Sign watching a 'delisius' new pastime

Sign watching a 'delisius' new pastime

JAKARTA (JP): Driving along Jakarta's main streets nowadays
can be appealing, especially to a linguist. The new city
regulation demanding that billboards and other signs carry only
Indonesian words has resulted in a new pastime: sign watching.

King Cross discotheque is now Malioboro discotheque; Aloha
discotheque is Halo Mas discotheque; Freedom discotheque is
Merdeka discotheque; Lay Lay karaoke is now Lay Layah; Pete's
Tavern is Tempat Si Peter.

Still other names have simply been Indonesianized. Delicious
bakery is now Delisius, Holland bakery becomes Hollan bakeri and
Fairy Garden shabu-shabu restaurant is Fery Gardena.

Malls are now spelled mal, resorts resor, real estate rel
estat.

People prefer to use these Indonesianized words, although
according to linguist J.S. Badudu, there are Indonesian words for
certain English terms, such as sangraloka for resort and lahan
yasan for real estate.

"Words like mal and rel estat have been adopted as Indonesian
words," Badudu said.

"But if we have the Indonesian terms like sangraloka for
resort or lahan yasan for real estate, why don't we use them? Why
should we Indonesianize the English terms?" he asked.

The Indonesianization of foreign terms sometimes sounds too
pushy.

"Holland Bakery is Indonesianized as Bakeri Hollan. It is okay
to translate bakery as bakeri. But Holland should not be changed
into or spelled as Hollan because it is the name of a country,"
Badudu argued.

Besides, according to Indonesian grammar, Holland Bakery
should be translated into Bakeri Holan, not Holan Bakery.

"People try to Indonesianize green as grin or grand as gren.
Basically, it can be done. But it is not too nice because what we
have is the impression of forced translations," he added.

According to the Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (The Indonesian
Complete Dictionary), written by a team of experts led by noted
linguist Anton M. Moelyono in 1988 and published by the Ministry
of Education and Culture, foreign words or terms can be adopted
into Indonesian if there are no proper Indonesian words for them
and if the foreign terms are more suitable because of their
connotations.

Anus, feces and urine, for example, are adopted into
Indonesian as anus, feses and urine, although the latter is
pronounced differently. It is suggested to use these new
Indonesianized words instead of the synonymous Indonesian words
because of their connotations.

Foreign words can also be adopted into Indonesian if the
Indonesianized foreign terms are shorter than the Indonesian
translations. Such words as marathon can be translated as maraton
instead of lari jarak jauh. Amputation became amputasi and is
more frequently used than its Indonesian definition of pemotongan
(pembuangan) anggota badan.

Foreign terms are also Indonesianized for better acceptance
because their Indonesian translations have too many synonyms. It
is better, for example, to use the Indonesianized form of
dysentery, which is disentri, rather than its Indonesian
translation which can be sakit murus, berak darah or mejan.

However, the dictionary also rules that to adopt a foreign
word, people should observe whether there is the same meaning in
Indonesian. If such a word is not found, the second step is to
look to languages of the same root or to regional dialects. The
foreign word or term is adopted only if the Indonesian or
languages of the same root cannot provide its translation. In
such a case, a foreign word can be Indonesianized based on its
pronunciation. System, for example, becomes sistem and energy
becomes energi.

Badudu said people prefer the Indonesianized forms because
they are accustomed to the English ones that they don't feel at
ease in using the Indonesian words which can be used to denote
the same ideas.

Saying he supports the government's policy to change all
foreign names, Badudu said the government should not implement
the policy halfway.

The campaign to use the Indonesian language should be
continued since the efforts to make Indonesian language well-
accepted by all parties will not be an instant success, he
warned.

"The government should also be firm towards those who don't
follow the call to use Indonesian. Permits to develop a housing
complex, for example, should not be given to those who use
foreign names for their real estate," Badudu said.

There are several reasons for the halfway translations. Most
name owners mention tax and identity as the main reasons.

"For years my store has been using this name. If I change it,
my clients will think that this is different store or has a
different owner," said Lina, owner of Star boutique in downtown
Jakarta which has become Setar.

She said if customers think that it is a different store or
different owner, they may not come again. Sometimes people come
because they know the owner and feel sure that they won't be
cheated, she added.

Therefore, although the name of her store is now spelled
Setar, the old name has not been removed. Her signboard now says
Setar d/h (formerly) Star.

Meanwhile, developers said changing a name is not that easy
because it can be subject to double taxation.

Once a billboard is changed, it means also that a right to
install a billboard is completed. The tax which has been paid in
advance for one year cannot be returned. A new billboard bearing
a new name will be subject to a new tax.

Moreover, to install a billboard is not cheap. It costs around
Rp 200 million (US$111,111) to Rp 600 million ($266,666), for
example, to put a billboard on a pedestrian bridge along Jl.
Sudirman and Jl. Thamrin.

Kosmian Pudjiadi, a member of the Indonesian Real Estate
Association and head of the name changing program, said that
local authorities should respond to this and change the taxation
system.

Kosmian said, as quoted by the afternoon daily Suara
Pembaruan, that when the idea to change foreign names was
launched, the taxation system had not yet been discussed. Only
later, developers found out they would be taxed twice because of
the new regulation. (pet/als)