Translate This: Turquoise, Pink and other strange colours

Translating colours should be easy. Red is merah, blue is biru, green is hijau. Eezy peezy. That is until you're deluged with a plethora of colours that even English native speakers find them hard to remember. The following examples, legally, are colours. But as you can see, they are actually named so as a result of their natural occurrence. 

Turquoise is called turquoise because that's the natural colour of turquoise (pic) - it's chemical composition can be checked here. In Malay, turquoise (the colour) is called biru firus because turquoise (the gemstone) is called batu firus. Thank god such gemstone was already available here in those times. Otherwise and most likely it will be called terkois and can be easily confused or typoed as terkuis.

Vermillion is another chemical substance that gives vermillion (the colour) it's name. It is actually mercuric sulphide. Guess, what's it called in Malay? Merah menyala? No. It's merah merona. To be honest, that was the first time I heard it. I do not know what merona is. It's not explained anywhere in the dictionary. But googling it takes me to a host of Indonesian webpages, so I deduced that we just borrowed it whole from them. It then makes me wonder, could it be that that makes them Nengs prefer vermillion lips? Like this....

Vermillion lips are so sexy!

Pink guava.

Pink is another simple colour that seems easy to translate. Similar to that with English, because it occurs naturally in pink guava (a variant of guava (jambu batu) that has pink flesh), so it's called merah jambu. Wait. Wait. So, red is merah, guava is jambu batu and pink is merah jambu. Wouldn't pink guava end up being called 'jambu batu merah jambu' then? I am so confused. Aren't you too?

Oh! Wait again. Here's a solution by ingenious lexicographers paid by some ingenious company.

It's sooo valid...!

Translate This: Installation

I come to write about this topic just so because I had a new wiring installation done on my little stationery/sundry shop back in my hometown in Teluk Intan. Just for the fun of it, I looked into the dictionary for its Malay translation. And fun it was! There are actually two different but almost similar words that come out as its translation. One is "pemasangan", the other "pepasangan".

If you don't know how to do it, don't do it.

While the former looks a valid Malay word with correct affixes with the letter 'p' from 'pasang', meaning install, was substituted with the letter 'm' as a result of the prefix [pe+....+an] (correct according to the prefixing rule), the latter looks like an incorrect spelling of the former. Or is it really?

No, it's not an invalid or incorrect word. Although both carry the same meaning, the big difference is the former refers to the actual work of the installation (it's a noun that refers to the verb) and the latter refers to the finished work or what has been installed (it's a noun that refers to the noun). To make it clear to you here are two examples that look similar but different:

English 1: The electrical wiring installation for the living room took almost two weeks to complete.
English 2: The electrical wiring installation for the living room constitutes half of the total cost.

Compare the two sentences, and adjust yourself as if you are a Malay speaker, you will find that in example 1, the installation actually refers to the actual work thus the verb part of it, while example 2, refers to the noun part of it which is actually the wires, lights, switches and what have ya that has been installed and in place. So, the most appropriate translation that I may present you is as follows:

Malay 1: Pemasangan pendawaian elektrik untuk ruang tamu mengambil masa hampir-hampir dua minggu untuk disiapkan.
Malay 2: Pepasangan pendawaian elektrik untuk ruang tamu memakan separuh daripada kos keseluruhannya.

Now, can you see the difference? I hope you can. Because if you still can't, let me take you to the times when you were still in school where every year there would normally be two 'peperiksaan' (examinations) were held every year until you sat for the big one, the SPM. Normally, 'pemeriksaan kertas jawapan' (the marking of the papers) will be done over three months after you last sat for it. Clear?

One reminder though, and this is a very serious one, mistakes especially and unintentionally done if you are not really well versed in Malay: although the coronation of a new king or queen is also called the installation of the new king/queen, one should not translate it as 'Pemasangan DYMM Yang Dipertuan Agong', or you will be sent directly to 'pemasungan'. Here is how you would look like getting 'dipasungkan'.

The right word should be 'Pertabalan'.

These days though, those who have a leaning towards sado-masochism even love to be 'dipasungkan'. Add whips and chains. Hmmmm...

