T1 112011094 Full text

The Translation of English Actives into Indonesian in News Texts

THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan

Theodora Amy Christy
112011094

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2015

The Translation of English Actives into Indonesian in News Texts

THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of

Sarjana Pendidikan

Theodora Amy Christy
112011094

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2015

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iii

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COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in any
course or accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To
the best of my knowledge and my belief, this contains no material previously published
or written by any other person except where due reference is made in the text.
Copyright@ 2015. Theodora Amy Christy and Elisabet Titik Murtisari, M.TransStud.,
PhD
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without
permission of at least one of the copyright of the English Department, Faculty of
Language and Literature, Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga.
Theodora Amy Christy:

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TABLE OF CONTENT

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT …...………………………………………………... vi
PUBLICATION AGREEMENT DECLARATION…...…………...……………... vii
LIST OF TABLE ………………………………………………………………….. x

LIST OF FIGURES ……………………………………………………………….. xi
Abstract ……………...……………………………………………………………. 1
INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………. 1
1. Literature Review …………………………………………………......... 3
1.1 Translation………………. ………………………………………… 4
1.2 Language Contact and Language Shift which Include Linguistic
Transfer and Grammar in Translation…………………….……….. 5
1.3 Grammatical Equivalence in Translation………………………....... 8
1.4 Active and Passive Voice in Indonesian …………………………... 9
1.5 Active and Passive Voice in English ……………………………… 17
THE STUDY ……………………………………………………………………... 23
1. Context of the Study ……………………………………....................... 23
2. Sampe …………………………………………………………………. 24
3. Data Collection Instrument …………………………………………… 24
4. Data CollectionProcedure ……………………………………………

24

5. Data Analysis ………………………………………………………….. 25
DISCUSSION ……………………………………………………………………. 29

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1. The tendency to use active-passive shift is insignificant in terms of
occurrences, but significant in terms of distribution of the shift in the whole
texts in English into Indonesian translation.……………………………… 30
2. There are three pattern of contexts of forms in which the English active into
Indonesian active translation has failed.………………………………….. 31
3. There is an indication althouh it is not strong that English has influenced
Indonesian particularly in translating English active forms into Indonesian in
terms of the grammatical norms of the target language..………………… 35

CONCLUSION ………………………………………………………………….. 37
REFERENCES …………………………………………………………………… 39
ACKNOWLEDGMENT………………………………………………………… 41
APPENDICES ……………………………………………………………………. 43

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LIST OF TABLE

Table 1. Total Number of How English Active Forms are Translated into
Indonesian …………………………………………………………………29

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Example of Active and Passive Voice in English and Indonesia …..……12
Figure 2. Example of the Structure of an Active and Passive type 1 ……………....14
Figure3. Example of passive with mereka, a noun, and actor expressed………...…14
Figure 4. Example of Dia or -nya Expressing a Third Person Singular Agent ….…15
Figure 5. The Relationship between an Active Clause and a Passive Type Two
Clause ………………………………………..………..............................................16
Figure 6. Example of Negative Marker in Passive Type 2 ………………………16
Figure 7. Example of the Occurrence of the Bound Forms ‘ku’ and ‘kau’ in Passive
Type 2
………………………………………………………………16
Figure 8. Example of How Translators Tend to Translate English into
Indonesian ………………………………………………………………………… 22

Figure 9. Example of Translating English Actives into Indonesian Active and Passive
…………………………………………….……………………………32
Figure 10. Example of Translating English Actives into Indonesian Active and
Passive …………………………………………………………………32
Figure 11. Example of Translating English Actives into Indonesian Active and
Passive……………………………………………………………… …34
Figure 12. Example of The Use of Reporting Framing
‘menurut’……………………………………………………………….36

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The Translation of English Actives into Indonesian in News Texts

Abstract
At present, English has an indispensable preeminence because of its position
as a lingua franca or an international language. With the large bulk of information
delivered in English, especially news, there is a pressing necessity for Indonesian to
translate. However, English, as the source language in English – Indonesian transfer
seems to influence the Indonesian translation particularly in its structure. Although
many studies have addressed about the hegemony of English in Indonesian, there is

no study that discusses deeply about the change of Indonesian passive into active
forms in translation. Therefore, this study attempts to find how the English active
forms are translated into Indonesian in the terms of the grammatical norms of the
target language. The findings of this study show that the translators almost always
translate an English active form into an Indonesian active form instead of an
Indonesian passive form.
Keywords

