“Ketchup” itu bukan “kecap”

Ternyata apa yang kita sebut sebagai kecap, di luar negeri disebut sebagai sauce atau lebih tepatnya soya sauce. Dan apa yang kita sebut sebagai saos, di luar negeri disebut ketchup. Nah loh! Kok jadi kebalik-balik??!!
Mari kita lihat definisi kata-kata tersebut:

A. Ketchup

1. Ketchup (or Catsup) (American English and Canadian English) or tomato sauce (Commonwealth English) is a sweet-and-sour condiment typically made from tomatoes, vinegar, sugar or high-fructose corn syrup, and an assortment of vegetable seasonings and spices such as onions, allspice, cloves, cinnamon, garlic, and celery
2. ketchup also catchup or catsup n. A condiment consisting of a thick, smooth-textured, spicy sauce usually made from tomatoes.
3. Etymology: In the 1690s the Chinese mixed together a concoction of pickled fish and spices and called it kôe-chiap or kê-chiap.

B. Soy Sauce
1. Soy sauce (also called soya sauce) is a condiment produced by fermenting soybeans with Aspergillus oryzae or Aspergillus sojae molds, along with water and salt.
2. Soy sauce (soya sauce) is a dark brown liquid made from fermented soybeans (soya beans), roasted wheat, water and salt.

C. Sauce
1. Sauce is liquid or sometimes semi-solid food served on or used in preparing other foods
2. Sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to another dish.
3. Etymology: Sauce is a French word taken from the Latin salsus, meaning salted.

There are also many sauces based on tomato (such as tomato ketchup and tomato sauce), other vegetables and various spices. Although the word ‘ketchup’ by itself usually refers to tomato ketchup, it may also be used to describe sauces from other vegetables or fruits.
Jadi sauce itu sendiri sangat umum, dan bahannya pun bermacam2, tidak hanya “saos tomat” yang kita kenal itu. Misalnya, ada yang terbuat dari campuran kuning telur plus tepung, saus karamel, bahkan ada juga saus jamur:

Kesimpulannya:
1. Apa yang orang2 luar sebut sebagai ketchup sama sekali bukanlah yang hitam-manis seperti yang kita kenal sebagai kecap melainkan tomato ketchup alias tomato sauce, yang terbuat dari tomat itu.
2. Apa yang kita sebut sebagai kecap, yang hitam manis itu, orang2 luar menyebutnya sebagai soy sauce/soya sauce (garis bawahi kata sauce) yang terbuat dari soy (kedelai) –sama dengan bahan yang kita kenal untuk membuat kecap Sedaa****p dkk.

Yang jadi pertanyaan adalah, kata2 tersebut asli dari Perancis dan China, jadi kita (orang Indonesia) dan orang2 luar negeri (katakanlah negara2 barat) sama2 meminjam kata2 tersebut. Tapi kenapa kita menggunakannya berlawanan?? Bayangkan misalnya Anda makan bareng dengan orang asing. Di meja ada kecap dan saos (yg kita kenal) dan tiba2 orang asing itu bilang “Could you please pass the ketchup?“. Kira2 mana yang akan Anda ambil? Kecap atau saos? Selamat merenung.

Contoh kasus dari blog teman:

“Saya memang gak pernah membubuhkan kecap pd makanan berkuah. Sederhana saja, kecap membikin rasa makanan berubah. Beda dgn seorg teman yg merasa tak makan kalau belum pakai kecap. Sedikit agak keterlaluan, ia bahkan suka menambahi kecap pd semur pesanannya – kurang pas, katanya. Lantas ada kawan asing yg melongo keheranan waktu pelayan resto membawakan kecap, pdhal sebetulnya ia meminta ketchup alias saos tomat. Sementara kawan asing lain yg suka terlalu pede dgn terjemahan literal, memesan nasi goreng dgn sedikit “saus kedelai” (soy sauce = kecap),–yang tentunya terdengar sangat asing– kali ini tukang nasi goreng lah yg melongo kebingungan.”

 

Easy to say LOVE: is it a gift or a curse?