Extras: Olympics Translation Special: Track & Fields

It’s the Olympic season again! YAY! Now, what could be more appropriate than translating anything Olympic? There are 26 sports in this year’s Olympic. They are all regulars. Thankfully, some sports that dubiously looking all but sporty are not included. Unlike that particular Nusantara Games, where sports like ‘balancing with a ping pong ball in a spoon held in mouth, on a wire made of rafia” are held, where participants were most likely assembled ad-hoc-like, AND since the rest of the citizens of participating countries were involved in other similar sports, only 60 and 70 year olds were left to compete. Good God! Here’s your chance folks! Get those viagra out for whatever reasons you might it need for and go! Go! Go! Just don’t end up dead.

One of the more popular sports in Olympics has been Track & Field. It used to be simply called “Olahraga” in Malay. But then there was a confusion with its meaning when our Nusantara neighbor (whom we already know how enthusiastic they can be about anything that maybe misinterpreted or misrepresented). There, olahraga simply means sports in general (we call it sukan) or to compete in whatever as long as the purpose is to defeat the others. Here in Malaysia, it’s slightly different. It’s restricted to competing when there’s a competition that involves one’s physical strength or mainly Track & Field. For all I know Olahraga has been used only in Silat Olahraga other than the usual Olahraga. But “over there”, a competition of, for example, “who can create the most bizarre hairstyle” is also called olahraga. It’s absolutely no wonder why that Games has become such. But, I digress yet again.

Track & Field, was later called Balapan & Padang to concur with its English use. As far as I can remember, it first appeared during the early 80s. Then, our Olahraga team was very popular with athletes who became household names like Marina Chin, Zaiton Othman, Rabuan Pit, V Angamah, Saik Oik Cum, Elron Alfred Angian and many more. Here, to refresh you memory.

They were such stars in those days.

The word Balapan was in regular discussions among friends at that time. Some took the effort of finding its history, and proudly announced it to us that it was an acronym that came from “Baris Lapan” or “Lanes of Eight” as in the eight lanes that made the running track of athletic events. And then we went, “Ahhhhhh….,” with our mouth agaped.

Balapan is the Track. Padang is the Field.

And then, I did not know who were unhappy with Balapan that it was later changed to Trek & Padang. This made me sad really, as I have mentioned this many times before, why is the need to adapt a foreign word when the word that we have perfectly describes the matter? Some blamed it on the TV people for being insensitive towards upholding the Language. I do not want to blame it on anyone, but if we could use some words more regularly, we may make that word popular again. But then, the sad state of Malaysian athletics now doesn’t augur well for the word Olahraga. And when the general masses don’t talk much about a certain subject, its related lexicons simply go into obscurity. 

Balapan remains in the dictionary as what I have explained above. And more… it also means any kind of track that is used for competition not restricted to humans running against each other, for example the horse racing track is called Balapan Lumba Kuda, although there are no visible lanes of eight.

AHAH..!!! Let’s tell this to that neighbor of ours to get their chickens, ducks, rhinoceroses, garudas and what not to challenge each other on a Balapan. This seems valid enough. We have seen them do it with buffalos (sorry but not fun enough), but with other living beings?

Oh, this can be really fun especially if it’s included in that Nusantara Games!

Translate This: damage, damages

Damage  is one English word that you should take extra care when translating. Why should I say so? Because you may inadvertently cause damage to someone’s reputation and in retaliation they may claim damages upon your action.

You   : Crap! They are not the same..??

Me    : No they aren’t, unfortunately.

You   : So which one is which then?

This car is damaged. The owner can claim for damages from the insurance company.

Even English native speakers got confused sometimes. Why, because they are spelled the same, carry a vaguely, closely, nearly, similar meaning. Let’s try to translate some text. Hmmm… those first two sentences look alright to me. The following may be the most possible translation (There are no right or wrong translation, only the more appropriate or lesser one that is):

"Damage" ialah satu perkataan Bahasa Inggeris yang anda harus terjemahkan dengan lebih berhati-hati. Mengapa harus saya katakan begitu? Kerana anda mungkin boleh secara tidak sengaja menyebabkan kerosakan terhadap reputasi seseorang dan mereka mungkin akan membalasnya dengan membuat tuntutan ganti rugi ke atas tindakan anda.