: Translation, language contact, language shift, grammatical

equivalence, active and passive forms

INTRODUCTION
At present, a large number of people around the world believe that English has an
indispensable preeminence because of its position as a lingua franca or an
international language. With the large bulk of information delivered in English,
especially news, there is a pressing necessity for Indonesia to translate as a bridge
between English and Indonesian. In addition, the needs of English into Indonesian
translation become greater with the intention to support the development of science
and technology in developing country such as Indonesia. The greater development of

science

and

technology

in

Indonesia,

1

the

more

Indonesia’s

role

is

internationallynoticed. Therefore, a great quantity of English articles, journals, books,
novels, and news have been translated into Indonesian and the other way as well.
However, English, as the source language in English – Indonesian transfer
seems to influence Indonesian translation in terms interference as a result of language
contact that may lead to language shift particularly in its structure. Although many
studies have addressed about the hegemony of English in Indonesia, there is no study
that discusses deeply about the change of Indonesian passive into active forms.
Therefore, this present study was proposed to examine how English active forms are
translated into Indonesian in terms of the grammatical norms of the target language.
Statement of the Problem
Many Indonesian hope to comprehend, learn, and get information delivered in
English from English into Indonesian translated texts. Unfortunately, the qualities of
translations in Indonesian are notoriously low (Taryadi, 2003, Sinaga, 2003, Kurnia,
2009,

Nababan,

et.al.

2012,

Wijava

2013,

Wijaya

2014).Problems

with

mistranslations and unnatural expressions are two big concerns for many Indonesian
translators in writing qualified translated texts. Sometimes, we find that the language
in Indonesian translated texts is difficult to understand because the renderings are so
literal. This phenomenon may be caused by many translators who seem to have been
influenced by English as the source language, not only in lexicon but in structure as
well.
However, we still cannot comprehend how English has dominated Indonesian

in terms of its grammatical norms even though we have understood about the
globalization of English and the definitions of translation from many previous existed

2

studies. Therefore, the goal of this study was to examine how English active forms are
translated into Indonesian in terms of the grammatical norms of the target language.
Significance of the Study
This study tried to examine the extent to which English has influenced
Indonesian in translation in terms of structure. The researcher used Indonesian
translation non-scientific news on DetikNews online media as the data. From this
study, the researcher hope to give both theoretical and practical benefits for English
into Indonesian translators in translating non-scientific news without overlooking
Indonesian structure. Moreover, this study can give some insights for the translators in
using passive voice when translating English into Indonesian text since it is the
unique characteristic of Indonesian that makes Indonesian different with other
languages. Through this study, the researcher suggested to use other online media as
good data sources for the further research in order to reassure the finding of this study.
Research Question
This study tried to answer the following question:
How are the English active forms translated into Indonesian in terms of the
grammatical norms of the target language?
LITERATURE REVIEW
This literature review starts with the definition and relevant theories about
translation, language contact and language shift which include linguistic transfer and
grammar in translation, grammatical equivalence in translation, active and passive

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voice in Indonesian, active and passive voice in English and ends with translating
English actives into Indonesian. However, the focus will be on whether the English
active structures have been partly translated into Indonesian passive or just rendered
literally into Indonesian active voice.
Translation
Al-Salam (2007)states that (while acknowledging that global market has given
rise to the use of English as international language) the need for translation from
English

into

other

languages

and

vice

versa

has

become

a

pressing

necessity.Nowadays, Indonesiaacknowledgesthis need for translating English into
Indonesiaby finding many translators of numerous books, newspapers, and
magazines, translators in court of law and in International seminars or conferences in
Indonesia. With reference to Hatim and Munday (2004, p.3), “translation is a
phenomenon that has a huge effect on everyday life.” This definition sees translation
both as a process and a product. Seeing translation as a process focuses on the role of
the translator in taking thesource text (ST) and turning it into a text in another
language (thetargettext, TT). Seeing translation as a product focuses on the concrete
translation which is the product produced by the translator. Machali (2000, p. 60)
states that “translation as an operation performed on languages: a process of
substituting a text in one language for a text in another”. Larson (1998, p. 3) noted
that “translation is basically a change of form where the form of the source language
is replaced by the form of receptor (target) language”. Therefore, translation is a
process of transferring the meaning of the source language into the target language.

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In a similar tone, Nida and Taber (1982:12) propose another definition of
translation. According to the two experts, “Translating consisting of reproducing in
the receptor language the closest natural equivalence of source language message,
first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style.” This definition contains
some elements that should be taken into account by translators in performing their
task namely reproducing the natural message, closest equivalence, meaning priority
and also translation style. From the above explanation, we can infer that the core of
translation lies on form and meaning.
Language Contact and Language Shift which Include Linguistic Transfer and
Grammar in Translation
English has stretched out its wing to different parts of the world including
Indonesia. English is spoken as a foreign language in general Indonesian context.
Together with this broadening of English, Indonesia made a policy of Indonesian
Language-Status Planning in 2009. There are internal and external factors underlie
this policy. The internal factors are the threat of NKRI integrity, lack of language
policies, and negative language attitudes. The external factors are globalization and
foreign languages influence.This external factors were made based on a consideration
that English, the most prevailing foreign language in Indonesia, has greatly influenced
Indonesian not only in daily spoken but also in written communication and also
affects some social life aspects, such as education, politics, law, social and culture. A
change in social-culture has also influenced the use of both English and Indonesian in
the society or country which is reflected as a sign of either a positive or negative

