Background of the Study
3
translation translating is an activity which clearly prove language role in social life.
4
Translation can be said as stating or delivering something either written or oral interpreting in different language; from a Source Language SL to a Target
Language TL. Again, translation can be a bridge to connect people. Furthermore, regarding the relation between language and culture in the
terms of communication; it impacts, significantly, translation. Translation is not only about rendering one language into another, but also involving the cultural
sense of the languages. As Nida states in Hoed, kendala dalam penerjemahan adalah perbedaan dalam empat hal, yaitu 1 bahasa, 2 kebudayaan sosial, 3
kebudayaan religi, dan 4 kebudayaan materiil
5
There are four obstacles in translating; language, socio-culture, religious-culture, material-culture
.
The last three items can be considered as culture. Thus, it can be said that translation
involves language and culture. These cultural obstacles have a big impact in translation, for a word does not always have its equivalent in another culture.
6
According to Eagleton in Nugroho and Prasetyo, the foundation of the world today is neither God nor Nature, but culture. Then, he says:
The promotion of culture as a primary concept is indeed implied in translation studies itself in the „cultural turn’ the discipline took in the late
1970s and 1980s. Where the use of „culture’ becomes problematic is not so much in whether we intend the term in an anthropological what
humans do in their daily lives or an aesthetic sense what humans do in
4
Ibid, p. 26
5
Benny Hoedoro Hoed, Penerjemahan dan Kebudayaan Jakarta: PT Dunia Pustaka Jaya, 2006, p. 24
6
Andy Bayu Nugroho and Jhonny Prasetyo, “Domestikasi dan Foreignisasi dan
Dampaknya terhadap Terjemahan”, a paper in International Conference on SFL and Its Contribution to TranslationStudies
,
http:staff.uny.ac.idsitesdefaultfiles132310009Domestika si20danForeignisasi.pdf
, accessed Aug 29 2014
4
the realm of creative expression but in how cultures have to come understand culture.”
7
As a consequence, translators will be faced by, at least, two different languages and culture so that, they have to be bilingual-competent and biculturally
competent
8
as well. Again, this is intended to gain the understanding in communication, for translation is a communication act.
9
Translation development goes rapidly nowadays. It can be seen from the needs of translation product have been increased globally year by year, including
in Indonesia. Various products either fictions or non-fictions such as books, novels, newspapers, magazines, website contents, journals, movies, songs and so
forth; are published in multi-languages. Those come from diverse fields such as technology, law legal documents, economy, science, arts, literature,
entertainment, and so on. Products of translation, especially literary translation, in Indonesia are
dominated by creations distributed from foreign especially western countries. It is proven by literary works which are published in cinemas or bookstores in the
form of movies, short stories, and of course novels which many of them are published in English.
In this research, the researcher particularly focuses on literary translation. It is because literary translation is bound up with culture. Moreover, literary
7
Ibid.
8
Roswita Silalahi, Dampak Teknik, Metode, dan Ideologi Penerjemahan pada Kualitas Terjemahan Teks Medical-Surgical Nursing dalam bahasa Indonesia, Dissertation, University of
North Sumatera, 2009, p. 46
9
Rochayah Machali, op.cit., p. 39
5
translation itself is the work of literary translators, whom are bilingual and bicultural.
10
Further, the researcher will discuss it specifically in novel translation. The Harry Potter series by J.K Rowling, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho,
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, and Laskar Pelangi by Andrea Hirata are some of international best-selling novels; literary works which are sold million
copies. Those novels are immensely popular and have been translated into various languages
—The Harry Potter series are translated, at least, into 67 languages; the work by Paulo Coelho are translated into 56 different languages
11
; The Kite Runner has been published in 38 countries and translated into 42 languages
12
; and the last, Laskar Pelangi or The Rainbow Troops has been published in 20
countries —this is, again, a proof that translation plays an important role.
Translation, indeed, becomes a bridge to connect people around the world. In this case, translation connects the writers to the readers.
Every translator, consciously or not, uses strategy, technique, method, or procedure in translating. Applying the appropriate strategy, technique, method, or
procedure, may determine whether the translated texts are accurate or not. As a result, it also may determine the quality of the translation itself.
Regarding the object of the research, Hush, hush, a translated novel Indonesian version; the researcher will particularly discuss about strategy of
translation namely domestication and foreignization which are found in the object.
