KULLIYYAH OF ISLAMIC REVEALED KNOWLEDGE AND HUMAN SCIENCES

LEXICOGRAPHYENGL 6203

Nativization of English Words in Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia

Ihsan Ibadurrahman (G1025429)Syareen Izzaty Bt Majelan (G1029580)Rudiana Razali (G1115202)

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Introduction

The use of English throughout many countries today was the result of the British Empire who

once conquered 1/3 of the world that lead to colonization, migration and settlement in other parts

of the world and was later dominated by the momentum of United States of America (Rajandran,

2011). The internationalization of English can be attributed to the political and economic power

of its users (Crystal, 1997:7-8). This lead to the perception of it having a high status in cultural,

scientific, technological fields which resulted in globalized language (Leitner, 1992:186). Due to

this wide spread, countries which have taken up English as a second or foreign language do not

follow the mold of Standard English but create their own local varieties where the language is

nativized. Nativize here means to modify in conformity with local customs or usages (Merriam-

Webster, 2012). These second language English speakers are more comfortable using these

different varieties of English because they are more familiar with it and these varieties are

becoming the acceptable model for each respective country (Thirusanku & Md. Yunus, 2012).

Malaysia is one of the countries where English is adopted as a second language. The

British colonization introduced English to the Malay Peninsula and it held an important position

of being the official language at that time. Over the years, English held different statuses of

importance but was not completely ignored. Because of this, many English words were adopted

into Bahasa Malaysia to enlarge the lexis of Malay (McArthur, 2003). English is also being

nativized by the usage of Malay words in English to compensate for the lack of words to

describe proper or exact culturally specific ideas resulting in what is known as Malaysian

English (Thirusanku & Md. Yunus, 2012).

Similarly, Indonesia also shares the same process of nativization as an impact of its

Dutch colonialism which lasted for almost 350 years. Although this suggests that there are more

borrowings and loanwords from the Dutch language than English as compared to Malaysia, there

are also quite a number of Indonesian words borrowed from English, the meaning of which may

sometimes contradict to the real meaning in English.

The aim of this paper is to highlight some of the words which have been ‘nativized’ in

both Malaysian and Indonesian language. For the purpose of this study, Google is used to find

instances of how the words are used in context. Alongside Google, Corpus of Contemporary

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American English (COCA) is also used to get authentic examples of how these words are used in

English. The corpus contains a selection of more than 425 million words taken from spoken

transcripts, fiction, popular magazines, newspapers, and academic journals that are collected

from 1990 until 2011. It can be accessed online for free at http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/

Literature Review

The status of English has been at a crossroads in Malaysia with the debate of its use and

importance spanning over centuries. The British colonization of the Malay Peninsula in 1786 has

made English the official language by using the language in administration, government,

commerce as well as education. This status changed when Malaysia gained independence in

1957 where English had to coexist with Malay as the official language but with the view that

English will be phased out in 10 years (Thirusanku & Md. Yunus, 2012). In 1967, English was

relegated to be used only as a second language instead of an alternate official language when the

Language Act was passed and Malay became the dominant language in Malaysia (Subramaniam,

2007). Then in the mid 1990s, the government saw that English was important for Malaysia to be

competitive in the international arena and thus reintroduced English especially for technical

subjects and remained as an important language until today (Thirusanku & Yunus, 2012). The

existence of English alongside Malay has led to many Malay words being borrowed from

English such as bag (bag), akaun (account), botani (botany), ekologi (ecology) and kalendar

(calendar) (Burhanudeen et al., 2007), borrowings which allow for the Malay lexis to grow.

Malaysian English (ME), the variety of English that exists in Malaysia, is a product of

nativization where words from Malay are included into the English language to better convey

messages especially when there are no exact words in English to describe a culturally specific

idea. These borrowings vary according to social and racial background of the speakers as wells

as different political, economic and cultural demands that enables the speakers to communicate

socially and informally. ME also tend to have distinct phonology, socially grounded lexical items

and syntactic structure that gives the speakers a sense of identity (Subramaniam, 2007;

Rajandran, 2011; Thirusanku & Yunus, 2012). Even though the formal ME differs slightly from

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Standard British English especially in terms of phonology, ME is still thought to be a ‘corrupt’

lower prestige language because of these differences (Ahmad Mahir & Silahudin Jarjis, 2007).

