Bahasa Indonesian – Official Language of Republic of Indonesia

09 Oct Bahasa Indonesian – Official Language of Republic of Indonesia

A little about Indonesian

Indonesian language, or Bahasa Indonesia, is the official language of the Republic of Indonesia spoken by over 160 million people. The language has borrowed quite a few elements from Dutch, Arabic and Sanskrit, so if one has a background in those languages, it can make it easier to learn Indonesian. However, we do not recommend ordering an English to Indonesian translation from someone who claims to be fluent in the above languages, but has limited knowledge of Indonesian (either as a student or as an English-speaking resident of Indonesia without any specialized knowledge).

What is a professional translator?

A professional provider of English to Indonesian translation service is, first and foremost, fluent in Indonesian and knows its history, as well as pays attention to its modern development. Translation agencies with an established reputation that provide such translation services make all their candidates go through a thorough screening process that tests for their knowledge of the language pair and ability to perform high quality translations in a timed environment. Most translation agencies offer certified English to Indonesian translations, in addition to regular business translation. This is because certified document translation from English to Indonesian is a translation service for which there is the highest demand. It goes without saying that an amateur translator, or a languages student, would be unlikely to be able to offer a high quality certified translation. Even if they claim otherwise, it is important to keep in mind that certified translations are presented to organizations like universities, embassies and consulates. It is therefore very important that a certified English to Indonesian translation is of the highest quality, which only a professional translator can offer.

Is certification enough?

However, when choosing a translation agency, one needs to look for more than just whether they offer certified translation. If an agency advertises itself as a professional translation services provider, chances are that their employees have been thoroughly screened. However, a common mistake clients make when choosing a provider for their English to Indonesian translation is not confirming whether their provider of choice offers translations that suit their needs, i.e. whether they employ people who can translate documents specific to the client’s industry. There are technically no requirements for translation agencies to employ people with particular backgrounds, so any agency that employs translators fluent in Indonesian can advertise the “we will translate ALL DOCUMENTS” translation service, whether or not their people have legal, medical, technical background or any other background required for a truly professional translation of a document in question. Therefore, when choosing a translation agency, it is advisable to verify that their translators have experience in translating documents related to your industry and therefore know the industry-specific Indonesian terms and how they work in various contexts.