Translation Accuracy Theoretical Review

The 8 th edi tion of Oxford Advanced Learner‘s Dictionary defines accuracy as ―the state of being exact or correct; the ability to do something skillfully without making mistakes‖ Hornby, 2010: 10. Therefore, translation accuracy can be interpreted as the correctness of the message rendered from source text to target text. Accuracy is defined by Rahimi 2004 as cited in Anari Bouali 2009: 80 as ―the suitable and detailed explanation of the source message and the transmission of that message as exactly as possible‖. Inaccuracy is indicated by addition in information and wrong analysis of the text meaning. Meanwhile, Farahani 2005 in Anari Bouali 2009: 80 states that accuracy refers to ―the extent to which the writer translates a text accurately and precisely‖. Accuracy is written twice in the assessment criteria created by The Institute of Linguists‘ IoL Diploma in Translation as cited in Munday 2001: 30. They define accuracy as the correct transfer of information and evidence of complete comprehension and put it as the first criterion. The second accuracy is accuracy in technical aspects of punctuation. In addition, in Unesco‘s Guidelines for Translator, accuracy is also the first requirement in translating a text Munday, 2001: 31. In this book, achieving accuracy is defined as conveying the exact intention of the author in order to attract the same impression of source language readers from target readers. Nababan et al. 2012: 44 state that translation accuracy is the condition whether a translation is equivalent to its source text. In this case, the term equivalent refers to the level of rendering of meaning. Accordingly, all attempts that possibly intensify or diminish the meaning of a text should be avoided at all cost because these possibilities could lead translator to betray the intention of the author as well as deliver falsehood to the target readers. Conveying the exact meaning in translation is very important. Many scholars emphasize that transferring meaning is the top priority in translation, such as Nida and Taber in chapter two of their book Nida and Taber, 1982: 13, Newmark in his criterion for translation evaluation as cited in Munday, 2001: 45, and also the definitions of translation from several experts as written under the sub-heading Definitions of Translation in the beginning of this chapter. These knowledge infers that accuracy is translator ‘s top priority in translating a text.

2.2.12. Back Translation

Back translation is a term of translation review method that refers to the translation of a translation product back into the source language. Baker defines it as ―taking a text original or translated which is written in a language with which the reader is assumed to be unfamiliar and translating it as literally as possible into English – how literally depends on the point being illustrated, whether it is morphological, syntactic, or lexical for instance‖ Baker, 2001: 8. For example, a source text in English is translated into Indonesian. To produce a back translation, the Indonesian version is later re-translated as literal as possible into English. The purpose of this action is to compare the back translation with the source text, usually in order to assess the quality of a translation, especially its accuracy. The idea is, the more identical source text and back translation text are, the greater the equivalence between two texts. Back translation is supposed to not only to point out the inaccuracy of the translation, but also meant to verify whether all important aspects in the original text have been covered or not. Back translation is not said to be the best method to identify all errors in the translation. Many translators believe that back translation is an inefficient, time-wasting, and expensive method to check translation quality. However, if performed an d dealt properly, back translation can ―flush out serious translation errors that even the best translatoreditor teams make‖ Paegelow, 2008: 25.

2.2.13. About the Novel

The Fault in Our Stars is a young adult, stand-alone novel written by John Green, an American author, and translated into Indonesian by Ingrid Dwijani Nimpoeno. However, the Indonesian version appears to be intended for children readers.

2.2.13.1. The Author

John Michael Green is an American novelist, YouTube video blogger, historian, and creator of online educational videos. He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, on August 24 th 1977. Green has written six novels and several short stories. The main characters in Green‘s novels are mostly teenagers and the stories are mainly related to romance. Green received many awards for his novels, such as Michael L. Printz Award, Edgar Allan Poe Award, and Corine Literature Prize. The New York Times Best Seller list for children‘s books listed The Fault in Our Stars at number one for two weeks in January and February 2012. In 2013,