Catatan Bahasa Inggris

Bahasa Indolish

2009-11-26T16:11:00.001+07:00

Oleh Wieke Gur.

Dalam bahasa percakapan informal sehari-hari mencampur kosakata asing, bahasa daerah dan bahasa slang ke dalam percakapan kita adalah sesuatu hal yang spontan, lumrah dan tidak perlu dipermasalahkan. Orang menyebutnya bahasa gado-gado. Simak saja ucapan seorang mahasiswi swasta di bawah ini:

“Tahu nggak? Ternyata si Susi diem-diem udah ‘married’ lho sama Benny. Soalnya kan si Benny musti ambil ‘Master’ ke Amrik dan dia mau Susi juga ikut. Daripada musti ‘long distance relationship’, takut Susi ‘cheating’ katanya. Mereka ‘take off’ besok malem soalnya ‘flight’ ke LA adanya hari itu dan jam segitu. ‘Stop over’ sekali di Hong Kong kayaknya. Sampe sana pasti pada ‘jet lag’. Tapi mereka sih enaklah, udah disiapin ‘apartment’ sama bokapnya Benny. Mudah-mudahan Susi nggak ‘boring’ tuh nemenin Benny di sana, soalnya dia nggak bakal ngapa-ngapain, paling-paling ‘shopping’. Gue mau ke rumah Susi nanti malem mau ‘say bye-bye’. Mau ikut?.”

Sejak runtuhnya pemerintah orde baru gejala menyelipkan kosakata asing sudah mulai mempengaruhi wacana lisan formal dan banyak dilakukan para intelektual seperti diucapkan Mohamad Sobari, seorang jurnalis, dalam suatu wawancara radio:

“Gus Dur memerlukan ‘transitional period’, saya kira ‘something like three years or so’ untuk itu … MPR yang anggota-anggotanya sangat ‘selfish’, sangat ‘group oriented’ dan berfikir tentang ‘short term projects’.” (Sumber: The Indonesian Language: Its History and Role in Modern Society, Dr. James Sneddon).

Pada acara “Temu Nasional 2009” pada tanggal 30 Oktober yang lalu ada seorang wartawan yang iseng-iseng menghitung jumlah kosa-kata bahasa Inggris yang digunakan oleh presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono di dalam pidatonya. Dalam pidato sekitar 65 menit tersebut, tercatat ada 73 kosakata bahasa Inggris yang dilontarkannya.?Artinya setiap satu menit terlontarlah kosakata bahasa Inggris itu. Bahkan Presiden Yudhoyono juga memadukan kosakata Inggris dengan Indonesia sekaligus ketika menjelaskan adanya kemacetan dalam berbagai hal,"Banyak hal yang masih ada di-"debottlenecking" ini yang harus diselesaikan," katanya. Ada yang pro dan ada yang kontra.

Patutkah penggunaan kosakata bahasa Inggris di dalam pidato seorang presiden Republik Indonesia dipermasalahkan? Kelompok yang pro berpendapat bahwa menggandeng kosakata asing ke dalam wacana lisan formal tidak perlu dipermasalahkan karena bahasa Indonesia masih kekurangan kosakata yang mampu menjelaskan apa yang dimaksud dalam pidato tersebut. Lagi pula bahasa Inggris adalah bahasa komunikasi internasional. Sudah saatnya semua orang mampu berbahasa Inggris. Jadi jika saudara-saudara kita di Papua tidak mengerti isi pidato presidennya, salah sendiri. Mengapa tidak belajar bahasa Inggris. Kalau mau maju harus belajar bahasa Inggris.

Bagi kelompok yang kontra, penggandengan istilah asing di dalam banyak wacana formal dan resmi menunjukkan betapa bahasa Inggris pelan-pelan sudah menggeser posisi bahasa Indonesia sebagai bahasa nasional.

Sebetulnya seberapa pentingkah peranan bahasa bagi suatu bangsa dan negara? Mungkin ada baiknya kita menegok sebentar sejarah bahasa Indonesia dan melihat sikap negara-negara lain terhadap bahasa nasionalnya.

Di jaman penjajahan Belanda, kesempatan pendidikan untuk rakyat Indonesia hanya diberikan pada anak-anak kalangan atas. Tujuannya adalah supaya kalangan kelas atas ini pada gilirannya mampu membantu pemerintah Belanda dalam hal pelayanan masyarakat. Akibatnya pada masa itu kalangan terdidik yang pandai berbahasa Belanda menjadi kalangan elite Indonesia. Bahasa Belanda digunakan oleh kaum elite pribumi sebagai sarana komunikasi antar mereka sehari-hari. Termasuk para nasionalis, calon-calon pemimpin bangsa seperti bung Karno dan bung Hatta. Bung Karno bahkan berkata, “Bahasa Belanda adalah bahasa yang saya gunakan jika saya berpikir, mengumpat bahkan berdoa”.

Namun para calon pemimpin ini menetapkan bahasa Indonesia – yang berakar dari bahasa Melayu dan merupakan bahasa yang sama sekali belum berkembang - sebagai bahasa persatuan bangsa Indonesia pada kongres Sumpah Pemuda tahun 1928. Mengapa bukan bahasa Belanda? Padahal bahasa Belanda sudah menjadi bahasa komunikasi modern yang sudah beratus-ratus tahun digunakan sebagai bahasa pengantar di dunia pendidikan. Banyak sekali buku-buku ilmu pengetahuan yang ditulis dalam bahasa Belanda. Dari segi struktur dan tata bahasa pun sudah mapan. Jawabannya jelas. Para calon pemimpin itu menyadari bahasa Belanda adalah simbol penjajahan Belanda terhadap Indonesia. Secara politis penggunaan bahasa Belanda dapat menghambat atau menghalangi kemerdekaan Indonesia yang justru sedang diperjuangkan. Bahasa Indonesia adalah lambang nasionalisme. Selain merupakan keputusan politis, bahasa Indonesia juga merupakan keputusan sosial karena hanya bahasa Indonesia yang dipercaya memiliki kekuatan untuk mempersatukan Indonesia. Walaupun bung Karno belum seratus persen merasa nyaman dengan bahasa Indonesia yang masih baru, namun jika harus berpidato di depan rakyat beliau selalu menggunakan bahasa Indonesia.

Hal serupa juga terjadi dengan bahasa Indonesia di Timor Timur. Ketika wilayah Timor Timur resmi memisahkan diri dari Republik Indonesia, pemerintah Timor Timur menetapkan bahasa Portugis sebagai bahasa nasional mereka. Padahal penelitian yang dilakukan oleh Asia Foundation pada tahun 2001 menunjukkan 63% rakyat Timor Timur lancar berbahasa Indonesia namun hanya 3% yang mendukung bahasa Indonesia sebagai bahasa nasional Timor Timur. Hal ini karena bahasa Indonesia dianggap sebagai simbol penjajahan dan kebrutalan Indonesia terhadap rakyat Timor Timur. Sebuah reaksi emosional untuk menentang sesuatu yang berbau Indonesia. Jadi walaupun sebagian besar penduduk Timor Timur tidak mengenal bahasa Portugis dan merasa kesulitan harus mempelajari lagi bahasa yang baru, bagi rakyat Timor Timur bahasa Portugis adalah simbol kemerdekaan dan nasionalisme. Kini, walaupun bertetangga dengan Indonesia, mereka lebih suka belajar bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa kedua ketimbang bahasa Indonesia.

Sebelum Mary Donaldson, wanita dari kalangan kebanyakan Australia, menikah dengan Pangeran Frederik dari Denmark, ia diharuskan mempelajari dulu budaya , bahasa dan etiket Denmark karena dalam acara-acara kenegaraan nantinya Mary harus mampu berbicara dalam bahasa Denmark. Padahal bahasa Inggris adalah bahasa kedua yang sangat dikuasai oleh sebagian besar rakyat Denmark.

Bahasa sesungguhnya adalah wacana dan sarana komunikasi budaya sebuah bangsa. Bahasa mencerminkan inti, karakter, ciri dan semangat sebuah budaya. Bahasa seperti sebuah gerbang yang memudahkan kita untuk masuk dan mengerti budaya suatu bangsa. Secara teknis memang mudah menterjemahkan suatu kalimat dari satu bahasa ke bahasa lain, namun untuk menterjemahkan sikap dan nilai budaya suatu bangsa tidaklah semudah itu. Karena kosakata bahasa suatu negara mencerminkan budaya bangsa tersebut yang tidak dapat diterjemahkan begitu saja ke bahasa lain.

Boyé Lafayette De Mente, jurnalis, penulis, dan editor yang pernah menjadi anggota agen intelejensia Amerika ini telah menulis lebih dari 50 buku tentang kaitan bisnis, budaya dan bahasa di Jepang, Cina, Korea dan Meksiko. Dalam bukunya “Japan Unmasked: The Character And Culture Of The Japanese” Boyé menulis bahwa pada awalnya bahasa Jepang digunakan sebagai benteng pertahanan untuk mencegah masuknya orang asing. Di jaman pemerintahan Tokugawa mengajarkan bahasa Jepang pada orang asing bahkan merupakan pelanggaran berat. Hingga kini, bahasa Jepang sangat berkaitan erat dengan proses berpikir dan tingkah laku orang Jepang. Sehingga jika ada orang asing yang fasih berbahasa Jepang tanpa bertingkah laku seperti orang Jepang akan dianggap tidak menghargai budaya Jepang dan tidak bisa dipercaya.

Dengan berakhirnya sistem monarki di Perancis, bahasa Perancis tidak hanya menjadi simbol identitas nasional bagi orang Perancis tapi juga lambang kejayaan budaya dan imperialisme di masa lalu. Presiden Perancis Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou (tahun 1969 hingga 1974) bahkan mengatakan bahwa, ”Karena bahasa Perancislah negara Perancis dipandang oleh dunia sebagai negara bukan sekedar suatu negara .” Anatole France, penyair Perancis pemenang hadiah Nobel sastra pada tahun 1921 mengumpakan bahasa Perancis sebagai sesosok wanita yang cantik, penuh percaya diri, rendah hati, berkepribadian kuat, luhur, hangat dan seksi, sehingga siapa pun yang mengenalnya akan jatuh cinta sepenuh hati.

Memang tidak bisa dipungkiri bahwa sebagai bahasa komunikasi internasional, bahasa Inggris semakin penting untuk dipelajari dalam era globalisasi saat ini. Presiden Perancis Nicolas Sarkozy kini bahkan mewajibkan anak-anak usia sekolah untuk mempelajari bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa kedua. Indonesia pun tidak ketinggalan. Berbondong-bondongnya orang-orang Indonesia mendirikan sekolah dengan label internasional dengan pengantar bahasa Inggris adalah suatu fenomena yang menggembirakan. ?Karena kini, sekolah internasional tidak lagi menjadi monopoli orang asing. Ada kesetaraan akses bagi anak-anak Indonesia guna memperoleh pendidikan berkualitas internasional dengan harga yang lebih terjangkau. Kesempatan untuk belajar bahasa kedua yaitu bahasa Inggris kini terbuka lebar. Sayangnya, hal ini malah menghasilkan bahasa gado-gado.