5

language contact.Jendra (2010:67) defines it as a sociolinguistic situation where two
or more languages are used simultaneously or mixed one over the others.
This is also supported by the issue of linguistic interference which is a factor
in any translation, and when the translator is translating from source language into
target language, interference from the source language source text influences the
production of the target language target text. The product of source – target translation
will usually contain a non-standard version of the target language that is to a greater
or lesser extent affected by the source language.
It is popularly believed that language contact can and often does lead directly
to structural linguistic changes. Leading figures expressed a firm belief in severe
constraints on structural interference; Meillet, for instance, believed that grammatical
loans can only occur when the source and receiving systems are very similar
(1921:87), and Jakobson argued that ‘a language accepts foreign structural elements
only when they correspond to its own tendencies of development’ (1962 [1938]:241).
Contact is a cause of `any linguistic change that would have been less likely to
occur outside a particular contact situation' (Thomason 2001:62). This definition
covers all changes in which foreign material is transferred from one language to
another, i.e. all cases of linguistic interference. However, it also includes some less
obvious types of change. First, some changes that occur in some cases of slow
language death fall into the category of attrition loss of linguistic material but do not
make the dying language more similar to the language that is replacing it. Second,
intentional linguistic changes where a speech community deliberately distances its
language from neighboring languages, are contact-induced but do not involve
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diffusion. Third, some changes occur as an indirect result of interference, typically
when a borrowed morpheme sets off a chain reaction that has a snowballing effect on
the receiving language's structure. Fourth, the definition does not exclude contribution
from internal pattern pressures in a relevant change: multiple causation is always a
possibility, whether the causes are all internal or a mixture of internal and contact
factors.
When we discuss about language contact, we will discuss about language shift
and when we discuss about language shift, we will also directly discuss about
language transfer in translation. According to Retnomurti and Imran (2014), language
transfer in translation refers to translators who apply their native language knowledge
to a second language. However, it can also occur when translators do not have a
native-level understanding of a language when translating into a second language.
They also states that there are two types of language transfer which are positive and
negative transfer. Positive transfer occurs when the relevant unit or structure of both
languages are the same and the result is a correct language production. Correct here
means in line with most native speakers' notions of acceptability. While, negative
transfer occurs when translators transfer items and structures which are not the same
in both languages. Within the theory of contrastive analysis, the systematic study of a
pair of languages with a view to identifying their structural differences and
similarities, the greater the differences between the two languages, the more negative
transfer can be expected. The implication of this proposed theory are positive transfer
resulting in correct language production and negative transfer resulting in errors.

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Catford (1974:73) defined shifts are departures from formal correspondence in
the process of going from SL (source language) to the TL (target language). Whereas,
Hornby (1995:135) defined shift as change of position or direction, transfer (take up a
new position, approach the subject in a different way during an argument) Therefore,
in conclusion, shift is the changes of structures from original text or source text in
order to get a natural translation. Catford divided shift into two categories, they are
level shift and category shift.
According to Munday (2001), a level shift would be something which is
expressed by grammar in one language and lexis in another. While, according to
Catford (2000), category shift is generic term referring to shifts and most of Catford’s
analysis is given over to category shifts. These are subdivided into four kinds which
are structural shifts, class shift, unit shifts or rank shifts and intra-system shifts. Those
kinds of shifts are used in translating the text in order to reach natural and
communicative translations, which emphasize on the meaning not the form. Structural
shifts are said by Catford to be the most common form of shift and to involve mostly
a shift in grammatical structure. For example: passive sentence into active sentence.
Grammatical Equivalence in Translation
Baker (1992: 5) mentions that there are 5 levels of equivalence, namely: 1)
equivalence

at

word

level,

2)

equivalence

at

above

word

level,

3)

grammaticalequivalence, 4) textual equivalence and 5) pragmatic equivalence and
also mentions 5 categories that commonly lead to difficulties in finding the
equivalence during the process of translation. They are number, gender, person (the

8

system of pronoun), tense and voice. However, we will only focus on grammatical
equivalence level and voice.
Since the culture and the characteristics from English and Indonesian are
different and do not come from the same language family, there are also some
difficulties and some shifts in English into Indonesian translation. One of them is
grammatical structure of voices. Both English and Indonesian have the classification
of voice, but they do not always use this classification with the same occurrence.
English active-passive voices are based on tenses, for example: is + verb 3, is used in
present time. Meanwhile, in expressing time, Indonesian uses aspect (lexical unit) and
adverb of time. In addition, the active voices in English are not always translated into
passive voices in Indonesian, and vice versa. English active clauses are mainly
translated into passive voice in Indonesian whenever the intransitive verbs are used.
Active and Passive Voice in Indonesian
Dardjowidjojo (1978) believes that passive voice has become an integrated
part and a norm in Indonesian language. This belief corroborates to a statement about
passive voice is the unique characteristic of Indonesian. He also claims that there is a
relation between the common use of passive construction in Indonesian and the way
Indonesians think and feel, even though he admits that this conclusion is speculative
and needs further research to assure the assumption.
In addition, according to Sneddon (2000: 22) passive constructions are used
more frequently in Indonesian than in English. “Often a passive is the natural
construction in Indonesian where a passive translation into English will sound very
artificial or clumsy.” This phenomenon is also shared in Wikipedia (2009) that the