Since English is prevalent in Malaysia, the masses have freely borrowed English words

and used them with their Malay language that they use to communicate which almost everyone

in Malaysia understands and this is the basilect form of the language or also known as “bahasa

rojak” which is the mixture of two or more languages. In this form, English words are

assimilated into the Malay lexicon even though there is an equivalent in Malay. This might be

due to the association with English that is considered a prestige language (Abu Bakar, 2009).

The English words are sometimes wholly borrowed and imported to expand the Malay lexicon or

sometimes the English words have a shift in meaning when they are used in different contexts

(Abdul Rahim & Awab, 2008; Thirusanku & Yunus, 2012).

Changes in meaning are made to the English words to suit the Malay language used by

the speakers instead of holding on to its original meaning because as stated by Haley (1997 as

cited in Abdul Rahim & Awab, 2008), words are “culture prototype”. This means that the

changes to the form of the English language and its use would only makes sense in that particular

culture and group of speakers even though the form is not grammatically correct or have

developed different meanings (Abu Bakar, 2009). However, this variety is frowned upon by

language purist because they perceive it as a threat to the national language and identity where

English words are liberally used in Malay. These authoritative figures also deem the use of

English as corrupting and degrading the standard form of Bahasa Malaysia, the same argument

used against the usage of Malay words in English (Abdul Rahim & Awab, 2008).

Bahasa Indonesia on the other hand is the official language in Indonesia, spoken by 220

million speakers of its users. Together with Bahasa Malaysia, it is one of the most widely

spoken language worldwide (Wikipedia, 2012). The language is used in education, mass media,

and most importantly in the communication between different ethnics group (Hassall et al,

2008). Bahasa Indonesia is also widely known for its use of loanwords from different languages

such as Sanskrit, Arabic, Dutch, and English. However, because the country was colonized by

Dutch for a long time, many of these loanwords are originated from Dutch, such as tas (bag),

kantor (office), and wastafel (washbasin) (Burhanudeen et al., 2007). It was not until 1945, when

Indonesia gained its independence that it started to take in western cultural influences. It was

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then that the emergence of English nativization came into picture. Some of the western

loanwords commonly found in Indonesian language today include sosialiasi from the English

word socialization, horor from horror, and klasifikasi from classification (Alwi et al., 2000 as

cited in Hiramoto, 2007). These words seem to be increasing in number in the last few years

(Sneddon, 2003 as cited in Hassall et al., 2008).

One possible reason for the growth in the number of western loanwords (WLW) in

Indonesia is people’s attitude towards them. A hallmark study led by Hassall et al. (2008)

indicates that people’s attitude towards WLWs is quite positive. Taking 153 young tertiary

educated Indonesian students as the sample, the findings suggest that the majority of the students

thought that WLWs are favorable, with more respondents answering “WLWs sound nice” (mean

5.04) and “WLWs enrich Indonesian” (mean 5.17) than those answering “WLWs pollute

Indonesian” (mean 2.29) and “We should avoid using WLWs” (mean 2.68). The researchers go

on to argue that such positive attitudes towards WLWs are likely to influence future

developments of WLWs in Indonesia as it is this young generation that is most in touch with

linguistic contact between Indonesian and English.

Another possible reason for the growth in the number of WLWs is globalization.

Alwasilah (2001) questions whether Indonesia is ready to establish its ‘Indonesian English’, a

variety of English that is nativized, as a direct impact of the so called globalization. He states that

in order for such variety to exists, Indonesia needs to at least have a number of bilingual school

graduates who are adept in both Indonesian and English, and prolific authors of college

professors who would write thousands published articles or journals in English. However,

Indonesia is still far beyond the required two criteria in order to establish its Indonesian English.

Alwasilah asserts that most English graduates are not able to write English articles properly, not

even in their L1. Although it may be argued that globalization has not yet resulted in the

emergence of Indonesian English, its impact is still considered significant as many Indonesian

people would need to use English as a language of global communication in order to be accepted

in many fields of work and have a financial security (Hassall et al., 2008). In sum, it can be said

that globalization may have its effect on the growth of WLWs in Indonesia but not profound

enough as to yield a nativized English called Indonesian English.

