12 Therefore, the translation that has those two out of three criteria is considered as
an ideal translation. Furthermore, a translation is failed F if it does not have any single criteria.
5. Subtitle
Subtitle is a form of written translation of a dialog in a foreign language. Dries 1995 states that subtitle delivers one language into the target language, in
a form of spoken dialog into written text. The subtitle appears in the movie.
Commonly, the subtitle is in the bottom of the screen. It is in agreement with what Baker 1998 says that the subtitle is a transcription of dialogs in a movie and
appears simultaneously with the movie. The function of subtitle is to help the viewer who are deaf or hard of hearing to follow the dialogs, or people who
cannot understand the spoken dialogues. In this study, the researcher uses the Indonesian subtitle of My Sister’s Keeper movie, which is the result of the
translation of the English transcripts. The following is an example of a screen shot with the Indonesian subtitle from My Sister’s Keeper.
Figure 2.1 Example of Subtitle from My Sister’s Keeper movie
B. Interpretation of the Finding
13 This part presents the findings of the idiomatic expressions translation in
My Sister’s Keeper movie. The findings were gained based on Larson’s 1984
theory of good translation which state that an ideal translation was achieved if the translation itself had Accurate A, Clear C, and Natural N criteria. The
following table shows the results of the idiomatic expressions translations based on Larson’s 1984 theory of ideal translation:
Table 2.1 The List of Percentage Idiomatic Expressions Translations in My Sister’s Keeper Movie
No Category
Frequency Percentage
1. Ideal-Acceptable I-Acc
58 44,3
2. Acceptable Acc
16 12,2
3. Unacceptable Unacc
13 9,9
4. Failed F
44 33,6
Total 131
100
1. Ideal-Acceptable I-Acc
[1] Excerpt from 00:34:40-- 00:34:42
English Subtitle Indonesian Subtitle
Oh, wait a minute. Oh, tunggu sebentar.
[2] Excerpt from 00:06:42 -- 00:06:44
English Subtitle Indonesian Subtitle
Ill be right back. Aku akan segera kembali
These are two example of Ideal-Acceptable I-Acc translation. In the excerpt [1], Kate already let the doctor to start the operation. She told the doctor
that she was ready. “oh, wait a minute” was the doctor’s answer, since the doctor
needs to make sure all things are already prepared. The scene took place when Kate
’s parents brought her into the hospital where the operation will be held. In PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
14 this excerpt, there were two possible Indonesian translations. They are
“tunggu satu menit” literal translation and
“tunggu sebentar” idiom translation. The translation “tunggu satu menit” is uncommonly used in the target language. In the
target language cultures, the translation “tunggu satu menit” also unnatural. The target language audiences
will use “tunggu sebentar” to change “tunggu satu menit”. The translator recognized “wait a minute” was an idiomatic expression,
which meant “wait for a while”. Therefore, the translator translated “wait a
minute ” to “tunggu sebentar”, which was more accurate for this context.
Then, the excerpt [2] was from Anna’s dialog with her friend, Jesse. Anna
was going to the meet Mr Campbell Alexander, and Jesse was accompanying her. The scene took place in front of Mr Alexander
’s office. Anna Asked Jesse to wait her in front of the office. In this case, Anna decides to sue her parents, since her
parents force her to give her body ’s parts to Kate, Anna’s sister. In this excerpt,
the word ‘right’ in ‘I’ll be right back’ had two possible translation; kanan
direction, benar correct, and segera as soon as possible. The situation on the movie was not a situation that needed someone gave direction or certainty.
However, the situation was about time when Anna leaved Jesse. The translator recognized this situation and was able to deliver the message of this idiomatic
expression accurately, clearly, and naturaly into “aku akan segera kembali”.
The two excerpts above were classified as ideal acceptable translations because those translations were accurate A, clear C, and natural N. The
translator successfully discovered and re-expressed the meaning in both PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
