NON-EQUIVALENCE AT WORD LEVEL IN THE GREAT GATSBY.

NON-EQUIVALENCE AT WORD LEVEL
IN THE GREAT GATSBY

A Thesis
Submitted to the English Applied Linguistic Study
Program in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of
The degree of Magister Humaniora

By :
Lia Agustina Damanik
Registration Number: 8146111031

ENGLISH APPLIED LINGUISTICS STUDY
POSTGRADUATE PROGRAM SCHOOL STATE
UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN
2016

ABSTRAK
Lia Agustina Damanik. Registration Number: 8146111031. Non-Equivalence
at Word Level in The Great Gatsby (Ketidaksetaraan Terjemahan Pada
Tingkat Kata Dalam The Great Gatsby). Thesis. Program Study Linguistik

Terapan Bahasa Inggris. Sekolah Pascasarjana Unimed. 2016.
Penelitian ini merupakan kajian tentang ketidaktsetaraan terjemahan pada tingkat
kata dalam novel The Great Gatsby. Penelitian ini menggunakan desain penelitian
dekriptif-kualitatif yang mengkaji tipe-tipe masalah penyebab ketidaksetaraan apa
saja yang ditemukan dalam novel The Great Gatsby, bagaimana penerjemah
menggunakan strategi terjemahan dalam mentransfer makna dari kata yang
memiliki masalah ketidaksetaraan pada tingkat kata dalam novel The Great
Gatsby dan mengapa strategi penerjemahan yang paling dominan digunakan
sebagaimana ia digunakan. Objek penelitian ini adalah seratus delapan puluh kata
yang diambil dari sembilan bab dalam novel The Great Gatsby. Penelitian ini
menggunakan teknik dokumentasi yaitu membaca, identifikasi, klasifikasi dan
menampilkan data yang telah dikumpulkan. Membaca yaitu kegiatan membaca
berbagai sumber terkait penelitian, identifikasi yaitu membuat inventaris dari data,
klasifikasi yaitu mengklasifikasi data menurut kategorinya masing-masing dan
menampilkan yaitu menampilkan data yang telah dikumpulkan. Data dianalisis
berdasarkan analisis data Miles, Huberman dan Saldana. Dari penelitian ini
ditemukan bahwa dari seratus delapan puluh kata yang telah dikumpulkan,
terdapat enam masalah ketidaksetaraan dalam terjemahaan dari sebelas masalah
yang dijelaskan Baker. Yaitu konsep spesifik kebudayaan (40 data), konsep
bahasa sumber tidak ada bentuk leksikal di bahasa target (28 data), terdapat

perbedaan makna antara bahasa sumber dan bahasa target (39 data), bahasa target
kekurangan istilah spesifik (14 data), perbedaan perkspektif fisikal atau
interpersonal (32 data), dan perbedaan dalam bentuk (27 data). Dan untuk
mengatasi masalah ketidaksetaraan itu, ditemukan bahwa delapan strategi
penerjemahan yang diajukan oleh Baker dapat diaplikasikan. Yaitu terjemahan
dengan kata yang lebih umum (35.5%), terjemahan menggunakan kata yang
bermakna lebih netral atau kurang ekspresif (12.2%), terjemahan lewat alih
budaya (7.9%), terjemahan menggunakan kata pinjaman atau kata pinjaman
ditambah penjelasan (8.8%), terjemahan dengan mem-parafrase menggunakan
kata yang berkaitan (20.7%), terjemahan dengan mem-parafrase menggunakan
kata yang tidak berkaitan (11.6%), terjemahan dengan penghilangan (1.1%), dan
terjemahan dengan ilustrasi (2.2%). Dan penggunaan strategi terjemahan yang
paling dominan adalah terjemahan dengan kata yang yang lebih umum karena
dapat diaplikasikan untuk menyelsaikan masalah ketidaksetaraan dengan berbagai
latar masalah ketidaksetaraan.

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ABSTRACT
Lia Agustina Damanik. Registration Number: 8146111031. Non-Equivalence

at Word Level in The Great Gatsby. Thesis. Program Study Linguistik
Terapan Bahasa Inggris. Sekolah Pascasarjana Unimed. 2016.
This study deals with the non-equivalence at word level in the novel The Great
Gatsby. This study was conducted by using descriptive-qualitative research design
which tried to find what problems caused the problem of non-equivalence at word
level found in the novel The Great Gatsby, the translation used to transfer the
meaning of the words and why the dominant translation strategy was used as the
way it is. The object of this research was 180 words taken from nine chapters in
the novel The Great Gatsby. This research used documentary technique, that is
reading, identifying, classifying, and displaying. Reading is the activity of various
sources related to the research, identifying is making the data inventory,
classifying is to classify the data based on each category and displaying is to
display the data collected. The data was analyzed based on analysis of Miles,
Huberman and Saldana’s method. And from the research, it was found that there
were six out of eleven problems of non-equivalence at word level found in the
novel The Great Gatsby. They were culture specific concept (40 data), the source
language concept is not lexicalized in the target language (28 data), the source and
target language make distinction in meaning (39 data), the target language lacks
hyponym (14 data), the difference in physical or interpersonal perspective (32
data), and difference in form (27 data). And to solve the problems, it was found

that the eight translation strategies proposed by Baker were applicable. They were
translation by a more general word (35.5%), translation by a more neutral or less
expressive word (12.2%), cultural substitution (7.9%), translation by loan word or
loan word with explanation (8.8%), translation by paraphrase using a related word
(20.7%), translation by paraphrase using unrelated word (11.6%), translation by
omission (1.1%), and translation by illustration (2.2%). Translation by a more
general word was the most dominant strategy used to solve the problem of nonequivalence at word level in The Great Gatsby because the strategy was
applicable to solve various problems of non-equivalence.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstrak ........................................................................................... i
Abstract .......................................................................................... ii
Acknowledgement ......................................................................... iii
Table of Content ............................................................................ v
List of Table ................................................................................... vii
List of Appendices ......................................................................... viii
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ................................................................. 1

