SOME FACTS OF

HOW BAHASA
INDONESIA IS
TRANSLATED INTO
ENGLISH
LECTURE 1
Lecture on Indonesian-English Translating
English Department-Faculty of Language and Science
Wijaya Kusuma Surabaya University

Translation is not an
easy work. It needs
a serious attention
and concentration. It
can be said that the
core of translation is
a transfer of
message. The
translator should be
careful in replacing
the meaning from
Source Language
(SL) to Target
Language (TL).

The translator must keep the mission in the Source Language

then transfer them to target one. If the translator can translate well
semantically but can not move the closest mission, the result of
translation is unsatisfied.

Therefore, to solve this problem the translator should master not

only linguistics and the materials that will be translated but also
theory of translation and the right context of discourse.

Linguistics, the materials,

theory of translation and
the right context of
discourse

THE TRANSLATOR

What about translating from

Bahasa Indonesia into English?

In general,
Indonesian
or Bahasa
Indonesia is
used freely
by its users
both in oral
and written
form.
This means that the use of the language is in
practice deviates or misleads from what is
prescribed by the Tata bahasa Indonesia Baku.

This violation also occurs in

written form, where the
language used must
actually be formal.
This deviation applies in a
word choice, word
collocation, sentence
pattern and discourse
pattern.

Even if the
use follows
the rules,
there are still
other
problems,
one of which
is ambiguity.

How can you translate

the following phrase?
Cucu laki-laki presiden yang kaya itu ...
The rich grandson of president ....

OR
The grandson of rich president ....

Dia sangat membencinya.

This sentence can be

translated into :
1. He hates him very much.
2. He hates her very much.
3. She hates her very much.

4. She hates him very much.

Lets see
some
other
facts!

Funny but Saddening

BAHASA INDONESIA

ENGLISH

Saya ingin berkonsultasi

dengan anda.

I want consultation with

you

Mengandung vitamin

Pregnant vitamin

Rumah-rumah di Jakarta
Bagus-bagus

Houses in Jakarta are

handsome

How do EFL learners translate from

Bahasa Indonesia into English?

Commonly, most of the students

translate even when they speak and
write. This means that they write in
Indonesia first what they want to say
in English. Then they translate it.
This of course produces problems in
their translation as their Indonesian
is itself still bad.

How is
Bahasa
Indonesia
used by its
users?

1) Guru bahasa Indonesia mengingatkan kepada muridnya agar rajin

membaca. (the word kepada is unnecessary).
2) Dia sudah saling memaafkan. (it is not clear with whom they both
forgive each other)
3) Di antara kedua sahabatnya itu memiliki sifat yang berbeda. (the
phrase di antara is unnecessary)
4) Bagi generasi muda Indonesia tidak sepatutnya menulis dalam
bahasa Alay. (the preposition of bagi is unnecessary).

One can easily see how badly the sentence is

constructed in Indonesian in the first place,
this resulting in the translation being also
wrong.

1. Do you think you have practised using Bahasa Indonesia

quite well so far?
2. Have you tried translating from Bahasa Indonesia into
English? Did you experience the similar things described in
this lecture? Please, share your experience by giving an
example.
3. What do you need as a translator when you have to
translate from Bahasa Indonesia into English?
4. Do you think it will be even more difficult for you to translate
from Bahasa Indonesia into English? Please, give some
reasons.
5. What will happen when you realize that your knowledge
about English language is not that enough for such
translation?

Lecture on Indonesian-English Translating

English Department-Faculty of Language and Science
Wijaya Kusuma Surabaya University