February 5, 2009Diaz Hendropriyono
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
I am not a big soccer fan. However, when I read the newspapers every morning, inadvertently, I always read the sports section, especially during the World Cup and the Euro Cup. While not interested specifically in the soccer news, I notice from those articles that there is no conistent way of writing and spelling the name of a foreign country.
Take, for example, Česká Republika or Czech Republic as written in English. Following the dissolution of Československo (or Czechokoslovakia in English) in 1993, Česká Republika peacefully split from Slovenská Republika. Since its founding, the Czech government thought to assign a short form of the country’s name, mainly for marketing purpose. Like the latter, which is shortened to Slovensko (or Slovak Republik shortened to Slovakia, as written in English), the short form of Česká Republika is given as Česko.
In the English language, the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs promoted the one-word name Czechia to be used in all cases, while urging the use of the longer and more “political” the Czech Republic in official documents. (Yet, some still mistakenly refer to the country simply as the adjective word Czech without the word Republic after it).
In Bahasa Indonesia, the writing of this country’s name has been a source of confusion and debate. Generally speaking, the two countries that split from Cekoslowakia are referred to as Republik Ceko and Republik Slowakia. Like in the Czech and English language, in Bahasa Indonesia, these two countries are given a short name, Ceko and Slowakia.
What is saddening is that there is no consistency in referring to the spelling and writing of the Czech Republic in Bahasa Indonesia. An English-Indonesian dictionary, written by John Echols and Hassan Shadily, as well as several online dictionaries—such as dicts.info, sederet.com, and xamus.com—translate it as Ceko. Likewise, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry uses Republik Ceko and its short form Ceko.
Yet, some insist to call it Republik Ceska, which is then shortened to Ceska. For example, various Indonesian newspapers, such as Bola, Sinar Harapan, and Kompas, to name a few, like to identify it as such. Note that, the word Česká Republika in the Czech language is in the feminine form that cannot stand alone by itself. So, calling it Ceska (as opposed to Česko) without the word Republik that follows it is incorrect. Furthermore, as others may have argued, the writing of Republik Ceska in Bahasa Indonesia is confusing because it consists of half Bahasa Indonesia and half Czech. The word “Republik” is Indonesian and “Ceska” is Czech (or čeština).
To make matters worse, Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (Fourth Edition) refers to it as Republik Cheska or Republik Cek.
It is true that several foreign countries are still debating what to call Česká Republika in their own language. However, what they are arguing is whether to use the long or short form of that country’s name. For example, like the English speakers, who are still more comfortable to use the longer name Czech Republic rather than Czechia, the Italians feel better with the name La Repubblica Ceca, and not Cechia. Furthermore, the Czech themselves initially refused the usage of Česko and preferred the longer version. On the other hand, the Russians and Germans are happy with the short form Чехия and Tschechien, respectively. And the Spanish are comfortable enough to use both forms Chequia and República Checa.
In Bahasa Indonesia, the focus of the debate is a little different. We do not argue whether to use the long or short form of the country’s name. Rather, we seem not to know what to call Česká Republika in Bahasa Indonesia—whether it is Republik Ceko, Republik Ceska, Republik Cheska, or Republik Cek.
I would not blame anybody to use any of that name since they can argue that they get it from a supposedly reliable source. However, the problem is that there are several formal sources and institutions calling the same subject differently. The many ways of spelling and writing of a foreign country’s name, notably Česká Republika, among a few others, in Bahasa Indonesia is a proof that Bahasa Indonesia itself is still not developed. Our language still has a double, or multiple, standard in labeling a foreign country. Without any agreement in assigning a definite name for a foreign country, Bahasa Indonesia will probably stay immature.
Author is a PhD Candidate at the Center for Public Administration and Policy at Virginia Tech University
This article is taken from: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/02/05/bahasa-indonesia-immature.html
