Association of Indonesian Translators and current projects

I’m alive, yay.

I finally received my Association of Indonesian Translators (Himpunan Penerjemah Indonesia/HPI) membercard. It’s a great achievent for me, because I got the membership and the card because my skills were approved by professionals (I was invited to join the association–I was really honoured!). The membercard isn’t something like ID card or ATM card–it shows that I’m a professional!

And so last Saturday I attended the second member-meeting in Kafe Dapurku, Kuningan. (The second, because although HPI has been around for a long time, it once went to sleep for some years, so it’s all been reset to zero). The first speaker was Pak Kukuh Sanyoto, a Spanish/Indonesian interpreter/translator, once a weatherman for RCTI. Enviably slim and lively despite his age, he told us about, among others, how he got into the business. He said when he was 19, he had a fight with his diplomat father–at the time was posted in Africa–so he left home for Spain. He only took 500 dollars with him, and so he lived a life of a renegade there for months. He spent some more years there to learn Spanish in college. Wow. Isn’t that a very interesting experience?

The second speaker was Pak Widodo, with 30 years ‘ experience of being the translator for former president Soeharto. (”I’m also a son of a diplomat, but my youth was tame compared to Kukuh’s… and currently I don’t have as much hair as he does.”) There were also other interpreters/translators who shared their experience. All in all, it was very interesting.

Current project:

• I’m still continuing Regus. (Currently up to chapter 005A are available to download.) In fact, it is the only comic I’m working on right now; I planned to join the forthcoming magazine to be published by Megindo, but I don’t think I have time for it right now.
• Talking about Megindo, we have a new book division. A children book that I wrote will be published by the division, with illustrations. Right now I’m preparing to write the sequel, and another book not included in the series. We also have other plans for books to be published. Wish us luck.
• I’m currently translating the 8th edition of Campbell’s Biology, Dan Green and Basher’s Why Matter Matters (a very interesting physics book), and Plantagenet Somerset Fry’s The History of the World.

And there’s a plan for me to appear in m&c!’s Deathnote/Bleach-related events in Citos. Will update more about this.

Tagsnovel, project, work