applied to insects when
found. The product seemed to be popular enough with consumers. Yet it
requires familiarity with a culture to ensure that a brand name will not be
offensive, let alone that it will be successful in the market.

The inner world of the translator is subject to various pressures. The
characteristic difference between native and second language recall of order
of words, common sayings, titles of books and so on occurs because the
second language is learnt differently. This is apart from the fact that usually
the amount of time devoted to learning the first language is vastly greater than
that devoted to the second language. For the translator this can be a crucial
125
issue. For example proverbs seem to be remembered by native speakers as
meaning and precise wording, but from observation proverbs and sayings
seem to be remembered in a second language as overall meaning plus
elements of meaning which may fall out of order. Variant versions can range
from the inappropriate to the hilarious. The disposition of solidified sayings in
a language when translated into another language is an important element in
the reasoning that translation should essentially be into the native language.

The above discussion of metaphorical and even subjective aspects of language
as it is to translated is in support of the unbundling~rebundling and layering
hypotheses, whose validity is an aim of this thesis. Whether these hypotheses
can be proved in large part or even in small part has yet to be seen, but the
hypotheses deserve to be allowed here a certain depth of explanation.

4.10 Translation and the Creation of Myth

Pramoedya Ananta Toers Buru quartet is a treatment of some key elements
in the history of Indonesia.
178
The works may be said to be legend with
fictional expression, or myth with a firm basis in history and historical
development. Alternatively Pramoedyas work could be characterised as
transparent mythology. The terms used such as pujangga, dalang, wayang,
Ratu Adil and so on are of interest to the translator because they are so
difficult to translate adequately.

When it comes to the deliberate creation and propagation of myth, a need for
translatsors. may emerge. If a nations own translators provide text to convey
its myths, no doubt this will be obvious. If a nation wishes to convey its myths
as propaganda, then it could be advantageous to have its texts translated by
translators in the target language community. There as some unpleasant
associations with names of defenders of the myths of other countries

178
See Chapter Six, 6.8.
126
Quisling, Chamberlain for example. Some journalists, academic writers or
diplomats may on occasion fulfil this apologetic function also by their use of
information in sympathy with myths that are propagated.

Myths do exist in Western countries as well as in Asia: there is Superman
with his quest for truth, justice and the American way, or even Norman
Mailers American Dream or Graham Greenes The Quiet American. Political
myths like Ronald Reagans Evil Empire and George Bushs poles of evil are
explicit terms for complexes of political orientation. For the translator there is
perhaps the danger of believing the propaganda of one or other side. The
translator needs to make a concentrated and consistent effort to avoid political
or other colouring in a translation. This seems rather more important than the
common phenomenon of the hunt to eradicate millennia of gender-oriented
terms that will be in any case obvious enough to readersa hunt that cannot
even be called a witch hunt because of the lack of a gender neutral term for
witchunless a *sorcerer sortie or *witch/warlock hunt is coined. The
suggestion here is that the submerged rocks are the ones that are most
dangerous: unrecognised bias in the mind of the translator and the audience as
well as the originators of the document to be translated.

In Indonesia, the archipelagic myth is based in the existence of the Indonesian
archipelago. There is also the fact that Irian J aya was part of the Dutch empire
rather than the archipelago, the independent state of Brunei and the English
territories of Sabah and Sarawak which have been Malay for a very long time
but were never Dutch; and East Timor, which is physically part of the
archipelago but had never been Dutch. There has been a good deal of fighting
in relation to this archipelago concept: first in opposition to a Dutch federal
conceptthe war of independence was to a certain extent a war on the issue
of federalismthen the Irian J aya campaign, then Konfrontasi, then the East
Timor theatre. To handle issues relating to the public image, the translator
needs to come to terms with particular political presentations of history, and
127
hence myth. The political activities of the last decades could be seen as a
wayang performance where the shadow is projected as the essential reality
while the real puppets are on the other side of the screen.
179
The translator
may not be able to purge any personal prejudices from a translation, but
awareness of the effect that personal and national viewpoints can have on the
impact of a translated text is a mark of a professional translator. Curiously
enough, a key test of neutrality in translation could be rendition of coloured
180

termswhether from the translators own community or the target
communityso that they remain clearly coloured in translation. To make
utterances more neutral or objective than they originally were is after all a
distortion of the translation process. It has been commented that cultural
memory and cultural performance, as well as cultural translation, are elements
in the making of connections between aboriginal cultures and dominant
cultures
181
This characterisation seems to imply a role in anthropology rather
than sociology, and in fact translation between languages seems to be more
appropriate to anthropology.

4.11 Translation Style

Style is something that cannot be handled through dictionaries because it
extends very much more widely than the domain of words and phrases. Style
needs to be consistent across whole texts and must sometimes even be
consistent with writings outside the text at hand. Style is difficult to master
because it relies on extensive personal experience in acquiring language. It
cannot be validated by checking individual words in a dictionary, for
example. Although style includes word usage, it also covers use of functional
particles and organisation of ideas within sentences and paragraphs as well as

179
Reference to the authors translation of an Indonesian Legal Rights document on
East Timor is made later in this thesis.
180
Coloured terms are also referred to as polarised or biased terms.
181
Irwin, R.L., Rogers, T., and Wan, Y.-Y. 1999, Making connections through
cultural memory, cultural performance, and cultural translation , Studies in Art
Education vol.40 no.3, Spring, p.198ff.
128
in longer discourses. It is difficult to imagine that a non-native speaker can
learn expression in the target language so well that a valid and consistent style
will emerge. Even if the fitting of language to thought is carried out to a high
level, that is assuming that every word is used precisely correctly, the
question remains of whether the work can be syntactically flawless. The
Polish speaking J oseph Conrad apparently learned English only in his late
teens, but acquired a style of moving and graphic beauty in his novels; yet it is
not at all clear whether his grammatical, syntactic and lexical work was not
checked by others. If a non-native speaker has translated material into the
target language, above all it is probably the area of style as well as syntactic
and lexical usage that needs serious attention. It would be unwise, generally
speaking, for a translator to handle translation into a language that is not his or
her native language. Furthermore it is important that the native speaker
checking the translation has a good educational background that will enable
adequate reconciliation of matters of style. At worst, poor style can make an
intelligible translation a laughing stock.

Affectation may be defined here as the excessive display of stylistic
knowledge in order to impress. In Indonesia, exhibitionism through using
English terms is well enough known. In English, the use of Indonesian terms
may betray a use of well known terms as opposed to words that the translator
may not know very wella desire to display knowledge of Indonesian which
may often be caught out as the speaker consistently errs by using
inappropriate terms which are in the end quite unnecessary anyway. At its
best, affectation may be a harmless personal stamp that is left on a
conversation. At its worst, affectation may be a heavy burden occasioned by
overweening pride.

This perhaps bland observation has relevance to the process of change in the
Indonesian language. The process may not be able to measure in a
quantitative sense, but it does seem quite rapid. Yet to follow on from the
129
logic of the preceding paragraph, this hardly matters. Older and contemporary
Indonesian translates into contemporary English, older and contemporary
English translates into contemporary Indonesian, and both older Indonesian
and older English may on occasion translate into contemporary language.
Contemporary language will not tend to be translated into older language,
partly because there would be little point in such an exercise, and partly
because there is barely a pool of expertise to effect such translation. To try to
depict this situation metaphorically, the gyroscope perhaps suits the situation
best. It is the living language of the time that is the standard. It follows that
those who exercise mastery over that living language are the ones equipped to
write it and to decide what fits its canon and what does not.

From the propositions made in this thesis about the process of translation
there are certain conclusions for the management of translation. On the one
hand, the ability of the translator is strictly limited by proficiency in the non
native language. It can even be limited by proficiency in the native language,
though this is an undesirable state of affairs. The maintenance of databases
follows from this limitation. On the other hand, there is clearly a need for flair
in the handling of translation, and this is part of the work of translation that
comes from individual talent. In managing a translation office, both aspects
of translation are needed.

In practice translation often involves deadlines, and the problems that need to
be solved are the immediate ones involved in a particular paragraph or a
particular sentence. However if more time is available it is possible to apply
methods of analysis that throw more light on the processes of translation that
are going on. A translation performed under pressure of time is unlikely to be
the same as one that emerges from a relaxed and leisurely situationthough it
is also arguable that translating under pressure can imply heightened learning
and more efficient methodology.

130
Translation often involves summary, and it often will involve the translators
comment. This is something that is inadequately treated in presentations of
translation ethics. The fact is that there will often be demand for user
summaries, and it seems reasonable to say that the translator would be the
best one to do these.

4.12 Selection of Texts

In seeking to define a methodology, the need for detailed reference and
analysis is in some conflict with the demand for an overview of what happens
when translation occurs. Part of this conflict relates to the fact that verbal
commentary must proceed seriatim. However despite the fact that the
methodology emerging from this chapter is still inchoate, it does emphasise
the need for close attention to particular cases of usage as they demonstrate
the intricacies of translation between Indonesian and English. It also
emphasises the need for a holistic approach which is prepared to take into
account semantic as well as syntactic issues. Apart from this, the methodology
that emerges is tied into a theory of translation as something that occurs as
images rather than only words. A methodology for translation could employ
metaphorical characterisations which are intrinsic to the translation process.

There really is no problem in obtaining samples of Indonesian and English
text. It is not always so easy to find respective versions set side by side.
Another stage of research is the utilisation of a methodology adequate for the
task of drawing useful conclusions from analysis.

The symbolic and graphic illustrations are of course not put forward in this
chapter as objectively proven realities. They interact with the analysis of text
to form a body of theoretical material which is given definition through the
use of symbolic and modular themes and which at the same time acts to
confirm the reality of these themes.
131
The concept of the text provides a natural basis for the work of this thesis in
identifying meaningful cultural and linguistic elements that feature in the
process of translation between Indonesian and English. A textual approach to
qualitative research means that ethnography is used to observe organisational
events and access related textual or documentary data for exhaustive analysis.
Researcher observations and written documents are referred to as texts
(Gephart 1993).
A researcher using the approach seeks to account for how a given text is
made meaningful to readers by previous (and later) texts and how meaning
is created for readers in and by the text. The approach also seeks to uncover
the general conventions, interests, and cultural practices that make the text
meaningful.
182


Ambiguity, vagueness and contradiction are part of life within cultures and
between cultures. Research into processes of translation are unlikely to
eliminate all the fuzzy areas of language, but such research may be able to
clarify areas of comparatively good match between the two languages as well
as areas of mismatch.


182
Gephart, R.P. 1993, The textual approach: risk and blame in disaster
sensemaking, Academy of Management Journal vol.36 no.6, Dec, pp.1465-1514.

132

Chapter Five
Case Examples


5.1 Beyond Word Equivalents and Basic Grammar 137
5.2 Options in Indonesian News Reports 142
5.3 Translation of Material on Islamic and Political Issues 148
5.4 Defining Unlisted Terms 165
5.5 Style 168
5.6 The Social Role of Rhetoric 169
5.7 Abbreviations and Acronyms 170
5.8 Translations of Indonesian Documents 177
5.9 Translation from English 185
5.10 Opaque Indonesian Text 186
5.11 Humour 189



5.1 Beyond Word Equivalents and Basic Grammar

The basic mechanics of the Indonesian language may on occasion need some
thought. The translator may find that translation of the Indonesian dong and
lah can be challenging. Dong has the sense that the interlocutor should
already know or do what one is asserting.
183
For example, Sama siapa? Sama
dia dong, sama siapa lagi? Who with? With him, of course. Who else?

Apart from that sense, it can be argued that dong equates with lah in mokre
formal usage: J angan lupa dong./Janganlah lupa. The translation for each is

183
Echols & Shadily 1994.
133
Please dont forget, but dong is found in colloquial contexts and lah in
formal contexts.

Reduplicated terms may also need some thought. The role of the words dulu
previously, sekarang now and nanti soon or later as indicators of
relative time may need to be carefully fitted into an English tense framework.
Yet the obligatory terms in Indonesian grammar, or English grammar, will be
well understood by the translator. Syntax and semantic issues can however
present challenges. This chapter takes examples from Indonesian to illustrate
processes of translation.

langsung

straight straightaway

This treatment of the word langsung may be justified because there is a
definite difference in meaning between the word in the sense of direct as
opposed to immediately, straightaway, even though the two meanings are
similar. Langsung in Kamus Besar however is pictured differently.

langsung

terus lanjut lewat dari sasaran jadi
direct continued keeping on
going
then

It is interesting that langsung can so easily be resolved into two categories as
against the four categories of Kamus Besar. This treatment of the word
langsung may be justified because there is a definite difference in meaning
between the word in the sense of direct as opposed to immediately,
straightaway, even though the two meanings are similar. Langsung in Kamus
Besar however is pictured differently, apparently because of the treatment of
the base word as opposed to affixed words. In the Kamus Besar the general
meanings of langsung are presented as four discrete items, with affixed words
following and falling into the categories. In Echols & Shadily the initial
134
picture of langsung does not appear to take in fully the meanings subsisting in
the word, but there is the temporal meaning of straightaway which is not
represented by Kamus Besar. In terms of translation, straight may well be
close enough for the meanings of terus, lanjut and possibly lewat dari tujuan.
The meaning of jadi might well be catered for by the English go on.

A detail that often occurs with surat kelakuan baik certificates of good
conduct concerns the acronyms describing the position of the authorising
officer. The glossary at the back of the Kamus Besar has a good number of
these, but sometimes some guesswork is needed to arrive at a likely name, and
in such as case if the meaning matches the context well then the English
equivalent can be written out in the text of the document. Alternatively the
Indonesian acronym may be retained and a note can be added explaining the
meaning of the acronym. If the meaning cannot be ascertained a note should
be added to this effect.

Some Indonesian terms have over time found their way into English. The
work of J oseph Conrad provides examples. Conrad wrote of the so-called
South Seas with empathy and skill, and introduced words that have found a
permanent place in English.
184
Tuan is one. In Almayer's Folly the words
rajah [raja], rattan [Malay rotan], prau [perahu]English prow, campong
[kampong], and Hadji (someone who has completed the pilgrimage) are found,
and Conrads work no doubt helped to popularise these terms in English.
Other terms used by Conrad add colour to his work but have not stayed: Rajah
Laut King of the Sea, Orang Blanda the Dutch, ubat [obat], medicine,
Mem Putih the white lady, Datu Besar the Head in Charge, surat letter,
document.
185
Others have not gained a foothold in English: 'O Mara bahia!

184
Conrad depicted colonialism in the Malay Archipelago in Almayers Folly (1895)
and An Outcast of the Islands (1896). The Literary Encyclopedia,
http://www.litencyc. com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=989, accessed 10 April
2004.
185
http://www.classicbookshelf.com/library/joseph_conrad/almayer_s_folly/0/,
accessed 10 April 2004.
135
[mara bahaya] (O Calamity!), has apparently not come into English at all.
186

Sometimes words are carried over into English because they are difficult to
translate effectively, and thus they can reflect an element that is specific to
Indonesian culture. Sometimes also Indonesian words are used because they
carry the atmosphere of the archipelago. They will show that the author is
familiar with the language. However there are many examples of the use of
Indonesian terms that show only familiarity but not knowledge of the scope of
meaning of the terms, for example among the contemporary expatriate
community in J akarta, there is reference to Bahasa Indonesia as Bahasa, and
various cases of grammatically and semantically incorrect Indonesian , such
as makan in a nominal sense, as well as a general tendency to use the syntax
of Bazaar Malay, with only base word verb forms.

Native speakers are not immune from mistakes at either the source or target
end. The meaning may not be as accurately perceived as they think it is.
Unaided literary composition may cause problems for the educated native
speaker as well as the translator working into a second language. J oseph
Conrad was responsible for English prose of great beautyit is believable
that Conrads style is reflected in his writings, but it would need to be shown
that his prose was not extensively corrected by another hand, if only with
regard to grammar and word usage. Translation may not require consummate
literary excellence, but on the other hand the discipline of conveying precise
sets of meaning does place definite pressures on translating.

Much of the argument for a heightened role for Indonesian in the world may
now appear to be an argument by and possibly partly for those who have
invested time and effort in the study of the language and the culture of
Indonesia. It is a question whether that applies in the region also. And the role
of English remains prominent throughout the region. It is perhaps worth
reflecting that languages will establish their own primacy geographically and

186
The Lagoon. http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/ Lago. Shtml,
accessed 10 April 2004.
136
in their impression on the minds of those who encounter them in use. Malay
left its impression in the works of J oseph Conrad, and terms like amok persist
in English. English constantly affects the linguistic frame of awareness of
many Indonesians. It could be argued that this makes translation difficult. It
could equally be argued that it makes translation easier, because there will be
a tendency for awareness among speakers of the concepts embodied in the
other language. Perhaps either tendency or both may operate for the translator
or the interpreter, but in the end the cognitive process that results in a
translation takes place in the mind of the translator. The translator is the
medium for translation.

The word becak is often carried into English, and this is understandable
because of its colourful role in Indonesian life. However such forms of
transport are by no means confined to Indonesia. But pedicab is an invention
that does not seem to be used by anybody in real life in Western countries.
The word becak is often carried into English, and this is understandable
because of their colourful role in Indonesian life. Such forms of transport are
by no means confined to Indonesia, but nevertheless retaining the word becak,
with an explanatory note as necessary, is part of an authentic translation style.
The word pedicab is an invention that does not seem to be very much used,
and this does not seem to be a valid alternative. It may be added here that the
becak, now often driven away from urban centres, long stood for a means of
transport and a way of life in Indonesia. Its frequent romanticisation as a
colourful aspect of Indonesian life may not have been entirely shared by the
immigrants into cities from rural areas who, often without a place to sleep,
supplied their excruciatingly hard labour for a pittance.
187






187
'Merdeka atau Nanti' (Free or Later) Opini, Tempo 8 February 1999, pp.15-16.
137
5.2 Options in Indonesian News Reports

Karena sulit dihabisi, kini ada pemikiran
mewadahi para preman dalam
organisasi.
188

Because they are hard to wipe out, now
there is an idea of finding a place for the
hoodlums within organisations.

The use of preman in the sense of hoodlum is distinct from the meaning of
'civilian'. The use of mewadahi 'contain, find a place for' derives from wadah,
a pool or container.

Di tempat para pedagang berpesta
menjajakan barang-barang eceran dan
pembeli bersukacita dengan aneka
diskon, gerombolan preman senantiasa
menghadang.
189

At the places where merchants are
having a great time peddling retail goods
and buyers are delighted with various
discounts, the gangs of hoodlums are
always lying in wait.

The word diskon is used approximately as the English discount. Pedagang
does not cause any real difficulty, although merchant may not fit exactly the
level of trade carried out by the pedagang. Trader may be slightly better.
Menjajakan seems to differ from the English peddling or hawking in the way
that it is done in Indonesia and its degree of local colouring. It is not difficult
for an English speaker, once the meaning of menghadang is clear, to translate
lying in wait. The phrase simply describes a situation. It could be more
difficult however for a non English native speaker to arrive at that phrase
through dictionaries, or to achieve an alternative translation of menghadang.

Perjuangan arek-arek Surabaya melawan
tentara NICA diperingati sebagai Hari
Pahlawan setiap tahunnya.
190

The struggle of the people of Surabaya
against the Dutch NICA army is
commemorated as Heroes Day every
year.

Arek Surabaya refers to someone from Surabaya. NICA: Netherlands Indies
Civil Administration. To the Indonesian reader these two terms may be clear,

188
Sinar 25 J anuary 1997, p.59.
189
ibid.
190
Gatra no.9 Tahun III, 18 J anuary 1997. p.5.
138
but although they figure in and Shadilys 1994 Kamus Indonesia Inggris, they
are not in the common run of expressions.

Wanita mungil itu selalu tampak energik,
gesit, and bersemangat dalam menjawab
pertanyaan-pertanyaan wartawan
191

The diminutive woman always seemed
to be energetic, adroit, and enthusiastic
in answering the journalists questions

Gesit may comprise separate concepts that cannot be entirely translated into
English as one word; in this case, however, adroit may be appropriate. Mungil
contains two meaning elements, small and attractive. Kamus Besar gives
the meaning as kecil elok, so that cute could partly convey the meaning, but
overall the English diminutive seems to fit well. Gesit and mungil are good
examples of words that resist translation by word equivalents, and indeed
reflect a subjective meaning within Indonesian itself.

Aksi brutal pelajar kian berani. Lihat saja
ulah 72 oknum pelajar Sekolah Teknik
Menengah (STM) Cawang
192

Violent acts by students are more and
more daring. Take the actions of 72
student offenders from Cawang
Secondary Technical School

Kamus Besar gives brutal as kurang ajar, tidak sopan. However this and
other contexts certainly convey the impression of actual violence. The
dictionary definition therefore may be suspected as inadequate; the English
connotation seems to be present but the Indonesian understanding of brutal
seems to be of a lesser nature than the English, though definitely more than
rude. Oknum refers to a person who is guilty of a crime or is under a cloud
of suspicion, so here offenders seems appropriate enough, although the
usage does not entirely correspond with that of oknum.

Kejadian yang amat prihatinkan orangtua
itu bermula ketika bus PPDP-11 berhenti
hendak menaikkan penumpang di halte
depan gedung
193

The event that greatly concerned the
parents began when bus PPDP-11
stopped to take on passengers at the bus
stop in front of the building

191
ibid.
192
ibid. Ulah Brutal di Patas-11, p.29.
193
ibid. Ulah Brutal di Patas-11 Kami Tak Melukai p.29
139

Prihatinkan without me- can be explained as placing emphasis onto orangtua,
and also in a context where kejadian is the leading word. Hendak is a classical
use of Indonesian in preference to the usual untuk.

Mendadak secara berombongan tiba-tiba
72 pelajar STM yang berada di halte tadi
berebut masuk. Bus yang semula
berpenumpang 25 orang itu pun menjadi
sarat setelah diisi 72 pelajar. Suasananya
pun menjadi gaduh dan para penumpang
ngeri melihat ulah mereka. Penumpang
nonpelajar tadi makin takut setelah
beberapa pelajar meneriaki sopir agar
tidak masuk jalur tol. Pir, lewat bawah,
lewat bawah! pintanya kepadasopir
bus. Tapi Mangaraja yang melihat
gelagat buruk itu tidak mau ambil risiko
terlalu jauh.
194

Suddenly the 72 STM students at the bus
stop all pushed to get in. /The bus that
originally held 25 people became fully
loaded after taking on 72 students. The
atmosphere became noisy and the
passengers were shocked and alarmed at
their behaviour. The non-student
passengers became even more frightened
after several students called out to the
driver not to enter the toll lane. Driver,
go underneath, go underneath! they
asked the bus driver. But Mangaraja who
could see the way things were happening
did not want to take too much of a risk.

Ngeri may be translated as afraid, but the impact of this word is in its
element of shock and dismay as well as fear. A possible translation would
thus be frightened or dismayed and extremely apprehensive; here ngeri is
translated as shocked and alarmed. The takut which follows could be
translated by a different English word from that used to translate ngeri under
the general principle of elegant variation, something which is taken up in
Chapter Six.

Meneriaki means to call out to. This is a more formal form than the usual
berteriak kepada, and in terms of style it goes with pintanya, their request,
and so they asked. The value of trying to convey a more formal style here
could however be considered trivial as the context and subject matter are not
dependent on these elements in the narrative.

Gelagat according to the Kamus Besar means yang menjadi tanda atau
alamat akan terjadi suatu peristiwa, that is a forewarning or omen. The

194
ibid.
140
sentence might be translated But Mangaraja could see what was likely to
happen and did not want to take chances. The English output sentence reads
naturally. On the other hand a translation closer to the original Indonesian
might be But Mangaraja, who saw the bad omen, did not want to take too
much of a risk. That more literal translation might conceivably have value in
some circumstances, but in general the first translation is better.

Yang ditantang segera membalasnya
dengan melemparkan bebatuan ke arah
bus. Para pelajar di dalam bus tadi balik
menggertak dengan mengacung-
acungkan benda tajam, celurit, pedang
samurai, dan beberapa senjata berbahaya
lainnya kepada penantangnya.
195

Responding to the challenge, the other
group threw stones at the bus. The
students in the bus shouted back, waving
sharp objects, sickles, samurai swords
and several other dangerous weapons at
their adversaries.

The approach adopted to translation here is worth explanation. Yang ditantang
means the one who were challenged, but this would be awkward in
translation. An alternative would be Responding to the challenge, the other
group threw stones in the direction of the bus. Bebatuan is not to be found in
the Kamus Besar, but this is of little consequence because the be-an form
typically equates to the standard -an form, here batu-batuan, (various kinds
of) stones. It is worth noting here that apart from the use of the English noun
to translate the verb ditantang, membalasnya dengan melemparkan is
translated as Respondingthrew. Penantangnya at the end of the next
sentences, challengers, is translated as adversaries to avoid confusion as
the reader will have already identified the ones challenged as the ones outside
the bus, and now they become the challengers. Adversaries is not inaccurate,
and this is used as an improvement in readability. An important consideration
here is that a verbal description is likely to be ambiguous as to certain points
in a narrative of events. A translation of that description into a second
language will attempt to clarify what took place, and this may be difficult
because of gender, number and tense considerations, for example, with the
result that some detail may be omitted.

195
ibid.
141

Mobil patroli polisi itu segera menyalip
dan menyilangnya di depan bus tersebut.
Bus langsung berhenti.
196

The police patrol car quickly overtook
and cut off the bus. The bus immediately
stopped.

Although for Indonesian speakers words menyalip and menyilang will no
douht immediately suggest themselves as the way to describe particular
actions or events, they are words that might not be readily arrived at in
translation from English to Indonesian. . Menyalip and menyilang deserve
mention because they are part of a complex of words that may be perceived
from the angle of English as verbs with specific and colourful meanings. Such
words help to give Indonesian a definite charm or occasionally a pall of fear.

Anak-anak cuma berteriak supaya bus itu
lewat bawahKami juga tak pernah
memukul penumpang, apalagi
melukai.
197

The children only called out for the bus
to go belowAnd we never hit the
passengers, let alone hurt anybody.

The use of melukai without nya, as it also appears in the title of the article,
Kami Tidak Melukai, is a denial of having hurt the passengers, although
because there is no object melukai in principle tends to mean to hurt people in
general.

Namun hingga kini masih belum
terjawab mengapa Kota Santri
[Tasikmalaya] yang adem ayem itu tiba-
tiba bergolak.
But up to now it is not clear why the
calm Holy City [Tasikmalaya] suddenly
erupted.

According to Kamus Besar, adem ayem means sejuk dan tenteram, cool and
calm. Bergolak in Kamus Besar is given as mendidih boiling, bergelora
keras seething. Belum terjawab mengapa, literally, why has not been
answered goes more naturally into English as it is not clear, or no-one is
able to say why.

196
ibid.
197
ibid.
142
Mencari Dalang Tasikmalaya


Empat polisi pemicu Kerusuhan
Tasikmalaya dipecat. Otak perekayasa
kerusuhan belum tertangkap.
198



Seeking the Manipulators of
Tasikmalaya.

Four police officers who triggered the
Tasikmalaya Disturbance have been
dismissed. Those who are the brains
behind the engineering of the situation
have not been apprehended.

Dalang is a term commonly used to refer to hidden manipulators of a situation.
Pemicu derives from picu, trigger, and is to be understood as those who
triggered. Perekayasa refers to the engineer of a situation, and is in
apposition with otak, brain.

Merebaknya judi hwa-hwe dan toto gelap
(togel) di Sumatera Utara, yang telah
berlangsung setahun belakangan ini.
akhirnya mengundang reaksi. Dua
rombongan anak mudayang berjumlah
sekitar 60 orang dan mengatasnamakan
Wadah Solidaritas Pemuda Antijudi dan
Forum Solidaritas Mahasiswa dan
Pemuda Antijudimenggelar unjuk
rasa.
199

The spread of hwa-hwe gambling and
illegal gambling shops (togel) in North
Sumatra, which have been in existence
for the last year, in the end have
provoked a reaction. Two groups of
young peopleabout 60 in number and
going under the names of Young Anti-
Gambling Solidarity Front and the
Solidarity Forum of Anti-Gambling
University Students and Youthhave
held demonstrations.

Merebaknya judi hwa-hwemengundang reaksi: The me-nya form is a verb
which has an object (judi hwa-hwe) but also functions as a noun, being the
subject of the verb mengundang. It could be argued that perebakan could
replace merebaknya, but there could then be a difference in terms of the
feeling and force of the action. Understanding of the term judi hwa-hwe
requires research into the game itself, which maight require research into the
Chinese term. This however could be quite unjustified in terms of the
requirements of the translation, and a rendering as the hwa-hwe form of
gambling might be quite enough. After all it is likely that many Indonesian
readers themselves will not have a clear idea of the nature of the game.
Furthermore, unless the translators knowledge of the term is included in the

198
Gatra no.9 Tahun III, 18 J anuary 1997, pp.32-33.
199
ibid. p.33.
143
final text of the translation, there is no need to spend time in understanding
such terms deeply. Mengatasnamakan (Kamus Besar) means memakai nama
or menggunakan nama, to use the name. This is an example of the
broadened, productive use of me-kan affixation. Menggelar unjuk rasa: held
a demonstration. This sense of gelar is different from that meaning to call.

5.3 Translation of Material on Islamic and Political Issues

Setelah menunaikan umrah atau haji,
para jamaah disunahkan berziarah ke
Madinah al-Munawarah.
200

After carrying out the pilgrimage or haj,
the pilgrims are required to journey to
Medina.

The translation does not carry the full detail of the original: para jamaah
(jemaah) refers to the pilgrims as a congregation rather than as a number of
individuals; berziarah refers to a pilgrimage but within Saudi Arabia and not
on the scale of the haj; and al-Munawarah is omitted. Nevertheless the
translation is probably complete enough for most purposes. Translation of
Islamic terms may be either a simple or complex task, depending on the
purpose of the translation and the audience. If the large number of Arabic
terms used in relation to Islam were to be translated into English, this would
mean an extensive translation task.

The Wikipedia articles on Islam in Indonesian and English feature charts of
key vocabulary items which are useful for reference and may be set out in
comparative form as follows.
201
This table encompasses a large body of
description of Islam. The different presentations of material seem, as would
be expected, to reflect the likelihood that Indonesians will be more familiar
with Islam than English speakers will be. In fact many of the terms in the left

200
Dari Al-Qashwa ke Taman Surga. Gatra no.9 Tahun III, 18 J anuary 1997.,
pp.56,57-62. p.56.
201
http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam. Accessed 4
August 2005; Najjar, F. 2005, 'The Arabs, Islam and globalization,' Middle East
Policy vol.12 no.3, Fall, pp.91-107. Kahin, G.McT. 1959, Nationalism and
Revolution in Indonesia, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York.

144
hand column would be considered common terminology in Indonesia,
whereas this would apply to only very few of the terms in the English
speaking world. For the translator of Indonesian to English, the implications
are that some explanation will be desirable, whether by expansion of phrasing
in the text, by footnote, or by other means.


Rukun Islam Five Pillars
Rukun Islam

Syahadat Solat Zakat Puasa Haji

Rukun Iman

Allah Nabi Kitab
Malaikat Akhirat Takdir

Five Pillars

Profession of faith Prayer Alms
Fasting Pilgrimage to Mecca



Allah, God Prophets Scriptures
Angels the hereafter Predestination

It is a moot point whether Allah should be left as it is or translated as God.
To translate God could be held to argue that the Christian concept is
fundamentally the same as the Islamic one. The concept of the Trinity, the
Son of God and even more the Mother of God is anathema to Islam. Yet
common usage would tend to favour God. This largely depends on the
translators judgement. All the Rukun Islam and Rukun Imam need to be
treated with care, however they are translated, because in each case what the
term refers to is not transparent in English. Thus the profession of faith is a set
formula, solat is a formalised prayer ritual, almsgiving is an obligation for
Muslims, and puasa is very different from fastThe notion of nabi does not
correspond entirely with prophet: nabi includes Isa J esus, and kitab has a
different coverage from just alkitab the Bible. Achirat the hereafter is
characterised differently from the Christian concept, and the notion of takdir
has to be appreciated apart from Calvinist doctrine, for example.

Kota Suci
Mekkah Madinah
Holy Cities
Mecca Medina
145

Peristiwa

Hijrah Kalender Islam Idul Fitri
Events

Hijra Islamic calendar Eid ul-Fitr
These key elements in Islamic tradition are largely foreign to Western readers
and if they occur need a note explaining their significance.

Bangunan

Mesjid
Minaret
Mihrab
Kabah

Buildings

Mosque
Minaret
Mihrab
Kaaba
With rising Islamic consciousness in Indonesiaevidenced for example by
the number of women and girls covering their headsit is likely that
references to buildings such as these will occur. Accurate description of such
phenomena will be essential.

Peran Keagamaan Fungsional

Modin Imam
Functional Religious Roles

Muezzin Imam
Mazhab

school of thought on Muslim law

Sunni Hanafi Hanbali Maliki Syaffi

Interpretive Texts & Practices

Quran Hadith Sunnah
Fiqh Fatwa Sharia

Gerakan
Tasawuf, Wahhabisme Salafiyah
Movements

Sufism, Wahhabism, Salafism

These faces of Islam may be readily understood by very many Indonesians, if not
all, but if they occur in texts targeting Western readers it is important that they be
defined accurately and given an informative context. If this is done then it can be
expected that the translator is playing a valuable role in improving the level of
146
understanding between Indonesia and the English-speaking target audience.
Note that the audience factor is crucial in the Wikipedia versions. Often where
the English requires a gloss, the Indonesian requires none. However some
content mentioned in the English is not considered appropriate in the
Indonesian. Some kind of 80-20 rule could be applied with material that is
very dense with such technical material, so that the reader is not asked to
wade through large quantities of virtually opaque material. The use of
footnotes, endnotes or attachments is particularly clear in this regard.
Differing point of view may readily become a significant translation issue
where history or religion is concerned, as the following illustrates.
202

Sebenarnya pengertian 'agama' untuk
Islam bukan suatu hal yang tepat, Islam
adalah Din yang pengertiannya jauh
lebih kompleks dari agama yang sekedar
berisi mengenai ajaran budi pekerti dan
ritual. Islam juga bukan nama, tapi esensi
dari keberserahan diri alam semesta dan
isinya kepada aturan/hukum Allah.
Semua 'agama' yang berkembang di
bumi berasal dari Din Islam yang sudah
dijalankan sejak masa Adam hingga
Muhammad.
In truth the understanding of religion
for Islam is not something precise; Islam
is the Din, of which the interpretation is
far more complex than religion, which is
full of teachings about morality and
ritual. Islam is also not a name, but the
essence of surrender of oneself, the
world and what is in it to the laws of
God. All religions that have developed
in the world come from the Din of Islam
that was implemented from the time of
Adam to Muhammad.
The concept of Din as opposed to agamaeven though the meaning of din in
Kamkus Besar is given as agama) is the main focus of this passage. A
straightforward and effective way to establish the difference in English is to
refer to Din as the religion or the true religion and to agama as a religion
or religions. Retaining Din in the translation could be useful if the source
document was to go on to concern itself extensively with Islamic teachings.
At the same time it should be noted that the phrase agama Islam is widely
used in Indonesia.
The existence of different approaches can point to potential difficulties in
translation. Presentation can be important, and an extensively illustrated

202
http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam.
147
presentation touching on religious issues could meet difficulties from clerics
who were not prepared to accept graphic material, following Islamic
convention. It may well be considered the duty of the translator to point out
any such potential difficulties to the client.
Pakar sejarah Anhar Gonggong
mengingatkan agar kesalahan masa lalu
janganlah diulangi dengan berpegang
pada dendam sejarah. Dalam konteks ini,
para eks tapol/napol tetap harus
memperoleh tempat.

Eks [bekas] Tahanan/Narapidana Politik
dan Daftar Pencarian Orang (DPO)

berbagai tragedi dan kasus di tanah air
seperti G 30 S PKI, peledakan Candi
Borobudur, peledakan BCA hingga
Komando J ihad.

"Makanya, saya katakan, hal ini tidak
akan bisa berjalan dengan dendam
sejarah," ujarnya sembari menekankan
bahwa kemampuan memaafkan kesalahan
masa lalu adalah prinsip utama bagi
terlaksananya pemikiran-pemikiran di
atas.
203


History expert Anhar Gonggong
reminds us that the mistakes of the past
should not be repeated by holding to old
scores. In this context, the ex
tapol/napol should still have a place.

The former Political Detainees and
Political Criminals and the List of
Wanted Persons

several tragedies and cases in the nation
such as the 1965 attempted coup, the
bombing of the Borobudur, the BCA
bombing and the Komando J ihad.

And so, I say, this thing will not be able
to go on with hatreds from the past, he
said, stressing that the ability to forgive
mistakes from the past was a key
principle in carrying out the above
principles.