I hope you get it, if you don’t let me explain. The former refers to the direct effect of one’s action including defacement or loss of concrete or inconcrete values of another person’s property such as auto-vehicles, houses, reputations or businesses. All can cause the latter to incur. In other words, damages should always be translated in context of law, except when it is used as a simple present tense of a singular verb e.g. Kamariah’s action damages the company’s reputation (Tindakan Kamariah merosakkan reputasi syarikat itu). The company decided to claim damages from Kamariah (Syarikat itu membuat keputusan untuk menuntut ganti rugi daripada Kamariah). Bear in mind that damages in a law article always refer to monetary equivalent to the damage. Informally, damages can also mean money equivalent to something that is not really damaged e.g “So, what are the damages for that rewiring job on the second floor?” (“Jadi, berapa kosnya kerja pendawaian semula di tingkat dua itu?”).

Confused?

Oh, dear….

Before I can cause serious damage to you brain, I better stop now. But then again, if your brain is already damaged, surely no damages can be claimed because your brain is now considered useless and you now only fit to live in a shrink-house. Let’s just hope your relatives don’t find this article on the computer screen the moment that happened.

Quick! Quick!

Translate This: Commensurate

There shouldn't be much of a problem to translate this word. The translation of it can be found in many reliable English-Malay dictionary, most of the time they put the meaning as: setara, sepadan.


But I would like to highlight one habit of many Malaysians that I suspect that their confusion may be due to how the word is spelled. Many English words that end with -ate normally indicate that they are a verb, but not in this case. It is an adjective not a verb, therefore it doesn't take a tense.


Here are some examples of how Malaysians would use 'commensurate' in a sentence:

Here is an example of a correct sentence using the word commensurate:

I just thought that this is a very good subject matter to be highlighted somewhere, and why not here.

Admittedly I had thought it was a verb too.

Translate This: Best-sellers or Best-selling

Please look at this picture, at the words ‘LAKU KERAS’. Please try to do a back translation to figure out what the owner of this store is trying to say. This was seen at a leading chain bookstore (no names will be dropped here, dangerous, you know).

Did you manage it? Did you only manage to come up with ‘hard sell’? I don't blame you and I’m telling you, it’s not funny when the intended meaning is actually ‘Best-sellers’.

I scratched my head the whole night the day that my fellow translator posted this in our FB translators group. How they even came to think and suggested ‘keras’ is baffling me. Didn’t they know what ‘keras’ is? Look into any dictionary, nothing else comes up but ‘hard’. This is blatant, irresponsible and shabby translation job. I was lucky to have strong hair follicles, or otherwise my scalp would be exposed and as shiny as the behind of a new Corning heat-tolerant glass pan by now.

I do not think anybody will agree to what it was supposed to mean in the first place.

Even ‘laku’ in this case is very arguable. ‘Laku’ is the ‘Bahasa Basahan’ (informal) of ‘Laris’. 'Laris' is the more appropriate word, but when back-translated into English it means ‘Hot selling’. So, what is ‘best-selling’ then? You have to ask yourself this: What is ‘best’ in Malay? We already know what ‘laris’ is.

Unlike English, Malay does not have superlative adjective in the form English does as in good, gooder, goodest or bad, badder, baddest. (It's a joke, don't kill it, ok). In Malay, for an adjective to be superlatively comparative, it needs to be combined with the word ‘lebih’ to indicate superiority and ‘paling’ to indicate the highest level superiority, which is equivalent to ‘more’ and ‘most’ in English, respectively.

So, after all the above explanation, wasn’t it logical and sensible that ‘best-selling’ or ‘best-sellers’ be translated as ‘paling laris’? Is that so hard for that particular shabby-shoddy-doo guy, who translated it into ‘LAKU KERAS’, to at least ask around? Or maybe he/she did, but I think their darts are played on a chess board instead.

‘Paling Laris’ can even be simplified to ‘Terlaris’. A practice of which is one of the rule of thumb in doing translation: simplification without missing the context. So, in the end:

Best-selling (or Best-sellers) = Terlaris

To think that the institution involved is a bookseller, one who should be part of championing literature, is what makes me angry.

