Month: November 2021

Categories
Current News

Translation Field in the Post-Pandemic Times

Yogyakarta (27/11/2021) – Jogja Literary Translation Club (JLTC) held their fifth translation seminar with “Paradigma Penerjemahan Pascapandemi” (Post-Pandemic Translation Paradigm) as the main topic, conducted online via Zoom. Head of JLTC Almira Romala and the Head of the English Letters Study Program Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum. opened the seminar with their welcome remarks. This seminar marked the closing of a series of events for the JLTC anniversary, and more than one hundred participants attended the web seminar.

The web seminar was divided into three sessions with a different focus each session. Christien Yueni as the moderator guided the first session where Professor Nababan explained “A Good Practice of Post-pandemic Translation Project”, and the session ran interactively. According to Professor Nababan, translation practices after a pandemic remain the same as before the pandemic; therefore, he focused on explaining the translation project processes. 

 “A translator is a cultural filter. It is important to have a balanced ideology when it comes to translation, since translation methods and techniques of different ideologies will complement other translation ideologies,” said Professor Nababan when he explained the link between translation ideology and translation quality. The topic sparked some participants to ask questions and dig deeper into the subject. Before the session ended, Professor Nababan added that the translation field in Indonesia is already prominent.

The second session was guided by the head of JLTC, Almira Romala, and the speaker was Haru Deliana Dewi, PhD. The second session focused on translators’ competence if they wanted to take the Ujian Kualifikasi Penerjemah or UKP. In this session, Haru explained various things about texts and the approaches to translate a particular text. Haru said, “a translator should understand the basic theories of translation and know what method they should use, since translating different texts will require different approaches.” 

When the Q&A session began, questions were flooding the chat box regarding the qualification test. Haru mentioned that LSP was inactive for eleven years and 2021 is the first year LSP started being active again; that is why the test will be only for English to Indonesian and Indonesian to English translators. Additionally, this test applies nationally and the participants do not necessarily need to graduate from a language department. 

Stefani Veronika, the co-founder of JLTC, guided the last session with Ade Indarta as the speaker. Ade Indarta explained about the localization in the post-pandemic translation market. The third session covered which industries were affected by the pandemic and the economic growth within this year. Ade shared his personal experience working as a translator in the midst of the pandemic in this session. He also shared tips with everyone who wanted to be a localization translator. It is important to start step by step and get involved with volunteering activities. 

In the Q&A session, Ade explained more about localization in big companies. “Most of the big companies already consider which languages are prioritized to be translated,” Ade said to answer a question regarding working in Netflix. He also added that there could be different views between the client and the translator, so some companies choose to use machine translation to translate unprioritized languages. “It is better to translate it with a machine, despite the inaccuracy, rather than to not translate it at all,” he said. Remarking the end of the third session, Ade added that human translation would not entirely vanish because there are some aspects that machine translations cannot replace. 

Before the web seminar ended, Stefani Veronika shared the closing remarks as the co-founder of JLTC. At the end of the web seminar, the MC announced the names of participants who actively asked questions in the Q&A session. The active participants received a gift from the committee. 

 

Journalist: Yohana Satvika

Editor: Baby Lois Augustine Nabasa, Fransiskus Nino Boby Laksono (QC)

Categories
Current News

Swearing-In of the New HMPS Committee

Yogyakarta (11/11/2021) – On November 5, 2021, the General Elections Commission of USD held a Swearing-In Ceremony for the 2021/2022 elected officials of English Letters Students’ Association via Zoom meeting, and live-streamed through Sastra Inggris USD Official’s YouTube channel and Instagram account. The ceremony was attended by USD officials, lecturers, members of the previous HMPSSING, the new committee of HMPSSING as well as the representatives from each UKPS in the English Letters Department. 

The ceremony started with the opening speech of Mrs. Anna Fitriati as the Vice-Chairperson of the Faculty of Literature. In her speech, Mrs. Anna gave her appreciation toward the previous HMPSSING committee for their successful hard work in completing various programs despite the difficulties in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. She also hopes that the new generation of HMPSSING officials can complete their tasks in HMPS excellently without leaving their main tasks as college students. 

The ceremony continues as Mr. Hirmawan Wijanarka gave his speech as the Head of the English Letters Department. He added that with the long history of how HMPS was built and maintained since its sporadic era in 1993, he hopes that the HMPS committee 2021/2022 are able to face and overcome the new challenges which are about to begin. 

