[Kisah dulu-dulu] #PPSMI: Terjemahan bukan usaha yang praktikal

Untuk mendapatkan persetujuan di kalangan profesional muda ketika itu bukanlah mudah. Anda perlu berhujah dengan golongan profesional muda yang bukan saja lepasan IPTA/S dalam negara, tetapi juga graduan IPTA/S Luar Negara. Ketika ini Promuda masih belum mengeluarkan kenyataan rasmi dan perbahasan mengenai usaha penterjemahan hangat. turut terlibat dalam perbahasan adalah saudara Najib, seorang profesional muda dalam bidang penterjemahan, seorang yang hebat dan menguasai 7 bahasa dunia. Ikuti perbahasan kami di
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/promuda_circle/message/2546 .

Di bawah adalah pandangan saya mengenai usaha penterjemahan. Ambil perhatian bahawa, saya turut menyebut tentang Bahasa Kebangsaan sebagai Bahasa Malaysia yang berasal dari Bahasa Melayu (ketika itu), tetapi hari ini saya berpandangan, istilah yang lebih tepat bukan Bahasa Malaysia, tetapi Bahasa Melayu.

Dear all,

Let me start my 2nd posting on this subject by saying that I fully agree

with the statement by our professional translator, that mass translation

would not be that practical, to solve language barrier in ICT era.

It is an egg and hen situation. I also have to say that I agree with

Nazrin’s points that it might work somewhere else, where the multi-ethnicity

history does not cause much problem.

By the way, we have to agree, language does unite people. Reason – why

Mandarin is officially used in China, and why Sukarno stressed so hard on

Bahasa Indonesia. I’ve mentioned earlier in previous postings that Melayu,

is only one tribe of many tribes in Indonesia. Dayak speak their own

language, same goes to Bugis, Javanese, Sunda, Nias, Batak etc.

In order to achieve national unity, Bahasa Indonesia was initiated and every

tribe has to sacrifice their own language for the sake of national interest.

Sukarno even sent back some Chinese to mainland China, when some of them

disrespect the national language and traditions. In Medan, Chinese student,

who speaks in their language during school, will get gang bashed by the

natives. In Indonesia there is no such thing as Chinese School. Everyone

sacrifices or made to sacrifice, for the sake of national unity in

Indonesia.

Same goes to the natives in Malaysia. I have explained earlier that we,

Malays, in Malaysia are called as `Malays’ since we followed Kesultanan

Melayu Melaka, which was founded by Parameswara, or Permaisura, who is from

the Melayu tribe, the native of Palembang.

Malays in Malaysia consist of Melayu, Bugis, Jawa, Melayu Pattani, Melayu

Kelantan, etc. Bahasa Malaysia is actually something, which is so different

from the mother tongue of these natives. However for the sake of National

Unity, these tribes sacrificed, or else you’ll see in Bagan Datoh, the shops

there, will only employ Javanese, since the Javanese are the dominant

population there. Now we see that the younger generation of Javanese do not

really speak Javanese amongst them, they speak National Language, which is

Bahasa Melayu/Malaysia.…..

So now, what about the Kadazan Dusun, Bajau and the rest, they also

sacrifice to learn Bahasa Malaysia. I have to agree with Nazrin, Kelantanese

speak in Bahasa Kelantan, not dialect Kelantan.. the languange is so

different than the rest, as if it was brought into Malaysia by alien.

Diarrhea, is `cerah perut’, when the BM is `cirit birit’. Plastic bag, is

`beg plastik’ but, to Kelantanese, it is `supit’. And Kelantanese also have

to sacrifice their language for the sake of national unity.

But, I feel sad when that doesn’t really happen in Chinese community. Some

of them fight so hard for vernacular school, at the expense of national

unity. In the cause of their fight, they tarnish the image of national

school and they do not agree with the idea of mixing the children from the

young age. Vernacular schools do reflect the support towards Bahasa

Malaysia, let me explain……

Back to the translation issue, it works in Indonesia since it has 270 m

population, and 23 m of them are in Jakarta. Say only 10% of the population

really has good reading habit, the market size is already 27 m, which is

considerably large market. But in Malaysia, we have only 23 m people. Say

60% reads – 13 m. But say out of 13 m, only 50% has very good reading habit,

then we have only 6.5 m who will read translated Malay books.

And just say out of this 6.5 m, Malay is 60% of the population, then we will

only have 3.9 m readers. Why do I exclude the non-Malays?

Let me share an open secret – unlike Indonesian Chinese and Indian who are

forced to read Bahasa Indonesia books, Malaysian Chinese and Indians do not

really read Malay Books. Many of them do not support the National Language.

Then what kind of market size, which is available for mass translation work.

Small. Tiny. Of course the book will lose its commercial values. So Ahram

idea will not really work since Malaysia do not have big market for such

book. One of the reason – no support from our own people.

I bet not many non-Malays keep any recent Malay book in their personal

library. Even some Malays don’t……

They will give so many excuses, eg. (there is no good books in Malay

Language) but I do not have time discuss about it now. Let me just conclude

by saying `Language will only exist if the people choose to support its

usage’ – judging from support that we have in Malaysia, not enough support

given by the non-Malays.

Sound a little bit racist? Those who know me, knows that I see Praba as

Praba, not as Indian Praba. I see Perrine, a nice looking lady who sat next

to me during Hamid Albar dinner talk, who has dimple on her cheek and has a

beautiful smile, as Perrine, not as Chinese Perrine. But someone regarded me

as an ultra-Malay. Then who actually is a racist?

I have to speak the truth here. I do not see anyone who is more racist then

those who reject Bahasa Kebangsaan, only because it is derived from Bahasa

Melayu. They reject Sekolah Kebangsaan because it is in Bahasa Melayu

medium. They do it at the expense of national unity…….. Can’t anyone see

Bahasa Malaysia as Bahasa Kebangsaan, not really Bahasa Melayu. The language

that suppose to unite us like the one that unites the Chinese in China,

Indonesian in Indonesia, Even though it is called Bahasa Melayu, it is not

actually the same than that of Malay tribe language in Indonesia.

National Language should be our identity, but proficiency in English is a

must to ensure competency in ICT era – but do not say that it is the main

reason why 94% Malay graduates are unemployed, especially in Malaysia…..

I’ll discuss further ……

tun