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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1. Introduction
This study is concerned with investigating an Indonesian university librarians’ ability of translating journal article from English into Indonesian. These librarians assume the
responsibility of translating as one of their daily activities. This qualitative case study research involves 10 selected librarians working at Indonesia University of Education. Since translating is
problematic and involves intercultural spirit Whitfield, 2007: 27, translations produced by these librarians are worth discussing. Part of the reason is that the librarians are responsible for
catering library users to various kinds of newest information including acceptable translations. Library users including faculty members and students should find the translations readable and
useful. Readability here would refer to translations easy to understand on the target readers’ part. This study attempts to answer questions related to translating as the process, and translation as
the product. Empirical evidence from recent research Baorong, 2009:11; Nababan, 2003: 55; 2007:213-215; Watson, 2004; Listyo, 2007 indicates that translating is a difficult task to
accomplish.
The present study investigates a university librarians’ ability in translating a selected text of English journal article on Psychology into Indonesian. Specifically, it seeks information about
translations produced by the librarians, methods used, difficulties encountered, and impact the translations have on the target readers. As will be described in detail, data collected are inferred
2 to accommodate meanings. In translating the given text, these librarians attempt to produce near
flawless translations: accurate, clear and natural hereafter ACN. They tend to be faithful to the source text hereafter ST and emphasize more on the source language hereafter SL than to the
target language hereafter TL. They seem to find it difficult to compare and transmit two different systems of language and culture simultaneously Balasko, 2006:59; Suh, 2006:17. This
phenomenon gives room for an investigation. Analysis on their work in translating is based on four types of translation errors – pragmatic translation errors, cultural translation errors,
linguistic translation errors, text-specific translation errors Nord, 1997:75-76, the criteria of translating ability Bell, 1999:27, and the ability Sofer, 1996 they are supposed to acquire.
Two theories of translation, namely equivalence-based and skopos are applied in the discussion. The first theory deals with faithfulness while the later deals with purpose in the TL. One
particular ability, adjusting, seems to play a greater role in applying the technique of coping with the wide range of purposes which translations might serve Hatim and Munday, 2004: 43.
As will be discussed later, translations produced by the university librarians show some inaccuracy, unintelligibility and unnaturalness. Part of the reason is that the librarians tend to
apply semantic translation method more than communicative translation method. This phenomenon results in somewhat less flawless translation. As professionals, they are supposed to
be responsible for catering all kinds of library users to various reliable sources of information Seefeldt and Syre, 2003; Scepanski, 2007. Many of these sources are scholarly journal articles
written in English. Meanwhile, not all library users in Indonesia can understand English well Nababan, 2003:147-148. Drawn from this fact, the role of librarians in translating to cater the
library users to the latest issues of a certain field of study is of paramount importance. The
3 translations produced have to fulfill the readership community’s needs. This is also in line with
the Government of Indonesia’s policy that translating is mandatory for university librarians Perpusnas RI – Indonesia National Library, 2004. Each article translated is worth 3.5 credit
points. These credit points are accumulated for the librarians’ promotion to a higher rank towards their career development. As a linguistic activity, translating actually provides the librarians with
an opportunity to communicate thoughts with the writers of journal articles: replacing textual material in the SL by equivalent textual material in the TL.
In translating the given text, these librarians apply procedures and methods in a way that risks flawed translations. A model of translation process should be in the hands of the translators
when performing their translating ability: analysis, transfer, and restructuring Hatim and Mason, 2004: 160. As translators, they are also supposed to call for individuals who have complete
knowledge of both texts: the source text and the target text hereafter TT, and throughout the accounts, these ST and TT are established. They should have intimate acquaintance with subject
matter, effective empathy with the original author and content, and stylistic facility in the TL Nida, 1964. The librarians’ ability in translating English into Indonesian is important to be
discussed. This importance has led the researcher’s interest to investigate what happens during the process of translating, what methods are used, how acceptable are the produced translations
to the target readers, and what impact the translations have on the readership. Among the issues to address in the present study include reading and writing abilities, reasonableness on the part of
the target readers, and linguistic as well as cultural differences between the two languages under investigation.
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1.2. Purpose of the study
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