FOREIGNIZATION AND DOMESTICATION OF CULTURE-SPECIFIC TERMS IN MARAH RUSLI’S SITTI NURBAYA: KASIH TAK SAMPAI INTO GEORGE FOWLER’S SITTI NURBAYA: A LOVE UNREALIZED.
FOREIGNIZATION AND DOMESTICATION OF
CULTURE-SPECIFIC TERMS IN MARAH RUSLI’S SITTI NURBAYA:
KASIH TAK SAMPAI INTO GEORGE FOWLER’S SITTI NURBAYA:
A LOVE UNREALIZED
A THESIS
Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Attainment of
a Sarjana Sastra Degree in English Literature
By:
Editya Eka Novridian
10211141042
ENGLISH LITERATURE STUDY PROGRAM
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
YOGYAKARTA STATE UNIVERSITY
2016
MOTTOS
“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is
being superior to your former self”
(Ernest Hemingway)
“If you think you can do a thing,
or think you can't do a thing,
you're right”
(Henry Ford)
v
DEDICATIONS
I dedicate this thesis to:
The late Bpk. Santuri and Ibu Yuliawati
vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
All praise be to Allah SWT, the God of all mankind, for the endless
mercies and blessings that always enlighten me and make it possible for me to
finish this thesis. This thesis cannot be completed without some help from
other people either, and therefore, my sincere gratitude is delivered to:
1. Drs. Suhaini M. Saleh, M.A., my first consultant, and Yosa Abduh
Alzuhdy, S.S., M.Hum, my second consultant, who have given me their
guidance, wisdom, and support;
2. The late Asih Sigit, M. Hum., my academic supervisor, who guided and
helped me through my academic years;
3. all the lecturers of the English Education Department of Yogyakarta
State University for their precious knowledge and support during my
study at the university;
4. my parents, the late Bpk. Santuri and Ibu Yuliawati for their
unconditional love, inspiration, and support day by day;
5. Koko and Ical, my triangulators, for their time, support, and hard work;
6. all my friends at the English Literature Study Program for the awesome
time through all these years;
7. all people, whom I cannot mention, who helped me finish this thesis.
Finishing this thesis would have been impossible without the assistance
from the afore-mentioned people. They have helped to keep my spirit high
during my period in conducting this thesis. Any suggestions and criticism are
obviously welcome to improve my thesis since it is far from being perfect.
However, I hope this thesis will give some contribution to the readers.
Yogyakarta, 2016
Editya Eka Novridian
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE
........................................................................................................... i
APPROVAL SHEET .................................................................................... ii
RATIFICATION SHEET ............................................................................. iii
SURAT PERNYATAAN .................................................................................. iv
MOTTOS ....................................................................................................... v
DEDICATIONS ............................................................................................. vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................. vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................... viii
LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................... xi
LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................... xii
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................... xiii
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION .................................................................... 1
A. Background of the Research ................................................................ 1
B. Focus of the Research .......................................................................... 3
C. Objectives of the Research .................................................................. 5
D. Significance of the Research ............................................................... 5
CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................... 7
A. Theoretical Review .............................................................................. 7
1. Translation .................................................................................... 8
a. Notions of Translation ............................................................. 8
b. Types of Translation ................................................................ 8
c. Translation Process .................................................................. 9
d. Translation Equivalence .......................................................... 10
2. Culture-specific Terms .................................................................. 12
a. Culture ..................................................................................... 12
b. Culture-specific Terms ............................................................ 12
viii
3. Foreignization and Domestication ................................................ 16
a. Notions of Foreignization and Domestication .......................... 16
b. Categories of Foreignization and Domestication ..................... 17
4. Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai Novel ........................................ 20
B. Previous Researches ............................................................................ 21
C. Conceptual Framework ........................................................................ 22
D. Analytical Construct ............................................................................ 27
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHOD ......................................................... 28
A. Type of the Research ........................................................................... 28
B. Data and Sources of the Data .............................................................. 29
C. Research Instruments ........................................................................... 29
D. Data Collection .................................................................................... 30
E. Data Analysis ....................................................................................... 30
F. Trustworthiness ................................................................................... 33
CHAPTER IV
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .......................................... 34
A. Findings ............................................................................................... 34
1.