I was angry, then angrier, now angriest!


Here... in smiley form (how ironic! It doesn't even smile but it's still called smiley)

Translate This: wardrobe malfunction

I was browsing the Internet last night, to search news about Donna Summer, who very recently passed away. I searched all homepages that feature the wonderful Disco Queen. But then, I couldn’t help but notice, other links in those pages have something to say about another artist of equal caliber, Janet Jackson. Curiosity got the better of me, so clicked one of those links, and later more of those links.

I bet you know where those links took me to. Yes! What is Janet Jackson good for these days if not for the news of that ‘fateful night’ with another dubiously talented dancing male singer who goes by the name of Timberwood? Sorry, Timberland. No? Sorry again, Timber something.

You don’t remember? Here, to refresh your memory…

Later, she had an about-turn and adorned a hijab.

Errrrr… ok, almost a hijab but definitely more modest (her bf at that time was an Arab).

They immediately and interestingly coined in a term for that incident (like they knew it already and couldn't wait to let the world know), and other similar incidents that strangely follow later were conveniently called, a ‘wardrobe malfunction’.

(The world is strange because after one bizarre incident, for example a soccer player suddenly suffers a heart attack while playing at one corner of the world, triggers a tsunami of soccer players suffering from heart attacks while playing, it happened all over the world. Strange… yeah.)

But, I digress.

I want to know what that term is in Malay. A little more browsing, clicking, page-flipping and eye-squinting should do the trick I guessed, but no… there was nothing on the internet that say the same term in Malay. Time for ‘cari kutu’! (My term for ‘shake that jar and see what comes out’).

I could find no specific description of the term in PRPM, neither can I from any respectable Malay newspapers (is there any, anyway). So I guess, I have to coin in a Malay term myself here. But they do have description for ‘wardrobe’ and ‘malfunction’. Here they are (cut ‘n’ paste as usual):

Wardrobe: n 1. tall cupboard for hanging clothes, almari pakaian: her ~ is full of expensive dresses, almari pakaiannya penuh dgn pakaian yg mahal-mahal; 2. a collection of clothes, koleksi pakaian: she has a large ~ of evening dresses, dia mempunyai koleksi pakaian malam yg banyak; she bought a whole new ~ for her wedding, dia telah membeli koleksi pakaian yg baru utk hari perkahwinannya; 3. stage costumes, koleksi kostum: she is in charge of ~ for the school play, dia bertanggungjawab mengendalikan koleksi kostum utk persembahan drama sekolah itu.

Malfunction: n &vi pincang tugas: we have had several blackouts owing to a ~ in the generator, beberapa kali bekalan elektrik terputus krn pincang tugas pd penjana; his careless use of the computer had caused it to ~, kecuaiannya menggunakan

Now according to my rule of thumb, with reference to the definition from PRPM, wardrobe in this case can be translated into simply ‘pakaian’. It can’t be an ‘almari’ neither can it be a ‘collection of clothes’. She just had one set of costume on her, so it’s her ‘pakaian’, meaning what she is wearing at the time.

Now for ‘malfunction’ I have several options here. It is a noun in this context. The task is to pick the most appropriate one from these: kepincangan, kerosakan, kecacatan, ralat (all shortlisted from the best possible definitions in PRPM). After much deliberation with me and myself, I chose the word ‘ralat’. Here is why I didn’t choose the other three:

Kepincangan: it’s closest meaning normally describe a malfunction of an engine or system, such as an air conditioner or a family. It normally requires another word ‘tugas’ (task) to go together.

Kerosakan: normally means a system or object that is not functioning to the point of not being able to be used altogether, meaning it is more severe than 'kepincangan'.

Kecacatan: refers to malformation to an object rather than, say, a tear to your blouse.

The main reason I prefer ‘ralat’ to the other three is, following a rule of translation, a translation into the target language must be precise, shortest possible and apt. In this case 'ralat' is an error (which seems to be applicable to a wider range of fields in Malay). An error had happened to Janet Jackson’s dress that night (whether she and that Timber guy had premeditated it or not is not the issue here). So, the term can be translated as ‘ralat pakaian’. Let’s see, if it can be used in a sentence:

Janet Jackson telah menyalahkan ralat pakaian atas peristiwa yang berlaku dalam persembahan beliau dengan Justin Timberleg malam tadi. 
(Janet Jackson blamed a wardrobe malfunction on the incident during her performance with Justin Timberleg last night).

