world. Language is a key component of culture. It is the primary medium for transmitting culture.
In the process of translating a text, a translator should translate the expressions from culture context. Translation from one language to another language
cannot be done adequately without the knowledge of the two cultures a well as the two language cultures. Larson 1988:431 says, “ The translator must know the
subject matter which he she is translating. He she must know the culture from which the message originally came as well as the culture for which it is being
translated”. Translation and culture has a close relationship. If the translator wants to
translate the text, the translator must know the concept of culture firstly. Larson 1988:431 says, “the translators must know the subject matter which he she is
translating. He she must know the culture from which the message originally comes as well as the culture for which it is being translated”.
Simply, culture is an important role in translation. The translation will be easier if the translator is support by an adequate knowledge about the culture from
SL and TL. Finally, the translator must be aware in translating problems due to the differences of culture between SL and TL.
2.6 Categories of Cultural Terms
Actually, there are many definitions of culture. The classic definition of culture was given by Taylor In “The Translation of Agatha Christie’s The Mirror
Crack’d to Dan Cermin pun Retak translated by Suwarni A.S:1997:25, an anthropologist. He stated that “ Culture is that complex whole which includes
knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”. Culture issues from society in interaction.
The product of group interaction is its culture. The concept of culture pattern provides a basic insight into the reason why group behavior is ordered and regular.
Culture patterns are intangible and exist only in the minds and habits of human being.
The differences between cultures become problems in the process of translation from one language into another that is divergent and unrelated. For
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example, how the translator translates ‘ Selamat Tujuh Bulan’ into English. Cultural disparities present the greates obstacle to translation. Translation fail occurs when it
is impossible to build functionally relevant features of the situation into the contextual meaning of the target language text.
The translator must be aware of the translation problems due to the cultural ‘gap’ or ‘distance’ between the SL and TL. In finding out the meaning of word, he
she cannot see simply by the word itself, but he she has too see the cultural context of the language also.
Newmark 1988 offers the cultural termscategories which may appear in translation, i.e, ecology; material culture; social culture; organisation; gesture and
habits. He also tries to discuss the translation of cultural terms in the narrow senseas follows:
1. Ecology – Animals, plants, local winds, mountains, plains, ice, etc.
According to L. J Henderson 1950:138 In “The Tranlation of Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d to Dan Cermin pun Retak translated by Suwarni
A.S:1997:29 “ The environments of an organism consists of those characteristics of the external world which have an appreciable effect upon it. The environment varies
from one locality to another for the same species and from one species to another in the same locality.”
Environments are different from one area to another. Every language has its own words to call or naming things or natural features in their surrondings. Cultural
terms that are included in this category are words related with living organism and all the various aspects of the environtments in which they inside.
Geographical features can be normally distinguished from other cultural terms in that are usually value – free, politically and commercially. Nevertheless, the
diffusion depends on the importance of the country of origin as well as the degree of specificity.
2. Material Culture artefacts – Food, clothes, housing, transport and
communications. Material culture is clearly the product of man. Material culture is the
externalization or physical manifestation of the interaction of human beings. Its includes all the artifacts or material objects. The artifact reflects the cultural ideas
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about the relation with the environment and with one another. The idea that artifacts are parts of a cultural system and are thus reflections of a society’s world view is the
basis for the work of the anthropologist who tries to reconstruct past cultures from material remains.
Perhaps, the most important relationship between a species and its environment is the process of food acquisition. How a society gets its food has
important ramifications for all other aspects of its culture. Food is for many the most sensitive and important expression of national
culture; food terms are subject to the widest variety of translation procedures. Clothes as cultural terms may be sufficiently explained to TL general readers if the
generic noun or classifier is added : e.g. ‘shintigin trousers’ or ‘basque skirt’, if the particular is of no interest, the generic word can simply replace it. However, it has to
borne in mind that the function of the generic clothes terms is approximately constant, indicating the part of the body that is covered, but the description varies
depending on climate and material used. Clothes as cultural terms may be sufficiently explained for TL general readers
if the generic noun or classifier is added. For national customers, they are kept as the original words e.g., sari, kimono, yulaka, kebaya, kaftan, and jubbah. However, it
has to be borne in mind that the function of the generic clothes terms is approximately constant, indicating the part of the body that is covered, but the
description varies depending on climate and material used. Transport is dominated by American. And the car, a sacred symbol in many countries of sacred private
property. 3.
Social culture – work and leisure. Man cannot exist in isolation. We live in society and make interaction.
Society exists in and through social interaction, a human beings react to others and in turn are influenced by them. Social interaction is thus reciprocal and each member
governs his behavior in terms of the expectations of others. Each society has its own way to establish social interaction, for example in greeting someone, a person from
the different society specially with different language has different expressions from other societies although the perpose is the same.
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Social culture is the product of social interaction. The groups of people produce customs, ideas, belief, knowledge, attitudes, values, and behavior patterns
acts that are handed down from generation to generation. Certain society has certain forms of daily activity, from eating and drinking to propitiating the
supranatural powers. In considering social culture one has to distinguish between denotative and connotative problems to translation.
4. Social Organisations, customs, ideas – Political, social, legal, religious, artistic.
The political and social life of a country is reflected in its institutional terms. Where the title of a lead of state or the name of a parliament are transparent, they are
easily translated, i.e, President, Prime Minister, and King, Senate. Where the name of a parliament is not readily translatable, i.e, Bundenstag German Federal
Parliament is often transferred for an educated readership and glossed to a general readership.
When a public body has a transparent name, the translation depends on the setting. In official document and in serious publication such as textbooks, the title is
transferred and where appropiate, literally translated. Informally, it could be translated by a cultural equivalent, e.g. The French Electricity Board or The Postal
Service. 5.
Gestures and Habit often desribed in ‘ non – cultural’ language. Social interaction is a continuous and reciprocal series of contacts between
two or more socialized human beings. These contacts may be physical in the sense that each person does something physically to the other; more often they are
simbolic, in the sense that each person exchanges symbolic meanings with the other, in the form of language or other significant gestures. When two person interact, they
exchanges meaningful gestures – whether smile, signs, frowns, or yawns, and sometimes a gesture can become a habit.
For ‘ gesture and habits’ there is a distinction between description and fuction which can be made where necessary in ambiguous cases ; thus, if people smile a little
when someone dies, do a slow hand – clap to express a warning appreciation, give a thumbs – up to signal OK, all of which occur in some cultures and not in others.
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Many societies in different countries have their own way to express their feelings and ideas through gestures. For example in India, people shake their head
oftenly while they are speaking, but Indonesian people won’t do that because it will bring negative result to hearer. In certain society, kissing the finger tips could be
mean to greet ot to praise, and a slow hand clap to express warm appreciation, etc. All of these occur in some cultures and not in others.
Finally, from the explanations above, the writer could comprehend that there are five cultural categories in the translation. The cultural categories can help the
writer to identify the cultural terms in the subtitling of “Memoirs of a Geisha” movie. Beside that, the cultural categories also help the students who want to study about
translation and the student can get the explanation about the cultural categories based on Newmark’s Theory.
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CHAPTER III METHOD OF RESEARCH
3.1 Method of Research
