Medan, 4 July 2024 – Dr. Suhandano, M.A., Head Lecturer of the Department of Language and Literature, was one of the prominent speakers at the 2nd National Virtual Seminar on Mother Language organised by the Linguistics Doctoral Study Programme of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences (FIB) of North Sumatra University (USU). The seminar, held on 4 July 2024, was attended by students, lecturers, and language researchers from various regions in Indonesia.

On the occasion, Dr Suhandano presented a talk entitled ‘Voice Systems of Indonesian and Javanese Imperative Clauses’. The talk explored the uniqueness and complexity of voice systems in Indonesian and Javanese, hoping to increase participants’ understanding of this distinctive linguistic phenomenon.

The voice system is an important aspect of linguistics, especially in Austronesian languages, involving theories of syntax, language typology, and comparative historical linguistics. Dr Suhandano emphasised that the study of the voice systems of Indonesian languages, which number around 700, offers a real picture of language diversity and contributes significantly to the understanding of Austronesian voice systems.

The event is also part of an effort to advance research and development in linguistics in Indonesia, with collaborative partners from the Linguistics Doctoral Study Programme at FIB USU. This seminar is expected to encourage further interest and research on voice systems and Austronesian linguistics in general.

SDG 4: Quality education | SDGs 4: Education for sustainability | SDG 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure | SDGs 9: Affordable credit | SDG 10: Reduced inequality | SDGs 10: Education | SDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities | SDGs 11: Community

Dr. Suhandano, Dr. Sailal Arimi, and Drs. Tatang Hariri along with Master of Linguistics students across generations, carried out a ‘Students Gathering’ as well as the ‘The KALINGGA Handover Ceremony 2024’ on Friday, 23 February 2024. In this activity, various discussions related to academic activity in the Master of Linguistics UGM took place actively, such as transparency of student assessments and holding a prayer room in the Soegondo building so that lectures took place more efficiently. On this occasion, Dr. Suhandano also said that there would be a new application related to assessment, namely ‘Sioba’. Furthermore, final semester assignments also need to provide options other than articles and there is also a need for thesis research mentoring by lecturers. It is hoped that through this activity students will be more motivated to publish journals and be big on writing their theses so they can complete it on time.

The system of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) embraced in September 2015 by the UN, the worldwide improvement motivation for the primary time alludes to culture. The benefits of keeping up and progressing culture are accomplished through socially educated and viable execution of advancement objectives. Thus, discussion forums between lecturers and students can be a good culture to support and improve the quality of the learning environment.

In this activity, the stewardship of KALINGGA for the next 1 year was also officially appointed by Dr. Suhandano, witnessed by the previous year’s KALINGGA Management and students from across generations who were present. In the next 1 year, KALINGGA is expected to become a forum that can accommodate the aspirations of Master of Linguistics students, support the growth of student achievement and innovation, including creating useful activities in the field of Linguistics and society.

SDG 4: Quality education | SDGs 4: Education | SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth | SDGs 8: Culture | SDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities | SDGs 11: Adaptable | SDG 16: Peace, justice, and strong institutions | SDGs 16: Education | SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals | SDGs 17: Fostering Innovation

The title of this Public Lecture succeeded in attracting the attention of students from the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Gadjah Mada University who were interested in concentrating on translation to attend the Multimedia Room on the 2nd floor of the Margono Building on Tuesday 20th of February 2024. Students from various levels and classes as well as lecturers filled the room from 9 am to gain new knowledge about translation from extraordinary sources in their field. The resource person is the Head of Pacific and Asian Students from the University of Victoria (British Columbia, Canada). Before presenting his material, he expressed his deepest gratitude to the Faculty of Cultural Sciences for supporting his research and to the students who were willing to take the time to attend the general lecture.

The material opened by explaining the meaning of translation so that public lecture participants knew the basic knowledge first before discussing translation and its problems in more depth. The use of differentiation in each concept of religion and atma was one of the problems in translation where there might be a language transformation adapted from the old concept to the new constitution. On the issue of religion and atma, there were a number of terms and other languages that were trapped in language transformation efforts. The presenter delivered the material in a way that was easy to understand, namely by relating it to examples found in everyday life based on the presenter’s personal experience. From the presentation given, he concluded that the use of linguistics, especially in the field of translation, could not be separated from concepts in everyday life.

Prof. Dr. Faruk HT., moderator at this public lecture, closed by providing a simpler conclusion that there were three important points that could be noted. First, translation as a crossing of meaning. This does not only apply to interlanguage translations but also between languages, for example between one group and another. Second, the concept of metaphor is conveying something with another meaning. This meaning can also be reversed, that is, conveying the meaning with a different name or sign. Third, meaning is a fluid process that can change from one place to another, from one case to another, such as in the case of religion and atma. Finally, the question and answer session was led by a different moderator, namely Dr. Arsanti Wulandari, M. Hum.