9

basic word order of Indonesian is Subject Verb Object (SVO). However, many
Indonesian will speak in a passive/objective voice, making use of the Object Verb
Subject word order. This OVS word order in Indonesian will often permit the
omission of the subject and/or object (i.e. ellipses of noun/pronoun). This omission
benefits the speaker/writer in two ways: adding a sense of politeness and respect to a
statement or question and convenience when the subject is unknown, unimportant or
implied by context.
This is due to the different characteristics of the Indonesian language and
English. The Indonesian language tends to focus on the result of the action. For
example, saya akan dijemputnya which literally means I would be met by her
(Sneddon, 2000: 21). The sentence I would be met by her sounds awkward in English.
Thus, instead of using this expression, the sentence will sound more natural in English
if it is constructed into “She would pick me up.” On the contrary, the active
construction is more common in English since the focus of attention is the actor that
carries out the action.
Sugono (1999:106) states if a subject of a sentence is the agent of an action
which is stated by a verb, the sentence is called active sentence. Purwo (ed) (1989:86)
also states that in active sentence, the verb is me (n) - and ber- prefixed. The meanings
that are formed as the results of affixiation of prefix me- are to state: 1) to do
something (perform an action), 2) to perform an action by using tools, 3) to produce,
4) to work, 5) to drink, to eat, 6) a direction, 7) to expel, 8) to become, 9) to celebrate,
10) to act like. According to Chaer 91989:70) the meanings that are formed as the
result of the addition prefix me- and suffix –i into words are: 1) to repeat an action, 2)
place, 3) to feel something, 4) to give, and 5) to make something to become.
10

Meanwhile active sentence with prefix me- and suffix –kan that are formed as the
results into words are: 1) to make something to become, 2) to make something to be
in one place, 3) to do something for someone, 4) to get something into, and 5) to do.
Chaer (1989:38) also states that the meanings are formed as the results of the addition
of prefix ber- into words are: 1) to possess, 2) to wear, 3)to drive or to ride, 4) to
produce, 5) to contain.
Sugono also (1989:109) states if a subject of a sentence is not an agent, but as
the receiver of the action, the sentence is called passive sentence. The sentence is the
change of active sentence. It is done by changing the object in active sentence to
become subject in passive sentence. According to Chaer (1989:99), the meaning that
are formed as the results of the prefix ter- into words are: 1) to express ability, 2)
accidentally, 3) to express something that has already happened.
In Indonesian, there are four types of passive sentences as quoted by
Dardjowidojo, in Purwo (1986: 59). Those are: 1) the passive sentences which express
intentional acts (commonly marked by the use of prefix –di), 2) the passive sentences
which express unintentional acts (commonly marked by the use of prefix –ter), 3) the
adversative passive sentences (commonly marked by the use of affix –ke and –an in
the sentence), 4) the passive sentences formed by the use of ke-an meaning dapat di +
verb.
Passive sentence with prefix di- is used to form passive verbs, for example:
pintu itu ditutup (the door is closed). Passive sentence with prefix di- and suffix –kan
are added to a verb to make passive verb. It is the change of active sentence which
uses prefix me- and suffix –kan, for example: Rama melempar bola (active) changes
into bola dilempar Rama (passive). Passive sentence with prefix di- and suffix –i are
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added to a verb to make passive verb. It is the change of active sentence which uses
prefix me- and suffix –i, for example: nenek menolak hasil putusan sidang (active)
changes into hasil putusan sidang ditolak (oleh) nenek.
Sneddon (2010:255) states that some Indonesian grammars use subject and
object constructive or subject and objective focus instead of using the terms active
and passive. The subject constructive or the said to be active voice is used when we
make the actor tobe the subject of the verb and use an active verb. On other hand, we
use objective constructive or the believed to be passive voice when we make the
object in an active clause to be the subject of the passive form of the verb. It means
that the focus attention is on the object in an active clause. The actor is expressed by
an agent phrase which follows the passive verb. A passive verb either has prefix di- or
has no prefix.
FIGURE 1
Example of Active and Passive Voice in English and Indonesia

EXAMPLE OF ACTIVE VOICE

EXAMPLE OF PASSIVE VOICE

Indonesian
Rama memakan sebuah apel.

Sebuah apel dimakan oleh Rama.

English
Rama eats an apple.

An apple is eaten by Rama.