Translation of material on such topics needs particular care as the translated
text has the potential to influence public opinion, in Australia for example. In
fact this kind of material may warrant explanation by the translator, in the
form of a footnote or a translators note in the text. The unbundling~
rebundling concept implies the proposition that texts or terms will contain a
root system with various nodes that the translator can respond to and wrap
into the translated version. The translator ought not to be a surreptitious
propagandist, but should realise the need to be politic under certain
circumstances and ensure that text with particular sensitivities is translated

203
http://www.kompas.com/berita-terbaru/0202/18/headline/009.htm, 5 August 2005.
18 Februari 2002, Sarapan bersama: Anhar Gonggong. J angan Ulangi Kesalahan
Masa Lalu dengan Dendam Sejarah. J akarta, KCM (Kompas Cyber Media)
148
sensitively. This leads to the proposition that all translation should be done
with care, but some translation should be done with even more care.

Menteri Luar Negeri Amerika Serikat
Colin Powell yang bersikap
kerasmenolak kritik Eropa atas
kebijakan Amerika Serikat terhadap Irak
soal bisnis senjata.

Ia mengatakan, negara negara Eropa,
yang saat ini tengah berbisnis dengan
Saddam Hussein, hendaknya prihatin
dengan program senjata perusak
masalnya.

Powell mengatakan, diskusi antara
Amerika Serikat dengan sekutu Eropanya
akan menghasilkan kesepakatan dalam
bertindak.
204

The hard line United States Secretary of
State Colin Powellrejected the
European criticism of United States
policy on Iraq with regard to the arms
business.

He said that the nations of Europe that
are at present dealing with Saddam
Hussein should be concerned about the
program of weapons of mass
destruction.

Powell said that discussions between the
United States and its European allies
would produce a plan of action.

To focus more clearly on the responsibility of the translator, it is essential not
only to convey the basic content of what is said but to convey any colouring
that is present in the textual context. The translator should ensure that the
context is clearly established, but should not add or subtract meaning because
of historical considerations or for geopolitical considerations, however
apparent it may be that a text misrepresents, for example, political or
economic factors or actually conveys deliberate falsehood. The translator
may, in line with the principle of unbundling~rebundling, establish a context
for statements. But the statements should be from the horses mouth or
recorded faithfully.

Perang di Vietnam benar-benar membuat
AS menjadi frustrasi dan terpukul hebat,
sehingga terpaksa angkat kaki awal
tahun 1970-an.
205

The war in Vietnam was a heavy blow to
the US and made it frustrated to the point
where it was forced to withdraw at the
beginning of the 1970s.


204
http://www.kompas.com/berita%2Dterbaru/0202/18/headline/010.htm, 7 August
2005.18 Februari 2002. Powell Tolak Kritik Eropa Soal Kebijakan AS.
205
http://www.kompas.com/kcm/tajuk.htm.,7 Maret 2002. Tajuk Rencana. Proses
Politik dan Ekonomi Kembali Tidak Pararel.

149

The order of frustrasi and terpukul hebat is reversed in the translation simply
because this makes the syntax easier to deal with in the translation (reversal of
noun phrase components is a common device in English composition, for
convenience of emphasis). Frustrasi, derived from the noun form in Dutch,
translates as frustrated, and is but one example of the loss of English
grammatical categories with borrowed terms. The United States actually
withdrew from Vietnam in 1975, but given the scaled down presence
beforehand this would not deserve a correcting footnote unless it was material
to the subject at hand. The translation here will probably not be a problem, but
if such a statemenet were to be a problem then this is outside the
responsibility of the translator, who has handled the translation professionally.
This is an example of where translation should proceed as a matter of fact
documentation of what the original stated.

It is difficult to be sure whether a target audience will understand terms and
concepts in precisely the same way as they are understood in the original
context. Another question is whether enough time and space are available to
explain the full source meaning, and whether there is a need to convey the full
extent of the source expression. And yet a factor which compensates for these
difficulties is that readers do not always want to know the content of the
original in great detail.

Style becomes very important in achieving this readability. A term can be
translated roughly, if its significance within the text permits this. It can be left
as an italicised expression with an explanation in a footnote. It can be
translated by an expanded explanation in the text. Along with these
considerations regarding the rendering of a term into the target text, it should
be kept in mind that a phrase may certainly be used to translate a word, and
that in the target text elements of the source term may appear in separate
places.
150

The following passage is from the Preamble of the 1945 State Constitution of
the Republic of Indonesia (Undang-Undang Dasar Negara Republik
Indonesia Tahun 1945 ).
206
The nation building terms Bhinneka Tunggal Ika
and Pancasila need to be kept in mind during translation as potential carriers
of meaning for Indonesians that will often need to be explained in English
translation. The discussion here touches on some of the subtleties that are
part of the presentation of some national concepts.

It is all one long sentence, and needs to be translated as closely as possible to
the original since it is a key historical document. Modules within utterances
are a useful approach with involved text, because the mind can think of
algorithms quite easily, leaving a kind of routine facility in the mind to sort
out the details while the mind goes on ahead with the argument, bringing in
little portmanteaus, logical gems, quotations and so on. It is useful to think in
terms of rhetoric rather than syntax. This is where the idea of symbolic
thinking may acquire a definite role in the process of translation. The most
obvious modules are subject or topic, verb, and other clauses.

Kemudian dari pada itu untuk membentuk
suatu Pemerintah Negara Indonesia yang
melindungi segenap bangsa Indonesia dan
seluruh tumpah darah Indonesia dan untuk
memajukan kesejahteraan umum,
mencerdaskan kehidupan bangsa, dan ikut
melaksanakan ketertiban dunia yang
berdasarkan kemerdekaan, perdamaian
abadi dan keadilan sosial, maka disusunlah
Kemerdekaan Kebangsaan Indonesia itu
dalam suatu Undang-Undang Dasar
Negara Indonesia, yang terbentuk dalam
suatu susunan Negara Republik Indonesia
yang berkedaulatan rakyat dengan
berdasarkan kepada Ketuhanan Yang
Maha Esa, Kemanusiaan Yang Adil dan
Beradab, Persatuan Indonesia dan
Kerakyatan yang dipimpin oleh hikmat
Further, in order to establish a
government of the State of Indonesia
which shall protect the whole
Indonesian people and their entire
homeland of Indonesia, and in order to
advance their general welfare, to
promote the intellectual life of the
nation, and to contribute to
implementing order in a world founded
upon independence, eternal peace and
social justice, Indonesia's national
independence shall be formulated in a
Constitution of the State of Indonesia,
which shall have the structural state
form of a Republic of Indonesia with
sovereignty of the people, and which
shall be based upon: belief in one God,
humanity, unity, deliberation for

206
http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teks_UUD_1945, accessed 3 September 2003.
151
kebijaksanaan dalam
Permusyawaratan/Perwakilan, serta
dengan mewujudkan suatu Keadilan sosial
bagi seluruh rakyat Indonesia.
207

representation and social justice for all
Indonesians.
208


There is a clump of content from untuk membentuk to keadilan social.
Within that portion of text there are three statements of purpose: untuk
membentuk, dan untuk memajukan and dan ikut melaksanakan From
maka disusunlah on there are a number of terms which demand special
attention. Another translation might be

the national independence of Indonesia shall be formulated into a
constitution of the sovereign Republic of Indonesia which is based on the
belief in the One and Only God, just and humanity, the unity of Indonesia,
democracy guided by the inner wisdom of deliberations amongst
representatives and the realisation of social justice for all of the people of
Indonesia.
209



Just and humanity could be intended to be justice and humanity. The
Indonesian Constitution would be a subject for study in itself, but this extract
is useful in noting the elements of Pancasila. Ketuhanan Yang Maha Esa as a
concept was probably designed to be vague enough to allow different kinds of
thinking on religious issues. It might possibly be translated more accurately as
the Divinity of the Great One or Belief in the Unity of the Divine Being. It
seems to rule out polytheism but to resist an Islamic state. The translation here
could be extended considerably because the various political concepts are not
simple and need to be explained so that readers will understand their
significance within Indonesian national history. This is a case where the
translation could benefit by being expanded.
210
However translation is carried

207
http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teks_UUD_1945. Part of this Preamble was
translated in Chapter Five (5.3).
208
http://www.indonesiamission-ny.org/issuebaru/HumanRight/1945cons.htm.
209
The 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, Department of Information,
Republic of Indonesia 1989. http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/countries/indonesia/
ConstIndonesia.html, accessed 2 August 2005.
210
The Department of Information in the Preface to the translation notes that the
translation is still a provisional revision owing to the flexible Constitution which
152
out, and whatever the syntactic choices made for the final text, it is important
that the key concepts underlying the Indonesian polity are clearly set out for
the reader. Further discussion of the Pancasila philosophy follows.

Garuda adalah salah satu dewa
dalam agama Hindu dan Buddha
Garuda digambarkan bertubuh emas,
berwajah putih, bersayap merah. Paruh
dan sayapnya mirip elang, tetapi
tubuhnya seperti manusia. Ukurannya
besar sehingga dapat menghalangi
matahari.
211


The Garuda is a god in Hinduism and
Buddhismthe Garuda is portrayed as
having a golden body, a white face, and
red wings. Its beak and wings are like
those of an eagle, but its body is like that
of a human. It is so big that it can block
out the sun.
Garuda adalah seekor burung mitologis,
separo manusia, separo burung, wahana
batara Wisnu Garuda seringkali
dilukiskan memiliki kepala, sayap, ekor
dan moncong burung elang, dan tubuh,
tangan dan kaki seorang manusia.
Mukanya putih, sayapnya merah, dan
tubuhnya berwarna keemasan.
212


The Garuda is a mythological bird, half
human, hald bird, a male vehicle for
Vishnu. The Garuda is often drawn with
the head, wings, tail and mouth of an
eagle, and the body, hands and feet of a
human being. Its face is white, its wings
red, and its body is golden.

The differences between the Indonesia of 1945 and the Indonesia of today
become clearer as this mythical birds significance unfolds. It contains
religious concepts that are antithetical to Islam, and despite the national role
of Pancasila, Muslim movements have asserted themselves with varying
degrees of forcefulness. In this situation, background provided for an
audience of target texts might ensure that the Hindu-Buddhist element in the
nations emblem does not obscure the realities of Islam in Indonesia.

Pancasila:

Indonesias Five Principles, with the
Wikipedia translation:
213


Ketuhanan yang Maha Esa Belief in the one and only God: The
translation God does not properly
reflected the cautious approach to
definition of the deity.

includes a wider scope of philosophy, so that a more reliable translation is still
expected.
211
http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garuda, accessed 12 J uly 2005.
212
http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garuda.
213
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancasila_Indonesia#History, accessed 12 J uly 2005.
153

Kemanusiaan yang Adil dan Beradab J ust and civilised humanity: Just and
Civilised Humanitarianism would be
preferable.

Persatuan Indonesia The unity of Indonesia

Kerakyatan yang Dipimpin oleh Hikmat
Kebijaksanaan dalam Permusyawataran/
Perwakilan
214

Suggested translation: democracy
guided by wise policymaking in
deliberation and representation

Keadilan Sosial bagi Seluruh Rakyat
Indonesia
215

Social justice for the whole of the people
of Indonesia.
It may be useful in translation to disassemble and reassemble the information
involved so that the translation as a whole is comprehensible to readerswith
the proviso that an estimate of the reader profile could be useful.
The following excerpt from Kompas is a discussion of a political topic and a
demonstration of potential for awkwardness that can arise in the text of a
translation.
Penahanan Rahardi Ramelan
dipersoalkan, karena mengapa terdakwa-
terdakwa lain dalam kasus yang sama
tidak masuk tahanan? Memang, hukum
ditegakkan, tetapi disertai permasalahan.

Misalnya, apa akibatnya jika Golkar
ngambek, menarik menterinya dan
beroposisi di DPR dan diluar DPR.
Kemungkinan serupa diberlakukan pula
pada partai-partai lain. J ika partai pro-
Pansus Buloggate II kalah suara, apa
aksi-reaksinya terutama dalam politik di
luar parlemen.

The detention of Rahardi Ramelan is
raised because other accused people in
the same case have not been imprisoned.
The law has been exercise, but with a
question mark.
217


For example, what would be the result if
Golkar withdrew its ministers out of
pique and stood in opposition role in the
DPR and outside? A possibility like
what has happened with other parties. If
the pro Buloggate II Special Committee
parties are defeated, what would be the
actions and reactions, especially in extra
parliamentary politics?

214
The Wikipedia translation is democracy guided by the inner wisdom in the
unanimity arising out of deliberations amongst representatives, which does not make
a great deal of sense.
215
http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garuda _Pancasila.
216
http://www.kompas.com/kcm/tajuk.htm 7 Maret 2002. Tajuk Rencana. Proses
Politik dan Ekonomi Kembali Tidak Pararel. Gerilyawan Al Qaeda dan Taliban
Masih Sulit Ditaklukkan.
217
Permasalahan means the raising of a problem. Here it is sufficient to use
problem.
154

Masuk akal jika orang heran, kenapa kita
khawatir akan terjadinya proses politik
liar, bukankah semua partai sepakat dan
commit pada proses politik demokrasi.
Seharusnya demikian.

J awaban yang logis, obyektif, dan lugas,
tentu saja, tidak akan ada reaksi
berlebihan. Dengan segala penyesalan,
apa boleh buat, memang begitulah proses
yang sewajarnya sesuai dengan asas
hukum dan demokrasi.

Dihadapkan pada keadaan semacam itu,
acapkali kita gamang, harus mulai dari
mana, harus mulai dengan siapa, dan
harus mulai bagaimana? Sebaliknya,
manakala karena hal-hal itu, kita tidak
berani mulai, bukankah keadaan juga
akan semakin amburadul dan keadaan
semakin tidak pasti itu juga berdampak
negatif terhadap usaha perbaikan
ekonomi.
216


People may well be surprised to hear we
are afraid of a process of political chaos:
arent all the parties committed to
democratic politics? This is the theory.


A logical, objective and straightforward
answer will not elicit an excessive
reaction. With all regrets, what can be
done about this, because it is an
appropriate process in accord with the
legal and democratic foundation.

Faced with this kind of situation, often
we get nervous, where to begin from,
who to begin with, and how to begin. On
the other hand, when because of those
things we do not dare to begin, will it
not be that the situation will be even
worse, and the uncertain situation will
have a negative impact on efforts to
improve the economy.

The text appears politically sophisticated, but although the Indonesian is not
difficult to put into some form of English it is difficult to avoid awkward
English and still preserve the meaning of the passage.

Ngambek being translated as to act out of pique is a matter of fixing on a
good English equivalent in this context (and not choosing the inappropriate
pout or mope given by Echols & Shadily 1994). Diberlakukan as put into
effect means essentially made to be operative, and differs from dilakukan
carried out. The difficulty for a translator not familiar with all the recent
political developments in Indonesia could be Pansus Buloggate II. Pansus
means Panitia Khusus, Special Committee, and Buloggate II refers to a
second major scandal ( la Watergate) concerning the Badan Urusan Logistik.

Religion can colour writing. The anti-terrorist campaign following the 11
September 2001 bombing of New York has generated large amounts of anti-
terrorist writing, some of which appears to attack some aspects of Islamic and
155
Arab life and practice by sarcasm or other means. This is an illustration of
attitudes towards Islam that has existed for long periods of time, going back to
the Crusades. For the translator the task is not to smooth over and thus distort
divergences of viewpoint, but to ensure that the meaning is conveyed in an
understandable way.

The semantic-pragmatic distinction can help in interpreting utterances where
the conventional meaning may not fully convey what the speaker says, for
example with respect to ambiguity, implicitness, implicature, nonliteralness,
non truth conditional content and illocutionary force. A semantic-pragmatic
distinction should take into account various areas, including phenomena
(ambiguities, implications, presuppositions) anomalies (paradoxes,
contradictions, nonsense), and knowledge (information, intuitions, processes).
The application of a pragmatic as well as semantic analysis can simplify the
task of semantic theory by justifying the decision not to address certain
phenomena, and it can discard the assumption that certain types of sentence
must always express a proposition. Intuitions about what is and is not
semantic can be respected without necessarily being accepted.
218

The translator possesses power that should be used ethically and responsibly.
Power is defined as the potential ability to influence behaviour, to change the
course of events...to convince people to do things that they would not do
otherwise. Politics and influence are the processes, actions, and behaviours
through which this potential power is utilised and realised.
219


Common goals and perspective, together with a common working vocabulary,
may mean that notions of command and hierarchical authority are not so
important.
220
Pressures of work may dictate that some aspects of translation

218
Bach, K. The Semantics-Pragmatics Distinction: What It Is and Why It Matters,
http://online.sfsu.edu/~kbach/semprag.htm. 12 J uly 2004.
219
Pfeffer, J . 1992, 'Understanding Power in Organizations,' California Management
Review vol.34, no.2 (Winter), pp.29ff.
220
ibid.
156
receive less care than others, and a key concern is to avoid snafus
221
in
cultural or administrative matters. A translator code of ethics seems to be an
elusive concept, one that is not well expressed in existing codes. Translation
as an art, as a practice, cannot be limited to a group of people who pass
translation examinations and receive set fees. A definition of translator ethics
that may be workable could be the appropriate exercise of the power that a
translator possesses in regard to translation. In defence of this definition and
as a critique of other codes, this thesis asks for evidence of the authority that
the makers of such codes have over translators.

The moderation of potentially offensive terms and the oblique references to
difficulties are characteristic of much of Australian-Indonesian diplomacy of
the last half century. There are Indonesian terms that will not be understood
properly even with the use of a dictionary. The translators power inheres in
the ability to convey meaning with varying degrees of colouring. over what
the respective parties actually said. Translator empowerment to comment and
to explain context could have been a better approach than the efforts of the
media to play up differences and disagreeable aspects or diplomatic efforts to
make the disagreeable sound palatable.

In political terms there has been considerable tension between Australia and
Indonesia on various occasions over the last forty years or so. The journalistic
habit of selective highlighting of words and events is outside the translators
control. For the translator who is required to translate material in either
direction, the first task is to ensure that translator prejudice and various types
of extraneous colouring are not confused with the actual message of the text.
The second task, which is no doubt much more difficult, is to ensure that the
colouring that subsists within the original text is conveyed. This means that an

221
The term SNAFU is World War II jargon deriving from a wireless response,
SITUATION NORMAL, ALL FUCKED UPthus reminiscent of grim battlefield humour,
but the sense nowadays is just a foul-up.
157
indignant statement should still appear indignant. It should not come across as
clinical or neutral. If necessary a note should be added to make this clear. It
should not be the role of the translator to strive for diplomatic goals. If writing
causes offence, the writer will have had the chance not to write, or to write
differently. But the translator, if it is decided to translate, ought to translate
text with the original colouring. Preface and notes can assist in achieving this,
and it is not necessary to insist on coloured word for coloured word
translation: in other words the terms may be unbundled and rebundled. But
the translator has the duty to ensure that the message, the intent and the tone
get across.

An example of writing that gave offence was the front page article in the
Sydney Morning Herald some years ago
222
which alleged nepotism in
Soehartos government. It does not appear that the fact of nepotism was in
dispute, but the article was regarded as an affront to the presidency and
perhaps to Indonesia as a whole. A response by Indonesia was to turn back a
planeload of Australian tourists from Bali. The episode could be viewed as a
confrontation between discourse styles, of a direct reference by the forthright
journalist David J enkins as opposed to the Indonesian or more specifically
J avanese style of ignoring or denying an embarrassing reality and punishing
those who infringe their code. The fact that the article was prominently
featured in the Sydney Morning Herald was important, but J enkins had a
personal history of forthright commentary which could have played a role in
the incident. There could be a question of intertext. It may have been not only
what was said about Indonesias first family, but who said it, what he had said
before, and the perceived spirit in which it was said. J enkins 1984 book
Suharto and His Generals: Indonesian Military Politics 1975-1983
223
is
carefully researched, using information from a wide variety of sources.

222
In his 1998 article on Clive Williams, J enkins notes that his article on the
Soeharto family had been written 12 years earlier, so in 1986.
223
J enkins, D. 1984, Suharto and His Generals: Indonesian Military Politics 1975-
1983, Monograph Series, publication no.64, Cornell Modern Indonesia Project,
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
158
J enkins notes that the role of ABRI (Angkatan Bersenjata Republik Indonesia,
the Armed Forces) became more and more institutionalised under Suharto,
and that they came to dominate much of society; Suharto came to the
presidency through seizing the initiative at the right time and establishing
control. This gave him an opportunity to impose his own somewhat rigid
views in such areas as civil-military relations and to brush aside any officers
who took a different view.
224
The Sydney Morning Herald article was seen
as inflammatory. In a 2001 article, J enkins attributes a view to Megawati,
daughter of Sukarno, that could be her own but is also likely to reflect
J enkins own feeling about Sukarno:

Megawati, who is on the brink of becoming President herself, has
never forgotten the way Soeharto and the army treated her father,
locking him away, traducing his memory, abandoning his policies,
reworking his political philosophy, slaughtering half a million
Communist Party members on whom he had conferred his political
benediction.
225


No doubt Megawati has reservations about the army. But for locking him
away the reader has to understand keeping him under house arrest, and it
should be noted the army did not execute Sukarno. Slaughtering half a
million Communist Party members is probably not accurate, and Sukarnos
relationship with the Communists was much more complicated than J enkins
implies. The rest of his article shows heavy reliance on unconfirmed reports
and rumours. The impression of Megawati and of the Sukarno era from
J enkins article shows precisely the kind of colouring that the translator needs
to avoid.
Although the translator ought not to be involved in the manipulation of the
truthor of various versions of the truthit can be useful to be aware of the
background to events. There was speculation about whether there would be
delay in naming a new Indonesian ambassador after Lieutenant General

224
ibid., p.264.
225
J enkins, D. 2001, In the name of the father, Sydney Morning Herald 21 July,
News and Features p.21.
159
Mantiris nomination to Canberra was dropped. Mantiri in a 1992 magazine
interview had defended the conduct of Indonesian troops in the shootings in
Dili in East Timor in November 1991. Korporaals article comments:
The next few months will show how quickly things get back to normal.
Meanwhile the incident itself should also remind those at the top in both
countries that the relationship is not only deeper, but more complex than they
may have appreciated.
226

The preoccupation with the termrelationship comes out in this article, and it
appears to echo the style of Australian Foreign Affairs officials in discussing
Indonesia. In Canberra, J akarta, New York and elsewhere, it seemed that not
only the word but the relationship itself had to be preserved at all costs.
Emphasis on preserving the bilateral relationship can readily be infused into
the interpreting and translation carried out in the framework of embassy
work.it can be a self-fulfilling characterisation of goals that the translator
discovers in the course of political work. Such diplomatic acts as delay in
appointing ambassadors or a demarche involving the handing over of a third
person note are acts that involve culture, whether or not each side fully
appreciates the others culturewhether one side is implied to be sneaky and
snide and the other uncouth and unsophisticatedand they all say something
from one side to the other. The background clamour of the press and public
events such as flag burning and demonstration can be complications in the
relationshipperhaps forms of noiseand they can be exaggerated,
minimised, denied or forgotten as the political mood dictates. They can say a
great deal and they can create power situations with their confrontations and
avoidances of confrontation. The acts of accepting or not accepting
ambassadors, for example, involve utterances and qualify as language acts.
Often the text of what is said is prominent, but observers both sophisticated
and unsophisticated may perceive that there is unexpressed political
significance behind the event.

226
Korporaal, G. 1995, A testing time for friends, Sydney Morning Herald 21 J uly,
p.24.
160
Understanding political and other kinds of subtle meaning appears to resist
categorisation, but it needs to be approached flexibly. For example it has been
argued that for foreigners, speaking good English does not necessarily mean
conforming to the norms of culturally hegemonic strata.
227
There are all sorts
of convenient modifications to the criterion of full bilingualism, and if one has
to translate into a second language, the best that can be done may be to
research the material thoroughly in the translation process. There is a plethora
of reference material available in regard to the English language,
228
and this
may imply that it will be easier for an Indonesian to know precisely what has
been said in English than for an Australian to know precisely what has been
said in Indonesianif the right works are available and if they are consulted.
Usable material in endless varieties of subjects is available in English,
whereas this is not particularly true for Indonesian.
5.4 Defining Unlisted Terms


The word amburadul is not to be found in either Echols & Shadily (1994) or
Kamus Besar. The following examples were located by the Google search
engine.


Keamanan dalam konteksnya dengan
rasa aman, dengan ketertiban, dalam
kontrasnya dengan situasi semau sendiri
dan amburadul yang tampak dan
terasa.
229

Security in its context with a sense of
safety, with order, in contrast to an
obvious felt situation where people do
whatever they want and are amburadul.


Yang ingin kita sampaikan,
230
tampaknya
reformasi bisa berdampak pada cara-cara
What we want to convey is that reform
can apparently impact on our methods in

227
Thomas, J . 1983, Cross-Cultural Pragmatic Failure, Applied Linguistics vol.4
no.2, Summer, pp.91-112.
228
The great contrast in accessibility between English and Indonesian may be
illustrated by reference to the site http://dictionary.oed.com/ or other dictionary
websites which reflect the vast resources of English as a global language.
229
Didambakan Pemerintah yang Kuat dan Efektif, Tajuk Rencana, Kompas Senin,
21 J uli 2003. http://www.kompas.com/kompas-cetak/0307/21/ opini /444026.htm
230
Note in passing the classical principle observed here that when the object (yang)
precedes the verb (sampaikan) the me- form is not used and the subject (kita) is not
separated from the verb.
161
kita menyelesaikan persoalan. Perasaan
serba mandek, amburadul, serba tidak
jelas, membuat kita buntu berpikir,
membuat kita berada dalam suasana cul
de sac
231

solving problems. Feelings that are
stagnant, amburadul and altogether
unclear stymie our thinking and put us in
a kind of cul-de-sac.


Bus khusus jurusan terminal Blok M-
Stasiun Kota itu tampaknya diluncurkan
di tengah kondisi yang amburadul, baik
infrastruktur maupun prasarana
pendukungnya, seperti penyediaan bus
pengumpan (feeder) dan tiketnya.
232

The special bus to Blok M terminal-Kota
Station was apparently launched in
amburadul conditions, with regard to
both infrastructure and supporting
preconditions such as the supply of
feeder buses and ticketing.


Penempatan tenaga kerja Indonesia ke
Korea Selatan (Korsel) sangat
amburadul. Kondisi tersebut juga
diperparah oleh tingginya biaya
penempatan dan potongan upah TKI
serta dominannya broker dan lembaga
swadaya masyarakat (LSM) yang
mendorong TKI bekerja secara ilegal.
233

The location of an Indonesian work force
(TKI) in South Korea was very
amburadul. The conditions were also
exacerbated by the high cost of location
and the cut in PKI wages, together with
the dominant position of the
intermediaries and the social self-support
institutions that pushed TKI to work
illegally.


A riddle asks, Apa yang luarnya mulus
dalamnya amburadul?
Nenek naek mercy.
What is smooth outside and amburadul
inside? [The answer:]
A granny in a Mercedes.
234



The meaning of amburadul is not easily discerned. At this point, after
working through the above samples, finally there appeared through the search
engine a definition from Websters Online Dictionary: chaotic, disorder,
disorganised. However the definition comes out of a set of Indonesian
equivalents given for the English word chaotic rather than as a definition of
amburadul itself. Chaotic is explained as semrawut disorganised, kisruh
anarchic, confused, disorganised, awut-awutan haphazard, tangled,

231
Tajuk Rencana. Mari Kita Berpikir tentang Kekerasan. Kompas 6 September
2003. http://www.kompas.com/kompas-cetak/0309/06/opini/545716.htm
232
Meski Amburadul, Bus Trans-J akarta Busway Diluncurkan Kompas 15 J anuari
2004 http://www.kompas.com/kompas-cetak/0401/15/UTAMA/803468.htm
233
Penempatan TKI ke Korsel Amburadul Kompas 16 J anuari 2004
http://www.kompas.com/kompas-cetak/0401/16/ekonomi/804415.htm.
234
http://ketawa.com/tampil.php/id/1514/Apa_yang_luarnya_mulus_dalamnya_
amburadul_/, accessed 3 September 2004.
162
tousled, amburadul disorder, disorganised.
235
However the use of
synonomous expressions in a definition by no means implies that each of the
synonymous terms will always be identical to the meaning specified for that
context, as a glance at various Thesaurus entries will readily show. From the
above examples the equivalent that emerges is terrible. The attempt to
define amburadul shows the value of good dictionaries in efficient translation,
as well as outlining a procedure that may have to be used when a dictionary
definition is not available or when additional information is needed about the
use of a term.

acung selling (as a hawker)

pedagang acung (asongan), pedlar The word acung is not to be
found in Echols & Shadily (1994) or in Kamus Besar. A search was
undertaken through the Internet. The term was located in the Kompas
electronic database.

para konsul menyampaikan keluhan
warga negara masing-masing selama
berwisata di Bali. Dalam dialog,
antara lain dikeluhkanpedagang
acung (asongan).
236

the consuls forwarded the
complaints of their respective
citizens while holidaying in Bali. In
discussion, among other things
there were complaints about
pedlars.




dikembalikannya wewenang Desa
Adat Kuta untuk mengatur dan
mengelola wilayah Pantai Kuta,
relokasi para pedagang kaki lima dan
pedagang acung, serta penertiban
pedagang liar.
237

the return of the authority of the
Traditional Rural District of Kuta to
organise and manage the district of
Kuta Beach, relocate the movable
stalls and pedlars, and restore order
to unrestrained commerce.




235
http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/english/ch/chaotic.html,
accessed 11 April 2004.
236
Time Share di Bali Disorot, Kompas 18 J une 1996.
237
7 May 1999, Daerah Sekilas, Kompas. Pedagang liar merchants is rendered as
unrestrained commerce. This avoids the problem of translating pedagang liar wild
merchants in a way that will suit the context and not have to decide on the specific
application of the term.
163

Di tengah teriknya sinar Matahari di
Pantai Kuta segerombolan pedagang
acungmenawarkan barang lukisan Bali
kepada setiap wisatawan yang lewat.
238

In the fierce sun on Kuta Beach a group
of pedlarsoffered their Balinese
paintings to each tourist that passed.


This shows how the Internet can provide examples to assist definition of
meaning when a term is not to be found in dictionaries. The search for acung
shows that the Internet is a ready source of information. A conclusion from
this kind of exercise is that a dictionary can save immense amounts of time in
clarifying word meanings, even if the dictionary does not go all the way in
providing material for translation. However at the same time there is a basic
requirement that the meaning of a term be clearly established for purposes of
translation, and this needs to be seen against the generally inadequate
provision of details on meaning and usage in bilingual dictionaries. A
monolingual dictionary such as Kamus Besar tends to provide more reliable
and more specific information, while a bilingual dictionary such as Echols &
Shadily can provide useful equivalents, provided that the user is already
familiar with the meaning and usage of the term. As shown with the search for
acung and amburadul, the Internet is an excellent and readily accessible
source for examples of usage, althoughas the Webster definition for
amburadul showsdictionary support for Indonesian appears very
inadequate. For English, there is an enormous body of information on the
semantics, etymology and syntax of the language, and OED Online
239
is just
one source.


5.5 Style


238
11 March 2001, Daerah Sekilas, Kompas.
239
Oxford English Dictionary. OED Online. Oxford University Press 2005.
http://dictionary.oed.com.wwwproxy0.nun.unsw.edu.au/entrance.dtl.
164
There is an Internet literary life, dominated by young people, and there is the
term Cybersastra cerpenis Internet short story writer. The abundance of
translation of foreign sources may relate to a lack of novels and other works
from Indonesian writers.
240
The publication of translations on the Internet is
an indication of how translations of foreign literary works compete with new
works by Indonesian writers, and seem to dominate the market. Yet there is
evidence of dissatisfaction with the quality of translations.
241

Former officer of the Indonesian Department of Education and Culture Fuad
Hassan, who has translated the work of Budapest born writer Arpad Gomez,
says that a translator must understand the material involved; if not then even if
he or she understands the language of the original, the resulting translation
will be poor. Frans M. Parera, Chairman of the Ikatan Penyunting Indonesia
(Society of Indonesian Editors), said that many translators of books do not
have a cultural vision. This phenomenon clearly makes Indonesian
translation a matter of concern.
242

5.6 The Social Role of Rhetoric
Rhetoric can be of decisive importance in politics and society. The following
example of Sukarnos rhetoric shows great facility in the use of the young
Bahasa Indonesia.
Sang Ndoro yang mempunyai rumah gedung,
elektrische kookplaat, tempat tidur, uang
bertimbun-timbun: kawin. Belum tentu mana
yang lebih gelukkig, belum tentu mana yang
lebih bahagia, sang Ndoro dengan tempat
tidurnya yang mentul-mentul, atau Sarinem dan
Samiun yang hanya mempunyai satu tikar dan
satu periuk, saudara-saudara!
The Master who owns a big
house, with an electric stove, a
bed, money piled up: married. Its
not clear who is luckier, its not
clear who is happier, the Master
with his springy bed, or Sarinem
and Samiun who have only one
mat and one saucepan, comrades!

240
Anonymous. 2002, Kaleidoskop Sastra 2001: Antara Supernova, Sastra Cyber
dan Sastra Komik, cybersastra.net, 1 J anuary. 10 mDecember 2002.
241
Donny Anggoro. 2001, Booming Sastra Terjemahan, http://cybersastra.net/edisi_
mei2001/booming.htm (Donny Anggoro is Editor, Cybersastra.net).
242
Penerjemah buku banyak yang tidak memiliki visi budaya. Fenomena ini jelas
memprihatinkan masalah penterjemahan Indonesia komentar Frans M. Parera ketua
kepada Koran Tempo edisi 29 April 2001.
165
To organise, create, confess an independent
state, there are no involved, hair splitting
conditions, no! The conditions are just the land,
the people, a firm government! This is enough
for international law.

Untuk menyusun, mengadakan, mengakui satu
negara yang merdeka, tidak diadakan syarat
yang neko-neko, yang menjelimet, tidak!.
Syaratnya sekedar bumi, rakyat, pemerintah
yang teguh! Ini sudah cukup untuk
internationalrecht.
To organise, create, recognise an
independent state, there are no
involved, hair splitting conditions,
no! The conditions are just the land,
the people, a firm government!
This is enough for international
law.
Throughout the speech Sukarno intersperses J avanese terms with Dutch words
to form a highly individualistic style. He neko-neko means macam-macam,
various. Examples of Dutch words are elektrische kookplaat electric stove,
gelukkig lucky, and internationalrecht international law.
243


The record of Sukarnos speech ends with the note, Tepuk tangan riuh, loud
applause. Clearly the audience is familiar with Dutch and J avanese words.

5.7 Abbreviations and Acronyms

Even for Indonesians, knowledge of acronyms is not always regarded as
axiomatic, and a glossary of acronyms appeared in the 7 March 2002 edition
of The Jakarta Post. For the present purpose it is important to note sources of
vocabulary information rather than to list that information, since the aim here
is to interpret significant issues and trends in Indonesian~English translation
rather than to act as a compendium of information about the Indonesian
language. Kamus Besar lists common acronyms, and Tata Bahasa Baku lists
terms which have been borrowed into Indonesia with their accepted
spelling
244
Problems of usage that would normally be handled in dictionaries
tend to be often difficult to clarify in Indonesian, and inquiry of native

243
Sukarno. 1945, Pidato Sukarno: Lahirnya Pancasila. Sidang Dokuritsu Zyunbi
Tyoosakai, 1 J uni 1945. www.geocities.com/didonk19/pidato_soekarno.htm. From
Lahirnya Pancasila, Penerbit Guntur, J ogjakarta, Cetakan kedua, 1949. Publikasi
28/1997 Laboratorium Studi Sosial Politik Indonesia).
244
Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan. 1988, Tata Bahasa Baku Bahasa
Indonesia, Perum Balai Pustaka, J akarta, pp.440-463.
166
speaker informants may not always yield conclusive answers. It often happens
also that informants are willing to allow various expressions as if they were
merely different stylistically, whereas some of the expressions may in fact be
unacceptable. This may reflect various factors: lack of sociolinguistic
sophistication on the part of the informants, politeness to foreigners, or
tolerance for differing points of view.

Another important aspect of translation is the use of acronyms. Kamus Besar
provides an appendix with many acronyms, but it often happens that
acronyms are not easily tracked down, and this is an important problem both
in regard to time and also, when an acronym cannot be located, to the
accuracy of translation. It is distracting to the reader to be told that meaning is
uncertain at some point, and this is detrimental to the image of competence
that the translation wishes to maintain. Other sources may be consulted, but
there remains the need to match the glossary explanation of a term with the
likely meaning in the context. In the translation of the Indonesian Human
Rights Commission investigation report on East Timor, in consultation with
the Foreign Editor of the Sydney Morning Herald the author left some
Indonesian acronyms in place because they were felt to result in a more
compact and forceful style. There is little point within the scope of this thesis
of regurgitating the components of lists of abbreviations and synonyms.
However there are some which are so common and so potentially prominent
that they deserve mention. These citations will suffice to show the broad
scope of abbreviations and acronyms which leads to their important function
in Indonesian linguistic life. Partly their use may point to an in-house feeling
or organisational culture on a national scale. But the desire to abbreviate
lengthy descriptions, such as in the case of ekuin (Ekonomi, Keuangan dan
IndustriEconomy, Finance and Industry) no doubt is a key factor. In this
regard, the fact that some Indonesian words are quite long may also be
relevant. Affixing can greatly add to the length of a word, and some words
from J avanese and other sources tend to be longer than the typical short
167
Malay word. Pangkopkamtib with four syllables is clearly more readily
written and read, as well as being more easily said, than the full phrase
Panglima Komando Pemulihan Keamanan dan Ketertiban Commander of
the Command for the Restoration of Security and Order. PBB for
Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa United Nations again is very convenient. As
an overall impressiof abbreviated terms and acronyms, it seems accurate to
say that these terms generally have a high incidence of occurrence in
Indonesian printed and spoken language. They are accompanied by a variety
of English abbreviations such as AD, BA, BC, ca., etc., et seq as listed in
Kamus Besar. Abbreviation and production of acronyms is a habit of mind,
and there are also many used in specialised circumstances. They come and go.
The translation of texts using abbreviations and acronymsthis could mean
virtually any textis an exercise that demands imagination as well as the use
of reference materials; and it is an exercise that justifies a call for the
translator to continue to read widely in Indonesian and if possible to speak
often with Indonesians. For this purpose it seems wise to consult the popular
press as well as more intellectual articles. In any case familiarity with recent
materials appears to be a necessary measure to ensure that one is not relying
on guesswork in translating. This is a duty to the client.

