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There are several challenges in translating documents from one language to another, particularly old documents with an out-of-date language usage.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