“The university has given signs that our learning activities might not be able to be exactly the same as the pre-pandemic situation. We cannot go 100% online in the near time (perhaps in the next 5-10 years). However, our university has started to plan what is known as flipped learning. Our learning activities will be separated into two parts. Half with the LMS system, Zoom, etc., and the other half will be held offline with maybe half the number of the students,” Mr. Hirmawan stated. 

Then, the Head of the KPU Committee, Anastasia Srikandi, officially announced that the Swearing-In Ceremony is the last program held by the General Elections Commission of USD 2021. “I hope that the new HMPS officials can stay credible and thoughtful in carrying out their programs,” Anastasia said. 

Clarissa Dominica, the chairperson of HMPSSING 2020/2021, gave her speech. She stated her appreciation for the successful work of the General Elections Commission of USD 2021 which leads to a remarkable election in the political history of the English Letters Department. In addition, she was thankful for the committee of HMPSSING 2020/2021 who has worked alongside her for the last year and has successfully stabilized the community after the Covid-19 outburst. Therefore, she expects that the new HMPS can continue to stabilize and even exceed the HMPS performance in the management year of 2020/2021.

After the opening speeches given by official figures of the English Letters Department, then comes the highlight of the event. The letter of the decision was read by Anastasia Srikandi as the Head of General Elections Commission, followed by the transition of power from HMPSSING officials 2020/2021 to the HMPSSING officials 2021/2022 symbolized by the handover of the HMPS flag from Clarissa Dominica to Nikolaus Herjuno as the elected leader of the new HMPSSING generation. Then, the ceremony continues with members of HMPS 2021/2022 coming to the stage and proudly declaring their oath as the new faces of the English Letters Students’ Association.

 

To close the ceremony, Nikolaus Herjuno as the chairperson of HMPPSSING 2021/2022 gave his speech. “We as the committee of HMPS 2021/2022 will continue to do our tasks optimally so that all the hard work done is not gone by time, and the values, as well as the culture grown in English Letters Department of Sanata Dharma University, can encourage the values taught by Ignatius Loyola in actualizing our vision and mission as HMPS for the greater glory of God. May all of the hard work which will be done by HMPS 2021/2022 and the whole academic community of English Letters Department be blessed by the Almighty,” Niko said.

Finally, he wrapped up the speech with “Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam”, the motto of Jesuit Foundation written in our university’s logo, which means “For the greater glory of God.”

 

Journalist : Agnes Seraphine

Editor : Cynthia Olga Handoko, Cherry Larissa Hendranata (QC)

Categories
Creative Writings Flash Fiction

Graduation Day

I saw her today on graduation day, with her family, but I was okay. Because I saw the way she looked at them. A smile on her face, one that I’ve never seen before. Though I could only watch her from afar, I can see her talking with the people who made her happy.

For a moment, my memory of being with her on the night before graduation day suddenly popped up. It was after the graduation rehearsal had finished. We were walking side by side to the campus’ parking lot as best friends, hoping that I could drive her to her boarding house on time. Among the dim yellow street lights and neatly arranged rows of cars, I turned my gaze to her. She looked tired.

“Is everything okay?” I asked her.

She didn’t answer, remaining silent for a while as she usually does. Her face looked gloomy. A few seconds passed by, she stopped walking as if there was a burden that made her stop. “There is something that I need to tell you, George.” She warmly looked into my eyes.

“What is it, Emily?” I replied. 

“This may sound sudden for you, but I think you should know this earlier,” she said with a soft voice. “By the time the graduation ends, I will have to go back to Jakarta for a long time.”

There was an awkward silence that passed between us. 

I tried to stay calm and asked, “Until when?” 

She smiled at me. “I honestly don’t know.” 

The air felt heavier than before, and I knew that she was telling the truth. “If you have anything that you want to say to me, just say it. Because I know that you and I won’t be the same person anymore, like many other good friends,” she said. 

“How about you say it first?” I slowly approached her, leaning my back against the back of my car. “It would be nice for me to be a listener for my busy best friend.” 

She laughed a little, freeing up a small burden inside her, which made her face look a little bit happier. “I’ve done it before, George, many times,” she replied. “It’s nice to have a friend like you. Whenever I have something to be said, to be let out, you always make time for me and ask if I’m okay or not. Like you just did.”  

“Well, I guess you won’t find someone like me again.” 

“Yup, you can say that.” She took a deep breath, tightly holding my shoulder. “It’s you, George. It’s always been you.” 

The clouds began to clear and the moon is shining through. The wind was starting to feel cold. I looked up to the night sky, along with my words flowing, “I still don’t believe that this is our last night before we become adults. All we wanted to do was to grow up. But now, all we want is to be the little kids looking at the moon without a thing to worry about.” 