From the use of a comma instead of a decimal point to a whole range of
expressions, Indonesian is very different to English. English may have the
advantage of being international, so that English expressions may perhaps be
forgiven more readily in Indonesian than Indonesian expressions in English
on a working principle that the international can prevail over the regional or
the national. Nevertheless Luar Negeri is not the same as Internasional. And
toEnglish speakers, the international Alfa-Bravo-Charlie call sign system is
not as intuitive as A-for-Apple, D-for-Dog, E-for-Elephant and so on. The
following have been used in Indonesia.


168

Ambon
Bandung
Cepuk
Demak
Endeh
Flores
Garut
Hotel
Irian

J epara
Kendal
Lombok
Medan
Namlea
Opak
Pati
Quebec
Rembang

Solo
Timur
Umar
Victor
Willis
Xtra
Yani
Zainal
245



Robisons Abbreviations and Glossary include the following terms which
are commonly used in Indonesian text and in writing about Indonesia
(Robison 1986, pp.xviii-xxv). Being exhaustive will be a concern for
dictionary makers and is not an aim here.

ABRI Angkatan Bersenjata
Republik Indonesia
Indonesian Armed Forces
AD Angkatan Darat The Army
Aspri Asisten Pribadi (presidential) Personal
Assistant
Bakin Badan Kordinasi Intelijen Intelligence Co-ordinating
Board
Bappenas Badan Perencanaan
Pembangunan Nasional
National Development
Planning Board
Bimas Bimbingan Massal an agricultural extension &
credit program
BKPM Badan Kordinasi
Penanaman Modal
Capital Investment Co-
ordinating Board
BNI Bank Negara Indonesia State Bank of Indonesia
Bulog Badan Urusan Logistik
Nasional
National Logistics Board
DPR Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat House of Peoples
Representatives
Golkar Golongan Karya state political party
Hankam Departemen Pertahanan
dan Keamanan
Department of Defence
and Security
Inpres Instruksi Presiden Presidential Instruction

245
The list was obtained informally in J akarta in 1975 for use in telephone
communication.
169
Ir. Ingenieur Engineer (Dutch academic
title)
Kodam Komando Daerah Militer Regional Military
Command
Kopkamtib Komando Operasi
Pemulihan Keamanan dan
Ketertiban
Operations Command to
Restore Order and Security
Kostrad Komando Cadangan
Strategis Angkatan Darat
Army Strategic Reserve
Command
LBH Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Legal Aid Office
Malari Malapetaka J anuari J anuary Disaster, referring
to the 15 J anuary 1974
J akarta riots.
NU Nahdatul Ulama Muslim Teachers Party
Opsus Operasi Khusus Special Operations
Repelita Rencana Pembangunan
Lima Tahun
Five Year Development
Plan

There is little point within the scope of this thesis of regurgitating the
components of lists of acronyms. However there are some which are so
common and so potentially prominent that they deserve mention.

abs asal bapak senang as long as you are happy
a.n. atas nama for
A.S. Amerika Serikat the United States
ASI air susu ibi mothers milk
balita (anak) bawah lima tahun below five years of age
bandara Bandar udara airport
bemo becak bermotor motorised becak
BPS Biro Pusat Statistik Central Bureau of
Statistics
d.a. dengan alamat at this address
Deplu Departemen Luar Negeri Department of Foreign
Affairs
Dirut direktur utama special director
Ditjen directorat djenderal directorate general
DIY Daerah Istimewa
Yogyakarta
Special District of
Yogyakarta
dkk. dan kawan-kawan and colleagues
dll. dan lain-lain and others; etc
dr. dokter doctor (physician)
Dr. doktor PhD
Drs. doktorandus Doctorandus
Dra. doktoranda Doctoranda
eksim ekspor-impor export-import
ekuin ekonomi, keuangan, dan
industri
economy, finance and
industry
HUT hari ulang tahun anniversary
tapol tahanan politik political detainee
170

KKN is explained as korupsi, kolusi dan nepotisme (corruption, collusion
and nepotism) as a general term for the culture of corruption.
246
G30S is
Gerakan 30 September, alternatively Gestapu, referring to the abortive coup
of 1965.
247


Finding semantic equivalents is not the end of the matching process between
the two languages. The need to use morphological or syntactic forms suitable
to the target context may mean that equivalents have to be substituted that are
less precise semanticallyin other words a compromise translation. With
idiomatic expressions of various types the value of native translator
competence in the target language becomes particularly clear. Characteristic
differences between native and second language recall of order of words,
common sayings, titles of books and so on no doubt occur. For example
proverbs seem to be remembered by native speakers as meaning and precise
wording, but from observation proverbs and sayings seem to be remembered
in a second language as overall meaning plus elements of meaning which may
fall out of order. Variant versions can range from the inappropriate to the
hilarious.

* A bird in the hand is worth two in the forest.
* Take the cow by the horns

The argument now proceeds to wider cultural mismatching in translation.
Cultural gap could be said to be a different matter altogether, but it could also
be argued to relate to misunderstandings in culture and in time and place.
Grammatical errors could be argued also to project situations that become
unpalatable to a reader for reasons apart from the real content of the message.

246
Paulus Mujiran, 2004, Republik Para Maling, Pustaka Pelajar, reviewed at
http://www.kompas.com/kompas-cetak/0411/27/pustaka/1401062.htm, 16 J uly 2005.
247
http://www.kompas.com/kompas-cetak/0411/27/pustaka/1401062.htm, accessed
16 J uly 2005.
171
To begin with, an impression of ignorance and incompetence can be given,
even though this may not be at all true judging from the original text. Abdul
Wachids about me demonstrates this effect. Despite being intelligible, the
English version of his autobiographical note is spoiled by grammatical errors
and misspellings
248
. To ask whether this actually does relate to cultural
aspects of translation means to decide on a dividing line somewhere.

There can be opaque spots or patches in a translation, where the reader may
not understand the meaning or significance of some elements. Trade names
can be examples of opacity in translation; Names may not be translated easily,
but if no comment is made the reader can be deprived of information available
to native readers. Company names can strongly reflect culture. Styles of
presentation can contain meaning of a kind, even though the meaning may be
difficult to specify in detail. For example batik design undeniably contains
Indonesian styles. There are also examples of names with strong connotations.
Calathumpian is one example.
249
Names often chosen by non English
speaking people can reflect the tastes of a bygone era, and in some cases can
have unfavourable connotations, for example Fanny.
250
For Indonesians, the
usage of names can be different, for example J ohn Smith will often be Pak
J ohn or Mr J ohn. The impression given by a name can be very different, for
example again, J ohn Smith would often be meant in English as an ultra
typical name. Because it can be cumbersome to load the main text with
information on these matters, a footnote or some similar device will be useful
to ensure that meaning is conveyed as fully as possible.


248
http://www.poemscape.8m.com/main/indeks.html, accessed 21 November 2004.
Abdul Wachid B.S. Landscape situs yang memuat esai (essay), puisi (poem, poetry),
cerpen (short story) karya penyair Abdul Wachid B.S., di samping karya sastrawan
lain. The note reads in part:
he often protested his Indonesian Language teacher It was at at time that
he began to write poems and essays on litterature When he attented
Faculty of Law at Cokroanimoto University he took part in demontration
against non-active head of universities.
249
Implying membership of a non-standard religious organisation.
250
Often meaning the part of the body a woman sits on.
172
The presentation of a final text can conceal a great deal of background
knowledge and many important decisions. The text may be presented in
various formats. It can have footnotes, or illustrations, or quotations. It can
attempt to explain background material fully, or not at all. J udgement needs to
be exercised in relation to cultural, geographical and historical matters.

5.8 Translations of Indonesian Documents

The translator has to be able to focus on being faithful to the detail of a
document. A birth certificate from East Timor, dated 1985, provided an
example of how even where the translator may know the meaning of the
Portuguese explanatory text interpolated in the document, the translators job
is to translate the Indonesian that is stipulated in the accreditation. The
translation of the certificate thus reads, with the Indonesian going into English
{italicised) and the Portuguese text unchanged:


GOVERNMENT OF PROVINCE REGION LEVEL I
EAST TIMOR
CIVIL REGISTRY
CONSERVATORIA DO REGISTO CIVIL
(------DILI EAST TIMOR------)

EXTRACT
(COPIA)
BIRTH CERTIFICATE
(AUTO/DECLARACAO DE NASCIMENTO)

The client asked that the Portuguese be omitted, but this was felt to violate the
principle that the document should be presented as it was. The Portuguese text
was thus reproduced underneath the English, so that for example pada
tanggal/no dia became on the date/no dia; telah lahir/nasceu became there
173
was born/nasceu and so on. A policy decision was made that is not the job of
the Indonesian translator to translate the Portuguese text, although this could
be done in concert with a qualified Portuguese translator. Details of the
individual being registered were in Indonesian only, and so presented no
problem.

A 1998 doucment from the Body for Financial Investigation contained the
following text from The Audit Board.


Setiap mahluk berakal, baik alamiah
maupun buatan, adakalanya merasa
perlu untuk menghentikan sejenak
kegiatannya sehari-hari, dan
merenungkan, memikirkan kembali di
mana dia berada di dalam perjalanan
hidupnya, dan ke mana ia harus pergi,
mana yang perlu diteruskan, mana yang
perlu dirubah. Pemikiran kembali
tersebut bisa dilakukan sendiri-sendiri,
dan bisa juga dilakukan bersamaan.
251

Every intelligent creature, whether
natural or artificial, sometimes will feel
it necessary to cease for a moment his or
her daily activities, think again about
where he or she is in the journey of life,
and the direction in which to go, what
has to be continued, and what needs to
be changed. This kind of reflection can
be carried out individually, and it can be
carried out together with others.

If it is accepted as uncommon that a text translated into a second language
could stand by itself without editing, then it is clear that a text translated in
such circumstances ought to be translated in a simple style that avoids likely
sources of error wherever possible. However often such texts fail to impress
because they attempt a style beyond their competence to achieve. Excrepts
from an address by President Megawati Sukarnoputri to the DPR in 2002,
with the official translation, demonstrate the loss of effect that can occur
through such failure and that could have been avoided if a simpler style had
been attempted.



251
Badan Pemeriksa Keuangan Republik Indonesia (The Audit Board of The
Republic of Indonesia) BPK dan Reformasi Sambutan Pada Pembukaan Seminar
18 Desember 1998. http://www.kimpraswil.go.id/pencarian/cari.asp;http://www.
bpk.go.id/. Accessed 14 October 2004.
174
Hadirin yang terhormat,
Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi
Wabarakatuh,

Salam sejahtera bagi kita semua,


Besok pagi kita akan memperingati
Ulang Tahun Kemerdekaan kita yang ke
lima puluh tujuh. Mengawali nikmat
yang luar biasa tersebut, rasanya sungguh
layak bilamana kita semua memanjatkan
puji syukur ke hadirat Tuhan Yang Maha
Esa
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and
Gentlemen,
Assalamu alaikum Warrahmatullahi
Wabarakatuh.

May peace and prosperity befall upon all
of us.

Tomorrow morning we will
commemorate the 57
th
anniversary of our
independence. Before we relish this
remarkable luxury, it is only proper that
we praise and thank God the Almighty

The greeting is approximately standard for official audiences. Befall upon
is the kind of unfortunate error that can slip into a formal translation through
ignorance of word usage. The phrase Before we relish this remarkable luxury reads
is an absurd translation. It could be On the eve of this great occasion.

Kita sangat sadar, bahwa kemerdekaan
tersebut telah kita peroleh melalui
perjuangan yang berat dan panjang serta
pengorbanan yang teramat besar.
Perjuangan dan pengorbanan jiwa dan
raga putera-puteri terbaik bangsa kita,
disamping harta benda yang bagi mereka
tak ternilai sifatnya.

Sidang Dewan yang terhormat;
Demikianlah alur panjang dan kilas
pasang surut kehidupan kebangsaan dan
kenegaraan kita.
252



We are well aware that the independence
was won as a result of an arduous and
lengthy struggle, as well as an immense
sacrifice, including the loss of lives of the
best people of our nation, not to mention
the treasures and possessions that were
dear to them.


Honourable House,
That is the long trail and the flashback of
the ups and downs of our national life
and our country

Disamping harta benda needs to be kept in its place as vastly less
significant than the loss of life. Not to mention does not achieve this, since it

252
Pidato Kenegaraan Presiden Republik Indonesia dan Keterangan Pemerintah atas
Rancangan Undang-Undang Tentang Anggaran Pendapatan dan Belanja Negara
Tahun Anggaran 2003 serta Nota Keuangannya di depan Sidang Dewan Perwakilan
Rakyat 16 Agustus 2002. State Address of the President of the Republic of
Indonesia and the Government Statement on the Draft State Budget of the Fiscal
Year 2003 and Its Financial Note Before the House of Representatives on 16
August 2002. http://kongres.budpar.go.id/agenda/precongress/hasil.htm, accessed
12 February 2005.
175
places the following item at least as high as the preceding one. Apart from the
treasures would be an appropriate way of handling this situation.
*Honourable House is not a permissible phrase. Honourable Members might
be used here. Alur panjang dan kilas pasang surut might be better translated
as a long perspective on the ebb and flow. This would avoid the mixed
metaphors implicit in the use of alur channel and kilas flash with pasang
surut rise and fall of the tides, with its scarcely comprehensible result.


Karena itu, dalam saat-saat seperti ini,
seyogyanyalah apabila kita mengenang
kembali jasa mereka itu semua, yang
sekarang mewariskan kepada kita sebuah
negara yang merdeka: Negara Kesatuan
Republik Indonesia.
As a result, in moments such as this, it is
fitting that we pay tribute to those who
have bequeathed us an independent
nation: the Unitary State of the Republic
of Indonesia.

The construction using seyognya apabila is equivalent to sebaiknya. The
translation pay tribute is not exactthough it is not misleading and could be
recall what they have done.
Kesempatan ini juga tepat untuk
merenungkan kembali cita-cita
kemerdekaan yang melandasi dan
menjadi roh perjuangan dan pengorbanan
tadi, yang secara padat dan jelas telah
diabadikan dalam Pembukaan Undang
Undang Dasar 1945: membentuk suatu
pemerintah negara Indonesia yang
melindungi segenap bangsa Indonesia
dan seluruh tumpah-darah Indonesia,
memajukan kesejahteraan umum,
mencerdaskan kehidupan bangsa, dan
ikut melaksanakan ketertiban dunia yang
berdasarkan kemerdekaan, perdamaian
abadi dan keadilan sosial.
This is also the right opportunity to
ponder on the purposes of the
independence that have served as the
foundation and the essence of the
struggle and sacrifice, which have,
clearly and concisely, been reflected on
the Preamble of the 1945 Constitution,
that is to form a government of the
Indonesian Nation that protects the entire
people and motherland of Indonesia, to
promote peoples welfare, to improve the
minds of the people, and to participate in
the creation of a world order based on
freedom, lasting peace and social justice.
.It is important to see the text here as very dense. The unitary nature of the
Republic of Indonesia, the 1945 Constitution, the concept of promotion of the
peoples welfare and even participation in a new world order are easily
mentioned but have an extensive background in Indonesian political history.
They mean a great deal to the audience and this meaning should be conveyed
176
to the reader in some way. The terms in this paragraphtumpah darah,
kesejahteraan umum, kehidupan bangsa and keadilan sosialare steeped in
the genesis and ideals of the Indonesian revolution. Footnotes, explanation in
text, or an attachment are ways of ensuring that the meaning is understood.

Hanya dengan susah payah kita malah
baru dapat menyelesaikan akibat kemelut
moneter yang terjadi empat tahun yang
lalu. Berbagai kesulitan lain yang
kemudian mengikuti, termasuk ancaman
disintegrasi nasional, baru akhir-akhir ini
saja dapat kita redakan, dan itupun
dengan menguras banyak energi dan
sumber daya yang sesungguhnya sudah
begitu terbatas.
Only with great efforts were we able to
overcome the impacts of the monetary
crisis four years ago. Other subsequent
problems, including the threat of national
disintegration, have only been recently
subsided, exhausting the already limited
energy and resources.

The above English version contains a grammatical error, in the use of subside
in the passive, and the use of thethe already limited energy and resources
is not ideal. The original Indonesian text however is interesting in syntactic
terms, particularly in the phrasing Berbagai kesulitan lain dapat kita
redakan, which focuses attention strongly on the object. However the
translation above simply uses the passive, so that the sense of the agent kita is
lost. In this case a better translation would be We have only recently been able
to wind down [etc] other difficulties that followed [in English it is not
necessary here to use subsequently to represent kemudian as it is implicit in
the sense of followed], including the threat of national disintegration, and that
with the expenditure of a great deal of energy and resoruces that were in fact
already very limited [in English the use of so for begitu here would have
given too subjective a tone].

With regard to the case of the object construction here, it is now worth
thinking about whether the object focus is adequately reflected in the English
translation. To do this, one method would be to rephrase as follows:
Other difficulties followed. They included the threat of national
disintegration. We have only recently been able to wind down [etc] these
177
difficulties.
The short sentences and the use of repetition achieve an effect comparable to
the Indonesian original. This rephrasing is not paraphrase, but rather the
mobilisation of the resources of the target language. This is an expression of
the unbundling rebundling concept, here mainly using syntactic devices.


Indonesia Mengecam Keras Tindakan
Unilateral Memerangi Irak
J akarta, 20 Maret 2003
Pemerintah dan rakyat Indonesia
mengecam keras tindakan sepihak oleh
Pemerintah Amerika Serikat dan
sekutunya yang memutuskan perang
terhadap Irak. Indonesia menyesalkan
bahwa proses multilateral melalui Dewan
Keamanan PBB telah
dikesampingkan. Indonesia berpendapat
bahwa penggunaan kekuatan militer
terhadap Irak atas dasar keputusan sepihak
tersebut merupakan tindak agresi yang
bertentangan dengan hukum
internasional. Tindakan militer sepihak
ini juga telah mengancam tatanan dunia.




The Government and the people of
Indonesia strongly deplores the
unilateral action taken by the
Government of the United States of
America and its allies that have decided
to go to war against Iraq. Indonesia
deeply regrets that the multilateral
process through the UN Security
Council has been sidelined. Indonesia is
of the view that the use of military force
against Iraq based on the unilateral
decision constitutes an act of aggression
which is in contravention to
international law. This unilateral
military action has also threatened the
world order.

Dikesampingkan is wrongly translated as sidelined. Bypassed or ignored
would be appropriate.


Pemerintah Indonesia, melalui upaya
diplomasi baik bilateral maupun melalui
forum internasional seperti ASEAN,
GNB, OKI, dan PBB, telah secara
konsisten menekankan perlunya
penyelesaian yang damai atas krisis
Irak. Upaya-upaya ini telah juga
diperkuat oleh misi perdamaian para
pemimpin lintas agama Indonesia ke
beberapa negara, serta seruan-seruan
untuk perdamaian oleh semua komponen
bangsa Indonesia.
The Indonesian Government, through its
diplomatic efforts both bilaterally and
through international fora such as
ASEAN, the Non Aligned Movement,
the Organisation of Islamic Conference,
and the United Nations, has consistently
stressed the need to find a peaceful
solution to the Iraqi crisis. These efforts
have even been strengthened by peace
missions of the Indonesian inter-faith
leaders to several countries as well as by
the repeated call for peace from all
178
segments of the Indonesian nation.

Lintas is cross or inter. GNB stands for Gerakan Non-Blok; OKI is
Organisasi Konferensi Islam; PBB is Perserikatan Bangsa Bangsa.

Dalam hal upaya Dewan Keamanan
menemui kebuntuan, Indonesia mendesak
Majelis Umum PBB untuk mengadakan
sidang darurat di bawah kerangka
resolusi tindak bersama untuk
perdamaian (uniting for peace).
Presiden Republik Indonesia
Megawati Soekarnoputri
Should the efforts by the UN Security Council
come to a dead-lock, Indonesia will urge the UN
General Assembly to convene in an emergency
session under the framework of the "uniting for
peace" resolution.




Press Release.
Bantuan Bencana Alam Gempa Bumi Dan
Tsunami. No. 047 / PEN / PR / XII /
2004
253

Pada tanggal 26 Desember 2004, bencana
alam gempa bumi dan Tsunami menimpa
provinsi Aceh dan Sumatra Utara. Bencana
tersebut telah menelan 110.587 jiwa.
Beberapa waktu yang lalu, bencana alam
juga menimpa Alor (Propinsi Nusa
Tenggara Timur) yang menelan korban
jiwa 34 orang dan Nabire (Propinsi Papua)
yang juga menelan banyak korban jiwa.
A Tsunami has hit the provinces of Aceh and
North Sumatra. No. 047 / PEN / PR / XII /
2004
254

On the 26th of December 2004, a tsunami has hit
the provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra. The
disaster claimed more than 110.587 lives.
Moreover, natural disasters had just recently hit
Alor (the province of East Nusa Tenggara)
claiming 34 lives and Nabire (the province of
Papua) claiming many lives.
The English translation is from a press source. The use of the date with the verb in the
perfect tense, has hit, is a common error: when there is a time the verb should be simple
past.
Presiden Republik Indonesia, Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono, menyatakan bahwa
bencana gempa bumi dan Tsunami di
Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) dan
Sumatera Utara sebagai bencana nasional
serta mengumumkan periode berkabung
nasional selama tiga hari dengan
mengibarkan bendera setengah tiang.
Presiden meminta masyarakat untuk
The President of the Republic of
Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has
proclaimed the earthquake and tsunami tidal wave
which took place in the provinces of Nanggroe
Aceh Darussalam (NAD) and North Sumatra as a
national disaster and announced a nation-wide
mourning period for 3 days by inter alia hoisting
flags at half-mast. He requested the people to
provide material and moral support to the victims

253
http://www.indonesia.nl/articles.php?rank=6&art_cat_id=5
254
http://www.indonesia.nl/articles.php?rank=5&art_cat_id=5.
179
memberikan dukungan moral dan materi
kepada para korban bencana alam.
of the natural disaster..

The italicised portion could be better phrased, of three days, with the flag at half mast.
The flag is generic, in the singular. Inter alia is added and is not necessary. Flying the
flag at half mast is noted in connection with national mourning, but it is not stated that
the mourning is expressed by the flag; rather the word dengan has the sense of with.
Pemerintah Republik Indonesia
menyampaikan penghargaan dan rasa
terima kasihnya kepada negara-negara
sahabat, berbagai organisasi international,
dan masyarakat Indonesia di luar negeri,
atas kesediaan dan komitmen mereka
dalam memberikan bantuan kemanusiaan
sehubungan dengan bencana alam tersebut.
The Government of the Republic of Indonesia
sincerely expresses its appreciation and gratitude
to all friendly countries and various international
organisations/entities for their readiness and
commitments to extend humanitarian aids in the
wake of the natural disaster rapidly.

Aids should be aid. In the wake of is not a completely precise translation of sehubungan
dengan, but it is a natural translation and reads well. However the insertion of rapidly
tin the English translation appears to be designed to emphasise the urgency of
Indonesias situation to potential aid donors.
Bantuan yang sangat dibutuhkan oleh para
korban adalah:
Makanan, termasuk makanan
instant dan makanan bayi
Kantung mayat
Air minum dan tablet penjernih air
Generator
Obat-obatan
Selimut
Tenda
Kain kafan
Kapas
Kelambu dan Krim anti nyamuk
Ember
Pakaian
Kasur
Dan bantuan lain yang dianggap
perlu
Den Haag, 29 Desember 2004
The assistance that is badly needed by the victims
include:
food, including instant and baby food
body bags
drinking water and purifying tablets
generators
medicines
blankets
tents
shrouds (large preferably white cotton
cloth to wrap the remains of the deceased)
cotton (wound dressing)
mosquito nets and insect repellents
water buckets
clothing
mattresses
other aid deemed necessary by the donors


The Hague, 29 December 2004

180
Listing body bags and shrouds in among miscellaneous material requirements
gives a strange effect and one that could be felt to downgrade the significance
of the death of the victims. The fact that the Indonesian list is in an odd order
may give rise to the possible reordering of the items in the English translation,
rather than the version shown above where the order follows the original. The
phrase other aid deemed necessary by the donors appears to clarify the
Indonesian request for other aid.

5.9 Translation from English

It is not difficult to find examples of words or phrases that are likely to be
very difficult to translate. The following have been located in the Sydney
Morning Herald. The right hand column consists of notes that might be
needed by a translator working from English into Indonesian.

The marketers spotted a new subgroup
within the populace, which they
christened the adultescents. Unlike
boomers and even Gen Xers, for whom
marriage and starting a family were
desirable goals, for this generation, they
are not desirable and may never become
a desire.
255

Christen is not difficult to translate, and
Salim (1993) gives the meaning give a
name to. Generation X is a
demographic term generally referring to
people born in the1960s and 1970s, and
who were in their teens in the 1980s and
possibly the 1990s.
256
Adultescent,s aged
18-30, are uncommitted, with no
mortgage, no children and no long-term
partnership.
257

I stick to my knitting.
258
I keep to the field that I know.
it doesn't feel like full-blown open-the-
throttle boom time at the moment
259

Full-blown does not seem to go well
with the metaphor of an open throttle,
but the meaning is clear enough.
When we visited the bookshop, we were
attracted to titles containing one little
word. Can you spot it among the
bestselling literature? Zombie Bums from
The key to this passage is correct
identification of the meaning of the word
bum, which here seems to mean
buttocks rather than tramp, although

255
Dale, D. 2004, A Peter Pan generation, Sydney Morning Herald 27 December,
www.smh.com.au.
256
The new youth, 25 May 2004, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_X.
257
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/24/1085389339741.html?from
=storyrhs& oneclick=true
258
Anonymous. 2004, China lends hand in Year of the Bull, Sydney Moforucs
rning Herald 31 December 2004, www.smh.com.au.
259
ibid.
181
Uranus and The Day My Bum Went
Psycho (both by Andy Griffiths); Bum
Breath, Botox and Bubbles (Karl
Kruszelnicki); and The Bugalugs Bum
Thief: Aussie Bites (Tim Winton). Our
less anal reading matter included The Da
Vinci Code (Dan Brown), Harry Potter
and the Order of the Phoenix (J . K.
Rowling), and six books about the
glycemic index by J ennie Brand-
Miller.
260

inspection of the books in question could
be more revealing. The reviewer takes
the sense of buttocks as correct, and so
describes the other reading matter as
less anal. The translation of the titles is
no easy matter. Bums from Uranus may
well contain an ingenious and elegant
jocular reference to your anus, but no
doubt one that the translator might
choose to ignore.


5.10 Opaque Indonesian Text

An article by Asep Sambodja, Dua Kiblat dalam Sastra Indonesia
(Indonesian Literature Faces Two Meccas)
261
contains a compact, padded
array of information that could be quite opaque to many Western readers.
The theory put forward under the name of unmbundling~rebundling includes
a way of handling such situations.
Ada sebuah pertanyaan besar yang
sampai sekarang belum ada jawaban
yang memuaskan. Benarkah sastra
Indonesia lahir pada 1920? Tidak sedikit
pakar sastra Indonesia yang masih
berpendapat bahwa kelahiran sastra
Indonesia dimulai pada 1920 dengan
sejumlah argumentasi yang sekilas
tampak mantap. Tanpa mengulang
kembali apa yang telah disampaikan A.
Teeuw, Ajip Rosidi, Yudiono K.S.,
Maman S. Mahayana, Bakri Siregar,
bahkan Umar J unus dan Slametmoeljana,
saya mencoba melihat upaya yang
dilakukan para pakar sastra lainnya
dalam merekonstruksi sejarah sastra
Indonesia di era reformasi ini.



These literary figures need to given some
space for explanation if the text is to
mean anything. However if such detailed
research is to be carried out it would be
advisable to check with the client on the
focus of the text.





260
Dale, op.cit.
261
Asep Sambodja, Dua Kiblat dalam Sastra Indonesia, edited 3 September 2004.
Asep Sambodja is a poet and essayist living in CitayamRedaktur Cybersastra.net.
182
Writer Dewi Anggraeni has produced English and Indonesian versions of
short stories she has written. The following examples show a discrepancy
between the two versions however.
262


mabuk kepayang dengan
Misra
he fell besottedly in love with Misra [head over heels
could suit the context better than the literary besotted.
This should be seen in the overall context of the style of
this short story, which is certainly not archaic.]
sisa kue-kue di piring half-eaten sweetmeats on the plates [sweetmeats is
slightly archaic]
komponis kehabisan
ilham
a composer stops composing [The translation is not
wrong, but it does not specifically say that the cause is
loss of inspiration.]
buatkan saya kopi ya? make me a fresh cup of coffee, ya? [This kind of
influence by Indonesian exists on the English of some
Indonesians and even some native English speakers
living in Indonesia. The ya could readily be replaced by
OK for example.]
Saya ingin
merebahkan diri
sebentar. Di tempat
tidur,
I want to lie down for a while... In bed, [the
context shows that this should be on the bed.]
These examples do not cast doubt on the achievement in Dewi Anggraenis
bilingual version. However it does show that there is a difference between the
level of expression between the original Indonesian and the English. The
English amounts to a modified translation. It has probably had native English
speaker comment, but the comment apparently does not fully reflect the
subtleties of the original.
No matter how skilled and knowledgeable a translator is, reference materials
will be indispensable. For some translations, for example literary works or
texts containing humour, it is also highly likely that the translator will have to
consult native speakers of the language for advice. It could be for some
translations that a collegiate approach would be preferable. Humour is
notoriously difficult to understand and to translate. Newspapers and other racy
sources such as editorials and special columns are also examples of language

262
Dewi Anggraeni. 2001, Music for Libretto, pp.11-28/ Komposisi buat Libreto,
pp.121-141, Neighbourhood Tales: A Bilingual Collection/Kisah Dari Sana-Sini:
Cerita Dalam Dua Bahasa, Indra Publishing, Box Hill, Victoria, pp.11-12/121-122.
183
that is difficult to translate but reflective of Indonesian personality. In addition
there could be a touch of analysis in terms of 'J avanese versus other.'
263
An
article in Kompas bemoans the fact that humour websites are not updated.

humor, lelucon, guyonan, canda,
slengekan, bebodoran, fun, atau apapun
namanya, harus tetap hidup lelucon
dan sejenisnya adalah persoalan asasi
yang mewarnai kebudayaan suatu
bangsa.
264

humour, jokes, jest, repartee, satire,
witticism, a funny story or whatever it is
called, must go on living humour is
something that colours the culture of a
people.
It should be noted that although humor has been adopted into Indonesian, fun
is still clearly a borrowed word, and the meaning fits awkwardly into this
context as far as translation is concerned. Bebodoran is not found in Echols &
Shadily 1994 but is given in Kamus Besar. Slengekan is not found in either
dictionary. Its meaning may be sought through the Internet, a method that
needs to be emphasised in a context of a considerable number of neologisms
in Bahasa Indonesia.
Kak Tedi cuma pesan, biar bawel tapi
jangan slengekan jika sedang siaran,"
ungkap Dian. Anda tahu arti slengekan,
itu lebih kurang berarti seenaknya
penyakit pembawa acara jaman sekarang
yang suka bikin mual penontonnya.
265

Tedi only said, its all right to be
talkative when youre broadcasting, but
not slengekan, said Dian. You know the
meaning of slengekan, it means
something like doing whatever you
pleasea fault of comperes nowadays
that makes viewers sick.
Pada masa dekade 50-an tak ada iklim
cengengesan, semau gue, atau menurut
istilah anak muda sekarang slengekan.
266

In the 1950s there was not a climate of
irresponsible mockery, or according to
young people now, slengekan.

263
http://www.humorindonesia.net/, humorindo.webhostme.com and
http://ketawa.com/ are sites for humour.
264
Darminto M Sudarmo. Melayat Budaya untuk Humor Indonesia. Seni & Budaya
Kompas http://www.kompas.com/kompas-cetak/0305/11/seni/304266.htm. 11 May
2003.
265
Dian Nitami: "Nggak Mau J adi Isteri Menteri, J adi Menteri Saja
"http://www.tempo interaktif.com/ang/min/02/30/pokok1.htm
266
Adji Subela, 80 Tahun Mang Udel: Humoris Kelas Wahid yang Dilupakan.
http://www.sinarharapan.co.id/hiburan/budaya/2003/1004/bud2.html.
184
Slengekan comes out meaning something like ad hoc satire. This makes the
point that not every Indonesian word will have a convenient English
equivalent.
It can be argued that it is not necessary for each of the terms humor, lelucon,
guyonan, canda, slengekan, bebodoran, fun to be equivalent to a
corresponding term in the translation. The intention of listing types of humour
in the original is to give a fairly exhaustive coverage of the Indonesian
synonyms for the joke. If the meaning of each Indonesian term is translated,
several terms will be translated as joke. To render the whole list fairly into
English, the most suitable terms were chosen from Rogets Thesaurus.
267

Even then, jest is more an older version of joke than a term with a different
meaning.
Saya berbicara demikian sama sekali
tidak bergede rasa (GR) bahwa dengan
adanya media cetak humor, segala
persoalan kemasyarakatan dan
kebangsaan dengan sendirinya dapat
dieliminasi.
In speaking like this I am absolutely not
being boastful that the existence of the
print media dealing with humour all the
social and national problems will
automatically be eliminated.
268

Bergede rasa (GR) means boastful or self-important.
5.11 Humour
Sebab 3 Napi Di Penjara

di LP Nusa kambangan tiga orang napi sedang
ngobrol tentang mengapa mereka bertiga bisa
masuk penjara. Napi pertama,
"Aku masuk penjara karena pada tahun 1990 aku
menjelek - jelekkan Pak harto (Presiden waktu
itu)"
Napi kedua,
"Kalau aku pada tahun 2004 memuji -muji pak
harto hingga akhirnya aku masuk penjara ini"
"Kalau engkau?" Serunya pada napi ketiga,
Why Three Criminals Are in Jail
In Nusakambangan Prison three
criminals are talking about why the three
of them have been put in jail. The first
said, I was jailed becaue in 1990 I
defamed Pak Harto (the then President).
The second criminal said, I praised Pak
Harto in 2004 and so I was put in jail.

267
Kipfer, B.A., and Chapman, R.L., eds. 2001, Rogets International Thesaurus,
Sixth Edition, HarperResource, New York.
268
Adji Subela, 80 Tahun Mang Udel: Humoris Kelas Wahid yang Dilupakan.
http://www.sinarharapan.co.id/hiburan/budaya/2003/1004/bud2.html.
185

"Akulah Suharto," kata napi ke 3.
269


What about you? the third criminal
was asked. I am Suharto, the third
criminal said.
This joke is one of many that have fallen out of the collapse of the New Order.
The context is corruption and suppression of rights under Soeharto. The
present story refers to the see-sawing criminal justice system that has even
caught up with the former President himself.
Pejabat Diberi Hadiah Mobil

Seorang pejabat tinggi dari Indonesia
mendapat undangan untuk berkunjung ke
pabrik perakitan mobil mewah di J erman.
Setelah sampai disana dan memperhatikan
semua cara kerja perakitan mobil tersebut
sang pemilik pabrik berkata:
"Mobil jenis terbaru ini kami berikan sebagai
hadiah kepada Bapak".
Lalu sang pejabat berkata:
"Oh, saya tidak bisa menerimanya. Nanti saya
dikira menerima suap".
"Kalau begitu saya jual seharga Rp.500000,-".
Lalu sang pejabat berkata:
"Kalau begitu saya beli lima".
270


An Official is Presented with the Gift of a
Car
A high official from Indonesia was given an
invitation to visit a luxury car assembly plant
in German. After he arrived and seen all the
assembly processes, the factory owner said,
We would like to present you with the gift
of the latest model.
The official said, Oh, I cant accept it.
People will think I have received a bribe.
In that case I will sell you one for $100.
The official then said, If thats the case then
Ill buy five.

