Why ‘Bahasa Indonesia’ should normally be translated as ‘Indonesian’
Once upon a time there was a video of Barack Obama speaking Indonesian at a press event. This was right after he became president, and before he had delivered any impressive speeches in “Bahasa,” here in Indonesia. So people were talking about how awesome his Indonesian was, after all those years.
And then Indonesia-linked journo-linguist Ben Zimmer posted the video on a University of Pennsylvania linguistics Penn LDC Language Log and tagged it up as #bilingualism #LanguageAndPolitics #multilingualism #pragmatics.
The original post included this note:
One pet peeve: the ABC News report refers to Obama’s proficiency in “Bahasa Indonesian.” The language is called Indonesian in English and Bahasa Indonesia in Indonesian. “Bahasa Indonesian” is a mix-up of the two terms. This confusion could be avoided by simply referring to the language, in English, as Indonesian, but the imprecise use of the term Bahasa on its own (which simply means “language”) by expats and journalists has apparently led to further misunderstanding about the name of the language.
After all, no one says “I had fun practicing my Français in Paris last week” — unless they’re playing. So is top 15 global language Bahasa Indonesia — Benedict Anderson’s “Revolutionary Malay” — somehow different? After all, until very recently, no one at all spoke Indonesian as a first language, and there was no such thing as Indonesian literature.
No. It’s not different. Thus, may safely conclude that the best reason for saying, “Last month I was in Jogjakarta practicing my Bahasa Indonesia” is that you didn’t get enough practice while you were there.
Just in case, I’ve thought up a few reasons why it makes perfect sense — to me — not to say Bahasa Indonesia when I’m speaking English.
Reasons why:
1) If we continue to translate Bahasa Indonesia into English as Bahasa Indonesia, then people will continue trying to shrink that down to “Bahasa.” And then we’re just one step away from absurdities like “Bahasa Indonesian.”
2) “Bahasa” isn’t a good abbreviation for Bahasa Indonesia in Indonesian or English. Odd conventions do arise over the water cooler or in the field — those situations when you’re speaking half this, half that, and all you really care about is not looking dumb or offending the other guy. But that doesn’t make “Bahasa” [language] the official language of Indonesia.
3) Indonesian is one word, not two. Bahasa Indonesia is twice as long but much more ambiguous. This matters, as computers aren’t real flexible thinkers and software localization teams don’t have a whole lot of time on their hands to ponder socio-lingustics and the role of national languages in the construction of the imagined community.
4) Indonesia is so chock full of mystery and wonder, there’s hardly any need to mystify the name of the national language.
In some contexts (e.g., law and science), “Indonesian” may actually be imprecise — whenever it’s unclear whether the reference is to the people, the place — or what. After all, this isn’t an ancient language that everyone has definitely-and-for-sure heard of (like Malay).
But, nope. Indonesian is a joy. It’s easy to speak (phonetic alphabet, no tones, little grammar misery); it’s easy to write (no characters); and it even has an easy name: Indonesian.
5) What’s wrong with the -ian suffix? We’ve got Russ-ian, Egypt-ian, Hungar-ian and tons of others … so why not Indones-ian?
6) While editing, I often find the lovely qualifier, Indonesian, very much neglected by my Indonesian editees (because of second language interference, or whatever you might call it). That is, they almost always opt for “Indonesia’s culture” and “Indonesia’s market” over “Indonesian culture” and “the Indonesian market.”
Admittedly, “Indonesia’s language” isn’t going to work as a way of bringing Bahasa Indonesia into English. But what’s wrong with this little conversion process here: Bahasa Indonesia >> the Indonesian language >> Indonesian.
7) No idea who is behind this Bahasa Indonesia ≠ Indonesian myth. Apparently it’s a cross-cultural conspiracy comprising native and non-native speakers of Indonesian.
One thing I do often hear Indonesian translators say is, “You can’t translate proper nouns like Universitas Indonesia or Bahasa Indonesia.” While this appears to be a non-rule, it must have a basis in something.
Still, native English speakers are arguably the ones most at fault for not being able to work out that, in English, the word for Bahasa Indonesia is Indonesian.
+++++++++++++++
NOTE: The approach above is supposedly a practical one — that may benefit translators, computer programmers and geography students (#pragmatics). But will be other approaches and other considerations (#LanguageAndPolitics).
The ideas of Benedict Anderson are surely on point here. The author of Imagined Communities coined the memorable term Revolutionary Malay to help explain how a non-language becomes one of the world’s most widely spoken languages in two generations.
Anderson knew Indonesian as well as anyone. He died last year, aged 80, on a lecture circuit in Indonesia .
Kamu bisa bicara Language?
Sorry to disagree. I like “Bahasa Indonesia” better than Indonesian since it will always refer to the “language” when Indonesian may refer to the people or the culture.
