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Asia/Other : Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

 

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simothecat

21 Apr 2020
08:14:27pm
Hi,
I wonder if anybody could give a translation for the message on the following postcard.
It dates from 1944, Netherlands Indies under Japanese occupation and I am pretty sure it is in Malay.

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Image Not Found

Jan

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DaveSheridan
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21 Apr 2020
10:17:40pm
re: Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

I popped the first few words into Google Translate, which identified it as Indonesian.

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simothecat

21 Apr 2020
10:48:45pm
re: Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

According to Wikipedia, Indonesian is a standardized form of Malay. So, as the postcard is from Sumatra, perhaps Indonesian would have been a better term for the language used. I wasn't sure if the term existed at the time of the postcard.

Jan

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simothecat

07 May 2020
06:09:03pm
re: Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

Is there anybody who can do this?

Jan

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DavidG
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APS member since 2004

07 May 2020
08:13:54pm
re: Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

Hi Jan!

David from Chris Green Stamps in Ottawa!

Selamat Malam! (Good Evening in Indonesian). My girlfriend is from Indonesia. I will get her to look at it tomorrow and report back.

Cheers!

David

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DavidG
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APS member since 2004

07 May 2020
08:25:01pm
re: Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

Jan:

It could also be in Javanese. Or one of the other languages from the islands; Balanese as an example. Nani only speaks Javanese, a Surabayan dialect of Javanese, and Indonesian (which is an official language post-1950). We'll see what she says.

David

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simothecat

07 May 2020
08:36:45pm
re: Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

Hi David,

It was mailed on Sumatra in 1944, so lets see what she says.


Thank you.
Jan

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DavidG
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APS member since 2004

08 May 2020
05:35:46pm
re: Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

Jan:

Done. Check your PM.

David

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Benque

08 May 2020
07:22:45pm
re: Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

PM? Why not in this thread? We who followed the story are curious to read the message; unless of course, it is something highly personal and private between sender and addressee (on a postcard??)

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DavidG
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APS member since 2004

08 May 2020
09:11:15pm
re: Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

Benque:

I will post a summary of the message, tomorrow. It is in an old style of Indonesian and mixed in is a local language of Sumatra called Benkulu. It took Nani and I a few hours to sort it out.

I want to go over it with Jan first, as there is a personal connection to his family.

As well, there are cultural references in the message that are dated and difficult to explain without writing a few paragraphs on the meaning of the references relevent to Indonesian culture.

David






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Benque

08 May 2020
10:29:13pm
re: Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

Thank you for explaining that David.

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DavidG
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APS member since 2004

09 May 2020
11:40:15am
re: Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

Jan:

There are several challenges in translating documents from one language to another, particularly old documents with an out-of-date language usage.

Certain languages have characteristics that English does not. For example, in English we use gender-based pronouns (ie. HIS car, HER car). There are no gender-based pronouns, as such, in Indonesian. Essentially, it is THEY or THEIR. My girlfriend sometimes will say "I saw Fred at work; she bought a new car." She is not used to gender-based pronouns as we are. Conversely, in French (for all of us Canadians), LE and LA identify the gender of inanimate objects such as: c'est LA TABLE, not LE TABLE. In English we use the neutral THE. And as my girlfriend will sometimes confuses the gender of a person, anglophones sometimes confuse the gender of an object.

Another challenge with this is the style of writing. Spellings and words have changed over the years. The unified Indonesian Language was formalised in the 1960s and 1970s. As well, the letters themselves; that is, the formation of the letters. The first letter in the opening greeting of the message is the letter "S". The word is "Suadara", meaning "Brother". The first letter in the upper right, naming the city is a "K"

The writer is from Sumatra and speaks Benkulu. Each island in The Netherlands Indies (the erstwhile Indonesia) speaks their own language. Javanese in Java, Benkulu in Sumatra, Balanese in Bali, etc. The language of one island is so different from the other, a person speaking Javanese cannot understand a person speaking Balanese, etc. This is why a unified language of Indonesian was developed. There is one or two words and one scentence in Benkulu that we cannot understand nor translate.

