Interview with Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama

Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, also known by his Hakka Chinese nickname, Ahok, was born on June 29, 1966. He received his Bachelor of Engineering from Trisakti University, Jakarta, and his M.B.A. from Prasetiya Mulya, Jakarta. From 1992 to 2005, Ahok worked in corporate business. He was then elected to be Regent of East Belitung (2005–2006) before becoming a legislator in the Indonesian People’s Representative Council (DPR; 2009–2012), Deputy Governor of Jakarta (2012–2014), and Governor of Jakarta (2014–2017). He was appointed in November 2019 to be chief commissioner of the state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina. KEYWORDS:

Strategies to Represent the Hakka Culture in the Translation of Xunwu Diaocha

Xunwu Diaocha (Report from Xunwu) by Mao Zedong was abundant in original material and local people’s language and characterized by the Hakka culture, including the local Hakka dialect and vernacular, social customs, foods and tools, and other aspects. This makes it difficult for non-Hakka Chinese to understand its contents, let alone English speakers who know nothing about Hakka. In attempting to make the translation smoothly understood by English speakers while not losing the Hakka flavor, American translator Roger Thompson has done a good job. By comparing Xunwu Diaocha (the original) with its English version Report from Xunwu translated by Roger R. Thompson, this paper analyzes the English expressions of the Hakka culture and discovers four translation strategies that the translator has adopted to achieve the goal of cultural representation. The strategies are Chinese Pinyin plus explanation, literal translation plus explanation, free translation plus Chinese Pinyin, and free translation plus explanation. The study reveals that through the above-mentioned strategies, the translation has well represented the Hakka culture and realizes cultural representation in its translation. Hopefully the strategies employed to represent the Hakka culture can serve as solid guidance for translations of other texts involving rich cultures.