Differences between the constructions in Indonesian and the active and
passive in European languages such as English, in both structure and function cause

12

the use of subject and object constructive in Indonesian. However, there are not only
differences, but also similarities between those two languages that make the relation
between the two constructions is often similar which the same terms are allowed to be
used to describe them. Indonesian uses the passive construction more frequent than
English does. However, where a passive translation would sound unnatural,
translators will normally use an active construction.
There are two types of passive form in Indonesia called ‘passive type 1 and
passive type 2’. The actor determines the choice of passive type.
Passive Type 1
This type is a passive clause in which the verb has prefix di- and the agent is
indicated by a phrase following the verb, sometimes marked by the preposition oleh
‘by’, such as Boneka itu dibawa oleh Tera ‘That doll is brought by Tera”. It can only
occur if the agent is the third person, except with ter-… and ke-..an verbs, in which a
passive construction is always passive type 1.
The actor is third person, which is pronoun dia or mereka, or a noun in this
type of passive form. If there is no actor is expressed, we also use this type of passive
construction. The structure of an active clause and its corresponding passive type one
are set out as follows:

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FIGURE 2
Example of the Structure of an Active and Passive type 1

Active voice:

Subject (actor)
+ meN-verb +
object (patient)

Passive voice:

Subject
(patient) + diverb + (oleh) +
agent (actor)

He hugs me.

Dia memeluk
saya.

I was hugged
by him.

Saya dipeluk
oleh dia.

Dia ‘he’ is the actor in the above example. The following illustrates passives
with the other possible actors, mereka, a noun or an actor expressed:
FIGURE 3
Example of passive with mereka, a noun, and actor expressed

Mereka
Noun
Actor
Expressed

• Dia sudah diberi sebuah penghargaan oleh mereka.
• He has already been given an award by them.
• Buku ini dibaca oleh ibuku.
• This book was read by my mother.
• Toko ini akan ditutup jam 7 malam.
• This store will be closed at 7 p.m.

Dia or –nya can express a third person singular agent. They are optionally
preceded by oleh‘by’:

14

FIGURE 4
Example of Dia or-nya Expressing a Third Person Singular Agent

Saya ditamparnya/olehnya.
Saya ditampar dia/oleh dia.
I was slapped by him.

Oleh is optional when the agent immediately follows the verb. If the agent does not
immediately follow the verb, oleh is obligatory.
Passive Type 2
This type is a passive clause in which the verb has no prefix and the agent
precedes the verb, such as Novel itu Saya baca ‘That novel was read by me’. The
agent phrase must be pronoun. In this type the agent is a pronoun or pronoun
substitute. The agent phase comes before the verb, which does not have a prefix. The
structure of this passive type 2 is thus:
Subject (patient) + agent (actor) + verb
The relationship between an active clause and a passive type two clause is
shown in the following example:

15

FIGURE 5
The Relationship between an Active Clause and a Passive Type Two Clause

Kami mengunjungi
dia.

We visit him.
English

Indonesian
He was visited by us.

Dia kami kunjungi.

No other component of the clause can come between the agent and the verb in
passive type two, especially in writing. In particular, components of the predicate
phrase such as negative and temporal marker, come before the agent in this type:
FIGURE 6
Example of Negative Marker in Passive Type 2
Bola itu tidak akan kami lempar.

That ball will not be thrown by us.

If the agent is aku ‘I’ or kamu ‘you’ the bound forms, ku- and kau- usually
occur:
FIGURE 7
Example of the Occurrence of the Bound Forms ‘ku’ and ‘kau’ in Passive Type 2

Cincin itu sudah
kujual.

I’ve sold that ring.
English

Indonesian
You should wear that
uniform.

Seragam itu harus
kaupakai.

16

Active and Passive Voice in English
Quirk (1972:802-810) writes that voice is a grammatical category which
makes it possible to view the action of a sentence in two ways without any change in
the facts reported. The active-passive relation involves two grammatical levels: the
verb phrase and the clause. In the verb phrase level, the difference between the two
voice categories is that the passive is marked by the auxiliary ‘be ‘and the past
participle of the main verb. Therefore, in English the basic pattern of the passive is the
use of ‘be’ and ‘verb participle’. The variations depend on the tenses or the adverb of
time. At the clause level, the change into passive involves rearrangements of two
clause elements and one addition; the active subject and the preposition by are
optionally added before the agent.
Biber et al, (1998:475-482) writes that transitive verbs are usually active, but
can also occur in the passive. In most English sentences with an action verb, the
subject performs the action denoted by the verb. Because the subject does or "acts
upon" the verb in such sentences, the sentences are said to be in the active voice; on
the other hand, when because the subject is being "acted upon" (most likely by the
object of the sentence or is passive), such sentences are stated to be in the passive
voice. In other words, one can change the normal word order of many active
sentences (those with a direct object) so that the subject is no longer active, but is,
instead, being acted upon by the verb - or passive.
The main function of the passive constructions in English is to avoid
specifying the agent and to give an impression of objectivity (Baker, 1991:106).
Larson (1984:246) argues that passive construction is also used to focus on the
affected, resultant, benefactive, etc. Since passive voice sentences necessarily add
17