Mencampur bahasa Indonesia dengan kosakata bahasa Inggris yang sepotong-sepotong sehingga menjadi bahasa gado-gado ke dalam wacana formal dan tulisan tidak akan membawa bangsa Indonesia menjadi masyarakat dwibahasawan yang terdidik. Jika hal ini dibiarkan maka akan makin sedikit orang Indonesia yang mampu berbahasa Indonesia yang baik dan benar. Berkurangnya pengguna bahasa Indonesia pelan-pelan akan mengikis identitas bangsa dan menggerogoti kelestarian budaya Indonesia. Pada saat yang sama kemampuan masyarakat Indonesia berbahasa Inggris yang baik pun akan terhambat karena terbiasa menyelipkannya ke dalam percakapan bahasa Indonesia. Akibatnya berbahasa Indonesia yang baik dan benar tidak becus, berbahasa Inggris pun berantakan.

Bukan hal yang tidak mungkin jika suatu hari bahasa Indonesia menjadi bahasa gado-gado seperti bahasa Manglish di Malaysia, yaitu bahasa Inggris yang dicampur dengan bahasa Malaysia yang lazim digunakan di Malaysia. Jika di Malaysia ada Manglish, di Filipina ada Taglish, di Singapura ada Singlish, sebentar lagi mungkin ada Indolish. Bahasa yang mencampur bahasa Indonesia dengan bahasa Inggris.

Bahasa adalah budaya bangsa. Almarhum WS Rendra pernah berkata bahwa sebuah bangsa tidak cukup hanya terdidik, tetapi juga harus berbudaya. "Karena kebudayaan merupakan tulang punggung peradaban bangsa," tambah pengamat masalah pendidikan, Arif Rahman.

Dr. James Sneddon, Associate Professor di Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia, dalam buku yang ditulisnya - The Indonesian Language: Its History and Role in Modern Society - mengatakan: “Masa depan bahasa Indonesia akan berkaitan erat dengan masa depan negara Indonesia. Jika Indonesia tetap bersatu dan makmur maka bahasa Indonesia pun akan tetap lestari. Jika Indonesia terpecah belah, bahasa Indonesia akan tetap ada namun akan mengarah kepada ketidak stabilan mengikuti jenis atau bentuk pemerintahan yang ada. Dengan demikian maka kelestarian bahasa Indonesia di masa depan akan tergantung pada kemampuan masyarakat yang berbahasa Indonesia dalam memecahkan masalah perbahasaan yang dialami saat ini. Bahasa Indonesia pernah menjadi elemen terpenting dalam mempersatukan negara kepulauan Indonesia; kini persatuan Indonesia akan menjadi sangat penting dalam menentukan masa depan bahasa Indonesia”.

Wieke Gur.
Pecinta Bahasa Indonesia
Penulis Lirik dan Pencipta Lagu
http://oase.kompas.com/read/xml/2009/11/24/17574261/Bahasa.Indolish

Noun clauses

2009-11-24T16:42:00.003+07:00

Noun clauses atau klausa nomina adalah sekelompok kata yang tidak dapat berdiri sendiri (dependent clauses) yang memiliki subjek dan predikat dan berfungsi seperti halnya nouns (nomina), yaitu bisa sebagai subject, object, atau complement. Noun clauses biasa diawali dengan subordinating conjunctions atau relative pronouns.

Sebagai subject
- That he could be mistaken didn't seem possible.
- What I want for dinner is a hamburger.

Sebagai object
- I noticed that the door was open.
- The host told us how he escaped.

Sebagai complement (subjective complement)
- The idea is that we take it in turns.
- The vacation is what I need most.

Dengan it (empty subject)
- It didn't seem possible that he could be mistaken.
- It was a year ago today that I started working here.

Setelah preposition
- We had a discussion about who should be invited.
- Give it to whoever arrives first.

Setelah adjective
- I was ashamed that I'd let my friends down.
- She was sorry that she'd lost her temper.

Setelah noun
- You can't deny the fact that you received the message.
- The police have information that he may now be living in Hongkong.

Beberapa kata kerja (verbs) yang biasa digunakan dalam klausa nomina (noun clauses) adalah: answer, ask, assume, believe, decide, expect, forget, hear, hope, imagine, know, learn, recognize, remember, remind, reply, say, see, seem, suppose, tell, think, understand.

Contoh:
- I hope that you arrived safely.
- No one believes that the earth is flat.
- I know where his house is.
- I remember when he was very young.
- I was reminded how lucky I was.
- The facts tell us that this is not true.
- He replied that this was absolutely impossible.

Dependent Clauses

2009-11-09T15:00:00.001+07:00

Dependent clause adalah klausa yang memberikan informasi tambahan kepada independent clause atau main clause, tetapi keberadaannya tidak menjadi keharusan dalam melengkapi pokok pikiran kalimat.

Meskipun dependent clause mempunyai subjek dan predikat, tetapi ia tidak dapat berdiri sendiri sebagai kalimat lengkap.

Dependent clause, yang juga dikenal dengan istilah subordinate clause, umumnya diawali dengan dependent word. Salah satu dari dependent word adalah subordinating conjunction. Dan dependent clauses yang diawali subordinating conjunctions biasa disebut adverbial clauses dan berlaku seperti halnya adverbs. Perhatikan contoh berikut (yang bergaris bawah adalah subordinating conjunction):

Wherever she goes, she leaves a piece of luggage behind.
(Adverbial clause wherever she goes menerangkan the verba leaves.)

Bob enjoyed the movie more than I did.
(Adverbial clause than I did menerangkan adverbia more.)

Dependent word lainnya adalah relative pronoun. Dependent clauses yang diawali relative pronouns dikenal sebagai adjective clauses yang berlaku seperti adjektiva, atau noun clauses yang berlaku sebagai nomina. Perhatikan contoh berikut di bawah ini (yang bergaris bawah adalah relative pronoun):

The only one of the seven dwarfs who does not have a beard is Dopey.
(Adjective clause who does not have a beard menerangkan nomina one.)

No one understands why experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
(Noun clause why experience is something you don't get until just after you need it berfungsi sebagai direct object.)

Jadi, ada tiga jenis dependent clauses, yaitu noun clauses, adjective clauses, dan adverb clauses. Dan masing-masing klausa berbeda penggunaannya dalam kalimat.

Noun clause dalam kalimat berperan sebagai subjek dari verba atau objek dari verba atau preposisi, seperti pada contoh berikut:
- What you say is not as important as how you say it.
- I imagine that they're having a good time.
- I keep thinking about what happened yesterday.

Adjective clause berfungsi menerangkan nomina atau frase nomina dan biasanya terletak sesudahnya.
- The woman I spoke to said otherwise.
- We have to consider the possibility that he's lying to us.

Adverb clause dipakai untuk menerangkan seluruh kalimat (main clause) dan dapat terletak di awal atau di akhir kalimat.
- When she gets here, all will be explained.
- He was annoyed by the whole thing, which was unfortunate, but unavoidable.

Independent Clauses

2009-11-07T15:00:00.002+07:00

Independent clause, atau bisa juga disebut main clause, adalah kalimat yang mempunyai gagasan atau pokok pikiran yang lengkap (complete thought). Dan memiliki subjek dan predikat (verb) dalam struktur kalimatnya.

Setiap independent clause selalu memiliki pola:

Subject + Verb = Complete Thought

Umumnya kalimat yang sering kita sebut sebagai suatu kalimat yang kita temui sehari-hari dapat disebut sebagai independent clause. Tentu saja, kalimat tersebut harus mempunyai subjek dan predikat yang mengungkapkan gagasan atau pokok pikiran, meskipun dalam bentuk yang sederhana. Kemampuan mengenali dan mengetahui apakah suatu klausa itu independent atau bukan adalah hal yang sangat penting untuk menulis dalam bahasa Inggris dengan baik dan menghindari sentence fragment dan run-on sentences.

Bob didn't mean to do it, but he did it anyway.

Kalimat di atas mempunyai dua independent clauses – “Bob didn’t mean to do it” dan “he did it anyway” – yang dihubungkan dengan tanda baca koma dan coordinating conjunction (but). (Bila kata but tidak disertakan dalam kalimat, maka kalimat tersebut tidak terhubung dengan benar dan mempunyai kesalahan yang biasa disebut dengan istilah comma splice).

Contoh independent clause lainnya:
- I am a bus driver.
- I wanted a new ball.
- Diane kicked the soda machine.
- A giant spider has made its home behind the shampoo bottle in Neil's bathroom.
- Paper, printing and binding may become things of the past.

Ingat, dalam setiap kalimat setidaknya harus ada satu independent clause. Karena klausa ini merupakan komponen utama yang harus ada dalam sebuah kalimat. Tanpa independent clause kalimat menjadi salah (sentence fragment).

Suatu kalimat dapat berisi beberapa unit gramatikal, misalnya participle phrases, prepositional phrases, subordinate clauses, appositives, etc. Bagaimanapun juga, keberadaan independent clause dalam kalimat adalah keharusan. Perhatikan contoh berikut:

While dissecting a cow heart in her anatomy and physiology class, Shenicka realized that a Burger King Whopper, her favorite lunch, was no longer appetizing.

Pada kalimat di atas, “Shenicka realized” adalah independent clause.

Clauses

2009-11-06T15:00:00.001+07:00

Clauses atau klausa adalah kelompok kata yang mempunyai unsur subjek dan predikat (verb). Klausa berbeda dengan frase, meskipun sama-sama berupa kumpulan kata, frase tidak memiliki subjek dan predikat.

Klausa, seperti halnya frase, akan memperkaya nilai sebuah tulisan atau komunikasi karena klausa menambah nilai kejelasan dan maksud suatu kalimat. Tidak hanya itu, klausa juga menyatukan ide atau gagasan-gagasan yang saling terkait, sehingga kalimat menjadi lebih terstruktur dan logis.

Ada dua jenis klausa, yaitu independent clauses dan dependent clauses.

Independent clauses adalah suatu kalimat lengkap dan memiliki subjek dan predikat yang menyatakan pokok pikiran yang lengkap. Sedangkan dependent clauses adalah bagian dari kalimat yang tidak dapat berdiri sendiri.

Contoh:
- I went to the store (independent)
- Because I went to the store (dependent)
- After I went to the store (dependent)
- That is the store (independent)
- But I didn’t buy any bread (dependent)
- That I went to (dependent)
- In the great fire of London in 1666 (dependent)
- Half of London was burnt down (independent)

Contoh independent clauses dan dependent clauses dalam satu kalimat:
- That is the store that I went to.
- I went to the store, but I didn't buy any bread.
- In the great fire of London in 1666, half of London was burnt down.

Duh, Bahasa Inggris Para Guru "Kering"

2009-10-22T21:00:00.001+07:00

Jumlah penduduk dunia diperkirakan bakal mencapai lima kali lipat pada 2050, menurut mencapai British Council. Artinya, jumlah pengguna Bahasa Inggris juga meningkat lima kali lipat. Konsekuensinya, anak yang tidak menguasai Bahasa Inggris tidak bisa menikmati peluang tersebut.

Hal tersebut diungkapkan oleh Direktur Pembinaan Taman Kanak-kanak dan Sekolah Dasar Depdiknas, Mudjito AK, saat Simposium Pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris di Sekolah Dasar di Jakarta, Selasa (26/5).

Karena itu, lanjut Mudjito, kebutuhan penguasaan Bahasa Inggris tidak terelakkan. Mutlak untuk setiap orang karena menjadi alat komunikasi penting bagi setiap orang.

"Pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris di tingkat SD telah menjadi kebutuhan dasar, baik diajarkan secara mandiri maupun sebagai bahasa pengantar untuk mata pelajaran lain atau yang dikenal dengan bilingual," kata Mudjito.

Bahkan di beberapa daerah Bahasa Inggris telah menjadi satu muatan lokal. Sayangnya, menurut Penasihat Pendidikan British Council, Itje Chodidjah, sampai saat ini guru belum berhasil menjadi contoh yang baik sebagai pengguna Bahasa Inggris. Akibatnya, pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris di tingkat SD masih harus dikembangkan lebih lanjut dan konsisten.

Itje mengakui, masih banyak kendala ditemui. Utamanya justru terletak pada guru karena mereka adalah fasilitator dan katalisator yang bisa memantik potensi berbahasa pada siswa. "Permasalahan mendasar mereka adalah pada cara menerapkan bahasanya kepada siswa dan itu banyak penyebabnya," kata Itje.

Itje menyontohkan, beberapa penyebabnya seperti pemilihan kata yang tidak tepat, pemakaian kata benda yang tidak akrab di kuping si anak, nada bicara yang tidak pas dengan kalimat, serta ekspresi wajah dan sikap tubuh yang kaku dan kadang berbeda dengan kalimat yang keluar dari sang guru.

"Karena pemahaman dan praktik Bahasa Inggris para guru saat ini rata-rata Bahasa Inggris kering atau text book, bukan komunikatif," tandas Itja. Itja menambahkan, hal itu terjadi lantaran proses aktivasi Bahasa Inggris mereka rendah.

"Padahal, sebaliknya, mereka harus luwes dan komunikatif. Kunci keberhasilan mereka ada di masalah komunikasi, yaitu penyampaian yang interaktif antara mereka dan siswa, bukan satu arah," ujar Itja.

http://edukasi.kompas.com/read/xml/2009/05/26/16571519/duh.bahasa.inggris.para.guru.kering

Siapa Pun Bisa Menerjemahkan...

2009-10-22T14:00:00.001+07:00

“Siapa pun bisa menerjemahkan,” kata seorang teman. Namun, ketika saya minta ia mencoba menerjemahkan sebuah lagu berbahasa Inggris, hasilnya sungguh membuat kami berdua tertawa terpingkal-pingkal. Duh!

Bayangkan saja, ia menerjemahkan dengan mengambil makna yang tidak dipahaminya sendiri. Dia menerjemahkan dari satu kamus Bahasa Inggris-Indonesia dan menyalinnya untuk dimasukkan dalam teks terjemahannya.

Lho, jadi, apa yang salah? Kenapa hasilnya bisa kacau begitu? Tentu saja karena penerjemah yang baik tidak akan melakukan hal seperti yang dilakukan oleh teman saya itu.

Ya, semua orang memang bisa menerjemahkan, apalagi dengan dibantu kamus. Namun, kualitas terjemahan yang baik hanya dapat dihasilkan oleh seorang penerjemah yang mematuhi berbagai proses, metode, prosedur, dan teknik penerjemahan yang tepat.

Memang, berbagai kamus tentu dapat membantu. Sebutlah, misalnya, kamus bahasa asing-bahasa sasaran (dwibahasa), kamus bahasa Inggris-Inggris, dan Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) untuk terjemahan ke dalam bahasa Indonesia.

Namun harus diingat, kamus-kamus tersebut hanya digunakan sebagai referensi untuk mendapatkan makna umum. Ketika makna tersebut akan dimasukkan di dalam teks terjemahan, penerjemah harus menyesuaikannya dengan konteks dan budaya bahasa sasaran.

Selain itu, perlu juga disadari bahwa tidak ada penerjemahan yang sempurna. Selalu diperlukan check and recheck untuk membuat suatu terjemahan berterima di bahasa sasaran.

Empat perbedaan

Lalu, sebenarnya apa sih yang dimaksud dengan penerjemahan yang baik itu?

Eltienne Dollet, yang dikutip pendapatnya oleh Eugene Nida, seorang pakar penerjemah (1964) mengatakan bahwa
• Penerjemah haruslah sepenuhnya memahami isi dan maksud pengarang yang tertuang dalam bahasa sumber.
• Penerjemah haruslah mempunyai pengetahuan bahasa yang sempurna, baik bahasa sumber, maupun bahasa terjemahannya.
• Penerjemah haruslah menghindari kecenderungan menerjemahkan kata per kata karena, apabila teknik demikian ia lakukan, maka ia akan merusak makna kata yang asli, lagi pula merusak keindahan ekspresi.
• Penerjemah haruslah mampu mempergunakan ungkapan-ungkapan yang biasa dipergunakan sehari-hari.
• Penerjemah haruslah berkemampuan menyajikan nada (tune) dan warna asli bahasa sumber dalam karya terjemahannya.

Namun, selain hal tersebut di atas, perlu pula diperhatikan bahwa setiap bahasa mempunyai sistem, peraturan kebahasaan, dan pengecualian terhadap peraturan kebahasaan sendiri-sendiri.

Kiranya, keempat perbedaan itulah yang biasanya menyebabkan kesukaran-kesukaran dalam mempelajari, memahami, apalagi untuk menguasai bahasa lain. Hal itu pun akan lebih jelas terlihat ketika penerjemah mencari padanan suatu terjemahan. Mungkin saja, ada unsur dalam bahasa sumber yang tidak ada atau berbeda di bahasa sasaran (untranslatebility), misalnya saja dari linguistik ataupun budaya. Itulah masalahnya.

Nah, masih tertarik untuk menjadi penerjemah yang baik?

Oleh: Ismarita Ramayanti M.Hum
Penulis adalah lulusan S2 UI jurusan Linguistik Spesialis Penerjemahan

http://edukasi.kompas.com/read/xml/2009/07/30/12274947/siapa.pun.bisa.menerjemahkan...

How English Is Evolving Into a Language We May Not Even Understand

2009-09-12T15:00:00.001+07:00

The targeted offenses: IF YOU ARE STOLEN, CALL THE POLICE AT ONCE. PLEASE OMNIVOROUSLY PUT THE WASTE IN GARBAGE CAN. DEFORMED MAN LAVATORY. For the past 18 months, teams of language police have been scouring Beijing on a mission to wipe out all such traces of bad English signage before the Olympics come to town in August. They're the type of goofy transgressions that we in the English homelands love to poke fun at, devoting entire Web sites to so-called Chinglish. (By the way, that last phrase means "handicapped bathroom.")

But what if these sentences aren't really bad English? What if they are evidence that the English language is happily leading an alternative lifestyle without us?

Thanks to globalization, the Allied victories in World War II, and American leadership in science and technology, English has become so successful across the world that it's escaping the boundaries of what we think it should be. In part, this is because there are fewer of us: By 2020, native speakers will make up only 15 percent of the estimated 2 billion people who will be using or learning the language. Already, most conversations in English are between nonnative speakers who use it as a lingua franca.

In China, this sort of free-form adoption of English is helped along by a shortage of native English-speaking teachers, who are hard to keep happy in rural areas for long stretches of time. An estimated 300 million Chinese — roughly equivalent to the total US population — read and write English but don't get enough quality spoken practice. The likely consequence of all this? In the future, more and more spoken English will sound increasingly like Chinese.

It's not merely that English will be salted with Chinese vocabulary for local cuisine, bon mots, and curses or that speakers will peel off words from local dialects. The Chinese and other Asians already pronounce English differently — in both subtle and not-so-subtle ways. For example, in various parts of the region they tend not to turn vowels in unstressed syllables into neutral vowels. Instead of "har-muh-nee," it's "har-moh-nee." And the sounds that begin words like this and thing are often enunciated as the letters f, v, t, or d. In Singaporean English (known as Singlish), think is pronounced "tink," and theories is "tee-oh-rees."

English will become more like Chinese in other ways, too. Some grammatical appendages unique to English (such as adding do or did to questions) will drop away, and our practice of not turning certain nouns into plurals will be ignored. Expect to be asked: "How many informations can your flash drive hold?" In Mandarin, Cantonese, and other tongues, sentences don't require subjects, which leads to phrases like this: "Our goalie not here yet, so give chance, can or not?"

One noted feature of Singlish is the use of words like ah, lah, or wah at the end of a sentence to indicate a question or get a listener to agree with you. They're each pronounced with tone — the linguistic feature that gives spoken Mandarin its musical quality — adding a specific pitch to words to alter their meaning. (If you say "xin" with an even tone, it means "heart"; with a descending tone it means "honest.") According to linguists, such words may introduce tone into other Asian-English hybrids.

Given the number of people involved, Chinglish is destined to take on a life of its own. Advertisers will play with it, as they already do in Taiwan. It will be celebrated as a form of cultural identity, as the Hong Kong Museum of Art did in a Chinglish exhibition last year. It will be used widely online and in movies, music, games, and books, as it is in Singapore. Someday, it may even be taught in schools. Ultimately, it's not that speakers will slide along a continuum, with "proper" language at one end and local English dialects on the other, as in countries where creoles are spoken. Nor will Chinglish replace native languages, as creoles sometimes do. It's that Chinglish will be just as proper as any other English on the planet.

And it's possible Chinglish will be more efficient than our version, doing away with word endings and the articles a, an, and the. After all, if you can figure out "Environmental sanitation needs your conserve," maybe conservation isn't so necessary.

Any language is constantly evolving, so it's not surprising that English, transplanted to new soil, is bearing unusual fruit. Nor is it unique that a language, spread so far from its homelands, would begin to fracture. The obvious comparison is to Latin, which broke into mutually distinct languages over hundreds of years — French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian. A less familiar example is Arabic: The speakers of its myriad dialects are connected through the written language of the Koran and, more recently, through the homogenized Arabic of Al Jazeera. But what's happening to English may be its own thing: It's mingling with so many more local languages than Latin ever did, that it's on a path toward a global tongue — what's coming to be known as Panglish. Soon, when Americans travel abroad, one of the languages they'll have to learn may be their own.

Michael Erard (author@umthebook.com) wrote about the spread of the Chinese language in issue 14.04.

http://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/magazine/16-07/st_essay

Stres Menerjemahkan Teks, Ini Rahasianya!

2009-09-12T09:00:00.001+07:00

Terbatasnya tenggang waktu yang diberikan untuk menerjemahkan sering membuat seorang penerjemah stres. Untuk itu, diperlukan cara menerjemahkan yang lebih efisien. Caranya?

Penerjemah pemula biasanya langsung menerjemahkan teks sumber dengan sering kali melihat makna kata yang tidak diketahuinya di kamus. Padahal, cara tersebut kurang efektif karena si penerjemah harus berulang kali kembali ke teks awal. Hal itu biasanya terjadi akibat salah memilih padanan kata.

Untuk itu, tak ada salahnya penerjemah membaca dulu teks yang akan diterjemahkan secara berulang kali. Cara tersebut cukup jitu dilakukan agar ia benar-benar memahami apa yang tersirat dalam teks.

Penerjemah juga harus dapat menyimpulkan apa tujuan penulisan teks tersebut. Ya, apakah untuk memberikan informasi, memengaruhi, sekadar hiburan, dan sebagainya.

Selain itu, penerjemah juga harus memahami kata-kata yang dipergunakan dalam menyatakan maksud penulis pada teks sumber. Sebab, kerap si penulis menggunakan banyak kombinasi acuan, diagram, statistik, dan lain-lainnya.

