Any Bahasa speakers in the Playground?

[SirKazum]

Posting this here because I'm pretty sure there's at least one Indonesian around :smallbiggrin: Anyway, there's this one song that I really like, "Deep Blue Sea", by Indonesian singer Anggun. (Don't know anything else by or about her though...) Of course, parts of it being in Bahasa is something that really piqued my curiosity, as learning new languages is pretty much my favorite thing in the world. I tried putting it through Google Translate, but it's kinda hard to get anything coherent out of it. And of course, it wouldn't compare to a human being who can bring cultural context into it. So... could anyone provide me with a translation, and of course, any commentary they may have about it, if possible?

Here's the verse in Bahasa:


Jangankan biar hilang semua yang telah diberi
Jangankan pergi rasa manusiawi dan naluri diri
Biar bumi tetap bersinar di bawah mentari
Agar kita tetap bersinar di bawah mentari

The English part of the lyrics, as well as what I could glean from Google Translate, are really interesting, but I'd like to hear an Indonesian take on the lyrics before saying anything about it.

Thanks!

[Xuc Xac]

"Bahasa" just means "language". That's why Malaysian and Indonesian are called "Bahasa Malaysia" and "Bahasa Indonesia".

[Haruspex_Pariah]

Translation of song lyrics is a little tricky, because you have a lot of synonyms and options for phrase construction that take into account what sounds good, as opposed to a technically accurate translation. But I'll try.


Don't lose all that we've been given
Hold on to humanity and instinct (self-instinct?)
So the earth keeps shining under the sun
So we all keep shining under the sun


There's probably a much better way to construct that, but it's the best I can do on short notice. Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia are very close, but there are a few outliers I believe.

[SirKazum]

Translation of song lyrics is a little tricky, because you have a lot of synonyms and options for phrase construction that take into account what sounds good, as opposed to a technically accurate translation. But I'll try.


Don't lose all that we've been given
Hold on to humanity and instinct (self-instinct?)
So the earth keeps shining under the sun
So we all keep shining under the sun


There's probably a much better way to construct that, but it's the best I can do on short notice. Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia are very close, but there are a few outliers I believe.

Thanks a bunch! :smallbiggrin: Was it easy for you to understand, being an Indonesian song (and you being Malaysian, going by your profile)?

[Haruspex_Pariah]

Thanks a bunch! :smallbiggrin: Was it easy for you to understand, being an Indonesian song (and you being Malaysian, going by your profile)?

If you had told me that those were Bahasa Malaysia lyrics, I would have believed you. In this particular case, there was almost no difference. It was almost like translating an excerpt for school.

When you get into regional variations, idioms and so forth things get a little trickier. When hearing people speak Bahasa Indonesia, there’s about 5% of it that escapes me but I tend to pick it up from context.

[Brother Oni]

When you get into regional variations, idioms and so forth things get a little trickier. When hearing people speak Bahasa Indonesia, there’s about 5% of it that escapes me but I tend to pick it up from context.

Out of curiosity, is this like the 'lah' that Malaysian Cantonese speakers use? In HK Cantonese, it's not uncommon, but Malaysian Cantonese, it's pretty much used in nearly every sentence.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

Out of curiosity, is this like the 'lah' that Malaysian Cantonese speakers use? In HK Cantonese, it's not uncommon, but Malaysian Cantonese, it's pretty much used in nearly every sentence.

Wow. I had no idea the "lah" was our distinguishing feature on the world stage. I even saw a Bollywood movie poking fun at it.

I'm no linguist, but i'll try to explain it as well as I can. I don't speak Cantonese, so I'm not sure how or why it's used there.

It doesn't have any translation that I can think of. It's a word that is added for...emphasis? Like hey, or yo, or yeah.

"Makan" means eat. "Makanlah" means eat, but it's more like you're exhorting the other person to eat after noticing that they aren't eating. Uh. This is harder than I thought.

[Brother Oni]

Wow. I had no idea the "lah" was our distinguishing feature on the world stage. I even saw a Bollywood movie poking fun at it.

I'm no linguist, but i'll try to explain it as well as I can. I don't speak Cantonese, so I'm not sure how or why it's used there.

It doesn't have any translation that I can think of. It's a word that is added for...emphasis? Like hey, or yo, or yeah.

"Makan" means eat. "Makanlah" means eat, but it's more like you're exhorting the other person to eat after noticing that they aren't eating. Uh. This is harder than I thought.

Your other distinguishing feature is speaking English at twice normal speed (Manglish), with your Singaporeans neighbours speaking English at three times normal speed (Singlish). :smalltongue:

No sorry, I meant that is the ~5% you can't pick up in Bahasa Indonesia, due to Bahasa Malaysian having the linguistic equivalent to the Malaysian Cantonese 'lah' overuse. I speak Cantonese, so I understand how 'lah' is used - using a sci reference, it's like 'kree' in Goa'uld in Stargate.

Incidentally - a Malaysian guy I lived with at University had a T-shirt which read "To lah or not to lah, That's the way in Malaysia", which entertained me to no end. :smallbiggrin:

[Haruspex_Pariah]

No sorry, I meant that is the ~5% you can't pick up in Bahasa Indonesia, due to Bahasa Malaysian having the linguistic equivalent to the Malaysian Cantonese 'lah' overuse. I speak Cantonese, so I understand how 'lah' is used - using a sci reference, it's like 'kree' in Goa'uld in Stargate.



I think this is the best way I can explain it: it’s like all the variations of English in the world. Australians can understand British well enough, especially if they want to be understood, but if they dig deep they can find words that stump each other.

E.g. the cockney rhyming bit from Austin Powers.