She followed my gaze to the night sky. “At least we can still see it the same way,” she said with a faint smile. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” 

I slowly looked at her in wonder. “Yes, the moon is beautiful.” 

One second passed. We stood side by side in silence. 

“Have you ever met someone who is like the moon?” she asked, randomly.

“Yes, I have,” I answered her. “She’s quite close to me. She’s beautiful both inside and outside, but I’ve never had the guts to say that to her.” 

Emily didn’t say a thing, being a good listener as she is.

I continued my words, “As time went by, we become closer and closer. There was this one moment, when we were talking in a food stall until midnight, but neither of us thought that time would go so fast. And when we decided to leave, we waved at each other. I got in the car, watching her fade away slowly. Then, I felt something was missing.” 

“Just like that?” she asked. 

“Yup, just like that,” I said, looking at her, warmly. “Because sometimes when you meet someone for the first time, you hardly pay any attention to them. You may not even really be attracted to this person, but as soon as you get to know them, you notice yourself slowly falling for them. This person that was once average to you, has quickly become the most beautiful person in the world and perhaps the most important. It’s funny. You never saw that coming, and that’s love for me.”

She thought about that for a while and asked, “Will she come tomorrow at the graduation?” 

I nodded. “And I’ll be there when she graduates, cheering the loudest.” 

She replied with a genuine smile, making the night even longer. 

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard her name being called. She walked up to the podium, doing the graduation tradition. As she faced the audience, I stood up. Cheering her as loud as I could even though she still didn’t realize it. Then, she got off the podium and walked to her seat. For a split second, she smiled again. Maybe not at me, but she’s still smiling. As long as she’s happy, I’ll be okay.

 

Journalist: Vincentius Rhesa

Editor: Cynthia Olga Handoko, Cherry Larissa Hendranata (QC)

Illustrator: Ajeng Suci Hati

Categories
Features Lifestyle

The Mystery of Struggle in Responding to Compliments

Regardless of the existence of a simple “thank you,” most of us still struggle to find the right response when we are given compliments. For example, when someone says, “Hey, you look great today!” We might answer that with: 

“Nah, you’re exaggerating. I look awful. I didn’t get enough sleep last night.” 

“Yeah, my sister did the makeup for me.”

“Oh, come on. You look even prettier than me.”

In other words, we either neglect the praise, downgrade it, shift its focus to something else (e.g., the makeup), or return the compliments to whom we speak with.

It is easy to understand why we feel uncomfortable when someone insults us since it directly degrades our self-quality and we feel threatened by it. However, why is it so puzzling to reply to a compliment, even though it indicates positive impressions from others? Apparently, the phenomenon occurs not only because we lack self-esteem, but also because of other factors related to our psychological state and the inconsistency of our social conform. 

The first cause of this phenomenon is our unconscious fear of pleasure. Couple therapist, Harville Hendrix, in his book “Getting the Love You Want” (2001, p. 136-137) mentions that we unconsciously develop the fear of pleasure due to our childhood experiences. When we were little, we found that being fully alive is deeply pleasurable that we nearly had no boundary of energy to play and enjoy the moment. However, some of those pleasures were limited by our caregivers so that we could be safe. They would say: 

“No running in the hall!” 

“Come down from that table!” 

“You’re being too noisy!” 

As children, we didn’t blame our parents for ruining our mood. Instead, we believed that we were not worthy of the pleasure. Slowly, we began to make an unlikely association between pleasure and pain. A certain kind of pleasure may unconsciously trigger our fear of being punished as we grow up. Consequently, we restrain ourselves from the excitement and pride of being praised.

The more significant factor is the contradictory social norm we have to follow (Lambert, 2018). On one hand, people expect us to agree on the positive statement they are trying to offer, like when our friends invite us to a party, or when we discuss a certain movie theory. On the other hand, they also demand us to not engage in self-praise since it can lead to arrogance. When someone gives a compliment, agreeing to what they say means that we have to engage in self-praise, and not engaging in self-praise means that we state disagreement to the person we talk to. In short, we cannot follow both norms at the same time and that troubles us in picking the proper response toward compliments.

All in all, feeling confused about how to respond to a compliment is normal. We are haunted by our fear of past experiences and stuck in the middle of two competing social expectations. 

When someone compliments you, try to start saying “thank you.” It indicates that you accept their opinion and you appreciate them for letting you know. If you are afraid that it will make you seem arrogant, ask about what is good, and what can be improved from your performance to gain a deeper perspective from the person you are talking with. With this simple strategy, we may embrace a better way of communicating with others.