words and change the normal doer-action-receiver of action direction, they may make
the reader work harder to understand the intended meaning. In addition, Gym (2010)
from the University of Arizona Writing Center remarks that passive voice is useful in
some situations. However, when it is used incorrectly, it can dilute and make our
writing unclear. In an attempt to avoid the incorrect use of passive voice, in
transforming active into passive or vice versa we have to understand the structure of
both active and passive voice. Gym (2010) exemplifies and reminds us to consider the
following suggestions so that we will know when to use active or passive
constructions, either in writing or speaking.
1) Use active voice unless there is a good reason not to. Active voice makes your
speech or writing more vivid and clear.
Examples:
Passive (weak): The house was leveled by the tornado.
Active (vivid): The furious tornado stripped the house to its foundations.
Passive (weak): Spirits were low after the football game was lost.
Active (vivid): A final heartbreaking interception ended the game and crushed the
home team’s spirits.
Passive (unclear): The students were advised not to drink on school nights.
Active (clear): The Health Center advised students about the risks of drinking on
school nights.
2) Use Passive Voice to emphasize a process in scientific or technical writing.
Example: Next, the magnets were calibrated to align with the laser beam.
3) Use Passive Voice to place attention on the object, rather than the subject.
Example: The new parking garage would be completed sometime next month.
18

(Focus was on the parking garage, not the construction workers who were making it.)
4) Use Passive Voice to place old information before new information when you want
to make smooth transitions.
English active sentences, as already mentioned previously, are usually
constructed with a form of the verb ‘to be” and usually includes (or implies) the word
‘by’. The pattern of passive construction is thus: Subject + be + past participle + by
(optional).Frank (1972: 55) states voice in English grammar refers to the active voice
and passive use of a verb. He also notes that the English people use the active voice
more often than the passive voice since they prefer to make a direct statement of an
action. The passive voice is used when the greater emphasis is to be placed on the
‘event’ than on the ‘actor’, or when the ‘doer’ of an action is unimportant or
unknown.
O’Grady and Dobrovolsky (1984: 209) state English passive has two
distinctive properties. The first is a passive sentence contains some form of the
auxiliary be (was, is and so on) together with a verb in the so-called ‘past participle
form’, which is normally marked by the suffix –ed or –en. Second, the relative order
of the agent and theme in passive sentences in reverse of that found in active
sentences. It means that the passive consists of auxiliary be, past participle, agent and
theme. If we put it in order, it will be like this: be + past participle + theme + agent.
Translating English Actives into Indonesian
The change of voice in English into Indonesian translation is important in
order to achieve grammaticality and produce an explicit meaning for Indonesian
readers. It also has an aim to avoid misinterpretation (Nida, 1964: 227). For example,
the word ‘cut’ in ‘I cut my finger’ is an active voice. If translated into Indonesian, the
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word class should be changed into a passive one, tersayat (was cut) and the addition
of oleh pisau(with knife) is needed if a native speaker of Indonesian means that he or
she did it by accident.
There are some important aspects to consider in changing voice in English into
Indonesian translation. The first one is the focus of the sentence. For example: “she
was killed” which is the passive form of “someone killed her” is used to state that the
focus is on she. Besides, the person who killed her is unknown, so the agent cannot be
specified.
The second one is indispensable shift. For example: “She had something” is
translated into “Ada sesuatu yang dimiliki” in Indonesian. From that sentence, there is
a shift that occurs in translating had into Indonesian in the sentence “She had a
worry” into “Dia diliputi ketakutan”. The active verb ‘had’ is translated into ‘diliputi’
after collocating with ‘a worry’. Since different languages express and communicate
different types and levels of meanings by means of different linguistic forms or
semantic structures, then the occurrence of shifts is substantially indispensable.
The last aspect is natural translation. There is an enlightenment in finding the
closest natural equivalent from one language to another that addition of information
may be required due to the shift of voice and the alteration of word classes to avoid
misinterpretation (Nida, 1964: 227). There are also cases where two languages use
different classes of words and a different level of utterances to denote the same
meaning. In the translation, naturalness can hardly be fully established as naturalness
is bound not merely by linguistic forms or structures as the formal carriers of
meanings, but also essentially linked and attached to many other features such as
cultural features, communicative values and contexts, the existing and surviving
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social values and norms, the social status of the interlocutors, and so forth. English
and Indonesian which belong to different language families are different in many
cultural entities and features.
In English into Indonesian translation, there is a possibility that an English
passive construction is translated into Indonesian active construction; namely, active
construction with the verbs which are formed by adding affixation me- and ber-.
English passive

: His touch was filled with warmth.

Indonesian active

: Sentuhannya mengandung kehangatan.

In English passive construction was filled is translated into Indonesian active
construction mengandung. Mengandung is formed by using prefix me- into the word
kandung and it is an active construction in Indonesian. There is a shift occurs, namely,
structural shift. It can be concluded that the structural shift occurs when the passive
construction is translated or changed into active construction.
However, there is also a big possibility of English active into Indonesian
active shift in English into Indonesian translation. This following blueprint is an
example of how translators tend to translate English into Indonesian. The example
was taken from 1out of 78collected news in this study.

