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| | 2 Septemba 2009 02:02 |
| | Hi gbernsdorff,
...he doesn't want to explain (what?) |
| | 2 Septemba 2009 23:24 |
| | That is not clear. Menjelaskan is the verb. *pdlk* must be the direct object, if any. I have encountered that once as an abbreviation for *perjalanan dinas luar kota* [out of town duty trip], but I can't be sure. |
| | 2 Septemba 2009 23:51 |
| | Perhaps "explain himself'? |
| | 3 Septemba 2009 23:51 |
| | You are suggesting *to explain* in the sense of *to account for something/to justify oneself*. That is one possible interpretation, but the text doesn't say so, for that would be *menjelaskan diri sendiri*. I don't see how that could be abbreviated to pdlk. |
| | 3 Septemba 2009 23:54 |
| | In your opinion, in what sense is 'explain' used here? |
| | 4 Septemba 2009 21:47 |
| | One of two possibilities. Either, as you suggested, explain oneself/justify oneself, or answer a specific question which has been asked before and therefore is known to the addressee. Yet another possibility would be that *pdlk* is a typo for *pdk* [l and k are next to each other on the keyboard!], in which case it would mean menjelaskan padaku/explain to me. *pdk* is quite frequent as an abbreviation in Malay textese. - Yes indeed, that may be the best option. I see that I even interpreted the last word (pdlku) as *padaku/to me*. Should have thought of that before! I have changed the translation accordingly. |
| | 4 Septemba 2009 23:11 |
| | OK, but that doesn't solve the problem of the missing direct object yet.
We still don't know 'what' is not explained. |
| | 4 Septemba 2009 23:57 |
| | Do we need to know ? If we take it that pdlk means "to me" there really is no other indication in the Malay text as to what he doesn't want to explain. Is that a problem ? Both Malay 'menjelaskan' and English 'to explain' can be used as intransitive verbs i.e. without a direct object. É parecido em português não é? Podemos dizer 'Prefiro não explicar.' sem acrescentar o que já se sabe. Ou será que me engano?
Regards, Guido |
| | 5 Septemba 2009 00:16 |
| | 'explain' as intransitive verb implies 'explain oneself', otherwise, it is transitive.
You could use it that way, but then it should read:
"He doesn't want to listen to me or explain himself"
What do you think? |
| | 5 Septemba 2009 00:19 |
| s,lmIdadi ya ujumbe: 1 | Thank you all
But I am really quite ignorant of the Malay language
|
| | 5 Septemba 2009 10:38 |
| | Once we have decided that pdlk must be padaku i.e. an indirect object, there is no other word or abbreviation that could function as a direct object. Intransitiviy can be made explicit by saying menjelaskan diri sendiri/explain himself. Transitivity can be made explicit by attaching
-nya (menjelaskannya/explain it). The Malay text does neither, it gives us no clue as to the (in)transitivity of the verb. The English translation should leave that question open too, hence: we leave it as it is, we do not add either the reflexive pronoun nor a direct object. |