Seorang warga Indonesia meninggal dan menuju
ke neraka. Di sana ia mendapatkan bahwa ada
neraka yang berbeda-beda bagi tiap negara asal.
Pertama ia ke neraka orang J erman dan berseru:
"Kalian ngapain saja di sini?"
Mereka menjawab: "Pertama-tama, kita
didudukkan di atas kursi listrik selama satu jam.
Lalu ada yang membaringkan kita di atas
ranjang paku selama satu jam lagi. Lalu, setan
An Indonesian died and went to
hell. There he found that there
were different hells for each
country.
First he went to the German hell
and asked, What do you do
here?
They answered, First of all, we
are sat in an electric chair for an

269
Dikirim oleh Bayu, 2 March 2003.
http://ketawa.com/tampil.php/id/955/Sebab_3_Napi_Dipenjara/
270
Dikirim oleh Nusantara, 7 April 2004. http://ketawa.com/tampil.php/id
/2708/Pejaba_Diberi_Hadiah_Mobil/
271
Neraka Orang Indonesia. Dikirim oleh sandra [Kategori : Antar Bangsa] [ kali]
186
J erman muncul dan memecut kita sepanjang sisa
hari."
Karena kedengarannya tidak menyenangkan,
sang orang Indonesia menuju tempat lain. Ia
coba melihat-lihat bagaimana keadaan di neraka
AS dan neraka Rusia, dan banyak lagi. Ia
mendapatkan bahwa kesemua neraka-neraka itu
kurang-lebih mirip dengan neraka orang J erman.
Akhirnya ia tiba di neraka orang Indonesia, dan
melihat antrian panjang orang yang menunggu
giliran untuk masuk.
Dengan tercengang ia bertanya: "Apa yang
dilakukan disini?"
Ia memperoleh jawaban: "Pertama-tama, ada
yang mendudukkan kita di atas kursi listrik
selama satu jam. Lalu ada yang membaringkan
kita di atas ranjang paku selama satu jam lagi.
Lalu setan Indonesia muncul dan memecut kita
selama sisa hari."
"Tapi itu persis sama dengan neraka-neraka yang
lain.Kenapa dong begitu banyak orang ngantri
untuk masuk sini?"
"Di sini pemeliharaan begitu buruknya, kursi
listriknya nggak nyala, ada yang mencuri seluruh
paku dari ranjang paku, dan setannya adalah
mantan pegawai negeri, jadi ia cuma datang,
tandatangan absen, lalu pergi ke kantin."
271


hour. Then someone lies us down
on a bed of nails for another
hour. Then the German devil
appears and whips us for the rest
of the day.
With such an unfavourable
impression, the Indonesian went
elsewhere. He tried to see what it
would be like in the US hell and
Russian hell, and many others.
He found tdhat all the hells were
more or less similar to the
German hell.
Finally he arrived at the
Indonesian hell, and saw a long
queue of people waiting to get in.
Amazed, he asked What happens
here? The answer was, First of
all, someone sits us in the electric
chair for an hour. Then someone
lies us on a bed of nails for
another hour. Then the
Indonesian devil comes and
whips us for the rest of the day.
But thats exactly the same as
the other hells. So why are so
many people lining up to get in
here?
Here the maintenance is so bad
that the electric chair doesnt
work, people have stolen all the
nails from the bed of nails, and
the devil is a former state
employee, so he just comes, signs
off, and goes to the canteen.
Kalian ngapain is Kamu sedang mengapa? in colloquial style. Ngapain is me
+ apa + kan.
Pelacur is prostitute and not the self-conscious morally egalitarian sex
worker in vogue in Australia. In context the Indonesian bar girl, massage
and hostess should ideally reflect the higher status of the hostess in the
massage parlour-bar-night club environment.
187
Chapter Six continues examination of Indonesian examples and their
translation. Following that, Chapter Seven analyses the significance of the
examples in Chapter Five and Six, drawing conclusions in line with the
purpose of this thesis as set out in earlier chapters.

188
Chapter Six
The Potential Impact of Translated Items

6.1 Religious and Political Issues


... Indonesia, yang melihat komunisme seperti melihat Iblis sakti...
272

Indonesia, which regards communism as a Satan with magical powers

The word sakti means supernatural, magical or divine power. The word
derives from sakti (shakti) in Hinduism, representing the dynamic power of
the Dewi or Divine Mother.
273
and so the translation can be 'a Satan/Devil
with magical powers.' In finding a term for sakti, the idea of supernatural
may tend in English towards the divine and various terms are to be found in
Rogets Thesaurus under the heading Deity, or under various headings
generally classified as belonging to Abnormality, while magic can be found
under Sorcery.
274
Some lexical items, just like some objects, may be felt by
some Indonesians to possess sakti, spiritual power, and this could relate to
J avanese mysticism. Iblis, Satan, is Arabic in origin,
275
so the phrase Iblis
sakti is a hybrid term. The identification of the Devil and Satan in material
from Arabic is not difficult and the definition of the Devil corresponds to
Western concepts quite well. A Satan with divine powers is inappropriate
because the Devil in theology does not have such powers, but the use of
supernatural is not well based because the Devil is supposed to be a
supernatural being. Various terms under the heading of sorcery could be used,
but this seems to conflict with the sakti concept. In English it is not easy to fix
on a term that will convey the sense of sakti adequately, but this is not

272
'Merdeka atau Nanti', Opini, Tempo 8 February 1999, pp.15-16; p.15.
273
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakti.
274
Kipfer & Chapman, eds., ibid.
275
Hefner, A.G. Iblis. Iblis is the name for the devil in the Qur'an, from the Arabic,
balasa, he despaired. http://www.pantheon.org/articles/i/iblis.html.
189
surprising given the depth of historical and cultural background that this
Hindu word represents.

The termdakwah is often found, partly in relation to areas that are partly
Muslim and partly Christian. Dakwah in some ways resembles propaganda,
but religious propaganda is not a good translation because of connotations of
political theory. There are ways to convey its meaning more or less exactly,
but these are clumsy, for example the spreading of Islamic teachings. And the
term missionary can be used, but this term always seems to carry
inappropriate Christian connotations. A solution is to change teacher to
preacher, which goes fairly well in terms of naturalness as well as
appropriateness to the religious context. So the phrase becomes 'the teaching
of the preacher, in an Islamic context.

Kubu Timur yang sosialis ternyata tak bisa bertahan.
276

'The 'Eastern' socialist bloc clearly cannot hold on.'

Kubu 'fortress' is used for 'bloc'. This is an example of adaptation by
Indonesian to the requirements of reporting on international developments,
where it would be tiresome and possibly confusing to have to translate a term
from its particular context on every occasion. In international fora such as the
United Nations there are the requirements of consistency and speed in
rendering large amounts of technical material into various languages. This
thesis argues that this requirement is a significant factor in changing the
Indonesian language. The vehicle and the model for that change is largely
English, but the result is correspondence with other widely used languages
also.

...gerakan pembebasan Timor Timur tak mati-mati.
277

The movement to free East Timor will not lie down and die

276
ibid. 'Merdeka atau Nanti', Opini, Tempo 8 February 1999, pp.15-16; p.15.
277
ibid.
190

Tak mati-mati gives the sense of refuse to die.

6.2 Rules of Rhetoric

The rules and customs of rhetoric should be regarded as applying to
translation into English. Thus to translate an example, kedakwahan seorang
dai, into English, to begin with we would have 'the teaching of a Muslim
religious teacher', but there are immediately principles of rhetoric which come
into the picture:

if the context has already made an element of the meaning clear, that
element need only be repeated if it is desired to give emphasis. In this
case, where the whole context refers to Muslim activities, the
elements Muslim and religious need not be made explicit. The
context limits the application of terms to the defined field.

it may not be elegant style for the same word or sememe to be
repeated so that each instance is in close proximity to the other. Thus
in this example teaching and teacher seem to jar together. A synonym
for one or the other could be found.

The first question may be resolved into a question of deixis, which concerns
determination of reference of certain elements in relation to personal,
locational or temporal characteristics of the surrounding context. Deixis may
be defined as features of language that refer to personal, locational, or
temporal characteristics of the situation in which an utterance occurs and
whose meaning is therefore relative to the situation, such as this/that,
here/there, now/then, I/you. Anaphora and cataphora may be regarded as
191
deictic.
278
With anaphora, one element in a sentence derives meaning or
reference from another. Cataphora is the use of a word to refer forward to
something mentioned later .
279
For the translator, this comes down to a
practice of not allowing precision to become tedious to the reader when it can
be achieved economically and concisely.

Given a preceding sentence Indonesia adalah negara budaya Timur, the
following contains the anaphoric element Di sini:

Di sini manusia manusia harus hidup dengan prinsip selaras, serasi, dan
seimbang.
Here people must live by principles of harmony, compatibility and balance.

Di sini here is in a opposing position to other words of location such as di situ
and di sana. It is only a step to anaphora, which can be illustrated in the
following example:

J akarta memang merupakan kota
metropolis. Di sana berbagai suku
bangsa dapat ditemukan. Mereka hidup
bertetangga meskipun sehari-hari
memakai bahasa yang berlain-lainan.
J akarta is really a cosmopolitan city with
various ethnic groups living side by side
despite the different languages they
speak day by day.


Di sana refers to Jakarta, and mereka refers to berbagai suku bangsa.
280

Having regard for the context, the intention of the word metropolis here is
probably cosmopolitan rather than metropolitan. It goes without saying
that J akarta is a metropolitan city. Even without this judgement on the word
metropolis, if one considers the potential resultant of the forces in an

278
Colman, A.M. 2001, A Dictionary of Psychology, Oxford University Press,
2001.
279
Matthew, P.H. 1997, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics, Oxford
University Press; Colman, A.M. 2001, A Dictionary of Psychology, Oxford
University Press; Blackburn, S. 1996, The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, Oxford
University Press.
280
Tata Bahasa Baku p.36.
192
Indonesian text with repetition and deixis in combination with the English
requirements of deixis and the operation of number, gender and the indefinite
and definite articles, then there is clearly wide scope for the knowledge and
judgement of the translator. To draw in another force, that of idiom, then
there is a need for the translator to ensure that the essential line of thought of
the author of the source text comes through clearly in the target text.

The second question is related to the first. To achieve good style there can be
no rule that a word cannot be repeated, but there should also be the flexible
option of changing a word to avoid repetition. Of course the writer may wish
to repeat a word or phrase, but repetition will frequently imply emphasis or
attention to the precise choice of the word in question, and the original text
may not in fact have implied this. Thus the translator needs to consider
whether repetition is advisable. Elegant variation was used disapprovingly by
Fowler in 1926 to describe avoidance of repetition where there was a change
from the straightforward term to some more fanciful or formal synonym.
Sometimes the variation can confuse. In journalism elegant variation often
involves the substitution of a general description for a specific name.
281

Fowler considered that even if the words meant exactly the same, it would be
better to keep the first selected on duty than to change guard.
282
However
there is no need to assume that elegance in writing must imply stylistic
decoration. Ideally the reader will not remark on either needless repetition or
puzzling substitution of terms. The translator has considerable freedom here,
and sophisticated use of deixis will often remove the need for repetition.
Where elegant variation is used, however , a close synonym or a word that is
close to the original word in a taxonomical structure may be most appropriate.




281
Allen, R., ed. Pocket Fowler's Modern English Usage.Oxford University Press,
1999; Garner, B.A. The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style, Oxford
University Press, 2000.
282
Garner ibid.
193
6.3 Affixes

The process of combining sememes to produce more complex expressions is
well indicated in the following list of affixes and compounds such as that
given in Tata Bahasa Baku.
283
The following prefixes are worth particular
attention because they seem to have definite prominence in contemporary
Indonesian.

pasca-

post purna-

post, after, super
pra-

pre swa-

self

These prefixes may partly represent a growth in the capacity of Indonesian to
represent international concepts. They may also represent a patterning after
English forms. This makes translation simpler and easier to monitor. Such a
practice does not invalidate previously existing methods of expressing
intended meaning in other ways, but as one way of conveying a new form
translation can readily produce text that makes effective use of English
phrases and even result in change to Indonesian. Prefixes derived from
Sanskrit are evidence of a philological resource that has been brought into
play to equip Bahasa Indonesia with a capacity to express flexibly an
externally presented challenge, that is the felt need to develop effective
equivalents (padanan) for foreign terms.






283
Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan. 1988, Tata Bahasa Baku Bahasa
Indonesia, Perum Balai Pustaka, J akarta, p.431.
194
A fuller list of new combinations is as follows.:
284


Unsur Pembentuk
Combining Element
Bentukan
Compund Form
Padanan
Equivalent

alih alih aksara transliteration
alih tulis transcript
alih teknologi technology transfer
bawah bawah normal subnormal
bawah permukaan subsurface
lepas lepas landas takeoff
lepas pantai offshore
adi- adikarya masterpiece
adikuasa superpower
antar- antardepartemen interdepartemental
antarbangsa international
awa- awaair dewater
awalengas dehumidify
lir- lirintan diamondlike
lirruang spacelike
pasca- pascapanen postharvest
pra- prasejarah prehistory
prasangka prejudice
pramu- pramugari stewardess
pramuniaga sales person
pramuwisata tour guide
purna- purnawaktu full-time
swa- swasembada selfreliance
swalayan selfservice
-wan ilmuwan scientist
-wati seniwati woman artist

Translation of difficult text can be carried out after exacting analysis of the
content and import of a saying, but perhaps more efficiently it could happen
as a trial and error process of intuitive creation of an equivalentsome kind
of intuition appears likely because phrases are less likely than individual
words to be in a dictionary, or even if they are in the dictionary the equivalent
given may be unacceptable to the translator. Translation of Indonesian and
English proverbs mostly precludes using a proverb in one language to equate
to a proverb in the other, and there is risk of serious error in attempting to do

284
ibid.
195
this by the use of reference sources. Embedded proverbs and quotations may
be unconsciously used and an original saying may be virtually lost.

There is great potential value in approaching a subject from different points of
view. A study that accepts the existing body of research as a basis or standard
can result in the continuation of wrong traditions or can suppress possibly
useful new theories. For example at a certain point there had to emerge a
sceptical attitude about whether the earth was flat or round or whether the sun
revolved around the earth. Within Christianity it was inevitable that the
traditions of Rome would be challenged, and again in Western society it was
inevitable that Christianity itself would be distorted. The point for philosophy
is that being restricted within Christian literature will tend to limit research
options. Linguistics has made great advances over the last fifty years and
more, but its broad scope need not imply that all research into language
questions must fit in with existing schools of linguistic thought. Nor should it
however imply that language research should needlessly depart from such
accepted lines of thought. The real point is that research should keep open its
creative options.

In translation theory the assumption appears to hold that perfection should be
sought. However translation practice relates strongly to available time. This
then relates inevitably to the effectiveness of the working systems that enable
rapid access to information. The time used for translation analysisgiven the
necessary datais not so flexible. The process takes time. But the operation
may be able to be streamlined.

In addition there is the question of colouring, that is where the actual
equivalent can be found but attached to it are elements that qualify the
meaning but may be difficult to define, even for native speakers. Parents
explaining concepts to their children can be found to explain terms in a way
196
that not even a Thesaurus would attempt: You know, well its like that
except a little bit

There is after all no particular reason that a term in one language should have
a constant, precise equivalent in another language: genit, geli are examples
where it is difficult to equate a term to one constant English equivalent. The
connotations of word pairs like halus versus kasar, mancung versus pesek (of
noses), and many others need to be kept in mind, because when one word of
the pair is used, the translator needs to have in mind that there is the other
word in the pair latently able to influence the choice of one sense over another.

The concept of layers or levels of meaning may be seen in pairs such as the
following:

anak laki-
laki
putera son dia beliau he/she
anak
perempuan
puteri daughter si sang personalised
particle
laki-laki pria male mas mbak,
mbakyu
term of
address to
young
male/female
perempuan wanita female pak bapak term of
address to
older male
jantan betina male/female bu ibu term of
address to
older
female
kamu anda 2
nd
person
pronoun
aku saya 1
st
person
pronoun

There are also words fulfilling the polite function which may be considered
euphemisms. Examples selected more or less at random are:

plain word polite term meaning
susu payudara breast
pelacur wanita tuna susila prostitute
babu pembantu servant
197


Alteration in usage may often be unconscious, or it may ostensibly be thought
of as different for other reasons, but this does not mean that there is no
layering effect. This effect can be commonly observed in English in the
following kinds of oppositions: outsideexternal, mainprincipal and so on.

Sudah susah2 diurus para pengunjungnya
cuman ngomel aja kata bahasanya kurang
bagus dsb. dsb. grrr. Kalau gak suka
khan bisa rubah sendiri.
285

It has been painstakingly adjusted by the
visitors and the only complaint was that
the language is not so nice etc etc. grrr.
If people dont like it then they can
change it themselves.

Grrr here seems to signify annoyance or perhaps mock anger.


ada 3 kelas dlm bhs jawa. kromo inggil
dipake antara bawahan dan atasan.
biasanya dalam suasana keraton. kromo
manengah itu dipake antara org yg lebih
rendah kedudukannya kepada org yg
lebih tinggi. eg, anak ama ortu. kromo
ngoko dipake antara org2 yg derajatnya
sama. terjemahan bebas nih.:):):)
286


there are three classes in J avanese,
kromo inggil, used between the linferior
and the superior, usually in the kraton
environment. kromo manengah is used
between people of lower status to those
of higher rank. kromo ngoko is used
among people of the same rank. this is a
free translation.


The concept of equivalents is challenged by some terms which are not readily
translatable. Senyum simpul is an example.



Tuteh: paak!! Sorong!! Cepat sorong ke
pinggir!!
Si bapak kaget aujubille liyat tampang
Teh yang panik gitu. Mana lagi tangan
Teh ikut menyuruhnya menepi. Hilda
hanya bisa senyum simpul di tempat.
Setelah diklakson, baru si tukang becak
'ngeh' dengan maksut kata 'sorong' tadi.
Tuteh: Driver! Quick, move to the side!

The driver got a shock to see the panic in
Tutehs face, and then Tutehs hands
motioning him to pull over. Hilda could
only sit there with an embarrassed smile.
After being blasted with the horn, the
becak
288
driver said OK, meaning that

285
[[Pengguna:Meursault2004|Meursault2004]] 17:57, 4 Feb 2005 (UTC)
http://id.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bicara_Pengguna:Kandar&action=edit&se
ction=4.
286
L1vinGd3aD. 28-06-2004, 10:16 AM.
http://www.kaskus.com/archive/index.php/t-82782.html
198
Hilda ga tahan senyum trus ngakak.
287
he would move over. Hilda could not
help smiling and then burst out laughing.

With an embarrassed smile often catches the meaning of senyum simpul.
The fact remains though that some expressions are not even easy to define
within the source language. When translation is required the context can
become very important.

Apabila aku melarikan pandangan ke
arah Nurul yang duduk di sebelah, dia
sedang tersenyum simpul dengan
bahagianya, seolah-olah puas hati dengan
assessment yang dibuatnya sebelum ke
kelas tadi.
289

When I turned my gaze towards Nurul
who sitting alongside, she was smiling
contentedly, as if satisfied with the
assessment she had done before the class.

Kebetulan pula kumpulan kami
adalah kumpulan terakhir yang
membuat presentation pada hari itu,
jadi tidaklah perlu aku melayan
senyum simpul Nurul terlalu lama.
290

As it happened our group was the last
one to do a presentation that day, so it
wasnt necessary for me to maintain a
smile for Nurul too long.



Senyum Simpul di Ujung Jalan
senyum simpul di ujung jalan
begitu manisnya
buih dalam ombaknya
menggetarkan hatiku
untuk ikut padanya

senyum simpul di ujung jalan
adalah kencana lapis setan
aku belum menyadarinya
ketika aku terbuai dalam gemuruh alunan

senyum simpul di ujung jalan
ternyata bajingan
A Halting Smile at the End of the Road

a halting smile at the end of the road
so sweet
the foam in the wave
moved my heart
to follow


the halting smile at the end of the road
was gold plated trouble
rocking in the thunder of the waves
I wasnt aware of it

the halting smile at the end of the road

287
aujubille is audubiullahi or audzubillahi, I take refuge in God, uttered when
one is shocked by immoral or irreligious behaviour (Echols & Shadily 1994).
http://tuteh.blogspot.com/2004_10_01_tuteh_archive.html.
288
A becak is a three wheeled passenger vehicle driven by the muscle power of the
driver, who sits behnd.
289
http://nurtaqwa.blogdrive.com/
290
http://nurtaqwa.blogdrive.com/
291
Senyum Simpul di Ujung J alan. Mojokerto, May 2001. http://www.suarakarya-
online.com/news.html?id=29901.
199
pada segala teman

mojokerto, mei 2001
291
is a trickster
to anyone close

mojokerto, May 2001

Here the senyum simpul is intended to have a definite charm, albeit the smile
of a trickster. 'Halting smile' stresses charm. The two lines rocking in the
thunder of the waves/ I wasnt aware of it have been reversed to simplify the
translation by omitting the words when I was. Pada segala teman has been
translated to anyone close because there is no clear indication of whether the
person smiling is male or female. Kencana lapis setan is something like
devilish plated gold, but gold plated evil may be too strong here, and so gold
plated trouble may be adequate. The references to waves are unclear.


Pesta pertunangan Titi dan Bucek digelar
dengan sangat meriah pada akhir tahun
1994. Sebuah pesta nyentrik
dilangsungkan di areal belakang rumah
Bucek yang berkolam renang. Pintu
gerbang rumah ditandai dengan
metromini yang dihias. Dandanan
keduanya funky dan mengundang
senyum simpul banyak undangan yang
sebagian besar adalah selebriti. "Rasanya
indah sekali saat itu," kenang Titi.
292

Titi and Buceks engagement party was
celebrated with great style at the end of
1994. A crazy party, held behind Buceks
house with its swimming pool. The gates
of the house were decorated with
ornamental metromini. The couple were
dressed in funky style and invited the
embarrassed smiles of many guests, most
of whom were celebrities. It felt
splendid, recalls Titi.

This illustrates a case of senyum simpul, though a definition is still elusive.
The characaterise the Metromini in the interests of understanding the
atmosphere in the text above, thse Metromini is a means of public transport in
J akarta; a minibus with 25 passanger seats and an indefinite number of places
for standing passengers. Metromini may be driven dangerously and may be
overloaded.
293



292
http://www.femina-online.com/serial/titidj/srltiti3.html.Face Of J akarta:
Metromini : Low Cost Adrenaline Pumper. http://firman.modblog.org/
293
Face Of J akarta: Metromini : Low Cost Adrenaline Pumper.
http://firman.modblog.org/.
200


Kamu semakin cantik. Senyum simpul
mengiringi ucapan itu, Nyoman melepas
kacamatanya.
294


Youre all the more pretty. A
disarming smile accompanied the
remark. Nyoman took off his glasses.



kalo cewe-nya natap beneran yah ..
biasanya kyoko kasih tundukan
kecil..terus kasi senyum simpul.
295

if the girl looks at you for real usually
kyoko gives a slight bow.. then gives a
knowing smile.


The existence of definable semantic categories in each language adds
potential insight to the translators work in establishing meaning in the source
language, but the process of translation into the target language can readily
demonstrate a discrepancy between categories. Despite the existence of
philological layers in Indonesian and English, Indonesian/ Sanskrit/ Arabic
categories do not necessarily correspond to Greek/ Latin/ French/ Anglo-
Saxon categories.

For the word genit, Echols & Shadily (1994) givethe definition flirtatious,
vain, adding that kegenitan is coquettishness. Kamus Besar gives the
definition suka bergaya-gaya(tingkah lakunya); banyak tingkahnya; keletah,
which might be translated given to put on airs (manner), capricious,
affected.

Now flirtatious and coquettish might be functionally similar, butvain
an allied meaning, but in English some distance from coquettishnessis in
rather in a different category. It is important that genit is not tied to the idea of
flirtatious, coquettish, although it may include this. The Kamus Besar
definition is much better. In any case it is desirable to have examples of usage.

294
http://sulutlink.com/ranomawuri2004/cerpen1.htm
295
Billy C.W Kalalo, Bukan Salah Bali atau Manado, kyoko now, 24-02-2003.
http://www.kaskus.com/archive/index.php/t-2697.html.
201
It is worth noting that the Echols & Shadily definition cannot cope with the
following example.

Bagian lalu kolom ini memaparkan, genit
Inggris-Inggrisan dalam berbahasa
Indonesia sudah amat parah.
The last part of this column explained
that English affectation in Indonesian is
already very serious.
Kelas algojo dasamuka adalah kosakata
Inggris yang digelundungkan begitu saja
ke dalam kalimat bahasa Indonesia
Genit macam inilah sejatinya yang
membuat bahasa Indonesia kian lama
kian amburadul, kian terbunuh, kian
terbantai-bantai!
296

Clearly the ten-faced executioner is
English vocabulary that is just rolled into
Indonesian sentences This kind of
thing is really what makes Indonesian
more difficult, more killed, more
chopped up!

Lucu is a common word, but it can be a little difficult to sort out what appear
to to be two distinct meanings. Echols & Shadily (1994) define lucu as 1
funny, amusing 2 cute. However the Kamus Besar definition concentrates
on the feeling of the observer:
jenaka; menggelikan hati; menimbulkan tertawa, which might go into English
as funny, humorous; to tickle the fancy; to cause laughter. Kamus Besar
examples are cerita ini lucu sekali this story is very amusing; tukang
lawaknya tidak lucu the clown wasnt funny.

The definition of genit and lucu points to the peril of using an Indonesian-
English dictionary without being aware of the depth of Indonesian terms. This
relates to understanding of the source language and also input to preparation
for the translation into the target language. Reference works may of course be
used for the translation process, but the argument here is that translation
without depth of understanding of the source text, however well written the
target text may be, is likely to be misleading.





296
L. Murbandono HS, Genit Inggris-Inggrisan (4), 15 Juli 2005, Radio Nederland
http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/id/tema/pengetahuan/kolom_mung050714?view=Standard.
202
6.4 Translation of Formal Phrases

Translation of standard formal phrases can be a significant step in the
formation of new phraseology. Reference to privacy policy is often required
for software usage A standard condition relating to privacy policy in a website
on Central Equity Limited regarding property investment in Australia read as
follows:
Semua informasi yang anda berikan
dijamin kerahasiaannya dan tidak akan
dijual atau diberikan ke pihak lain.
Dengan mengisi formulir ini berarti anda
setuju dengan kebijaksanaan menjaga
kerahasiaan yang kami miliki.
297

All information you give is guaranteed
private and will not be sold or given to
another party. Completing this form
means that you agree with our privacy
policy.


But the phrase kebijaksanaan menjaga kerahasiaan is not neat like the
English privacy policy, and. is not intuitive for a phrase that is likely to recur.
Moreover kerahasiaan tends to mean secrecy rather than privacy. The
phrasing here is for Indonesians to solve. It can be argued that a proliferation
of ke-an noun forms is not characteristic of Bahasa Indonesia historically, and
the slight clumsiness of the form may be one reason for the use of
abbreviations in Indonesian. If Indonesian does continue a trend towards
nominal compounds, translation from English may well have been a
significant factor.

Rules for correctness generally do not have official status. Such rules may be
logical or they may be highly questionable; they may reflect the weight of
usage or they may simply reflect the opinions of the author. The rule of not
splitting the infinitive is a case of a grammatical oddity which is still
entrenched in thoughtful writing. But in general it seems that there is a body
of educated usage which prevails in a society.


297
Privacy Policy http://www.centralequity.com/indo/sura/index.asp?id=41a.

203
However these rules are generally known by educated speakers of a language,
and a translator should have an excellent command of the rules for writing
into the native language.

Profiles of English and Indonesian may not permit a chart of corresponding
periods of vocabulary change, but can allow some understanding of colouring
due to chronology. English has been heavily influenced over the last two
thousand years by Latin and French. This leads to a characterisation of
English as comprising the language of the belly, which is Anglo-Saxon; the
language of the heart, which is French; and the languages of the brain, which
are Latin and Greek. Key strands in Indonesian philology are the Malay
lingua franca, the infusion of Sanskrit, the infusion of Arabic, J avanese, the
advent of Dutch, and finally the impact of English. Bahasa Indonesia has been
a field of considerable change in both the number of acquired vocabulary
items and the impact of the donor languages in key areas of thinking and of
social life. The impact of Arabic as a vehicle for the religion of Islam for
example has been strong, just as the impact on J avanese society of Sanskrit
has been very thoroughgoing. Indonesian is unlike J avanese in that it does not
have formal differentiated levels of discourse, but it does employ social
differentiation.

The existence of definable semantic categories in each language adds
potential insight to the translators work in establishing meaning in the source
language, but the process of translation into the target language can readily
demonstrate a discrepancy between categories. Despite the existence of
philological layers in Indonesian and English, Indonesian/ Sanskrit/ Arabic
categories do not necessarily correspond to Greek/ Latin/ French/ Anglo-
Saxon categories. The following demonstrates the sophistication required to
translate across categories.

204
A sentence like The institution was a vehicle for change, for example,
requires a translation of the English word vehicle. Websters Online
Dictionary gives the following equivalents for vehicle:

wahana (mode), tunggangan (carriage, mount, riding animal), kendaraan
298


Tunggangan and kendaraan appear unsuitable, so the word wahana needs to
be assessed. Kamus Besar, apart fromkendaraan and alat pengangkut, gives
the meaning alat untuk mencapai suatu tujuan, with the example koperasi
diharapkan menjadi wahana untuk meningkatkan kesejahteraan rakyat.
Vehiclewahana is thus readily established as equivalent in practical terms.

TFor katanya one might write in English

he/she/they said says he/she/they
he/she/they say he/she reckons
said he/she/they quoth he/she.

The use of reckon is colloquial; the use of quoth would demand very high
awareness of style coupled with the reasonable expectation that the audience
would grasp the historical cum jocular use of the word. Otherwise the result
would be simply ridiculous. Even with the translation says he, there may be
the impression that the one spoken of is being lampooned in some way.

6.5 Poetry

The following poem by Sutardji shows the simplicity and charm that can
characterise Indonesian poetry. It is noteworthy that the only word with an
affixthat is, not counting mu and ku as affixesis bawakan.





298
http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/vehicle
205
TAPITAPI
1976

But But
1976
aku bawakan bunga padamu
tapi kau bilang masih
aku bawakan resahku padamu
tapi kau bilang hanya
aku bawakan darahku padamu
tapi kau bilang cuma
aku bawakan mimpiku padamu
tapi kau bilang meski
aku bawakan dukaku padamu
tapi kau bilang tapi
aku bawakan mayatku padamu
tapi kau bilang hampir
aku bawakan arwahku padamu
tapi kau bilang kalau
tanpa apa aku datang padamu
wah!

I brought flowers to you
but you said still
I brought my sighs to you
but you said only
I brought my blood to you
but you said just
I brought my dream to you
but you said although
I brought my sorrow to you
but you said but
I brought my corpse to you
but you said nearly
I brought my departed soul to you
but you said if
with nothing I come to you
wah!
Sutardji Calzoum Bachri, O Amuk Kapak, 1981
299


In this poem a precise translation of each of the girls responses may not be
entirely achievable, but in the above translation the overall effect is probably
near enough. The simplicity of the poem goes alongside a definite force
because of repetition with a variation in the key response wordstill, only,
just and so on. The final wah! is retained because it contains a good deal of
ambiguity that might not be represented by an English word, and the word Oh!
would sound rather weak in this contextat the end it is not clear to this
author whether the wah! signifies final acceptance, and in any case the
writers resources seem to be depleted to extinction by that stage. To go much
further could be to interpret the poem rather than translate it.

The reader may however note that it would be very difficult to think of ways
that would more closely represent the meaning than to translate literally. The
principles of accuracy and simplicity are readily followed. Most of the force
of the poem depends on the key words masih still, hanya/cuma, only, just,
meski though, tapi but, hampir nearly, and kalau if, , and out of these it

299
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/7229/tardji.htm.
206
is the closeness of meaning between hanya and cuma that causes the most
difficulty, with just being possible inadequate but in any case fitting into the
general framework of the poem. Wah! can stay as it is, or it can become Oh!
the intention of the poem is not clear enough for the translator to be
adventurous with the final word. Arwah is departed soul rather than just
soul. Sutarji also wrote the following poem:

WALAUWALAU

walau penyair besar
takkan sampai sebatas allah

dulu pernah kuminta tuhan
dalam diri
sekarang tak

kalau mati
mungkin matiku bagai batu
tamat
bagai pasir tamat
jiwa membumbung dalam baris
sajak

tujuh puncak membilang bilang
nyeri hari mengucap ucap
di butir pasir kutulis rindu rindu


walau huruf habislah sudah
alifbataku belum sebatas allah

THOUGH ALTHOUGH

even a great poet
will not reach to the limits of god

I once asked of god
in myself
not now

if I die
my death will no doubt be like stone
finishing
like sand finishing
the soul soaring in the lines of a poem


seven peaks counting over and over
sore the day pronouncing again and again
on the grains of sand I write longing
longing

although the letters have run out
my alphabet is not within the limits of
god

AllahTuhan seems to parallel English usage: God the Lord. The simple
Indonesian phonological structure and the capacity of Indonesian to operate
with minimal morphological forms mean that it is not easy to convey the same
quietly insistent rhythm of this poem.. Mungkin is more probably than maybe,
though the distinction is not always clear; no doubt . The poem contains
particular examples of simplification, that is reduction of words to the shortest
possible forms: sekarang tak is one, in a position where tak would normally
be represented by tidak.

207
The word membumbung means billow (of smoke) or soar upwards. At this
point it is useful to elucidate the meaning of the word membumbung, which is
cross referenced to membubung in Echols & Shadily (1994). The process of
clarifying the meaning of membumbung through the Internet is also an
instructive example of the way that medium has become part of the working
method of the translator. An eruption of Mount Dempo was recorded in 1881:
tampak tiang asap membumbung dari kawah a column of smoke was visible
coming from the crater.
300
Aktivitas [di Tangkuban Perahu, Bandung]
dimulai dengan keluarnya asap putih yang membumbung tinggi dengan
ketebalan sekitar 3 meter. Activity [at Tangkuban Perahu, Bandung] began
with the issue of white smoke billowing up high with a thickness of around 3
metres.
301
balon yang diisi gas helium bisa membumbung tinggi karena
gas helium merupakan gas yang ringan a balloon filled with helium can
soar high because helium is a light gas.
302
The application to spiritual matters
may be seen in the phrase ruhani manusia membumbung naik the spirit of
human beings soars on high.
303
The extensive range of examples for
membumbung, and the difference in usage from membubung, indicates that it
is not a satisfactory method to handle such a word simply to refer to a similar
word. This reinforces the use of the Internet to clarify meaning.

This authors translation of WalauWalau may not be a failure, but it may not
entirely be a success either. It does not due justice to the style, economy and
direct impact of the original. Yet even in translation it is striking. Perhaps it is
worth considering that when a translator has the opportunity to choose what to
translate, then that text had best be one that demands the best of the
translators art. Whatever value Though Although has as a translation, it is
because of the art in the Indonesian composition.


300
http://www.vsi.esdm.go. id/gunungapiIndonesia/dempo/sejarah.html.
301
http://www.endonesia.com/mod.php? mod=publisher &op=viewarticleartid=711.
302
http://www.pikiran-rakyat.com/cetak/2005/0205/24/cakrawala/ utama02.htm.
303
http://aljawad.tripod.com/arsipbuletin/maknadoa.htm.
208
The situation is different with the following poem by Rendra, translated by
the author of this thesis. Although assessment of the literary value of the
original falls outside the scope of the thesis, it can be said that the English
version is prosaic, clich and very unremarkable as a poem.

SAJ AK SEORANG TUA UNTUK
ISTERINYA
304


POEM BY AN OLD MAN FOR HIS
WIFE
Aku tulis sajak ini
untuk menghibur hatimu
Sementara kau kenangkan encokmu
kenangkanlah pula masa remaja kita
yang gemilang
Dan juga masa depan kita
yang hampir rampung
dan dengan lega akan kita lunaskan.

I write this poem
to comfort you
While you think about your rheumatism
think back too to our brilliant youth

And also to our future
which is almost wound up
and which we will complete with relief
Kita tidaklah sendiri
dan terasing dengan nasib kita
Kerna soalnya adalah hukum sejarah
kehidupan.
Suka duka kita bukanlah istimewa
kerna setiap orang mengalaminya.

We are not ourselves,
isolated from our fate
Because the problem is the historical law
of life.
Our joys and sorrows are not special
because everyone experiences them.
Hidup tidaklah untuk mengeluh dan
mengaduh
Hidup adalah untuk mengolah hidup
bekerja membalik tanah
memasuki rahasia langit dan samodra,
serta mencipta dan mengukir dunia.
Kita menyandang tugas,
kerna tugas adalah tugas.
Bukannya demi sorga atau neraka.
Tetapi demi kehormatan seorang
manusia.

Living is not to to sigh and groan
Living is to handle life
to work and turn over the soil
to enter the secrets of the sky and ocean,
and create and carve the world.
We shoulder the task,
because a task is a task.
It is not for heaven or hell
But for the honour of a human being.
Kerna sesungguhnyalah kita bukan debu
meski kita telah reyot, tua renta dan
kelabu.
Kita adalah kepribadian
dan harga kita adalah kehormatan kita.