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FIGURE 8
Example of How Translators Tend to Translate English into Indonesian

*Natural

Active - Passive
Construction*
1. Seorang penduduk
Australia dan seorang
temannya yang
berkewarganegaraan
Perancis terdampar di
sebuah pulau terpencil
Indonesia, setelah perahu
layar mereka rusak karena
melewati cuaca buruk di
laut.

*Unnatural ActivePassive Construction*
2. Menurut Sade, Badan
SAR Nasional Indonesia,
Basarnas, mengetahui
insiden yang menimpa
keduanya pada Kamis
(1/1) pagi, setelah adanya
sinyal darurat .

*Natural Active-Passive
Construction Type 1*
2. Menurut Sade, insiden
yang menimpa keduanya
diketahui oleh Badan
SAR Nasional Indonesia,
Basarnas pada Kamis
(1/1) pagi, setelah adanya
sinyal darurat .

*Aussie man and French woman to be rescued after
being stranded on remote tropical island - Pelayar
Australia Terdampar di Pulau Terpencil Kalimantan
*
1. An Australian resident and his French companion have
spent the night stranded on a remote Indonesian island
after their yacht struck bad weather at sea.
2. The Indonesian search and rescue agency, Basarnas,
learned of the couple's plight on Thursday morning,
after a distress signal was passed along, he said.
3. Mr Bimantara said the couple swam the raft to a
nearby island where they ended up staying overnight
with a group of villagers.
4. The duo have managed to salvage their belongings off
the damaged yacht and bring them to the island, the
spokesperson said.

*Natural Active-Passive
Construction Type 2*
4. Duo ini telah berhasil
menyelamatkan barangbarang mereka dari perahu
layar yang rusak dan
kemudian mereka bawa ke
pulau itu, kata sang juru
bicara.

*Unnatural ActivePassive Construction*
4. Duo ini telah berhasil
menyelamatkan barangbarang mereka dari
perahu layar yang rusak
dan membawanya ke
pulau itu, kata sang juru
bicara.

*Natural Active - Active
Construction*
3.Sade mengutarakan,
pasangan itu mengayuh
perahu penolong mereka
ke pulau terdekat, tempat
di mana mereka akhirnya
tinggal semalam dengan
sekelompok penduduk
desa.

The explanations from the diagram above are:
1. The big circle in the center of the blueprint consist of both English and
Indonesian title of the news and also content of news.

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2. The other six small circles are divided into two categories which are the
translator of the news’s version and my version. The translator of the news
translated English active construction into natural Indonesian passive
construction, natural Indonesian active construction, and unnatural Indonesian
passive construction. Then, I changed two examples of unnatural active
English into Indonesian passive construction into natural Indonesian passive
construction type 1 and 2. The changes from unnatural into natural activepassive construction are indicated by the arrows in the diagram.
THE STUDY
This part of the study contains context of the study, participants, instrument of
data collection, data collection procedure, and data analysis.
Context of the study
The study adopts a descriptive qualitative method design which according to
Bogdan and Taylor (1975 : 4) is a research method or procedure which produces
descriptive data: people’s own written and spoken words or behaviors. This method
was used by the researcher with descriptive, inductive, and comparative analysis. I
collected and analyzed the data from DetikNews online media since there are many
English into Indonesian translated news uploaded every single day through online
media. In addition, I also have the intention to generalize whether DetikNews has the
tendency to change English active into passive form or not. However, the scope of the
news date is January 2015 due to the awareness of the latest news development.The
classification of the news is non-scientific news since if it is scientific, most

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translation structures will be in passive form. In this study, I did not have any special
requirement about the translators’ background.
Sample
The data for this study were obtained from translation news in DetikNews. 78
non-scientific news uploaded in DetikNews in January 2015were collected and
analyzed by the researcher.
Data Collection Instrument
In doing this present study, I myself acted as the instrument. I collected and
investigated all the data. In collecting data process, I used 78non-scientific news
uploaded in DetikNews in January 2015 to comprehend and measure the use of:
1. Natural Active - Active English into Indonesian Translation
2. Unnatural Active – Active English into Indonesian Translation (which later
should include English active – Indonesian passive shifts)
3. Natural Active - Passive English into Indonesian Translation Type 1
4. Natural Active - Passive English into Indonesian Translation Type 2
Data Collection Procedure
In this study, I started to collect data from the beginning until the end of
January 2015.The steps in data collection were reading and then choosing 78nonscientific news especially non-political news in January 2015 from DetikNews
without considering the translator of the news. The purpose of these steps were to

