'Linguist': A locally-made Indonesian-English dictionary
'Linguist': A locally-made Indonesian-English dictionary
By Zatni Arbi
JAKARTA (JP): Have you often wished that there had been an
English-Indonesian dictionary right there on your PC so that you
would not have to leave your machine just to find the equivalent
of the word "exchequer" in Indonesian? Or the equivalent of
wakuncar in English? With an electronic dictionary you could find
the translation in either language with only a few clicks.
Now that wish is delivered, and the genie is a local software
company called PT Ciptasoft Prima. Linguist, the English-
Indonesian dictionary, written by William D. Powell and his
colleagues, carries a price tag of only Rp 110,000, which should
give little incentive for end users to use pirated copies.
Besides, as is the case with most other original software
products, registered users will be able to get technical support
and will always be notified of upgrades.
Installation
The CD-ROM with the program comes in a box, along with two
manuals for English and Indonesian-speaking users. To install the
program, all I did was insert the CD-ROM into the drive and wait
for the installation utility to load. The serial number of the
software was on a label stuck to the back of the case.
If you have limited space on your hard disk, you can install
the program so that it runs from the CD-ROM. But, since it
requires only 20 MB, I chose to install it on my hard disk so my
CD-ROM drive is available for other purposes.
Once the program is loaded, it can be called by pressing Ctrl-
L. This default activation key combination can be confusing if
you happen to be working in Word, as Ctrl-L normally sets the
text alignment to the left. But the hotkey can be customized, and
I changed it to Shift-Ctrl-Alt-L. Alt-Tab also works. The
interface can be changed from English to Indonesian and vice
versa in a snap.
The collection of words that Linguist understands is stored in
two different files -- the first contains the English entries and
the second, Indonesian entries. Depending on your requirements,
you can set Linguist to search the English dictionary first or
the Indonesian dictionary first.
For example, since my mother tongue is Indonesian, I would set
it to search the English dictionary first. So, to find the
English equivalent of the word "semangat", I type the word in
Linguist and it returns the words "test, spirit, enthusiasm, have
enthusiasm, soul".
Now suppose I am browsing the Internet and come across the
word "vicarious", and I type it in, Linguist will search its
English table first. Because the word is English, Linguist will
announce that it is unable to find the word. When I click on OK,
Linguist will automatically search the Indonesian table and give
me the equivalent that it finds -- if it finds any.
Linguist also includes variants of several Indonesian words.
When you hear someone say Makasi to you, you can find out the
meaning by typing the word and Linguist will lead you to the word
terima kasih. You'll learn that makasi is the Indonesian
colloquial form of "thank you".
We still have to use the mouse a lot in Linguist. For
instance, if I want the English word for simpatik, I type the
word in Word, double-click it to select it, click the right mouse
button and select Copy. Then I call up Linguist by pressing the
hotkey and then press Alt-P to activate Paste. I press Enter, and
Linguist will return with the words "congenial, likable".
There will be a problem if Word's automatic spellchecker is
active, though, as clicking the right mouse button will
inadvertently give us the list of English spelling alternatives
for the Indonesian word. I have to first click on Ignore all
before right-clicking the word again to copy it to Windows'
clipboard.
Linguist can also be instructed to automatically go to the
entry that is the closest match to the word we have typed. I
found this a very useful feature.
Room for improvements
In all fairness, we should realize that writing a dictionary
is an enormous task. Therefore, it is not surprising that
Linguist still needs some improvements here and there. Bill
Powell realizes it, and promises that Linguist will be constantly
improved.
What I would like to see, for instance, is separate entries
for the English phrasal verbs. For example, when I received my
copy of the latest Fortune and saw the word "dole out" on the
cover, I thought I would try to find its Indonesian equivalent in
Linguist. When I typed the words in, Linguist did not find it.
However, when I typed in only the word "dole", Linguist gave me
the meaning of "dole out" as part of the Indonesian equivalent.
English has a daunting inventory of phrasal verbs, such as
break in, break out, break away, break into, break through, break
up and break down. These are always a challenge for me as a non-
native speaker of English, and I would rather have each of them
included as a separate entry.
Another suggestion is that Linguist follow the method for
entering the word or words found in Microsoft Bookshelf. In
Bookshelf, anything that is typed will be automatically selected
(highlighted) after the search process is completed. This way,
when we type another word for search, the existing one will
automatically be overwritten. We can enter a new word without
having to erase the previous input, as presently the case in
Linguist.
Also, in my version of Linguist, the word "entrepreneur" is
translated into the Indonesian words of enterprenir, usahawan. I
think the words wirausahawan and wiraswasta should also be
included. As this dictionary evolves, I am sure it will become
better and more complete.
Also, spelling should also be checked carefully. For the
English entry "lay out" I found masukk penggalang (kapal). I
believe this is a typo. It may be masuk ke penggalang (kapal).
Over time, words should be broken into syllables, too.
Despite these shortcomings, however, I truly love Linguist. It
makes my work much easier and for sure it will remain on my PC.
If you're a foreigner here and want to learn the Indonesian
language, Linguist will be a great help at a very low price. The
same is true if you're an Indonesian writer like myself.
The practicality of this Windows-based dictionary is so
compelling that it is no surprise to hear that it gets pirated a
lot in Indonesia; fortunately it sells very well in Australia.
A Spanish-English Linguist also is available, and Bill Powell
and his group of Indonesian programmers currently are working on
different languages, including Tagalog, Malay and Swedish. Keep
up the great work, Bill! (zatni@cbn.net.id)