Penerjemah juga harus dapat melihat tingkat kesukaran dari teks yang akan diterjemahkan. Dia juga harus dapat memperkirakan waktu yang dibutuhkannya untuk menerjemahkan.

Perlu diingat bahwa seorang penerjemah bisa dipegang kata-katanya. Sebab, jika ia sudah menyanggupi untuk menerjemahkan teks sumber dalam tiga hari, jangan pernah minta waktu tambahan. Tentu, karena hal tersebut hanya akan menunjukkan bahwa si penerjemah itu tidak profesional.

Memang, kegiatan terjemahan ternyata tak semudah yang diperkirakan. Cukup banyak hal yang harus diperhatikan. Dan, seorang penerjemah profesional harus terus berusaha menghasilkan terjemahan yang berkualitas baik.

Pun, perlu kesabaran dan keinginan tinggi untuk terus berlatih dan belajar. Ada baiknya bila penerjemah menyimpan daftar kata-kata yang mempunyai arti khusus dari teks yang sudah diterjemahkannya.

Kiranya, semakin lama jam terbang penerjemah, semakin cepat ia dapat menghasilkan penerjemahan yang berkualitas baik. Ada kualitas, tentu ada harga. Dengan kualitas itulah, menjadi penerjemah merupakan alternatif pekerjaan yang cukup menjanjikan.

Oleh: Ismarita Ramayanti M.Hum
Penulis adalah lulusan S-2 Jurusan Linguistik Spesialis Penerjemahan UI

http://edukasi.kompas.com/read/xml/2009/07/31/13350663/stres.menerjemahkan.teks.ini.rahasianya.

Why your students have problems with listening comprehension

2009-09-04T15:00:00.001+07:00

Modern textbooks are awfully clever in the way they slip seamlessly from an interesting listening text into explanation and practice of a grammar point. It is hard to see how such a system could possibly be worse that just launching into a grammar point- until, that is, your students have listened three times and still haven't understood enough to answer the first question, let alone move onto the final language point. You can only imagine that none of the teachers who reviewed the textbook before publication had that problem, and indeed listening comprehension skills vary a lot from country to country and from person to person. The reasons why some people find listening in a foreign language difficult vary just as much, so eleven possible reasons why it might be so are given below, along with some ideas on how to tackle each point.

Why some students find listening difficult

1. They are trying to understand every word

Despite the fact that we can cope with missing whole chunks of speech having a conversation on a noisy street in our own language, many people don't seem to be able to transfer that skill easily to a second language. One method of tackling this is to show them how to identify the important words that they need to listen out for. In English this is shown in an easy-to-spot way by which words in the sentence are stressed (spoken louder and longer). Another is to give them one very easy task that you know they can do even if they don't get 90% of what is being said to build up their confidence, such as identifying the name of a famous person or spotting something that is mentioned many times.

2. They get left behind trying to work out what a previous word meant

This is one aspect of the problem above that all people speaking a foreign language have experienced at one time or another. This often happens when you hear a word you half remember and find you have completely lost the thread of what was being said by the time you remember what it means, but can also happen with words you are trying to work out that sound similar to something in your language, words you are trying to work out from the context or words you have heard many times before and are trying to guess the meaning of once and for all. In individual listenings you can cut down on this problem with vocab pre-teach and by getting students to talk about the same topic first to bring the relevant vocabulary for that topic area nearer the front of their brain. You could also use a listening that is in shorter segments or use the pause button to give their brains a chance to catch up, but teaching them the skill of coping with the multiple demands of listening and working out what words mean is not so easy. One training method is to use a listening or two to get them to concentrate just on guessing words from context. Another is to load up the tasks even more by adding a logic puzzle or listening and writing task, so that just listening and trying to remember words seems like an easier option. Finally, spend a lot of time revising vocabulary and doing skills work where they come into contact with it and use it, and show students how to do the same in their own time, so that the amount of half remembered vocab is much less.

3. They just don't know the most important words

Again, doing vocabulary pre-teaching before each listening as a short term solution and working on the skill of guessing vocab from context can help, but please make sure that you practice this with words that can actually be guessed from context (a weakness of many textbooks) and that you work on that with reading texts for a while to build up to the much more difficult skill of guessing vocab and listening at the same time. The other solution is simply to build up their vocabulary and teach them how they can do the same in their own time with vocabulary lists, graded readers, monolingual dictionary use etc.

4. They don't recognise the words that they know

If you have a well-graded textbook for your class, this is probably a more common (and more tragic) problem than not knowing the vocabulary at all. Apart from just being too busy thinking about other things and missing a word, common reasons why students might not recognise a word include not distinguishing between different sounds in English (e.g. /l/ and /r/ in "led" and "red" for many Asians), or conversely trying to listen for differences that do not exist, e.g. not knowing words like "there", "their" and "they're" are homophones. Other reasons are problems with word stress, sentence stress, and sound changes when words are spoken together in natural speech such as weak forms. What all this boils down to is that sometimes pronunciation work is the most important part of listening comprehension skills building.

5. They have problems with different accents

In a modern textbook, students have to not only deal with a variety of British, American and Australian accents, but might also have Indian or French thrown in. Whilst this is theoretically useful if or when they get a job in a multinational company, it might not be the additional challenge they need right now- especially if they studied exclusively American English at school. Possibilities for making a particular listening with a tricky accent easier include rerecording it with some other teachers before class, reading all or part of the tapescript out in your (hopefully more familiar and therefore easier) accent, and giving them a listening task where the written questions help out like gap fills. If it is an accent they particularly need to understand, e.g., if they are sorting out the outsourcing to India, you could actually spend part of a lesson on the characteristics of that accent. In order to build up their ability to deal with different accents in the longer term, the best way is just to get them listening to a lot of English, e.g. TV without dubbing or BBC World Service Radio. You might also want to think about concentrating your pronunciation work on sounds that they need to understand many different accents rather than one, and on concentrating on listenings with accents that are relevant for that particular group of students, e.g. the nationality of their head office.

6. They lack listening stamina/ they get tired

This is again one that anyone who has lived in a foreign country knows well- you are doing fine with the conversation or movie until your brain seems to reach saturation point and from then on nothing goes in until you escape to the toilet for 10 minutes. The first thing you'll need to bear in mind is to build up the length of the texts you use (or the lengths between pauses) over the course in exactly the same way as you build up the difficulty of the texts and tasks. You can make the first time they listen to a longer text a success and therefore a confidence booster by doing it in a part of the lesson and part of the day when they are most alert, by not overloading their brains with new language beforehand, and by giving them a break or easy activity before they start. You can build up their stamina by also making the speaking tasks longer and longer during the term, and they can practice the same thing outside class by watching an English movie with subtitles and taking the subtitles off for longer and longer periods each time.

7. They have a mental block

This could be not just a case of a student having struggled with badly graded listening texts in school, exams or self-study materials, but even of a whole national myth that people from their country find listening to English difficult. Whatever the reason, before you can build up their skills they need their confidence back. The easiest solution is just to use much easier texts, perhaps using them mainly as a prompt to discussion or grammar presentations to stop them feeling patronized. You can disguise other easy listening comprehension tasks as pronunciation work on linked speech etc. in the same way.

8. They are distracted by background noise

Being able to cope with background noise is another skill that does not easily transfer from L1 and builds up along with students' listening and general language skills. As well as making sure the tape doesn't have lots of hiss or worse (e.g. by recording tape to tape at normal speed not double speed, by using the original or by adjusting the bass and treble) and choosing a recording with no street noise etc, you also need to cut down on noise inside and outside the classroom. Plan listenings for when you know it will be quiet outside, e.g. not at lunchtime or when the class next door is also doing a listening. Cut down on noise inside the classroom by doing the first task with books closed and pens down. Boost their confidence by letting them do the same listening on headphones and showing them how much easier it is. Finally, when they start to get used to it, give them an additional challenge by using a recording with background noise such as a cocktail party conversation.

9. They can't cope with not having images

Young people nowadays, they just can't cope without multimedia! Although having students who are not used to listening to the radio in their own language can't help, most students find not having body language and other cues to help a particular difficulty in a foreign language. Setting the scene with some photos of the people speaking can help, especially tasks where they put the pictures in order as they listen, and using video instead makes a nice change and is a good way of making skills such as guessing vocab from context easier and more natural.

10. They have hearing problems

As well as people such as older students who have general difficulty in hearing and need to be sat close to the cassette, you might also have students who have problems hearing particular frequencies or who have particular problems with background noise. As well as playing around with the graphic equaliser and doing the other tips above for background noise, you could also try setting most listening tasks as homework and/ or letting one or more students read from the tapescript as they listen.

11. They can't tell the difference between the different voices

This was the problem that took me longest to twig, but voices that are clearly distinct to a native speaker can be completely confusing for a non-native speaker. I haven't quite worked out why those problems occur on some occasions and not on others, but the native speaker could be identifying a lisp, an accent or a difference in range of tone that escapes a student. You can avoid these problems by using texts with one woman and one man, or you can practice them with tasks where the students only have to count how many times the speaker changes.

Copyright © 2008 Alex Case.

http://www.usingenglish.com/teachers/articles/why-your-students-have-problems-with-listening-comprehension.html

Revolutionary approach to learning languages

2009-08-22T15:00:00.001+07:00

The teaching of languages could be revolutionised following ground-breaking research by Victoria University PhD graduate Paul Sulzberger.

Dr Sulzberger has found that the best way to learn a language is through frequent exposure to its sound patterns—even if you haven't a clue what it all means.

"However crazy it might sound, just listening to the language, even though you don’t understand it, is critical. A lot of language teachers may not accept that," he says.

"Our ability to learn new words is directly related to how often we have been exposed to the particular combinations of the sounds which make up the words. If you want to learn Spanish, for example, frequently listening to a Spanish language radio station on the internet will dramatically boost your ability to pick up the language and learn new words."

Dr Sulzberger's research challenges existing language learning theory. His main hypothesis is that simply listening to a new language sets up the structures in the brain required to learn the words.

"Neural tissue required to learn and understand a new language will develop automatically from simple exposure to the language—which is how babies learn their first language," Dr Sulzberger says.

He was prompted to undertake the research after spending seven years teaching Russian to New Zealand students and observing drop-out patterns.

"I was very conscious of the huge difficulties students have when they tackle another language, especially at the beginning. Many drop out because they feel they are not making progress."

Dr Sulzberger says he was interested in what makes it so difficult to learn foreign words when we are constantly learning new ones in our native language. He found the answer in the way the brain develops neural structures when hearing new combinations of sounds.

"When we are trying to learn new foreign words we are faced with sounds for which we may have absolutely no neural representation. A student trying to learn a foreign language may have few pre-existing neural structures to build on in order to remember the words."

Dr Sulzberger looked for ways people could develop these structures to make the learning process easier. His finding was simple: extensive exposure to the language, something made easier by globalisation and new technology.

"It is easier to learn languages these days because they are so accessible now. You can go home and watch the news in French on the internet."

He says people trying to learn a foreign language in their home country are at a disadvantage compared to those who travel to another country and immerse themselves in its sounds and culture. For the same reason, he says, we need to rethink the way languages are taught.

"Teachers should recognise the importance of extensive aural exposure to a language. One hour a day of studying French text in a classroom is not enough—but an extra hour listening to it on the iPod would make a huge difference," Dr Sulzberger says.

