Shades of Meaning

Produk kecantikan remaja
(beauty product for teenagers)

The solution to today's KATLA was belia meaning young. I asked ChatGPT what the difference was between this word and muda, that also means young. 

What is the difference between the Indonesian words "belia" and "muda"? They both mean young but are there differences in how the two words are used or are the two words interchangeable.

The Indonesian words "belia" and "muda" both mean young, but they have slightly different connotations and usage.

"Belia" generally refers to someone who is young and inexperienced, especially in a social or cultural context. It can also imply innocence and naivety. For example, "anak belia" can refer to a young child or a teenager who is still learning about life.

On the other hand, "muda" refers to someone who is young and physically able. It can also imply energy, vitality, and dynamism. For example, "usia muda" can refer to the period of life when someone is in their prime physical condition.

In some cases, these words can be interchangeable, but in other cases, using one over the other may convey a different nuance or meaning. For example, if you describe someone as "muda" it might emphasize their physical capabilities, whereas if you describe someone as "belia" it might emphasize their inexperience or lack of knowledge.

Overall, the usage of "belia" and "muda" depends on the context and the intended meaning of the speaker or writer.

The majority of youth in Indonesia marry young

I was reminded of another meaning for muda and also sought ChatGPT's opinion.

The Indonesian word "muda" can also be applied to colors can it not? Can you give an example of this usage?

Yes, that's correct! The Indonesian word "muda" can also be used to describe colors. When used to describe colors, "muda" usually means light or pale.

For example, you can say "warna hijau muda" to describe the color light green. Similarly, "warna biru muda" would mean light blue and "warna merah muda" would mean pink.

Another example of this usage could be "cat tembok warna kuning muda" which means "light yellow wall paint." In this case, "kuning muda" is used to describe a light or pale shade of yellow.

So, "muda" can be used not only to describe young people or physical conditions, but also to describe colors that are light or pale.

 Given my liking for rhymes, I asked the following:

Are there any Indonesian words that rhyme with the Indonesian word "belia"?

Yes, there are Indonesian words that rhyme with "belia". Here are a few examples:

Kelia: Kelia is an Indonesian word that means a container made from woven bamboo. It rhymes with "belia" as they both end with the same "-lia" sound.

Delia: Although "Delia" is not an Indonesian word, it is a name that is used in Indonesia as well. It also rhymes with "belia" as they both end with the same "-lia" sound.

Jelia: Jelia is an Indonesian word that means feeling jealous or envious. It also rhymes with "belia" as they both end with the same "-lia" sound.

These are just a few examples of Indonesian words that rhyme with "belia". There might be more words that rhyme with "belia" depending on the context or the dialect of Indonesian spoken.

Belia ends up sounding like a cross between "billya" and "bellya" by the way. The same applies to the rhyming words kelia, delia and jelia. The word kelia is also used as a name in Indonesian and means warm-hearted (link). There's no reference in Google Translate to its meaning a container. Jelia translates as "jelly" rather than "jealous". 

As usual with ChatGPT, its answers should NOT be taken as gospel. Further investigation should always be carried out. A flagrant example of its mendacity is a query that I carried out  today (March 28th) which is shown below together with part of the response.

Historically speaking then, are there any important events that have happened on March 28th.

Yes, there have been several important historical events that have occurred on March 28th. Here are some examples:

2005: The Sumatra-Andaman earthquake, one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded, occurred off the coast of Indonesia, triggering a massive tsunami that killed over 200,000 people in 14 countries.

This earthquake occurred on December 28th 2004 and NOT on March 28th 2005. ChatGPT is quick to admit its mistakes however:

In an earlier response by you to my query about important events happening on March 28th, you stated that the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake occurred on March 28th 2005. In fact, it occurred on December 26th 2004. How do you account for this error on your part?

I apologize for the error in my earlier response regarding the date of the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake. You are correct that the earthquake occurred on December 26th, 2004, not March 28th, 2005.

