bak

English translation: seems; looks like;

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

Indonesian term or phrase:	bak
English translation:	seems; looks like;
Entered by:	Naim Jalil

03:57 Jul 1, 2009

Indonesian to English translations [PRO]
Marketing - Journalism / newspaper item

Indonesian term or phrase: bak

I need to know what the effect of "bak" is in the following sentence:-

"Perokok di AS kini jumlahnya jauh menurun dibandingkan dengan beberapa dekade lalu dan perokok yang ada pun kini bak kaum pria."

Does this mean that "it seems" that existing smokers are men? The problem with this interpretation is that it sounds as if it can't be correct.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Archipelago (X) KudoZ activity Questions: 50 (2 open) (3 closed without grading) Answers: 126
Local time: 00:14

seem

Explanation:
your "... and it seems that existing smokers are men", will be a better translation, i'd say.

bak - like, look like, seem

Selected response from:

Naim Jalil
Malaysia
Local time: 22:44

Grading comment

Many thanks to all anwerers who helped out here.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

5 +2

only

Hipyan Nopri

2 +5

mostly

Ian Forbes

seem

Naim Jalil

Answers

25 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

only

Explanation:
In my opinion, the word 'bak' in the sentence seems to be strange. In fact, the word 'bak' (the synonyms are 'bagaikan' or 'seperti') means 'like' in English.
Nevertheless, based on the context, I believe that
bak = only
Thus, my understanding of the sentence is that in the past there many smokers, including men and women. Nowadays, after the implementation of law prohibiting smoking, the number of smokers decreases and even they are only men. There are no more women in the smoking group.

Hipyan Nopri
Indonesia
Local time: 21:44
Native speaker of:

Indonesian
PRO pts in category: 4

Notes to answerer

Asker: I think you are right. I had to check this out because it did not seem correct that smokers are all men nowadays. It is good to have your confirmation as a native speaker of Indonesian.

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +5

mostly

Explanation:
As Hipyan has pointed out, ‘bak’ normally means ‘like’. I am a great believer in human fallibility however and I would guess that the writer was trying to say that smokers in the US are now mostly men. Possibly it started out as ‘kebanyakan’ (mostly/mainly) and with a few injudicious taps of the keyboard, hey presto it became ‘bak’. Reporters work under time constraints and so do editors, hence mistakes are not uncommon. This seems more plausible than ‘only’ as there were nearly 20 million women smokers in the US in 2007 (according to the American Lung Association).

Ian Forbes
New Zealand
Local time: 02:44
Native speaker of:

English

Notes to answerer

Asker: Many thanks for your thoughtful comment. Yes, it must be something like that.

1 day 5 hrs confidence:

seem

Explanation:
your "... and it seems that existing smokers are men", will be a better translation, i'd say.

bak - like, look like, seem

Naim Jalil
Malaysia
Local time: 22:44
Native speaker of:

Malay
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

Many thanks to all anwerers who helped out here.

Notes to answerer

Asker: I have chosen your answer but that does not mean that I think the other answers are not correct. It is interesting that you are in Malaysia where (as in Sumatra) that could be the effect of the word "bak" -- that is why it occurred to me actually. But I do not have the native speaker ability to say for sure.

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bak

English translation: seems; looks like;

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