Tolehlah lagi ke belakang
ke masa silam yang tak seorangpun
kuasa menghapusnya.
Because truly we are not dust
although we are already decrepit, feeble
and grey.
We are personalities
and our price is our honour.
Look behind again
to the past which no one has the power to
erase.

304
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/7229/rendra.htm

209

Lihatlah betapa tahun-tahun kita penuh
warna.
Sembilan puluh tahun yang dibelai napas
kita.
Sembilan puluh tahun yang selalu
bangkit
melewatkan tahun-tahun lama yang
porak poranda.
Dan kenangkanlah pula
bagaimana kita dahulu tersenyum
senantiasa
menghadapi langit dan bumi, dan juga
nasib kita.

See how our years are full of colour.

Ninety years stroked by our breath.

Ninety years that always arise
passing the old scattered years.

And remember too
how we used always to smile
facing the sky and earth, and also our
fate.
Kita tersenyum bukanlah kerna
bersandiwara.
Bukan kerna senyuman adalah suatu
kedok.
Tetapi kerna senyuman adalah suatu
sikap.
Sikap kita untuk Tuhan, manusia sesama,
nasib, dan kehidupan.

We smiled not because we were acting.

Not because the smile was a mask.
But because the smile was an attitude.
Our attitude towards God, fellow
humanity, fate, and life.
Lihatlah! Sembilan puluh tahun penuh
warna
Kenangkanlah bahwa kita telah selalu
menolak menjadi koma.
Kita menjadi goyah dan bongkok
kerna usia nampaknya lebih kuat dari
kita
tetapi bukan kerna kita telah terkalahkan.

See! Ninety years full of colour

Remember that we have always resisted
going into coma.
We have become shaky and stooped
because age seems stronger than we are
but not because we have been defeated.
Aku tulis sajak ini
untuk menghibur hatimu
Sementara kaukenangkan encokmu
kenangkanlah pula
bahwa kita ditantang seratus dewa.

I am writing this poem
to comfort you
While you think of your rheumatism
recall also
that we have been challenged by a
thousand gods

WS. Rendra, Sajak-sajak sepatu
tua,1972
...BAHWA KITA DITANTANG
SERATUS DEWA.

W.S. Rendra, Poems of an old shoe,
1972.

THAT WE HAVE BEEN
CHALLENGED BY A THOUSAND
GODS

This could easily be thought of as prose. In terms of content, the text does
have some strongly poetic features, for example
210

And also to our future/which is almost wound up/and which we will
complete with relief,

and

we have been challenged by a thousand gods.

However there are many prosaic lines, such as

Our joys and sorrows are not special/ because everyone experiences them,

or

We shoulder the task,/because a task is a task.

There could be a temptation for the translator to make these very ordindary
lines more palatable poetically. For example one could write,

Our joys are common currency, and our sorrows

and

We shoulder the burden of the shoulder.

But that would no longer be mere translation. Translation is not obliged to
overcome a basic lack of poetry in the original text; furthermore to dress
translation for a more appealing style in the target language relates not only to
effective presentation but essentiality rewriting material to make up for
inadequate composition to begin with. Depending on the circumstances of the
source material and the target audience, the issue of whether to rewrite
translated poetry in this way could well raise ethical questions.
211

Sutarji wrote in 1973,
305


Menulis puisi bagi saya adalah
membebaskan kata-kata, yang berarti
mengembalikan kata pada awal mulanya.
Pada mulanya adalah Kata.
To write poetry for me is to give words
their freedom, meaning to return words
to where they came from. In the
beginning was the Word.
Dan kata pertama adalah mantera. Maka
menulis puisi bagi saya adalah
mengembalikan kata kepada mantera.
And the first word was the mantra. So
writing poetry for me is to return words
to the mantra.


The aim with following selections from the Titiknol site
306
is to show the
extent to which the lack of an excellent capacity in English interferes with the
expression of a poetic impulse and skill. First of all it is worth showing the
poetic standard that applies with this website. Rayu Sajak Nos. 2-4 and
Perkabungan are not translated into English in the website: the translation in
the right hand column is to illustrate the poetic quality of the texts.

RAYU SAJAK NO. 2
307


cinta,
malamku basah oleh embun rindu
ingin kugulung waktu
agar pupus jarak

menujumu
POETRY OF FEELING NO.2

love,
my night is wet with the dew of longing
I want to roll up time
to eliminate the distance

to you


RAYU SAJAK NO. 3

hadirmu melingkup segenap ruang
waktuku
arusmu mengalir di riam darahku
padanya kularung jantungku
menuju muara:


mu!
308

POETRY OF FEELING NO.3

your presence fills all of my space and
time
your current flows through the rush of
my blood
in it I set my heart afloat
toward the isthmus:

you!

305
Sutardji Calzoum Bachri, Bandung 30 March 1973. Kredo Puisi.
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/7229/sutardji.htm
306
Titiknol (.0) is at http://www.titiknol.com/.
307
http://www.titiknol.com/puisi.php?catid=3&blogid=2.
212




RAYU SAJAK NO. 4

mawar putih masihkah jadi semiotika kita
saat musim begini mudah berubah cuaca

sebuah pelukan menjadi mimpi
merana tak kunjung menjadi

POETRY OF FEELING NO.4

can a white rose still be our semiotic
sign
when the season is like this weather
changes easily

an embrace becomes a dream
a roaming that is never fulfilled


PERKABUNGAN

kepada Ninus

selamat datang di negeri malam
negeri tempat semayam hati
dari silau ilusi

di negeri malam
tak ada bayang
hanya jalan
ke dalam
diri

negeri malam negeri yang hilang
tempat semua yang pergi berpulang
kekasih, sahabat, segala tersayang

tempat semua
yang tak terdengar didendang

*with a very huge HUG


MOURNING

to Ninus

welcome to the country of night
the country where the heart dwells
from the glare of illusion

in the country of night
there is no shadow
only a way
to within
the self

the country of night is a lost country
where all that go pass away
beloveds, friends, all loved ones

a place where everything
that is not heard
is sung

*with a very huge HUG

With a poem that disp-lays this level of artistry, it is unfortunate to see the
appended note, *with a very huge HUG. Apart from the unsuitability of the
phrase with a very big hug in this context, the writer apparently does not
realise that a word such as huge will not be further qualified by very. This is
a case where the translator will hope that material is not presented in English

308
Mu means your, so that the sense is muaramu your isthmus, but a possessive
form for you is inappropriate in English, so in the English translation the isthmus
actually becomes you.
213
designed essentially to impress others. The theme of mourning is brought out
well by the assonance and half-rhyme in the poem. The language is simple
and direct, with minimal affixing. The poem is logical enough in English
translation, but the form of the Indonesian text conveys a much stronger
poetic message than the English.

The above poems are impressive in their depth of feeling and their confident
style. They use metaphor well, without mixing metaphors, and their use of
simple Malay forms has a definite appeal.

When it comes to the English language contributions to the titiknol site, there
seems to be some literary value. The following however does show how
potentially good writing can be marred by glaring examples of inadequate
knowledge of English. The material is not necessarily translation, it is true,
but if it is English material written by Indonesians who have either an
Indonesian text or a virtual Indonesian text on which they are basing their
English composition, then it is reasonable to assume that translation problems
are involved.

In the following examples the notes at the right indicate areas of difficulty
with Englihs. It may be objected that mistakes such as those identified here
are mistakes by amateurs rather than translators or especially professional
translators. However making mistakes with English is a widespread problem
generally as well as with amateur poets.

DYING DOG

a dog crawling desperately
sinking in mud of doubts
a venom-dipped arrow
piercing its bleeding chest

a wounded dog
awaiting for saviour
with a sharp bullet


In mud of doubts should be changed,
perhaps to the mud of doubt. Piercing
could better be pierced. Awaiting for
saviour should be changed, to awaiting
its saviour or a saviour.
The last two lines appear to refer to the
dog being shot, but the grammar and
meaning are not readily correctible.
214
belongs to its head

QUIETUDE NO. 2

sun passed out
by the desperate cloud
rainman awaits
the self to unveil

Passed out is incorrectly used: this could
be overshadowed, or perhaps poetically
shadowed. The cloud would refer to
one cloud, and thus the had best be
deleted. The meaning of lines 3 and 4 is
simply not clear. This piece would have
to be rated as a failure in terms of English
expression.

NO POETRY INSIDE MY CHEST

searching poetry along childhood's creek
chest was scratched by pastlife pride
shore painted the ocean on its walls
poet was amazed by his own glow

i remained smiling, poet blushed
my chest, cropped by misfortune
poet stole the wallpainting
then captured it inside his poem

in my mind poet wandered
strolling along rivers and valleys
i was cast ashore
poet vomitted, drunk of nira

hence i went home to mother's hold
poet angered in doubt

2003


Searching poetry should be searching for
poetry; consideration could be given to
the more international English term
stream rather than creek. Chest should be
my chest, but the meaning of line 2 is not
quite clear. Shore should be the shore.
Poet in line 4 has to be the poet.
I should be in upper case. The meaning
of lines 5 and 6 is obscure. Vomitted
should be vomited. In the second last line
hence is used incorrectly; it could be
then. Mothers hold should presumably
be mothers arms. The last line cannot
stand as it is: it could perhaps be
rephrased as leaving the poet in angry
dismay for example.
It is hard not to feel that this poem does
have potential because of its use of
imagery. But that potential would best
be realised by a translator working from
an Indonesian version, where at least the
meaning will be clear, into good English.

QUIETUDE NO. 3
flowers asleep
coffee aclouds
illusions adrift
in a heartless river

This is a charming snippet of poetry with
one grammatical fault, the word
*aclouds. No matter how creative a
writer may be, this is not an allowable
English form. Even *aclouded might
perhaps be considered, but the prefix a-
cannot be used indiscriminately. Coffee
clouded would be a good substitution, but
if the writer insists on the a- participle
construction, there is no particular need
to retain the reference to coffee; another
image could be used, although the writer
could be thinking of thick Indonesian
coffee with its grounds.
215

SMALL CREEK IN THE ARID SEASON

this small creek flows the dry leaves
away
season is so dry this time, the arid land
is dying from thirst

whilst the small creek remains waterful
perhaps from the spring of tears

--what spring else
survives this drought weather?

dry leaves shattered themselves
in the tear-salted water
of the small creek flowing
amidst the arid land
on which love isn't likely
to grow and live


This so called poem is probably not
worth saving. The English is essentially
intelligible, but there is no poetic spirit in
evidence. Waterful is an obvious mistake.
The concept of a spring of tears watering
the parched land is sad clich.
RIVERMAN'S MEMO
l
ove adrifts along the current of illusions
and dreams. hugs fall into open arms but
mine. kisses bloom onto trembled lips
but mine. when the current splits, where
shall your heart lead?

The imagery here is appealing. However
Memo is inappropriate; it could be
Reverie or Mind perhaps Adrifts should
be drifts. Hugs should be embraces in a
more literary stile. Then the wording
could be an embrace of open arms is not
mine, kisses bloom on trembling lips but
not mine. When the current diverges,
where will your heart lead?
The word heart is used so often in
sentimental contexts that it had best be
used sparingly in serious texts. However
in this context heart does not seem to
pose a problem.
This short piece has demanded a fair
number of corrections, and this
demonstrates one of the difficulties in
translating into the foreign language: a
good deal of editing may be required.










216
6.6 Translation of English Fiction

The popular J .K. Rowling book, Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone,
309

has been translated by Listiana Srisanti an published by PT Gramedia Pustaka
Utama. This thesis has not intended to carry out a thorough assessment of the
translation, but an initial finding is that the meaning of the original seems
consistently well conveyed in the Indonesian. In style, the text of Harry
Potter dan Batu Bertuah reads well, with few exceptions. The quoting of
Bonfire Night
310
is an exceptionthis could at least have been explained in
Indonesian, and there is the possible impression that the translator was unable
to locate an explanation of the term.

The accuracy of the translation implies excellent knowledge of English or
collaboration with an English native speaker. The skill implicit in this
translation of this work no doubt reflects its commercial significanceand
the amount of money spent on the translation. The work is not highly complex
and yet not entirely simple. It is thus fair to say to say that it indicates the
dynamism and capacity of the Indonesian language to convey English
effectively, something that would have been difficult to do in 1945 for
example.

they also had a secret, and their
greatest fear was that somebody would
discover it.
311

mereka juga punya rahasia, dan
ketakutan terbesar mereka adalah, kalau
ada orang yang mengetahui rahasia ini.
312


The Indonesian is wordy because it unnecessarily follows the English
structure. In English their greatest fear was (which could be also written as
what they were most afraid of was) is difficult to reduce further to, say, They

309
Rowling, J .K. 2000, Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone, Bloomsbury,
London; first published in 1997. The translation by Listiana Srisanti was published
by PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama, J akarta, 2000, as Harry Potter dan Batu Bertuah
(referring to an original title of Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone).
310
Original p.11, translation p.13.
311
ibid. p.7.
312
ibid.
217
most feared, probably just because of common usage. This does not apply in
Indonesian, where it would be more natural to speak of paling takut rather
than ketakutan terbesar mereka adalah, which is awkward. Further, the
construction kalau ada orang yang mengetahui rahasia ini in trying to imitate
the English syntax appears to violate the natural object focus of Indonesian.
The following alternative is suggested here:

mereka juga punya rahasia yang mereka paling takut kalau diketahui orang.

Having a tantrum
313
is rendered as mengadat.
314
This is an example of
appropriate translation. It is worth noting that translation may be more precise
when a particular phenomenon is identifiedhere a common fact of child
behaviourrather than an abstract term for which an equivalent may be found
but there can be doubt as to whether that equivalent is entirely appropriate.

He supposed this was some stupid new
fashion.
315

Dia kira jubah bloon ini sedang mode.
316


Here the English this [robe] was some stupid new fashion becomes sedang
mode was in fashion. The Indonesian does not retain new, and this seems
optional because mode implies new. The stupid migrates fromfashion to
the robe itself, making little difference to what is being said. The translation
of stupid as bloon, a non-standard colloquial term, no doubt has a calculated
appeal to the reading audience. This is an example of how translation by a
native speaker is able to act confidently and creatively within the target
cultural sphere. Against this however it does need to be said that stupid is not
particularly a colloquial slang term, and the Indonesian bodoh or tolol could
have done about as well.


313
ibid. p.8
314
ibid.
315
ibid. p.9.
316
ibid.
218
Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone and its translation Harry Potter dan
Batu Bertuah point up the distinction in styles of colloquial speech is an
indication of sophistication in translation:

Colloquial speech (Jakarta style):

Their sonhed be about Dudleys age
now, wouldnt he?
I suppose so, said Mrs Dursley stiffly.
Whats his name again? Howard, isnt
it?
317

Anak merekaseumuran Dudley,
kan?
Kayaknya sih, katanya Mrs Dursley
kaku.
Siapa ya, namanya? Howard, kan?
318




Speech as usually represented in
Indonesian literature:

You! gasped Harry
Me, he said calmly. I wondered
whether Id be meeting you here,
Potter
Your friend Miss Granger accidentally
knocked me over as she rushed to set fire
to Snipe at that Quidditch match.
319



Anda! Harry kaget.
Ya, aku, katanya tenang. Aku sudah
bertanya-tanya apakah aku akan bertemu
kau di sini, Potter
Temanmu, Miss Granger, tanpa sengaja
menabrakku sampai jatuh ketika dia
buru-buru mau membakar jubah Snape
dalam pertandingan Quidditch itu.
320



Why the translator chooses to retain Miss instead of using Nona is not quite
clear, but seems comparable to the use of Tuan, Nyonya and Nona in English
languge stories of Indonesia, Bwana in stories of East Africa and
Sahib/Memsahib in stories of Indiathat is for local colour. However this
detail becomes incidental in the context of a translation of this quality. There
could be a question in the translation dalam pertandingan of whether the
intention of being at the match, which is correct, is conveyed rather than in
the match, but in the confused situation during the tournament this is hardly a
key point.


317
ibid. p.11.d
318
ibid. p.14.
319
ibid. p.356.
320
ibid. p.14.
219
6.7 Indonesian Writing in English


The following English text occurs in the website of LIPI (Lembaga Ilmu
Pengetahuan Indonesia, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences).
321
The
language of the text is not marked by gross errors, but it nevertheless has
deficiencies which may indicate that cursory checking by a native English
speaker may be inadequate to produce quality text. Good editing is important.

Organisation Structure of LIPI this should be organisational structure

The Chairman of LIPI is responsible to
the President and his main tasks are :

this specifies a male head of LIPI
To chair LIPI in accordance with its
main tasks which has been laid down by
the government and give guidance to
LIPI's apparatus in order to achieve its
main task efficiently and effectively.
to chair repeats the idea of Chairman;
LIPI could be elegantly varied, say to
the organisation; the reference to main
tasks and then main task is confusing; a
plural subject should be followed by
have, not has; apparatus is used
unnaturally and LIPI is again repeated.

To formulate technical policy on the
implementation of program development
of science and technology.
This is no worse than much English
bureaucratic writing, but is still wordy
and not well expressed. It seems to
mean to formulate policy on science and
technology programs.

To develop and implement science and
technology cooperation in accordance
with the existing laws and regulation.
Regulation should be regulations. The
meaning could probably be expressed
better by dropping the words and
implement since that is covered by the
word develop.


321
Scientific activities in Indonesia were conducted from the sixteenth century by
Dutch authorities. In he nineteenth century the Botanical Garden, the Batavia Society
for Arts and Sciences and the Dutch Indies Council for Natural Sciences were
established. ln 1956 the Majelis Imu Pengetahuan Indonesia (Council for Sciences of
Indonesia) was founded. This was dissolved in 1967 and LIPI was founded.
The text of elements under consideration here was downloaded from the LIPI
website, http://www.lipi.go.id, in 2003 but the site has been revamped and the
material is now not to be found at that address.
220
Significantly, the website of the Research Centre for Calibration,
Instrumentation and Metrology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (Puslit KIM-
LIPI) is produced in clear and correct English and does not suffer from these
problems.
322
It is generally considered a good translation performance if the
work does not contain grammatical errors. However it is important also to
consider whether the use of words is correct. Further, there is the element of
naturalness, which may be of great concern to an audience.

This thesis has not attempted to assess the quality of Indonesian writing by
non Indonesians. If this were to be carried out, comparison would be likely to
show that Indonesian performance with the global language, English, is
superior to English speaking performance with the national and regional
language, Indonesian.


INDONESIA - CHINA SEMINAR ON DEVELOPMENT OF
TRADITIONAL MEDICINES. 19 November 2003.
The long-established systems of traditional medicine have evolved
by systematically recorded human experience over many
centuries. Although not strictly based on concepts of modern
sciences, they are founded on a corpus of organised knowledge
manifested in written documents where the scientific method of
hypothesis, experimentation and confirmation is discernibly
revealed. Such organised systems should be differentiated from the
relatively empirical folk medicines to have indisputably useful
experience to give to the world.
Among the recognised systems of traditional medicine, the Chinese
system applied throughout China and in neighboring regions seems
to be the most dominant and well known in the world. While the
development of [the] Indonesian traditional medicine system seems

322
http://www.lipi.go.id/, accessed 26 J uly 2005. The site provides a choice of either
Indonesian or English.
221
to be based more on empirical and non-written knowledge passed
from one generation to the next. Good knowledge on the state of the
art of Chinese and Indonesian systems of traditional medicine and
how such systems developed will be of beneficial both for the
industry and policy makers.
For a number of reasons, the [number of] users of traditional
medicines keep growing. However, most users especially in
Indonesia have not obtained sufficient information on how to
distinguish genuine traditional medicines and the fake ones. A
system to protect the Indonesian people from using fake traditional
medicines and enhance their capability to recognise the originality of
traditional medicines marketed in Indonesia should be made.
Traditional medicine system will advance when there is a strong
support from the government. Lessons from Chinese experience will
be useful for Indonesia to consider, so that optimal contribution of
traditional medicines for human health and human being welfare can
be achieved.
OBJ ECTIVES
Give [a] general picture of state of the arts of Indonesian and Chinese
traditional medicine systems to herbal medicine manufacturers, users,
researchers, academicians, government officials, and community.
Provide Indonesia and China networking and business opportunities,
and strengthen relationships amongst the elements of the traditional
medicine system (users, manufacturers, distributors, hospitals
officers, educators in the higher education, scientists, and policy
makers).
222
Formulate recommendations on how to accelerate the development of [a]
system of traditional medicine for human health care for the policy
makers and industry.
323

In the authors estimation this is quite well done. However the text does need
correction as follows. The extent of the correction needed demonstrates the
extent to which a translators lack of native control can produce imperfect text.


by have evolved through systematically
recorded human experience: incorrect
preoposition
is discernibly revealed can be discerned: not normal usage
the relatively empirical folk medicines the folk medicines with their relatively
ad hoc approach: empirical implies
connection with organised science rather
than disorganised experimental methods.
While This should not begin a new sentence.
[the] The is obligatory here.
non-written knowledge passed from
one generation to the next.
unwritten tradition
on Either of or concerning, but not on.
of beneficial Of benefit [to]
both Either both for the industry and for
policy makers, or for both the industry
and policy makers.
and from
[a] a is obligatory
relationships the plural is obligatory here
hospitals officers hospital officers
[a] system of traditional medicine obligatory

323
Indonesia-China Seminar on Development of Traditional Medicines, 19
November 2003. www.lipi.go.id. Accessed 10 December 2003.

223


It may be significant that among all the functions of LIPI there is no function
of creating standardised scientific terms, and in fact this accords with the
varied and eclectic development of Indonesian scientific vocabularyand its
vocabulary in general. The size of LIPI and the existence of other scientific
bodies in Indonesia attests to the usage of scientific terms that no doubt exists.
For example the National Biodiversity Information Network (NBIN) under
LIPI, and the Research and Development Centre for Biology reflect the
attention being paid to science in Indonesia and doubtless to the widespread
use of scientific terms. The fact that scientific terminology has not been
centrally standardised implies that the terminology is being allowed to
develop naturally in society in much the same way as terms in other areas.

6.8 Pramoedya Ananta Toer

Pramoedya Ananta Toers writings are marked by an individualistic use of
terms in terms of both word origin, word combinations, and allocation of
meanings.


Telah aku sediakan diri jadi organisator.
J adi dalang dengan cerita pembangunan
landasan organisasi bangsa ganda untuk
jadi bangsa-tunggal. J adi brahmana dan
sudra sekaligus.

I had prepared myself as an organiser.
To be a dalang with the story of the
construction of a multiethnic
organisational base into a monoethnic
one. To bebrahmana and sudra at the
same time.

Anak-anak wayang itu bukan terbuat dari
kulit mati yang dicat dan dipersolek
semau kita sendiri. Mercka unsurunsur
hidup dan prakehidupan yang bereaksi
sendirisendiri. Telah aku padukan kerja
brahmana dengan kerja sudra, guru dan
murid sekaligus, pendengar dan
pembicara, peseru dan propagandis,
penjaja impian haridepan, jadi dokter dan
pasien, jadi psikolog dan psikiater
sekaligus tanpa pendidikan, jadi pengatur
The wayang figures were not made from
inanimate leather which were painted
and adorned as we wished. They were
elements of the living and of life that
reacted individually. I had united the
work of a brahmana with the work of a
sudra, teacher and pupil at the same
time, listener and speaker, crier and
propagandist, peddler of dreams of the
future, doctor and patient, psychologist
and psychiatrist at once without
224
dan plonoo ygng belajar menempatkan
diri di antara yang diatur./Dan semua
dilakukan di negeri sendiri, di antara
orang-orang yang makan dan minum dari
bumi yang sama.
324

education, arranger and freshman who
learned to place himself among what is
arranged./And everything was done in
my own country, among people who ate
and drank from the same earth.

It makes sense in a study of Indonesian translation to examine some of the
translations of important Indonesian documents, and also of Indonesian
translations of significant English documents. Some of the important social,
economic and political concepts of the time may in translation throw up
matters that deserve analysis. In examining some cultural terms that may yield
productive analysis, the work of Pramoedya Ananta Toer seems to have
special value. In addition, translations of Indonesian literature may throw into
focus some of the difficult words and phrases that may occur when the source
material is authentically Indonesian. The wayang shadow play and dalang
puppeteer need explanation, as do brahmana/sudra high/low caste.

Pramoedya Ananta Toer conceived modern Indonesian history as a story. This
story could be seen as a wayang play. It contained true history and it
contained imagined fiction. In translating Indonesian it is often appropriate to
regard the text as part of a story, often an ongoing story. When parts are
missing it may be necessary to reconstruct them. However what is very
necessary is to perceive, to feel, the point of the story. Unless the subject
matter is very technical, it is hard to imagine that the reader will be able to
grasp the point of the story if the translator does not. The importance of the
thread, the underlying significance, is great. This underlines the importance of
introductions and glosses that the translator may add. Such comment may
make the unintelligible intelligible. In terms of layout, footnotes then appear
to be more helpful to the reader than endnotes.


324
Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Jejak Langkah, Hasta Mitra, J akarta, 1985, p.351.

225
However it is important that the reader feel that the translator is not taking
sides in relation to the content of the translation.
325
Pramoedya Ananta Toer's
novel Jejak Langkah (Footsteps) is the third in a quartet, the first two novels
being Bumi Manusia (translated as 'This Earth of Mankind') and Anak Semua
Bangsa (translated as 'Child of All Nations'), and the fourth Rumah Kaca
(Glasshouse). Pramoedya followed these with his book Sang Pemula (The
Initiator).
326


'Dan kita akan namai perkumpulan ini
Syarikat Priyayi, karena priyayilah
golongan Pribumi paling maju, yang
paling berpengetahuan. Semua priyayi
bisa bacatulis...'
And we will call this organisation
Syarikat Priyayi, because it is the priyayi
who are the most advanced of the
Pribumi groups, the most
knowledgeable. All the priyayi can read
and write...
327


Syarikat is league. The word priyayi is not easily translated into English.
328

Even pribumi may be awkward, and this immediately brings the translation
into the sphere of ethnic relations. With both words the question arises of
whether to introduce them into the English text or to use them with initial
glosses. To retain the Indonesian terms tends to work towards greater
precision in understanding. There is then the further question of whether if
terms are translated they need to be translated with the same English
equivalent each time. This is a pribumi hero. The translator has immediately
to face the terms Sang [an honorific], bangsa people, race, nation, and
pribumi original inhabitant, simple and straightforward in Indonesian but
not easy to render into English naturally. This is so simple to the reader who
knows Indonesian. That reader will know precisely what the dalang does, and
the connotations of bangsa. That reader, knowing the Hindu inputs into

325
The following comments draw upon an essay written for a course in Indonesian
literature at the Australian National University. J ohnson, R.K. 1988, The
Achievements of Pramoedyas Pribumi Hero in J ejak Langkah, unpublished essay.
326
For this translation see Rumah Kaca p.99: 'inisiator atau Sang Pemula.' The
authors use of an adapted English word to describe the role of the hero makes it
advisable to use that translation.
327
Jejak Langkah.
328
Geertz 1964, op.cit., shows the underlying complexity of this and other terms that
are part of the J avanese world.
226
Indonesian history, will not need to pause over the concepts in these three
sentences. The matter of translation however is a different problem altogether.
It assumes that the reader has no such knowledge of Indonesian traditions.
And for that reader to make sense of these three sentences the translator needs
to make the connection between caste and ethnic groupand the distinction
between them. The connection is not very clear; but it seems now looking
back over the 1988 translation that the point was passed over too readily. The
observation being made by Pramoedyas fictional voice does not have to be
sociologically true or exact. But the translation must make the point.

Sudra is low caste, as brahmana is high caste. The oppositions in the text all
follow from the phrase wayang figures. They are all roles. The essential point
is to show all those roles as if they were leather puppets flickering on the
wayang screen, but not inanimate mati. It goes without saying that it would
be a fatal translation error to render mati as dead: the meaning is something
incapable of life. Although the cultural parallel is there to be made, it is not
so obvious whether the translator would be warranted in drawing on concepts
in Shakespeares description of players strutting upon the world stage, all with
their exits and their entrances.
329


Pramoedya writes in modern Indonesian style, including the dialogue, though
the language tends to be formal and reminiscent of there are period touches
such as the use of sahaya instead of aku in formal situations, and of sudara
rather than saudara. Minke tells a peasant not to call him ndoro, master, but
sudara. This use of language reflects the democratic ideals that Minke is
trying to implant. it is also an indication of the difficulties that would have
been faced had J avanese been used as the vehicle of the expression of the
nation. In a tour of J ava an argument is put forward for the use of J avanese:
but all the J avanese have, Minke believes, is the burden of history, whereas
Malay represents the modern age. Support for and writing in Malay represents

329
As You Like It act 2 scene 7 line 139; Knowles 2001, p.269.
227
an evolution of Minke's personal views on language: he has earlier written in
Dutch and resisted learning to write in Malay. This is a matter of history but
does nevertheless embody the currents that persist up to now in Indonesian.
Pramoedya seems to stand back from the Indonesian world and perceive
contrasting identities and currents. Bahasa Indonesia as it emerges to
represent the nation as a whole is separate from domination by particular
groups. Yet Bahasa Indonesia does embrace the speakers of various languages.
In this way the narrative of Pramoedya accords with the concept of layering as
developed elsewhere in this thesis. And Pramoedyas work is replete with
symbols of the ethnic origins of Indonesia, as the protagonists identifies his
roots in traditional language and culture.

The use of intertext is important in Jejak Langkah. The value of having read
the first two books in the quartet becomes clear very early in the book. Further,
throughout the works there is a sense of anticipation of what follows. The
quartets depth in time is matched by its broad ethnic scope, taking in not only
the suku bangsa of Indonesia, but Minkes Dutch and Chinese wives,
tragically. The term suku bangsa may be translated ethnic group. This
concept is particularly significant in Indonesia with its large number of
cultural and ethnic identities. Throughout the book Minke struggles against
the linguistic domination of J ava and also the examples he finds of J avanese
cultural arrogance. Thus he makes a practice of trying to combat the
superior/inferior consciousness reflected in the J avanese language, , and tries
to use Malay where possible.

It is disappointing, Minke finds, that the J avanese wait for a Ratu Adil, a
righteous ruler, to rise up and solve their problems. The classics Ramayana
and Mahabharata unfortunately 'tak meninggalkan pegangan bagaimana
memasuki dunia modern' [did not leave a guide as to how to enter the modern
world. The references to Ratu Adil, Ramayana and Mahabharata need to be
explained either briefly in the text or in footnotes. This would be a relatively
228
straightforward task, unless perhaps if there was only tacit reference to the
concepts. A combination of a traditional J avanese figure with one of the key
themes of the quartet - the earth on which all ultimately depends - is found in
a conversation between Minke and his mother. Bisma was a satria, a warrior,
who was killed on the battlefield. But he came to life again every time his
body touched the earth.

Minkes personal destiny is tied to the developing history of the Indonesian
nation. We may look back to where early in the story Minke's mother uses
J avanese concepts in discussing her son's future: he has already become a
pujangga, a man of letters, and now he wants to be a dalang (he had been
'crazy' about an stories as a child.) His mother however warns:

J angan jadi dalang tiada cerita. Tanpa anakwayang pun dalang masih bisa, tapi
tanpa cerita... anakwayang pun dia sendiri tidak.
Don't be a dalang without a story. Even without wayang figures the dalang can
still manage, but without a story... he is not even a wayang figure.
330


Clearly enough, this is fertile ground for exploration of culturally defined
concepts: satria, pujangga, dalang. However the difficulty with translation of
all these terms is that they will lose their respective specific spheres of
cultural significance. If they are translated then in use the translated terms
must acquire spheres of meaning that will not be aligned completely with the
Indonesian terms. For example pujangga as man of letters runs up against
current ideology on sex-oriented expressions. To say literatus might be
reasonably close, but literatus is masculine also, even one of the literati is not
natural English. Someone in the literary tradition is close enough in meaning
but too long and awkward. The dalang as puppeteer is accurate enough in
terms of theatrical function but does not adequately convey the Indonesian
sense of someone who masterminds the actions of others. And the puppets in
Pramoedyas presentation are not just objects but each has each its
characteristic role. Clearly not every term in the original can be carried over

330
Bumi Manusia, Hasta Mitra, J akarta, p.481.
229
into English, but some Indonesian terms already have acquired English
equivalents. There is an editorial decision to be made as to which terms
should be carried over and which not, and with those that should not there
needs to be a policy also on consistency of rendering of terms.

6.9 Unbundling and Rebundling

The Indonesian translation of J ohn Grishams The Pelican Brief provides
material to illustrate the analytical process of unbundling.
331
Although it
seems that in some cases the translator has chosen to translate terms literally,
and it is not quite clear whether he himself has fully understood the terms in
question, let alone whether the reader is likely to understand them, it is not
very fair to the translator to pick errors or difficulties out of what is after all a
readable translation. Some of the following comment relates to style and
colour. The main thrust of the comment is that the translator could have
analysed the meaning of the original text more closely in some cases and then
sought to convey the meaning into Indonesian rather than being bound to the
precise wording of the Englishwhich in places could be quite confusing.

[J ensens] Senate
confirmation had
been a slugfest.
332

The translation is, Peneguhannya di Senat diwarnai dengan
perdebatan sengit, characterised by fierce debate. This does
not convey the sense of the American term slugfest, which
refers to an unrestrained confrontation .rather than dignified
debate, however fierce.

331
Grisham, J . 1993, The Pelican Brief, Arrow Books, London (pp.9-10).
Translation by Hidayat Saleh, 1999, Pelican Brief, PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama,
J akarta (pp.19-21).
332
Samuel, T. 2004, A TV Slugfest, No Holds Barred, 12 April. Issue of
USNews.com. http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/ 040412/usnews
/12campaign.htm (accessed 9 April 2004). This describes the leadup to the US
election in terms of battering media exchanges.
Gartner, J . 2004, Baseball J oins Media Slugfest, 25
March. http://www.wired.com/news/ business/0,1367,62795,00.html?
tw=wn_tophead_1 (accessed 9 April 2004). This describes baseball media issues in
terms of a hotly contested (and increasingly litigated) digital media fray. In these
two examples slugfest, combining slug hit and fest occasion to form this
colloquial term which refers to a no holds barred confrontation as opposed to more
dignified debate.
230
On sensitive issues
he straddled the
fence


and got kicked
from both sides.
dan menerima tendangan dari dua belah pihak. There is no
problem with the translation here, and if the translator feels
that the sense is adequately conveyed there is no need for
further analysis.

The President
twisted arms until
they broke
The translation Presiden bersusah payah memaksakan
kehendaknya says that the President found some personal
difficulty in forcing his will in the Senate, whereas in fact what
is said is that the President used maximum influence to enforce
his will, to the point where he had to apply a very great deal of
pressure on some individuals. The point is that the President
had great power and was forced to use it here, not that his own
resources of power caused him difficulty. Analysis of this
utterance would show that to twist someones arm means to
persuade using pressure. Then the idea of arms breaking has to
be understood is that the metaphorical arm twister was able to
apply great pressure, and in fact did so.

J ensen would bolt
back to the right
and join J ustice
Sloan in one of his
obnoxious
antiwomen
dissents.
The translation is Jensen melompat kembali ke kanan and
bergabung dengan Hakim Sloan dalam dissentmakalah
penolakan suara mayoritasantifeminis. Dissent in the
original may not refer to a written submission (makalah). The
point is that Justice Sloan is making an objection to a majority
view. The word obnoxious is not translated. Antiwomen, which
implies misogynous sentiment, is different from anitfeminis,
and the translator does not have latitude to interpret the sense
of the word in this way.

He was neutral on
prayer
Sikapnya netral pada agama is something else entirely. Prayer
relates to an American debate on prayer in schools. It is not
implied that he was neutral on religion as a general issue.


Apart from Nida and others with a motivated zeal for translation, there may
be translators who simply do not care enough about cultural details to
translate religious material effectivelyor who do not possess cultural
sensitivity. In the Bible there are many examples of substitution of Latin
terms for Greek. But this translation followed centuries of church ritual. The
meaning of grace (Latin gratia, Greek charis) and so onthis naturally will
not be guaranteed when translating into Indonesian. Arabic equivalents may
often be used, but perhaps it could be argued that Arabic terms might be in
line with Hebrew terms of the Old Testament, this is likely to be less
231
appropriate with the Greek language Pentateuch and unlikely with the New
Testament. Less important than listing vocabulary items is noting the
evangelical trend. Indonesia has been a kind of battleground for crusaders on
each side. In J ohn 1,the word was God, the translation is sama dengan Allah,
whereas it might have been simply ialah Allah. And yet it remains true that
the word Allah was introduced through Islam rather than Christianity. All of
this reasoning with translation can become a more general discussion of the
use of symbols, which are possibly more basic than simple words.

Wycliffe translated from J eromes Latin Vulgate. The whole vernacular
vocabulary of theology had yet to form, while the English language in the
fourteenth century as in transition, merging three dialects: Anglo-Saxon (that
is Old English, which was Germanic), Old Norse, which was Scandinavian,
and Anglo-Norman, which was French. The point of merger was central
England, and it happened that Wycliffes midland dialect, like Chaucers, was
at the right linguistic crossroads when English began to assume of standard
form.
333


Meanings of a transeme in tree (that is tree root) form. Other diagrams would
do as well, especially if they can become three dimensional.

