Suzanne Talhouk: Don't kill your language

Translator: khalid marbou Reviewer: Anwar Dafa-Alla

Translator: Sarastika Endang Hapriyonita Reviewer: Intan Andini

Selamat pagi!

Apakah kalian sadar?

Mereka ambil kartu saya, tapi saya mau tanya,

adakah yang menulis nama di kartunya dengan bahasa Arab?

Good morning!

Are you awake?

Ada! Tidak ada? Baiklah, tidak apa.

They took my name tag, but I wanted to ask you,

did anyone here write their name on the tag in Arabic?

Suatu hari,

Anyone! No one? All right, no problem.

saya duduk di restoran bersama teman, memesan makanan.

Once upon a time, not long ago,

Lalu, saya bertanya pada pelayan,

I was sitting in a restaurant with my friend, ordering food.

“Apakah kalian punya menu?” (Bahasa Arab)

Dia menatap saya aneh, mengira salah dengar.

So I looked at the waiter and said,

Dia berkata, “Sorry.”

"Do you have a menu (Arabic)?"

Saya katakan, “Menunya, tolong (bahasa Arab).”

He looked at me strangely, thinking that he misheard.

Dia berkata, “Anda tak tahu sebutannya?”

He said, "Sorry? (English)."

“Saya tahu.”

I said, "The menu (Arabic), please."

Dia bilang, “Tidak! Sebut itu ′menu’ (Inggris)

atau ′menu’ (Prancis).”

He replied, "Don't you know what they call it?"

Pelafalan bahasa Prancisnya benar?

“Sini, sini, tangani ini!“ kata pelayan itu.

"I do."

Dia muak bicara dengan saya, seolah merasa,

He said, "No! It's called "menu" (English), or "menu" (French)."

Is the French pronunciation correct?

“Jika ini gadis terakhir di bumi, saya tak akan memandangnya!”

"Come, come, take care of this one!" said the waiter.

He was disgusted when talking to me, as if he was saying to himself,

Kenapa bilang “menu” dalam bahasa Arab?

Dua kata itu membuat pemuda Lebanon

"If this was the last girl on Earth, I wouldn't look at her!"

menilai seorang gadis sebagai terbelakang

What's the meaning of saying "menu" in Arabic?

Two words made a Lebanese young man judge a girl as being backward

dan kurang pengetahuan.

Bagaimana bisa dia bicara seperti itu?

Saat itu, saya mulai berpikir.

and ignorant.

How could she speak that way?

Saya kesal.

Menyakitkan!

Hak bicara dengan bahasa saya sendiri ditolak di negara sendiri?

Di mana ini bisa terjadi?

At that moment, I started thinking.

Bagaimana awalnya?

It made me mad.

It definitely hurts!

I'm denied the right to speak my own language in my own country?

Ketika kita di sini, banyak orang seperti saya,

Where could this happen?

yang akan mencapai tahap hidupnya, di mana mereka menyerah tanpa sadar

How did we get here?

semua yang terjadi di masa lalu,

Well, while we are here, there are many people like me,

hanya agar mereka dinilai modern

who would reach a stage in their lives, where they involuntarily give up

dan beradab.

Haruskah saya melupakan semua budaya, pemikiran,

everything that has happened to them in the past,

kecerdasan, dan semua ingatan saya?

just so they can say that they're modern

and civilized.

Should I forget all my culture, thoughts,

Kisah masa kecil mungkin kenangan terbaik yang kita punya karena perang!

intellect and all my memories?

Haruskah saya lupakan semua yang saya pelajari dalam bahasa Arab

Childhood stories might be the best memories we have of the war!

demi menyesuaikan diri? Menjadi salah satu dari mereka?

Should I forget everything I learned in Arabic, just to conform?

Di mana logikanya?

Terlepas dari semua itu, saya mencoba memahaminya.

To be one of them?

Saya tak mau menghakiminya secara kejam seperti dia menghakimi saya.

Where's the logic in that?

Despite all that, I tried to understand him.

Bahasa Arab tidak memenuhi kebutuhan saat ini.

I didn't want to judge him with the same cruelty that he judged me.

Ia bukan bahasa ilmu pengetahuan,

penelitian,

bahasa yang digunakan banyak universitas,

The Arabic language doesn't satisfy today's needs.

tidak pula dipakai di tempat kerja,

It's not a language for science,

bukan bahasa yang diandalkan saat

research,

menampilkan proyek penelitian lanjutan,

a language we're used to in universities,

a language we use in the workplace,

dan jelas bukan bahasa yang digunakan di bandara.

a language we rely on if we were to perform an advanced research project,

Gunakan bahasa Arab, dan mereka akan melucuti pakaian kita.

