Berkenan

In my previous post, I discussed issues concerning translation, particularly how to deal with brother. One of the reasons for this issue is that English tends not to show status, so we generally don't make a distinction between older and younger siblings.

In fact, there are multiple issues concerning status and showing the proper degree of respect when we translate from Malay to English. In Malay, there are different words used when discussing the actions of royal people, specifically the Sultan and his family. For example, when the Sultan eats, one uses the word santap rather than the ordinary word makan; and if he gets sick, one uses the word gereng rather than sakit. Maintaining this degree of respect when translating into English is not straightforward.

In fact, respect towards people of royal status affects grammar as well as individual words. For example, if the Sultan visits a school or opens a new building, in Malay one needs to include the word berkenan before the verb. This is almost like the -s verbal suffix in English, which is used show that the subject of the verb is 3rd person singular. But instead of indicating whether the subject is singular or plural, Malay uses the word berkenan to indicate the royal status of the subject.

How can we render this into English? When Queen Elizabeth performs some kind of official function, we do not use a special word in front of the verb, because indicating this degree of respect is not part of the grammar of English. So how can the proper respect expected in Malay society be incorporated into English?

The solution adopted by journalists in English-medium newspapers in Brunei is to use the word consent. So they might say "The Sultan consented to visit a school yesterday". This seems a bit odd to people not familiar with local customs; but when you realise that consent is the translation of the Malay berkenan, then it begins to make more sense.