Translation Studies (TS) was coined by J .S. Holmes in 1972, subsuming
translation theory, methodology and practice as a whole, as opposed to the
then concept of translation as a collection of methods and techniques.
334
It
may be advisable to go back to de Saussures langue and parole for simple
categories of thought relating to translation rather than multiplying conceptual
orders.


333
Bobrick, B. 2001, The Making of the English Bible, Phoenix, London.
334
Wilss, W. 1966, Knowledge and Skills in Translation Behaviour, vol.15,
Benjamins Translation Library, J ohn Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam,
p.ix.
232

A comparison may be made with the difficulties that many Indonesian writers
find with English. The words may be understood, at least in general terms.
But the correct usage of terms is often not. For example in the website Abdul
Wachid B.S. Landscape
335
the following navigation headings in the left
column should be as shown on the right:

poem poems
essay essays
short story short stories
poem books collections of poetry
essay books collections of essays

The intention here is not to belittle the attempts of Indonesian writers to
communicate in English, particularly since their grasp of English probably
compares well with the level of Indonesian usage in Australia. However in
terms of good translation there is a gap in terms of grammarinadequate
grasp of number in Englishand naturalness of usage (*poem books, *essay
books). This is not only highly distracting to the English speaking reader but
the reader will not be sure whether there is only one poem, essay or short
story (as would be meant in English) or more (as is in fact the case).

Layering

The semantic content of the following Library of Congress note on Islamic
kingdoms is unlikely to pose serious problems for translation into Indonesian,
partly because the concepts and structure of the article concern Indonesia.

335
http://www.poemscape.8m.com/main/indeks.html. Abdul Wachid B.S. Landscape
situs yang memuat esai (essay), puisi (poem, poetry), cerpen (short story)
karya penyair Abdul Wachid B.S., di samping karya sastrawan lain, Rendra, Emha
Ainun Nadjib, KH.A. Mustofa Bisri, D. Zawawi Imron, Ahmadun Yosi Herfanda,
Isbedy Stiawan ZS, Sutardji Calzoum Bachri, J amal D Rahman, Agus R Sarjono, dan
lainnya.
233
However the approach to syncretism and the process of Islamisation may not
accord with the views of some Indonesians.
336


The Indian Ocean continued to serve as
both a commercial and a cultural link
between Indonesia and the countries to
the west. Thus Islam, which was
established on the Arabian Peninsula by
the Prophet Muhammad in the seventh
century A.D., followed the Hindu and
Buddhist religions into the archipelago.
By the late twentieth century,
approximately 85 percent of Indonesia's
inhabitants considered themselves to be
Muslim. Among some Indonesians, Islam
is only an element in a syncretic belief
system that also includes animist and
Hindu-Buddhist concepts. Others are
intensely committed to the faith. Like the
introduction of Indian civilisation, the
process of Islamisation is obscure
because of the lack of adequate historical
records and archeological evidence. The
archipelago was not invaded by
outsiders and forcibly converted. Yet
states that had converted to Islam
often waged war against those that
adhered to the older, Hindu-Buddhist
traditions. Religious lines, however, do
not appear to have been clearly drawn
in Javanese statecraft and war.
337

Indian Ocean is often rendered as Lautan
Indonesia.
In Indonesia, Islam will not be directly
compared with pagan religions that are
not monotheistic; even the word agama
is sometimes not felt to be appropriate to
Islam.
Similarly a direct comparison between
the processes of introduction of Indian
civilisation and Islamisation could be
seen to imply that Indian civilisation is in
some sense equivalent to Islam.
In terms of history, the assertion tha t
there is a lack of evidence for both
processes (underlined text) is not well
based because the introduction of Islam
was much later and was in fact better
attested to by various records.
The section in bold type is not well
constructed in English: The archipelago
was not forcibly converted, yet
Islamicised states often fought Hindu-
Buddhist states, however Javanese
statecraft and war were not clearly
divided on religious lines. Howeveryet
would usually be considered preferable.
In Indonesian the logical structure could
be represented by Nusantara tidak
diserang orang luar sehingga dipaksa
masuk Islam. Akan tetapi negara yang
sudah masuk Islam kadang-kadang
berperang dengan negara yang masih
memegang tradisi Hindu-Budha yang
kuno. Walau bagaimanapun dalam tata
negara dan perang, soal agama
nampaknya tidak diutamakan dengan
jelas sebagai alasan memihak.

The freedom evident between the two versions indicates that an unbundling
process has taken place, and some elements have been discarded while others

336
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/idtoc.html.
337
lib congress on file
234
have been added. There may be an added element of subjective approval or
disapproval.
The purpose of examination of such material is to demonstrate the potential of
the unbundling~rebundling approach, where material may be reorganised and
adapted in content for particular reasons. It will be useful to examine cases of
frequent and significant misunderstanding of respective social institutions and
structures. This is tied into the unbundling process.

The following excerpts from a Report on East Timor was produced in English
and Indonesian in 2002 by the J udicial System Monitoring Programme
(J SMP), a Dili-based independent non-governmental organisation monitoring
the East Timor judicial system. Some comparisons between the two versions
are instructive.
J UDICIAL SYSTEM MONITORING
PROGRAMME
The Right to Appeal in East Timor
J SMP Thematic Report 2
Dili, East Timor
October 2002
338


PROGRAM PEMANTAUAN SISTEM
YUDISIAL
Hak Mengajukan Banding di Timor
Leste
339

Through court monitoring, the
provision of legal analysis and
thematic reports on the development of
the judicial system, J SMP aims to
contribute to the ongoing evaluation
and building of the justicesystem in
East Timor.
J SMP bertujuan untuk memberikan
kontribusi terhadap kelangsungan
pembangunan dan evaluasi sistem
peradilan di Timor Leste melalui
pemantauan pengadilan, penyediaan
analisis hukum dan laporan-laporan
tematis terhadap perkembangan system
yudisial.

The italicised phrase translated into Indonesian becomes the continuation of
development and evaluation of the justice system. The device of
transforming ongoing, which could be something like yang akan berlangsung,
into kelangsungan seems to be unexceptionable. However to change
evaluation and building into pembangunan dan evaluasi could imply a

338
http://www.jsmp.minihub.org/Reports/Right%20to%20Appeal.pdf
339
http://www.jsmp.minihub.org/Reports/jsmpreports/J SMP%20Thematic%20report
%202/The%20Right%20to%20Appeal%20in%20ET(b).pdf
235
different understanding of the process that is involved. The English version
implies that building will follow evaluation, whereas pembangunan can
readily be understood as a process of improvement rather than necessarily
reconstruction or construction de novo. Evaluation following such a
development process could then mean evaluation of progress in that regard
rather than, as the English version implies, an evaluation of the existing
justice system as part of the building process. The translator might have been
better to leave the ordering of the phrase as it is.

The J udicial System Monitoring
Programme (J SMP) is an independent
non-governmental organisation based in
Dili, East Timor dedicated to monitoring
the judicial system of East Timor.
Program Pemantauan Sistem Yudisial
(J SMP) adalah suatu LSM independen
yang bermarkas di Dili, Timor Leste
yang bertujuan untuk memantau sistem
yudisial Timor Leste.

LSM stands for Lembaga Swadaya Masyarakat, an equivalent of the English
NGO, non-governmental organisation.

J SMP is composed of both East
Timorese and international staff from
both common law and civil law
jurisdictions.
J SMP terdiri dari warga negara Timor
Leste dan staf internasional baik dari
yurisdiksi common law dan civil law.
340


It is suggested that a preferable translation would be hukum biasa (common
law) and hukum sipil (civil law). After all this is to be a translation into
Indonesian. Depending on the audience, a note could explain that the
Indonesian legal system is a Civil Law system, derived from French and
German models, while the Common Law system is found chiefly in Australia,
England, America and other former British colonies.

This report is produced in response to
the urgent need to confront the problems
that prevent the exercise of the right to
appeal in East Timor.
Laporan ini dibuat untuk menjawab
kebutuhan mendesak dalam menghadapi
permasalahan-permasalahan yang
menghambat diberlakukannya hak
pengajuan banding di Timor Leste.

340
Lindsey, T. Indonesian Trial Process and Legal System Background Notes,
http://www.law.unimelb.edu.au/alc/assets/indo_trial_process.pdf.

236

Menghambat tends to mean obstruct rather than absolutely prevent. Here
consideration could be given to menghalangi instead.

Diberlakukannya is in the di-nya form, containing the ber- form of the verb.
Its use in a nominal position which preserves the verbal sense is very
convenient for composition in Indonesian and for translation.

Examination of thematic approaches in a meeting on cultural issues in 2003 in
Bali can identify items of interest in terms of cultural and linguistic lines of
thought that can be identified in translation work. This was Prakongres
Kebudayaan V (Preliminary Congress on Culture V) with the theme Konsep,
Kebijakan, dan Strategi Kebudayaan (Cultural Concepts, Policies and
Strategies).
Pengalaman dalam proses mengindonesia
diwarnai dinamika integrasi dan
disintegrasi bangsa. Dominasi pada
strategi politik dan ekonomi
menghasilkan pemerintahan yang otoriter
dan sentralistik telah menimbulkan
konflik yang disintegratif.
Experiences in the process of Indonesian
nation building are coloured by a
dynamic of national integration and
disintegration. Domination of political
and economic strategies produce
authoritarian and centralist government
which gives rise to disintegrative
conflict.

This style goes easily into English and the text may well be traceable back to
an English version.


Identitas dan Krisis Budaya: Transisi
Identitas. Kearifan lokal hendaknya
menjadi perhatian pemerintah pusat dan
Pemerintah daerah, serta menjadi
landasan moral berbangsa. Untuk
membangun kembali karakter bangsa,
perlu dilakukan tindakan bersama,
menyeluruh dan berkesinambungan.
(Kasus-kasus perlakuan diskriminatif
terhadap suku Dayak, Papua dan Aceh
misalnya, dalam penguasaan
penggarapan hutan, dan pengelolaan
In a context of identity transition and
cultural crisis, local policies should be
the concern of the central and regional
governments, and be a moral basis for
the nation. To rebuild the national
character, joint action is needed, wide
ranging and continuous. (With cases of
discriminatory acts against the Dayak,
Papua and Aceh minority nationalities
for example) with regard to rights over
forest cultivation and management of
resources, attention should be paid to the
237
sumber daya hendaknya memperhatikan
hak-hak dasar masyarakat tempatan).
fundamental rights of local societies.)

In the last sentence, Kasus-kasus perlakua diskriminatifhendaknya
memperhatikan hak-hak dasar, the above translation treats Kasus-kasus
perlakuan diskriminatif as a topic sentence and then treats memperhatikan as
a verb without subject.
341

Agama dan nilai gotong royong, pada
pengalaman bermasyarakat, tidak terbukti
digunakan sebagai dasar pembentukan
masyarakat budaya plural. Perpecahan
dalam agama sering terjadi dan gotong
royong hanya efektif dalam budaya
agraris, namun tidak tahan berhadapan
dengan kebutuhan ekonomi
Religion and the values of gotong-
royong, in the experience of being in
society, have not been proved to be used
as a basis for the formation of a society
with a plural culture. Fragmentation
within religion often happens and gotong
royong only effective within an agrarian
culture, and is not strong enough to face
up to economic needs.

Gotong-royong is an Indonesian cultural concept that the translator may
choose to treat either with a brief encapsulated equivalent or with some form
of explanatory note. Usually the Indonesian term would be retained along
with any explanatory note.
Suku-suku bangsa tertentu memiliki
keterikatan yang sangat kuat kepada
tanah dan hutan, religi dan adat serta
kebersamaan, namun tersingkir dan
terpinggirkan.
Potensi konflik budaya dapat dicairkan
lewat pendekatan interaktif dan
transformatif.
Certain ethnic groups have very strong
ties to the land and the forest, religion
and adat
342
and to solidarity, but are
marginalised and isolated.
The potential for cultural conflict can be
dissolved through interactive and
transformative approaches.

Adat is a concept of very wide application in relation to Indonesia, including
in the law.

Mengkaji dan mempertahankan
perangkat hukum yang terkait dengan
kepentingan umum dalam bidang
kebudayaan dan pengetahuan lokal
To study and defend legal instruments
tied to the public interest in the field of
cultural and indigenous knowledge. The
regulations tied to Intellectual Property

341
Alternatively kasus-kasus could be regarded as the subject of memperhatikan; this
is simpler but there is the logical difficulty that it is not the cases that pay attention.
342
Adat: customary law.
238
(indigenous knowledge). Undang-undang
yang terkait dengan HaKI
343
, tanah, adat
dan lingkungan hendaknya
mengakomodasi perkembangan dan
kepentingan kolektif.
Rights, land, customary law and the
environment should accommodate
development and collective interests.

Prof. Dr. M. Amien Rais: King Maker
Pentas Politik Nasional
344

Pencalonan dirinya menjadi presiden itu,
bukanlah semata-mata didorong hasrat
untuk berkuasa, melainkan lebih
didorong keprihatinannya atas
penderitaan rakyat akibat kesalahan
kepemimpinan nasional yang otoriter dan
korup. Ia melihat, keterpurukan bangsa
ini harus diperbaiki mulai dari tampuk
kekuasaan.

Prof. Dr. M. Amien Rais: King Maker
of the National Political Stage
Putting himself forward as a presidential
candidate was not only motivated by a
desire for power, but was motivated
more by his concern for the suffering of
the people as the result of an
authoritarian and corrupt national
leadership. He sees that the national
decline must be improved, beginning
from the centre of power.
Keterpurukan, translated as decline, merits a little comment. Echols &
Shadily (1994) give terpuruk as hidden, buried, but that does not match the
context very well. Kamus Besar has (1) terbenam (planted), tenggelam
(sunk), with the example Matahari baru terpuruk di balik pegunungan, (2)
terpelosok, as in Kakinya terpuruk ke dalam lubang. Sinar Harapan in 2004
spoke of keterpurukan in these terms:
Harapan akan bangkit dari
keterpurukan yang masih
menggandeng bangsa kita sejak tahun
1997 mulai terkuak
Bahasa Inggris memiliki kata untuk
keterpurukan/ kemerosotan/ kejatuhan/
kebangkrutan/ kekalahan yaitu
slump.
345

The of emerging from keterpurukan that
still tugs at our nation since 1997 began to
yawn wide
English has a word for keterpurukan/
decline/ fall / bankruptcy/ failure, and that
is slump.

343
Hak Atas Kekayaan Intelektual (HaKI), Intellectual Property Rights.
344
TokohIndonesia DotCom (Ensiklopedi Tokoh Indonesia).
345
http://www.sinarharapan.co.id/ekonomi/mandiri/2004/0810/man01.html, 10
August 2004.
239
Slump is not adequate to describe Indonesias collapse in 1997, when of all
countries in the Asian region to be affected by the economic crisis, Indonesia
was the most severely affected.
346
A serious and sustained slump might
describe the economy in recent years. The above passage suggests decline,
fall, bankruptcy, failure as representing the sense of keterpurukaneach of
these sounding more serious than slump, which can simply be part of the
business cycle.
Mantan Ketua MPR RI Amien Rais
menilai, rencana "merger" atau
penyatuan kembali TNI dan Polri sebagai
lonceng awal keterpurukan demokrasi.
347

Amien Rais, Former Chairman of
Indonesias People's Consultative
Council, believes that the merger plan
or reunification of the Army and Police
Force will sound the beginning of the
fall of democracy.
Keterpurukan may be understood here as fall.
...menyelamatkan maskapai penerbangan
terkemuka Indonesia itu dari ancaman
keterpurukan.
348

to save Indonesias foremost aviation
company from the threat of failure.
Here the meaning is failure. The differences in meaning as translated are not
of great consequence. It is worth noting that this particular form of the base
word puruk appears to have gained popularity in recent years.


Chapters Five and Six have discussed examples from a wide variety of
Indonesian texts, and analysis of texts relates to methodology of approach to
Indonesian~English translation. Even though much of the material may be
thought to be quite ordinary and unexceptionable, contrasts in expression may
highlight divergence or problems. The material has been selected as
representative of some problem areas in translation between Indonesian and

346
USAID Background Report: Recovery of Economic and Financial Systems, 3
March 1999, http://www.usembassyjakarta.org/econ/usaid-recovery.html.
347
http://www.pikiran-rakyat.com/cetak/2005/0205/17/01.htm. 17 February 2005.
348
Padang.Express.com. 8 August 2005.
240
English. Chapter Seven draws together some of the lessons that may be
concluded from this corpus of material.
241
Chapter Seven
Analysis

Chapters 5 and 6 have provided a corpus of examples of Indonesian usage and
of translation tactics that may now be analysed to form conclusions about
processes of translation. The corpus was assembled over the period from 1999
to 2005. Generally speaking, it is not claimed that the examples prove
assertions or hypotheses in this thesis to be correct; they hopefully however
exemplify and elucidate thesis findings.

7.1 Dimensions of Vocabulary

The process of translation cannot be separated from the literary skills of the
translator. This thesis argues that the concept of translation should be
expanded to include skills that traditionally belong to the interpreter: the
ability to summarise information, the attractive presentation of material, and a
parallel exegetic function as required. Incidentally the translators standing
with clients will probably be enhanced through maintaining competence in
speaking Indonesian, though spoken skills are not tested as part of translator
competence, for example under the procedures of the Australian National
Association for the Assessment of Translators and Interpreters (NAATI).

The two languages accord reasonably well in terms of basic syntactic order, as
this examples illustrates. This example is from a translation with English and
Indonesian versions, so there may have been two-way influence.

This report is produced in response to
the urgent need to confront the problems
that prevent the exercise of the right to
appeal in East Timor.
Laporan ini dibuat untuk menjawab
kebutuhan mendesak dalam menghadapi
permasalahan-permasalahan yang
menghambat diberlakukannya hak
pengajuan banding di Timor Leste.

242
This example
349
shows how a translation into English naturally accords with
the Indonesian.

Kamu semakin cantik. Senyum simpul
mengiringi ucapan itu, Nyoman melepas
kacamatanya.
350


Youre all the more pretty. A
disarming smile accompanied the
remark. Nyoman took off his glasses.


Highly culture specific phrases such as Ketuhanan Yang Maha Esa,
Perikemanusiaan and such do not pose a great problem in translation per se
because equivalents can be found. They can however require some thought to
explain more fully. Words of J avanese origin, and words of Sanskrit and
Arabic origin, sometimes are less well documented in dictionaries than words
of Malay origin. It can be important in understanding both Indonesian and
English to perceive the origin of some vocabulary items. Meaning may be
affected by choice of particular words. This thesis describes the historical
background of terms in successive periods of borrowing from other languages
as layering. The hypothesis considered here is that layering is a mode of
insight that could assist translation; and that usage may reflect particular
layers; and that identification of a particular layer may help in composing an
appropriate translation so that the reader derives a broadly equivalent effect in
the target languagefor example archaic phrasing in one language may be
able to be given an equivalent in the other. In considering non literal
translation and the use of various kinds of words, possibly from different
layers, a broad knowledge of the source language is important, but an
excellent knowledge of the target language is essential. Different translators
may use different styles of language with different selections of vocabulary,
but the underlying condition is that there will be a consistency in the target
text. It may be that restrictions have operated on the use of some English

349
Chapter 6, p.238.
350
http://sulutlink.com/ranomawuri2004/cerpen1.htm
243
words for cultural or ideological reasons, although the language of the
Communist Manifesto was available in the 1950s in Indonesian.
351


The Islamic tradition is predated by the Hebrew, Greek and Roman traditions,
the Christian tradition so to speak. The Hebrew scriptures were translated as
the Pentateuch and then Koine Greek was a keys vehicle for the expression of
Christian theology, to be followed by Latin and finally English. English was
then often the source for transmission of the Christian world view to other
nations. This is an involved sequence of events, but it require some
understanding by a translator dealing with religious matters in
Indonesian~English translation.

In translation it is axiomatic that grammar should be adequate; and yet at the
same time it can be difficult to be certain of the extent to which a translators
thinking hinges on grammatical questions. The translators command of the
target language if it is at native level will tend to mean that sentences can even
be completed from various starting points, while if it is a second language will
probably mean that syntactic questions may be in the forefront of the
translators consciousness. The layer concept implies a potential for
considerable subtlety in translation where the translators awareness and skill
is adequate.

There are large numbers of expressions that could be adduced to demonstrate
colouring of terms. The use of euphemisms such as payudara (susu, breast)
and wanita tuna susila (pelacur, prostitute) may be compared with the
tendency of English to particular levels of vocabulary, say Latin or French
versus Anglo-Saxon. Words may have varied implications for different

351
Marx, K., and Engels, F. 1959, Manifesto Partai Komunis, Yayasan Pembaruan,
3
rd
printing of translation by Komisi Penerjemah, Depagitprop C.C. PKI , 1952.
Reference made to the English language Manifesto of the Communist Party, Foreign
Languages Publishing House, Moscow 1959. q1
244
audiences. For example, a word like hamburger can be confusing.
352
In fact
there is no implication that a hamburger contains pork. The term beefburger
may take over from hamburger at some stage. That is a matter of English
linguistic change, whether or not it occurs from religious sensitivity. From a
translation point of view however it is simply necessary to ensure that the
target audience realises that hamburger does not imply ham, and that it is
made from beef.

7.2 Undbundling-Rebundling

There are indications in variouis cases in chapters 5 and 6 that
undbundling~rebundling is a useful and flexible process in the creation of
imaginative and meaningful translation. To take an example of the application
of this process, and to extend the phrase to an initial bundling of elements,
there may be a process of bundling~unbundling~rebundling which when
applied to texts will decide between two conflicting requirements, one to
avoid repetitiousness and the other to employ redundancy usefully. Garbage
In Garbage Out (GIGO) was a principle that first emerged with computer
science in the 1950s. The idea is that output will be affected by the input.
Input problems may be of type, or of quality. Clearly the content of the source
text needs to be reflected in the target text, and if the content input is garbage
then the output is likely to be of the same quality. However it is important to
ensure that quality input becomes qualitiy output. Unbundling~rebundling can
alter the impression of content. The main elements of meaning in the source
language will be chosen in reference to the known elements in the target
language. Thus the construction of a viable root system for a transeme will
tend to be a simplified taxonomy that uses functionality. The

352
Some Indonesians told the author in Canberra in 1993 that they could not eat
hamburgers because they contained pork. However the meat in a hamburger (in the
United Kingdom it is called a beefburger) is almost always beef
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburger). The name comes from the German city of
Hamburg and its citizens (http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/ encyclopedia/ h/ha/
hamburger.htm).

245
unbundling~rebundling concept can be explained in terms of a target template
which would be the same as the source template but would add native speaker
comment, added meaning, and subtracted meaning as appropriate. A prolix
statement could thus be contracted into a terse written phrase, or a verbal
phrase into an abstract noun and so on, with the aim to retain the essence of
the original but to present it in a meaningful way. As an example of direct
translation that causes problems, retaining source grammatical and semantic
structures can result in distortions to the target language. It is worth noting
that good interpretation may be less likely to suffer from disadvantages of
direct translation.

Thoroughgoing analysis of the meaning and potential meanings of a term or
phrase can be very time consuming and might not be very informative in the
end. However that kind of analysis may not be necessary. The image of a root
system in the translators mind can by itself contribute to perceptions that may
be valuable in the process of translation. However the system postulated for
the translation processthat is from the source sidemay have insights and
yield more specific results. The translator needs natural equivalents or
explanations rather than extensive taxonomies. In particular a system of
binary alternatives and assignment of subcategories is unlikely to be efficient.
Signal-to-noise ratio should be high, meaning that there should be as little
distraction as possible. In a graph, for example, extraneous elements reduce
the ratio. In translation, it is quite common to find extraneous elements in
expression. The editing out of noise in the source text however will not
necessarily mean that the target text will have a comparable amount of
noise.
353


The choice of words will also indicate personal cultivation and attitude. It is
clear enough that the use of a blunt or uncultivated word may indicate
particular views or that it may indicate lack of sophistication on the part of the

353
Lidwell et al., ibid., p.182.
246
speaker or writer. The use of words from a dialect area will have its particular
input to the impression given by the utterance, although this thesis has not
aimed to investigate the synchronous effect of dialect borrowing.

A matrix structure may have its specific accuracies, but in terms of cognition
this representation of multi dimensional realities may be less effective than
other means of presentation and usage. Root taxonomies take time to prepare
and dictionaries may be of marginal use. Generally explicit definitions and
taxonomies are time consuming and will tend not to be compiledand
certainly the translator will in general not be willing to justify his or her work
to a client by using such material, because this would imply a need to prove
personal competence. The use of the Internet to locate and compare
incidences of vocabulary items, sometimes with translation, has been
demonstrated. Informants will be needed less for vocabulary work than
previously because of the Internet. However the need for informant assistance
with checking translation into the second language has also been noted.
Symmetry comprises reflection, rotation and translation symmetry.
Translation symmetry is the location of equivalent elements in different areas
of spacein any direction and over any distance, provided basic orientation is
maintained. Symmetrical forms are simpler than asymmetric ones, which aids
recognition and recall.
354
The principle of Ockhams Razor states that given a
choice between functionally equivalent designs, the simplest design should be
selected. Einstein however added that everything should be made as simple
as possible, but not simpler.
355
The principle of simplicity, like other
principles of design as shown in Liddell et al. (2003) can be of great value to
the translator. There may be no need to espouse any particular theory or to use
all available design principles, but for the translator to have a multifaceted
capacity to perceive meaning, form and intent and to transmute that
perception into a well expressed target version, using various principles, is the
mark of the well educated professional.

354
ibid., p.190.
355
Lidwell et al. p.142.
247

The way that translation can take different paths is part of discussion of the
theoretical concept of unbundling~rebundling. This can be expressed as a
humble bundle of sticks, the virtue of the image being in its simplicity and its
flexibility.
356



Figure 7.1 Bundled Sticks





The key theory of unbundling~rebundling can be demonstrated in examples
like the following.

Placing a theme word at the beginning of an Indonesian translation
when it was at the end of the English text, for example with a poem.
Adding or removing repeated wordsthis should be related to
rhetorical style. Notes can support this.
Adding or removing explanatory material or a particular termfor
example a wayang character.
Reformatting text, for example by adding footnotes, paraphrasing a
note in the text

356
Image from MasterClips.
248
Summarising text
Changing parts of speech
Changing examples if necessary
Arranging sentences so that some parts become discontinuous.
Deleting redundant terms, or adding redundant terms to aid
comprehension.

The unbundling~rebundling idea has application where there is flexibility to
reorganise material and above all where there is lack of clarity or lack of
efficient organisation in material for translation. Examples noted so far are
various Indonesian phrases such as Ketuhanan Yang Maha Esa, Arabic
loanwords, some J avanese and Indonesian words with connotations not
readily transferable into English, and long passages which could be made
more readable if reorganised. These cases need a little imagination to express
effectively, and they all require trust in the honesty of the translator. The
translation is difficult to check in such cases.

In rebundling a translation, the translator ought not to have the aim of
adjusting the message so that it will appeal in a way that the original would
not. The translator may by some means make it clear that there is a difference
in meaning between the source and target term. In this it is important to
consider that in some cases a text is to be regarded as authoritative, and in
such cases every effort would be made to use precise equivalents of terms,
with explanatory footnotes as necessary. Yet to use the Bible as an example of
good translation could be to ignore the strong restraints on the work of the
translator.

If paraphrase is carried out to improve the target translation, it no doubt will
embody rebundling. Paraphrase may then form an advanced form of
translation, one which will have dealt with linguistic forms that are unnatural
in the target layer. The unbundling~rebundling hypothesis underlies a style
249
on the part of the translator to move clusters of terms around the page. The
translator has knowledge, and can obtain information, but the key to efficient
translation is perceptionthe translators perception and the perception that is
given to the reader. The translators perception of necessity will tend to be
immediate and it will tend to be modular., with modules established according
to efficiency and logic. Some elements of modules can be discontinuous and
some can be hidden. Adopting graphic symbolic imagery has important
implications for the way transfer is conceived and operates. For some
translators this is consciously or unconsciously part of their practice. However
much discussion of translation is still confined to the verbal text.

Despite the flexibility and spontaneity that the concept of unbundling~
rebundling offers, however, it has not been demonstrated conclusively in the
corpus of examples considered in this thesis that the procedure is necessary,
or even in some cases desirable. It has been shown in certain cases that
translation may be extended to ensure reader comprehension of certain
concepts. However in most cases the most natural treatment of text has been
to follow the original. Chapter Eight (8.5) below forms a conclusion about the
hypothesis of unbundling~rebundling.


7.3 Symbols, Concepts and Intuitive Factors

Here the scenario is projected that there are symbols and concepts with which
the translator works. Furthermore, translators intuition may be a factor. The
picture may look like what is conveyed in Figure 7.2.





250
Figure 7.2 Symbols, Concepts and Intutive Factors



















The examples adduced in this thesis may be viewed as describing activity by
the translator engaging with text and producing text in the other language.
Further, it has been observed that the process of translation may be likened to
the handling of images, and imagery is one node of the suggested root system
of a transeme. The translator will also have personal translation habits and
possibly a repertoire of styles. There are tactics to deal with difficulties, and
there are techniques not only in analysis text and composing text but in
ensuring that word processing proceeds well with minimal danger of losing
text.

VERBAL TEXT
symbolic representations disparate ideas and
terms
understood or explained
symbolic characters in
target language
251
In many ways it is very clear that there is an Arabic inclination in the
translation of the Bible into Indonesian. The term Allah (pronounced
differently however from the Islamic Allah) is marked by its Arabic origin, in
contrast to the term theos in the original Koine Greek New Testament and
God in the English language translation. The English Lord, Tuhan in
Indonesian, follows the tradition of the Pentateuch and New Testament kyrios.
The word logos in J ohn 1:1 is a simple word and it is translated simply into
English as word. Its meaning is not very specific. It contrasts with the use of
Firman in Indonesian, which is a word with definite sense but which is rare.
Firman is related to the Persian ferman mandate, patent, (cognate with
Sanskrit pramdna measure, authority.
357
In each case there is an effect from
using the translated term. However the Indonesian translation seems more to
proselytise through the use of a linguistic profile in the target language. It is
worth noting that the phrase milik kepunyaan
358
his own possession does not
necessarily translate his own in the phrase he came unto his own, because the
phrase refers to identification with the people rather than possession of them.
There could conceivably be many reasons to imitate Balinese thinking in
translating Christian literature. But they do not compete evangelically, and
evangelism has been a primary motivating force rather than pure accuracy.

7.4 The Transeme

As perception operates in the translation process, the root system that
characterises a transeme may tend to compose itself in a very simple structure.







357
http://28.1911encyclopedia.org/F/FI/FIRMAN.htm.
358
J ohn 1:11.
252
Figure 7.3 Transeme Root System













a term
say five semantically
chosen words
253
Figure 7.4 Identification of Relevant Meaning

















On closer inspection the picture may be:












Only one of the words may be
primary, so that the picture may
be as follows
basket of approximate
meanings
relevant meaning
basket of words whose
different senses can affect the
translation, depending on the
context

connotations
254

Figure 7.5 Nodes of Elements in a Root System

The nodes may change in shape and size. The diagram explains the process
but does not direct the process. The process of translation could be
represented as follows:











Figure 7.6 Root Systems


A tree root diagram of a transeme taxonomy could be pictured as a potato
plant (above left), although wherever this can be simplified, it should be
simplified. The ginseng root (above right) is regarded as a highly

255
sophisticated root structure, and highly symbolic, dominating the image of the
plant as a whole.
359
This is a figurative example, but the lesson could be
drawn from it that the target expression is not the same as the source
expression. The following plants are also different in their foliage and even
more in their root systems.
360
Using this analogy, it can be argued that to the
translator the perception of the hidden elements making up a transeme are
more important than the surface representation of the term. However the
reader will tend to focus either on the target foliage as in the cases below, or
on the harvested potatoes or ginseng.

Figure 7.7 Differing Root Systems and Foliage







359
http://telematics.ex.ac.uk/butterfly/plant/images/potato.jpg;
www.yuyu.co.kr/English/ginseng/index.asp.
360
Hanyu Tujie Cidian (Chinese Dictionary in Diagrams), Shanghai Cishu
Chubanshe, 1995, pp.442-446.
256


Source expressions may not seem to resemble target expressions; where there
is a specific referent then that ought to be clear in the target text, the nodes in
a source transeme should be used to establish the translatable essence of the
transeme, and the nodes in the target transeme should be used to establish a
corresponding expression. Both the potato and the ginseng plant are cases
where the roots are the main purpose of cultivation. In terms of a root
diagramthat is in terms of the theory used here a diagram of a transeme, or
alternatively a bundlethe shape of each node in can be altered to represent a
different function with regard to the requirements of the translation. Each
node can also be enlarged to give a detailed view of its content. It is important
to note that this analysis is related specifically to a unit of translation, so that
various kinds of functions, syntactic, semantic and so onmay be involved.
A typical set of nodes may be as follows:

equivalent options; grammatical considerations; syntactic restrictions;
section of taxonomic structure; graphic representation; effect
symbolic; semiotic; usage (taboos; ambiguities); vocabulary
information.

The translators knowledge of the semantic/syntactic/semiotic system means
that further investigation means that further investigation would only be
academic and time consuming, keeping in mind that translation will often be
carried out in what amounts to real time. However it may be possible to
differentiate a specific style of Indonesian, for example, and achieve an
English translation which would differ in tone from an international
organisation English product.

The hierarchy of needs principle states that for a design to be successful, it
must meet basic needs before it can attempt to satisfy higher-level needs.
361


361
Lidwell et al., ibid. pp.106-107. The principles of accessibility (pp.14-15), design
for usability without modification, by as many people as possible; and affordance,
257
Many diagrams seem to be of little use. Generally if a concept can be made
very clear without a diagram, a diagram is superfluous. Images can help in the
translation process, and the concept of nodes within a transeme unit is
intended to be a flexible means of illustrating some of the significant elements
associated with a word or phrase. A key motivation is the need for practical
efficiency, so that key elements are identified but little time need be taken to
analyse their part in the significance of the transeme. This is not particularly
an academic process but rather a constant handy guide.

Reading information in texts has been seen in the Nida approach. It may be
almost inevitable but the translator needs to be on guard against the
phenomenon, in particular when clients may like to read things into text. In
the Bible, capitalisation is common in translation but is not found in the
original text. Whereas English will commonly be a metalanguage for
translation, in the picture of English-Indonesian translation another language
may be used. For example in translating Shakespeare from the original, it is
fair to assume that many translators will first interpret the original into
contemporary English. However this could introduce unconscious distortion
into the text, because of the considerable difference in the versions of English
over four hundred years. The Shakespearean text cannot be held to be
equivalent to a contemporary English version. In this situation a metalanguage
could be useful for reference, and the Chinese translation of Shakespeares
works could help to discern the semantic content of what Shakespeare wrote
without interference from contemporary English.

Style and depth of meaning will automatically be matters for appreciation in
the native language. But in understanding a text in a second language, the
style of the original text may be difficult to appreciate fully. The style of the

where the physical characteristics influence function (pp.20-21); and forgiveness
(pp.88-89) where designs help people avoid errors and minimise the negative
consequences of any errors; legibilitythe visual clarity of text (pp.124-125); and
readabilitythe degree to which prose can be understood, based on the complexity
of words and sentences. These principles may have application here.
258
target text may then be a matter for concern. The literary weight of
Shakespeares work will imply that an Indonesian translation should possess a
corresponding style if possible. Clearly the translation will have to be written
in modern Indonesian, but the work as a whole would not be characterised by
informal contemporary jargon. For the non native reader of a source language,
the essential meaning of a text will emerge from the context will provide.
Yet it would be hard to deny that the context will on occasion be insufficient,
and advice may be needed from a native speaker.

Symbols and some general principles for understanding images combine to
form powerful repositories of non verbal information. This could emerge as
interpretation of Indonesian text or it could even become an accompaniment
to a translationas a header or footer for example. Yet an analytical
framework for visual images may elucidate the meaning of these images. It is
however important to note that these are constructs out of the text that may be
subject to varying interpretations that may or may not be correct. Analytic
methods used in deriving results from the examination of visual images may
not be valid.

Despite moves to alter the use of English, the use of man, for example,
appears to continue virtually unchanged. With gender in general, the question
of use in the Romance languages seems unresolved. With the Bible for
example, the question of going back over existing text and resolving
translation difficulties poses serious questions. For a translator, the primary
concern should be translation into the target language and not any desire to
alter structures of that language. At the same time the use of gender is only
one way that language speakers see the world, consciously and unconsciously.
In Indonesian there seems to be a tendency to use Sanskrit/J avanese forms to
express concepts rather than words of Malay origin. There seems to be a
tendency to use Arabic terms to reflect an awareness of Islam in society. And
259
various means are used to cope with the threat of an influx of English
neologisms. These currents run deep.