“There’s nothing certain in this world but the uncertainty itself,” tiba-tiba terlintas di pikiranku. Tidak ada yang pasti di dunia ini selain ketidakpastian itu sendiri. Dengan kata lain, semua tidak ada yang pasti. Pemikiran seperti ini tentunya tidak muncul begitu saja tanpa ada yang melatarbelakanginya. Ada banyak hal sebetulnya yang menjadi alasan kenapa aku berpikir seperti ini. Tapi bisa dibilang hal-hal itu berkaitan dengan apa yang orang-orang sering sebut sebagai “cinta”. Kalau aku lebih suka menyebutnya sebagai “perasaan”, karena ketika orang diminta mendefinisikan apa itu cinta, jawabannya bisa macam-macam dan semua bisa jadi benar, sesuai dengan konteksnya masing-masing. Perasaan yang kumaksud adalah rasa tertarik akan lawan jenis, hasrat ingin memilikinya sebagai teman hidup. Taruhlah seperti itu. Dan perasaan ini, seiring berjalannya waktu aku semakin pasti akan ketidakpastiannya. Aku sering berpikir, “Aku bisa saja yakin kalo dia adalah orang yg tepat, tapi aku tidak yakin kalo perasaan ini tidak akan berubah.” Yak, begitulah apa yang aku rasakan. Seakan tidak pasti. Namun ketidakpastian di sini mestinya tidak selalu dianggap negatif yang seolah tanpa tujuan yang jelas, tanpa pegangan yang kuat, mempermainkan perasaan, atau hal-hal jelek yang lain. Akan tetapi lebih merupakan bukti ke-fleksibilitas-an dari perasaan itu sendiri. Betapa mudahnya perasaan itu untuk berubah. Ini bukan hanya sekedar teori atau filosofi tanpa bukti. Setidaknya dari sekelumit kejadian sehari-hari, dalam hal ini yang terkait dengan “perasaan”, memanglah seperti itu. Seperti lagunya Iwan Fals yang bilang, “Aku cinta kau saat ini. Entah esok hari. Entah…” itu benar-benar terjadi. Awalnya aku mengira lagu ini mengisyaratkan ketidaksungguhan hubungan. Bukannya merayu sengan kata-kata penuh pengharapan dan janji berbunga-bunga, lagu ini justru, menurutku, menghadirkan realita. Entah sudah berapa kali aku “jatuh cinta” atau lebih aman aku bilang “memiliki perasaan” terhadap lawan jenis dengan kriteria ketertarikan yang bermacam-macam.

Suatu saat misalnya, aku pernah mengungkapkan perasaanku kepada adik kelas semasa SMP. Dengan bermodalkan memori seadanya tentang masa-masa itu, kuajak dia bernostalgia dan untungnya dia ingat apa yang aku ingat. Alhasil kita nyambung, bahkan sangat nyambung. Ketika terasa nyambung inilah, seperti niatku dari awal, aku tembak dia. Aku bilang begini-begini, nyambung, cocok dan sebagainya, hingga akhirnya dia menerima, meskipun tidak sejelas kalau dua orang bertatap muka. Sehari berselang kami SMS-an, ya iseng-iseng aja kadang, tanya kabar, sudah makan apa belum, semacam itu. Di luar dugaan, entah pada hari keberapa, sepertinya 3 hari setelah “jadian”, aku berubah. Aku merasa dia bukanlah sosok yang aku cari. Setelah kupikir-pikir, daripada ujung-ujungnya tidak jelas, dengan penjelasan secukupnya, aku minta putus, atau istilahnya “dibatalkan”. Kalau ingat niat awalku yang menggebu-gebu, jadi lucu, kok tiba-tiba sekarang semua berubah. Bisa disebut ini “cinta tiga hari”. Lebih lama dari cintanya Melinda yang cuma satu malam.

Di saat yang lain, aku juga pernah tertarik kepada seorang cewek, teman dari temanku. Setelah aku lihat foto dia di Facebook aku add dia, dan diterima. Tidak lama setelah itu kami langsung berkomunikasi lewat komen foto. Kami saling memberi komentar pada foto di album masing-masing. Lagi-lagi semua terasa nyambung. Hingga obrolan kami lanjut ke YM. Berjam-jam hingga larut malam kami berbagi cerita. Semua terasa sempurna, tepat seperti yang aku harapkan. Karena nyambung dan sebagainya inilah akhirnya aku putuskan untuk nembak dia. Lagi, dia terima, pun tidak sejelas kalau misalnya kita bertemu muka langsung. Entah apa yang terjadi, esok harinya begitu terbangun dari tidur, semua yang terjadi semalam terasa seperti mimpi. Tidak ada lagi hasrat menggebu. Keyakinan akan sosok si dia yang tampak sangat sempurna untuk menjadi yang terpilih, hilang. Tidak ada komunikasi di antara kami. Mungkin kami sama-sama menunggu. Entahlah. Hingga setelah beberapa hari dia kirim message minta maaf. Aku malah bingung, yang salah sebenarnya siapa. Jadi aku pun minta maaf. Dan semua selesai hari itu juga. Untuk kasus ini, bisa disebut “cinta satu malam”. Persis seperti lagunya Melinda.