As an AI language model, I strive to provide accurate and reliable information to the best of my ability based on the data available in my training corpus. However, I am not infallible, and errors can occasionally occur due to a number of factors, including data limitations, misinterpretation of the input, or programming bugs.

I appreciate you bringing this to my attention and I will ensure to be more careful in the future when providing dates for important events. Thank you for helping me improve my accuracy and for your understanding.

Anyway, let's move on. I've made my point. Of course, one can't forget the similarity between the two Indonesian words muda and mudah. I asked ChatGPT for similar pairs of words. I've added commentary (in small print) to the examples in the light of my suspicions about ChatGPT's veracity.

The Indonesian words "muda" and "mudah" sound very much a like. Can you give other examples of two such words in Indonesian and differ only by the addition of a final "h" to one of them?

Sure, here are some examples:

"cinta" (love) and "cintah" (beloved)

Google Translate does not render "beloved" as cintah but instead uses the passive form of the active verb cintai. For example:

The lover and the beloved are really one and the same, even though the lover does not realise this until the very end.

Pecinta dan yang dicintai benar-benar satu dan sama, meski sang pecinta tidak menyadarinya sampai akhir. 

As a phrase on its own, " my beloved" is translated as kekasihku by both Google Translate and DeepL.

"ragu" (doubt) and "raguh" (hesitant)

The word "hesitant" is most commonly translated as ragu ragu. There's no entry for raguh in the dictionary.

"lupa" (forget) and "lupah" (forgotten)

The word "forgotten" is commonly translated by terlupakan as in generasi yang terlupakan (the forgotten generation). There's no entry for lupah in the dictionary.

"tangga" (stairs) and "tanggah" (floor level)

Google Translate renders tanggah as "kitchen" and "floor level" as tingkat lantai. 

"tepi" (edge) and "tepih" (rug)

No evidence that tepih means rug using translation tools or dictionary.

"bawa" (bring) and "bahwa" (that)

"pura" (temple) and "purah" (worthless)

There's no entry in the dictionary for purah. 

"tua" (old) and "tuah" (fortune)

  Google Translate does render tuah as "luck" but there is no dictionary entry. 

"hina" (insult) and "hinah" (insulted)

There is no dictionary entry for hinah. 

"rasa" (taste/feeling) and "rasah" (feeling/emotion)

There is no dictionary entry for rasah. 

It's important to note that the addition of "h" at the end of the word changes the meaning of the word, and they cannot be used interchangeably.

So this final effort is dubious to say the least. Where ChatGPT is getting its information from I've no idea and its response is useless for a non-native speaker of the language, serving only to confuse. Still, the exercise has been useful in showing the weaknesses and idiosyncrasies of ChatGPT.

Balustrades and Things

 The KATLA word for today was birai meaning ledge or bullustrade. See Figure 1.

Figure 1

The word is not in my Indonesian-English dictionary but Google Translate renders it as "ledge" and bab.la renders it as "balustrade". This got me thinking about what exactly was a balustrade. I had a fuzzy notion and thought I'd investigate further. The diagram shown in Figure 2 was helpful.

Figure 2: source

This site is useful in explaining the difference between a handrail and a bulustrade.

What is a balustrade? 

A balustrade is made up of numerous vertical posts or a solid section which sits at the side of the stair treads. The balustrade on your stairs will be found under the handrail and its main purpose is for safety to stop people from falling over the side of a stair or ramp. Many materials are now used to form the balustrade including metal, wood or glass.

What is a handrail? 

Stair handrail is the term used to describe the railing that runs along the staircase. This is the rail, which can be held with your hand, it is the section that acts as a support or guide. There are requirements for handrails which dictate the height, materials and colours used to ensure good visibility and safety.

Figure 3 shows another type of balustrade and introduces the terms "banister" and "spindle". 

