English Trivia

22/01/2020

Point on Preposition:

As the name implies, prepositions are words positioned just before the other words. It can be tricky to use them interchangeably between two different languages.

To ilustrate, the followings are examples from Indonesian, and then their English counterparts.

In Indonesian, for prepositions of place of 'di', 'ke', 'dari', we only need to add a noun after them, and voilla, it's done.

Yet in English, it is not that simple, there is a difference between 'at' the gas station, and 'in' the gas station (which both translate to 'di' SPBU in Indonesian, either you are inside or outside that very gas station).

Hence, it is worth nothing that English has more variations in term of prepositions, perhaps due to its nature of specifity. Therefore, try to get use to them and try find their equivalents in your respective mother tongue! Good luck!

01/12/2018

A simple note on translation:
Translation and interpretation jobs have seen encouraging hike in demands in recent years. There are two major aspects to consider to thrive in this business niche. First is mastery of TEP (translation, editing, and proofreading) skills and second is expertise in using CAT tools for more efficient work with even better results.

29/11/2018

It has been five months since I left my previous job of teaching EFL in Semarang. I am now a dedicated translator for an agency in Yogyakarta. There are always bad and good in things that we decide to do. But I guess, making a change never hurts. So, here's what I have managed to observe thus far. Being a full time translator allows me to see another angle of English. [ 392 more words ]

It has been five months since I left my previous job of teaching EFL in Semarang. I am now a dedicated translator for an agency in Yogyakarta. There are always bad and good in things that we decide…

21/03/2018

Thank you for liking my page and having a glimpse at the content. I'm working on the next articles. wish me luck!

02/01/2018

Thank you for liking and perhaps reading the posts on my page :-). I hope I can update the articles with more interesting stuff this year and beyond. Thanks again for your support guys!

English and General Knowledge

26/04/2017

Upon learning how to understand short dialogs or exchanges often found in English proficiency tests, EFL learners may find that most of the expressions used in the problems do not get straightforward answers. This, perhaps, has something to do with the inherent cultures in English speaking nations of appreciating the interlocutors. This simple exchange may help illustrate my point: X: … [ 289 more words ]

https://mydecentdays.wordpress.com/2017/04/27/being-polite-or-going-around-the-bushes

Upon learning how to understand short dialogs or exchanges often found in English proficiency tests, EFL learners may find that most of the expressions used in the problems do not get straightforwa…

24/02/2017

How many times have we seen ourselves write sentences using transition words that only consist of first, next, then, and the likes? Our writing could have been more interesting if we can use other simple connectors such as nevertheless, still, instead, and some other easy words we are familiar with. Moreover, some subtle examples like however, but, and though can really dramatize a decent story. [ 135 more words ]

https://mydecentdays.wordpress.com/2017/02/24/cohesion-in-a-sentence

How many times have we seen ourselves write sentences using transition words that only consist of first, next, then, and the likes? Our writing could have been more interesting if we can use other …

24/02/2017

Seventeenth century Holland was a far cry from a land of promise. It was dubbed ‘the buttock of the world’ because much of the country lay under water and the rest was swampy marshland. But instead of giving up hope, the Dutch built canals and pumped bogs dry with the help of windmills. It turned out that silty reclaimed soil was great for moist grass and hence herding cattle. [ 373 more words ]

https://mydecentdays.wordpress.com/2017/02/24/growing-tall-the-netherlands-way

Seventeenth century Holland was a far cry from a land of promise. It was dubbed ‘the buttock of the world’ because much of the country lay under water and the rest was swampy marshland. But instead…

13/01/2017

The advent of PlayStation brought along the D-pad controller design that has not changed much for the past 20 years. And Valve – a company known for its Half-Life series – is about to change that by introducing the Haptic joystick. This device is set to mimic the wide-ranging functionality of a mouse and a keyboard. Gaming experts say it is quite a challenge to achieve that. [ 221 more words ]

https://mydecentdays.wordpress.com/2017/01/13/the-new-era-of-pc-gaming

The advent of PlayStation brought along the D-pad controller design that has not changed much for the past 20 years. And Valve – a company known for its Half-Life series – is about to change that b…

13/01/2017

Despite their historical ties with Europe, Australia lies in the Southern Hemisphere with South East Asia in their proximity. Australia is also home to cities like Melbourne and Canberra that rank among the world’s most livable cities. And their government has set 2025 as the year when Australia is included in the top 10 countries with the highest GDP. They can only achieve this buy making stronger ties with Asia. [ 423 more words ]

https://mydecentdays.wordpress.com/2017/01/13/bahasa-indonesia-in-australia

Despite their historical ties with Europe, Australia lies in the Southern Hemisphere with South East Asia in their proximity. Australia is also home to cities like Melbourne and Canberra that rank …

13/01/2017

It is only true that not everyone has the wit to produce wonderful pieces of writing. But as we make progress in our years of education stages, we have to at least embrace the necessary skills to make a good writing, whether for English assignment completion, or for publishing our paper in an international journal. We will discuss one aspect of standard academic writing we have to master. [ 376 more words ]

https://mydecentdays.wordpress.com/2017/01/13/making-our-words-count

It is only true that not everyone has the wit to produce wonderful pieces of writing. But as we make progress in our years of education stages, we have to at least embrace the necessary skills to m…