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Findings

This section is a compilation of some of the English words that are used in Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia with meanings that differ from the original meaning of the word.

Bahasa Malaysia

1. Best

The meaning of the superlative best has been changed to mean something is good or

worthwhile instead of a comparison to something else as illustrated in the following

examples:

“aku ada tengok interface windows 8 nampak mcm best jer...ada yang penah cuba tak....kongsi sikit”(http://forum.putera.com/tanya/index.php/topic/89828-windows-8-dengar-kata-best-betul-ker/)

“haa apa-apapun aku kasi 5 bintang campur satu anak bulan. sebab citer perang ni best..aku manalah suka sangat tengok perang atas darat..aku takut tengok askar hilang kaki hilang tangan hilang kepala hilang itu hilang ini... tapi yang battle atas air ni..huyooo best”(http://nottinettii.blogspot.com/2012/04/best-betul-tengok-movie-battleship-ni.html)

2. Blur

Blur is originally associated with something being vague or making something to become

vague, dim or indistinct. The Malaysian speakers’ use blur to describe the state of a person

or themselves as having no clue as to what is going on or generally bored or uninterested.

This essentially changes the original form of the word from a verb or noun to an adjective as

seen in the following examples:

“Semalam banyak klu nak update entri kat blog buruk ni ! hari ni blur pulak kepala otak ni hishh, semalam bukan nak bangga ke tidak sampai post 5 entri sehari..dasyat betul, tapi tak boleh lawan otai blogger sekalian dan sebabnya kan hari rabu..damm ..patut la 4 entri,rupanya post WW dan satu lagi republish hmm.”(http://www.trioseposen.com/2011/09/otak-blur-je-hari-ni-hantu-betul.html)

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“Adoiiii.. patut la blur je mamat tu bila aku sebut nama dia .. hahaha.. haihh... malu aku pasni .. hahahhaa .. malu .. maluuuuu.. malu semalu malunyaaaaa....”(http://www.benashaari.com/2011/07/muhahahahah-bengong-betul-la.html)

3. Budget

Apart from having the same meaning in English, budget here has also developed another

meaning which means that a person thinks of him/herself in a way that is not generally

agreed by others as found in the following examples:

“Cikgu pun apalagi terus letak talian telefon apabila mandengar kata-kata kerani tuh.Pehh.Memamng cikgu geram dengan kerani tu.Budget bagus sgt.Kita ty cara baik, die jwb dgn kasar.Nanti kita lihat.Inilah yg paling cikgu kesalkan dgn perangai kerani itu.”(http://cikguciti.blogspot.com/2010/02/budget-bagus.html)

“Kalau nak business laju sila gunakan EVENTS, TRAINING, EVENTS, TRAINING. Bukan duduk sorang2 budget pandai. Just use the system.”(http://bannateha.blogspot.com/2012/02/world-team-training.html)

4. Bumper

The speed bump is commonly known as a bumper, which refers to different things in its

original meaning which does not include the current definition given by Malaysians such as

in the following examples:

“Topik santai pagi ni aku nak mengheret kalian utk sesama berkongsi perasaan betapa bencinya apabila perjalanan korang dihalang...Aku akui pembinaan bonggol/bumper di sesetengah tempat adalah utk menghalang kelajuan keretamotor utk keselamatan terutamanya di sekolah-sekolah dan persimpangan, tapi...ada juga orang perseorangan yang membina bumper di depan rumah..:)):)):))...”(http://www.carigold.com/portal/forums/archive/index.php?t-271021.html)

“ko kate pada aku ker? aku tak potong ler, aku tukar sport spring. lowered seket keta tpa itu bumper jalan kalo jumpa kalu, susah loh.....”(http://www.melayu.com/sembang2/mesej.php?14.0000000299)

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5. Last-last

The word last is repeated to mean “in the end” instead of signaling time or position. This can

be seen in the following examples:

“Belum aku tulis ball lah, lukis bintang lah ikan lah. Haha Last-last, mak abah pun tak larat nak

marah, marker abang kakak aku jahanam kan, belum yang conteng-conteng kat kaki lagi. hehe

Sebagai penyelesaiannya, mak abah kakak abang aku kami sekeluarga ke pasaraya, mencari

papan hitam, pemadam dan kapur!”

