2025/1 Translation

1. TENSES 

Indonesian does not recognize verbal concord and tenses. Therefore, verbs in the past forms or perfect tenses should not be translated with the word telah as long as the context of time is clear.  The future tense is not necessarily translated with the words akan, mau, or hendak when the context of time referring to the future is clear.  Progressive forms do not need to be translated into sedang or tengah. For example:  The car sales dropped significantly in 1998.  Millions of people will feel much safer when the total ban of nuclear weapons is effective.

2. PREPOSITION ‘OF’ 

a. Preposition ‘of’ expressing possessions, if possible, does not have to be translated into dari or daripada. Use the translations milik or kepunyaan instead. For example: The holy places of Buddhism the tail of my cat 

 b. Preposition ‘of’ with verbal nouns For example: The interpretation of relevant sources 

 c. Preposition ‘of’ expressing limited relations For example: Faithfulness of transmission 

 d. Preposition ‘of’ expressing characteristics or situations. For example: A substance of a great benefit 

13. CONSTRUCTING EFFECTIVE SENTENCES 

Even though you are not the author of passages/books to be translated, you must be able to express the author’s ideas in target language effectively. Therefore, you need to be able to construct/write effective sentences in the TL. The characteristics of effective sentences are:

a. The Subject and The Predicate of The Sentence Are Explicitly and Clearly Stated For example:  Berhubung itu, mengemukakannya juga minat baca kaum remaja semakin menurun. This sentence does not have a subject. 

b. The Subject and The Predicate of A Sentence Must Be Closely Attached For example: Pembangunan terang menuju zaman keemasan yang baru, menghendaki pengembangan bakatbakat pendukung kebudayaan bangsa di segala lapangan, mulai dari hal-hal yang tampaknya kecil seperti cara mengatur rumah tangga, cara bergaul, dan cara memperoleh hiburan sampai meningkat ke masalah-masalah besar seperti pembangunan kota, memproduksi pangan, menciptakan berbagai bentuk kesenian baru, pendeknya segala soal yang membina kebudayaan baru. 

 c. The Modifier Should Be Placed Appropriately For example:  Tahun ini SPP mahasiswa baru saja dinaikkan. (squinting modifier)  Tahun ini SPP mahasiswa baru saja dinaikkan 

d. Use Punctuation Correctly For example:  Kita semua mengemban amanat penderitaan rakyat harus selalu mengupayakan kesejahteraan bangsa kita, baik jasmani maupun rohani. (Fused sentence)  Sebagai pengemban amanat penderitaan rakyat, kita harus selalu mengupayakan kesejahteraan bangsa kita, baik jasmani maupun rohani 

e. Avoid Ambiguity, Redundancy, and Hypercorrection For example:  Dalam bahasa Indonesia tidak mengenal bentuk jamak. (ambiguity)  Omit “Dalam” 

 f. Maintain Coherence and Cohesion For example:  Atas perhatiannya, saya ucapkan terima kasih. (the use of pronoun)  Saya mengucapkan terima kasih atas perhatian saudara. 

 g. Use Transitional Signals Appropriately To show contradictory use however, nonetheless. To show addition use in addition, moreover, furthermore. “For example”, “for instance”, “such as” are used to show illustration. 

 h. Be Careful Of Parallel Structure For example:  Secara tegas dan konsekuen pemerintah menindak para pelaku penyelundupan karena mereka menjatuhkan industri dalam negeri, aparatur pemerintah dirusak, dan mereka rongrong kewibawaan pemerintah.  Secara tegas dan konsekuen pemerintah menindak para pelaku penyelundupan karena meraka menjatuhkan industry dalam negeri, merusak aparatur pemerintah dengan merongrong kewibawaan pemerintah. 

i. Maintain Variation To liven up the language, variation is needed. For example, active-passive forms, long-short sentences, types of sentences.  Life for someone like Meredith was never enterly easy.  Bagi gadis seperti Meredith, hidup tidaklah begitu mudah. 

 j. Conform With Effectivity Principles For example: Adalah fakta yang jelas bahwa ia tidak bersalah. It is a fact that he is innocent. Or That he is innocent is a clear fact. 

 k. Noun Phrase Noun phrases seem to dominate the elements of the sentences. Noun phrases can function as Subject, Object, Complement, and Adverb after prepositions. For example: 1. Some students in this group perform good S O results. 2. Those people are American tourists. S Complement 3. There are many kinds of magazines on the S market place. adverb 4. It is a bad habit to cheat in the exams.