"Language is a skill, it's not like learning a fact. If you want to be a weight lifter, you’ve got to develop the muscle - you can't learn weightlifting from a book. To learn a language you have to grow the appropriate brain tissue, and you do this by lots of listening—songs and movies are great!"

http://www.victoria.ac.nz/home/about/newspubs/news/ViewNews.aspx?id=2458&newslabel=hn

Learning English: Should You Lose the Accent?

2009-08-22T09:00:00.000+07:00

When learning English as a second language, many students feel that they have failed if they do not speak it flawlessly and without an accent. There are a few things that you do need to know if you are serious about speaking the language well.

When learning English as a second language, many students feel that they have failed if they do not speak it flawlessly and without an accent. The truth is, however, that the majority of ESL students will not be able to get rid of their accent in English completely without many years of hard work. If you are able to speak clearly and have others understand you, then there is nothing wrong with having an accent.

What IS Important

Being able to speak like a native does not necessarily mean that you will be accent free. In fact, your accent could be just what you need to set your voice apart from millions of others. However, there are a few things that you do need to know if you are serious about speaking the language well.

Avoid common mispronunciations. This varies depending on your mother tongue, but most people have some set pronunciations that can cause problems in English. For example, most adult Asians pronounce the letter "r" as "l". Spanish speakers will usually say "b" for the letter "v". If you know what your particular mispronunciations are, you can be conscious of them and make a real effort not to say these sounds wrong. This will make your English far more understandable. Children will have less of a problem with this than adults will.

Enunciate. In your rush to speak English like a native, you may try to speed up, but this can make it hard for people to understand you. Slow down a little and make sure you say each word clearly and there will be far less chance of misunderstanding. You can practice your enunciation as well. This does not mean that you need to get rid of your accent, only that you need to speak clearly so that everyone will understand what you have said. This is something with which many native English speakers also have problems.

Increase your vocabulary. It is far easier to express yourself if you know what words to use. This basically means you need to do a lot of studying and reading. Watching movies and television shows in English can also help with building vocabulary, as well as improving your accent. Speaking with others is another method of learning new words, as long as you are with someone you feel comfortable asking the definition from. Otherwise, get in the practice of carrying a small pocket dictionary with you.

Practice, practice, practice. The more you practice, the better you will get at speaking English. That means striking up conversations with strangers, calling up friends on the phone to speak English (phones can be difficult, but are excellent practice for speaking clearly), and getting in as much conversation time as possible. Many English students even hire someone to converse with them, but you should be able to find plenty of people who are happy just to have a conversation.

If you really do wish to reduce your accent, then there are specialists who help people with this. A speech therapist will be able to help you move your mouth differently than you are accustomed to and help you correct the more common pronunciation problems so that you will be able to speak more like a native speaker.

Speaking English well takes time and practice. There is no instant method for picking up a new language perfectly and while you may want to work on speaking more like a native, it isn't necessary. In fact, you may find that many people enjoy listening to an accent, as long as you are able to speak clearly and be understood.

Author: Amy Nutt
http://www.a-language-guide.com/Articles/Content/Learning_English_Should_You_Lose_the_Accent-286.html

Bahasa Indonesia dan Inggris, Sama Pentingnya!

2009-08-15T15:00:00.002+07:00

Institusi pendidikan yang menggunakan konsep dwibahasa (bilingual) harus didukung penuh oleh sekolah, guru, serta kurikulum dan metode pengajaran yang tepat. Jika tidak, selain berakibat pada sisi akademis dan keterampilan siswa, longgarnya ikatan terhadap penggunaan bahasa nasional bisa berpengaruh buruk pada nasionalisme mereka.

Hal tersebut dikatakan oleh Antarina SF Amir, Ketua High/Scope Indonesia, dalam jumpa pers dan seminar "Dual Language Essentials for Teachers and Administrastors" di Jakarta. Acara sosialisasi konsep dual language tersebut menghadirkan pembicara Dr David Freeman dan Dr Yvone Freeman, "pasutri linguistik" dari Universitas Arizona, Amerika Serikat.

Untuk itulah, tambah Antarina, keinginan orangtua membekali anak-anaknya dengan bahasa Inggris sebaiknya harus dengan berbagai pertimbangan matang. Khususnya, ketika mereka membidik sekolah-sekolah favorit yang menawarkan konsep tersebut. Alasannya, konsep dwibahasa tidak sekadar mengubah bahasa pengantar dari bahasa Indonesia ke bahasa Inggris.

Antarina mengatakan, aplikasi konsep tersebut harus didukung penuh oleh sekolah, guru, serta kurikulum dan metode pengajaran yang tepat. "Kalau tidak, akibatnya bisa berpengaruh besar pada sisi akademis dan keterampilan siswa. Selain itu, kian minimnya penggunaan bahasa nasional atau Indonesia juga akan berpengaruh buruk pada nasionalisme siswa terhadap bahasa ibunya sendiri," tandas Antarina.

"Subtractive" dan "Additive"

Antarina mengatakan, ada beberapa jenis metode pengajaran bahasa Inggris pada siswa yang bahasa pertamanya bukan bahasa Inggris. Namun umumnya, secara garis besar metode tersebut bisa diklasifikasikan dalam dua kelompok besar, yaitu Subtractive Programs dan Additive Programs.

Pada Subtractive Programs, instruksi pengajaran disampaikan dalam bahasa Inggris. Pada program ini, jelaslah bahwa bahasa pertama atau bahasa Indonesia digantikan sepenuhnya oleh bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa kedua. "Dengan konsep ini beberapa sekolah mengajarkan bahasa Indonesia hanya di saat pelajaran bahasa Indonesia, karena semua mata pelajaran diberikan dalam bahasa Inggris," kata Antarina.

Itulah kiranya, Antarina memiliki kekhawatiran besar terhadap para siswa sebagai generasi muda Indonesia. "Karena dalam bahasa Inggris siswa memang akan menjadi pandai, baik dalam bahasa akademis maupun sosial. Sebaliknya, ketika harus berbahasa Indonesia mereka hanya sebatas bahasa sosial saja, karena sering digunakan hanya sebagai bahasa percakapan saja," ujarnya.

Pendapat tersebut diamini oleh Dr David Freeman. David mengatakan, penelitiannya di beberapa negara mengungkapkan, metode Subtractive berisiko mengurangi keterampilan berbahasa pertama pada siswa.

"Perlahan mereka semakin tenggelam pada bahasa kedua dan sebaliknya semakin jauh dari bahasa ibu, akibatnya mereka tidak punya kebanggaan terhadap bahasa nasionalnya sendiri," kata David.

Sementara itu, proses pembelajaran pada Additive Programs dilakukan dalam bahasa Indonesia maupun bahasa Inggris. "Dengan metode ini sekolah bisa mengembangkan keterampilan berbahasa akademik siswa sekaligus pada kedua bahasa tersebut," tutur Antarina.

Antarina menambahkan, siswa bukan hanya didorong menguasai bahasa Inggris, tetapi menguatkan kemampuan bahasa Indonesianya sendiri. "Dengan metode ini, bahasa Inggris dan bahasa Indonesia menjadi sama pentingnya, kualitas siswa menggunakan dua bahasa bisa diandalkan baik pada bahasa akademis maupun sosial," ujar Antarina.

Berdasarkan itulah, saat ini, kata Antarina, High/Scope memilih mengaplikasikan sistem dual language yang mengacu pada Additive Programs tersebut sebagai proses belajar mengajar siswa. Hal itu sekaligus mendapuk High/Scope sebagai instansi pertama yang mengaplikasikan program ini di Indonesia.

Untuk kebutuhan tersebut, kurikulum didesain sedemikian rupa dalam satu konsep atau ide materi pelajaran yang terintegrasi dari beberapa mata pelajaran sekaligus.

"Satu tema kami sinergikan sekaligus dari semua mata pelajaran mulai dari sains, matematika, sosial, bahasa Inggris, dan bahasa Indonesia, hal ini sekaligus menjadikan siswa bukan hanya baik dalam berbahasa melainkan juga keterampilan lain," tukas Antarina.

http://edukasi.kompas.com/read/xml/2009/05/14/10131427/bahasa.indonesia.dan.inggris.sama.pentingnya..

Yuk, Belajar Bahasa Inggris Melalui Lingkungan

2009-08-14T15:00:00.003+07:00

Di benak sebagian para siswa masih tertanam paradigma lama yang menganggap bahwa kesuksesan belajar Bahasa Inggris adalah karena bakat yang dimiliki. Anggapan ini mendorong para siswa enggan belajar Bahasa Inggris. Mereka cenderung bersikap lebih cepat putus asa dan menyerah setiap menemui kesulitan dalam belajar atau mengerjakan tugas-tugas yang diberikan.

Belajar Bahasa Inggris mulanya merupakan kegiatan belajar yang dilakukan di dalam ruangan (indoor learning). Namun sekarang, belajar Bahasa Inggris dapat dilakukan di mana saja dan kapan saja dengan menggunakan media apa pun. Di samping pelajaran yang diterima di dalam kelas, siswa dapat belajar Bahasa Inggris di tempat- tempat kursus dan lembaga pendidikan nonsekolah lainnya.

Fenomena ini tentunya mendorong para guru dan orangtua untuk memanfaatkan sarana dan prasarana yang tersedia sebagai media belajar Bahasa Inggris secara menyenangkan. Hal ini tentunya harus dibarengi dengan kesadaran dan motivasi yang tinggi dari siswanya sendiri untuk belajar Bahasa Inggris secara sungguh-sungguh.

Berpikir kreatif

Selain memanfaatkan tempat-tempat kursus yang semakin bertebaran, diharapkan para siswa dan pihak-pihak yang terkait, seperti orangtua dan guru, mampu berpikir kreatif dengan memanfaatkan lingkungan yang ada di sekitar, terutama bagi para siswa yang merupakan subyek pembelajaran. Siswa hendaknya dapat bersikap aktif dalam belajar Bahasa Inggris dan tak hanya mengandalkan materi yang diberikan guru di sekolah.

Sebagai contoh, setiap siswa pasti mempunyai televisi, radio, tape recorder, dan telepon genggam. Lantas terbesit pertanyaan di benak kita, bagaimana barang-barang itu dapat digunakan untuk belajar Bahasa Inggris?

Hampir setiap siswa pasti melihat tayangan televisi setiap harinya. Namun hendaknya siswa dapat bersikap cerdas dalam memilih tayangan yang akan dilihat. Siswa dapat memilih acara dengan sajian bahasa Inggris. Ini bukan berarti kita dilarang melihat acara lain dan bukan berarti juga kita tidak cinta terhadap Bahasa Indonesia.

Kemudian bagaimana cara kita belajar dengan melihat televisi? Kita dapat mengasah kemampuan mendengar (listening skill) dengan mendengarkan percakapan yang ada dalam film-film barat (western movie).

Sembari mendengarkan percakapan bahasa Inggris, kita dapat mencatat kata-kata baru yang belum pernah kita dengar ataupun kita mengerti artinya sebelumnya. Secara tidak langsung kita juga dapat menambah perbendaharaan kata-kata baru (new vocabularies).