Di kesempatan yang lain, lebih lama durasinya. Kayaknya ada sebulanan. Suatu hari ada seorang cewek meminta pertemanan di FB. Aku terima dan kami mulai berhubungan. Setelah ngobrol sana-sini, kami tukeran nomor handphone. Kami sering telpon-telponan. Lagi-lagi, semua terasa nyambung dan kami semakin dekat. Dan ya gitu deh, lagi-lagi ada ketertarikan dan ternyata semua berubah, akunya yang berubah. Ya begitulah.

Lalu sekarang bagaimana? Ini yang paling penting. Perlu diketahui bahwasanya ketika menulis ini pun, aku sedang memiliki rasa itu kepada seseorang (ato mungkin lebih dari satu orang :p). Dan belajar dari pengalaman-pengalaman itu, aku sekarang tidak akan gegabah. Beras mahal. (*itu gabah)

 

Good and Not-so-good Teachers

“A good language teacher should have three qualities: knowledge, fluency and method. The first two are important but what actually distinguishes between good or not so good teachers is the last one.”

Here are some tips you can try to be a good language teacher:

1. Show off your best asset
No, I’m not referring to your chiselled face, voluptuous curves, and especially not your bank account. I’m talking about your personality. When you’re teaching a grammar point that you know is boring and the students will switch off over, lighten up, smile and become an ‘Edu-tainer’. As an ‘Edu-tainer’, your task is to keep them interested and attentive. Be funny, amusing and light hearted while at the same time teaching the dry-as-hell topic. You can throw in jokes, be a little bit irrelevant at times, just turn on the charm and keep them from falling asleep on the desk.

2. Be a little unexpected
One little gem I like to use in the classroom when teaching a boring topic, is to keep them thinking. Instead of feeding them the answers or elicit the answer out of them, I like to keep them on their toes. One such method is to give the students an answer to a question that is incorrect, and see how long it takes the students to recognise the error. Being unexpected means that they must always be thinking, and they are not going to find themselves anticipating the answers.

3. Tell a story
If you are explaining a grammar point, why not keep your students amused and educated with a story. This is a good way to keep their attention while explaining some of the more dull aspects of grammar. Great for children and lower-level adults, a well-known story such as The Hare and the Tortoise are the best choices. Using a short story that the students know provides the students with a picture and connect the grammar with an event in the story.

4.Take the tabloid approach
One nifty little way to liven up any lesson is to use the lives of celebrities to explain a grammar point. To do this, find out about a local celebrity in the country, find out who they’ve been dating, associated with, previously dated, been married to, been embroiled in some form of scandal, and create a time line while explaining the tense.

Example: Tom Cruise was married to Nicole Kidman (Past tense – Finished Action, They’re divorced
Tom Cruise married Katie Holmes after he had divorced Nicole Kidman (Past tense, finished action / Past Perfect – the first action to happen in the past).

No matter what the topic, taking a popularist approach by using celebrities in a class is always bound to entertain while adding a sense of realism to your lesson.

5. Be practical
I am personally a big advocate of teaching English that students will find beneficial and useful in their jobs or their lives. One way I like to do this is to try to use practical examples wherever possible. It is incredibly simple and can even be improvised on the spot. An example is explaining tenses by throwing a pen. By actively going through the motions, saying the sentences and explain the points while doing it, you can keep your students attention on you while teaching them the grammar point. For topic specific tasks, another great way for students to learn vocabulary is to create a presentation. One example is a class Fashion Show to talk about clothes and accessories or a role-play to practice vocabulary and phrases related to food and dining.

6. Use the news
English language newspapers are fantastic for students to learn about English as they generally use simple words and provide an example of what’s happening around the world that the student’s may already know in their native language. This allows them to easily connect the times and even some of the more difficult vocabulary in the newspaper article, while the timing implications of a the events of the news article can be used to describe tense. Newspapers are a good introductory activity for any class, as they provide a real-life vocabulary source that can then progress into a discussion, before getting into the grammatical deep-end. See ‘How to Teach Current Events to ESL Students’.

7. Play a game
Have you ever been in class and noticed that the following exercise in the book was a typical ‘fill in the gaps’ or something that you knew would send the students far away into a dreamlike trance? Well, this is the point where you can tell the students to stop everything, put their pens down, close books and stand up. Students love competition with each other, and any activity where two teams can be created and scoring is involved is a sure-winner with any tasks. Instead of having the students complete the activity in the book, in silence and on their own, they can learn and have fun at the same time by working together as a group.

