Reply to Aida Greenbury

Reply to Aida Greenbury

In your article under "Sounding Off" in The Jakarta Post
(Sunday, May 30), you said you were "sick of so-called
nationalists relaying biased criticism about Indonesian people
who prefer English to Bahasa Indonesia in their daily
communication" and you maintained that "Bahasa Indonesia is
limited, not very flexible, its initial vocabulary is very basic
and to catch up with more modern language development, it has
derived words from foreign languages, mainly English".

Then you challenged us to translate "The lingering flavor of
Caesar Salad Soup in my mouth gave a sensational zest of velvety
yet crunchy coz leaves and anchovy" into Bahasa Indonesia and all
you could come up with was the "lame" word enak.

Poor you, the "Caesar Salad Soup" (whatever that is, even in
English) must have made you tongue-tied in Bahasa Indonesia. (I
have had Caesar Salad and soup but never a combination of both).
Throw in a bit of "velvet" and "anchovy" (which is stinking dead
fish in a tin) in your soup, and you were lost for words (and
anybody would, under that kind of culinary torture).

Add "crunchy coz leaves" to the bowl, and you went straight to
your computer to complain to the Post (which is a newspaper, not
a restaurant or a language commission). And "the so-called
nationalists" you lambasted aren't talking about taste buds but
attitude.

But I will take up the challenge. I believe the whole sentence
can actually be translated nicely into Bahasa Indonesia as enak
(or, enak banget, or just enaaak with the smack of the tongue).
One word for us (plus a facial gesture) and 22 (twenty-two) words
for your Queen's language.

You see, Ms. Greenbury, language is part of culture and is
"functional" to that culture only (in other words, what is not
needed, there isn't any need for a word for it): so you don't
have the word hara-kiri in your language and you can still live
happily ever after, because you don't kill yourself that way;
terasi is "shrimp paste" to you because you think it is made of
shrimp (only) and "paste of one-million dead fish" to the Papua
New Guineans (because they don't eat it and don't like the smell
of it). In some languages, to express more complicated meanings,
they also choose accents, emphases, gestures, facial expressions
and other "body languages", unlike your Queen, who always adds
another word (and maintains a "stiff upper lip").

ZIAD SALIM
Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara
Note: "Sounding Off" is intended to provide space for people to
express their views -- and complaints -- about a variety of
subjects, and thereby stimulate dialog among the Post's community
of readers. We thank you for your input.

--Editor