Bincang Buku Babel: Melestarikan Karya Sastra Melalui Translation Di Bulan Bahasa Dan Sastra Bersama Pemad

Photo: Special

JAKARTA - In order to enliven the Month of Language and Literature that occurs every October every year, PeMad as a translation company that wants to be present among literacy friends holds a book talk of Babel by RF Kuang on October 27, 2024 at the Happy EA Academy which is also a collaborator partner of Pemad.

The Babel Book Bincang, which Pemad held, invited expert resource persons in the field of literature and issuance, namely Mutia Sukma, a writer and teacher and Puput Alvia who is the editor of Babel himself from Shira Media.

The resource person was presented to highlight the theme of the book talk, namely 'Determination of Letters Through Translation' relevant to the field carried by Pemad himself. As a translation company, Pemad chose the book Babel itself because the topic by RF Kuang is really interesting, the combination of colonialism, language power, and social injustice themes makes this fantasy novel worth discussing.

Babel's book talk activity began in the afternoon with an offline event format at the Happy Academy EA in a relaxed manner with leshehan. The first event was opened by MC and moderators from Pemad himself, namely Nisa Tuning as a project manager in the Local Client Division of Pemad and Agung Wibawa who worked as a professional translator at Pemad.

Book talk activities were attended by more than 20 participants whose professions were relevant to Pemad such as translators, editors, and literary students. Before entering the core event, namely the presentation of material from resource persons and discussions, the participants were treated to the reading of poetry by Nisa Tuning who read a poem with the title 'No New York Today' by Aan Mansyur and a poem from WS Rendra entitled 'Loved People Ballad'.

After reading the poem, the event was immediately taken over by the moderator from Pemad, namely Agung Wibawa. The presentation of the first material was opened by Mutia Sukma who conveyed what issues RF Kuang raised through Babel. According to Mutia Sukma, there were at least four interesting things when reading the novel Babel, especially in the context of colonialism and resistance against it.

First, translation is the main issue, then the second is related to the issue of colonialism, the third is the impact of colonialism, and finally the story of the resistance of key figures in fighting colonialism. The colonialism discussed by Bangka Belitung is related to the translation ability, Babel itself is an institution owned by the British and their focus is on collecting as many word densities as possible in other countries' languages to be recorded in their language banks.

After the presentation of the first material was completed by Mutia Sukma, Puput Alvia as the editor of Babel conveyed her material that focused on the Babel issuance process and how Puput collaborated with the Babel translator himself until his book was officially published in 2024. Puput Alvia shared how the dynamics and challenges in managing the time to communicate well with the Babel translator Siska Nurohmah who was in the Netherlands.

The material was delivered so exciting and insightful from the two speakers and continued open discussions with the participants. The discussion is so active full with various perspectives from participants that the book talk becomes more lively and quality.

The three best pens received a book prize from the collaboration partner of Pemad, namely the Sales of the Literature Book (JBS) of a bookstore owned by our resource person Mutia Sukma. Approximately for two hours the talk of the book lasted so exciting and until the end of the event, namely closing and taking photos together.

This book talk activity is one of Pemad's strategies to increase public literacy interests and also as a space for language industry players and translation to meet and gather so that a close relationship is established in advancing this industry. Pemad continues to be committed to becoming a strategic partner in building better global communication and contributing to improving literacy quality in Indonesia.