The Gospel according to St J ohn is a theological minefield and it is the sort of
text that could pose problems for the careful translator. To begin with, there is
the use of the word Allah in the New Testament translation into Indonesian.
Even more to the point there is the use of the word firman.
362
There is
probably an attempt to appeal to Muslims and is probably evangelical rather
than scientific. Considering that Theos means dewa/dewi as well as Allah, this
could have been reflected in the text or in a footnote. When it comes to the
sentence kai theos en ho logos, the first century concept of logos is clearly
relevant, but it seems to differ fromfirman as in the translation. The great
shortcoming in prescribing a sole unsupported translation is clear if one
considers that a language may contain an ambiguity which is not coterminous
with the ambiguity in a particular equivalent. With the Gospel term Word, this
is not a natural expression in this sense in English to begin with. The
identification with Logos is not so easy.

One way to overcome the shortcomings that a translator will typically have in
regard to the second language may be a collegiate approach, even if in
practice this is a group of two, or a translator in telephone or electronic
communication with other translators. This could to provide a learning
environment that is best guaranteed to result in excellent translation. The
economic benefit to be gained from translation work may already be slim,
however, and so the economics of such a collegiate approach would bear
careful consideration.

The argument being developed here as the translator pursues excellence in
translation may be explained in terms of the concept of unbundling and
rebundling, where the translator mentally separates out aspects of the meaning

362
See Chapter Four, 4.2.
260
of a term of phrase and presents it to the target reader in a different way.
Several examples will show this. J akarta, Yogyakarta, Bali and Bandung are
all historically and politically of considerable significance in Indonesia. A
reader may like to know that J akarta is the cosmopolitan capital of Indonesia
and the centre of government and the economy; the Special District of
Yogyakarta is a city and province on the island of J ava, still governed as a
Sultanate; Bali is an island at the eastern end of the island of J ava, famous for
its Hindu-Balinese culture, and a well known tourist destination; Bandung,
capital of West J ava, was an important revolutionary centre during
Indonesias war of independence. In practical terms this brief background
information may be regarded as part of the translated text, and it is important
that the information is factual and without subjective colouring. In terms of
handling issues of time, it has already been noted that time sequences without
tense can be confusing to English speaking readers. Readers may be able to
fill out gaps, though this may not be possible if they are unaware of historical
elements in Indonesian texts. The involved English structures of tense on the
other hand may be difficult for Indonesian readers. Further, words in one
language will cover a different scope of meaning. The following table could
be said to display the essential meanings of the word orang.

orang

person someone anyone people

orangnya ada orang seseorang
anyone; one
by one
orang tidak
datang
perorangan
individual,
private

orangtua
parent



261
This is simpler than Echols & Shadilys 1994 explanation, which itself was
better organised than the earlier version. The four categories of person,
someone, anyone and people appear to be quite serviceable, but on
examination someone~anyone can be seen to be distinctions within the
English language, as can person and people, rather than Indonesian
distinctions. Thus the categories of meaning could be reduced to person and
someone. This distinction could in turn be disregarded if English were to be
used as a metalanguage instead of a language used to define semantic
characteristics through its own peculiarities. The conclusion from the analysis
here is then that no chart is necessary, just a prose definition of the word
orang.

Translation will be facilitated by vocabulary studies as well as the translators
own knowledge and experience of terms. A treatment of the Indonesian
language in terms of an extended theasaurus could include comparison of
words with symbolic content in English also. This would be of considerable
value in appreciating the meaning and connotations of words. For example,
the English concept of an axis exists also in Indonesian, as poros, garis
lurus sebagai petunjuk atau pengukuran, a straight line as a pointer or
measurement. Kamus Besar defines poros bumi as garis yang bersifat khayal
yang memhubungkan Kutub Udara dan Kutub Selatan tempat bumi berputar
pada posisi yang tetap, an imaginary line that joins the North Pole and South
Pole where the earth turns at a fixed point. The idea of an axis can involve
linking the Tribhuvana or Three Worlds, Heaven, Earth and the Underworld.
In temples like Angkor the cosmic pillar of the Veda is represented by a deep
well beneath the central shrine, the lingam or statue of the god within it, or by
a tall pole.
363
Echols & Shadily (1994) give poros as axis, pivot, shaft,
seporos, ally, menyeporoskan create an alliance (esp. ideological).
Salim
364
notes the meaning, negara-negara yang mempunyai hubungan

363
Chevalier & Gheerbrant, pp.61-63.
364
Salim, P. 1993, Advanced English-Indonesian Dictionary, 4
th
edn., Modern
English Press, J akarta.
262
politik (sebelum tahun 1959), countries with political contacts [before 1959].
This refers to the J akarta Pnompenh-Peking-Pyongyang Axis that existed to
1959.
365
Kamus Besar has poros Jakarta-Peking as hubungan kerja sama
yang erat antara Republik Indonesia dan RRC [Republik Rakyat Cina] yang
terjadi pada tahun 1965 dengan dalih untuk melawan semua kekuatan
imperialis (sebagai akibatnya, RI menyatakan keluar dari keanggotaan PBB
dan mendirikan NEFO, dan diakhiri dengan pemberontakan G30S yang
didukung oleh RRT [Republik Rakyat Tiongkok]), a close cooperative
arrangement between the Republik of Indonesia and the Peoples Republic of
China that was formed in 1965 with the excuse of opposing all imperialist
forces (as a result, the RI declared that it was cancelling membership of the
UN and establishing NEFO [the New Emerging Forces], and finished with the
G30S uprising which was supported by China. Kamus Besar notes the
World War II sense of the Axis Powers that is the primary political sense of
axis in English. The political implications of the word in Indonesian need to
be reckoned with, but whatever explanatory material might be provided by the
translator need not take a particular point of view, whether on the pact with
China, the issue of imperialism, or the course of events relating to the 1965
abortive coup.

The Chinese thesaurus noted here provides an underlying structure for a
thesaurus suited to the demands of the Chinese language and is not simply a
transposition of Roget.
366
There is a large amount of such analytic treatments
of the English vocabulary. This thesis has touched on some aspects of the
Indonesian language that may in due course form part of a thesaurus type
study.


365
Lubis, M.S. 3 August 2005, PKI Dan Manifesto Politik,
http://www.waspada.co.id/opini/ artikel/artikel.php?article_id=64317.
366
Shanghai Waiguoyu Xueyuan .. 1984, Tongyici Cilin
Dictionary of Synonyms, Shangwu Yinshuguan ,
Hong Kong.
263
The basic Malay substratum and the strong input of Arabic vocabulary into
Indonesian are bound to result in distinctive approaches to many terms in
contrast to English concepts. A large number of symbolic terms could be
examined in this way, but there may not always be a standard way of
translating particular items. There is a creative role for the translator. If a
thesaurus arrangement is planned, however, it is important that there should
be some overall schema and not just an alphabetically arranged dictionary of
synonyms as is found in Tesaurus Melayu. It is not so much a matter of
schematic layout, but of rational groupings of terms. A term may be cross
referenced to several others, but there should be some underlying structure
and not just a lengthy list of entries. Whatever structure is imposed on
Indonesian, however, does not matter so much as acceptance of the principle
that alphabetic ordering tends to conceal similarities and differences in an
unnatural way. The translator will have his or her own feel for synonyms and
antonyms, but a thesaurus has the value of assisting quick recall and
suggesting unthought of terms.

The existence of definable semantic categories in each language adds
potential insight to the translators work in establishing meaning in the source
language, but the process of translation into the target language can readily
demonstrate a discrepancy between categories. Despite the existence of
philological layers in Indonesian and English, Indonesian/ Sanskrit/ Arabic
categories do not necessarily correspond to Greek/ Latin/ French/ Anglo-
Saxon categories.

7.5 Philological Layering and Linguistic Interfaces

Problems relating to translation into a second language could be solved by a
committee method, preferably a committee of two. As text is produced by a
translator, the partner could correct it and discuss points of concern where
appropriate. The result could utilise the full extent of knowledge of each.
264
Cultural misunderstandings would tend to be neutralised, and consistent
rendering into the target language could be assured. There is a certain
humility required for this however, and a certain judgement as to the extent to
which changes should be made to a colleagues text. This problem could be
difficult to resolve given the importance that attaches to scholarly reputation.
Thus what is best may not come to pass. Further, in commercial translation
there is a need to talk in terms of dollar values to clients who will typically
think predominantly in terms of price and who may have only a dim
perception of quality of translation. A freelance translator may specialise in
Indonesian translation, but typically a translation company dealing in various
languages will farm out translations to freelance operators. NAATI 3 is
enough to validate quality, and often translation into Indonesian is accepted
even without NAATI in the relevant direction. Under such circumstances to
consider the idea of two translators working together on a text may not be
feasible in financial terms, when typically the translation fee is barely enough
to compensate one translator for the time spent.

A potentially serious problem in translation may be unconscious
misunderstanding and error. A translator translates a text into excellent
Indonesian or English, as the first language, but simply may not realise that
there are areas where the translation is misleading because the text has not
been fully understood. A translator translates a text into a second language,
English or Indonesian, but does not realise that the translation contains
syntactic errors as well as inappropriate semantic analysis, so that the
translation may tend to approximate or to mislead. Others may edit the
translations but the results of such editing are not predictable and error may be
introduced if an editor does not know the source language or does not have
the source text.

The development of Bahasa Indonesia is related to the history and geography
of Nusantara, and the social structures of indigenous development and foreign
265
influence. Max Weber saw Islam as determined substantially by the interests
of a warrior class, a view that was essentially in line with a popular Christian
impression following the Crusades.
367
Whether this was true or not, the
warrior concept has been a reality in Indonesian life. The Dutch scholar van
Leur saw that Hindu influence was not felt mostly along the coasts of J ava but
in the courtly centres of the interior of J ava. Instead he saw a pattern as in
southern India where Brahmans assisted the prince in bureaucratic rule and a
process of legitimation of the ruling dynasty which involved the generation of
myth and tradition. This contrasted with Islam, which spread in Southeast
Asia through the influence of traders.

The Indocentric point of view is held for the preceding centuries, when
Hindu civilisation came from India and that of Islam from the world of the
caliphates. But with the arrival of ships from Western Europe, the point of
view is turned a hundred eighty degrees and from then on the Indies are
observed from the deck of the ship, the ramparts of the fortress, the high
gallery of the trading-house.
368


Another Dutch scholar, Schrieke, however drew a parallel for Islam with the
spread of Hinduism. He argued that at the time of the arrival of the Christian
Portuguese into the archipelago in the sixteenth century Muslim ulama
(scholars) appeared at the courts of Indonesian coastal rulers. The syahbandar
were channels for Islam to reach into the royal courts. In Schriekes analysis
Indonesia became Islamic partly through competition in the form of
Christianity and partly through the existing Hindu kingdoms in the J avanese
interior which were seen essentially as allies. From the point of view of
accepting foreign vocabulary, however, the course of Hinduisation and
Islamisation need only be considered as, with the J avanese language itself, a
fertile source of terminology in the history of the Indonesian language. The
waves of influence that took place are still detectable in modern Indonesian.

367
Wertheim, W.F. 1995, The contribution of Weberian sociology to studies of
Southeast Asia, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies vol.26 no.1, March, pp.17-29.
368
Van Leur, Indonesian Trade and Society, p. 261., quoted in Wertheim, W.F.
1995, The contribution of Weberian sociology to studies of Southeast Asia,
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies vol.26 no.1, March, pp.17-29.
266

Visual and performance artists have given voice to community anxiety about
social conflict in Indonesia. Makassar sculptor Dicky Tjandra, focused on
sorrow arising from violence, rather than confrontation. He chose
postmodernist expression to show concern about national disintegration. His
art work both accepts and contests postmodernism, incorporating traditional
values and conservatism with unconventionality, working within
government ideology yet also transcending it, and unifying discrete cultural
elements without homogenising them. This may represent artists moves
towards ethnic and religious reconciliation against a background of question
of the ideology of Unity in Diversity.
369
The various strands of linguistic
history are tied into contemporary Indonesian, but they retain their colour.

Finding semantic equivalents is not the end of the matching process between
the two languages. The need to use morphological or syntactic forms suitable
to the target context may mean that equivalents have to be substituted that are
less precise semanticallyin other words a compromise translation. With
idiomatic expressions of various types the value of native translator
competence in the target language becomes particularly clear. Characteristic
differences between native and second language recall of order of words,
common sayings, titles of books and so on no doubt occur. For example
proverbs seem to be remembered by native speakers as meaning and precise
wording, but from observation proverbs and sayings seem to be remembered
in a second language as overall meaning plus elements of meaning which may
fall out of order. Variant versions can range from the inappropriate to the
hilarious.

* A bird in the hand is worth two in the forest.
* Take the cow by the horns.


369
Morrell, E. 2000, Ethnicity, Art, and Politics Away from the Indonesian Centre,
Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia vol.15 no.2, October, p.255ff.
267
7.6 The Background of English

English has borrowings from adjacent cultures, but more from French as well
as Latin and to some extent Greek. The characterisation of Anglo-Saxon as
the language of the belly, French as the language of the heart, and Latin as the
language of the mind is useful. Examples of usage such as good and proper,
fair and square and kith and kin, along with various idioms, give the English
language a kind of characteristic personality.

Many of the translators skills need to be seen as routine, although there is a
continuing requirement to maintain a high standard of expression. There are
nounadjective pairs in English where the adjective cannot be related to the
noun by any process of morphological change. The history of English has left
its mark, and to transform a noun into an adjective a Latin or Greek form may
be required, as can be seen in the following chart:

spring vernal cat feline
dog canine horse equine
wolf lupine heart cardiac
father paternal mother maternal
day diurnal church ecclesiastical

The term collateral may be used to describe such adjectives, which are
phonologically and etymologically quite distinct but are usual or even
obligatory. With extensive borrowing in English from Norman French and
Medieval Latin there are many English nouns which have adjectives closely
connected with them in meaning but not in form, such as horse and equine,
dog and canine, day and diurnal.
370
These pairs may not be entirely noun
adjective in nature. The collateral concept can be expanded to include other

370
Funk and Wagnalls, 1964 Standard Desk Dictionary, 1st edn., quoted in Koshiishi
2002.
268
classes of words also.
371
The use of a collateral word may be obligatory in
some cases, but in other cases there exists a range of choice. For paternal
there is also the adjective fatherly, the possessive form father's, a combining
form patr- (patri-, patro-), or the noun itself used attributively, as in father
image. Of these, vernal, lupine and diurnal are becoming less used, and
cardiac is not used for the heart in, say, a matter of the heart. The philological
history of each language needs to be kept in mind in translation. Native
speakers may express themselves with little awareness of these layers from
the past, but for the translator understanding of the structure of each language
provides power over text, making it more accurate transparent because and
more compelling. Koshiishi raises the case of nonce-word formations.
Nonce words such as poorness, fruitfulity, etc. are otherwise they result in
communication failure because hearers cannot retrieve their morphological
and semantic composition.
372

This is a demonstration of the difficulty of creation of text in a non-native
target language: poorness is a good example of a nonce word, which is
capable of maintaining the general sense of poor and avoiding restriction to
poverty with its differing senses. However fruitfulity appears unnecessary
because of the existing word fruitfulness which does not appear likely to
cause problems when beginning from the word fruitful. Moreover fruitfulity is
awkward and is not a natural formation from a ful word. Koshiishis point is
well made, but the example is inappropriate. The argument in this thesis for
translation into the native language of the translator, or at least approval of a
translation by a native translator, can find specific application here as advice
for a translator to obtain up to date advice on the appropriateness of adjectival
and other forms, and to avoid nonce terms and any other forms where
creativity is not well supported by documentary sources.

371
Koshiishi, T. 2002, Collateral adjectives, Latinate vocabulary, and English
morphology (1), Studia Anglica Posnaniensia: international review of English
Studies, Annual pp.49-88.
372
Ibid.
269
Comprehensionand thus translation from a source textmay not be entirely
free of such considerations, but, on the premise that the source text language
is correct and that it does not contain significant elements such as sarcasm,
such considerations are not likely to be significant. What becomes more
important are the meaning and significance of elements in a conceptual world
which might (in the tradition of tagmemics) be called etic grids, which may
possibly evolve into emic grids.
373
It is relatively easy to see this in terms of
number and gender features, but much more difficult to follow the play of
semantic information, and to expect overlay patterns following the pattern of
progression from phonetics to phonology seems unjustifiedas if patterns
identified from the simpler elements of language should apply with elements
that vary very widely. Koshiishi observes that loanwords are predominantly
nouns, which are the most efficient part of speech in terms of information
theory, and academic keywords are most often nouns. When novel things or
ideas are introduced into another language, it is highly probable that their
referentiability or naming function is very much highlighted.
374

After the Norman conquest of England in 1066, French became the language
of law and government. At the end of the 13
th
century and in the first half of
the 14
th
century, there was a large proportion of Romance words in the written
language. In the spoken vocabulary there was a strong effect. However it
would be difficult to determine the precise process through which individual
French words came into use, whether this was through the courts or through
general usage. Besides these new words of classical origin, there were many
Romance forms which were being tentatively used, and which ultimately went
to enrich the English vocabulary. In general, it may be said that they are less
abstract in character than those contributed by the classics. Many Romance
forms were specific and concrete rather than having a classical literary origin.

373
ibid.
374
ibid.
270
Italian words figured in the borrowings. There were a number of Dutch
borrowings also.
375

There are all sorts of possible characterisations of a supposed personality for
English. Ackroyd characterises of the English as a phlegmatic, pragmatic,
practical people who are also a swoony folk, often melancholy and lost in
dreams.
376


They fear inwardness and physicality but they love surface display,
ornament, irony and melodrama. This is certainly an Englishness I recognise
in myself and in the English things I admire.
377


Saunders however adds a disclaimer that this is a matter of place and not of
race.
378
But, just as for Indonesian, such identifications between cultural
concepts and language are unlikely to be entirely correct. Meanwhile the
concern of the translator is to recognise the potential of a language for
translation and to identify ways to optimise the translation.

7.7 Differences Between Indonesian and English

Orthographic differences between Indonesian and English include the comma
instead of decimal pointfor example the Indonesian 0,9 is the English (and
international) 0.9. This may seem of little importance if incorrectly rendered.
However in terms of readability and of confidence in a translation and in the
underlying original, it is significant and care needs to be taken with the
presentation of figures. The names of countries, cities and towns are often
different in the two languages. Lautan Indonesia for Indian Ocean is a
translation that is fraught with potential consequences. A wall map of

375
The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes
(190721). http://www.bartleby.com/cambridge/. Accessed 4 J une 2004.
376
Saunders, A. 2003, Not So Happy, But Still Glorious, The Sydney Morning
Herald, 4-5 January, Spectrum p.13. Review of Ackroyd, P., Albion: The Origins of
the English Imagination, Random House.
377
ibid.
378
ibid.
271
Indonesia dated 1974/75
379
has Lautan Indonesia with Hindia following in
parentheses. As far as spealling is concerned, however much the
pronunciation of Indonesian names by English speakers may vary from the
original, the spelling is almost always carried over into English just as it is in
Indonesian. There are exceptions, largely for historical reasons: the Straits of
Malacca, Sumatra instead of Sumatera, Borneo instead of Kalimantan, the
Moluccas instead of Maluku, Macassar on occasion for Makasar which is
now formally Ujung Pandang. Other points to note in conversion of names is
that pulau may sometimes be retained instead of island, mainly for stylistic
reasons, but that in general there seems little reason to retain Indonesian
geographical terms as they do not give added meaning to the English
equivalent. To carry them over into English text no doubt can lend a certain
exotic flavour to the English text, but in terms of a consistent translation
approach this is difficult to justify.

A translator needs to be aware of the continuing impact of English on
Indonesian, including influence of syntactic patterns and word meanings, and
invisible semantic structures. This needs to be set against the bedrock of
incompatible structures, for example the Indonesian structure of noun +
adjective as in kota besar versus the English adjective +noun, as in big city.

7.8 Influences on the Translation Process

For Indonesians writing in English is a valuable skill both in Indonesia and
internationally for various reasons, including commercial reasons, and this
applies to a large number of Asian countries, but for English speakers to write
in Indonesian is a very specialised skill which may be confined largely to
researchers and other experts resident in Indonesia for long periods of time.
Cooperative translation in which the English speaker contributes drafting and

379
The map was published by PT Pembina.
272
editing skills is no doubt quite common. However the ability to produce
Indonesian text without assistance is another question.

It is important to be able to translate Bahasa Jakarta, hat is to say, in the main,
colloquial Indonesian. This style may intrude upon regular text. An example
may illustrate what is involved. Kayaknya saya lagi dapat sesuatu yang besar
in a cartoon
380
means, 'It looks like I am getting something big.' Kayaknya is
nampaknya, lagi is equivalent to sedang, and dapat to mendapat. In standard
Indonesian, lagi meaning 'again' would tend to occur at the end of a clause
rather than in the middle as here, and 'can' would be bisa.

The adoption of the Latin alphabet for the Indonesian language continues to
have significance for Indonesian. It has affected the evolution of the form of
the language itself, so that for example the Malay forms eh and ih which
would be allowed as alternative readings from Arabic are fixed in Indonesian
as ih. In general it is probably true to say that the Latin alphabet is more
readily and naturally able to represent the structure of Indonesian, although at
the same time the phonological structure of the language could be adequately
represented by the Arabic script. The Latin alphabet has tended to break down
barriers between language groups in Indonesia, specifically between
Indonesian and J avanese. But most of all the Latin alphabet is fairly neutral in
terms of religious and ethnic divisions. In relations with most other countries,
the Latin alphabet clearly is a factor that is greatly to Indonesias advantage.

Interpretation must be accepted as having a much longer history than written
translation. Interpreting is immediate in conveying meaning within a given
situation. It is carried out in real time and needs to be rapid as well as accurate.
Interpreting tends to convey a real situation rather than being bound to use
precise word equivalents; and in any case it will have been likely and quite
common for there to have been no words in the target language for certain

380
Gatra no.11 tahun III, 1 February 1997
273
words in the source language. In factthe translation of the Bible is an
excellent examplethe act of written translation may create new terms that
stick in the target language.

7.9 Symbols and Culture

The historical and cultural background of nations can be ignored or minimised
in law or in international fora for certain purposes. However in philology and
in the world of linguistic and social interchange the symbols of a nation are
always present. Indonesia is a very young nation in terms of national
independence in 1945or perhaps in effective terms several years after
thatbut its history dates back on steles and monuments; and its cultural
origins are very old, with the Indian and Arab cultues figuring prominently.
Australia with a federated history of a hundred years and a clutch of former
colonies independent for some decades before that, has however deep roots in
the culture of England and its cultural contributors of Athens and Rome, and
English in Australia shares in the heritage of international English.

The book of Moses and a man of strength are examples of English biblical
prose, as are the holy of holies and the song of songs (the holiest place, the
best song).

This imparted to English a certain rhythmic sonority it has not formerly
possessed. Indeed, there was something in the pattern that completely
captivated the English ear, and directed the language to a form of eloquence
that became its paradigm.
381


There was controversy over the translation of the Bible. Sir Thomas More
attacked Tyndales New Testament: Tyndale had translated priest as senior
(later elder), church as congregation, penance as repentance, confess as
acknowledge, graces as favour and charity as love. Tyndale in effect

381
p.116 Bobrick 2001
274
challenged the role of the Latin Vulgate, which had shaped English
expectations of what the scriptures said. For example, tradition applied
ekklesia to a body of clergy and a place of worship even though this did not
represent New Testament use, being dated almost 300 years after the practices
of the early church.
382
Tyndale went to the original Greek and Hebrew rather
than the Latin version of the scriptures. The Authorised (King J ames) Version
owes much to his rendition.

the rhythmical beauty of his prose, skilful use of synonyms for freshness,
variety, and point, and magical simplicity of phrase imposed itself on all
later versions, down to the present day.
383


Many examples show the importance of time and place in conveying
Christian concepts in translation, and attempts have been made for the sake of
particular interests to promote and even enforce the use of particular versions
of the Bible, from the Vulgate down to contemporary popular versions. This
contrasts with the practice of Islam to have the faithful recite the original text
of the Quran rather than a translated version. It has been commented that the
Quran has been regarded as inaccessible to Westerners, and many Muslims
believe that the Qur'an cannot be translated. Generally in Islam there has been
a tendency to concentrate on teaching speakers of other languages the
language of the Quran.
384
Clearly this has given impetus to the use of Arabic
words in Indonesia. For the translator, it underlines the importance of being
aware of the Islamic dimension to Arabic words in Indonesian society.

J ust as there is a large number of symbols that can carry meaning, so there is a
very large number of quotations in English that bear memories and
associations, sometimes humorous, sometimes unfortunate. Mae Wests

382
pp.100-111.
383
Bobrick 2001, p.101.
384
Huston Smith, quoted in Nelson, M.Z.. 2000, Islam's Holy Book, in English,
Publishers Weekly vol.247 no.46, 13 November, p.36.
275
Come up and see me sometime
385
is a well-known example of a saying that
can strike familiar chords. To go back in the history of English, perhaps
Shakespeare is a good starting point, alongside the King J ames Bible and
perhaps Pilgrims Progress. The language of these books has worked their
way into English. Quotations from Shakespeare have been common in the
language, but when they are felt to be archaic will tend to be used less. This
underlines the importance of the translator having an appreciation of natural
English, and by implication the dangers of being creative with quoted material.
Although the body of Indonesian literature does not have as long a history as
that of English, like English it represents a confluence of great tributary
languages. There will be instances where wording will bring a smile or a
frown to Indonesians, or where a translation is politely accepted but privately
declined. A translation in perfect Indonesian by a non-native speaker may be
praised more out of etiquette than formal correctness.

There is often a process of formation of clich.The difference between clich
and other forms of writing may be difficult to decide, especially if over time
the language has become a cemetery for dead metaphors. For the translator, it
not necessarily essential to trade clich for clich, or even metaphor for
metaphor, but it is surely the translators job to carry the sense of clich if that
is obvious from the original, and to avoid clich if it does not represent the
intention of the original. The following nonce examples might be taken from
some after dinner speech, and it could be said to be said by a native speaker.

It isnt good for the translator to have a finger in too many pies
The interpreter should stay cool as a cucumber.
No-one could hold a candle to his translation.
When alls said and done, this translator will take some beating.
386



385
Mae West, originally Why dont you come up sometime, and see me? in She
Done Him Wrong (1933 film), in Augarde, T., ed. 1991, The Oxford Dictionary of
Modern Quotations, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
386
Reference may be made to the Penguin Book of Clichs for example.
276
To a native speaker, clichs and idioms may be said more readily than more
precise speech, but when a non-native speaker uses these forms of speech in
imitation of a native speaker, inappropriate use may have the unfortunate
effect of making the terms strange, ridiculous or simply wrong. Clich
generally needs to be avoided. A clich may be described as a metaphor that
has lost its metaphorical impact through overuse, and has acquired
predictability in certain types of text. A clich finder at www.westegg.
com/cliche can throw up a variety of claimed clich forms in response to
keywords. Yet the problem of definition remains. Cresswells Dictionary of
Clichs
387
may serve as a reference work, but frequently the educated native
speaker will be able to decide independently. In translation, what is important
is to avoid using clich expressions unless they fairly represent a similar level
of language in the original. English has all sorts of idioms, which may be seen
as occupying a higher literary level.
388
An idiom must be used correctly in the
target language in both sense and form, and that it is used appropriately.

Kress and van Leeuwen
389
focus on visual rhetoric, developing the idea of
grammar of terms to analyse visual texts. The translator also may need to
explain am illustration to ensure that it is meaningful to the reader and not
simply captioned in the target language.

Darwish argues translation tests are prone to underestimate the issues of
intertextuality, contexts of situation, utility, audience and purpose, and to be
based on a system of penalty for errors which tends to concentrate on the
microstructure of text. In contrast to this, there is clearly a internal cognitive
world of the translator which rusns alongside the external translation process.
Translation skills should not be tested only in terms of grammatical

387
Cresswell, J . 2000, The Penguin Dictionary of Clichs, Penguin Books,
Ringwood, Victoria.
388
See Gulland, D.M., and Hinds-Howell, D.G. 1986, The Penguin Dictionary of
English Idioms, Penguin Books, Ringwood, Victoria.
389
Kress, G., and van Leeuwen, T. 1996, Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual
Design. Deakin University Press, p.183.
277
correctness but in terms of information integrity, translation dexterity
(translation skills and adroitness in terms of strategies, comprehension,
production, matchability, and approximation) and esthetic effect (use of
appropriate rhetorical techniques and an overall artistic impression).

Within this overall division, the errors should also be judged in terms of
interference and intervention, that is whether the candidate has unjustifiably
interfered with the text or legitimately intervened, for linguistic, cultural, or
information needs considerations and so on, to render the text intelligible to
the target language reader.
390

The skills and qualities that Darwish suggests should undoubtedly be part of
the translators repertory, and any narrowly based test could be unfair.
However it needs to be remembered also that a test following principles such
as those argued by Darwish would inevitably be subjective. There would be
cases where a translator may have chosen one strategy over another, but the
reason for the translation would need to be explained. It is also important to
note that testing is an entrance door to translation, and that the real practice of
translation will be pursued freely by the translator in due course. Therefore
these skills could best be seen as criteria to judge translations, either in an
academic environment or to assess the quality of translations in a professional
situation.

390
Darwish, A. 1995, A Model for Designing Decisionbased Translation Te sts,
@turjuman Online, http://www.surf.net.au/writescope/translation/index.html.
278
Apabila kita sempatkan untuk menelusuri
keunikan riwayat perjalanan orang jawa
hingga sampai terbentuknya suatu profil
manusia jawa hingga sekarang
melalui pemahaman berbagai
literatur,naskah,maupun piwulang
(ajaran) para leluhur di tanah jawa
ini ,nampaklah suatu kekhasan dari ciri
manusia jawa yang sebenarnya mewarisi
berbagai ajaran luhur, yaitu antara lain :
gotong-royong, andap-asor, tepa-slira
(saling menghargai), berbudi
bawaleksana
391
(mengedepankan budi
pekerti) dll.Disanapun nampak
terungkap ajaran tentang pandangan
hidupnya yang mendalam,serba
membumi, laku menyelaras,bertata
krama, rendah hati , berbudi
luhur , menyambung dengan alam, kaya
akan falsafah -piwulang serta sabar
narima ing pandum
392


When we can trace the unique story of a
journey by a J avanese to the shaping of
a J avanese profile, to the present,
through the understanding of literature,
manuscripts and piwulang (teaching) of
the ancestors in J ava, it seems there is a
special character of the J avanese who
have inherited various noble teachings,
among others gotong-royong, andap-
asor, tepa-slira (mutual respect),
berbudi bawaleksana (keeping ones
word)and so on. And there are teachings
there about a view of life that is deep
and returns to the earth, harmonious
conduct, versed in etiquette, humble,
noble of character, relating to nature,
rich in philosophy-teaching and sabar
narima ing pandum.



The following terms cited in the above passage are worth attention since they
characterise a J avanese way of thinking. Even if the J avanese terms do not
occur in a text to be translated, it is likely that the attitudes characterised here
will appear at some stage, and it will be good to be aware of their cultural
significance in the interests of a good translation.

gotong-royong communal working together
andap-asor low profile
tepa-slira
393
sympathetic understanding
berbudi bawaleksana placing character to the forefront
pandangan hidupnya yang mendalam
serba membumi
a deep and very realistic view of life

391
Prawiroatmojo, S., 1989, Bausastra Jawa-Indonesia, CV Haji Masagung, J akarta,
for bawa laksana, gives menepati apa katanya (ucapannya), to keep ones word.
392
Wicaksono, GPH. Soeryo. Kebudayaan Dalam Perspektif Negara Kesatuan RI,
http://www.jawapalace.org/kami.html.
393
op.cit. gives the meaning of tepa-slira as dapat merasakan (menjaga) perasaan
(beban pikiran) orang lain (sehingga tidak menyinggung perasaan atau dapat
meringankan beban orang lain); toleransi, able to feel for others and avoid
offending them, or to be able to lighten their burden.
279
laku menyelaras harmonious conduct
bertata karma versed in etiquette
rendah hati humble
berbudi luhur noble of character
menyambung dengan alam relating to nature
kaya akan falsafah -piwulang rich in philosophy and teaching
sabar narima ing pandum
394
patient and accepting

Andap-asor is not to be found in Kamus Besar or Echols & Shadily (1994).
The Internet yielded the following:

Tim tersebut sebaiknya jangan
emosional, bersikap arif dan andap asor
(merendah).
395

The team should not be emotional, but
should adopt a wise, low profile attitude.


Ketua DPD
396
Partai Golkar J ateng HM
Hasbi meminta agar kader di Kabupaten
Tegal low profile dan andap asor. Ketua
DPD Partai Golkar Klaten Drs Anang
Widayaka berpendapat lain. Calon Ketua
DPD Partai Golkar J ateng yang akan
dipilihnya nanti, adalah sosok yang lekat
dengan budaya J awa dan selalu
mengedepankan sikap andap asor
(merendah).
397

The Chairman of the Golkar Regional
Leadership Committee for Central J ava
asked cadres in Tegal Regency to keep a
low profile and a humble attitude. The
Chairman of the Klaten Golkar
Committee, Drs Anang Widayaka, had a
different view. The candidate for
Chairman of Golkar, Central J ava, who
is to be selected soon, is a figure that is
attached to J avanese culture and always
stresses the attitude of andap asor
(humility).


None of the cultural aspects of translation should obscure the importance of
the plain elements of grammar and syntax. The function of verbs in di- and is
something that needs to be understood naturally in Indonesian so that a

394
ibid. narima ing pandum is explained as menerima nasib, bertawakal, accepting
fate, resigned.
395
Titis Widyatmoko detikInet, Tindakan Menantang Hacker Sebaiknya Tidak
Dilakukan, http://jkt1.detikinet.com/index.php/detik.read/tahun/2004/ bulan /05
/tgl/11/time/11059/idnews/156319/idkanal/110. 11/05/2004.
396
Dewan Pimpinan Daerah, Regional Leadership Committee (of a political party).
397
http://www.suaramerdeka.com/harian/0110/24/dar6.htm, accessed 11 August
2005.
280
translation into English will read naturally. The following examples are useful
as background to the di- function.

Dia mengatur acara itu.
Acara itu dia atur.
Acara itu diaturnya.
Diaturnya acara itu.


He arranged the program.
Acara itu diatur. The program was arranged.
Diaturnya. He arranged it.
Diatur. It was arranged.

There is a balance between the subject, verb and object, that is to say the
stress is apportioned among these three elements. With the me- form the
subject and verb are felt to be stronger. With the object plus di- forms the
object tends to be stronger in emphasis, and in any case the object and verb
are stronger than the subject. With diaturnya and diatur the object is not
mentioned, but the object though implicit is firmly in mind. Diaturnya acara
itu and Diaturnya however appear to allow more stress on the subject
(di~nya). This kind of stress seems to be able to vary, but what is important
to note is the ability of the di-nya form to avoid stress on the subject and
active verb and to shift stress towards the object. However the translation
given in each case does not necessarily reflect the emphasis givennor need
it reflect that emphasis unless the context demands this.

For the translator, it is not difficult to feel when different translations are
called for, but the di-nya form has dimensions that are very different from the
English passive, and it is particularly important not to feel that di- needs to be
translated as the English passive, and even more so that di-nya need not be so
translated. It can be seen in the chart above for example that in only two
cases out of seven was the passive used in English. Operational entities in the
Indonesian languagegrammar, syntaxbear no necessary relationship to
281
such entities in the English language. Where similarity in function exists there
is no need to assume that there is systemic identity, and certainly no need to
assume that a translation adopted for one occurrence is best for other
occurrences. So here for example the translation in one context for Diaturnya
as He arranged it could well in another context be It was arranged by him.

282
Figure 7.8 Nodes of Various Kinds

In a picture of a transeme there could be pictured various attached nodes,
which could be phonological, semantic and syntactic. The process of
translation could then be seen as taking place beneath the text or draft text that
might be read. The transeme may go easily into the target language, or it may
not. Some terms may be translated painlessly and some are a headache. But it
will naturally follow that to insist on translating a noun by a noun or a verb by
a verb and so on, or on using a particular dictionary equivalent, may have
little justification in this approach. The Indonesian language, to those who
know and love it, has various kinds of impact on the listener and various
requirements of the speaker. Somehow the tone and even the full range of
meaning of an utterance can feel very different to the English version. The
unbundling~rebundling concept has grown out of this gap in meaning.

The approach that emphasises the personal analysis of the translator is
generally known as the black box approach. However this approach is not
inscrutable, and it could well be described in terms of a clear box of works
between message and message. To press this analogy further, it may be
argued that in many ways the translator is simply transparent, because his or
her work is judged by the result and not by evidence of flair in the process of
translation.
283
It would also be possible to envisage a rotation of each nodular system, and
the ordering of the nodes, to show alignment of meanings within the sentence.
The analogy is with plants (as also shown in Figure 18), with the various
operations necessary to align the two organisms located underground. On the
surface there will be an equivalent structureword or phraseto the original,
and possibly an impression that translation consists in supplying equivalents,
an impression that is only partly true.

The above diagram shows transemes in terms of node structures. The node
structure is developed from the stick bundle characterisation because it
permits a taxonomy. There is also an internal information structure for each
term that adds up to more than just the sticks of information. Also, in this
concept, the nodes turn so that they can more nearly match contiguous node
structures.

