Kendala Bahasa, tidak sekedar Kendala Budaya

Walau saya suka menulis, menulis dalam konteks curhat. Tapi saya meyakini untuk bisa menulis maka harus punya skill yang baik. Vocabulary, misalnya. Mungkin pada dasarnya kemampuan berbahasa saya kurang baik. Tapi sekarang saya mencoba membuat tulisan dengan lebih mendalam maknanya, paling tidak dalam selain bahasa Indonesia, contoh bahasa Jawa: e.g ewuh pakewuh.

Contoh semantic menjadi kajian yang menarik dalam sebuah tulisan, sebagai contoh perulangan kata:

• Falah 40x

Linguistic of islamic ethics

It is similar with stress, the biggest issues in Islamic ethics is lingustic. Is a language. A term in one language might be translated in different term, and there is no exact translation -including idiom that depending on the region, time, culture and perception.

For example, I always thought that Ikhlas (Tulus/sincere) means Rela (willing, ready). Tulus in Indonesia means bersih hati, usually followed by tanpa pamrih. For example “saya siap membantu dengan ikhlas tanpa pamrih = I am ready to help sincerely without strings attached”. Notes: pamrih = imbalan = reward = no strings attached. Ikhlas mean Rela, is correct however when its seing in the bigger context it is wider than that. For example:

Sabar: Patience, accepting situation/fate/God’s plan -usually bad situation
Syukur: Grateful, accepting situation -usually good situation. Humility vs Arrogant
Ikhlas : Sincere, accepting situation, more with action.

Sabar, Syukur, Ikhlas is the way we interpret the situation. Ikhtiar is before that, means persistent, to keep trying. And tawakkal is the later, means submissions.

Islamic ethics is ethics in which the Islamic tenets govern the values of right, wrong, good, and bad. Ethics is one of the three interrelated fundamental constructs of Islam, which are aqidah (faith), shariah (Islamic legal systems), and ahlaq (Islamic ethics).

Imam Al-Ghazali: Syukur atas nikmat lebih utama daripada sabar atas bala atau musibah.

Sabar dan Syukur tidak bisa dipisahkan. Bahwa sabar adalah setengah bagian dari iman, sementara setengah bagian yang lain adalah syukur.

Sabar artinya ketegaran hati terhadap takdir Allah dan hukum-hukum syari’at.
Syukur artinya meyakini bahwa tidak ada yang memberi nikmat kecuali Allah. Syukur artinya menampakan nikmat Allah melalui lisan dengan cara memuji dan mengakui, melalui hati dengan cara meyakini dan mencintai, serta melalui anggota badan dengan ketaatan.

The word ikhlas in Arabic means “sincerity, purity, isolation” and so on. When used in a general sense in Islamic literature, it refers to sincerity and purity of intention and motive in worship of Allah.

Allah says: (They have been ordered no more than this: To worship Allah sincerely, being true (in faith), to establish the prayer, and to give zakah. And that is the worthy religion) (Al-Bayyinah 98: 5). https://quran.com/98/5

(Say: “I am but a man like yourselves but to whom it is revealed that your Lord is only One God. So whoever hopes to meet his Lord let him work righteousness, and let him not associate anyone with Him in worship) (Al-Kahf 18: 110) https://quran.com/18/110

In the Islamic context, sincerity (Ikhlas) means: being free from worldly motives and it is against hypocrisy. In the Qur’an, all acts of worship and human life should be motivated by the pleasure of God, and the prophets of God have called man to sincere servitude in all aspects of life. Sincerity in Islam is divided into sincerity in belief and sincerity in action. Sincerity in belief means monotheism; in other words not associating partners with God, and sincerity in action means performing sincere worship only for God

Beyond the Western culture, sincerity is notably developed as a virtue in Confucian societies (China, Korea, and Japan).

English Idiom

https://id.quora.com/Apa-saja-istilah-idioms-bahasa-Inggris-yang-umum-digunakan

Interesting, idiom is so difficult to learn

https://www.powerthesaurus.org/you_get_what_you_give/synonyms

Jargon in context

Jargon only can be used in context. If its independent words, it has the same meaning or no meaning at all. Jargon purpose is manipulative, it is influence the others people mind.

1_Quantitative vs Qualitative
Quantitive: Number of client
Qualitative: Revenue from client
Context: You should pursue qualitative not quantitative. Reality, profit know nothing about quantitative or qualitative, one 100 ribu bill, is the same as 10 of 10 ribu bill. This is the same.

