9
their book The Theory and Practice of Translation. Translation consists in
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.
Larson 1984 says that there are two different types of translation, which are a literal translation and idiomatic translation. Literal translation is form-based
translation which attempts to follow the form of the source language. This translation is adapting the source language grammatical construction into the
target language. It is in agreement on what Newmark 1988 says that literal translation is converting the source language grammatical construction to the
nearest equivalent in the target language. People can translate directly into the target language form using the grammatical or original form of source language.
Example: SL: Where are you from?
TL: Kamu berasal dari mana? Meanwhile, idiomatic translation is meaning-based translation which makes every
effort to transfer the meaning of the source language text in the natural form of the target language Larson, 1984. It is different from literal translation. It sounds
like it is written originally in the receptor language. Idiomatic translation reproduces the original message from the source language into the target language
Newmark, 1988.
Example: SL : There is no use for crying over the spilled milk.
TL : Nasi sudah menjadi bubur. In this research, the researcher focuses on idiomatic translation, since it
cannot be translated directly into the target language. Often times, translators mistranslate the idiomatic texts into target language literally. It happens naturally,
10 since they are not the native speakers, who understand about idioms. Therefore,
they have to look into the exact meaning of the source language. In this case, the researcher wants to know the idiomatic translation in My Sister’s Keeper movie.
3. Process of Idiomatic Translation
Larson 1984 explains that there are some steps in the process of translation that have to be attended. The process of translating could be shown by a diagram
that is taken from Larson’s Meaning-Based Translation in Figure 2.1.
SOURCE LANGUAGE RECEPTOR LANGUAGE
The text to be
translated Translation
Discover the meaning Re – express the meaning Meaning
Figure 2.1 Larson’s Translation Process 1984, p.4
The first step that must be done in translating is to discover and understand the meaning or the message of the source language text. After
discovering the meaning of the source language text, the translator then analyses and looks for natural form of the receptortarget language. The following part will
give an example of the process of translating according to the diagram process by Larson:
Example: SL: I guess she needs to breathe a little bit.
TL: Kurasa dia butuh istirahat sejenak. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
11 The meaning of the source text in the example above could be grasped
that “someone who needs to take a rest”. It will be very different if the
translator probably translates it without paying attention to the meaning or message of the source
text and just translate it
literally, so
that the
translation will sound unnatural in
the target language, for instance: “Kurasa dia butuh bernafas sejenak” that is not commonly used in Indonesian
as the target language. Therefore, once again, it is emphasized here that in the process of translating, meaning must have priority over the form.
4. Criteria of Good Translation
Larson 1984 proposes three criteria of good translation. The first one is accurate A. The purpose of accurate A translation is that the meaning of the
source language text is transferred into the source language text accurately. There is no deviation of meaning in the receptor language. The accuracy check of
translation is required because sometimes translator made some mistakes in the analysis of the source language and a different meaning result. The second is clear
C. Clear C means that the results of translation express all aspect of the meanings in a way that is readily understandable to the intended audience. The
last is natural N. Natural N means that the translation sounds natural. It refers to the using of natural expressions with appropriate kind of texts which occurs in
the target language. According to Larson 1984, a good translation is the one, which has two
out of three from these criteria; namely accurate A, clear C, and natural N. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