The Culture-specific Term Categories in Marah Rusli’s Sitti
Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai ......................................................... 34
2. The Foreignization and Domestication Categories in Marah
Rusli’s Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai into George Fowler’s
Sitti Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized ................................................ 35
3. The Degree of Meaning Equivalence of Culture-Specific Terms
in Marah Rusli’s Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai into George
Fowler’s Sitti Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized .................................. 36
B. Discussion ........................................................................................... 37
1. The Description of Culture-specific Terms Types
in Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai into George Fowler’s Sitti
Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized ......................................................... 38
a. Ecology .................................................................................... 38
b. Material Culture ....................................................................... 40
ix
c. Social Culture .......................................................................... 42
d. Social Organization ................................................................ 44
e. Gesture and Habits ................................................................... 47
2. The Description of Foreignization and Domestication Strategies
in Translating Culture-specific Terms in Marah Rusli’s Sitti
Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai into George Fowler’s Sitti
Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized ........................................................ 48
a. Foreignization .......................................................................... 48
b. Domestication .......................................................................... 55
3. The Description of the Degree of Meaning Equivalence of
Culture-Specific Terms in Marah Rusli’s Sitti Nurbaya:
Kasih Tak Sampai into George Fowler’s Sitti Nurbaya: A Love
Unrealized ..................................................................................... 62
a. Equivalence ............................................................................. 62
b. Non-equivalence ...................................................................... 66
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS .............................. 71
A. Conclusions ......................................................................................... 71
B. Suggestions ......................................................................................... 72
REFERENCES ................................................................................................ 74
APPENDICES ................................................................................................ 77
x
LIST OF FIGURES
Page
Figure 1. Translation Process by Nida.............................................................10
Figure 2. Analytical Construct .........................................................................27
xi
LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table 1. Espindola’s Categorization of Culture-bound Words ...................... 15
Table 2. Data Sheet (Table of Analysis) ........................................................ 32
Table 3. The Occurrence of Culture-specific Terms in Marah Rusli’s Sitti
Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai ............................................................ 35
Table 4. The Frequency of Foreignization and Domestication Strategies
Employed in Marah Rusli’s Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai into
George Fowler’s Sitti Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized ........................ 36
Table 5. The Frequency of Degree of Meaning Equivalence in the
Translation of Culture-specific Terms in Marah Rusli’s Sitti
Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai into George Fowler’s Sitti
Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized ........................................................... 37
xii
FOREIGNIZATION AND DOMESTICATION OF
CULTURE-SPECIFIC TERMS IN MARAH RUSLI’S SITTI NURBAYA:
KASIH TAK SAMPAI INTO GEORGE FOWLER’S SITTI NURBAYA:
A LOVE UNREALIZED
By:
Editya Eka N
10211141042
ABSTRACT
The presence of cultural gaps leads to different culture-specific terms
that may cause some issues in translating process. Foreignization and
domestication are two types of strategies that can be employed to translate
culture-specific terms. The aims of this research are: (1) to describe the
categories of Indonesian culture-specific terms in the novel, (2) to describe how
foreignization and domestication strategies are represented in translating the
culture-specific terms, and (3) to describe the degree of meaning equivalence of
the culture-specific terms in Marah Rusli’s Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih tak Sampai
novel represented in George Fowler’s Sitti Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized.
The research employed mixed method of quantitative and qualitative
approaches. The data used for this research are culture-specific terms and their
translation found in Marah Rusli’s Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai into
George Fowler’s Sitti Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized. The main instrument is
represented by the researcher and the second instrument is the data sheet. In
addition, to gain trustworthiness of the data, triangulation method was applied.
There are three findings obtained from the study. Firstly, five categories
of culture-specific terms were identified: ecology, material culture, social
culture, social organization, and gesture and habits. Material culture terms have
the highest frequency with 66 terms (33.17%). Secondly, the researcher
identified three foreignization strategies used in translating the culture-specific
terms, they are preservation, addition, and literal translation. On the other hand,
there are four domestication strategies; they are omission, globalization,
localization, and transformation. It is revealed that 161 terms (80.90%) are
translated with domestication strategies. Thirdly, in terms of degree of meaning
equivalence, 184 terms (92.46%) are translated with equivalent meanings. The
domestication ideology seems to be used more frequently since the translator
tries to make the terms more familiar to the target readers.
Keywords: foreignization, domestication, culture-specific terms, Sitti Nurbaya:
Kasih Tak Sampai
xiii
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter consists of four parts, namely background of the research,
focus of the research, objective of the research, and significance of the research.
The background of the research describes brief information about the reason why
this research is conducted. Then, in the focus of the research, the problems are
formulated into specific questions. Furthermore, based on the formulation, the
objectives of the research are conducted. The objectives of the research are to
define the categories of culture-specific terms, to describe how foreignization and
domestication strategies are employed in translating culture-specific terms in Sitti
Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai into English and to describe the degree of meaning
equivalence represented in the target language. Finally, the significance of the
research describes the theoretical and practical benefits of this thesis.
A. Background of the Research
Communication has essential functions to deliver information. Language
as a means of communication is needed for the transmission of informative
messages in communication. As the world moves forward and develops, there are
increasing needs for communication. Moreover, with the fast development of
technology, people now live in an internationalized world where the contact to
foreign languages and cultures become much easier that it makes language
interaction growth is undeniable, especially on global communication such as
1
2
books, mass media, internet, etc. In this case, the language barrier and cultural
differences become some obstacles for individuals who speak different languages.