(http://www.fasihah.com/2012/03/diari-nak-marah-tak-jadi.html)

“Contohnya saya semalam percubaan pertama nak buat apam polkadot. Last-last tak menjadi..

Huhu Apam polkadot jadi apam batat dot. Memang tak pernah buatnya apam polkadot nih. Ikut

dah resepinya satu persatu tapi tak tau la plak tang mana silapnya. Cantik dah buat dari segi

warna pink hijau dan filling blueberry dan strawberry filling.”

(http://infonewbie.com/info-santai/percubaan-pertama-yang-tak-menjadi)

6. Pick up

Pick up gives the impression that something is grasped or gain which can be applied to many

different contexts. The use of pick up in Malay gives almost the same meaning but it has

only one specific context which is to signal that someone is somewhat slow on the uptake.

This is illustrated in the following examples:

“entry kali nie, sedih sikit. salah ke kalau lambat pick up? nak kata lembap, takde lahh lembap. tapi LAMPI or lambat pick up. salah ke?? aku tak rasa benda tu salah pun.”(http://diniedzai.blogspot.com/2011/05/salah-ke-lambat-pick-up.html)

“Masalah yang saya hadapi sekarang adalah seperti tajuk entri ni iaitu lambat sangat 'pick-up' dengan soalan-soalan yang diutarakan kepada saya dan ada sedikit kelemahan dalam memahami soalan yang diberikan. Orang kata lambat nak faham.”(http://www.azrulhisham.com/2010/06/lambat-pick-up-memang-problem-maaisk.html#ixzz1v5I6rcCk)

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7. Power

Power generally means that someone or aomething has a quality that is really good and is

admired by others because of it as shown in the following examples:

“ayie pong suara power...tapi tula kan artis lelaki susah sikit zaman tu..”(http://bincang.net/forum/showthread.php?82769-Uji-Bakat-Af-6-Power-betul-adik-beradik-SITI-ni!)

“Nak jadi power bercakap inggeris macam gua sekarang ini bukanlah kerja sehari dua. Ini kerja makan tahun juga sebab melibatkan minat dan daya usaha. Jadi bila dah power bercakap inggeris macam sekarang ini, kalau sekadar tengok DVD orang putih tu selamba kodok saja gua hide subtitle. Orang power bahasa inggeris, mana ada baca subtitle bila tengok DVD. Even bila gua tengok movie di cinema pun gua tak baca subtitle yang keluar di bawah skrin. Tengok tu gua pakai perkataan 'even' dalam ayat gua. Kalau lu orang tak faham gua minta maaf awal-awal. Tapi tak faham ke? Oh my!”(http://www.akulinglung.com/2011/05/gua-pun-power-cakap-inggeris.html)

8. Terror

Instead of describing something to be terrifying, terror here has almost the same meaning

and usage with power and can be interchangeably used but this is based on the discretion of

the speaker who would know when it is appropriate to use power or terror. Some of the

examples are:

“Terror betul,dapat tangkap hidup2, kalau kat sini dah berlubang2 kena tembak.”

(http://www.cikgubadarudin.com/2011/09/sang-bedal-merajuk.html)

“mat gebu memang terror betul la mereka makanan @ minuman yang sedap2 belaka...”

