b. Good Translator
To produce a good translation, there is a need also to be a good translator. Nida argues that a translator should be capable to: have an adequate knowledge of the
source language can not just rely on the dictionary, to understand the contents of the message of source language and to retain the subtlety of certain emotive meaning and
value of the source language vocabulary and style that will determine the taste of the message delivered para., as cited in Suhendra, 1994, p. 64.
Polet suggests these must-have qualities: 1
The translator must perfectly understand the sense and material of the original author although he should feel free to clarify obscurities;
2 The translator should have a perfect knowledge of both SL and TL, so as
not lessen the majesty of the language; 3
The translator should avoid Latinate and unusual forms; 4
The translator should avoid word for word rendering; and
5
The translator should assemble and liaise words eloquently to avoid clumsiness as cited in Munday, 2001, p. 27.
Robinson 1997 calls for translator reliability regard to the text within these aspects:
1 Attention to the details;
2 Sensitivity to the user’s needs type of translation desired;
3 Research on specific unknown terms or words; and
4 Checking by proofreader to avoid doubt p. 12-14.
To be more specific about literary translators, Suryawinata believes that they need to:
1 Understand the source language almost perfectly;
2 Control and able to understand the target language well, correctly, and
effectively; 3
Know and understand the literature, appreciation of literature, as well as translation theory;
4 Have sensitivity to literary works;
5 Have the flexibility of cognitive and socio-cultural; and
6 Have the tenacity and strong motivation para. as in Haryanti, 2006, p.
169.
c. Translation Process, Methods, and Procedure
According to Nida and Taber, translation process, basically covers: 1
Analysis: the translator looks on grammatical context, words meaning, textual meaning and contextual meaning to analyze the sentences of
original text; 2
Transfer: the translator digests the meaning of analyzed original text; 3
Restructuring: the translator finds equivalent words, expressions and sentence structure in L2 to maintain the content, meanings and messages
of the original text; and 4
Evaluation and Revision: translator rechecks the translation product by comparing to the original one to get the closest equivalences para., as in
Suryawinata and Hariyanto, 2003, p. 19.
But, Suryawinata and Hariyanto 2003 find that basically the process works on analysis of original text and its messagesmeanings and then retell those
messagesmeanings with acceptable words or sentences of target language para. 19. Machali 2000 states some proper procedures in translation. She differs
between method and procedure. “Method deals with the whole text work and procedure works on sentence or levels below” p. 62. The methods focus on:
1 Shift TranspositionForm Change There are four groups of grammatical form changes due to language gap.
It is only needed when the target language does not have the same grammatical structure for a text of source language. The changes are as
elaborated below.
The first group: • Plural-noun in English converted into singular one in bahasa
Indonesia; Ex: ‘a pair of jeans’ = ‘sebuah celana jeans’
• Adjective reduplication in bahasa Indonesia as variation for English plural-noun;
Ex: “Rumah di Jakarta bagus-bagus.” from English “The houses in Jakarta are built beautifully.”
• Reverse of pattern adjective + noun into noun + adjective and the order of adjectives.
Ex: ‘beautiful woman’ = ‘wanita yang cantik’.
The second group: • The adjustment not to put object in the beginning of a sentence;
Ex: “Buku itu harus kita bawa.” = “We must bring the book.” • The adjustment not to put verb in the beginning of a sentence.
Ex: “Berbeda penjelasannya.” = ”The explanation differs.”
The third group: • The conversion of nounnoun phrase in source language into verb
in target language; Ex: “... to train intellectual men for the pursuits of an intellectual
life.” = “untuk melatih para intelektual untuk mengejar kehidupan intelektual.”
• Adjective + noun turned into noun + noun; Ex: ‘medical student’ = ‘mahasiswa kedokteran’
• Clause underlined in source language is explicitly stated in target language;
Ex: “The cells carrying the germs are dangerous.” = “Sel-sel yang membawamengandung ...”
• Noun phrase with adjective on source language turned into noun clause.
Ex: ‘thinking person’ = ‘orang yang berpikir’.
The fourth group: • A textual focus signal on source language is stated grammatically in
target language; Ex: “Perjanjian inilah yang diacu.” = “It is this agreement which is
referred to not anything else.” • The commonly change from word in source language into
clausephrase, phrase into clause, and so on. Ex: ‘adept’ = ‘sangat terampil’ or ‘interchangeability’ = ‘keadaan
dapat saling dipertukarkan.’
2 Meaning Change Modulation
Modulation is needed by changing the perspective when there is no equivalence for words, phrase, or structure on the target language.
• Only one between two words has the equivalence on target language;
Ex: ‘lessor’ and ‘lessee’ = ‘orang pihak yang menyewakan’ atau ‘pemberi sewa’ dan ‘penyewa.’
• Active sentence changed into passive voice; Ex: “The problem is hard to solve.” = “Masalah itu sukar untuk
dimusnahkan.” • Split subject structure needs a clarification;
Ex: “Buku tersebut telah disahkan penggunaaannya oleh Dikti.” = “The use of the book has been approved by Dikti.”
• Specific words share general and particular meaning of a word in target language.
Ex: ‘society’ = ‘masyarakat’ social relationship and ‘community’ = ‘masyarakat’ group of people.
3 Adaptation
It is a kind of cultural adjustment on two situations. Ex: ‘Dear Sir’ = ‘Dengan hormat’ not ‘Tuan yang Terhormat’.
4 Contextual Conditioning
Put the information within a context so that its meaning is clear to the reader.
Ex: ‘selamat malam’ could be translated as ‘good night’ or ‘good evening’.
“Hari ini adalah 40 harinya ibunya.” = “This day is the fortieth day of her mother’s death.”
5 Footnote Conditioning happens only if there is a deadlock in
translating the text para. 62-72.
d. Meaning-Based Translation
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