This paper investigates localized English words in both languages.

1. KULLIYYAH OF ISLAMIC REVEALED KNOWLEDGE AND
HUMAN SCIENCES
LEXICOGRAPHY
ENGL 6203
Nativization of English Words in
Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia
IhsanIbadurrahman (G1025429)
SyareenIzzatyBtMajelan (G1029580)
RudianaRazali (G1115202)
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2. 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 ithaving 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 wherethe 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 ascompared 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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3. 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 journalsthat 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 structurethat gives the speakers a sense of identity (Subramaniam, 2007;
Rajandran, 2011; Thirusanku&Yunus, 2012).Even though the formal ME differs slightly from
3

4. 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&SilahudinJarjis, 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“bahasarojak”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 lexiconor
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 wouldonly makes sense in that particular
culture and group of speakerseven 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
astas(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
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5. influences. It was then that the emergence of English nativization came into picture. Some of the
western loanwords commonly found in Indonesian language today include sosialiasifrom 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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6. 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:
“akuadatengok interface windows 8 nampak mcm bestjer...ada yang
penahcubatak....kongsisikit”
(http://forum.putera.com/tanya/index.php/topic/89828-windows-8-dengar-kata-best-betul-ker/)
“haaapa-apapunakukasi 5 bintangcampursatuanakbulan.
sebabciterperangnibest..akumanalahsukasangattengokperangatasdarat..akutakuttengokas
karhilang kaki hilangtanganhilangkepalahilangituhilangini... tapi yang battle atas air
ni..huyooobest”
(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‟ useblurto 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:
“Semalambanyakklunak update entrikat blog burukni
!hariniblurpulakkepalaotaknihishh, semalambukannakbanggaketidaksampai post 5
entrisehari..dasyatbetul, tapitakbolehlawanotai blogger
sekaliandansebabnyakanharirabu..damm ..patut la 4 entri,rupanya post WW dansatulagi
republish hmm.”
(http://www.trioseposen.com/2011/09/otak-blur-je-hari-ni-hantu-betul.html)
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7. “Adoiiii..patut la blur je mamattubilaakusebutnamadia .. hahaha.. haihh... maluakupasni
.. hahahhaa ..malu ..maluuuuu.. malusemalumalunyaaaaa....”
(http://www.benashaari.com/2011/07/muhahahahah-bengong-betul-la.html)
3. Budget
Apart from having the same meaning in English, budget here has alsodeveloped 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 apalagiterusletaktaliantelefonapabilamandengar kata-kata
keranituh.Pehh.Memamngcikgugeramdengankeranitu.Budgetbagussgt.Kitatycarabaik,
die jwbdgnkasar.Nantikitalihat.Inilahyg paling cikgukesalkandgnperangaikeraniitu.”
(http://cikguciti.blogspot.com/2010/02/budget-bagus.html)
“Kalaunak business lajusilagunakan EVENTS, TRAINING, EVENTS,
TRAINING.Bukanduduk sorang2 budgetpandai. 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:
“Topiksantaipaginiakunakmengheret kalian
utksesamaberkongsiperasaanbetapabencinyaapabilaperjalanankorangdihalang...Akuakui
pembinaanbonggol/bumper di
sesetengahtempatadalahutkmenghalangkelajuankeretamotorutkkeselamatanterutamanya
di sekolah-sekolahdanpersimpangan, tapi...adajuga orang perseorangan yang
membinabumper di depanrumah..:)):)):))...”
(http://www.carigold.com/portal/forums/archive/index.php?t-271021.html)
“kokatepadaakuker? akutakpotongler, akutukar sport spring.
loweredseketketatpaitubumperjalankalojumpakalu, susahloh.....”
(http://www.melayu.com/sembang2/mesej.php?14.0000000299)
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8. 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:
“Belumakutulisballlah, lukisbintanglahikanlah. HahaLast-last, makabah pun taklaratnakmarah,
marker abangkakakakujahanamkan, belum yang conteng-contengkat kaki lagi.
heheSebagaipenyelesaiannya, makabahkakakabangaku kami sekeluargakepasaraya,
mencaripapanhitam, pemadamdankapur!”
(http://www.fasihah.com/2012/03/diari-nak-marah-tak-jadi.html)
“Contohnyasayasemalampercubaanpertamanakbuatapampolkadot.Last-
lasttakmenjadi..HuhuApampolkadotjadiapambatat
dot.Memangtakpernahbuatnyaapampolkadotnih. Ikut dah resepinyasatupersatutapitak tau la plak
tang manasilapnya. Cantik dah buatdarisegiwarna pink hijaudan filling blueberry dan strawberry
filling.”
(http://infonewbie.com/info-santai/percubaan-pertama-yang-tak-menjadi)
6. Pickup
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, sedihsikit. salahkekalaulambatpick up? nak kata lembap,
takdelahhlembap. tapi LAMPI or lambat pick up. salahke?? akutak rasa bendatusalah
pun.”
(http://diniedzai.blogspot.com/2011/05/salah-ke-lambat-pick-up.html)
“Masalah yang sayahadapisekarangadalahsepertitajukentriniiaitulambatsangat 'pick-
up'dengansoalan-soalan yang
diutarakankepadasayadanadasedikitkelemahandalammemahamisoalan yang diberikan.
Orang kata lambatnakfaham.”
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9. (http://www.azrulhisham.com/2010/06/lambat-pick-up-memang-problem-maaisk.html#ixzz1v5I6rcCk)
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 suarapower...tapitulakanartislelakisusahsikitzamantu..”
(http://bincang.net/forum/showthread.php?82769-Uji-Bakat-Af-6-Power-betul-adik-beradik-SITI-ni!)
“Nakjadipowerbercakapinggerismacamguasekaranginibukanlahkerjaseharidua.
Inikerjamakantahunjugasebabmelibatkan minatdandayausaha.Jadibila dah
powerbercakapinggerismacamsekarangini, kalausekadartengok DVD orang
putihtuselamba kodoksajagua hide subtitle.Orang powerbahasainggeris, manaadabaca
subtitle bilatengok DVD.Even bilaguatengok movie di cinema pun guatakbaca subtitle
yang keluar di bawahskrin.Tengoktuguapakaiperkataan 'even' dalamayatgua. Kalaulu
orang takfahamguamintamaafawal-awal. Tapitakfahamke?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:
“Terrorbetul,dapattangkap hidup2, kalaukatsini dah berlubang2 kenatembak.”
(http://www.cikgubadarudin.com/2011/09/sang-bedal-merajuk.html)
“matgebumemangterrorbetul la merekamakanan @ minuman yang sedap2 belaka...”
(http://www.tiffinbiru.com/2011/08/honey-lime-teapenyegar-tekak.html)
9. Slack
9

