Kebisingan di jalan sering mengganggu konsentrasi saya.

Noise on the street often disturbs my concentration.

Breakdown of Kebisingan di jalan sering mengganggu konsentrasi saya.

• di: on
• sering: often
• saya: my
• jalan: the street
• konsentrasi: the concentration
• kebisingan: the noise
• mengganggu: to bother

Questions & Answers about Kebisingan di jalan sering mengganggu konsentrasi saya.

What does kebisingan literally mean, and how is it different from just bising?

Bising is an adjective meaning noisy.

The prefix ke- and suffix -an turn it into a noun:

• kebisingan = noise / the state of being noisy

So:

• jalan itu bising = that street is noisy (adjective)
• kebisingan di jalan = the noise on the street (noun phrase)

English uses the same word noisy / noise only with a change of form, but Indonesian uses morphology (bising → kebisingan) to make the noun.

Does kebisingan here mean one specific noise, or noise in general?

In this sentence, kebisingan is general / uncountable noise, not one specific sound.

Indonesian usually doesn’t mark this difference clearly the way English does. Context tells you whether it’s:

• the noise (in general) on the street, or
• some more specific noisy situation.

If you want to be more clearly general, you can also say:

• suara bising di jalan = loud/noisy sounds on the street (more like “noisy sounds” in general).

Why is it di jalan and not di jalanan? What’s the difference?

Both can be correct, but they have slightly different nuances:

• di jalan
  Literally on the street / in the street. Very common and neutral.

• di jalanan
  The suffix -an can make it feel more like the streets in general, or out on the streets. It can sound a bit more informal or descriptive of street life / the street environment.

In your sentence:

• Kebisingan di jalan sering mengganggu konsentrasi saya.
  = natural, neutral, and commonly used.

You could say di jalanan too, but di jalan is the more standard/basic choice.

Where should sering go in the sentence? Could I say sering kebisingan di jalan mengganggu…?

Sering (often) normally comes before the verb or verb phrase it modifies.

The standard position is:

• Kebisingan di jalan sering mengganggu konsentrasi saya.
  (The street noise often disturbs my concentration.)

Putting sering at the very beginning like:

• Sering kebisingan di jalan mengganggu…
  is not wrong, but it sounds a bit more literary or like you’re emphasizing how often it happens. For everyday neutral speech/writing, use:

[subject] + sering + [verb]
Kebisingan di jalan sering mengganggu…

Why is it mengganggu and not just ganggu?

The base verb is ganggu (to disturb). Adding meN- makes the standard active form:

• mengganggu = to disturb / to bother (active verb)

In formal and neutral Indonesian, you usually use the meN- form:

• Suara itu mengganggu saya. = That sound disturbs me.

Bare ganggu is often used:

• in imperatives: Jangan ganggu! (Don’t disturb!)
• in informal speech / text, where people sometimes drop prefixes.

But in a proper full sentence like yours, mengganggu is the correct form.

Why is the order sering mengganggu konsentrasi saya, and not sering mengganggu saya punya konsentrasi?

Indonesian prefers the structure:

[adverb] + [verb] + [object]

So:

• sering mengganggu konsentrasi saya
  = often disturbs my concentration

Saya punya konsentrasi would literally be I have concentration, and then mengganggu saya punya konsentrasi sounds unnatural and redundant.

Instead, possession is normally expressed as:

• konsentrasi saya = my concentration

So the natural word order is:

• Kebisingan di jalan sering mengganggu konsentrasi saya.

Can I replace saya with aku here? What’s the difference?

Grammatically, you can say:

• Kebisingan di jalan sering mengganggu konsentrasi aku.

but it sounds a bit off in style. Here’s why:

• saya = polite, neutral, used in most formal or semi‑formal situations (and very safe for learners)
• aku = more intimate / casual, used with friends, family, or people of the same age group

Also, konsentrasi aku is less common than konsentrasi saya in writing. If you use aku, people more often say:

• Kebisingan di jalan sering mengganggu aku. (The noise on the street often disturbs me.)

For learners, saya is usually the best default in sentences like this.

Is konsentrasi a loanword from English? Is there a more “Indonesian” word?

Yes, konsentrasi is a loanword (from Dutch/English/French roots, like concentratie / concentration). It is completely standard and very common in Indonesian.

You could also use:

• fokus = focus
  Kebisingan di jalan sering mengganggu fokus saya.

Synonyms with slightly different nuances:

• perhatian = attention
  Kebisingan di jalan sering mengganggu perhatian saya. (disturbs my attention)

But konsentrasi is perfectly natural and not “less Indonesian” in any negative sense.

Could I say Kebisingan di jalan sering mengganggu saya berkonsentrasi? Is that correct?

You can say it, but you need to adjust the structure slightly.

More natural patterns are:

• Kebisingan di jalan sering mengganggu saya ketika saya berkonsentrasi.
  (…disturbs me when I am concentrating.)
• Kebisingan di jalan sering mengganggu saya saat berkonsentrasi.
  (…disturbs me when (I am) concentrating.)

Your original sentence:

• Kebisingan di jalan sering mengganggu konsentrasi saya.

is simpler and more typical. It directly uses konsentrasi as the object of mengganggu, which is very natural.

If I want to make it plural in English (“the noises on the street”), do I need to change anything in Indonesian?

No change is needed. Indonesian usually doesn’t mark plural for uncountable or general concepts like “noise”.

• Kebisingan di jalan sering mengganggu konsentrasi saya.
  can be translated as:
• The noise on the street often disturbs my concentration.
  or
• The noises on the street often disturb my concentration.

If you really want to highlight multiple distinct sounds, you could say:

• Suara-suara di jalan (reduplicated suara = several sounds)
  Suara-suara di jalan sering mengganggu konsentrasi saya.
  but the original sentence is already natural and doesn’t need a plural marker.