(http://www.tiffinbiru.com/2011/08/honey-lime-teapenyegar-tekak.html)

9. Slack

Slack here means that a person is giving someone else a disapproving look, usually without

the recipient knowing the reason why they are given the look as in the examples below:

“Annoyed tak if ada unknown person tiba tiba pandang slack kat kita?”(http://www.formspring.me/r/annoyed-tak-if-ada-unknown-person-tiba-tiba-pandang-slack-kat-kita/189386863419624302)

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“aku cuak gila nak masuk hotel besar tu… dahla sensorang…. pak gad pon pandang slack je kan, selebeh and selekeh. aku naik duk atas lobi, peeling peeling anak dato’ kejap pepagi buta tu!”(http://zaizaluvme.wordpress.com/)

10. Corner

The final example of an English word used in Malay that has developed a different meaning

is corner. Here it means to take a turn at using the steering wheel instead of it being

something at the edge of a connecting line. The examples are:

“betul tu...selalu gak mcm ni sebab minyak dah low sgt...corner kanan sengguk..corner kiri no problem...”(http://forum.killerbees.com.my/index.php?topic=16814.15;wap2)

“dan masa yg sama bila sy corner kanan dia akan bunyi xsedap sikit. sy juga ada try tekan pedal minyak secara mengejut, dia akan bunyi "taq" kat belah kiri. pomen tu kta drive shaft and gearbox problem, betul ke? Setakat ni nak masuk gear or pickup xde problem lagi, smooth je.”(http://mforum.cari.com.my/viewthread.php?tid=615900)

Bahasa Indonesia

1. Nominator

The word nominator has been used in Indonesian language to mean a person who is nominated

to receive an honor or award, equivalent to the English nominee, such as seen in the following

examples:

“Bintang Barcelona Lionel Messi kembali masuk ke dalam daftar kandidat 100 tokoh paling berpengaruh di dunia tahun 2012, versi majalah ternama TIME. Messi merupakan satu-satunya pemain sepakbola yang masuk daftar nominator. Baru-baru ini pemain asal Argentina itu masuk dalam liputan cerita utama (cover story) majalah TIME edisi Februari 2012.”(source: http://www.goal.com/id-ID/news/1357/sepakbola-spanyol/2012/04/05/3015509/lionel-messi-kembali-masuk-daftar-nominator-100-tokoh-dunia)

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“Juri telah menerima 231 nominator penerima hadiah Nobel Perdamaian 2012. Di antara para nominator adalah mantan Perdana Menteri Ukraina dan seorang tentara AS yang membocorkan materi rahasia ke WikiLeaks.”(http://internasional.kompas.com/read/2012/02/27/22530851/231.Nominator.Nobel.Perdamaian.2012)

“Akhirnya kami harus memilih 50 nominator dari 100 FTS Pilihan yang terseleksi walau harus sering membaca ulang dan juga dengan setengah terpaksa menggunakan jurus pamungkas “TEGA” untuk mengeliminasi FTS-FTS yang secara penulisan dan isi sungguh sangat menganggumkan.”(http://goodcrab-personal.blogspot.com/2012/03/siapa-50-nominator-fts-hangat-dekapan.html)

On the contrary, the English word nominator is the person who officially suggests a

candidate, or nominates the nominees, such as found in the following examples:

“The Nominator Panel of The Hatch are volunteer representatives of who would engage with aspiring startups, evaluate their readiness.”(http://thehatch.in/nominator-panel/)

“The United State is facing tougher challenge as the world largest economy grows at slow pace and the unemployment hovers at high level, according to John Bryson, nominator to be Secretary of the Department of Commerce.”(http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90852/7417013.html)

“It is the Nominator’s responsibility to enlist four other people to write letters in support of a worthy nominee.”(http://www.acponline.org/about_acp/awards_masterships/responsibilities.htm)

2. Treatment

The word treatment has come into use in Indonesian English with a similar meaning, which is a

way to cure illness or injury or solve a problem. However, instead of using is as a noun in the

normal English usage, the word has been wrongly used as a verb in Bahasa Indonesia, as seen in

the following examples:

“Pengedar narkotika jelas harus dihukum berat, karena dia menjual narkotika yang membuat orang tidak berguna lagi di masyakarat, kejahatannya sungguh luar biasa, menimbulkan kerusakan kehidupan. Tapi jika orang yang terlanjur menjadi  pecandu, maka tentu harus di ‘treatment’, dirawat. Kalau masuk penjara, kemungkinan juga semakin teler lagi di penjara dengan lebih memiliki banyak teman.”(http://mung-pujanarko.blogspot.com/2012/04/abstraksi-pikiran-pengguna-narkoba.html)

