Obama's Jihad: Jakarta to the Whitehouse

How many Americans know that when Obama had his bloviating screed "The Audacity of Hope" was translated into Indonesian - the title went from "The Audacity of Hope" to "Jihad: From Jakarta To The Whitehouse". The man is dishonest about his Islamic leanings. Check this our from An American expat Living in Indonesia:

Jihad: From Jakarta To The Whitehouse

When I first saw the recently released Indonesian translation of Barack Obama's book "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming The American Dream", over here in Southeast Asia I was completely taken aback not only by the violent imagery in new title of the book, "Menerjang Harapan: Dari Jakarta Menuju Gedung Putih", but by the fact that it was not really a translation at all, but rather a completely different title than the original book.

A correct translation of the title of Obama's book would have been "Keberanian Harapan: Pemikiran Untuk Meraih Kembali Impian America" which translates into "Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming The American Dream". However, the title for the Indonesian translation of Barack Obama's book is "Menerjang Harapan: Dari Jakarta Menuju Gedung Putih" which translates into "Assault Hope: From Jakarta to the White House".
[...]

Why would the publishers drastically change the title of the book for the Indonesian translation and make use of such figurative language? Your guess is as good as mine, but it would seem that Barack Obama is quite interested with promoting himself in Southeast Asia as a crusader for the cause of Indonesia's Muslims.

Read it all .......most disturbing.

Comments

[Papa Ray]

I did read it all, including the comments, which are more interesting than the article.

Of course, I have much more time, very much more time to read than you do. Because you are doing great work running this blog plus all the things that you do in person. While I only have to run a small family of three girls and a (girl) dog.

The content of the book is more the point I would think, and as I can't read anything but english, spanish and a little german, I can't comment on that. But I would bet that the translation is more suspect and would be more of a problem (if there is a problem) than the title of the book.

Anyway, thanks for your work and your efforts to bring light to us ol' guys that are trying to keep up with the world on this newfangled thing called the Internet.

Papa Ray
West Texas
USA

[marc in calgary]

why?
because to moslems, hate sells, more than hope.
and that is their reason for being.

but I think you already know this...

[kobi]

i read most of the comments...in this case the 'jihad' connection may be iffy. i base that on one of the comments that came from a native speaker not an american expat, albeit one who is fluent and reads newspapers.

language is subtle and we need an informed native speaker's perspective to really see it. has anyone spoken to the publisher?

[Lao]

Howdy Marc,

I'd like to ask you a question if I might.

Just how is it that a "native Indonesian speaker" would have a better perspective on the translation?

The English language has a lot more words than the Indonesian language and therefore logic would seem to dictate that a native English speaker would be better suited to make the translation from Indonesian to English.

This is a subject that interests me greatly because translation is not a "one way" task. Ideally you would want someone who is native in BOTH languages to make the best translation, which of course is an impossibility.

Lao

[sheik yer'mami]

Everything, everything about the Manchurian candidate stinks to high heaven.

From the denials about being born a Muslim and being raised a Muslim to him sitting on the bench listening to Jeremiah Wright's 'black liberation theology'- none of it could possibly qualify him for POTUS, and the financing from the ME including all the other dubious sources makes Barrack Hussein even more a suspect than a candidate.

No American, regardless of perceived grievances, should even consider such a shady character. I hope America comes to her senses...

[marc in calgary]

Howdy Lao,
if you are reading that "Marc" made the commentary regarding the "native indonesian speaker" and you are in any way offended, you may direct such commentary to "kobi" who is the person that owns that comment. Not that I disagree with this person.

Does the perception that a native speaker may be less offensive play a part in this?

hmmm, and as for the "best" translation? how about an accurate translation, not a translation of "nuanced english", and to hell with the apologies for offending the great pedophiles followers...

[yonason]

CHECK IT FOR YOURSELVES...

...HERE
http://www.stars21.com/translator/indonesian_to_english.html

TRANSLATION-1 = Hope courage: Thinking To gain Again the America Dream

TRANSLATION-2 = Attacked Hope: from Jakarta headed the White House