Translation: Engine of cultural progress that moves very slowly
Translation: Engine of cultural progress that moves very slowly
By A Jo Seng Bie
BANDUNG (Antara): Although translators are one of the engines
of a nation's cultural progress, in Indonesia this engine moves
only a little due to lack of fuel.
Translators have not fully played their role as one of the
engines bringing about cultural progress because they are usually
lowly paid, according to the third scientific meeting on literary
sciences held late last year by the post-graduate program of
Padjadjaran University.
Besides, translators are not adequately appreciated in
professional terms in Indonesia. Another constraint is the lack
of commitment on the part of intellectuals to serve as cross-
cultural mediators and multilingual communicators in introducing
the science, literature and entertainment from other people's
culture to the Indonesian-speaking community.
"A translator is paid a mere Rp 11,500 per page," said Chaedar
Alwasilah, first assistant to the dean of the School of Language
and Literature Education of Bandung Teachers Training Institute.
He was referring to data compiled up to mid 1997.
During the scientific meeting, chairwoman of the post-graduate
program of Padjajaran University, T. Fatimah Djajasudarma, voiced
a similar opinion. "Just compare conditions here with those in
Malaysia. Over there a translator is paid by the word," she said.
She said that a ratio of 30 to 70 between universities
majoring in text studies and those in linguistics illustrates the
fact that the profession of a translator draws only a relatively
small interest among students.
She went on to say that the translation of a text was very
important to the development of science and technology, for
example medical science.
Alwasilah said that between 1989 and 1997, 489 lecturers at
state universities all over Indonesia were upgraded in terms of
translation and writing. However, he went on, only a quarter of
them have actively translated books.
In fact, he noted, in all state universities throughout
Indonesia there are five million copies of over 100,000 book
titles, mostly in English.
The fact that not many foreign books have been translated is
connected to the low translation fees. It is also suspected that
most lecturers translate books simply because they want to
collect the credit points from this work. So these people are
motivated more by their wish for promotion rather than by the
desire to popularize science and technology in particular and
civilization in general.
"A motivation like this apparently contradicts the commitment
of an educational institution in promoting the intelligence of
the people," he said, as he once dwelled upon in an article of
his published in Media Indonesia daily. The major constraint in
the upgrading course on translation and writing of textbooks at
the national level is the poor writing skills and mastery of the
Indonesian language. "The fact is that university lecturers are
not the products of an educational process enabling their
graduates to write books," he said.
One of the constraints in the translation of foreign books, he
said, is the relatively high copyright cost, i.e. about US$1,500
to $2,000 for a title, the translation of which would be printed
in about 3,000 copies.
Another reason for the low intensity in textbook translation
is that this work demands strong concentration, plus it is full-
time work. Therefore, to catch up with the lack of quality and
quantity, the profession of a translator cannot be concurrently
held by a university lecturer, whose main job is teaching.
"Translation is not something you do to while away the time.
It is an activity which must be tightly planned," said Rahayu S.
Hidayat, a University of Indonesia lecturer, at the scientific
gathering.
Since 1983, Rahayu has translated 14 scientific works. It
takes her an average four months to translate a book of 200
pages. Every day she spends an average of three hours. It takes
her another two months to polish the translation before it is all
set for print.
Chaedar proposes that the Directorate General of Higher
Learning should consider establishing a translation institute,
something like research institutes and institutes for social
dedication now developing at universities.
A translation institute, he maintained, would give the
community a better understanding of translation and translators.
Such an institute would give professional recognition to
translators, he said.
In developing its science and technology, Indonesia is
oriented to Europe and the United States, he said. Therefore, the
government's translation project, financed by a loan from the
World Bank, will prioritize the translation of English textbooks
into Indonesian, particularly textbooks on engineering,
mathematics, natural sciences and agriculture.
"The involvement of the World Bank," he said, "makes us
realize that to study the civilization of developed nations is
costly and that the people's money must be used to cover this
cost."
In connection with this, a translator will serve as a mediator
between the author of the original book (or source book) and the
reader of the translated version of the book (or target book).
In the absence of translation, he said, it is hardly possible
for human beings to exchange a lot about their emotional
experiences, entertainment or intellectual pursuits. Without the
hard work of a translator, he went on, bright and brilliant ideas
expressed in the original/source book would only be possessed by
the "tycoons" of civilization.
According to Chaedar, there would be less need for the
translation of textbooks if our university students and graduates
had an adequate mastery of English and the proper writing skills
to promote science and technology in Indonesia.
Possession of these two skills would help improve the
generally unsatisfactory condition of Indonesia's book world.
Therefore, to ensure that our university students and graduates
obtain a good grasp of these skills, efforts must be made to
raise the levels of quality and quantity of the teaching of
English and Indonesian in universities.
In this context, Chaedar proposed that the last two years of
university lectures should be given fully in English to ensure
that university graduates are well prepared for global
competition.
In this situation, he went on, private university managements
will have an opportunity to offer special degree or non-degree
programs on translation training.