A common and elementary mode of translation can occur where the translator
feels that one dictionary equivalent does not match the context and so another
should be tried. For example the word can in I can do it will not fit the
context of Open another can. This is a simple method of trial and error which
can be carried out by using a dictionary. However the method of fitting
alternative equivalents is not always able to guarantee sophisticated results,
and translation is often inadequate because of cultural factors. Methods
include approximate equivalents or using the Indonesian terms with or
without explanatory notes. However this colouring factor needs to be
conveyed to users of Indonesian that translation.

The use of the unbundling~rebundling concept does not of course imply that
it is the only valid approach, or necessarily the best approach in particular
circumstances. For example in a document such as the United Nations
Declaration of Human Rights the translation into Indonesian closely follows
the English, and this would hold true for other documents which could form
284
the basis of legal argumentation. Although an unbundling~rebundling
approach would no doubt make more readable the translation on East Timor
referred to in this thesis, it could be counter-productive if the accuracy of the
dtranslation became an issue in a discussion of legal issues. A birth certificate,
marriage certificate or other legal document falls into a similar category, and
will usually be required to follow the original closely. However it is worth
noting that the practice of the Australian Department of Immigration in asking
the author to translate certification in Canberra in the early 1990s was simply
to require completion of a form setting out essential details. With Indonesian
the surnamename categories sometimes required a decision. Because this
was a form filling exercise rather than full translation, translation from a
photocopy could conceivably lead to relevant detail not being noted.


285

Chapter Eight

Conclusion


8.1 The Layering Hypothesis

Although the Indonesian language is increasingly able accurately to convey
material from international fora, there are terms that tend to be accepted from
English rather than become Indonesian terms. Further, where Indonesian
terms are used in formal translations, English loanwords may still prevail in
many contexts. Translators working from an English standpoint can consider
whether it could be most useful to distance themselves from any purist
opposition to the use of English and to see the extensive use of English terms
as a historical phase akin to the inflow of French, Latin and Greek words into
English. In the translation of material from Indonesian, there are particular
problems for the translator in the availability of reference works and in the
rapidly changing vocabulary of Indonesian, with its extensive import of terms
from other languages and dialects.

There are semantic effects of English on Indonesian. Some of these can be
observed historically and others are evident in, for example, newspapers and
magazines. This more subtle influence of English on the definition and use of
terms needs to be understood in the context of Indonesian philology, and
dictionaries need to provide some historical depth in the definitions and
examples that they provide. And the interchange of terms between the two
languages should not disguise the fact that the form of words may be
borrowed but with a different understanding in the target community from
that in the source community. Similarly there have been and still continue to
286
be English influences on the structure of Indonesian, from word formations
and even syntactic structures that have begun as translated responses to
English material. This has naturally followed on from the very considerable
influence of Dutch on the Malay substrate of the Indonesian language. It is
more subtle and perhaps thus more pervasive than the simple reversal of
adjective-noun order.

Despite the existence of philological layers in Indonesian and English,
Indonesian/ Sanskrit/ Arabic categories do not necessarily correspond to
Greek/ Latin/ French/ Anglo-Saxon categories.

Indonesian is greatly influenced in relation to English and other languages
because of its orthography, vocabulary and also syntaxfrom a Dutch
background. It is influenced by a whole host of semantic and semiotic
features. These can combine to give an impression of simplicity and ease in
translation. This thesis argues that the impression is a false one. It is common
for phenomena to be translated word by word when the import of the phrasing
should be conveyed by different means.

After the Norman conquest of England in 1066, French became the language
of law and government. At the end of the 13
th
century and in the first half of
the 14
th
century, there was a large proportion of Romance words in the written
language. In the spoken vocabulary there was a strong effect. However it
would be difficult to determine the precise process through which individual
French words came into use, whether this was through the courts or through
general usage. Besides these new words of classical origin, there were many
Romance forms which were being tentatively used, and which ultimately went
to enrich the English vocabulary. In general, it may be said that they are less
abstract in character than those contributed by the classics. Many Romance
forms were specific and concrete rather than having a classical literary origin.
287
Italian words figured in the borrowings. There were a number of Dutch
borrowings also.
398


Indonesian is greatly influenced in relation to English and other languages
because of its orthography, vocabulary and also syntaxfrom a Dutch
background. It is influenced by a whole host of semantic and semiotic features.
These can combine to give an impression of simplicity and ease in translation.
This thesis argues that the impression is a false one. It is common for
Indonesian to be translated word by word when the import of the phrasing
should be conveyed by different means.

Layering as discussed here relates mainly to perception of formative sources
in each language. It ought not to be pushed too far in translation between two
languages but it can offer possibilities for ingenious translation that go to the
real point of what an author is trying to say. Even in a scientific context,
certain Arabic words could imply a certain colouring to a text. In some social
contexts, the effect could be an Islamic element or simply relate to Middle
East culture, but it could possibly be discerned. It would then remain for an
appropriate equivalent in an English translation to be worked out. To the
translator the point is that the impact of philology can be felt from choice of
one word over another. If there is no choice then there is no effect. The
Thesaurus can form a guide to the process. Probably the translators unaided
judgement is best, especially in terms of speed and of style.

The hypothesis put forward in Chapter Three regarding layering was that
there are advantages for the translator in being aware of waves of foreign and
regional input that are part of the history of Indonesian as well as English, and
that there is potential for creative utilisation of the resources of the two
languages because of awareness of the existence of layers on the part of the
translator. Although a match between the layers in each language or strict

398
The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes
(190721). http://www.bartleby.com/cambridge/. Accessed 4 J une 2004.
288
equivalence between one set of borrowings in English and one in Indonesianis
not implied, it is useful to recognise word origins where this may impact on
the appropriate translation. Examination of the corpus presented in this thesis
has shown that the history of Indonesian words can readily affect their
meaning, while the history of English words may affect the choice of terms,
nevertheless it has proved difficult to demonstrate any particular effect of the
history or layer of meaning on the choice of terminology in translation. It
seems that once the Indonesian term has been understood, the translation that
will emerge will not particularly be bound by reference to the history of
English terminology. The hypothesis then may be reduced to an observation
that the derivation of Indonesian terms, like that of English terms, is important
in fully understanding the scope of meaning of the terms.

8.2 The Level of Indonesian~English Translation

There are large and significant deficiencies in Indonesian-English and
English-Indonesian dictionaries, so that accurate translation often involves an
inordinate amount of research, including informal enquiries. The Internet is a
ready source of undifferentiated textual examples, but will often fail to
provide contexts sufficiently clear to ensure correct understanding of usage of
Indonesian terms. This leads to the consideration that input from Indonesian
speakers would be an excellent way to guarantee accuracy and style of
translation in both directions.

Inadequate knowledge of the source language often results in poor quality
translation from and to Indonesian. English comprehension in Indonesia can
suffer greatly from lack of familiarity with the English language. Newspaper
reports and editorials can provide examples of quite unintelligible
composition in English through to text that is largely correct but clearly
suffers from lack of checking by a native English speaker. This kind of pride
in knowing the other language to a boasted high degree of sophistication also
289
occurs with Indonesian translation in Australia. It no doubt has the function of
elevating the translator's status for a time in regard to speakers of the source
language. However speakers of the target language are unlikely to be
impressed by text which contains any obvious errors whatsoever. Thus it may
be said that where the target language is not the translator's mother tongue,
translations are frequently extremely poor in quality; this may reflect a false
belief that input from a native speaker is not necessary.

Translation into and out of the Indonesian language requires language specific
attitudes and procedures. Whether this statement applies to particular other
languages is not examined, but an approach in training translators of
Indonesian that does not contain a substantial element of language specific
translation expertise may well be justified in practice by the personal updating
of language specific skills rather than by its general principles. In other words,
aside from the understanding of general principles of translation, a course in
translation is not likely to help prospective Indonesian translators as much as
detailed insight into the specific problem areas in conveying the meaning of
Indonesian into English or English into Indonesian.

Resources for Indonesian translation of course include dictionaries. Glossaries
comprising a set of volumes on different areas can be very valuable but need
to be used with some caution as equivalents may not be universally correct. In
any case the taxonomic structures that lie below equivalent terms tend to be
missing from glossaries, so that it is easy for terms to fit badly in translation.
Recently searches for collocations of terms have been made feasible, through
the availability of the Internet. A term may simply be typed into a search
engine and various examples of use appear. The value of this facility is first of
all in its great speed, and secondly in its ability to locate terms from a very
wide sample of texts. Thirdly the context given with the examples can greatly
assist in determining meaning. This is particularly useful when the term is not
to be found in the available dictionaries.
290

In general it may be said that in terms of glossaries the Indonesian language is
now fairly accessible. In terms of good lexicography, however, the language
remains without good and convenient tools for precise and thoughtful
explanation in the way that some other languages are equipped. In terms of
dictionaries which would enable very precise understanding of Indonesian
terms, and further than that the projection of phrasing in Indonesian that is
likely to be correct on the basis of information provided by the dictionary,
Indonesian is still not well served. The lack of a comprehensive dictionary of
synonyms, or some kind of thesaurus, is a handicap, not least for the English-
speaking translator. That a translator will possess personal reserves of
knowledge is of course true, but in terms of the available resources that
should be able to be laid out on a desk, the translator is not well equipped.
Coming to English on the other hand the Indonesian translator can find
excellent linguistic resources.

8.3 Literal Translation and Interpretive Translation

It does happen that many translators attempt to be faithful to the source text as
far as possible, with the understanding that this means a word for word
translation as far as possible. This can be characterised as an approach
requiring sentence for sentence, clause by clause, phrase by phrase, word by
word, full stop for full stop, comma for comma, italics for italics, underline
for underline, capital letter for capital letter. This is convenient for typesetters
in translation companies, but it seems very difficult to justify in terms of
conveying what the source text has intended.

The convention of translating one word names and short phrases by one
equivalent should be examined very critically. Although this may be textually
convenient, and may be convenient in standardised for a such as the United
Nations, with languages that are to start with very largely unknown to each
291
other, there is little reason to expect that this swill be so. A very large amount
of linguistic research especially in the 50s, 60s and 70s was directed towards
showing the immense differences between languages and logically would
have led to the discarding of the principle of word equivalence. But the
linguistic universals theory apparently has tended towards a kind of
blanketing standardisationalong with the spread of modern
communicationsthat has often returned people to a pre-Whorf view. There
is simply no reason that one word should go to one translated word, or phrase,
or clause, or sentence, or even text. Nor should not holding this view be
penalised by companies that ask for translation work.

Such translating (actually typesetting) devices as equivalent punctuation and
typesetting equivalents are evident on the surface. The translator is aware of
the need for a standardised format, but some devices may well affect the
result. They should not be mandatory. Some phrases occur as default phrases
and need not be translated exactly. The occurrence may be predictable. In
English there is a wide range of such phrases: in terms of, with regard to, the
fact that, the idea that, taking into consideration the fact that

The view that translators should not add comment to translations needs to be
considered carefully. In some areas where translation is critical to decision
making, such as in an embassy, the view of the translator as the one who has
studied the text in detail can be very influential, especially when it is likely
that the embassy will not usually have the resources to duplicate effort in
analysing material. It can also important to consider how translations may be
interpreted in commercial circles. Again the company will be interested in the
significance of the translation rather than all the details of the text. This
would particularly be so if any enigmatic Indonesian terms were either left
untranslated or were translated with inadequate footnoting. In fact it may be
hard to be sure what reaction a companys officers might have to a translation
of a lengthy Indonesian document containing innuendo and various
292
Indonesian cultural references. The need for interpretation is clear, and it is
also clear that a translator would often be well qualified to put some
construction on the document. J ust as with oral interpretation, the meaning of
what has been translated will be of prime importance to users.

8.4 Drafting the Translation

The basic communication diagram discussed in Chapter One seems flawed as
applied to translation because it has an encryption stage which is not
necessarily valid for translation; the message travels essentially from the
source text to the mind of the translator, emerging as the target text. In an
efficient process of translation there will normally not be a large number of
drafts, and there will be one style, that is the translators style. As the target
text is produced, the following principles may be discerned:

mention things once onlyeliminate repetition
at the same time consider the advantage of judicious redundancy.
Redundancy is the use of more elements than necessary to maintain
the performance of a system in the event of failure of one or more of
the elements.
399

use headers/footers, graphics, headlines, sub-headings
annotate to annotate significance from the target language point of
view
regroup lists. For example a selection committee will want to assess
job criteria out of 10, and although the criteria may be rationalised
there will still need to be reference to the 10 criteria.

The submission of a draft to a client contains the danger that it will be taken
in every respect as a final, and this may mean that readers unused to handling
documentation may fasten on minor unfinished detail, while even

399
Lidwell et al., op. cit., p.166.
293
sophisticated readers can form inaccurate views of a work. Yet the draft can
be a very useful version of a developing project. It is a prototype.
Prototyping is the creation of simple, incomplete models of a design. It
provides designers with key insights into real-world design requirements.
Evolutionary prototyping: design requirements do not define a final product
but just the iteration of the design.
400
In other words the whole
unbundling~rebundling concept and its templates can be regarded in operation
as progressively close approximations of ideal processing of translation. If a
draft proves necessary because of time limitations or because of a need to
incorporate client input, it is important to identify the document throughout as
a draft that is in process of modification. Nevertheless it is probably inevitable
to face adverse comment wherever the translation differs in form from the
original, and the likelihood of such comment no doubt means that the
translator will try to bring a draft to as finished a form as possible before
releasing it.

Meaning is lost in part and inappropriately gained in part in the process of
translation in general. So we have a scale of translation with respect to
rhetorical style that could be set out as follows:

translation with the embedding of controversial or otherwise difficult
Indonesian terms
translation which follows the principle of one translated term for one
source language term, filled out with footnoting and other devices to
amplify the meaning of the term
translation which aims to amplify the meaning of the original
Indonesian in the text itself, resulting in longer translation text
translation which uses the rhetorical principles of English to establish
semantic contexts early on in the text and avoids using repetition of
terms in a way which would be inappropriate in English.

400
ibid., p.158.
294

Of course this is a continuum along which other points could be identified.
And translation styles could also be assessed on different criteria.

The process of reasoning through to a good translation of a word or phrase
appears to be one of examining and discarding various possibilities and
measuring solutions against the meaning that can be seen from the original
Indonesian word or phrase. This process could conceivably be carried out by a
translator who is heavily dependent on a dictionary, but the difficulties are:

the translator can take a long time to arrive at a satisfactory translation
the translator will probably need to take notes and write drafts
a phrase may not be in the dictionary and may not be readily
understandable from finding the meaning of its component parts
it may not be possible to decide how to match the various possibilities
for each term.

This is where recourse to a native speaker for advice is probably necessary.
The NAATI Translator (Level 3) qualification does not in itself embody
assurance of accurate and responsible translation of Indonesian. One point is
that there is no requirement for the translator to use an Indonesian-Indonesian
dictionary. That essentially leaves one with the Echols & Shadily Indonesian-
English dictionary or an equivalent. The 1994 edition
401
is a great
improvement on the 1963 edition and is a very useful work, but it is still
feeble in conveying the depth of meaning of Indonesian words by comparison
with Kamus Besar, which is routinely able to explain an Indonesian word in
Indonesian terms.




401
Echols & Shadily 1994.
295
8.5 Unbundling~Rebundling

The discussion in 8.4 concerns questions of form, questions of rhetoric, that
can emerge in translation. Modifications to the source text that might be quite
usual in an oral interpreting context have traditionally been thought
unjustified in written translation. The unbundling~rebundling concept
discussed extensively in this thesis aims to enlarge the discretion of the
translator to carry over content with judicious changes in form.

Picassos work has been discussed above in terms of unbundling graphic
information. There is another aspect to his work, that of a dichotomy between
the objective and the subjective, which is also relevant to the work of the
translator. In translation, and especially in certain types of translation,
decisions need to be made about the degree to which the translators own
knowledge needs to be injected into the translation. Translating propaganda
material is an example of an area where subtle distinctions can be critical.
Perhaps the most dangerous situation for the translator is where he or she is or
unaware of distinctions that are made in either source or target language, or
unaware of personal prejudices that relate to the subject. And yet the
limitation of lack of awareness can hardly be ruled out.

Picassos Girl Before a Mirror shows the way subjectivity can lead to a great
difference in perception. There could be a warning to the translator that
difficulty might not lie only in being uncritical: it is the real girl on the left
who is critical of the self that she sees in the mirror on the right. For a
translator overseeing the draft translations of others, to be overcritical could
be problematic: there is more than one way to render a text into the other
language. Synonymous terms and phrases might be acceptable within the
overall context of the work. And the question arises, whether a translation
could eventually become more authentic than the original, or at least used be
used in preference to the original.
296

It is natural for an artist to have a dichotomy of a person in mind as the person
is painted. Picasso in Girl Before a Mirror, 1932 illustrates this. The
phenomenon has a definite applicability to translation, which similarly
envisages two versions of essentially the same image. The mirroring or
shadowing reality of two co-existing languages can be compared to the two
paintings. It is not logically necessary for there to be translation between the
languages, and if everyone knew both of them translation might prove quite
pointless. Nevertheless there is a duality of language that could be pictured in
terms of the bust of a woman including an alter ego, and in the case of the girl
before the mirror being a virtual image.

The notion of unbundling~rebundling may be very appropriately applied to
the cultural side of understanding Indonesia, with cultural standing for the
whole range of people to people contact. In this view, political references in
translation text should neither be omitted, nor reproduced exactly, nor
questioned. Rather they should be examined as expressions of a cultural entity
that should be analysed, broken down, and reassembled in a way that will then
have meaning to the recipient. Time and place should figure in analysis. For
example if a current text makes an unflattering reference to the New Order
government it would be only fair to balance the reference by explaining that
within the New Order framework various practices were quite acceptable, or
even that similar practices were occurring under subsequent governments.
Again, a reference to orang Indonesia could need to be explained as either a
general reference to all Indonesian people or a reference to pribumi. In this
connection a reference to a person as Cinawith the absence of the measure
word orangdoes need to be explained as possibly derogatory.

Much of the argument for a heightened role for the Indonesian language in the
world may now appear to be an argument byand possibly partly for---many
from the West who have invested time and effort in the study of the language
297
and the culture of Indonesia. It may be that their affection for the Indonesian
language does not contribute to the kinds of argument that may sway others to
support the adopting of Indonesian. Within the region the situation is different,
because Indonesia already enjoys a position of power that can be felt to be
threatening. And the role of English remains prominent throughout the region.
The style and nuances of Indonesian could confer considerable power on
Indonesian speakers if the Indonesian language were to acquire more scope in
the region.

The major hypothesis that is thought through in this thesis has been that a
process of unbundling and rebundling information is desirable in translation
and in particular in translation between Indonesian and English. This concept
is explained as the thinking behind this thesis is developed, but in essence it
means that one to one correspondences between words and phrases and
between grammatical categories are neither a valid nor a readable framework
in which to conduct translation. The unbundling~rebundling concept does
mean that rather more knowledge and skill is required of the translator than
has often been envisaged in work on Indonesian, which is often referred to as
an easy languageup to now this author has never been able to uncover
more than very superficial reasons to allege that Indonesian is an easy
language. Translation carried out skillfully under this principle may
sometimes be identical to literal translation; and sometimes it may be what is
usually thought of as paraphrase.

Unbundling~rebundling is a methodology that may be used in translation. It
remains to show how valuable the technique is. This is in essence a matter of
illustration. In the course of illustration of this technique and discussion of its
application between Indonesian and English, certain themes emerge. One is
the concept of linguistic ancestry which characterises both English and
Indonesian, with their histories of very significant input from other languages.

298
It is perhaps worth reflecting that languages will establish their own primacy
geographically and in their impression on the minds of those who encounter
them in use. Malay left its impression in the works of J oseph Conrad, and
terms like amok persist in English. Similarly English constantly affects the
linguistic frame of awareness of many Indonesians. It could be argued that
this makes translation difficult; it could equally be argued that it makes
translation easier, because there will be a tendency for awareness among
speakers of the concepts embodied in the other language. Perhaps either
tendency or both may operate for the translator or the interpreter, but in the
end the cognitive process that results in a translation takes place in the mind
of the translator. The translator is the medium for translation.

Bundling of information is a concept of information science. Translation does
not always require unbundling of packaged information, because many terms
will be equivalent in meaning and even in structure. The audience is important:
scientists communicate with each other in heavily bundled terminology
because of common understanding that exists within scientific fields. Terms
concentrate and reconcentrate information until whole trees of information
inhere within terms. The unbundling of information will mean there may be a
subsequent rebundling of information. Clearly there is here a considerable
latitude for the intervention of the translator, and the unbundling~rebundling
process is likely to produce quite different target texts. It is probably true that
a competent translator will often perceive the full meaning of a passage of text
without consciously unbundling and rebundling the text. However the
translator will be able to unbundle text if this is required.

Translation may be fragmentary so that draft proceeds at first with unclear
defined terms, then all becomes clear. This could be described in terms of
nibbling: the mouse can only nibble at the biscuit, but eventually consumes all
of it. This concept of a nibbling process relates to bundlability, with the
unbundling~rebundling process being broadened to include the whole
299
document. In information technology there is the concept of disaggregation
and reaggregation of scientific journals in print and digital form, with
disaggregation referring to the ability to access and manipulate individual
components of a document, such as its figures, conclusions or references.
Important issues are the nature of metadata, the role of context in
constraining component use, the complex assemblage of information system
use and implications for digital library system design and user education.
402

Disaggregation and reaggregation however are different from the content of
translation which is unbundled and rebundled. With disaggregation and
reaggregation, there is a question of format, where document genres represent
conventional structures imposed upon information. For example the scientific
journal article is a genre that has remained relatively stable over hundreds of
years, with a conventional form, implying standard components in a
predictable order. It is embedded in social and intellectual activity. The use of
journal article components, then, can be viewed as a behaviour that is
embedded in work practice and social norms, and by extension in thinking
and writing. Ideas and information from a source document eventually
integrates into a document produced by the researcher; a journal article then is
permeable and reusable.
403

Pieces are extracted and fuel the stream of transitional and private texts

document surrogates that appear as scribbled citations, annotated pages,
outlines and notes

that mark the path from source documents to new ones.

The definition of document surrogates has broadened in the digital order to
encompass a wide variety of forms which, like journal articles themselves,
seem to be increasingly mutable and mobile.
404

Library systems may be said to handle excerpts, copies, descriptions, abstracts
and references, and the act of retrieval of data from within documents is a
challenge. The process of unbundling~rebundling in translation is very
different. It seeks to distinguish significant elements within the source and

402
Bishop, A.P. 1999, Document structure and digital libraries: how researchers
mobilise information in journal articles, Information Processing & Management
vol.35 no.3 (May), pp.255-279..
403
Bishop, ibid.
404
ibid.
300
target texts and as far as possible match the impact of the target text to the
source text.

Bundling of messages relates strongly to the audience for which translation is
intended. A scientific audience is able to understand directly, but for others
messages may need unbundling. The weight or density of information carried
is relevant to the style selected to convey a message. Information can be
bundled and conveyed and then unbundled at the other end, with the proviso
that the bundling process must follow clearly defined rules and procedures.
Unbundling~rebundling can be utilised in ways that take account of the
differing source~target morphological and syntactic structures. Examples are
the treatment of the word sudah by the use of English tense, or sometimes by
losing it altogether in a process that might be called debundling. The process
can be subject to social convention, so that barang dia sendiri would initially
go into English as his or her own things, but (realising that it is only one
person of unspecified gender) this then might become personal property in
certain cases, and if personal becomes separated from personal property,
property is adequate; and a word like stuff may be suitable. It would not be
particularly constructive to say that such a process is paraphrase rather than
translation.

Translations are often felt to be unbearably tedious. Noun for noun, verb for
verb, adjective for adjective, repetition for repetition. The concept of
unbundling~rebundling can be used to make the product of the translation
process more natural to the target audience. It implies that semantic content
sticks can be redistributed within a sentence or indeed a whole discourse to
combat a commonly felt impression that translation is wordy and repetitious.
The implementation of this approach is supported in translation into English
by the English practice of setting a scene and then omitting specific references
to the scene in the following text, except where such reference is necessary.
Unbundling~rebundling can imply the deletion of redundant elements. In
301
some translated text there can thus be deletion of source text words, but there
will be no deletion of meaning. Some of the sticks of a bundle may be drawn
into a heading bundle. This process can be used to make the style of the
translation less unnatural.

Against the unbundling~rebundling approach, it can also be argued that this
method would place much more reliance on the integrity and skill of the
translator than line for line translations. It would in fact make it much more
difficult to compare translations into various languages with an original. The
approach is very far removed from what may be termed the approach centred
on typesetting adopted by some translation companies where punctuation and
even the use of bold or italic type face is expected to correspond with the
original, and there is an expectation that translation will tend to be word for
word. There is evidence of a belief by some who have acquired surface
familiarity with Indonesian that the language is simple, especially because of
its verbal structure. The semantic and syntactic intricacies of the language will
of course have been quite elusive.

Unbundling~rebundling is an artistic process because of the intuitive process,
involving perception and a process requiring efficiency, which can be
involved and which demands a capacity to make rapid decisions based on
overall assessments rather than detailed research. At least even when research
does need to be carried out, the translation needs to be framed so that research
carried out is not wasted by exceeding what is required by the context and the
task at hand. The Australian saying that theres more than one way to skin a
cat is one way of putting the idea of flexibility. But however it is put, there is
the question of perception. A painstaking process of analysis may be required
to reach that moment of insight, or it might occur at the beginning.

The antithesis of this approach might be the plodding search for equivalents
perhaps not understood on one side or both sidesthat takes place and may
302
be no advance on machine translation. It is worthwhile here to refer to the
experience of the writer in trying to argue the case for a higher level of
accreditation in Indonesian translation That level would need to imply an
ability to make judgements at a higher level than simply the transposition of
sets of vocabulary from one language to the other. That level would require
appreciation of the artistic content of the source and hopefully some artistic
skill in rendering it into the target language.

Translator of Chinese poetry J ohn Turner wrote that his approach to
translating Chinese poetry was not to comply with the modern fashion of
putting Chinese verse into line by line prose, or into unmeasured spring
rhythm, which is the same thing. He believed that poetry cannot really be
translated into proseChinese poetry tends strongly to be
epigrammaticNow if an en effective epigram is transformed into prose, it
becomes inconsequential.
405
Turner however notes in a considerable
understatement that rhyme presents its own special problems too. Although
he argues for the recognition of various elements of diction and expression in
Chinese during the translation process, the result is often a considerable
distance from the original in meaning. He argues that the superiority of
poetry translations over prose ones is borne out by English literary history
and translations by Chaucer, J ohnson, Dryden, Pope, Shelley and other
poets.
406
The judgement on such translations however needs to be made with
reference to the original. It is possible to create an English literary work from
a foreign language original if cultural elements can be adequately aligned and
if the standard is applied to the finished product rather than to the accuracy of
the translation. The wholesale rendering of idioms into the idioms of another
language so that the original detail is lost, in the name of rhythm and rhyme,
is however an approach that will not be followed by many translators. Turner

405
Deeney, J .J ., ed. 1976, A Golden Treasury of Chinese Poetry: 121 Classical
Poems, tr. Turner, J .A., The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, pp.10-
11.
406
ibid., pp.10-12.
303
does attempt unbundling-rebundling, but for most purposes it is difficult to
accept the substantial loss of meaning involved. It is after all the meaning
which is the primary purpose of the translation. The unbundling~rebundling
concept supports the argument that a translation may take a different form line
by line or word by word from the original. However phrases in a poem may
take a form equivalent to a heading. English meanings may not precisely
match the Indonesian words in a precise way. Sadly, translation of poetry may
be a very demanding exercise, but rebundling may not always achieve very
much.

The unbundling~rebundling hypothesis in this thesis argues that texts or terms
are a kind of root system containing various node content that will be
variously incorporated into a translated version, with the target text differing
considerably from the source text. The process unpackages various semantic
and other elements in a transeme and repackages them for the target version.
This process has been described in various places in this thesis, and in some
places, as with the elements of Pancasila, it has been argued that a different
arrangement of content would probably suit readers better. At various points
in the corpus it has been shown that the use of footnotes can enhance the
presentation of Indonesian material where elements are unlikely to be clear to
the general English reader. These cases are really amplification of text with
possible modification of format. They do not amount to unbundling or
unpackaging text and rebundling or repackaging it. Thus it is fair to
summarise examination of the corpus by concluding that evidence of the need
for unbundling~rebundling has not been convincingly presented in this thesis.
It is also fair to say that in general the English translation has followed the
order of the Indonesian original quite closely, and this means that a process of
unbundling~rebundling is often unlikely to be necessary. Nevertheless the
validity of the unbundling~rebundling approach remains, and if a text requires
this kind of analysis there is ample justification for its use.

304
8.6 Issues for Indonesian~English Translation

In this research a distinction has been made between what is a useful line of
enquiry rather than simply one which throws theory and data into some sort of
interaction. It is worth noting that, because it is essentially a qualitative
approach rather than a quantitative one, the examples chosen and used in a
study may tend to align along the theoretical lode. That is to say that the
theory may impact on the examples and possibly become self-demonstrating
propositions. Thus in effect the examples illustrate rather than prove the
argument. Lest this should be seen to be a weakness, it is important to state
that a thesis involving a linguistic and cultural package of observation and
analysis will tend to be difficult to prove in any case. There are too many
variables, and as in this case if the topic, hypotheses and examples are chosen
by the originator of the argument then scientific objectivity is really out of the
question. Following on from this emphasis on the argument, the consideration
is put forward that a real problem will tend to produce a better study than a
topic which tends to demand only a descriptive treatment. This thesis argues
that a study of a real problem will tend to be more coherent than one
concentrating on description and citation of examples. That real problem is
how to produce excellent Indonesian-English and English-Indonesian
translation. This thesis attempts to elucidate that problem. Whether it is worth
writing and worth reading should be seen from whether it makes pertinent and
useful assertions about that problem.

The Kamus Besar suits translation practice based on the
unbundling~rebundling hypothesis much more neatly than an Indonesian-
English dictionary. The reason is that Kamus Besar will naturally tend to
follow the intricacies of the Indonesian language itself, while English
equivalents are largely arbitrary. In translation, the source sentence is first
unbundled in the translators mind The process of translation into English
then begins, but not by word to word equivalents as might be encouraged by
305
the user of an Indonesian English dictionary. It takes place through the
translators awareness of the key ways in which English requires that unit of
content to be expressed. It can of course happen that some words are
translated across in a similar form, for example a noun may translate as a
noun, a verb as a verb, but this is not absolutely necessary. Rather the
elements of the Indonesian utterance are laid out on a new matrix, an English
pattern.

Authenticity is a principle that can guide the creation of rebundled phrases
that are apt as well as correctly translated. J ane Austen is known for her
practice of not depicting situations which she as a woman in the Victorian era
could never have directly experienced. This and other aspects of her work are
marked by their authenticity.
407
It is useful to note that this is a matter of
absence of data, but even more it is a matter of integrity of methodology. The
need for authenticity in the translation and interpretation field is undoubted,
and sometimes it seems that the practice of translation is hedged about with so
many restrictions that the inexperienced translator must feel diffident about
expressing many concepts. It seems also to be true that the ethics of the
ranslating profession are imposed from above. Some of the implications of
ethical impositions have been discussed here. The division between
translation and interpretation is one of the clearest examples of this.
Essentially translation is held to be most essentially a matter of minds while
interpretation is essentially a matter of meanings. But this thesis maintains
that it is authenticity that marks good translation, rather than any list of ethical
principles.

407
J ane Austen limited her subject matter of her six novels in various ways: apart
from not describing what she was not personally familiar with, she avoided clichd
plot devices. For example she confined herself to the general territory in southern
England that she herself was familiar with. Despite her practice of not including
conversations where a woman was not present, Mansfield Park does contain a
dialogue between two men (Volume II, Chapter II, Chapter 20).
http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/janeart.html, accessed 10 February 2004.
Austens work is indeed authentic, although some readers will find a definite tedium
in the style and themes of her work.

306

Figure 8.1 Analogies of Translation Processes

The concept of interacting wheels is
flexible in allowing representation of
linguistic processes.
The analogy of clockwork allows
identification of linguistic agents that
may sometimes be preferable to an
analogy with some kind of electrical or
electronic activity.
408






Nida coined the term dynamic equivalence translation to describe a meaning-
based approach which is oriented to functional equivalence rather than
formal resemblance in translation.
409
Nida in an interview said that it is the
phrase that carries most meaning in all communication rather than individual
words, and in semiotics and information theory the context has the most
possibilities for indicating the meaning of the core element. Nida advocates
adding context and actually building meaning into a translation. In response
to the objection that meaning-based translation required exegesis from the
translator, Nida affirms the need for the translator to know what he's talking
about.
410
Nida may be in the tradition of St Paul as a promoter of the

408
Microsoft Online collection.
409
The American Bible Society's 1995 Contemporary English Version and 1976
Good News Bible as well as the New Living Translation exemplify the approach.
410
Neff, D. 2002, Meaning-full translations: the world's most influential Bible
translator, Eugene Nida, is weary of `word worship, Christianity Today vol.46 no.11,
7 Oct, p.46-49.

307
Christian message, but he is not in the tradition of the great translators
Wycliffe and Tyndale who aimed to render the scriptures into English. There
is a serious issue of how accurate is the process of interpretation; the
interpretation may tend to follow accepted theology and also not contradict
other scriptural sources. There may also be the assumption that the
interpreters know the meaning of the original and also that there is in fact no
internal contradiction in the scriptures. This contrasts with the translation of
other texts where sacred doctrine is not involved and inconsistencies may be
accepted.

The Bible not only originated in Hebrew and Koine Greek but was mediated
by English and other European languages. Yet it needed to be sensitive to the
subtleties of the original. J ohn 1:1 is a well known text that reflects some of
the mystical thinking of the early second century CE. The text also implies,
in the coming down of the divine Messiah to earth from God, a definite
approachability that became characteristic of the Christian faith. J ohn 1:1
reads:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God.
411


Theos is translated as God in English and Allah in Indonesian (with Christians
pronouncing Allah differently from Muslims). In seems unavoidable that an
Indonesian translation of the Bible should be made with awareness of Islam
and the Quran, and also that the word Allah is used for God. It may not be out
of the question that the translation into Indonesian was imbued with a certain
subtle missionary purpose. However the Christian Bible as a text does stand
apart from Islam, and is not a response to Islam. The Greek Logos is rendered
by the English Word and the Indonesian Firman, but Firman is not a

411
The Holy Bible. Revised Standard Version. The British and Foreign Bible
Society, Sydney, 1952. Revised Standard Version 1952, J ohn 1:1.


308
common word and thus the impact will be different. In Greek and in English,
logos and word are extremely common and simple words and concepts. The
Indonesian firman inevitably has a note of distance which is not present in the
original. To assess the implications of this it could be useful to assess the
degree of familiarity across Indonesian society with the word firman; but it
could not be as familiar as Logos or Word.
Translation raises very broad issues. Translation covers everything that can be
expressed in words and also some issues that can hardly be expressed in
words. Translation demands accuracy but it also demands that the general
overview be clear. As far as complexity is concerned, this chapter is arguing
that complexity can exist below the surface of text. It is as if a plant is visible
above the surface as a simple lexical item or phrase. Below the surface a
complex root system of meanings and forms is analysed by the translator in a
process of unbundling. The elements are then rebundled to form another root
system, the target of the translation, which is visible as one or more stems in a
sentence. The aim in terms of syntax, semantics and rhetoric is simplicity, and
there is no need for the reader to be aware of the underlying structures and
choices that are involved. And to merge the propositions of this chapter on
semantic analysis with the observations made regarding graphic analysis as in
Cubist work, and the significance of perception of historical layers of
vocabulary in each language, the argument is that this is probably a way of
analysis that is intuitive to the translator. The translator will usually work
quickly and under pressure. Methods that take time are not likely to be
favoured. Insights and habits of analysis need to stress perception and the
finding of rapid solutions. Unbundling~rebundling is likely to be able to
satisfy those criteria. Indonesian and English each have their own natures and
the translator should aim to let the personality of each as a source language
emerge in translation while following the natural course of the target language.
A large number of symbolic terms could be examined in this way.
309
To address the question of areas that could usefully be studied in pursuit of
excellence in Indonesian translation, there are several issues that could draw
attention. The issue of clich expressions needs attention. If clich or
unimaginatively repeated phrases are used in translation, it seems fair to say
that this is allowable if the original text has a similar style. A policy for
translating Indonesian terms into English seems a long way off, and even if
there should evolve such a policy then translators may well choose to differ
from it on occasion.

As various aspects of Indonesian and English are compared, the assumption
needs to be questioned that all languages are equal in complexity, semantic
profusion, suitability for a wide range of uses, or any particular aspect of
individual, sectoral or national life. Languages evolve to meet needs. Part of
this takes in the influx of words from other languages. Even when languages
are generally comparable, their periods of growth, dominance and decline
may occur at different times. Indonesian has drawn on English over the last
fifty years in particular in a thoroughgoing way. Indonesian also draws on
J avanese. The result is that Indonesian is now more able to function as a
vehicle for communication in international affairs than it was say fifty years
ago.


310
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