English has been used widely in almost all international forums. In line with the rapid use of social media, in this case Instagram, English is also widely used as the language of self-expression by most of its users, both native and non-native speakers. At least, this is what happened in Indonesia. Most of Indonesian Instagram users, especially youth, use English to write their caption. This phenomenon is important to explore since there is a belief that by actively using a foreign language, it will reduce the sense of nationality within oneself, and even it will lead to the loss of one’s identity. Identity today becomes a very important issue since it shows the sense of belonging of oneself in his/her social interaction. The thing is that the social interaction model in social media is much more complex than the interaction model in the real life. In social media, most of the users do not merely want to show who they really are. They tend to have certain motive on how they can be accepted and appreciated by other users. In other words, they want to be the subject of attention instead of being themselves. Therefore, the concept of identity becomes blurred. Based on the previous description, through the direct observation method, this research aims to seek whether the use of English influences the identity of Indonesian users.

Indonesian literature is rich with cultural nuance expressed by an author in his/her works. Being translated into world lingua franca would make the literary work read by more people, but surely, it is challenging, as a translator must apply the most appropriate translation strategies. Senyum Karyamin is one of Indonesian literary works that represent local culture and has been translated into English. Based on the analysis, in translating 122 Javanese cultural lexicons in Senyum Karyamin, a translator applied 7 strategies, namely: transference (34 data, 27.87%), omission (9 data, 7.37%), descriptive equivalence (19 data, 15.58%), cultural equivalence (25 data, 20.51%), generic word (29 data, 23.78%), additional explanation (3 data, 2,.47%), and footnote (3 data, 2.47%). The orientations of translation ideology were foreignization (translating 59 data – 48.39%) and domestication (translating 63 data – 61.51%). It can be concluded that the preservation of Javanese cultural lexicon is not optimally executed by the translator because the domestication slightly dominates the foreignization. However, the wide variety of applied translation strategies shows that translation practice is dynamic.

Gender bias is a problematic issue until today. World has been accepted and convinced that gender is socially constructed, but society grows with a confusion of gender bias that leads to an endless feminist movement. A case on gender discrimination occurs in Pakistan, where inequality needs attention as it has been intersected with cultural and political practices. This seems to restrict any effort regarded to equality. This research aims to identify manifestations of gender discrimination experienced by the main character in Amal Unbound and to analyze aspects of cultural and political matters related to the restriction of Pakistan women. This research applied a descriptive qualitative method in the analysis. The data were analyzed by using Butler's concepts on gender. The findings indicate that the main character experienced various manifestations of gender discrimination, such as marginalization, subordination, stereotype, and violence. She has been in a worse condition as being restricted by practices of constructed culture and politics in Pakistan.