Lalu di mana kita bisa menggunakannya?

and it definitely isn't a language we use at the airport.

Semua pasti mananyakan ini.

Baik, kalian ingin kami gunakan bahasa Arab. Di mana melakukannya?

If we did so, they'd strip us of our clothes.

Where can I use it, then? We could all ask this question!

Inilah satu realita.

Tapi kita punya realitas yang lebih penting

So, you want us to use Arabic. Where are we to do so?

yang harus dipikirkan.

This is one reality.

Bahasa Arab adalah bahasa ibu.

But we have another more important reality that we ought to think about.

Menurut penelitian, penguasaan bahasa lain

Arabic is the mother tongue.

menuntut penguasaan bahasa ibu.

Research says that mastery of other languages

Penguasaan bahasa ibu merupakan prasyarat ekspresi kreatif dalam bahasa lain.

demands mastery of the mother tongue.

Bagaimana?

Mastery of the mother tongue is a prerequisite for creative expression in other languages.

Jubran Khalil Jubran (Kahlil Gibran)

ketika pertama kali mulai menulis, dia menggunakan bahasa Arab.

How?

Semua gagasan, imajinasi, perasaan, dan filosofinya

Gibran Khalil Gibran,

when he first started writing, he used Arabic.

terinspirasi oleh anak kecil di desa

All his ideas, imagination and philosophy

tempat dia dibesarkan, mencium bau tertentu,

mendengar suara tertentu,

dan memikirkan gagasan tertentu.

were inspired by this little boy in the village

Jadi, saat dia mulai menulis dalam bahasa Inggris, dia punya cukup ruang.

where he grew up, smelling a specific smell,

Meski dia menulis dalam bahasa Inggris,

hearing a specific voice,

and thinking a specific thought.

ketika kalian baca tulisannya, kalian mencium aroma yang sama,

So, when he started writing in English, he had enough baggage.

merasakan rasa yang sama.

Even when he wrote in English,

kalian bisa membayangkan dialah yang menulis dalam bahasa Inggris,

when you read his writings in English, you smell the same smell,

anak laki-laki yang sama, yang datang dari gunung.

Dari sebuah desa di pegunungan Lebanon.

sense the same feeling.

You can imagine that that's him writing in English,

Jadi, inilah contoh yang tak bisa dibantah.

the same boy who came from the mountain. From a village on Mount Lebanon.

Kedua, banyak yang bilang jika kalian ingin membunuh sebuah bangsa,

So, this is an example no one can argue with.

satu-satunya cara membunuh sebuah bangsa,

adalah membunuh bahasanya.

Second, it's often said that if you want to kill a nation,

Ini kenyataan yang disadari oleh masyarakat maju.

the only way to kill a nation,

Jerman, Prancis, Jepang, dan Tiongkok, semua bangsa ini menyadarinya.

is to kill its language.

This is a reality that developed societies are aware of.

Itu sebabnya mereka buat undang-undang untuk melindungi bahasa mereka.

The Germans, French, Japanese and Chinese, all these nations are aware of this.

Bahasa itu disucikan.

Itulah alasan mereka produktif, mengeluarkan banyak biaya

That's why they legislate to protect their language.

untuk mengembangkannya.

They make it sacred.

Apakah kita tahu lebih baik dari mereka?

That's why they use it in production, they pay a lot of money to develop it.

Baik,

kita bukan dari dunia maju,

pemikiran berlanjut ini belum menjangkau kita,

kita ingin mengejar ketinggalan peradaban dunia.

Do we know better than them?

All right,

Negara-negara yang pernah seperti kita,

we aren't from the developed world,

this advanced thinking hasn't reached us yet,

memutuskan untuk mengejar pembangunan,

and we would like to catch up with the civilized world.

melakukan penelitian,

dan mengejar negara-negara maju itu,

seperti Turki, Malaysia, dan lainnya.

Countries that were once like us, but decided to strive for development,

Mereka membawa bahasa mereka sambil merangkak naik,

do research,

and catch up with those countries,

menjaga bahasa mereka seperti berlian.

such as Turkey, Malaysia and others,

Mereka simpan dekat-dekat.

they carried their language with them as they were climbing the ladder,

Jika kalian mendapatkan produk dari Turki atau tempat lain

protected it like a diamond.

dan tidak dilabeli dalam bahasa Turki,

They kept it close to them.

berarti itu bukan produk lokal.

