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as acceptable because they can grasp the story and the message from the author through the translation.
This p resent thesis is different from Darsono’s. Darsono thesis’s uses the
theories of acceptability and translation strategy. Her thesis only researchers the accepetability and translation strategy in the romantic elements. This thesis is
much more extensive because the romantic elements are not only analyzed by using the theories of readability and equivalence but also put as the object that
will be translated by both male and female subjects. The subjects who will translate the romantic elements in Nicholas Sparks’s
A Walk to Remember
are essential for the case study of this thesis, for the result of their translation will be
reflected to the initial assumption made by people about the contribution of gender to the usage of language. The theory of gender and language will be
employed in this study to prove whether or not the initial assumption that women produce stronger intimacy is true.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Translation Equivalence
According to Bell 1991: 6, translation is the replacement of a representation by an equivalent text in the second language. It means that the TL
and SL must be similar in conveying the message to the readers. Nida and Taber 1974: 208 states that
“translation is the reproduction in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source-language
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message, first in terms of meaning and se cond in terms of style.” It is about theory
of formal and dynamic equivalence by Nida and Taber. Nida qtd. in Munday 2001: 42 divide equivalence into two, namely
formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence. Formal equivalence focuses on the message itself, both form and content. According to Nida qtd. in Munday 2001:
42, it is stated that: formal equivalence focuses attention on the message itself, in both form
and content … One is concerned that the message in the receptor language should match as closely as possible the different elements in the
source text.
Nida qtd. in Munday 2001: 42 also states that “formal equivalence
keenly oriented towards the source-text strucure, which exerts strong influence in determin
ing accuracy and correctness”. It means that the translator translates the text literally and follows the rules of the SL. The arrangement of the sentence
structures is also the same as the original. On the other hand, Nida qtd. in Munday 2001: 42, it is stated that:
dynamic equivalence is based on what Nida calls “the principle of
equivalent effect”, where the relationship between receptor and message should be substantially the same as that which existed between the
original receptors and the message. It means that the translator only focuses on the meaning of the text which
is possible to change the structure. It aims to seek naturalness of the translation in order to receive the same response as it does in the TL.