Figure 3: source

By way of explanation, the site offers the following explanation:

Baluster

A baluster is a vertical piece between a railing and other wood or the floor that adds support and safety; a short and decorative post or pillar that supports a top rail. The term baluster actually comes from the Italian word for pomegranate flowers, balaustra, which was chosen because these architectural features sometimes mimic them. Balusters can be made of wood, iron, stone and other materials. The term baluster is interchangeable with the word spindle.

Balustrade

A balustrade is comprised of an assembled top rail, balusters or spindles and often a bottom rail, posts, post caps, and decorative finials. It is a composite made up of individual parts, such as the balusters and a railing/handrail. It can be used indoors or outdoors, for staircases and balconies, as well as decorative structures.

Banister (Bannister)

The banister is actually used as a name for a staircase baluster, although it is commonly referring to the handrail of the structure.

This site gives an overview of the different types of balustrades that includes:

• wrought iron
• aluminium
• wood
• stainless steel
• strand wire
• glass

Figure 4 shows a two part balustrade of glass and strand wire.

Figure 4: source

I think the terminology has been clarified.

Words for Vegetables in Indonesian

In today's KATLA I was alerted to the fact that kubis is the Indonesian word for "cabbage". See Figure 1.

Figure 1

As can be seen in Figure 1, I started with catur (chess) but with limited success. I knew that there was a "U" in one of four possible positions. My next attempt, bumbu (flavour), fixed the position of the "U" and informed me that there was a "B" in one of the  three possible positions. My third attempt, kubik (cubic), was spectacularly successful and located four letters in their correct positions.

Here is an example of the use of the word kubik:

Persamaan kubik selalu memberikan tiga solusi, meskipun tidak harus berbeda.

A cubic equation always gives three solutions, although they need not be distinct.

However, it's the Indonesian words for vegetables that I want to concentrate on in this post. See Figure 2 shows a list of English-Indonesian words that will serve as our starting point.

Figure 2: source

I've added this chart to my Pinterest board titled Indonesian Vocabulary. 

As today has turned into tomorrow, I'll include my latest KATLA in Figure 3.

Figure 3

I'd not heard of makar before and had to guess it. Google Translate renders its meaning as "treason" but my Indonesian dictionary returns:

Word: makar 

Short Definition: trick, tactics 

English Definition: 

1. trick, tactics 

2. attack, assault 

3. attack against the government  

Examples: 

Para mahasiswa mengadakan gerakan MAKAR terhadap bekas

Presiden Suharto = Students had organized a movement to ATTACK the

former Presiden Suharto

There is a kata benda or noun, namely makaran, that is translated by Google as "plot". 

The Sun and Moon in Indonesian

As I continue with Katla, the Indonesian version of Wordle, my latest result is shown in Figure 1. All the words shown are acceptable Indonesian words from Katla's viewpoint, even though final and viral are also words in English. The final word, hilal, I had to guess at and I choose it because I knew halal was a word and hilal was very similar. A quick check using Google Translate returned the meaning "new moon". I thought I'd investigate further.

Figure 1

To my surprise, the word didn't appear at all in my Indonesian dictionary that I have sitting on the hard drive of my laptop as a PDF. However, there was an entry in the Indonesian Wikipedia that states:

Hilal adalah bulan sabit muda pertama yang dapat dilihat setelah terjadinya konjungsi (ijtimak, bulan baru) pada arah dekat matahari terbenam yang menjadi acuan permulaan bulan dalam kalender Islam. Biasanya hilal diamati pada hari ke-29 dari bulan Islam untuk menentukan apakah hari berikutnya sudah terjadi pergantian bulan atau belum. Hilal juga merupakan bagian dari fase – fase bulan.

Google Translate renders this as: 

Hilal is the first young crescent that can be seen after conjunction (ijtimak, new moon) in the direction near sunset which is a reference to the beginning of the month in the Islamic calendar. Usually the new moon is observed on the 29th day of the Islamic month to determine whether the following day has taken place or not. The new moon is also part of the moon phases.