10
Douglas Robinson, “Literary Translation”, Routledge Encyclopedia of translation Studies London: Routledge, 2001, p. 127
11
Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist, Jakarta: PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 2007
12
Boyd Tonkin, “Is the Arab world ready for a literary translation?”, The Independent.co.uk website,
www.independent.co.ukarts-entertainmentbooksfeaturesis-the-arab- ready-for-a-literary-revolution-808946.html
accessed Oct 4 2013
6
These two strategies postulated by Lawrence Venuti in 1988.
13
They provide both linguistic and cultural guidance.
14
However, domestication and foreignization are two different concepts. As Yang explains:
Domestication designates the type of translation in which a transparent, fluent style is adopted to minimize the strangeness of the
foreign text for target language readers; while foreignization means a target text is produced which deliberately breaks target conventions by
retaining something of the foreignness of the original.
15
Related to the definition above, nowadays in Indonesia, people especially teenagers or young adults, often use Indonesian mixed with English while they
communicate. They are even more familiar with the English words rather than the Indonesian. For example, they know CD or Compact Disk better than cakram
padat or piringan, they prefer say make-up than riasan, handphone rather than ponsel or telepon seluler, and T-shirt instead of kaus or kaos. This is also
happened in the Hush, hush Indonesian version ; “Sejujurnya, perasaanku
campur aduk soal makeup
gratisan.”
16
, “Dan setelah itu yang terdengar hanya
nada dial
”.
17
The examples that are mentioned show the application of foreignization strategy.
It is undeniable that the novel translation comes as one of the reasons why those novels mentioned above become that popular. In other words, it may not be
13
Esmail Zare-Behtash and Sepideh Firoozkoohi, “ A Diachronic Study of
Domestication and Foreignization Strategies of Culture-Specific Items: in English-Persian Translation of Six of Hemingway’s Works”, World Applied Sciences Journal 7, XII 2009, p.
1576
14
Wenfen Yang, “Brief Study on Domestication and Foreignization in Translation”, Journal of Language Teaching and Research, I January, 2010, p. 77
15
Ibid.
16
Becca Fitzpatrick, Hush, hush. trans. Leinovar Bahfein, Jakarta: PT. Ufuk Publishing House, 2013, p. 125
17
Ibid., p. 123
7
happened if the novels are not translated. It is, of course, also related with the quality of the translation. When we read a translation product, we often
questioning about whether it is “good” or “not good” and how we can measure the
quality of the translation. Therefore, measurement of translation quality must be based on the objective norms. As Nida and Taber and Newmark in their books
postulate that a “good” translation is when it is oriented to the target reader or hearer of the TL
18
. Above all, it is because gaining a good quality of translation is the main goal and the target reader should get the prime quality of the translation
product. Furthermore, the translator, even the editor and the publisher, have to pay
more attention to what strategy of translation will be applied in the translated text, who will be the target reader, what category of the novel that will be translated
— is it for children, young-adult, adult, or etc. As the trend of mix-languages usage
which is described above that related to the translation strategies, the translator has to consider and adjust the word preferences or the words choice that will be
used. Moreover, the words should be familiar and easy to be understood, so that the translated text will be enjoyable to be read or in other words the text has good
readability. The novel that used in this research, entitled Hush, hush, is categorized as
young-adults fantasy novel. It is about a romance between immortal human and fallen angel. This kind of story is a trending theme nowadays; just like the famous
Twilight tetralogy Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn by Stephanie
18
Roswita Silalahi, op. cit., p. 33
8
Meyer or The Mortal Instrument series by Cassandra Clare City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls. Becca
Fitzpatrick, Hush, hush ’s author, also makes her works into four series: Hush,
hush, Cresendo, Silence, and Finalé. Those four books were all New York Times bestsellers.
19
Above all, as what mentioned above that whether a translation is good or not is when it is oriented to the target reader or consumer of the TL. Further, the
appropriate translation strategy and the words choice will determine the readability of the translation. It will indicate whether the target readers enjoy the
product, familiar with the words in the text and understand it easily or not, because it is obvious that every writer a novel writer wants their works will be
accepted, enjoyable to be read, widely sold, and become a best-selling product not only in their origin country but also in overseas market. Based on those reasons,
the researcher will analyze the impact of the translation strategies application towards the readability of the novel, Hush, hush; whether the novel translation is
easy to be understood or enjoyable enough to be read or not.