Representing Indonesian Translators since 1974

The Association of Indonesian Translators (Himpunan Penerjemah Indonesia, HPI) was founded on the 5th February 1974. In the peak of its relevance, it had over 300 members. Fate dictated that this translation association ended up losing its power.

In 2000, some of the original founders and a set of new faces got together and decided to reactivate the Indonesian Translators Association. They did it out of idealism and a bit of magic, as there was no capital available and no-one apparently interested in helping financially. An emergency congress was scheduled and a new set of board was nominated.

The man behind the rebirth of HPI was Professor Benny H. Hoed. With him, leaders and experts from higher education institutions and professionals from the publishing industry began a careful re-organisation of the association. New members criteria were defined, as well as modern roles and activities.

It was clear that one of the main goals of this refurbished organisation was to seek co-operations with agencies and other institutions, at several levels. New activities were announced, most of them consisted of discussions on translation and the publication of a new periodic newsletter.

In May 2004, the second HPI congress was held. As a consequence, more new faces arrived on board, with the number of members increasing to 50, the best figures after the decline of the first version of the translators association. New plans were defined. However, there are still some unfortunate financial problems.

The Association of Indonesian Translators doesn’t accept literary translators only. You don’t need to have translated a book to join the guild. Translators with experience in document translation for companies, firms and agencies are welcome.

If one of the initial purposes of the association was to assist its members in finding work, nowadays, its focus is primarily on developing the professional skills of the associates.

Keep in mind that Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. It derives from of Malacca dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago and some parts of East Timor for centuries. It is estimated there are around 100 million speakers of the language worldwide.

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