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“PE ( polyethylene ) & PP ( polypropylene ) adalah jenis plastik yang memiliki surface tension yang sangat rendah dibandingkan dengan jenis jenis plastik yang lainnya , oleh karena itu kedua jenis plastik tersebut harus di treatment permukaannya terlebih dahulu agar memiliki daya lekat / bonding properties yang baik .”(http://sakatinta.com/content/view/4/1/)

“Karena itu tindak pidana maka itu equality before the law yakni persamaan di mata hukum. Mau jaksa kek dia, mau apa kek dia, tapi itu harus di treatment dia. Persamaan di mata hukum dan persamaan penindakan. Artinya tidak ada perbedaan antara aparat penegak hukum dengan manusia lainnya. Karena dimata hukum itulah kemanusiaannya, bukan karena jabatannya,”(http://siantarmetropolis.com/oknum-jaksa-penodong-pistol-menunggu-proses-hukum/)

The English word treatment, in contrast, is used exclusively as a noun, as the following example

indicates:

“Mesothelioma treatment options such as chemotherapy, surgery and radiation can help increase a patient's quality of life and life expectancy.”(http://www.asbestos.com/treatment/)

“The following video is an introduction to The Son-Rise Program with some practical Autism teaching and treatment tools that you can begin using today and some examples of those tools in practice.”(http://www.autismtreatmentcenter.org/)

3. Thanks before

The phrase thanks before has been commonly used to mean thanks in advance. The word might

come into existence as a poor work of word-by-word translation of the Indonesian phrase ‘terima

kasih sebelumnya”, which Indonesians usually use as a more polite way of saying thank you.

Hence it could be argued that such expression is culturally bound. This also suggests that even

“thanks in advance” is quite rarely used in the target culture. The following excerpts illustrate

how thanks before is used in Indonesian contexts:

“halo.nama ku tulus.. btw,boleh kenalan gak sama salah satu atau beberapa anggota dari paduan suara nya? Ada yang cantik menurut ku euy.hehehehe...da contact yang bisa dihubungi?..thanks before ya...”(http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=vmu61k8ncF4&page=1)

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“Dijelasin dikit dong tentang teori dibelakang ini, secara sederhana juga ga apa, maklum tidak paham soal audio elektronika. Damping itu apaan pak? Vibrasi (apakah getaran dari fisik Ipodnya?) itu pengaruhnya di suara bagian apanya? Thanks before ya Pak”(http://jimmyauw.com/2009/01/19/ipod-budget-tweak/)

“Kalo belom verified ane main dan menang eh PSR ane ga nambah gan boleh tau ga gan solusinya kalo ada yg tau thanks before”(http://forum.hon.co.id/showthread.php?19627-Gan-ID-ane-Ga-verified-ni-gan-padahal-udah-level-5-kenapa-ya-%28)

The English word thanks in advance is very rarely used, probably because it might be considered

rude to use it since it gives the idea that we expect the person to help us before the person even

considers giving help, and thus it is quite presumptuous. It also assumes that we do not need to

say “thank you” after help has been given, because we have said it beforehand, which is also

rather rude (Jewell, 2011). However, to illustrate how it is used in L2 context, some examples are

given as follows:

“Thanks in advance for the help. I have a project which I need to write a poem with a metaphor.”(http://www.enotes.com/english-class-2009/q-and-a/thanks-advance-help-have-project-which-need-write-334193)

“Pretty new to online dating and would like thoughts or ideas. I'm really serious about finding "my girl" and I'm giving this a lot of effort. I'd like to hear what you think...thanks in advance. (http://forums.plentyoffish.com/datingPosts15256363.aspx)

4. Boring

This notorious word has most commonly been used to refer to either the state of oneself being

bored or the state of something that is not interesting. However, it is the former that contradicts

to the real meaning in L2, as shown in the examples below:

“Huahh…Gue lagi boring tingkat dewa. Gak tau mau ngapain. Daritadi cuma bengong di depan laptop, dengerin musik cozy republic, sama nonton pelem yang baru gue dapet dari bang hendy. Gue udah nonton 2 pelem hari ini, bosen juga kalo nonton terus.”(http://antonbk.web.id/beginilah-kalau-gue-lagi-boring/)

“Gann... mau tanya dong buat para cwo2.. kalo bulan puasa gini kalo lagi pada boring sendirian apa yang dilakuin ya selain tidur ??”