On the other way around, the followings tips are things you have to avoid to be a good teacher:

1. The Disciplinarian
The Disciplinarian is very strict and loud. He may lash out with an angry command when frustrated, upset, or disappointed with students. Talking out of turn and being late are completely unacceptable in his classroom even if there might be a reasonable excuse. Nothing is ever his fault even when students are unclear on directions and he is reluctant to repeat himself. Students tend to be afraid of The Disciplinarian and therefore are less likely to speak up in class. He all but shatters their confidence even when covering basic material that students are familiar with. In his classes students have to pay attention and avoid attracting attention.

2. The too friendly Friend
The Friend is easygoing and lenient. His lesson plans are designed to be fun and active so that students can enjoy the learning process. He tries to relate to students and sometimes even succeeds. He will never challenge students to step outside their comfort zones or embarrass them by asking them to repeat, develop, or change their answers. Students really enjoy having The Friend as their teacher but are often less productive than their peers due to lack of discipline and focus. Students are not driven to work hard because they meet endless praise in the classroom regardless of performance.

3. The Shy Guy
The Shy Guy (or Gal) is too timid to be put in front of a classroom. He often speaks so softly that students sitting in the back of the room must ask for things to be repeated. This teacher lacks the self confidence to assert his authority and therefore students are unwilling to give him the respect a teacher deserves and disregard instructions. This teacher lacks even the most basic classroom management skills and cannot keep students in check. The Shy Guy leaves class each day feeling defeated and students prey on his weakness by further insulting him. Even generally well behaved students will act poorly in this teacher’s classroom because there is no real consequence for their actions.

4. The Lecturer
The Lecturer believes that if he repeats something enough times, students will understand what they are being told. Rather than rephrase or test comprehension, the teacher requires that students just repeat exactly what he said. If this teacher is a non-native English speaker, it is likely that he will lecture almost exclusively in his native language. When students struggle with material, The Lecturer will start speaking more loudly as if this will somehow help the situation. ESL students with this type of instructor will suffer from lack of speaking practice and will often not comprehend the meaning behind their words.

5. The Timewaster
The Timewaster likes to dominate speaking time and regularly holds one-sided discussions about topics completely unrelated to the lesson. He will half-heartedly attempt to engage students in material that is neither relevant nor interesting to them and upon failing will simply continue along the same path. As classes with The Timewaster often end without getting to the main point of the lesson, students will feel as if they are not gaining anything by attending classes and become frustrated with how their time is being spent. Particularly driven individuals will do well through self study while the rest of the class will be sorely deprived of the education they need.

(Source: www.busyteacher.org)

 

SYAIR CINTA UNTUK “NARI RATIH”

Pelangi muncul di atas Kurawan
Warnanya indah bukan buatan
Seorang gadis ternganga keheranan
Rambutnya tergerai jatuh ke pangkuan

Sekuntum cempaka sedang mekar di taman sari desa Manguntur
Kelopaknya indah tersenyum segar
Kan kupetik cempaka itu untuk kubawa tidur malam nanti

Kubuka daun jendela dan terbayang malam yang indah dihiasi chandra kartika
Di bulan Waisya ini
Sepuluh kali aku melewati pintu rumahmu yang masih rapat terkancing dari dalam
Kapan kau buka
Wahai sang dewi puspa

Pelangi itu muncul lagi
Membuat garis melengkung ke langit tinggi
Daun ilalang diterpa angin gemerisik membangunkan tidurku dari mimpi buruk
Di batas tugu yang indah ini ku pahat dengan bermandikan keringat kasih
Kalau kau tatap mega yang berbunga-bunga
Disanalah aku duduk menunggu pintu maafmu terbuka

Pelangi senja mengantarkan burung-burung pulang ke sarangnya
Domba-domba pulang ke kandangnya
Tapi aku hendak kemana
Apa yang kulakukan menjadi tak berharga selama senyummu masih kau sembunyikan di balik keangkuhan hatimu

Nari Ratih……………
Kau adalah sebongkah batu karang
Tapi aku adalah angin yang sabar setia
Sampai langit di atas terbelah dua
Aku akan membelai namamu bagaikan bunga

Jika hari telah tidur d ipangkuan malam
Kukirim bisikan hatiku ini bersama angin
Biarpun malam pucat kedinginan
Biarpun bintang merintih di langit yang jauh
Aku akan tidur dengan tenang
Sambil memeluk senyummu dalam kehangatan mimpiku

Aku berkelana mencari cinta ke desa-desa yang jauh
Akhirnya di candi Walandit kupuaskan dahagaku…..