2_Capacity vs Capability:
Capacity: number of people
Capability: skill, competency (education, certification, experience)
Context: He has capability, but does he has capacity -he has no time. Reality, if he has capability of course he has capacity, this can not be separated.

3_Effective vs Efficient:
Effective: reach the goal, reach 100 targetted (profit/revenue), but having 60 cost (expense, employee moral)
Efficient: might not reach the goal, but having low cost. reach 70, but having
Context: He is good, effective manager, but inefficient one -micromanager. Reality,effective manager is of course efficient manager, of course this can not be separated.

4_Work Hard vs Work Smart:
Work hard: working long hours
Work smart: working short hours.
If this used individually, the meaning is the same: doing good work, a good worker. E.g he is a hard worker, he always deliver. He is smart worker, he always deliver.
Context: He is hard worker but not a smart worker, he always making the same mistake. Reality, if he making the same mistake he is not a good worker.

5_Meaning vs Purpose
Meaning: something bigger than motive
Purpose: motive
Again if this used individual it is the same, but if you put in context, meaning has like something bigger than motive.

A euphemism is an innocuous word or expression used in place of one that is deemed offensive or suggests something unpleasant

Family Planning = Contraceptives
Feminine Hygiene = Douches
Feminine = Tampons
Sanitary Protection = Adult diapers

Purpose of Euphemism
Euphemisms are used to avoid directly addressing subjects that might be deemed negative or embarrassing, e.g. death, sex, excretory bodily functions

Mitigation: Euphemisms are also used to mitigate, soften or downplay the gravity of large-scale injustices, war crimes, or other events that warrant a pattern of avoidance in official statements or documents.

Euphemism may be used as a rhetorical strategy, in which case its goal is to change the valence of a description

Why my English is bad #09 – You are not learning the language you learn the culture

You Aren’t Fluent Until You Understand the Culture

Everything you know about the English language is wrong. You’ve been neglecting an important component of your language studies over the past few years and it is affecting your ability to speak English correctly. Until you address this problem English will be remain a foreign language to you and will never become a second language.

Formal 1: Berapa banyak air di gelas ini?
Formal 2: Kira-kira, berapa banyak ya, air digelas ini
Formal 3: Menurut kakak, kira-kira berapa banyak ya, air di gelas ini

Informal 1: Air di gelas ini, berapa banyak ya airnya, berapa liter maksudnya

Formal 1 (american/white way > direct): Kereta akan sampai di Sudimara jam berapa?
Formal 2 (british/asian way): Maaf pak, Kereta akan sampai di Sudimara jam berapa?

Formal 3 (asian way):
1.Maaf pak (introduction)
2.boleh ganggu sebentar (permission)
3.saya cari jadwal kereta tidak ada (showing that you already have some effort)
4.ini kereta akan sampai di Sudimara jam berapa?

온수 and 삼성, my first Korean Hangul

Interesting

Beauty of Language: Latin

Sine qua non (latin): [a condition] without which it could not be
Banks and payments are a “sine qua non” condition for production and exchange, national as well as international. (Money and Payments, Sergio Rozzi 2007).

raison d’être (french): a reason for living.
c’est la vie (french): that’s life

De mortuis nil nisi bonum

De mortuis nil nisi bonum dicendum est translates to “Of the dead nothing but good is to be said”, “Of the dead, speak no evil”

Pregnant Pause ref

Pentingnya penggunaan bahasa

Dalam krisis seperti ini penggunaan istilah merupakan hal yang sangat penting. Hal pertama yang dilakukan WHO adalah membakukan istilah virus Corona menjadi COVID-19.

Hal lain adalah penggunaan istilah karantina (quarantine). Beberapa istilah yang sering digunakan adalah Work From Home, Split Operation, Shift Operation, Partial Lockdown, Soft Lockdown, Hard Lockdown. Istilah ini sebenarnya adalah mengacu pada hal yang sama.

Sebagai contoh
– Full WFH, bisa dilakukan bagi yang berdampak langsung kepada anak, contoh sekolah/universitas
– Partial WFH = Split Operation
Client facing = Split Operation, berkurang hingga 50%, e.g Pom Bensin, Restoran, Bank

Interchangeability: Destiny vs Fate

Some English word can be used interchangeably. Destiny (can be changed, in the future) vs Fate (cannot be changed, in the past)

Consider these two sentences which can be interchangeably
-she was unable to control her own destiny
-fate decided his course for him

In Indonesian also similar, it is Nasib and Takdir. Takdir similar with Fate, something that has supranatural factors, while Nasib is similar with Destiny. Interesting.