Additions Techniques of Adjustment
3 Additions Required by Grammatical Restructuring
According to Nida 1964: 228, although there is usually some „lexical
additions ’ emerging as results of „restructuring’ of a SL expression, the most
common situation requiring amplification are as follows. a
Shifts of Voice It is needed to insert agent when a passive voice is changed into an active
one Nida, 1964: 228. The example is presented as follows. SE: He will be arrested for drinking. passive voice
TE: Polisi akan menahannya karena mabuk. active voice [Police will arrest him for drinking]
Although there is no information about who will arrest „him’ in the SE, the sentence is still meaningful since it is expressed in a passive voice. However,
when the passive voice in the SE is changed into active voice in the TE, it is required to add information about who
will arrest „him’. In this case, who will arrest is „polisi’ „police’ since the context is related to criminality.
b Modification from Indirect to Direct Discourse
It must often be necessary to add „a number of elements’ when „indirect
discourse, whether explicit or implicit, is changed into direct discourse ’ Nida,
1964: 228. The example is presented as follows. SE: He can go home now. indirect discourse
TE: Dikatakan kepadanya
, “kamu bisa pulang sekarang.” direct discourse
[Said to him,
“you can go home now.”] The phrase
„dikatakan kepadanya’ „said to him’ in the TE is required to be added because of the modification from indirect discourse in the SE into direct
discourse in the TE. c
Alteration of Word Classes Additions must mostly be made when there is a word class
’ shift such as a change from adjective to another word class or
“a change from nouns to verbs” which
“produces some of the most radical additions” Nida, 1964: 228. The example is presented as follows.
SE: False presidents TE: Mereka yang berpura-pura mejadi seorang presiden
[Those who pretend the work of a president]
The adjective „false’ in the SE is changed into noun clause „orang yang
berpura-pura ’ in the TE which in English means „those who pretend’.
4 Amplification from implicit to explicit status
If the STSE has an implicit status and the TTTE has an explicit status, there must often be some additions in the TTTE. This explicit identification
would become pivotal if there are some „important semantic elements’ which is
implicitly conveyed Nida, 1964: 228. The example is presented as follows. SE: I hate dirty places so I choose this room. implicit
TE: Saya benci akan tempat-tempat kotor, jadi saya pilih ruangan ini
karena di sini bersih . explicit
[I hate dirty places so I choose this room because it is clean.]
In the SE, there is no explicit information why the speaker chooses that room. However, there is implicit information why she chooses that room. The
implicit information is on the clause „I hate dirty place’ indicating that the speaker will not choose any dirty place
. Therefore, the clause „karena di sini bersih’, which in English it means „because it is clean’, is added in the TE to show the
explicit information of the SE.
5 Answers to Rhetorical Questions
Generally, it is not necessary to answer any rhetorical questions, but “in
some languages rhetorical questions always require answer ” Nida, 1964: 229.
The example is presented as follows. SE: Do you want to go to hell?
TE: Apa kalian mau masuk neraka? Tentu tidak [Do you want to go to hell? No, indeed]
The question „Do you want to go to hell?’ is something that does not need to be answered since there is nobody wants to be in hell actually. Although it does
require any answer, it is also allowed to answer it. The answer may be from the person who has asked the rhetorical question or from the person who was asked.
In the example above, the answer „Tentu tidak’ in the TE, which means „No,
Indeed’ in English, is from the questioner.
6 Classifiers
It is usually used to translate „proper names’ or „borrowed terms’ Nida,
1964: 230. The example is presented as follows.
SE: He cannot speak English.
TE: Dia tidak bisa berbicara bahasa Inggris. [He cannot speak English language.]
T o add the word „language’, as a noun head, after the word „English’ in the
SE is not required since the word „English’ in the SE actually refers to the
language. In other side, it is necessary to add a classifier in the TE. The word „bahasa’ in the TE which means „language’ is added, as a noun head, after the
word „Inggris’ to clarify that what the speaker means in the TE is referring to the
language, not the people.
7 Connectives
It occurs when there is a “repetition of segments of the preceding text”
called “Transitionals” in the TTTE which can make it longer than the STSE “but
do not add information ” Nida, 1964: 230. The example is presented as follows.
SE: I want to finish reading this novel. And I will give it to you.
TE: Aku mau menyelesaikan membaca novel ini. Dan setelah selesai membaca
, aku akan kasihkan ke kamu.
[I want to finish reading this novel. And after finishing reading, I
will give it to you.] In the SE, the meaning is that the speaker will not give the novel before
she has finished reading it and she will give it to the subject „you’ after she has
finished reading. The SE expressions are emphasized in the TE by adding the connective „setelah selesai membaca’ which in English means „after finishing
reading’.
8 Categories of the Receptor Language
When there are certain categories in the TTTE which do not exist in the STTE, whether they are obligatory or optional, it is necessary to add them in the
TTTE Nida, 1964: 230. The example is presented as follows. TE: I meet your mother.
SE: Aku sudah bertemu ibumu.
In this example, the verb „meet’ is translated into Bahasa Indonesia as
„sudah bertemu’. Here the adverb „sudah’ is obligatory added to show that the
activity is the past tense.
9 Doublet
The use of doublet in some languages is frequent or even obligatory since its function, for example, is almost like quotation marks Nida, 1964: 230. It
denotes or re-expresses the previous „semantically supplementary expression’
occurring in one place such as „answering, said’, „asked and said’ or „he said…said he’ Nida, 1964: 230. The example is presented as follows.
SE: He said, “I love you.”
TE: Dia bilang
, “Aku cinta kamu,” katanya.
[He said
, “I love you,” said he.]
Doublet usually occurs in oral conversations in which some words, phrases, or clauses are consciously or unconsciously repeated within a sentence.
In the example above, there is an addition the word „katanya’ „said he’ in the TE
which has equal meaning to „Dia bilang’ „He said’.
The nine techniques mentioned above are considered to be the most common and important
types of „additions’ used in translation and interpreting. Besides, it is important to remember that these techniques do not add any
“semantic content of the message” such as in changing from implicit to explicit status, it just changes an implicit STSE into an explicit TTTE so it just change
the way to communicate from the ST into the TT, not to the content Nida, 1964: 231.