In summary, the message (which carries on to the address-side of the postal card) is from one brother to another in Kaba Wetan, Sumatra, during the Japanese occupation of the Netherlands Indies. The writer is a student, who is informing his brother that the money he sent him was received, and is asking about family and friends back home, in Djambi, Sumatra. Note that Djambi is the old Dutch spelling, the current Indonesian spelling of the city is Jambi. I have separated out sentences to put explanations with the sentences. My explanation for is in brackets below. It is approximately, this:

Kaba Wetan 17/11-05
(Kaba Wetan is the city, the date, 17 Nov. 1944, in the Japanese format)

Brother whom I never forgot:

With this postcard, I already received the money from you but because I am busy I cannot answer right away. How is our friend Hasjim (pronounced ha-SEEM), is he still work?

There is no word from Hasjim and Brother Kardir.
(I assume Kardir is the sender's and receiver's brother).

Yeah... but brother maybe we will meet again soon. How many more our school graduate?

Please pray that your brother gets good results for me to bring home.
(He is asking that his brother mentions him in his prayers so that he gets good marks on his exams to make his family proud when he goes home).

On the contrary, you also hereby congratulate the Eid Day of Sacrifice 1363.
(The majority of Indonesians are Muslim. The writer is Muslim. The Eid Day of Sacrifice is Eid Adha, an Islamic religious holiday approximately one month after Ramadan. 1363 is the year in the Islamic calendar).

Sorry physically and mentally.
(At Eid Adha, Muslims atone for their sins by apologizing to friends and family of any physical or mental misdeeds they have committed to them in the previous year).

That is all I have to say about Kaba Wetan. Hopefully I can tell Soeban how good it is.
(Soeban is a masculine name, and is probably referring to a mutual friend).

It is signed, "Your Brother".


Cheers!

David







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musicman
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APS #213005

09 May 2020
01:09:59pm
re: Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

David,

What a great resource - your girlfriend!



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DavidG
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APS member since 2004

09 May 2020
02:42:37pm
re: Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

Musicman said:

"What a great resource - your girlfriend!"

Randy:

Yes... and she cooks, too.

David

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musicman
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APS #213005

10 May 2020
08:31:20am
re: Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

"and she cooks, too"




...so do I, but I have trouble speaking my OWN language at times!


Big Grin

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Author/Postings
simothecat

21 Apr 2020
08:14:27pm

Hi,
I wonder if anybody could give a translation for the message on the following postcard.
It dates from 1944, Netherlands Indies under Japanese occupation and I am pretty sure it is in Malay.

Image Not Found
Image Not Found

Jan

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DaveSheridan

21 Apr 2020
10:17:40pm

re: Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

I popped the first few words into Google Translate, which identified it as Indonesian.

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www.b1d.com/store/gl ...
simothecat

21 Apr 2020
10:48:45pm

re: Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

According to Wikipedia, Indonesian is a standardized form of Malay. So, as the postcard is from Sumatra, perhaps Indonesian would have been a better term for the language used. I wasn't sure if the term existed at the time of the postcard.

Jan

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simothecat

07 May 2020
06:09:03pm

re: Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

Is there anybody who can do this?

Jan

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DavidG

APS member since 2004
07 May 2020
08:13:54pm

re: Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

Hi Jan!

David from Chris Green Stamps in Ottawa!

Selamat Malam! (Good Evening in Indonesian). My girlfriend is from Indonesia. I will get her to look at it tomorrow and report back.

Cheers!

David

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"President, The Society for Costa Rica Collectors"
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DavidG

APS member since 2004
07 May 2020
08:25:01pm

re: Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

Jan:

It could also be in Javanese. Or one of the other languages from the islands; Balanese as an example. Nani only speaks Javanese, a Surabayan dialect of Javanese, and Indonesian (which is an official language post-1950). We'll see what she says.

David

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"President, The Society for Costa Rica Collectors"
simothecat

07 May 2020
08:36:45pm

re: Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

Hi David,

It was mailed on Sumatra in 1944, so lets see what she says.


Thank you.
Jan

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DavidG

APS member since 2004
08 May 2020
05:35:46pm

re: Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

Jan:

Done. Check your PM.

David

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Benque

08 May 2020
07:22:45pm

re: Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

PM? Why not in this thread? We who followed the story are curious to read the message; unless of course, it is something highly personal and private between sender and addressee (on a postcard??)

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this post
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DavidG

APS member since 2004
08 May 2020
09:11:15pm

re: Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

Benque:

I will post a summary of the message, tomorrow. It is in an old style of Indonesian and mixed in is a local language of Sumatra called Benkulu. It took Nani and I a few hours to sort it out.