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(http://www.punyakamu.com/thread-2759-1-1.html)

It is to be noted that such nativization is not exclusive to Indonesian language, it also

extends to Bahasa Malaysia as shown in the following example:

“nak balik boleh? nak cincin jea. tak nak lain. boleh ? haha. i boring lah , taktahu nape , malam ni i boring sangat. haha. pasal i kata u tu, haha, i tahu i salah , i minta maaf.” (http://lifeofteenagerslikeme.tumblr.com/)

Using Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), the following examples

typify how boring means something that is “not interesting or exciting” for the person concerned,

rather than to mean the state of oneself being in boredom:

“My husband's best friend is an intelligent funny man, but his girlfriend is really boring,”

“I see him at the store and about town. I really don't know him well. He says he got into this because life at home was too boring.”

“You know, put each other to sleep with old boring stories of our lives.”

5. Take and give

This phrase has the same meaning as its English equivalent “give and take” or to be

understanding of others by giving up what we want and accepting what others want. However,

the order has been inverted as can be seen in the examples below:

“Mungkin itu kali ya yang bisa kita sebut dengan: “Take and Give”. Jadi simpelnya nih, kalau kita bisa memberikan yang terbaik, maka kita juga akan menerima yang baik juga.”(http://dumalana.com/2012/01/03/take-and-give/)

“Cinta bukan sekedar urusan take and give aja. Love is about give and give. Gimana mungkin?? Tentu aja karena cinta itu soal perasaan. Dan urusan perasaan gag pernah bisa di kalkulasikan seperti untung rugi.”(http://qhiepompongbulad.blogspot.com/2009/03/lovetakegive.html)

“Kalo lebih hebat ya gak mungkin.. kan masih minim pengalaman, dangkal pengetahuan, just take and give aja dah..”(http://www.koprol.com/s/C5mA)

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Following is the correct usage of the word in English. Using COCA, it is revealed that the

original English words are mostly used as a noun rather than a verb:

“Compromise is not a dirty word. Getting things done requires give and take.”

“Deep down you must be able to reassure yourself that your choice of boyfriend is a good one, that he has solid values and beliefs, that you treat each other with respect, and that there is give and take on almost all matters.”

“And I thought he did fairly well. I mean, it was a good back and forth and a good give and take”

6. Energic

Although this word may have been officially listed as an entry in Webster English dictionary, its

use is rather uncommon. The more commonly used one is the energetic. COCA found 2,845

different instances of the use of energetic, as compared to 4 entries only for energic. This clearly

suggests that energetic is the more commonly used one in English. Many Indonesian people

would simply use the word energic to mean the same, which is to have a lot of enthusiasm or to

be full of energy:

“Aku baru liat ini,, aduhh wonder girls energic banget, suka deh,,,, walau bukan konser resmi tunggal, karen ini dr product sony ericson, tp wah bgt yah antusisasnya,,,,”(http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=CiPhkRwhEbw&page=1)

“Yesung oppa kalo nyanyi energic banget looh, maksimaaalll, fokuus bgt !!! kita bakal gemes sendiri ngeliat yesung oppa lg nyanyi, pas lg nyanyi, aura nya keluaaarr!!! keliatan seksi juga pas lg nyanyi”(https://www.facebook.com/notes/k-poppers-indonesia/100-fakta-yesung-suju/246011988745050?comment_id=4637077)

“Sakhing lemahnya gue, temen kantor pun sampe bilang ‘duh mba lu aneh banget sih, giliran bulan puasa orang-orang lemes gitu, lu malah sehat n energic banget, tiap hari ngider ga ada cape, riang gumbira, eh giliran abis lebaran makan enak lu malah sakit.”(http://chickenduck00.multiply.com/journal/item/51?&item_id=51&view:replies=reverse&show_interstitial=1&u=%2Fjournal%2Fitem)

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As mentioned previously, entries from COCA suggest that energic is rarely used indeed, and if

ever used it rarely signifies the same meaning shared in Indonesian contexts. The English

energic here mostly refers to a thing that contains quite a lot of energy, rather than a person with

a lot of enthusiasm. From its 425 million entries, COCA found only four instances of its

authentic use. They are also quite archaic, literary, and are never used in the current English.