10. 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 lookas in the examples below:
“Annoyed tak if ada unknown person tibatibapandangslackkatkita?”
(http://www.formspring.me/r/annoyed-tak-if-ada-unknown-person-tiba-tiba-pandang-slack-kat-
kita/189386863419624302)
“akucuakgilanakmasuk hotel besartu… dahlasensorang…. pak gad ponpandangslack je
kan, selebeh and selekeh. akunaikdukataslobi, peeling peelinganakdato‟
kejappepagibutatu!”
(http://zaizaluvme.wordpress.com/)
10. Corner
The final example of an English word used in Malay that has developed a different meaning
iscorner. 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:
“betultu...selalugak mcm nisebabminyak dah low sgt...cornerkanansengguk..cornerkiri
no problem...”
(http://forum.killerbees.com.my/index.php?topic=16814.15;wap2)
“danmasaygsamabilasycornerkanandiaakanbunyixsedapsikit. syjugaada try tekan pedal
minyaksecaramengejut, diaakanbunyi "taq" katbelahkiri. pomentukta drive shaft and
gearbox problem, betulke? Setakatninakmasuk gear or pickup xde problem lagi, smooth
je.”
(http://mforum.cari.com.my/viewthread.php?tid=615900)
Bahasa Indonesia
1. Nominator
The word nominatorhas been used in Indonesian language tomeana person who is nominated to
receive an honor or award, equivalent to the English nominee,such as seen in the following
examples:
10

11. “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
Februari2012.”
(source:http://www.goal.com/id-ID/news/1357/sepakbola-spanyol/2012/04/05/3015509/lionel-messi-
kembali-masuk-daftar-nominator-100-tokoh-dunia)
“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 wordnominator 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
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12. 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)
“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 treatmentoptions 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 phrasethanks 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
„terimakasihsebelumnya”, which Indonesians usually use as a more polite way of saying thank
12

13. 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)
“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
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14. 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 ??”
(http://www.punyakamu.com/thread-2759-1-1.html)
It is to be noted that such nativization is not exclusive to Indonesianlanguage, 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.”
14

15. (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)
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 giveandtake.”
“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 giveandtake on almost all matters.”
“And I thought he did fairly well. I mean, it was a good back and forth and a good
giveandtake”
6. Energic
Although this word may have beenofficially listedas 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”
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16. (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)
As mentioned previously, entries from COCA suggest that energicis rarely used indeed, and if
ever used it rarely signifies the same meaning shared in Indonesian contexts. The
Englishenergichere 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 energicfound 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:
16

17. “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
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 paperreveal 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
17

18. 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 paperalso 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
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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