Because if you get any product from Turkey or elsewhere

kalian jangan percaya itu produk lokal.

Mereka akan kembali menjadi konsumen,

and it's not labeled in Turkish,

then it isn't a local product.

konsumen yang tidak tahu menahu, seringkali kita begitu.

You wouldn't believe it's a local product.

Agar mereka berinovasi dan berproduksi, mereka harus melindungi bahasa mereka.

They'd go back to being consumers,

clueless consumers, like we are most of the time.

Kalimat, “Kebebasan, kedaulatan, kemerdekaan (bahasa Arab),”

So, in order for them to innovate and produce, they had to protect their language.

mengingatkan kalian pada apa?

If I say, "Freedom, sovereignty, independence (Arabic),"

Tidak familiar, ya?

Terlepas dari siapa, bagaimana, dan mengapa.

what does this remind you of?

Bahasa bukan hanya untuk bertutur, cuma mengeluarkan kata-kata dari mulut.

It doesn't ring a bell, does it?

Regardless of the who, how and why.

Bahasa mewakili tahapan tertentu dalam hidup kita,

Language isn't just for conversing, just words coming out of our mouths.

dan terminologi yang terkait dengan emosi kita.

Language represents specific stages in our lives,

Saat kita bilang, “Kebebasan, kedaulatan, kemerdekaan,”

setiap kalian melukis gambaran tertentu dalam pikiran sendiri,

and terminology that is linked to our emotions.

ada perasaan tertentu

So when we say, "Freedom, sovereignty, independence,"

di hari tertentu pada periode sejarah tertentu.

each one of you draws a specific image in their own mind,

Bahasa bukan sebuah kata atau satu, dua, tiga huruf yang disatukan,

there are specific feelings

melainkan gagasan yang mewakili cara berpikir, cara kita memandang,

of a specific day in a specific historical period.

dan cara orang lain memandang kita.

Language isn't one, two or three words or letters put together.

It's an idea inside that relates to how we think,

Apa kecerdasan kita?

Bagaimana mengetahui, orang ini mengerti atau tidak?

and how we see each other and how others see us.

Jika saya berkata,

“Freedom, sovereignty, independence (bahasa Inggris),”

What is our intellect?

How do you say whether this guy understands or not?

So, if I say, "Freedom, sovereignty, independence (English),"

atau jika anak kalian datang dan berkata,

“Dad, pernahkah kau melewati periode slogan ’freedom’?”

Bagaimana perasaan kalian?

or if your son came up to you and said,

Jika kalian tak merasa itu bermasalah,

"Dad, have you lived through the period of the freedom (English) slogan?"

lebih baik saya keluar, dan berhenti berbicara sia-sia.

How would you feel?

Intinya adalah ungkapan-ungkapan ini mengingatkan kita pada hal spesifik.

If you don't see a problem,

then I'd better leave, and stop talking in vain.

Saya punya teman yang berbahasa Prancis, menikah dengan pria Prancis.

The idea is that these expressions remind us of a specific thing.

Saya pernah tanya bagaimana kabarnya.

I have a francophone friend who's married to a French man.

Katanya, “Semua baik,

tapi, aku habiskan waktu semalaman bertanya dan mencoba menerjemahkan

I asked her once how things were going.

arti “tuqburni” pada suamiku.”

She said, "Everything is fine,

(Tawa) (Tepuk tangan)

but once, I spent a whole night asking and trying to translate

the meaning of the word 'toqborni' for him."

(Laughter)

Perempuan malang itu salah memberitahu “tuqburni,”

(Applause)

semalaman menjelaskan pada suaminya.

Suaminya bingung berpikir: “Kok bisa ada orang sekejam ini?”

The poor woman had mistakenly told him "toqborni,"

Apa istriku pasrah mau bunuh diri?

and then spent the whole night trying to explain it to him.

Bury me? (Inggris) Kubur aku?

He was puzzled by the thought: "How could anyone be this cruel?

Ini salah satu dari banyak contoh.

Kita pikir perempuan itu tak bisa memberitahu karena suaminya takkan paham.

Does she want to commit suicide?

'Bury me?' (English)"

dan pantas saja pria itu tak paham; cara berpikirnya berbeda.

This is one of the few examples.