1.1 Background of the study .................................................. 1
1.2 Problem of the study ........................................................ 5
1.3 The objectives of the study .............................................. 6
1.4 The Scope of the study ..................................................... 6
1.5 The significances of the study .......................................... 7

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE ............................................. 9
2.1 Translation........................................................................ 9
2.2 Meaning in Translation .................................................... 11
2.2.1 The Problems of Non-equivalence at word level ... 13
2.2.2 Culture in Translation ............................................ 19
2.3 Translation Strategies ....................................................... 22
2.4 Literary Translation .......................................................... 27
2.5 The Great Gatsby ............................................................. 28
2.6 The Previous Related Study ............................................. 30
2.7 The Conceptual Framework ............................................. 36

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CHAPTER III : METHODS OF THE RESEARCH ................................ 38

3.1 Research Method .............................................................. 38
3.2 The Data and The Source of Data .................................... 38
3.3 The Technique of Data Collection ................................... 39
3.4 The Trustworthiness of The Study ................................... 40
3.5 The Technique of Data Analysis ...................................... 43

CHAPTER IV: DATA ANALYSIS, FINDING AND DISCUSSION ....... 46
4.1 Data Analysis ................................................................... 46
4.2 Finding ............................................................................. 47
4.2.1 The Problems of Non-equivalence ......................... 47
4.2.2 The Translation Strategies ..................................... 58
4.2.3 The Using of Dominant Translation Strategy ........ 72
43 Discussion ......................................................................... 74

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION ................................ 75
5.1 Conclusion ....................................................................... 75
5.2 Suggestion ........................................................................ 76

REFERENCE ................................................................................................. 79


vi

LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix 1 : Words with problems of non-equivalence at word level

82

Appendix 2 : Translation Strategies

99

viii

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CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

The conclusions and suggestions related to the study of non-equivalence at

word level in The Great Gatsby are presented in this chapter.

5.1

Conclusion
From the result of the analysis of the whole nine chapters of The Great

Gatsby deals with the problems of non-equivalence at word level found in the
novel, the translation strategies used to solve the problem and the dominant
translation strategy was used, some points can be drawn as follows.
1. From eleven problems proposed by Mona Baker which can be the caution
of the non-equivalence at word level, there are found six problems in The
Great Gatsby. They are the culture specific concept, the source language
was not lexicalized in the target language, the difference in physical and
interpersonal perspective, difference in form, the source and target
language make distinction in meaning and the target language lacks a
hyponym. And the problem of culture specific concept was dominantly
appeared. And it was a translator’s duty to transfer the source text to be
fully understood by the target language reader without changing, reducing
overwhelming the original meaning in the source text.

2. To solve the problems of non-equivalence at word level in The Great
Gatsby, it was found that the eight translation strategies proposed by Mona

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Baker (1992) are used to deal with the problems. They are translation by a
more general word, translation by a more neutral/less expressive word,
translation by cultural substitution, translation using a loan word,
translation by paraphrase using a related word, translation by paraphrase
using unrelated word, translation by omission and translation by
illustration.
3. After calculating the 180 words with problems of non-equivalence at word
level and how was the translation strategy used to solve the each problem,
it was found that the translation strategy by a more general word was
dominantly used. It was because translation by generalization was one of
the most commonly applied strategies in dealing with various kinds of
problems in translation. The translator usually uses a more general word
(superordinate) or a more commonly known to replace the more specific
one so it will be easier for the target language readers to get what exactly
the source language text means. Yet the possibility of relative ease of

rendering a problematic specific concept with a more general one may
result in excessive generalization and eventually in oversimplification
(loss in meaning) in the translated text.

5.2

Suggestions
The analysis of the study shows that there are so many problems faced by

the translator when doing translation. It was important for the translator to know
the strategies to overcome the problems of non-equivalence, so the messages from

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the source language can be transferred proportionally and appropriately into the
target language.
The translator has to know that one word may not carry only one meaning.
The translator should adjust the word in the target language with the context and
culture in order to make the reader easier to get the information from the text. All
in all, examples provided in this paper, however, can not cover all cases in real

practice of translating non-equivalence at word level. There was a potential space
for further study and analysis from translators and professionals to better explore
and share more knowledge and experiences in this field. Apart from Mona
Baker’s theory, there are many other approaches that latter study can rely on.
Translation equivalence was always long to achieve since it depends on
the text, the translator, and the receptors. It was a fact that no matter how
competent the translator is, the translation might lose a certain degree of meaning
relative to the original text. Not only the linguistic but also the cultural gaps
among languages create the possibility of non-equivalence in translation.
Obviously, the larger the gap is, the harder the translation process will be. Hence,
it was a must for a translator to continuously improve the personal knowledge on
various areas and cultures of different countries. Despite of the recommended
strategies, the creativeness of a translator was particularly important as no book
can cover all the cases happen in reality.
Last but not least, this thesis was unable to avoid certain limitations.
Quality of the study was restricted due to the time limit of research, the scarcity of
references, the broad scope and complex issue as well as the humble experience of

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the writer. The study apparently cannot offer detailed and comprehensive
comments on the strength and weaknesses of various strategies up to the
expectation. The use of strategies applied in different context as well as more
researches on English – Indonesian case was critically needed.

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