The Definition of Translation

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CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW

A. The Definition of Translation

There are some definitions of translation and every translation expert has hisher own opinion about it. In general, translation is defined as a process of transferring the message from source language into the target language. Toury states translation as “a kind of activity which inevitably involves at least two languages and two cultural traditions.” Toury, 1980:200 As this statement implies, the translators are faced with the problem of how to treat the cultural aspects which are implicit in source text ST and finding the most appropriate technique of successfully conveying these aspect in the target language TL. Meanwhile, Catford defines translation as “the replacement of textual material in one language SL by equivalent textual material in another language TL” 1974:20. This translation definition has weakness, which is the structure of one language is different from the structure of other languages. Consequently, textual material in source language cannot be directly replaced by textual material in target language. The most important thing in translation is to keep the message and the content of the Source Text in the Target Text. Just like what Newmark states: “Translation is a craft consisting in the attempt to replace a written message and or statement in one language by the same message andor statement in another language” 1976:7. Nida and Taber define translation by focusing not only on the message or the idea of source language but also on the style of language. “Translating consists xxii 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” 1974:14. This opinion describes that considering the style of language in the translation is also important besides transferring the idea of the source language into the target language as the main priority. From those definitions above, we can conclude that translation is the process of transferring ideas, thought, and message from the source language SL into the target language TL, in the written or spoken form by considering the accuracy of the transferring message, the acceptability, the form and also the style of the language.

B. The Objectives of Translation