Following are some examples of energic found in COCA along with the date it was taken:

“And what he wrestled with in the desert experience was the temptation to identify in an inflated fashion with the energic power represented in the title, Son of God, and so to distort the meaning of this elemental symbolic constellation. Such temptation is precisely demonic.” (data taken in 1993)

“Is it any wonder, then, that he forbids the disciples to proclaim him as the Messiah, i.e., to project upon him an energic symbolic constellation that belongs to their own religious inferiority, and so to distort the meaning of the constellation by converting it into a mass movement?” (taken in 1993)

“That is, the literary, musical, architectural, and artistic ventures of the time conspired to define the person in terms of a deep energic force, often equated with soul and rooted in both the spiritual and natural world.” (taken in 1990)

7. Dateline

The word has been commonly used to mean deadline or a point in time where something must

have been completed. Not much is known on how the word dead changes to date other than the

assumption that a deadline must inevitably entail a specific date by which the work must be

completed. Here are some examples of dateline used in Indonesian contexts:

“Itu kan denda maksimal ya gan, kalo biasanya denda yang diputuskan hakim berapa

gan? Agan tau gak kira-kira? Buat persiapan uang dari rumah gan ane. Hoh, oke gan.

Makasi banyak sarannya. Ane kemaren buru-buru sih, ngejar dateline inter[v]iew.”

(http://www.kaskus.us/showthread.php?t=8994943&page=2)

“Aku lagi beteee sama kakakku! Dia dengan seenaknya nyuruh aku pulang ke Medan

buat nemenin dia, padahal dia tau aku lagi ngejar dateline sidang. Awalnya emang aku

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pikir gak ada salahnya aku pulang sekitar 1 minggu. Kasihan dia juga, lagi hamil tua tapi

gak ada yang nemenin.”

(http://xtinecantabile.tumblr.com/)

“Alhamdulillah, tanggapan dari para customer lumayan positif, ini terbukti dengan order

yang cukup banyak, sampe2 karyawan cukup kuwalahan ngejar dateline yang diminta.

Tapi, lagi-lagi ini bicara pelayanan, mau-gak-mau, suka-gak-suka harus selesai tepat

waktu. Iya toh ?”

(http://tsearch.digi-crea.com/nexian-berry-gratis-mumpung-belum-terlambat/)

In English, dateline has a different meaning ascribed to it. Beedictionary.com defines it

as a line at the beginning of a news article that informs where the news is dispatched and

optionally when it is published as the following entry from COCA illustrates:

“Are private psychiatric hospitals resorting to kidnapping in their quest for paying

patients? # Dateline: Miami; Los Angeles; Ann Arbor; Chicago; Washington”

Discussion and Conclusion

The findings in this paper reveal that English words are being nativized into Bahasa Malaysia

and Bahasa Indonesia to the extent that speakers do not realize that they are using these English

words unless they consciously think about it. Although words presented in this paper are by no

means exhaustive, and that they represent only the tip of the ice berg, it could be said that in

general these words mostly have meanings that differ from the original English words. It could

also be concluded that the form of the word or phrase can slightly change as well. It is to be

expected that the number of English words being nativized into Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa

Indonesia would increase since language users are creative in using the language that they know.

The paper also suggests that there are not many instances of nativized words in Indonesia

as compared to the Malaysian counterpart where the examples given in this paper make up of

only some of the words nativized in Bahasa Malaysia. This could be related to the different

historical background, in which the country was colonized by Dutch and hence had more

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borrowings from the Dutch instead of English. Another possible reason for the dearth of

nativized words is that English is used as a foreign language in Indonesia, and is used mostly by

the highly educated elite in the public discourse hence linguistic contact is quite limited for most

people. This is to be contrasted with the situation in Malaysia, whereby people use English as a

second language to communicate with people of different nationalities. More thorough research

should be conducted to explore nativized words in Indonesian context, especially to confirm and

track the growing number of these words as claimed by previous studies.

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