Opera.com in Indonesian – An interview with the volunteers

Choose Opera: When did you discover Opera, and what do you prefer about Opera over other Web browsers?

Yere: I discovered Opera when I was high school, and I tried Opera Browser at an Internet Cafe where I would go to check Friendster when it was popular like Facebook is now.

Anissa Putri, Zi Bin and Bruce Lawson [from Opera] came to my lovely campus (Gunadarma University) in University Tour 2008. Since they came and told me about Web standards, it has made me realize many features of Opera that really help me when I'm on the Internet; such as Opera Turbo, because the Internet connection in Indonesia is not really impressive like it is in Oslo.

Yeni: My first encounter with Opera was about 2001. As far as I remember, it was Opera 7 – the one with banner on the right top corner and the only browser on earth that had tabs.

I was interested in doing web development so I looked for any web related stuff. In a computer magazine (with a CD as a bonus) I read about Opera, and they said that this browser is the most compliant with W3C standards. It intrigued me. I installed Opera from the CD and my first impression was that this browser is very lightweight.

Choose Opera: What made you want to help with translating Opera.com?

Yere: I want to contribute something to Opera. I started with being part of Opera Campus Crew, and I am very motivated to work for Opera and would like to apply for a position after my graduation.

Yeni: I always love to share good news and good stuff. Opera is good news and good stuff for everyone, so I should share it with others. I see many Indonesian people using Opera Mini on their cellphone, but some of them have difficulties speaking and reading English. That's why I wanted to translate Opera.com (and its products) – so more Indonesian people get the benefit.

Choose Opera: How much effort and time did it take you?

Yere: I don't know the exact time that I spent to translate it. I helped Anissa Putri who translated almost half of the website, and I just gave a little effort to make it finished. Maybe it took around 4 days for the total time.

Yeni: I can't say how much time I spent to translate Opera because I did it anytime I had spare time. On a weekend, week day, or even when I got bored with my routine job. Google Translate helped me to find the best translation, and I also have some friends on Twitter and Facebook from which I could get second opinions about the words I chose. Some of them are Wikipedia contributors, and their opinions are valuable.

Choose Opera: Was there anything that was particularly difficult? For example were there any challenges with specific Web pages?

Yere: I don't think so, but some fuzzy words made it difficult for me to understand what is meant. But mostly it is not really difficult.

Yeni: The most difficult thing is that when I found English words that are not available in Indonesian language, sometimes I have to adopt well-known English words. But adopting English words is challenging, since I must make the words understood by Indonesian people.

Choose Opera: How do you feel about Opera being more accessible to Indonesian people?

Yere: It will be great if Opera is more accessible for Indonesian people. Opera Mini is very famous in Indonesia and it is great to have it in Indonesian; Many Indonesian People feel more comfortable using Opera in our daily language.

[Opera Mini has been available in Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)since 2008]

Yeni: That is a great thing. I'm happy to see more Indonesian people using Opera on their cellphones, desktops and Wii systems. I can send messages with Facebook to my neighbour in my hometown. It's fantastic because they don't even know how to operate a computer. I thank Opera Mini for this.

Choose Opera: Yere, for the July to December 2009 semester, you were one of the Opera Campus Crew gold members. Congratulations on your achievement! What has been the best part about being involved with Campus Crew?

Yere: The best part about OCC is when I see the participants get interested with our presentations and give positive feedback to us. It's just like when you get an Oscar Award. Hehehe.

Choose Opera: Thank you both for taking part in this interview! Opera's Web site is available in Indonesian now. One of the things that makes Opera great are the volunteers and contributors taking part in Opera's community and helping to make Opera better. We can't thank them all enough.