Televisi musik

Bila tidak suka melihat western movie, bagi para pelajar remaja dapat melihat music television (MTV). Siswa dapat belajar menirukan kata-kata yang diucapkan oleh sang VJ (video jockey) yang dapat dipastikan semuanya fasih dalam berbahasa Inggris. Siswa juga dapat belajar tentang gambit yang digunakan, bagaimana membuka (opening) dan menutup (closing) suatu acara.

Radio dan tape recorder juga dapat dimanfaatkan untuk belajar bahasa Inggris. Siswa dapat memilih program-program yang ada di radio yang menggunakan bahasa Inggris sekaligus berpartisipasi aktif dengan menelepon atau dengan mengirim pesan singkat tentunya dengan menggunakan bahasa Inggris.

Siswa dapat belajar banyak dari seorang DJ (disc jockey) di radio tersebut. Siswa dapat belajar bagaimana cara menyapa orang lain serta bagaimana membuka dan menutup suatu percakapan.

Bagi para siswa yang gemar mendengarkan lagu-lagu barat (western music), belajarlah untuk tidak hanya menjadi pendengar pasif. Selain menikmati musik yang kita dengarkan, alangkah lebih bijaknya jika kita mencari tahu apa arti dari lirik lagu yang kita dengar. Secara tidak langsung siswa akan diajak untuk meningkatkan kemampuan mendengar dan penguasaan terhadap kosakata baru.

Seperti halnya televisi, radio, dan tape recorder, telepon genggam (HP) juga dapat digunakan sebagai sarana untuk belajar bahasa Inggris. Kita dapat mengatur sedemikian rupa sehingga perintah-perintah dan layanan dalam HP menggunakan bahasa Inggris.

Selain itu, kita dapat mengirim pesan singkat (SMS) ke sesama teman dengan menggunakan bahasa Inggris. Cara-cara yang telah disampaikan di atas memang terlihat sepele, tetapi hanya segelintir orang yang bersedia mempraktikkannya.

Jika secara kebetulan siswa bertempat tinggal di sekitar objek wisata, belajar bahasa Inggris dapat dilakukan dengan lebih atraktif. Siswa dapat belajar bahasa Inggris langsung dengan para wisatawan asing yang berkunjung (native speaker).

Siswa diharapkan berani untuk terlibat percakapan secara langsung dengan turis atau paling tidak dapat sekadar menyapa dengan menggunakan ekspresi dan pengucapan yang benar. Maka tidaklah mengherankan jika sebagian anak-anak di Bali atau Yogyakarta sudah fasih berbahasa Inggris.

Bermain sambil belajar

Lingkungan juga menyediakan sarana untuk belajar bahasa Inggris bagi anak-anak. Karakteristik utama anak-anak adalah bermain sambil belajar. Para orangtua dan guru dapat mengajak putra putri dan siswanya untuk mengunjungi taman kota, kebun binatang, dan bahkan mengajak mereka untuk sekadar duduk- duduk di taman rumah. Para orangtua dan guru mengenalkan secara langsung benda-benda yang ada di sekitar dengan menggunakan bahasa Inggris.

Sebagian orangtua mungkin merasa khawatir karena melatih putra putri mereka untuk belajar berbagai macam bahasa secara bersamaan. Pada dasarnya anak-anak tidak akan merasa terbebani dengan berbagai macam bahasa yang diajarkan kepada mereka.

Secara alamiah anak-anak mempunyai alat untuk belajar bahasa secara bersamaan yang disebut sebagai language acquisition device (LAD) yang merupakan anugerah Tuhan.

Justru sebaliknya, pembelajaran berbagai macam bahasa dalam waktu yang bersamaan sedini mungkin adalah langkah yang efektif. Selain LAD yang dimiliki anak-anak adalah faktor usia juga sangat mendukung. Pada usia dini, daya tangkap anak-anak terhadap materi yang diberikan akan lebih baik.

Dengan demikian, banyak cara yang dapat digunakan untuk belajar bahasa Inggris secara menyenangkan. Dengan adanya sikap cerdas dan pikiran yang kreatif, siswa diharapkan dapat termotivasi untuk lebih tekun belajar Bahasa Inggris dan dapat menumbuhkan kesadaran bahwa kesuksesan dalam belajar bahasa Inggris bukan karena bakat (talent), tetapi karena kemauan (willingness).

Penulis: Erna Adita Kusumawati, S. PD/Pengajar Bahasa Inggris Mahasiswa Pascasarjana Pendidikan Bahasa InggrisUniversitas Sebelas Maret, Solo

http://edukasi.kompas.com/read/xml/2009/04/13/09253564/yuk.belajar.bahasa.inggris.melalui.lingkungan

Must the Whole World Speak English?

2009-08-11T15:00:00.002+07:00

The French educational world is convulsed by a report on the future of its school system. A commission headed by education expert Claude Thélot has recommended that the teaching of English be mandatory in all French schools and that it be accorded the same importance as the French language and mathematics. The commission takes the position that English is now the "language of international communication" and that French young people must be taught to speak and write it fluently.

Another report on the level of knowledge of English attained by youngsters in eight European countries gives France the lowest rating, claiming the French actually regressed between 1996 and 2002. The Spanish, traditionally the least polyglot of western European nationalities, are now doing better than the French. Under a 1990 law, all Spanish schoolchildren are now taught a foreign language (98% choose English) from the age of 8 and in some regions start at 6. In the Madrid region there are 26 bilingual schools and colleges in which courses-with the exception of Spanish literature and mathematics-are taught in English; by 2007 there will be 110.

Unlike the Americans and British, who simply allow the spread of English to take its course, the French have spent billions on promoting their language in French-speaking territories in Africa and the Pacific. Pushed by the Académie Française, the French government has imposed sanctions on officials or agencies financed by taxes that are found using Americanisms or English phrases where a French equivalent exists. Some French parliamentarians have raised an angry fuss over the Olympic Games' press conferences being held in English and over a recent report by the European Central Bank to the European Parliament given in English. It was not so long ago that the EU Secretary-General, when asked why he invariably gave press conferences in French (with no translation), replied: "Because French is the language of diplomacy," adding, under his breath, "and civilization." Recently the academician Maurice Druon, together with a group of elderly French lawyers, demanded that French be made the judicial language of Europe.

Professor Claude Hagège of the Collège de France has come to agree with the idea of teaching English in French primary schools but only if another language is taught at the same time. Both Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Minister of Education François Fillon support the proposal to make teaching English mandatory. However, Jacques Chirac-who hates the spread of English-has made what he sees as a high-minded plea for cultural diversity and the richness of language. "Nothing," he says, "would be worse for humanity than to move toward a situation where we speak only one language." That's an odd statement coming from a man committed to an EU in which the harmonization process is being extended to all laws and administrations having the slightest impact on its members' economies and whose aim is the "United States of Europe."

Must not a superstate of a score of nations have a common language? The Germans, the principal allies of the French in the EU, have allowed English to replace French as their country's second language in schools and in business. Indeed, some German firms with big export interests already hold board meetings in English. They find it "more convenient." That is also an increasing practice in Sweden and the Netherlands.

The Inevitable Spread

As the author of more than 40 books-most of which have been translated, some into as many as 30 languages-I have some insight into the process whereby English spreads. The Dutch and the Swedes no longer bother to bring out local-language editions of my books. However, some languages present particular problems. There have to be two Portuguese-language editions, one translation done in Lisbon for Portugal proper, another in Rio de Janeiro for Brazil, evidence of strong linguistic bifurcation. The same happens with Spanish-one translation in Madrid for Spain, another in Buenos Aires for Latin America. For China there have to be three editions: one Big Letter, one Small Letter and one for Hong Kong.

Languages are things of beauty. But linguistics students know perfectly well that language cannot be dictated by elites ruling from above. It is the one naturally democratic force in the world-surging up from below. That is why French schoolchildren, no matter what the Académie Française orders, say "Yeah" instead of "Oui." As for the further spread of English, much will depend on what happens in India, a subcontinent of countless languages and dialects. The British promoted Hindi as a common language for India. But under mid-19th-century reforms, English was promulgated as the language of administration. Educated Indians today speak and write English fluently, and it is spreading faster in India than in any other country. Indians, even those from poor families, recognize English to be their passport to affluence, not least through telephonic outsourcing. Today millions earn their living by speaking English.

India will soon be the world's most populous country. By 2050 India, with a population of 1.6 billion, will have overtaken China (1.4 billion). If India becomes a predominantly English-speaking country, as I expect will happen, China will have to follow suit or risk relegation. There are high stakes in the global language game. But there's not much we can do about it. Events will take their course. Everyone should calm down-and learn English.

http://www.forbes.com/global/2004/1129/012.html

Two languages are better than one

2009-08-01T15:00:00.002+07:00

Bringing up your children to be bilingual gives them all sorts of advantages, says Monica Porter

Is raising children bilingually a good idea? It's a question with a lot of resonance in my own life. My family is originally from Hungary, and although we emigrated to England when I was four, I never forgot my mother tongue. All the time I was growing up, my parents spoke Hungarian to me (even though I answered them in English). Hungarian didn't seem like the most useful language in the world, but I was glad I could speak and write it - especially when I became a journalist and my first two books were on Hungarian themes and required a working knowledge of the language.

But when my own sons - now 20 and 26 - were born, I had no desire to teach them Hungarian. They were a further generation removed from the Hungarian connection, and in the 70s and 80s Hungary was still a remote Soviet satellite - so what advantage could its arcane language offer them?

Fast forward to the 21st century, and Hungary is a full-blown democracy about to enter the EU fold, and a popular holiday destination. My sons now bemoan the fact that I never taught them Hungarian, as they would love to take their girlfriends to Budapest and chat with their relatives. So I guess I got it wrong ...

Loli Farrell, who is Spanish but married to an English businessman and living in London, spoke only in Spanish to her children Elena and Alan - now in their 20s - while they were growing up. Today they are bilingual. "They have both stayed with my family in Spain for prolonged periods, speaking only Spanish, making native friends and immersed in the culture," says Loli. "It gives another dimension to their lives."

But that wasn't the reason Loli passed on her native language to her children. "I spoke to them in Spanish because I had thoughts and feelings that I knew I could only communicate to them in the language in which my mind works. I wanted to express myself genuinely, so that they could know me as I really am, rather than an English-language version of me."

Her thinking is in sharp contrast to the widely-held beliefs of a generation earlier. My own bilingual upbringing notwithstanding, most parents of that era felt that absorbing more than one language in early childhood would confuse their offspring and be detrimental to their learning. My partner Nick - the son of an English father and Danish mother - remembers the accepted wisdom of the day: "Not only did my mother not speak to me in Danish, but my parents were also both fluent in German and French and they refused to teach me those, too. They felt it would slow down my development in English, that I would get muddled while working out how all the bits fit together."

Professor Tony Cline of Luton University's Centre for Education Studies is a psychologist specialising in language development in children. He says we have revised our image of how the brain works. "We used to think it had a limited capacity, like a milk bottle, and that it was impossible to pour two pints of milk into a pint bottle. Now we understand that our brains are capable of making an infinite number of connections; there is no limit to what we can take in."

He concedes that there might be temporary disadvantages in having a bilingual childhood: "The child sometimes applies the rules of one language to another, and so makes mistakes. But these grammatical 'errors' are trivial and soon outgrown. Any slight delays in language development are more than outweighed by the benefits of bilingualism." These include an enlarged cultural repertoire, the boost to intellectual growth that comes from accessing the literature of different countries, and the self-evident practical benefits in an era of globalisation.