 

References:

Hendrix, Harville. (2019). Getting the love you want: a guide for couples (fully revised and updated version). St. Martin’s Press. 

Lambert, Bruce L. (2018, August 2). How to accept compliments and why it’s so hard. How Communication Works. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kow-Cyr1U9s 

Pawelski, Suzie Pileggi and James Pawelski. (2018, December 4). Why is it so hard to accept a compliment? Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/happy-together/201812/why-is-it-so-hard-accept-compliment

 

 

Journalist: Agnes Seraphine

Editor : Vivi Julianti, Cherry Larissa Hendranata (QC)

Categories
Features People

Markus Zusak: How Failure Gives Success Greater Meaning

Pic: Markus Zusak by Carly Earl, 2018. The Guardian

“Every success I’ve had been wrapped in a gift box of failure.”
-Markus Zusak

Markus Zusak was born on June 23rd, 1975 in Sydney, Australia, with Austrian-German roots. He is an Australian author who has written six books in total, including an international bestseller The Book Thief, which is translated into more than forty languages. His parents were immigrants from Germany and barely spoke English when they arrived in Australia. They didn’t want their children to face the same problem, so they encouraged them to read and communicate in English. Zusak graduated from the University of New South Wales with a Bachelor of Arts and a Diploma of Education. Then, he worked as a teacher before becoming an author.

Just like any other author, Zusak’s journey to be an author was not an easy road. He was rejected by every publisher until he finally got the chance to publish his first novel in 1999. He didn’t get famous instantaneously, instead he had to do his first reading in a small town which no one came.

The Underdog is his first novel and the first book of the trilogy. It is an adult fiction about Cameron, the youngest child in a working-class family and the narrative is about Cameron’s struggle in defining himself and his morality. The sequel was published in 2000 titled Fighting Ruben Wolfe, and the final book of the trilogy titled When Dogs Cry (published in America with a different title, Getting the Girl) was published a year later. Following the trilogy, Zusak published his fourth book, The Messenger, in 2002 and received the 2003 Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award. The Messenger is about a story of a young man who learns to face his fears through experiences from playing games and learning to be a better person by helping people around him from the messages he received.

The Book Thief gave him a big success in his career as an author. In an interview with HuffPost, he said that his parents’ and siblings’ stories about growing up in Austria and Germany during and after World War II inspired him to write The Book Thief. The book is set in Germany during World War II, where Liesel Meminger is adopted by an old married couple in a small town and finds the power of words through books she stole from a Nazi book-burnings and the mayor’s wife’s library. Narrated by Death, this novel gives a different point of view for the reader. In the process of writing his fifth book, however, he had a lot of struggle. In the middle of writing The Book Thief, Zusak initially thought that no one would read his book. He spoke about his struggles when he was invited to be a speaker in TEDxSydney 2014. He changed the narration several times, from Death to Liesel’s point of view, to third-person narration, and back to Death again.

Throughout the process, he faced the failures of trying to find a suitable narration and overcome his insecurities and struggles, which befriended him along with failure. “What I found with that problem was that all of those failures had one tiny success in them for the next pages,” he said after speaking about his struggles on writing his fifth book. With those failures, Zusak admitted that the failure had given him the power to imagine around the problems; it’s given him a greater motivation and encouraged him to follow his own vision. Zusak found that writing is an arena with failures in the air. Failures shape us to  have greater respect for ourselves, for the tasks we do, and for our will to stay in that failure.

Journalist: Yohana Satvika Wahyuveda

Editor: Cynthia Olga Handoko, Fransiskus Nino (QC)

Categories
Poem

Heroes on the Courts

Source: @INABadminton on Twitter

It’s the way you sway the racket

To make points and try to win every set

It’s the way you fall several times

But bounce back every single time 

It’s the fierce look on your face 

Mainly when the moment is thrilling and tense

It’s the victorious voice in your shout

Realizing that all your blood, sweat, and tears work out 

With the grand trophy above your head

And luminous medals around your neck

The long-awaited dream comes true 

For new history has been made by you

Author: Atalya Zarah Septirina

Editor: Arih Oviana P. , Fransiskus Nino (QC)

Categories
Current News

HMPS Preparing the New Generation of Elected HMPS

Yogyakarta (6/11/2021) – English Letters Students’ Association or HMPSSING held HMPS Coaching to prepare a new generation of elected English Letters Students’ Association Committee. This coaching was held on Friday, November 5, 2021, at the Sanata Dharma University Faculty of Literature building.

”This HMPS Coaching is carried out to provide a briefing for the new English Literature Students’ Association Committee to prepare themselves, both personally and as a whole to face the 2021/2022 management year,” said Clarissa Dominica as the head of the English Letters Students’ Association of 2020/2021 management year.