I want to go over it with Jan first, as there is a personal connection to his family.

As well, there are cultural references in the message that are dated and difficult to explain without writing a few paragraphs on the meaning of the references relevent to Indonesian culture.

David






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"President, The Society for Costa Rica Collectors"
Benque

08 May 2020
10:29:13pm

re: Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

Thank you for explaining that David.

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DavidG

APS member since 2004
09 May 2020
11:40:15am

re: Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

Jan:

There are several challenges in translating documents from one language to another, particularly old documents with an out-of-date language usage.

Certain languages have characteristics that English does not. For example, in English we use gender-based pronouns (ie. HIS car, HER car). There are no gender-based pronouns, as such, in Indonesian. Essentially, it is THEY or THEIR. My girlfriend sometimes will say "I saw Fred at work; she bought a new car." She is not used to gender-based pronouns as we are. Conversely, in French (for all of us Canadians), LE and LA identify the gender of inanimate objects such as: c'est LA TABLE, not LE TABLE. In English we use the neutral THE. And as my girlfriend will sometimes confuses the gender of a person, anglophones sometimes confuse the gender of an object.

Another challenge with this is the style of writing. Spellings and words have changed over the years. The unified Indonesian Language was formalised in the 1960s and 1970s. As well, the letters themselves; that is, the formation of the letters. The first letter in the opening greeting of the message is the letter "S". The word is "Suadara", meaning "Brother". The first letter in the upper right, naming the city is a "K"

The writer is from Sumatra and speaks Benkulu. Each island in The Netherlands Indies (the erstwhile Indonesia) speaks their own language. Javanese in Java, Benkulu in Sumatra, Balanese in Bali, etc. The language of one island is so different from the other, a person speaking Javanese cannot understand a person speaking Balanese, etc. This is why a unified language of Indonesian was developed. There is one or two words and one scentence in Benkulu that we cannot understand nor translate.

In summary, the message (which carries on to the address-side of the postal card) is from one brother to another in Kaba Wetan, Sumatra, during the Japanese occupation of the Netherlands Indies. The writer is a student, who is informing his brother that the money he sent him was received, and is asking about family and friends back home, in Djambi, Sumatra. Note that Djambi is the old Dutch spelling, the current Indonesian spelling of the city is Jambi. I have separated out sentences to put explanations with the sentences. My explanation for is in brackets below. It is approximately, this:

Kaba Wetan 17/11-05
(Kaba Wetan is the city, the date, 17 Nov. 1944, in the Japanese format)

Brother whom I never forgot:

With this postcard, I already received the money from you but because I am busy I cannot answer right away. How is our friend Hasjim (pronounced ha-SEEM), is he still work?

There is no word from Hasjim and Brother Kardir.
(I assume Kardir is the sender's and receiver's brother).

Yeah... but brother maybe we will meet again soon. How many more our school graduate?

Please pray that your brother gets good results for me to bring home.
(He is asking that his brother mentions him in his prayers so that he gets good marks on his exams to make his family proud when he goes home).

On the contrary, you also hereby congratulate the Eid Day of Sacrifice 1363.
(The majority of Indonesians are Muslim. The writer is Muslim. The Eid Day of Sacrifice is Eid Adha, an Islamic religious holiday approximately one month after Ramadan. 1363 is the year in the Islamic calendar).

Sorry physically and mentally.
(At Eid Adha, Muslims atone for their sins by apologizing to friends and family of any physical or mental misdeeds they have committed to them in the previous year).

That is all I have to say about Kaba Wetan. Hopefully I can tell Soeban how good it is.
(Soeban is a masculine name, and is probably referring to a mutual friend).

It is signed, "Your Brother".


Cheers!

David







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"President, The Society for Costa Rica Collectors"
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musicman

APS #213005
09 May 2020
01:09:59pm

re: Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

David,

What a great resource - your girlfriend!



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DavidG

APS member since 2004
09 May 2020
02:42:37pm

re: Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

Musicman said:

"What a great resource - your girlfriend!"

Randy:

Yes... and she cooks, too.

David

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"President, The Society for Costa Rica Collectors"
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musicman

APS #213005
10 May 2020
08:31:20am

re: Request for a Indonesian/Malay translation

"and she cooks, too"




...so do I, but I have trouble speaking my OWN language at times!


Big Grin

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