The Listening Post

The Listening Post

"Building English Skills Through Newspaper + Radio"
Produced by American Language Center in cooperation with The
Jakarta Post and Radio Sonora FM 100.9 Mhz

* It's not always possible to find an equivalent term when you
hunt for one in English. The error which may follow this is to
grab something which does not fit, and say it regardless; a
classic example is the mistaken "I have ever been to Medan." The
Indonesian speaker wants something to function the way pernah
does in his or her language; we just don't have it (context
usually fulfills the function).

* Conversely, the non-native speaker of Indonesian tends to
want to "fill in"; English speakers tend to use saya too often
when speaking your language, the way we have to put "I" and "my"
in English sentences. You can, for example, say "Don't know!" in
English, but the common grammatical form, even informally, is "I
don't know!" while in Bahasa Indonesia you generally don't use
the personal pronoun: Kurang tahu! alone is fine.

* It's a kind of compensation for something you think you need
when speaking a foreign language because you have it in your own.
In Indonesian, for instance, it is considered polite in ordinary
conversation to use Pak, Ibu, or Mas when referring to people. We
just don't do this in English although I call my father "Sir" and
answer my mother "Yes, Ma'am," that's not really very common in
North America today (in part it's because I'm an old geezer,
albeit a polite one).

* Indonesians use "mister" or "sir" in English to try to "fill
in" a word that will match an honorific term in Indonesian; this
is really not good usage. Conversely, when we speak your
language, we often don't use Pak or Om in situations where they
would be appropriate.

* This point is often brought up in discussions I have with
fellow expatriates, especially relative newcomers. We talk about
the problems of language and culture when one first moves to
another country, and the errors made, often innocently, that can
impede communication (or even harm one's prospects in
interpersonal dealings). One good friend of mine told me that
when he first came to Indonesia, in 1970, he wasn't aware of
correct usage, and thus kept using saudara when speaking to a
General and was perplexed when he didn't seem to be making a good
impression. He just didn't realize that this relatively direct
form for "you" is not considered polite usage when speaking
Indonesian to a person of such senior rank.

* The wrong choice of a translated form can be embarrassing,
as in the case of the receptionist who welcomes a visitor from
abroad to an important appointment with her boss. The meeting is
set for 10:30; the visitor arrives at 10:15. And no one can
understand why he looks annoyed when the receptionist smiles and
tells him "Pak Bambang is waiting for you." Do you get it? For
the translation of Pak Bambang menunggu, she should have said,
"Pak Bambang is expecting you"; instead, by using "waiting for"
she apparently implies that the visitor is late for the
appointment, and keeping her boss waiting, which is obviously not
the case. The visitor goes in to meet Pak Bambang looking
unhappy, and no one, alas, can figure out why. The villain is
found in the act of translation.

* Direct translation makes this problem especially acute --
it's just one more reason why translation is a bad way to learn
English, and why your teachers (if they are on their toes) scold
you when you speak Bahasa Indonesia in English class, or when
someone tries to "help" another student by translating a
teacher's question into Indonesian.

* Learn to listen, think, and respond in English, to avoid
these problems of "misfitting" the linguistic and cultural forms
of one language into another. This is just one more reason why no
one should buy or use those detestable "conversational English"
books which have an English sentence, then the corresponding
Indonesian sentence in translation just beneath it.

* This is learning about English, not learning English. And if
you have any doubt that this approach to learning is wrong (while
common), then consider just how much you improved your English
fluency after three years of SMP English, three years of SMU
English, and even four years of study in university. Enough said?

-- Byron Black