So does the word “English” may refer to language or people.
Exactly, like Javanese and Balinese and Madurese and so many other terms refer to both language and people; one knows from the context what is being referred to, same as anywhere in the world, no need to say Chinese people and Chinese language.
I am sorry but i guess you do not really understand the point here. Of course indonesian can refer to anything; the language, person, culture, food etc. Same usage with english, french, russian etc.
But hey the word indonesian doesnt come by itself in a sentence and you know what does a person mean when he or she used it in a sentece according to the context,
E.g:
– are you indonesian?/ i am indonesian
(‘To be’ refer to nationality)
– do you speak indonesian?
(verb implying the language)
So there shouldnt be any error in refering to the language or culture, since the context is clear in the sentence. No one will think of ‘know the indonesian culture’ or even worse like your explanation ‘speak the indonesian culture’ when someone ask ‘do you speak indonesian?’ Cause it is just too obvious.
Also, in both language there are things called compound nouns. I am aware in indonesia you need to use the two words so it can make sense, as in:
-budaya indonesia = indonesian culture
-bahasa indonesia = indonesian language
Etc.
But in english the key for it to make some sense is the context, not the noun fragment.
And i tell you, when non-natives use ‘bahasa indonesia’ it is like 3 or 2 out of 10 will actually say the whole two words, while the rest will just say ‘do you speak bahasa?’ Rather than ‘do you speak bahasa indonesia’ and this is the very issue that the author wants to point out, since bahasa indonesia technically means indonesian language in english. Masa sih harus ngomong ‘kamu bicara bahasa?’ Hahah
trust me, ive met a lot of people who asked like that, and thank you author, hope more readers could reach out to this article
Hi Jesse,,
Googling your name on my way to office and found this.. Nice article to read, amazed how you still think and concern about Indonesia much more than me as Indonesian (bad indonesian) *as B always say to me* :p
Anyway these successfully distract me from bad jam, bagus banget..
Hope you still remember me 🙂
Elis
Well said! It’s so pretentious when Western expats use ‘Bahasa Indonesia’ or even worse, ‘Bahasa’ as if to say ‘look at me, I’m an old hand, an insider’. In New Zealand, people do the same with Maori, by calling it ‘te reo Maori’ or ‘te reo’.
In Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, the situation with Malay is different because of the rivalry with English, the rivalry between the different ethnic groups (who identify Malay with Malays) and the rivalry between the three countries – no way would Singapore say they have ‘Malaysian’ as one of their languages.
If Malaysia wants to refer to its national language in English as ‘Bahasa Malaysia’ instead of ‘Malaysian’, just as it calls its head of state ‘the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong’ instead of ‘the King’, that’s a matter for Malaysia – but it’s irrelevant to Indonesia, and to Indonesian.
If we are to call the Indonesian language ‘Bahasa Indonesia’ in English, then we should logically call an Indonesian person ‘an orang Indonesia’!
i agree! Indonesian !
The word “Indonesian” refers to people of Indonesia,
The word “Bahasa Indonesia” refers to the language of Indonesian.
It became simplified by the word “Bahasa” to refers the language of Indonesian people used (it could also refers to Malay language, because Indonesian language is a variant of Malay which is one of Austronesian languages)
You can say that Malaysian speaks Malay, not Bahasa, regardless the similarity of the two.
The use of word “Bahasa” to define the language of Indonesian also acceptable regardless the meaning of “Bahasa” (Language) because, when you hear or read the word “bahasa” it means it is using Indonesian language.
Similar to American, they did not speak “American” because American refers to the people of America. While English refers to the language. In the past, some people still using the word English to refers the people from England descendant, but now they using British
The word to refers the language or the people should be different to avoid ambiguity.
Well said! I’ve got into discussion about this with my mom, and I’m totally agree. It’s weird when people ask ” Do you speak Bahasa ?” to me. Usually I will answer it ” What kind of bahasa ?” lol
Spot on.
When “Bahasa” is used by anyone when referring to the national language of Indonesia, then that person is perpetuating ignorance, as it is demeaning to those of us whose mothertongue is Indonesian and care about our language enough to speak up when we hear it being referred to in such an inappropriate manner. Regardless of the number of “bule” who say and perpetuate it and the grinning wanton Indonesian nationals who reinforce it by agreeing, not correcting, thus propagating, the aberration.
Bahasa Indonesia is a relatively young national language but it does have its logic and grammatical rules. As with any, it is best to respect a language by using correct terminologies when referring to it. Otherwise, an attempt of slinging a slang and being in the know may make you crass and witless, however inadvertently.
And yes, Bahasa Indonesia translates as Indonesian in English. That is the logic of English as a language.
Should you think otherwise then look it up. Your preferred search engine can help you. Alternately you may ask an expert in the field of English grammar to explain it to you.
Thanks so much for the post.Really thank you! Great.