Using A dictionary is one of the most important resources for language studies. Along with the meanings of words, a dictionary provides all sorts of other useful information such as parts of speech, idiomatic expressions and usefl phrases. Using a bilingual dictionary may at first seem complicated, but study of the following notes, and a little practice will help overcome this. Section ‘6 dictionary Intended meaning While some words refer to one specific thing many words can have a range of meanings depending on the context of their use. Sometimes these meanings are closely related, but in other instances they can be quite different. For example, consider the word fair, in English: ae English Intended meaning _ indonesian Phonetic pronunciation fair entertainment, pasar malam gave /geiv/ lib, give festival When using the English—Indonesian dictionary the just adil, - letters immediately after the English word indicate its pretty cantik phonetic pronunciation, fair light complexioned _kuning langsat fair average lumayan Abbreviations fair blonde pirang In the introductory pages of a dictionary you will find 4 list of abbreviations that will help co decipher the information in the dictionary encries, Ie is imporcane to be familiar with the abbreviations for the most common parts of speech. 1 gave /geiv/lih. GIVE 1th, isthe abbreviation for libat and indicates that information will be found under the word give Information about a verb is always given in che present tense form of the verb. 2 give /giv/ A. gaya-pegas ‘The mattress has no give, ~bkt (gave, given,) 1 member. What did be give you for Christmas? Kamu diberikan apa untuk hari Natal? In the above example Bb. is the abbreviation for now and Afr. is the abbreviation for sransitive verb. I is immediately obvious that the first choice gaya-pegas cannot be used ro translate the sentence He must give me 4 present, because give in this sentence is a verb. ‘The example sentence in italics, that follows the Indonesian word, clearly illustrates its meaning and helps to choose the appropriate word to use, esama sama sec © Neon ra 200, oy be photon orcasea se thin he pachang tun, ‘As can be seen here, while in English the same word can have variety of meanings, many different words in Indonesian express the different intended meanings. In the dictionary the entry for fair looks like this: eee) tence ele ys Ti ag Rata fe iad) ames Pa, fief dan eft Fegan ate ete examin ei tne Les, wnt fa ak dee Seu Sani on perk at CDI eben feito rad ‘rks aa Pad ony sedan ja Hoe dodo Sar be Pa eeat emcee Lt Oa erimas omar Soles Saat Gad ama ty inane eck ath neocie ane aden inc een ig amit me are ak ace agenda ae Se ie Pi Di eae an ed ane fede ae ee Em ‘hamponva a ly ree t ewe beak it Ber ec Ehret berets peered seg eat mae erent Samira nee (Kanus Inggris Indonesia, PT. Gramedia Jakarta, 1997. Page 230.) Using a dictionary 235Because choosing che wrong word can make nonsense of a translation itis important, when looking up a sword in the dictionary, to have in mind: 1 the pare of speech of the word. 2. the contest, or specific meaning, of the word. Even when the specific meaning of the English word has been considered, chere may still be several choices. For example, eat, devour, fonsume and savour all have the meaning 10 eat ; However, in certain contexts one meaning may be ‘more appropriate than another. Savwur, for example, evokes a positive reaction whereas devvur evokes a negative one. When you think a word is appropriate for your intended meaning always check its validity by looking i up in the Indonesian-English dictionary. ifficulties Difficulties may arise when a language does not have a specific word to describe a particular concept or thing, ‘This may occur because the object or concept does not exist where the language is spoken. For example, if you wanted the Indonesian for the word caratian (a mobile home), in the dictionary you will find: caravan / kaeravacn / hb. kafilah afilab, however, refers to a caravan meaning a group that crosses the desert, not a mobile home on wheels. In such cases a dictionary cannot suggest a single word for the object or concept, but will offer an explanation. For example: karavan n 1 kereta bercutup yg berfungsi sbg tempat cinggal (bagi pengembara atau orang, yg berlibur) (Kamus Besar, Balai Pustaka, 1988. Page 390.) Similarly, when looking for an equivalent English meaning for an Indonesian concept an explanation, rather chan a single phrase, is often provided. For example: gotong-royong community self-help, ‘mucual co-operation dukun indigenous medical Difficulties in finding Indonesian terms can also occur if the word is actually a new ceem in English, such as technological words like hard drive and floppy dis 236 Using a di Different Meanings are indicated by using numbers within the entry. For example: canggung 1 dumsy, awkward 2 gauche, ill-at-ease, bashful 3. ill-mannered, cure 4 insufficient, inadequate ‘There are also a number of words spelt the same which, have distinetly different meanings. The differences in meaning are indicated by small subscript numbers For example: small-scale trader butcher, staughterer jagal, jagal, Derived forms "These are words formed by adding affixes to the base word. The mose usual order of listing these derived forms is as follows: + base word alone (in some instances the base word has tno meaning as itis, and only acquires meaning with affixation) + duplicated base word (if applicable) + verb forms (ber, me- and ter) + noun forms (ke-an, -an, pe-, pe-an, per-an). Symbols for base word and derived forms ‘To save space in dictionary entries, the base word and the derived forms are replaced by symbols in example sentences. The symbols are for the base word. This hyphen ( - ) applies throughout the entire entry ~ for each derived form. This symbol ( ~ ) applies only tunel the start of the next derived form. Alternative Spellings In some cases, two or more alternative spellings may be possible. In these cases, the meanings are listed under the officially recognised form, and all other forms are cross-referenced to the official form, For example: nasehat see NASIHAT (The official form is capitalised.) zaman Sei € Nebon sta 208. yb pti rome tha the paca wseuRe.CUFFS CCV T CST S CSCS PCC S CCPC CUS PTT C SUCH C CUTS CUCU CVU UU UU UU ions with other words Comb! When two or more words are combined into a phrase, a separate meaning, quite differenc from che meanings of the individual words, can result. So, combinations known to have special meanings are also listed in ‘many entries. Some conventions applying to these listings are: 1. Phrases ate listed under the first word of the phrase. For example, laut selebu ~ high seas is listed in the Jaut entry. There is often a cross-reference under the second word of a phrase, especially when the second word has no meaning apart from the phrase. If you look up selebu from the phrase lat selebu in the previous example you will find: selebu sce LAUT 2. Phrases involving only the base word ate listed immediately following the base word, while phrascs involving a derived form are listed after the derived form Indicators of usage ‘There are many abbreviations used in the dictionary to clarify special usage or language varieties. For example, SU. (slang), Coll. (colloquial), Vale. (vulgat) Je (Javanese), M (Minangkabau) and J&r (Jakarta). BonamaasSnr © Neon Auta 203 Nays photocopied fo soon ve thin he pacing non