And, Cline points out, there is an equally important social advantage. "Experiments have shown that bilingual children are better at taking the perspective of another person - ie, having more than one cultural 'identity' heightens your ability to put yourself into someone else's shoes. And while the practical usefulness of a language depends on how widely spoken it is internationally, in terms of its broader, more abstract value, all languages are equal."

Multilingual Matters is a Bristol-based publishing firm specialising in books on all aspects of multi-lingualism, and producing a newsletter for bilingual (and trilingual) families around the world. It was started nearly 25 years ago by Mike Grover and his Finnish wife, Marjukka, who were bringing up their two sons in both English and Finnish and found that they were frustrated by a lack of practical advice.

As Marjukka explains, "Flawed research in Wales in the 50s produced quite negative conclusions and the belief that raising children with more than one language would result in them having poor language skills. It wasn't until the 80s that this was discredited by more sophisticated studies in Canada.

"When my children were born, I immersed them from the beginning in Finnish, and while I was sure I was doing the right thing, I wanted to learn more about the business of raising bilinguals. A lot of research had been done on it, but it had no natural 'home'. So we formed MM."

Multi-lingual families are in constant need of guidance, she says, because bringing up children with more than one language can be a real struggle. Some children rebel against the "minority language", which makes the parent who speaks it feel rejected and upsets family relationships. Some parents worry about their children's habit of mixing different languages in the same sentence, or agonise over whether a child's dyslexia or speech defect is caused by their bilingualism. "Multi-lingualism is a wholly positive thing in any child's life," says Marjukka. "But it mustn't become a battleground.

"The 'one-parent, one-language' approach - in which the mother speaks to the children in one language and the father in another - is perfectly acceptable, but rules should not be carved in stone. For example, young children are often embarrassed if a parent speaks to them in a foreign language when they are with their English-speaking friends. It sets them apart from their peers at an age when they like to conform. I was sensitive to this, so although my rule was to speak to my children only in Finnish, I did make exceptions."

In her view - backed up by the experts - it is best to start teaching a child a second language from birth. "Then it is effortless, the languages are absorbed naturally, s if they were one. From the age of three they separate the languages and it takes a more concentrated effort to learn them."

Studies carried out last year in Britain concluded that children who speak two languages do better at school than those who speak only one. Dr Raymonde Sneddon, from the School of Education and Community Studies at the University of East London, was able to demonstrate that far from being confused by using different languages, these children display greater comprehension when reading English. They tend to be in higher ability groups - because the skills they acquire and develop in their language use is transferred to other subjects.

A study in Leicester found that bilingualism improved a child's overall educational performance by instilling a more subtle use of language and better communication skills. Arvind Bhatt, who led the study, said its findings contradicted the controversial comments made in 2002 by the home secretary, David Blunkett, who decried the "negative impact" on society of children growing up with different languages at home and at school.

"Blunkett's view was based on the false premise that children can learn only one language at a time and that learning a mother tongue interferes with English," says Bhatt. "But we found that bilingualism was an asset in the long term, although it can cause some short-term difficulties."

The Grovers' son, Sami, now edits MM's Bilingual Family Newsletter. "It can be frustrating bringing a child up with two or more languages," he admits, "particularly if there is no support network around you. A family has to be patient, listen to the needs of their child and, if appropriate, seek professional advice from experts familiar with research on multilingualism. When nurtured with patience and sensitivity, multiple languages can be source of great wealth for children, their families and society in general."

Now I really feel guilty. I wonder if it's too late to start teaching my kids Hungarian? I've still got an old primer somewhere ...

'My Italian was my gift'
Sara Stowe is an English singer and mother of two.

I was brought up speaking English, but I studied in Milan and spoke Italian by the time my son Lewis, now nine, was born. I didn't think of speaking to him in Italian, but when my daughter Harriet was born four years later I was amazed to hear the fluent French of a two-year-old waiting for her sister at my son's school. This child had grown up in a bilingual family, and hearing her set me on the strange enterprise of bringing Harriet up to speak Italian as well as English.

I did an A-level course to brush up on my skills and decided I would always speak to Harriet in Italian. It must have been odd for Lewis but he and I have always sung together in French, so adding another set of sounds was just a continuation of what had been going on before.

Now Harriet speaks good Italian, and after nursery she got a place in the European school in Oxford, a specialist language school. By the age of two Harriet could understand my Italian but would reply in English. At nursery she spoke English until she made friends with an Italian two-year-old and since then she has spoken to me in Italian. I think that if you speak a language fairly well (even if not perfectly) you have a gift to pass on.

'It's all about having fun'
Pascale Gravell was born and brought up in France. She is a mother of five and editor of familiesmagazine.co.uk

The trick to bilingualism is knowing what will work in your family. We have lots of relatives in France so we make a point of spending holiday time with them. Each of my children has at least one cousin of their own age, and they spend hours outdoors playing together. There is no sense of it being about learning - it's just about communication. Each time we come back my children have beautiful accents, as well as the latest slang and funny expressions that couldn't possibly have come from me. Then it's back to their English school and it's all downhill until the next holidays.

I do have a few other tips, though. First, install French TV at home (we're even thinking of cutting off the English TV channels). Second, find your children French friends. Third, enrol them at a French nursery before they start (English) school. We read a lot of story books in French and have a subscription to a fun French magazine.

Although I talk to my children in French at home, I have to confess that they do still speak to me in English. It breaks my heart, but they can speak French and understand it when they need to.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2004/mar/03/familyandrelationships.features10

Learning languages 'boosts brain'

2009-07-31T15:00:00.003+07:00

Learning a second language "boosts" brain-power, scientists believe.

Researchers from University College London studied the brains of 105 people - 80 of whom were bilingual.

They found learning other languages altered grey matter - the area of the brain which processes information - in the same way exercise builds muscles.

People who learned a second language at a younger age were also more likely to have more advanced grey matter than those who learned later, the team said.

Scientists already know the brain has the ability to change its structure as a result of stimulation - an effect known as plasticity - but this research demonstrates how learning languages develops it.

The team took scans of 25 Britons who did not speak a second language, 25 people who had learned another European language before the age of five and 33 bilinguals who had learned a second language between 10 and 15 years old.

The scans revealed the density of the grey matter in the left inferior parietal cortex of the brain was greater in bilinguals than in those without a second language.

The effect was particularly noticeable in the "early" bilinguals, the findings published in the journal Nature revealed.

The findings were also replicated in a study of 22 native Italian speakers who had learned English as a second language between the ages of two and 34.

Lead researcher Andrea Mechelli, of the Institute of Neurology at UCL, said the findings explained why younger people found it easier to learn second languages.

Impact

"It means that older learners won't be as fluent as people who learned earlier in life.

"They won't be as good as early bilinguals who learned, for example, before the age of five or before the age of 10."

But Cilt, the national centre for languages, cast doubt on whether learning languages was easier at a younger age.

A spokeswoman said: "There are conflicting views about the comparative impact of language learning in different age groups, based both on findings and anecdotal evidence."

However, she said it was important to get young people learning languages in the UK.

Only one in 10 UK workers can speak a foreign language, a recent survey revealed.

But by 2010 all primary schools will have to provide language lessons for children.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3739690.stm

Participial phrases

2009-07-25T15:00:00.003+07:00

Participial phrases merupakan frase yang terdiri dari past atau present participle dan objek (modifiers) dan mempunyai peran sebagai adjektiva (adjective) dalam kalimat.

Contoh participial phrases:
- Hidden by the trees, Jerry waited to scare Mark.
- Children introduced to music early develop strong intellectual skills.
- Racing around the corner, he slipped and fell.
- She noticed her cousin walking along the shoreline.

Seperti halnya participle, participial phrases juga mempunyai dua jenis frase yaitu present participle phrases dan past participle phrases.

Contoh present participle phrases:
- The woman singing now has a good voice.
- The boy running down the street is John.
- Feeling better, the patient ate some soup.
- A woman smiling at me is my teacher.

Contoh past participle phrases:
- Anne, bothered by the mess, cleaned it up.
- Annoyed by its heavy breathing, I told it to get lost.
- He showed us the book opened at the first page.
- The candles lighted in the living room looked very cheery.

Gerund Phrases

2009-07-25T05:00:00.003+07:00

Gerund phrases adalah frase yang terdiri dari gerund ditambah dengan objek dan/atau modifier. Seperti halnya gerund, gerund phrase juga berperan sebagai nomina dalam kalimat.

Contoh gerund phrases:
- Swimming in the river is very dangerous.
- Cramming for tests is not a good study strategy.
- You might get in trouble for faking an illness to avoid work.
- I enjoy riding my bike in the evening.

Pada contoh di atas, swimming, cramming, faking, dan riding adalah gerund. Kemudian masing-masing gerund tersebut ditambah dengan in the river, for tests, an illness to avoid work, dan my bike in the evening. Sehingga gabungan dari gerund dan objeknya tersebut membentuk menjadi apa yang disebut sebagai gerund phrases.

Dalam kalimat gerund phrases dapat berfungsi sebagai subject, object dan object of preposition.

Contoh gerund phrases sebagai subject:
- Your singing is very beautiful.
- Practicing swimming is very useful for everybody.
- Listening to the radio needs seriousness.
- Eating breakfast on time is advisable.
- His coming every day makes me happy.
- Smoking too much is not good for health.

Contoh gerund phrases sebagai object:
- Thank you for your coming.
- I can enjoy camping in the mountain.
- I don’t like sitting alone.
- We have considered going to Yogyakarta.
- They began attending lecturer.
- I intend doing my homework tonight.
- I begin studying English seriously.

Contoh gerund phrases sebagai object of preposition:
- I dreamed about having much money.
- I am tired of studying alone.
- She is fond of eating pizza.
- I am interested in making model airplanes.
- We will not be successful without working seriously every time.

Bila ingin membuat kalimat negatif, cukup tambahkan not di depan gerund phrases, contoh:
- Not having a friend is lonely.
- I intend not doing my homework tonight.

Sebagai nomina, gerund phrase sering menggunakan adjective possessive di depannya, contoh:
- Thank you for your coming.
- Her singing is slow.
- My dancing is not good as yours.
- My feeling says that.

Your coming, her singing, my dancing, dan my feeling adalah gerund phrases yang menggunakan your, her, dan my sebagai adjective possessive untuk nomina dibelakangnya.

Infinitive Phrases

2009-07-18T09:00:00.002+07:00

Infinitive phrases merupakan frase yang terdiri dari infinitive dan objek (modifiers) dan mempunyai peran sebagai nomina (noun), adjektiva (adjective), atau adverbia (adverb) dalam kalimat.

Contoh infinitive phrases:
- We intended to leave early.
- To study English well need special time.
- His goal, to break into Fort Knox, was never achieved.

Noun
Infinitive phrases sebagai noun dapat berfungsi sebagai subjek atau objek.

a. Infinitive phrases sebagai subjek
- To change our habits is not easy.

Kalimat di atas juga bisa menggunakan pola It + be menjadi:
- It is not easy to change our habits.

Infinitive phrases sebagai subjek sering digunakan dalam dua variasi pola kalimat pada contoh di atas. Kata “It” digunakan sebagai dummy subject yang berfungsi sebagai subjek bantu dalam pembentukan kalimat. Subjek yang sebenarnya terletak setelah verb. Hal ini bertujuan meningkatkan gaya atau rasa berbahasa dalam sebuah kalimat.
Contoh lainnya:
- To answer this question must be careful.
- To watch the film every night wastes the money.
- To do that is difficult for me.
- To build such a bridge needs much cement.
- To serve you is a pleasure job.
- To see her is to love her.

b. Infinitive phrases sebagai objek
- He likes to play badminton.

