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established orthographies or do not have such standardization or whether one or both languages is based on signs, as with sign languages of the deaf.”
Nida 1984:83 points out: “translation consists of reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source language message,
first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style”. Likewise, translation, as Bell 1991:8 asserts, “translation involves the transfer of meaning from a text in
one language into a text in another language”.
Finally, Wills 1982:3 defines translation more or less similarly that “Translation is a transfer process which aims at the transformation of a written SL
text into an optimally equivalent TL text, and which requires the syntactic, the semantic and the pragmatic understanding and analytical processing of the SL”.
2.1.1 Art, Craft, and Science
There is a long-standing debate as to whether translation is an art, a craft or a science. Literary translators, such as Cary in Nababan, 1999: 11, defines
translation as an ‘art’. Newmark 1988: 7 defines that “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”. Other translators and translation theorists, such as Jumpelt in Nababan 1999:11 defines
that “penerjemahan adalah sebuah ilmu”, mostly those who work on technical, business or legal documents, regard their métier as a science and a craft, one that
can not only be taught but that is subject to linguistic analysis and that benefits from academic study.
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However, Gabr 2001:2 considers translation both a craft and a science when he writes that translation being a craft on the one hand, requires training, i.e.
practice under supervision, and being a science on the other hand, has to be based on language theories.
Most translators, however, will agree that the situation depends on the nature of the text being translated. A simple document, for example a product brochure,
can in many cases be translated quickly, using simple techniques familiar to advanced language-students. By contrast, a newspaper editorial, political speech,
or book on almost any subject will require not only the good language skills and research technique, but the art of good writing and cultural sensitivity. Culture is,
in fact, a crucial element in translation, in particular, and language in general.
2.1.2 Language and Culture
According to Newmark “Culture can be defined as the way of life and its manifestations that are peculiar to a community that uses a particular language as
its means of expressions”; however, Goodenough 1964: 36 puts:
“As I see it, a societys culture consists of whatever it is one has to know or believe in order to operate in a manner acceptable to its members, and
do so in any role that they accept for any one of themselves. Culture, being what people have to learn as distinct from their biological heritage, must
consist of the end product of learning: knowledge, in a most general, if relative, sense of the term. By definition, we should note that culture is not
material phenomenon; it does not consist of things, people, behavior, or emotions. It is rather an organization of these things. It is the forms of
things that people have in mind, their models of perceiving and dealing with their circumstances. To one who knows their culture, these things and
events are also signs signifying the cultural forms or models of which they are material representation.”
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It can be summarized that this definition suggests three things, the first culture seen as a totality of knowledge and model for perceiving things, the
second immediate connection between culture and behavior and events, and the last culture depends on norms. While Kridalaksana in chaer 2007:32 explains
that “bahasa adalah sistem lambang bunyi yang arbitrer yang digunakan oleh para anggota kelompok sosial untuk bekerja sama, berkomunikasi, dan
mengindentifikasi diri”.
Many translation scholars distinguish ‘cultural’ language from ‘universal’ and ‘personal’ language. For them, words like ‘father’, ‘die’, ‘live’, ‘star’, ‘swim’
and almost virtually every artifact like ‘table’ are universals which generate no translation problem. But even with regard to such words there is a cultural aspect.
Take, for instance, the example of ‘father’. The notion of fatherhood takes new characteristics in each different cultural community. A French ‘father’ is different
from an English ‘father’ who is in turn different from Arabic ‘father’ a father normally called Si Sayyed. Another radical cultural difference can be further
noticed. Some Amazonian tribes who lead animal-like lives have no ‘father’ notion in their culture and consequently in their language.
Language does contain all kinds of cultural deposits, in the grammar genders of inanimate nouns, take the example of couleur which is a feminine
noun in French but masculine in Arabic Lawn. Other examples see the following excerpts for illustration. The source language SL is Indonesian and the target
language TL is English.
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1. SL: Sebuah lembaga penelitian mengadakan penelitian tentang jumlah tabungan perbulan dari para buruh sebuah perusahaan negara di ibukota.
Penelitian tersebut menggunakan sampel yang terdiri dari 100 keluarga dan hasilnya dinyatakan sebagai persentasi dari jumlah pendapatan per bulan.
TL: A research institution conducted a research on the amount of saving deposited by workers of a company located in a capital city. The research took 100 families
as a sample and the result was presented in percentage of their monthly wages.
2 SL: Dalam masyarakat Jawa bila seseorang wanita atau istri sedang hamil, menurut tradisi perlu diadakan bermacam-macam selamatan dan upacara-upacara
lainnya. Hal ini perlu dilaksanakan dengan maksud agar bayi yang dikandung akan lahir dengan mudah dan selamat sehingga si anak akan mendapat
kebahagiaan hidup dikemudian hari.
TL: In a Javanese community, based on traditions, a pregnant woman or wife should be celebrated with various kinds of selamatan traditional fiest
3 SL: Upacara siraman dilakukan pada pagi hari sekitar pukul 09.00. Upacara siraman dilakukan oleh ibu dari anak yang diruwat dengan air kembang setaman.
Setelah dibersihkan anak itu mengenakan busana adat Jawa yang secara khusus dibuat. Anak yang diruwat diajak oleh Ki Dalang serta didampingi oleh para
pisisepuh neneknya, budenya, dan lain sebagainya untuk bersujud di hadapan ayah dan ibunya
and rituals. These should be done so that she can give a birth to a child easily and safely and
the newly-born will get happy life later.
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TL: Siraman showering ceremony is held in the morning around 09:00 o’clock. This ritual is led by the mother of the child being ruwat cleansed by showering
him with kembang setaman flower water. After being cleansed, the child is dresed in Javanese traditional clothes specially designed for him. The ruwat
child is then guided by Ki Dalang the puppeteer and accompnied by the elders the grandmother, aunts, etc. to pay a homage to by bowing down to earth in
front of the father and mother. Each example accessed at http:www.wikianswers..comexample of translation in Indonesian into
English.html. October, 15
th
2009; 8:50 PM
Reading the texts, we can imagine that translating the first text is easier than the second one, and the second text is easier than the last one. The difficulty
is caused by the culturally-bound words concepts found in each text.
Practically, however, the depth of embededness of a text into its culture is not the first consideration. The purpose of translating is the first determinant. If
the purpose of translating text 2 and 3, for example, is to give general introduction of a certain type of text or culture, the TL should not carry all the
meaning possessed by the SLT. The words underlined and put in the brackets will do. In this case there are a lot of possibilities for the TL.
However, if the purpose is to present the Javanese culture before the English readership, the italicized words should be used and accompanied with a
lot of explanation. Supposed the two paragraphs are parts of a novel, and the translator wants to keep the local color, only the italicized words should be used.
These different purposes govern the choice of translation procedures. Yet, if the
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purpose of translating text 2 and 3 is to present all the meaning, beauty, and the style contained in it, then, translation is impossible.
2.2 Process, Product and Theory
