CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Toward the globalization era, science, technology, and language have increasing in this world. When we talk about language skills we normally refer to
listening, speaking, reading, and writing. However, there is another important skill in language, learning that we seem to neglect, namely translation.
Translation is an activity of enormous importance in modern world and it is a subject of interest not
only to linguists, professional, amateur translator, and language teachers, but also to engineers, and mathematician, and so forth.
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Translation is not only changing Source Language SL text into Target Language TL text but also keeping and considering the meaning and message
rendered. According to Peter Newmark in his book Approaches To translation, 1988, “Translation is a craft consisting in the attempt to replace a written message andor
statement in one language by the same message andor statement in another language.”
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In translating text, the translator should use some theories about what procedures that applicable to translate the text and the concept of method .
There are four procedures which stated by Newmark commonly used by translator. By using procedure in translating the text it can give appropriate result and
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1
J.C. Catford. A Linguistic Theory of Translation. London : Oxford University Press, 1965, p.vii
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Peter Newmark, Approaches To Translation. New York : Prentince Hall, 1988, p.7
the message can delivered well to the target language. The comparison of texts in
different languages inevitably involves a theory of procedures translation. Because,
when the translator trying to translated a text, he must transfer the meaning, the
message, and the source culture to target culture. In translation, it is true that person who know both the source language
and the target language well can often make the transfer from one form to the other very rapidly, without thinking about the semantic structure overtly.
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The importance of translation from the source language into the target language is not only for scientific, but also for non scientific for example in literature
such as poetry, prose, novel, short story, and drama. Literature is the art of languages; it uses languages as a mean to communicate the author’s understanding of lives.
Translating literary works is more difficult than translating other types of text because literary works have specific values called the aesthetic and expressive
values. The aesthetic function and of the work shall emphasize the beauty of the words diction, figurative language, metaphors, symbols, etc. While, the expressive
function shall put forwards the writer’s thought, emotion, etc. One of the others literature works that very often translating into another
language is poetry. Poetry is the most personal and concentrated of the five forms, no redundancy, no phatic language, where, as a unit the words have greater importance
than in any other type of text.
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Mildred L. Larson, Meaning-Based Translation. London: University Press of America, 1984, p.4
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Peter Newmark, A Textbook of Translation. New York: Prentice Hall, 1988, p.163
In a poem, so many creation more beautiful than others literary works such as the choice of words diction, figurative language, rhythm, meter, symbol,
specific expression, and structure. As one genre of literature, poetry has something special compared to the others. In a poem, the beauty is not only achieved with the
choice of words and figurative language like in novels and short stories, but also with the creation of rhythm, rhyme, meter, and specific expressions and structures that
may not conform to the ones of the daily language. In short, the translation of poetry needs something more than translating other genres of literature.
Three factors of translating the poems are; 1 linguistic, 2 literary, and 3 cultural factors. Linguistics factor relates to how the translator finds out the close
equivalence of the words, syntactic and semantic structures of the target language. Esthetic and literary factors relate to how the translator re-writes the poem in the
target language by the same way in the source language, and socio-cultural factors relates to how the translator transfers the original culture of the author into the target
language.
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That is the reasons so many people or translator have translated poetry from source language into another language because poetry is not ordinary language
so that they want to understand the passion, the meaning, and expressing their feeling to reach poetical aspect.
In this world there are so many great poets. One of them is Walt Whitman. He was born on May 31, 1819 in then rural Huntington, Long Island. At the age of
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Zuchridin Suryawinata and Sugeng Hariyanto, Translation; Bahasan Teori dan Penuntun Praktis Menerjemahkan. Jakarta: Kanisius, 2003, p.167
twelve Whitman began to learn the printers trade, and fell in love with the written word. Largely self-taught, he read voraciously, becoming acquainted with the works
of Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, and the Bible. Whitman had been experimenting with poetry since 1847. He spent his last eight years in a small house in Camden which he
was just prosperous enough to buy for himself. Whitman died on March 26, 1892, in his 73
rd
year.
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Walt Whitman had created many poems on his life, some of them had great place in American literature. The first edition of his famous work, “Leaves of
Grass,” for which Whitman himself set the type, was published in 1855. It was reissued frequently, with addition and revisions, between 1855 and 1881. A complete
edition contains all of Whitman’s poetry. The sources of his inspiration probably lay largely in personal experience.
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He wrote many poems about America or usually we called with United States.
America gets its name from Amerigo Vespucci, who claimed that he explored the coasts of presentday Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina between 1497 and
1503. In 1507, a mapmakers and gradually was used for all of South America. Later,
the name was applied to both continents. The word America is often used to mean the United States of America.
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Walt Whitman’s poems also translated into another language especially into Indonesian language, it was translated by Taufiq Ismail. He is a translator, a poet
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Richard Ellmann and Robert O’clair, Modern Poems New York: Oxford University, 1976, pp.1-3
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Melville W. Feldman, The World University Encyclopedia 12 USA : Manufactured, 1965, p.5499
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Rudolph H.Yeatman, The World Book Encyclopedia A Vol.1 Chicago : Merchandise Mart Plaza, 1986, p.387
and a teacher. He had translated many poems, including poems by Emily Dickinson, Robert Forst, Khalil Gibran. The writer search and find the Indonesian translation of
Walt Whitman’s poems on Horison Majalah Sastra and Walt Whitman’s poems on the book Walt Whitman Complete Poetry and Collected Prose. The writer found five
titles which are translated into Indonesian language. They were “I Hear America Singing” or “Aku Dengar Amerika Bernyanyi”, “To A President” or “Kepada
Seorang Presiden”, “A Persian Lesson” or “Pelajaran Sufi dari Farsi”, “A Child Said, What Is The Grass?” or “Seorang Anak Berkata Apa Itu Rerumputan?”, and
“When I Heard the Learned Astronomer” or “Ketika Aku Mendengar Ahli Ilmu Bintang yang Terpelajar”.
Although the writer thinks that translators are experts, it is not guarantee for good translation. Because, the writer found some translation that are she feels not
appropriate with Source Language. Such as in “I Hear America Singing” line 10. English
: Singing, with open mouths, their strong melodious songs. Indonesian
: Yang bernyanyi dengan mulut terbuka, lagu mereka yang lantang dan sedap di dengar telinga.
In Indonesian translation there is the addition. The translator adds the phrase “sedap di dengar telinga” that is not exist in English version. The writer
thinks that the translator wants to make this poem more beautiful. Another example as in “To a President” line 3.
English : You have not seen that only such as they are for these States.
Indonesian : Anda belum paham bahwa itu yang diperlukan negeri kita.
In the lyric above, the translator translated the word they in English language into the word itu in Indonesia language. As we know, the word they have
equivalent with the word mereka in Indonesian language. But the translator translated the noun they become the adverb itu in TL.
From the explanation above, the writer wants to analyze the procedures of translation and finds mimetic form approaches of poetry translation in English into
Indonesian of Walt Whitman’s poems. This research entitled “A Translation Analysis in English into Indonesian of Walt Whitman’s Poems”.
B. Focus of the Study
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