From: andrean@cs.utexas.edu (Andre A. Nurwono)
Newsgroups: alt.culture.indonesia
Subject: Re: Indonesianized Computerese
Date: 20 Nov 1992 02:50:52 -0600
Organization: CS Dept, University of Texas at Austin
NNTP-Posting-Host: saltillo.cs.utexas.edu

In article <1992Nov19.152810.5172@random.ccs.northeastern.edu> okidz@ccs.northeastern.edu (Oki D Zakaria) writes:

<...>
>So, I think it would be fair if we translate the alien terms into Indonesian
>ones. The person who has non-English background would have to convert
>the non-English terms into Indonesian ones, so do the English ones. In
>addition, IMHO, it would be easier to add Indonesian version of English
>terms (or any other languages) than making English as the second language 
>of Indonesians. 
>
Yes, it would be easier, but we also can't ignore the gains of making
English as a second language. The problem with some new Indonesian terms
is that they don't translate directly to English, and some were adopted
from Sanskrit rather than pure Indonesian.
For example, it's clear that 'semantic netowrk' translates to
'jaringan semantik' because of the word 'semantic -> semantik' in it.
'graph' -> 'graf' is great.
But 'signal to noise ratio' becoming 'nisbah isyarat-derau' is just
downright unclear. 'bit-error rate' -> 'laju galat bit' ???

But yes, it does make it a lot easier to write texts in pure Indonesian.
Up until now people who write computer science related material
in Indonesian would have to create their own Indonesian terminology
to keep the text all-Indonesian. It keeps the *writing* easy,
but unfortunately it does not help the *understanding* of the material.

IMHO it wouldn't hurt to just take the English terms and adapt
it to the Indonesian spelling. That way people who reads English
texts could relate to the material in the Indonesian one, and
vice versa. It also helps the spread of English understanding.

As far as I know, English is a required language in the curriculum.
Unfortunately it is not as popular in Indonesia as it is in Singapore, for
example. English would have to be more popular if we were to go
anywhere from the present state of terminology confusion.

There is a big gap in the education of English language these days.
The curriculum started teaching english grammar rather than
understanding in junior high.

In my opinion, the best place to start teaching a second language is
as early as possible, from elementary school, or even pre-school if
possible. It helps you to 'think' in English, eliminating the need
of having to translate everything through our head every time we
hear the language.

>
>Basically, anybody could write in any language of his choice. He's
>free to use any terms he knows. If he doesn't want to use any of the available
>terms, feel free to ignore them. But the point is that there are many 
>Indonesians who speak Bahasa Indonesia, and they would read
>any writings written in Bahasa Indonesia easier.
>
I agree here. But to science texts, I would prefer adapted
terminology rather than translated ones. It's just not right
to make the path to understanding English more difficult by
creating new unclear terminology.

>Oki
>okidz@dworkin.ccs.northeastern.edu
>
-- 
Andre Nurwono               | "Ho, haha, guard, turn, dodge, parry, spin, ha,
andrean@cs.utexas.edu       |  thrust... (BOINNNG!)"  - Daffy Duck
Newsgroups: alt.culture.indonesia