Background of the Research

1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Research

Translation has an important role in disseminating knowledges and increasing understanding between nations and cultures. However, besides of its importance, translation is a very difficult work. The problem arises when the translator sets the metodology or the technique of translation, whether the translation should base on the source or the target language, be faithful or beautiful, literal or free. These problems have been bugging translators for years. It is not easy to capture the same meaning when translating between two completely different languages. For example the translation of an English idiom “ time is money” into Arabic language. In Arabic language, this idiom is translated into “al-waktu kas sayfi”. There is a different word structure between the source and target language. Translation sometimes introduces new structures or types of language into the target language. Nida and Taber in his book stated that every language possesses certain distinctive characteristics which give it special character. 1 It means that the proces of translation requires more understanding about the source and target language. 1 Eugene A. Nida and Charles E. Taber, The Theory and Practice of Translation Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1982, p.4 One of the many problems in translation work is about the message of communication, sometimes message is stated directly or explicity, but sometimes it is stated in figurative language and it may involve exaggeration. The most figurative language used in text is a metaphor. The word “metaphor” comes from Greek metha and pherein metha refer to “over” and pherein to “to bear” or “to carry”, and means “the carrying of meaning of one word over to another word”. 2 The Oxford English Dictionary defines “metaphor” as “a word or phrase used in an imaginative way to describe somebody or something else, in order to show the same qualities and to make the description more powerful l”. 3 Metaphor is a rhetorical trope where a comparison is made between two subjects or in the other word, metaphor occurs when someone is saying everything, but he means another thing. Ashworth noted in his journal that Aristotle gave his standard definition of metaphor. Metaphor consists in giving the thing a name that belongs to something else; the transference being either from genus to species, or from species to genus, or from species to species, or on grounds of analogy. . . . That from analogy is possible whenever there are four terms so related that the second is to the first, as the fourth is to the third; for one may then put the fourth in place of the second, and the second in place of the fourth. 4 Along with the development of the translation science, metaphor poses serious challenges for standard theories of meaning, because it seems to straddle so many important boundaries. Newark stated that metaphor is a difficult problem 2 Olive Classe, ed, “Metaphor and Translation”,Encyclopedia of Literary Translation into English London: Fitzroy Dearborn publishers, , Vol 2, p. 941 3 Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary New York: Oxford University Press, 2000 , p.837 4 E. Jennifer Ashworth, “Metaphor and the Logicians from Aristotle to Cajetan”, Vivarium. Vol 45 2007. www. Brill. nlviv, p. 313 in the world of translation; he stressed the difficulties because the metaphor covers all figurative language use. 5 One of the messages which need to have the right understanding is the Moslem Holy Scripture, the Holy Qur‟an. It is the final divine revelation provides mankind guidelines in every parts of life. However, the majority of Muslims in the world are non-Arabic speakers which indeed make it a necessity to deal with the Holy Quran in various languages. The English language, especially, as the world‟s major international language would make a good medium for understanding the Holy Quran and thereby helping Muslims spread peace and harmony all over the world. The message in the Holy Qur‟an sometimes is stated explicitly but sometimes implicitly by using figurative language. The most figurative language that occurs in the Holy Qur‟an is metaphor. Modern muslim scholars gather there are more than four hundred metaphoric words in the Holy Quran 6 , although many of those words are become common words. Here is the example of metaphorical word in the Holy Quran: The hand of God is over their hands In the verse above, the Holy Quran describes the power and control of Allah with word “yadun “ which is a metaphor. The intention of the verse aims to show the power and control of Allah to Muhammad. In this verse, Yusuf Ali 5 Peter Newark, A Textbook of Translation New York: Prentice Hall International, 1988, p. 104 6 Richard Bell, Introduction to the Qur’an. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005, p. 8 renders the word yadun Into hand, however this translation will show a problem if English language does not have the same usage as the source language. There are many reasons for studying the translation of the Holy Qur‟an. Omar Al Syahab stated that one of the compelling and gratifying reasons for studying the translations of the Holy Quran is the fact that each translation bears witness to the conscious and determined effort of the translator. 7 It means that there is no general consensus on which translations of the meaning of the Holy Quran are the closest or best. Each scholar may have his or her own reasons for preferring or rejecting a particular text. The use of metaphor in the Holy Qur‟an and its translation in different language and with different translator is very interesting to be studied. By this paper, of course the writer does not mean to decrease or increase the content of the Holy Qur‟an itself. According to the explanation above, the writer interests to analyze the technique of metaphor translation in English translation of the Holy Quran entitled “ A Metaphor Translation of the Holy Qur‟an: A Comparative, Analytical Study”.

B. Focus of the Research