Hi,

I posted this in the 'Learn bahasa here!' thread, but Bhaskara informed me that this is Javanese.

I received this informal looking email from an employee of a student agent I do business with. It's odd because I have been waiting for important information from her regarding a client for 2 weeks, and after sending her 3 emails, she finally responds in her native language (despite our previous communications being in broken English).

Unfortunately my knowledge of Indonesian languages is quite limited, but I have a feeling that she doesn't want me to understand what she has written. I can make out that she is saying something about her English being poor, and I think she has tried to insult me in the last sentence.

Any help would be most grateful! I am quite shocked to receive this email from her.



Thank you,
Ross

Wow, you really want to know, huh? I'll ask my Javanese friend.

In the mean time, how do you do, Ross? Where do you come from? Even if I don't understand the whole sentence, I am sure that those sentences are kinda harsh. What do you think made her angry at you?

opo ae sih koen iku

inggris wes gak cetos

guoblok maneh





Who are you? (depends on the context of the conversation)
Your English is not clear
You idiot!


lol

Hi Bhaskara,

Thanks for your reply again! I couldn't find the Javanese language thread, so I reluctantly created a new one for my question. I hope I do not seem selfish in this regard; this is truly a great forum!

I am Malaysian Chinese working in Auckland, New Zealand.

I am the Manager of a student college here in Auckland, and we help a lot of students from South East Asia come into the country to study at University.

I do not know why this young woman has taken things personally. She's a new employee at a student agent in Surabaya which has done business with us for many years. She is responsible for dealing with English speaking persons such as myself, but her English is very poor.

Unfortunately I was quite stern (though 100% professional) in my last email to her because she has failed to send paperwork for a 20 year old Indonesian girl who is studying at the University of Otago who has come into the country through us. If I do not get the paperwork by the end of this month, it means that the New Zealand government will be sending this girl home half way through her University degree.

Thank you for your help!

Thank you for your translation. That is quite odd. I am more confused than offended. I will call the agency's head office tomorrow.

Thank you for all your help. Miss T from Jakarta (the one who risks deportation) no doubt sends her thanks too - hopefully this will prompt the agency to assign a better representative to us who will send us documents when requested.

^LOLs....

GUOBLOK!!!

LOL, Javanese girls are usually affable and yet show mutual deference, respect and restraint
aggressiveness and conflict will be avoided at all costs.
And what you think is “stern and 100% professional” probably is seen as too rigid and too matter of factly for her.
Maybe she was looking for a more informal, relax and friendly convos with you and thus deviation would be tolerated and expected
but when she finally realized she was hitting her head against a brick wal....hell hath no fury like a Javanese woman scorned.
Sorry Ross, have mercy on her. j/k

Well he did say that she's Surabayan.. you know them Surabayan can be quite hot temper and all.

of course because there is some mistakes in purple translation ...

:p

opo ae sih koen iku = naahh thats odd, dude ... ( usually it refer to disagreement, in non polite way )

inggris wes gak cetos = your english is bad (again, not polite way)

guoblok maneh = eeeediot ( of course an insult)

lots of suroboyoan dialect wont fit in formal javanese letter.
it is broken javanese. even beyond ngoko (informal way)
the real proper/formal javanese is called krama/kromo




if you are desperate and want to be non professional .
just reply her : "Jancuk, wis raimu eling wedus, itil ora laku, jek njaluk ae digebleh karo kontol jaran."

Hi, tak123456. I asked my friend, and this is what I got from him:

opo ae sih koen iku = what's the matter with you

inggris wes gak cetos = your English sucks

guoblok maneh = and you're an idiot too

So we can conclude that she is not so fond of you

Now jrockerz, I don't understand the meaning of your sentence, but I KNOW it contains seriously vulgar words

^btw majapahitan will mad if he see my post hahaha

lmao, dont follow this guys tips, that last sentence a strongly offensive vulgar word

Ha ha you rite Ras, I thot I ‘d give the Surabayan girl the benefit of the doubt
since I knoe a girl from Makassar but grew up in NY and Jkt
and yet her demeanor is so refined and polished as if she was rite out from kraton Solo.
And look at you too Ras you said you grew up in
Sulawesi boonies and yet you r sophisticated and cultured like a Parahyangan priyayi.

Actually its an insult and rude sentences....
I suggest you just stay cool and be refined to react to such insult.

opo ae sih koen iku = What are you been doing all this time

Koen (kon) means "you", its signify Surabayan dialect of the speaker.
Although Surabayan are know to be straight forward (aka: rude and less refined ) Javanese sub ethnics people and tends to be emotional and passionate, actually they're amiable and fun to befriend with.

inggris wes gak cetos = Your english is not clear (not good)
guoblok maneh = Moreover (you're) stupid





Eh lhadhalah...

Hush..., saruu...,
'Ra becik tho 'ndhuk omongane sing ngono kui....

Reminds me of all the obstructive bureaucracy I had to go through in order to get that first visa for my Indonesian friends.

who is your friends??
wot kind of visa u help them to get it?

Don't you remember how long it took to get the visa last year ?
And every time I called one office they would curtly refer me to another office.
At one point they even claimed to have never received the application papers.
Easier second time around, huh ?

waahh...such a rude girl! she didn't understand a word and got mad. fire her!

it's funny tho.

^ummm in surabaya javanese thats not exactly what it means
with some tone, in Surabaya its rude.
,

its a sign of disagreement,
if she is your good friend, that ok
,
but if you never meet her before and in the professional field some one talk like that
that consider not ok. (in surabaya)

hehehe, quite funny insult, what did you do to her Ross ? lol