It reminds me of another 'ralat pakaian' occured to our Fauziah Ahmad Daud some years ago, when camera-phone existed only in Japanese animation Captain Future. Damn you, technology! Where were you when we needed you!


What?

Wrong?
What wrong? That guy’s name? Haiyaaaa… never mind la.

Translate This: extra virgin olive oil

A translator had posed a question, requesting the meaning of a term in Terminology section in Proz.com (a website flooded by freelance translators the world over, hoping to syphon some dollars or euros from some rich client’s bank account but always end up having to service peanut-paying, stingier than ‘tangkai jering’ kind of clients. They normally camouflage it with ‘community service’ card). The translator had asked for the meaning of ‘extra virgin olive oil’.

I know… you like that word too (I don’t have to say it again here).

So, without hesitation, you’d say, “Hey, that’s easy, it's minyak zaitun lebih dara”. Sure, sure, that’s because you brain is so pre-occupied with that word. For men, they’d wish they could marry one, once again. For women, they’d wish they became one, once again. But tell me please, from your ‘bluey’ mind, how can a virgin be more virgin? Sorry, I digress.

Here is what it is in Malay: minyak zaitun paling murni

Now, doesn’t that sound more like it, beautiful and coherent like the Malay language itself? I can’t help but feeling naughty when the other word is used. Don’t tell me you didn’t, you perv!

Let us thank a very experienced (and expensive) English-Malay translator who goes by the name Mek Yam. Don’t be misled by her name. She currently resides in New York (waaahh…!) and charges your arm for a page of translation. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any worthwhile link to her official website (if she has it which I think she should’ve). But she has an FB page. Go check from your respective FB. Mek Yam is raving crazy in translation forum all over and she has a chilli-flavoured mouth too, at least in those fora, I noticed. Read her explanation below. I cut 'n' paste from her answer to the question. 

1) extra virgin olive oil = oil that is produced naturally, meaning not made from any sort of chemical treatments. Virgin oil is an indication that the oil is not refined, that they are of a higher quality and retain their natural flavor.

2) Please see below the definitions of virgin in Malay from Dewan Eja Pro:

~ virgin [adj]: 1. pure and chaste, dara, perawan; 2. befitting a virgin, spt seorang /dara, perawan/: ~ modesty, kesopanan spt seorang dara; 3. pure and untouched, murni: the ~ snow, salji murni; 4. (of soil) unused, asal; 5. (of forest) in the natural state, dara; 6. (of clay) not fired, asal; 7. (of metal) made from ore by smelting, murni; 8. (of wool) not chemically processed, murni

That brings me to these questions: Doesn’t it apply to our own ‘minyak kelapa dara’ too? Shouldn’t we say ‘minyak kelapa murni’ instead of the former? What about ‘ayam dara’?

If it is so, and if I possess all the powers that behold, I will change all those buntings and signboards made by producers of those ‘virgin coconut oil’ and save for ‘ayam dara’ sellers (because I'm still researching it). But I don’t have it. And those who have it (ahem!) seem powerless and out-of-focus.

Can we somehow limit the use of that word to human being only? (As from the above explanation by Dewan Eja Pro).

As an extra, here is a related term which they have done a little improvisation to it. Andartu used to be an acronym to ‘anak dara tua’, or spinster in English. They thought it was crude. So they, taking beautiful and coherent Malay into consideration, coined in ‘anak dara lanjut usia’ and came up with an acronym of ‘andalusia’. Hmmm… I’d say I get more confused. Isn't that a region somewhere? Yes, it's in Spain. M. Nasir will be very angry.

And, I do not know who ‘they’ are.

Translate this: Policy

Browsing through the ever so reliable Gerbang Maya DewanBahasa Dan Pustaka, it can be deduced that the word ‘policy’ has two definitive translations. They are:

English: Policy

Bahasa Melayu: 1. Polisi, 2. Dasar.