It made us feel that she's unable to tell that word to her husband,

Teman saya berkata, “Suamiku mendengarkan Fairuz bersamaku,

since he won't understand,

suatu malam, kucoba terjemahkan lagunya

and he's right not to; his way of thinking is different.

She said to me, "He listens to Fairuz with me,

agar dia bisa rasakan apa yang kurasa saat mendengarkan Fairuz.”

Perempuan malang ini menerjemahkannya:

and one night, I tried to translate for him

so he can feel what I feel when I listen to Fairuz."

(Tawa)

Ini lebih sulit: “Karena kau milik mereka,

The poor woman tried to translate this for him:

"From them I extended my hands and stole you --"

(Tawa)

(Laughter)

Terjemahkan itu untuk saya.

(tepuk tangan)

And here's the pickle:

"And because you belong to them, I returned my hands and left you."

(Laughter)

Translate that for me.

Nah, apa yang telah kami lakukan untuk melindungi bahasa Arab?

(Applause)

Kami kembali ke kekhawatiran masyarakat sipil,

So, what have we done to protect the Arabic language?

dan meluncurkan kampanye pelestarian bahasa Arab.

Meski banyak orang berkata, “Buat apa repot-repot?

We turned this into a concern of the civil society,

Bersenang-senanglah dan lupakan kepusingan ini”

and we launched a campaign to preserve the Arabic language.

Tidak masalah!

Kampanye pelestarian bahasa Arab mengeluarkan slogan,

Even though many people told me, "Why do you bother?

Forget about this headache and go have fun."

“Aku bicara dari Timur, tapi kau menjawab dari Barat.”

No problem!

Kami tak berkata, “Tidak! Kami tak menerima alasan ini atau itu.”

The campaign to preserve Arabic launched a slogan that says,

"I talk to you from the East, but you reply from the West."

Kami tidak pakai gaya ini, karena dengan begitu kami tak akan dimengerti.

We didn't say, "No! We do not accept this or that."

Ketika seseorang bicara pada saya, “Aku benci bahasa Arab.”

We didn't adopt this style because that way, we wouldn't be understood.

Kami berkata,

(tepuk tangan)

Kita ingin mengubah kenyataan,

And when someone talks to me that way, I hate the Arabic language.

dengan cara yang mencerminkan impian, aspirasi, dan kehidupan sehari-hari kita.

We say--

(Applause)

Dengan cara berpakaian seperti kita dan berpikir seperti kita.

We want to change our reality,

and be convinced in a way that reflects our dreams, aspirations and day-to-day life.

Jadi, slogan tadi sudah tepat sasaran.

In a way that dresses like us and thinks like we do.

Sesuatu yang sangat mudah, namun kreatif dan persuasif.

So, "I talk to you from the East, but you reply from the West"

Setelah itu, kami luncurkan kampanye lain.

has hit the spot.

Para penonton di lapangan,

Something very easy, yet creative and persuasive.

kalian pernah lihat contoh itu di luar,

After that, we launched another campaign

dikelilingi pita hitam dan kuning

with scenes of letters on the ground.

dengan “Jangan bunuh bahasa kalian!” tertulis di atasnya.

You've seen an example of it outside,

Mengapa? Serius, jangan bunuh bahasa kalian.

a scene of a letter surrounded by black and yellow tape

Kita tidak boleh membunuh bahasa kita.

with "Don't kill your language!" written on it.

Jika kita bunuh bahasanya, kita harus menemukan identitas.

Why? Seriously, don't kill your language.

KIta harus menemukan eksistensi.

We really shouldn't kill our language.

Kita kembali lagi ke awal.

If we were to kill the language, we'd have to find an identity.

Ini lebih dari sekadar melewatkan kesempatan kita

menjadi modern dan beradab.

We'd have to find an existence.

We'd go back to the beginning.

Setelah itu kami merilis foto pria dan wanita memakai huruf Arab.

This is beyond just missing our chance of being modern and civilized.

Foto pria dan wanita “cool”.

After that we released photos of guys and girls wearing the Arabic letter.

Kami “cool” sekali.

Pada yang mungkin berkata, “Ha! Kau sendiri pakai kata bahasa Inggris!”

Photos of "cool" guys and girls.

Saya bilang, “Tidak! Saya mengadopsi kata ’cool’.”

We are very cool!

And to whoever might say, "Ha! You used an English word!"

Biar mereka keberatan sesukanya, tapi beri saya kata yang lebih baik

dan cocok dengan kenyataannya.

I say, "No! I adopt the word 'cool.'"