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collect the intended data to be analyzed which focuses on the active and passive voice
construction of the non-political news in DetikNews.
Data Analysis
After reading and choosing, I logged the data which are the 78 non-political
news Indonesian translation texts in Microsoft Excel. The data were divided into
smaller structure which are sentences and then occurences. Each occurrence was
categorized into four categories which are ‘Natural Active - Active English into
Indonesian Translation’, ‘Unnatural Active – Active English into Indonesian
Translation which later should include English active – Indonesian passive shifts)’,
‘Natural Active - Passive English into Indonesian Translation Type 1’, and ‘Natural
Active - Passive English into Indonesian Translation Type 2’. The bases of these
categories are:
1. The Clarity of The Message in each Occurrence
It is related to whether the message is directly understood or postponed in the
sentence that make the readers hardy understand the message of the sentence. For
example:
Source Text

: The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has deployed three

disaster victim identification officers and two civilian forensic experts to Surabaya.
Translated Text

:Kepolisian Federal Australia (AFP) telah mengirimkan tiga

petugas yang ahli dalam identifikasi korban bencana dan dua ahli forensik sipil ke
Surabaya.

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There is another possibility to translate the source text into passive construction, for
example :
Tiga petugas yang ahli dalam identifikasi korban bencana dan dua ahli forensik sipil
telah dikirimkan oleh Kepolisian Federal Australia (AFP) ke Surabaya.
However, I considered the focus of the sentence is on "Kepolisisan Federal Australia
(AFP)" not "Tiga Petugas yang ahli dalam identifikasi korban bencana dan dua ahli
forensik sipil". Therefore, I considered the translated text as ‘Natural Active - Active
English into Indonesian Translation’ because the translator did not postpone the
presentation of "Kepolisisan Federal Australia (AFP)"as the focus of the sentences.
2. The Consideration of The Importance of The Doer in The Sentence
It is related to whether the doer is important or not. For example:
Source Text

: In 2012, Charlie Hebdo published an image of the Prophet

Mohammed prompting the White House to cautiously defend the editor's right to
publish.
Translated Text

: Pada tahun 2012, ‘Charlie Hebdo' menerbitkan gambar Nabi

Muhammad yang mendorong Gedung Putih untuk membela hak koran tersebut untuk
mempublikasikannya.
There is another possibility to translate the source text into passive construction, for
example :

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Pada tahun 2012, gambar Nabi Muhammad yang mendorong Gedung Putih
diterbitkan oleh ‘Charlie Hebdo' untuk membela hak koran tersebut untuk
mempublikasikannya.
However, I considered that the doer of the sentence is on "Charlie Hebdo " not
"gambar Nabi Muhammad yang mendorong Gedung Putih ". Therefore I considered
the translated text as ‘Natural Active - Active English into Indonesian Translation’
because the translator recognized the importance of the doer so the translator put the
doer as the subject of the sentence.
I also did not include contentious texts to be analyzed. It means if both
Indonesian active and passive construction are acceptable, I calculated them as
‘Natural Active - Active English into Indonesian Translation’.In addition, actually
there are some problems in these 78 translated news related to lexical choice.
However, I did not include these cases in the calculation of how English actives are
translated in Indonesian. There are some examples of problems with lexical choice,
for example:
1. Source Text

: Mapping the number of bicycle thefts by postcode over the

past five years revealed most were being pinched from Melbourne's inner
suburbs.
Translated text : Memetakan jumlah pencurian sepeda dengan kode pos,
selama lima tahun terakhir, menunjukkan bahwa sebagian besar pencurian
terjadi di pinggiran Melbourne.

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Suggested text : Pemetaaan jumlah pencurian sepeda dengan kode pos
menunjukkan bahwa selama lima tahun terakhir, sebagian besar pencurian
terjadi di pinggiran Melbourne.
2. Source Text

: A bushfire, that started on January 2 in Adelaide, has burnt

through more than 12,500 hectares of land, destroying 27 homes and killing
countless stock and wildlife.
Translated text : Kebakaran semak, yang dimulai 2 Januari lalu di Adelaide,
sudah menghancurkan lebih dari 12.500 hektar lahan, merusak 27 rumah,
dan menghanguskan ternak dan kehidupan liar yang tidak bisa dihitung.
Suggested text : Karena kebakaran semak yang dimulai 2 Januari lalu di
Adelaide telah membawa banyak kerugian. Lebih dari 12.500 hektar lahan
hancur, 27 rumah rusak, dan ternak dan kehidupan liar yang tidak bisa
dihitung hangus.
I also did not include mistranslation which is another problem in translation, to
be analyzed as the data. For example:
Source Text

: But some family members have taken it upon themselves to search

for answers by hiring a private investigator and approaching authorities in China and
abroad.
Mistranslated text

: Tetapi beberapa anggota keluarga telah mengambil

kesempatan itu untuk mencari jawaban dengan menyewa detektif swasta dan
mendekati pihak berwenang di Cina serta di luar negeri.
After that, for the validity of data analysis, I was helped by second checkers
who are expert in Indonesian and English active and passive construction and in
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English into Indonesian translation. In addition, this second checking step was
intended to provide better formula in translating / correcting unnatural active-active
English into Indonesian translation. The number of each category was later calculated
in the form of a percentage and qualitatively analyzed.
FINDING AND DISCUSSION
In this section, I will present my data findings a