You may wonder though, which one should one use? Are they interchangeable? Unfortunately, they are not interchangeable, as I found out later, from a very established translator friend, Shakira Zain. She informed me these two words can only be used in these circumstances, respectively:

Polisi – is to be used ONLY in articles related to insurance. Polisi will always be a noun (kata nama). Don’t go clever (memandai-mandai) and create a new word like ‘mempolisikan’.

Dasar – for all other usage. In this case it is always a noun too.


But, for other meanings, it can be a noun or a verb, and with affixes, the derivation (kata terbitan) can be a noun, verb, adjective and so on. For example: berdasarkan (based on), dasar lautan (ocean bed).

The confusion that could arise from this is that you may have stumbled upon, somewhere that says, for example, Polisi Syarikat XYZ Berhad. What follows then, is a list of the company’s policy. This is an example of a wrong usage of the word polisi. It should be ‘Dasar Syarikat XYZ Berhad’ because it is not about ‘an insurance policy’ or anything related, but a policy that may mean, among others, a guideline to performing at a workplace.

Easy way out, eh? Senang-senang je terjemah ikut bunyi...

Of which... had I been given the power to police this wrong usage of the word polisi, I will knock on every door of every company here in Malaysia, and give them my own 'personal policy' on it. And it may contain some very colorful terms, and the colors are not going to be beautiful.

Erm.. by the way, can you do that for me, please? Maybe until I received my Kad Kuasa Polis Bahasa. Can ar? 

Can...? 

Thanks….

Translate this: Roadshow

Would you say... that you wouldn’t have known it until someone told you, as was in my case? It is only until recently that I know...


Roadshow is translated as Jerayawara.


We don’t see it that frequently though, maybe that’s why, but the Malay word for it is right here > Gerbang Maya Dewan Bahasa Dan Pustaka.


Here is an example of a very popular roadshow that has become a household name in Malaysia. It's purpose though, remains vague:



Here is a cut and paste from PRPM on its meaning:
Jerayawara
persembahan, pameran, ceramah dsb yg diadakan oleh seseorang atau se­kum­pulan orang (penyanyi, ahli politik dsb) yg ber­­kunjung dr satu tempat ke tempat lain dgn tujuan memberikan hiburan, menjelaskan sesuatu isu kpd orang ramai, mempromosikan sesuatu dsb: persatuan itu melaksanakan program pendedahan dan pendidikan, termasuk beberapa siri ~ yg meliputi seminar dan pa­meran.

But I couldn’t fine the meaning of jeraya in PRPM which prompted me to scour the Internet. Then, I stumble upon a link that took me to a very established English-Malay translator who goes by the name of Mek Yam. She pointed out the origin of jeraya, which is a slang in Sarawak meaning jalan raya (road). Fair enough, I thought. What about wara? Well that's an easy one because PRPM has its meaning. It’s pemberitahuan, pengumuman, pengisytiharan.


Personally, I feel like the resulting word is plucked out of the wind. But they do have a solid explanation to it. And it is way much better than if we were forced to use a stupido-and-lazyo-sounding ‘rodsho’.

Translate this: In retrospect

According to dictionary.com, retrospect is:

1. (noun) contemplation of the past, survey of past time, events etc; 

2. (verb w object) to look back in thought, refer back (often followed by to);

3. (verb wo object) to look back upon.

In retrospect, meanwhile, is categorized as an idiom. The meaning: do this: combine all the meanings from all three above, then, rearrange the words as sensibly as you can. In other words, they all carry the same meaning.

With such an extensive description, you might think that the translation is easy peasy, didn’t you? Well, as we found out the other day, given as a challenge by yet again Tuan Syed Nurulakla, we required a brain-cracker, just to come out with a lame 'melihat ke belakang'. Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!

Melihat ke belakang is what we do physically when we turn our head to look at what is behind us. So our genius senior lecturer with UPM (him lah!) simply uttered 'apabila ditinjau kembali'. Which received a very long "ooooooohh! Ya tak ya jugak!"