The sighting of this new moon is most important in determining the start of Ramadan. This realisation of what hilal meant motivated me to look at some other astronomical terms. One that I'm familiar with is "solar system" that translates as tata surya which is surprising because the word for "sun" is matahari, the eye in the sky. Why is surya used instead? 

I put the following question to ChatGPT:

Why do Indonesians use the word "surya" to refer to the sun when used in the phrase "tata surya" or solar system? The normal word for the Sun in Indonesian is "matahari".

It thought about it for a good while and then provided this quite reasonable response:

The word "surya" is derived from Sanskrit and is commonly used in Indonesia to refer to the Sun in certain cultural and religious contexts. "Tata Surya" literally means "system of the Sun" and refers to the solar system. The use of the term "surya" emphasizes the importance and significance of the Sun in ancient Hindu-Buddhist belief systems that have influenced Indonesian culture. 

The word for the Moon of course in bulan but this word also means "month" which is not surprising as the Islamic world uses a lunar calendar and not a solar one. Thus the Moon marks the months. The phases of the Moon are as follows:

• bulan sabit - crescent moon (sabit means "sickle")
  
  
• bulan bungkuk - gibbous moon (bungkuk means "hunchback")
  
  
• bulan purnama - full moon (or purnama can be used by itself)
  
  
• gerhana matahari - solar eclipse (gerhana means "eclipse")
  
  
• gerhana bulan - lunar eclipse
  
  
• gerhana cincin - annular eclipse (cincin means "ring")

That will do it for this post.

More Word Game Adventures

Following on from my previous post, my word game adventures continue. I was a bit late coming to the party but eventually discovered Wordle. Although I'd seen many mentions of it, it didn't really tweak my curiosity until I read about a guy who built a freely accessible archive of all the words used by Wordle since its inception.

But firstly, for those not in the know, what is Wordle? Well, there's a full account of the phenomenon on Wikipedia so there's no need to repeat all of that here. Suffice to say that it is web-based and only one challenge is presented each day. Figure 1 shows the help screen that summarises the way the game is played.

Figure 1

It is similar to the board game Mastermind that I used to play back in 70's and 80's. However, the game involved determining the colours of four hidden pegs rather than five unknown letters. See Figure 2.

Figure 2: Mastermind

Figure 3 shows my completed Wordle for today, February 5th 2022.

Figure 3

The site that contains the archive of all previous words used in Wordle is located here. Figure 4 shows my latest attempt, although make a mistake while completing it if you look closely.

Figure 4

Wordle has spawned many clones of course given its growing popularity. Meanwhile I continue to play Word Master at the highest level and win more times than I lose. Figures 5 and 6 show the screen and statistics for my latest narrow win.

Figure 5

Figure 6

Getting back to Wordle however, and we find that:

The New York Times Co. bought the popular word game Wordle on Jan. 31 from the game’s creator, Josh Wardle, for a price “in the low seven figures,” according to an article from The New York Times. Source.

The price "in the low seven figures" means that he must have received more that one million dollars since 1000000 is the first number to have seven digits. The game remains free at the moment but whether that will be the case in the future is unknown.

There is an Indonesian copy of the game, KATLA, that can also be played in the web browser at the URL https://katla.vercel.app/. I tested it out and managed to find the word in four tries. See Figure 7 for a screenshot.

Figure 7

Of course, this not the way to share your results on social media. Instead when one shares, a series of shaded and unshaded boxes are generated to indicate your progress without revealing the actual letters as shown below:

⬛⬛🟨 🟨 ⬛

🟨 🟨 ⬛⬛⬛

🟩 🟨 ⬛🟨 🟨

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩

The game is clearly a good way for me to improve my Indonesian vocabulary. For example, the word "prabu" means "king" which must have come from Sanskrit because the similar word in Hindi, "prabhu", means "lord".