Tidak semua verba dapat diikuti oleh infinitive. Untuk menjadi objek verba, infinitive phrases hanya dapat didahului oleh verba tertentu.
Contoh lainnya:
- I want to see you again as soon as possible.
- He seems to enjoy a breakfast.
- I am starting to learn English.
- I asked to see the book.
- They asked me to bring some food.

Adjective
Infinitive phrases sebagai adjektiva memberikan keterangan sifat pada nomina yang mendahuluinya.
Contoh:
- The year to come again I will be successful.
- I have no time to come to the meeting.
- There is no one to help her.
- His decision to continue studying in Yogyakarta is a good idea.
- There is special time to give something and to ask something.

Adverb
Infinitive phrases sebagai adverbia berfungsi:
a. menerangkan seluruh kalimat
b. menerangkan verba
c. menerangkan adjektiva

a. menerangkan seluruh kalimat
- To say English well, you can speak English slowly.
- To come to the school on time, you may be ready now.
- To approach her, you had better prepare yourself well.

b. menerangkan verba
- I come to win.
- We eat to live but animals live to eat.

c. menerangkan adjektiva
- I am happy to meet you.
- We are fortunate to get much money.
- I am proud to win this game.

Sebagai tambahan, bila ingin membuat kalimat negatif, cukup tambahkan not di depan to:
- They advise me not to go alone tonight.
- I am sad not to meet her.

Verbal Phrases

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Verbal phrases adalah verbal ditambah dengan modifiers atau object.

Seperti halnya verbal, verbal phrases juga tidak berfungsi sebagai verba dalam suatu kalimat, tetapi membawa sifat dari verba atau kata kerja, dan dapat berperan sebagai adverbia atau frase adverbia.

Ada tiga verbal phrases dalam bahasa Inggris, yaitu:
1. Infinitive phrases
2. Participial phrases
3. Gerund phrases

Verb Phrases

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Verb phrases atau frase verba adalah frase yang tersusun dari verba utama ditambah dengan auxiliaries, adverbs, adverb phrases (or clauses), prepositional phrases, atau object. Dalam kalimat, frase verba berfungsi sebagai predikat.

Contoh:
- He was smoking.
- After she had learned to drive, Alice felt more independent.
- We will meet at the library at 3:30 p.m.
- Henry made my coach very proud.

Dalam frase verba, verb selalu menjadi head, yang dapat disertai pre-modifiers dan/atau post-modifier.

Jika terdapat pre-modifiers, bisa berupa kata negative (not/never) atau adverb phrase.
- not say what he is doing.
- never needs money.
- He deliberately broke the window.

Kebanyakan head verba harus diikuti oleh post-modifiers.
- My son [made a cake].
- We [keep pigeons].
- I [recommend the fish].

Verba yang memerlukan post-modifiers biasa disebut transitive verbs. Post-modifiers pada contoh diatas disebut juga objek langsung (direct object) atau komplemen (complement of the head).

Sebaliknya, beberapa verba (intransitive verbs) digunakan tanpa objek langsung:
- Susan smiled.
- The professor yawned.

Tetapi, banyak juga verba dalam bahasa Inggris berlaku sebagai transitive dan intransitive, tergantung cara pemakaiannya dalam kalimat. Berikut adalah contoh penggunaan kedua bentuk verba tersebut:
- Mark smokes. (Intransitive)
- Mark smokes cigars. (Transitive)

Objek atau komplemen yang melengkapi frase verba tidak hanya objek langsung (direct object) tetapi juga dapat berupa objek tak langsung (indirect object).
- We [gave James a present].

Perhatikan juga contoh berikut yang menggunakan verba to be sebagai head:
- David [is a musician]
- Amy [is clever]
- Our car [is in the car park]

Appositive Phrases

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Appositive phrases (frase aposisi) adalah frase yang terdiri dari nomina atau pronomina beserta modifier-nya yang berfungsi menambah keterangan dan mendeskripsikan kata atau frase sebelumnya. Frase aposisi selalu terletak dekat dengan nomina atau pronomina yang diterangkannya. Jenis frase lainnya, umumnya juga berperan sebagai aposisi dalam suatu kalimat.

Contoh frase aposisi:
- Tom, an old friend, should have understood my fear.
- Spot, a naughty dog, always play in our backyard.
- She, my younger sister, is always late.
- The best exercise, walking briskly, is also the least expensive.

Aposisi biasanya menggunakan dua tanda koma, meski ada juga yang tidak menggunakannya. Pastikan tanda koma yang mengapit aposisi digunakan dengan benar sehingga tidak membingungkan pembaca, seperti pada contoh berikut ini.

- Do you know my friend Bill?

Kalimat di atas tidak jelas dan membingungkan, apakah yang dimaksud si penulis itu Bill yang sedang diajak bicara ataukah Bill yang sedang dibicarakan? Jadi, penggunaan koma yang tepat akan membantu memperjelas suatu kalimat. Berikut contoh penggunaan koma yang tepat untuk kalimat di atas.

- Do you know my friend, Bill?

Aposisi merupakan gaya bahasa yang sangat bermanfaat karena dapat dipakai untuk mengurangi kata-kata yang tidak diperlukan sekaligus menambahkan informasi yang tepat dalam suatu kalimat. Aposisi membantu dalam:
- Membuat kalimat mudah dicerna,
- Menghilangkan pengulangan yang tidak perlu,
- Membuat irama tulisan lebih baik, dan
- Membuat tulisan menjadi lebih menarik.

Contoh:
Phineas T. Barnum was a great American showman. Barnum was near death in 1891 when a New York newspaper asked if he’d like to have his obituary published while he could still read it. (Dua kalimat)

Menjadi…
Phineas T. Barnum, a great American showman, was near death in 1891 when a New York newspaper asked if he’d like to have his obituary published while he could still read it. (Satu kalimat)

Aposisi, juga frase aposisi mempunyai dua variasi aposisi, yaitu: essential appositive dan nonessential appositive. Aturannya, sebaiknya tidak menambahkan tanda koma pada essential appositive, sedangkan pada nonessential appositive, gunakan tanda koma.

The famous British mystery writer Agatha Christie disappeared in 1924 and was missing for 10 days. (Essential appositive)

Agatha Christie, the famous British mystery writer, disappeared in 1924 and was missing for 10 days. (Nonessential appositive)

Suatu aposisi dikatakan essential karena aposisi itu mengandung pokok atau subjek kalimat yang penting yang sedang dibahas atau dibicarakan.

Absolute Phrases

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Absolute phrases atau frase absolut adalah frase yang terdiri dari noun phrase dan participial phrase. Frase ini mempunyai subjek sendiri.

Frase absolut tidak menerangkan kata tertentu dalam kalimat, tetapi menerangkan keseluruhan kalimat. Frase ini berfungsi memberi informasi tambahan dan umumnya diberi penanda dengan tanda koma atau garis pemisah (-).

Subjek frase absolut bukan merupakan subjek kalimat utama, tetapi berperan sebagai subjeknya sendiri yang diterangkan oleh participial phrase membentuk sebuah frase. Sehingga sebuah frase absolut dapat berdiri sendiri terlepas dari kalimat utama.

Contoh:
- My chores completed for the week, I went on a walk.
- The season nearly finished, John Smith emerged as true leaders.
- The two superstars signed autographs into the night, their faces beaming happily.

Bila participle dari frase absolut berbentuk to be, seperti being atau having been, maka participle ini biasanya tidak dipakai, tetapi dapat dimengerti.
- The season [being] over, they were mobbed by fans in Times Square.
- [Having been] Stars all their adult lives, they seemed used to the attention.

Frase absolut juga dapat diletakkan setelah modified noun dan berfungsi menerangkan lebih detil ide pokok suatu kalimat. frase absolut ini dapat berbentuk prepositional phrase, adjective phrase, atau noun phrase.
- The old firefighter stood over the smoking ruins, his senses alert to any sign of another flare-up.
- His subordinates, their faces sweat-streaked and smudged with ash, leaned heavily against the firetruck.
- They knew all too well how all their hard work could be undone — in an instant.

Informasi penting suatu kalimat tidak tepat jika diletakkan pada frase absolut. Tetapi, dalam penulisan jenis deskripsi, suatu detil tulisan sering dimasukkan ke dalam bentuk frase absolut.
- Coach Nykesha strolled onto the court, her arms akimbo and a large silver whistle clenched between her teeth.
- The new recruits stood in one corner of the gym, their uniforms stiff and ill fitting, their faces betraying their anxiety.

Frase nomina juga dapat berperan sebagai frase absolut.
- Your best friends, where are they now, when you need them?
- And then there was my best friend Sally — the dear girl — who has certainly fallen on hard times.

Prepositional Phrases

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Prepositional phrases atau frase preposisi adalah frase yang terdiri dari preposisi dan objek preposisi (object of the preposition). Objek preposisi dalam frase preposisi dapat berupa noun, pronoun, atau noun phrases.

Contoh frase preposisi:
- on the internet
- in the room
- by the ocean
- near the window
- over the cabinet
- with us
- in your ear
- under your hat
- below sea level

Pada kenyataannya dalam suatu kalimat, frase preposisi bisa memiliki jumlah kata yang lebih banyak, tergantung panjang objek preposisi atau jumlah kata yang menyertai preposisi dalam menyampaikan maksud suatu kalimat. Contohnya:
- near the violently swaying oak trees
- on account of his nearly depleted bank account

Dalam kalimat, frase preposisi tidak hanya berfungsi sebagai frase preposisi sendiri, tapi juga dapat berfungsi sebagai adjektiva dan adverbia.

Frase preposisi yang berperan sebagai adjektiva disebut frase adjektiva. Seperti halnya adjektiva, frase adjektiva juga berfungsi menerangkan noun atau pronoun. Untuk mengetahui suatu frase preposisi itu berfungsi sebagai frase adjektiva, ajukan pertanyaan seperti “Which one?” atau “What kind?” untuk mengenali dalam suatu kalimat.

Contoh frase preposisi sebagai frase adjektiva:
- The [cost of the jeans] was surprisingly high.
- The [clown with the mask] terrifies the children.
- The [man in the house] rented it.

Frase preposisi yang berperan sebagai adverbia disebut frase adverbia. Sama halnya dengan adverbia, frase adverbia juga berfungsi menerangkan verb, adjective, atau adverb. Untuk mengetahui suatu frase preposisi berfungsi sebagai frase adverbia, dapat diajukan pertanyaan seperti “Where?” “When?” “In what manner” “To what extent?” untuk mengenalinya dalam suatu kalimat.

Contoh frase preposisi sebagai frase adverbia:
- The Mets [played at Shea Stadium.]
- The game [lasted into the fourteenth inning.]
- He [went in the arena.]
- Dad was [happy about the goal.]
- On reflection, I believe that she was correct.

Dua atau lebih frase preposisi dapat digabungkan dengan menggunakan coordinating conjunctions. Contohnya:
- The resort is [beside the mountain and by the lake.]
- You can usually find Macho Marvin [in the steam room, on the exercise bike, or under the barbells.]