If you are a Malay speaker, native or not, you know it already, it’s self-explanatory. The thing here this time is picking the correct word(s) from a pool of words that has the same meaning. The essence of the translation is a word that carry the meaning of 'look': pandang, lihat, tengok, tinjau. While the rest are dead-straight meaning ‘look’ physically, it is left to tinjau, which can flexibly mean ‘look back’ to do the trick.

Or did we actually forget the existence of the word tinjau? (excuse, excuse, excuse)

There you go.

Translate this: Curriculum Vitae

Curriculum Vitae (CV) essentially is a piece of document deluged with what have ya! Here in Malaysia, jobseekers, especially new ones, tend to cramp it with every little detail that they might think is useful to future employer, for example the colour of one's underwear. Far-fetched you might think? Don't be surprised if you come across some ridiculous entry into their CV.

But I digress.

What is its translation in Malay? Biodata? Profile?

Those two suggestions doesn't quite fit the meaning, so explained by one of our facilitator, Tuan Syed Nurulakla, at the Translation Course organised by Persatuan Penterjemah Malaysia, that I currently attend. So then we asked, what Sir, might be the best translation of Curriculum Vitae?

His answer: Butiran Jaya Diri

He then told us, it is sort of an update from the current translation of CV, which is VK (Vitae Kurikulum), a simple borrowing from its source language, customised into Malay phonetic and grammar. But, does it sound Malay? No, of course not. So in order to Malaynise (sorry...) it, Malay Linguists had brainstormed themselves and then come up with BJD (as above).

Their reason is, as explained by Tuan Syed again, CV is essentially a list of your personal data plus your achievement in education and career. [ Butiran=Details; Jaya=Success (or to succeed); and Diri=Self ]. Which is very true as we (in the class) all agreed. But managing to wear the same pink underwear for 20 years cannot be and never will be considered an achievement. Don't ever put that in your BJD.

You may want to try it though. I mean the wearing, not the putting.

So, it's time to tell your newly graduated children to update their BJD, especially when applying for a government post. Good luck!

Translate: Outreach

I was in my class last Saturday when the facilitator told us the handouts that he was supposed to give us was not yet ready (for whatever cause).


He then started to churn out some tips in translating. A few tips led to more tips before a good part before the class having a tea break, turned into Q&A session about tips and how to.


One of the words, he explained, was taking them years to find the right translation. It was then they realize, Malay, just like English, have dialects. So they resolved that as long as we resourced the translated words from the same root (The Malay Archipelago) there should not be much dispute. Using phonetic of outreach to spell 'outric' seem to be inviting controversy than resolution. Scouring our neighbor Indonesia's vocabulary, they found out that, in Indonesia, they have long been using a perfect translation for the word.


The word is : Outreach
The Malay translation : Anjangkarya


In Indonesia, unlike in Malaysia, the word karya will always mean work. Indonesians translate 'workers' as 'karyawan' where as in Malaysia a karya means a work of art, thus a karyawan in Malaysia is an artist or an author. As for the word anjang, it means to visit (Reference: Kamus Bahasa Indonesia). The combination of the two words to become anjangkarya perfectly fits the meaning of the translation for the English word outreach, which is a visit while at the same time performing the work meant for the visit.


I couldn't agree more.

Translate: Message from Prime Minister

A text in a form of a letter from dignitaries, for example a preceding minister's message in an annual report, will always have in English - "A Message from Minister of Such And Such".


Example: Message form Transport Minister.


Here, 'message' is not a message as in 'pesanan' in Malay. 'Pesanan' is indeed message but that refers to a message being relayed through regular communication, for example "Pesanan dalam bentuk tulisan tangan" which is "A hand-written message".


In this case the more appropriate translation for the word message is "Perutusan", which is also a message, but intended mostly to the general public, in this case those who read the annual report.


The Malay translation thus reads: Perutusan daripada Menteri Pengangkutan.


Pesan (the verb) does not singularly mean to send a message, it may also mean, among others, to remind someone of something e.g. "Ibu berpesan kepada Rashid bahaya mandi di sungai pada musim tengkujuh" which is "Mother reminds Rashid the dangers of swimming in rivers during monsoon season".


There are a lot more meanings of the Malay word "Pesan" and its derivatives. You may refer to Gerbang Maya Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.