Saya akan tetap mengatakan “internet”,

Let them object however they want, but give me a word that's nicer

bukannya: “Aku berselancar di jaringan laba-laba.”

and matches the reality better.

(Tawa)

Karena itu tidak cocok! Jangan tipu diri kita sendiri.

I will keep on saying "Internet"

I wouldn't say: "I'm going to the world wide web"

Tapi poinnya adalah, kita semua harus diyakinkan

(Laughs)

bahwa kita tidak boleh membiarkan orang besar

Because it doesn't fit! We shouldn't kid ourselves.

dan yang berkuasa terhadap bahasa

But to reach this point, we all have to be convinced

mengontrol kita untuk berpikir dan merasakan apa yang mereka inginkan.

that we shouldn't allow anyone who is bigger

or thinks they have any authority over us when it comes to language,

Kreatifitas adalah ide.

to control us or make us think and feel what they want.

Kalau kita tidak bisa menjangkau angkasa atau membuat roket,

kita bisa kreatif.

Creativity is the idea.

Saat ini, masing-masing dari kalian adalah proyek kreatif.

So, if we can't reach space or build a rocket and so on,

Kreatifitas dalam bahasa ibu adalah jalannya.

we can be creative.

Mari kita mulai dari sekarang.

At this moment, every one of you is a creative project.

Menulis novel atau memproduksi film pendek.

Creativity in your mother tongue is the path.

Sebuah novel bisa membuat kita mendunia lagi.

Let's start from this moment.

Itu bisa membawa bahasa Arab kembali menjadi nomor satu.

Let's write a novel or produce a short film.

Tidak benar kalau tidak ada solusi; ada solusinya!

A single novel could make us global again.

It could bring the Arabic language back to being number one.

Tapi kita harus tahu dan diyakinkan bahwa ada solusi,

kita punya kewajiban untuk jadi bagian dari solusi itu.

So, it's not true that there's no solution; there is a solution!

Kesimpulannya, apa yang bisa kalian lakukan hari ini?

But we have to know that, and be convinced that a solution exists,

Sekarang, tweets, siapa yang menge-tweet?

that we have a duty to be part of that solution.

In conclusion, what can you do today?

Sebentar, saya mohon, meski waktunya sudah habis,

Now, tweets, who's tweeting?

baik berbahasa Arab, Inggris, Prancis atau Cina.

Please, I beg of you, even though my time has finished,

Tapi jangan menulis bahasa Arab dengan huruf Latin bercampur angka!

either Arabic, English, French or Chinese.

(Tepuk tangan)

But don't write Arabic with Latin characters mixed with numbers!

Itu bencana! Itu bukan bahasa.

Kalian akan memasuki dunia virtual dengan bahasa virtual.

(Applause)

Tidak mudah kembali dari tempat seperti itu dan bangkit.

It's a disaster! That's not a language.

Itu hal pertama yang bisa kita lakukan.

You'd be entering a virtual world with a virtual language.

Kedua, masih banyak hal lain yang bisa kita lakukan.

It's not easy to come back from such a place and rise.

Hari ini, kita hadir bukan saling membujuk.

Kita di sini untuk memperhatikan perlunya melestarikan bahasa Arab.

That's the first thing we can do.

Second, there are many other things that we can do.

Sekarang, saya akan beri tahu kalian sebuah rahasia.

We're not here today to convince each other.

Seorang bayi pertama kali mengidentifikasi ayahnya melalui bahasa.

We're here to bring attention to the necessity of preserving this language.

Now I will tell you a secret.

Saat putri saya lahir, saya akan memberitahunya,

A baby first identifies its father

“Ini ayahmu, Sayang (bahasa Arab).”

Saya tak akan berkata, “This is your dad, Honey.”

through language.

When my daughter is born, I'll tell her, "This is your father, honey (Arabic)."

Di supermarket, saya janji pada putri saya, Noor,

I wouldn't say, "This is your dad, honey (English)."

jika bilang, “Terima kasih (bahasa Arab),”

saya takkan berkata, “Dis, ‘Merci, Maman’,”

dan berharap tak ada satupun yang mendengarnya.

And in the supermarket, I promise my daughter Noor,

(Tepuk tangan)

that if she says to me, "Thanks (Arabic),"

I won't say, "Dis, 'Merci, Maman,'" and hope no one has heard her.

(Applause)

Mari kita hilangkan kebencian budaya ini.

(Tepuk tangan)

Let's get rid of this cultural cringe.

(Applause)