This HMPS coaching activity involved all members of the English Letters Students’ Association of the 2020/2021 management year and elected officials for the management year of 2021/2022. In addition to the briefing on technical management and organization, this briefing is also a means for the old committee to share their management experiences with the new committee.

”In this briefing, there was a sharing of information and messages regarding the work programs that have been held, as well as consultations from the new to the old committee regarding the work programs that have just been designed by the new committee,” Clarissa said.

Preparing a new committee amid this pandemic situation provides a challenge in ensuring that the new committee can do their job and responsibility well. This challenge is caused by the fact that only some of the new board members have had experience working at HMPSSING. 

“The challenge that we will face is to train or adjust new committee who are lacking experience, in knowing the methods used by HMPSSING in managing several things such as entering RKA, inputting LPJ, etc.,” Clarissa said.

In addition, the new committees also have their challenges. The challenges that will be faced are more focused on concretizing or making solid work programs by strengthening work programs that have been running well in the previous period, as well as improving work programs that are considered less well-run in the previous period.

Contacted separately, Nikolaus Herjuno, or familiarly called Niko, the chairman of the elected English Letters Students’ Association for the 2021/2022 year of management, said the same thing as Clarissa regarding the challenges currently being faced by the new HMPSSING board.

According to him, because most of the new board members are currently in the 2020 class, most of them have never known in detail about the organization and also rarely meet each other which present a new challenge of its own. 

“The challenge itself is that most of us are batch 2020, we don’t understand the world of organizational management, plus we’re not too familiar with each other, so it feels a little awkward,” Niko said.

Great hope is given to the new management of HMPSSING to advance and continue the good work of the previous committee, as well as evaluating the mistakes that were made in the management of the previous year.

“Hopefully HMPSSING for the period of 2021/2022 can carry out its period well, correct the mistakes of HMPSSING for the period of 2020-2021, and provide excellent innovations to better the name of English Literature,” Clarissa said, closing her statement.

Niko, as the new chairman of the English Letters Students’ Association, also shared his hopes for the new Committee of the Students’ Association. “I hope that this Association of English Letters Students can become a representation of English Letters Department of Sanata Dharma University. Not only having an influence on the internal study program but also becoming a form of introduction for English Letters Department of Sanata Dharma University outside the campus.” Niko said as he closed the interview.

 

Journalist: Vincentius Radhitya

Editor: Desca Geovani, Cherry Larissa (QC)

Illustrator: Maria Angelica Chrysanti

Categories
Current News

UKPS Award 2021: Shine Bright Like a Star

Yogyakarta (03/11/2021) – With the tagline “Shine Bright Like a Star”, English Letters’ Student Association of Sanata Dharma University held an awarding night named UKPS Award 2021, conducted online via zoom meeting. The awarding night started with an opening speech from Mr. Simon Arsa Manggala as the Deputy Head of Study Program, followed by Alviena Timothea as the chairperson of UKPS Award 2021. Alviena stated that this event was planned since July, with the committee putting more effort into said event as they wanted it to be a little different from the previous ones. After the opening speech, there was a special performance from UKPS AVIS, namely “White Hawk and Star Maidens”, a traditional folklore from Native American. It was the first time AVIS tried something new by using clay and making a stop-motion video.

Before the highlight of the event, videos displaying the organization structure and the work plan of each UKPS was played. As stated by Kristian Daviko and Devaneira, the MCs of UKPS Award 2021, this year’s UKPS Award is a little different, with there being three nominations based on the voting results of the English Letters’ students.

The first nomination is called Sirius Star (The Brightest Star), awarded to ELAC by gaining 22,9% of the voting results and making them the most favorite UKPS in English Letters Department. The second nomination is called Sagittarius A Star (The Fastest Star). This award was won by INTEGRITY for being the UKPS who successfully completed and executed their entire work plan. And, the last nomination is The Red Square Nebula Star (The Symmetric Star), which was given to EDS as the UKPS who did their tasks and jobs punctually the most. For the closing event, there was a surprise gift session for the participants; Best Costume, The Most Enthusiast, and The In-Time People. These were awarded to Isidora, Wina, and Hana Yeremia respectively.

Last but not least, congratulations to all the winners and each UKPS for always giving their best! May this awarding night motivate every UKPS to continue doing their best in illuminating Sanata Dharma University, especially English Letters Department, like the stars do.

 

Journalist: Atalya Zahra

Editor: Baby Lois Agustine, Fransiskus Nino (QC)

Illustrator: Betsy Mariana Agoha