Translation, in recent times, has become an utterly important activity to
overcome linguistic and cultural barrier. In this increasingly globalized world, the
importance of translation grows along with the wide spread of information all
over the globe. Translation also becomes significant to enrich knowledge for
people around the world.
Translation process is not as simple as altering words from source
language to target language. In order to make a precise translation, it is very
important for a translator to understand general knowledge in the target language
as well as in the source language. They should also consider linguistic aspects
such as grammatical knowledge and vocabulary. Furthermore, a good translation
depends on how translator transferring information to be fit and equivalent in
meaning.
In intercultural communication, translation has crucial role to mediate the
two different cultures. However, words and phrases that are bounded to certain
culture often cause problems for translators. Translating cultural words is a
challenge for translators since they sometimes found difficulties to find the
equivalent terms. Furthermore, culture-specific terms are sometimes difficult to
translate since there are some differences in cultural ideology between one
country and another.
The translators should possess the ability to tackle the difficulties in
translating culture-specific terms. To reach precise culture-specific terms
3
translation, the translators also need some translating strategies to make the terms
equivalent and accepted in both languages. Foreignization and domestication are
two strategies that can help the translators to overcome the problems in
transferring the meaning of the culture-specific terms.
B. Focus of the Research
A novel is one of literary works that is helpful for people who study
translation. Since novel is a popular literary work and has a lot of authors as well
as readers, it is often translated into different languages. Translating literary
works, particularly novel, is more complicated than other texts. When translating
literary works such as novel, translators have to deal with many language issues
from source language, one of which is culture-specific term. Culture-specific
terms are often found in literary works since it is commonly bounded in certain
language system in wide variety of contexts.
In translating novels, culture differences are often inevitable. Certain word
or expression may refer to a concept that is completely different and unfamiliar to
one language and another. The translation of culture-specific terms in novel is a
real challenge for translators since they need to be familiar with both cultures
from the source language and the target language. Translators should be able to
find possibilities that include all the diversities of translation strategies to solve
the problems of translating culture-specific terms between languages
Translating culture-specific terms in novel needs some strategies in order
to gain precise translation. Foreignization and domestication are translation
strategies which provide linguistic and cultural guidance to accommodate the
4
translators to deal with culture-specific terms. Foreignization is a basic translation
strategy that retains foreignness of information from the source text.
Foreignization strategies allow the translators to preserve the meaning of cultural
terms in the target text. Domestication, on the other hand, is a translation strategy
that minimizes foreign elements of source text to the language cultural values.
Indonesia is a country with rich culture. The cultures from certain regions
in Indonesia are often represented in Indonesian novels. The representation of
culture in novel raises the probability of culture-specific terms being involved.
Many culture-specific terms are found in Indonesian novels. One of them is a
novel written by Rusli in 1922 entitled Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai. In 2011,
Fowler translated this novel with the title Sitti Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized. In
this research, the researcher tried to analyze the categories of culture specificterms found in the novel and how foreignization and domestication strategies are
used in translating them. In addition, the researcher also analyzed the degree of
meaning equivalence of the translation of culture specific terms found in the
novel.
Based on the problems identified above, the focus of the research can be
formulated as follows:
1.
What are the categories of culture-specific terms in Marah Rusli’s Sitti
Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai into George Fowler’s Sitti Nurbaya: A Love
Unrealized?
5
2.
How are the foreignization and domestication strategies of culture-specific
terms in Marah Rusli’s Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai into George
Fowler’s Sitti Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized?
3.
To what degree of meaning equivalence is the translation of culture-specific
terms in Marah Rusli’s Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai into George
Fowler’s Sitti Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized?
C. Objectives of the Research
From the formulation of the problems mentioned above, the objectives of
this research are:
1.
to describe the categories of culture-specific terms in Marah Rusli’s Sitti
Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai into George Fowler’s Sitti Nurbaya: A Love
Unrealized,
2.
to describe the foreignization and domestication strategies of culture-specific
terms represented in the Marah Rusli’s Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai into
George Fowler’s Sitti Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized, and
3.
to describe the degree of meaning equivalence in the translation of culturespecific terms in Marah Rusli’s Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai into George
Fowler’s Sitti Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized.
D. Significance of the Research
1.
Theoretical Benefit
6
This research can be a helpful reference for people who are studying or
teaching translation subject. Specifically, this research can give deeper
understanding about strategies in translating culture-specific terms.
2.
Practical Benefit
This research can provide better understanding for the readers of the novel,
especially in understanding culture-specific terms translation. This research
also can give useful insights to translators to translate culture-specific terms
appropriately. Furthermore, it can also provide references for other researcher
with the same study area.
CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter is segmented into four parts, i.e. theoretical descriptions,
previous studies, conceptual framework, and analytical construct. The theoretical
description covers the definition of translation, culture-specific terms,
foreignization and domestication, and summary of Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak
Sampai novel. The previous studies part describes brief explanation of studies
related to foreignization and domestication. The conceptual framework explains
the theories applied by the researcher, while the analytical construct provides a
hierarchical concept map of the theories employed in this thesis.
A. Theoretical Review
In order to achieve the objectives of the research, some theoretical
descriptions are required. In this part, the researcher discusses some theories
associated to the research. The theories presented in this chapter cover the topics
about translation, culture-specific terms, foreignization and domestication, and
meaning equivalence. Firstly, the theories related to translation proposed by
several translation scholars are mentioned. Secondly, the theories related to
culture-specific terms are included with brief explanations and some examples.
Then, several theories related to foreignization and domestication strategies are
presented.
7
8
1.
Translation
a.
Notions of Translation
Translation has been defined in many ways by various scholars, depending
on their approaches in linguistics. One of the well-known translation definitions
comes from Catford (1965:20), who states that translation is the replacement of
textual material in one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another
language (TL). Catford’s definition of translation focuses on the equivalence
between SL and TL. It is in line with Savory (1968:37) who views that translation
is made possible by an equivalent of idea that lies behind its verbal expressions.
Meanwhile, Nida and Taber (1982: 12) also propose a definition that is closely
related to the previously mentioned views. They state that “translating consists in
reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the sourcelanguage message.”
On the other hand, Mc Guire (1980:2) states that translation is the
rendering of a source language (SL) text into the target language (TL) so as ensure
that (1) the surface meaning of the two will be approximately similar and (2) the
structures of the source language will be preserved a closely as possible but not so
closely that target language structures will be seriously distorted.
b. Types of Translation
Many scholars have defined translation in various ways. Furthermore,
there are also some classifications of translation types by some experts. Roman
9
Jakobson. (in Schulte and Biguenet, 1992:145) classifies translation into three
types which are put as follows:
1) Intralingual translation or rewording
Intralingual translation interprets verbal signs of language by means of
other signs in the same language. The expressions or texts are translated into
different expression or texts in the same language. Paraphrasing sentences,
simplifying a novel, and rendering poems into prose are some examples of
intralingual translation.
2) Interlingual translation or translation proper
Interlingual translation is an interpretation of verbal signs of language by
means of other languages; it can be bilingual or multilingual. Furthermore,
Interlingual translation can be seen in the translation of literary works into
different languages.
3) Intersemiotic translation or transmutation
Intersemiotic translation is an interpretation of verbal signs of language by
means of signs of non-verbal sign systems. It involves the use of signs or signals
to communicate. Intersemiotic translation can be applied in some systems such as
sign language or traffic signs.
c.
Translation Process
Translation process refers to the stages of translating in which the
translators proceed at translating something in practice in order to transfer the
10
meaning of the SL into the TL. Nida (1982:33) states that translation as a process
consists of three stages:
1) Analysis
Analysis is the first step in which the surface structure in ST is analyzed in
terms of linguistics such as grammatical relationship and the meaning of the
words and socio-cultural aspects.
2) Transfer
The transfer stage is when the analyzed material is transferred in the
memory of the translators from the SL into the TL.
3) Restructuring
Restructuring stage is the final step in which the transferred material is
restructured in order to make the final message acceptable in the receptor
language.
Nida’s process on translation can be seen in the following model:
Fig 1. Translation process by Nida (1982:33)
d. Translation Equivalence
In translation, equivalence plays an essential role. It is considered the most
powerful element that defines the precision and accuracy of a translation.
11
Newmark states that purpose of any translation should be to gain the equivalence,
or to produce the same effect as close as possible on the readership of the
translation as was obtained on the readership of the original (1988:48).
Equivalence is a procedure which “replicates the same situation as in the original,
whilst using completely different wording”. Moreover, it can maintain stylistic
impact of SL text in the TL text during the translation process (Vinay and
Dalbernet, 1995:342). Therefore, equivalence is essential for a translator when she
or he has to deal with semantic, socio-cultural, and grammatical differences in the
SL and the TL.
The translation process inevitably involves theory of equivalence. Nida
(1964:166) proposes that there are two types of equivalence that he classifies into
formal equivalence, which he later refers to as formal correspondence, and
dynamic equivalence.
1) Formal Correspondence
Formal correspondence focuses attention on the message itself, in both
form and content. Formal correspondence consists of a TL item which represents
the closest equivalent of a SL word or phrase. It requires the TL to be match as
closely as possible with the original SL. Therefore, formal correspondence’s
objective is to reach the “form” equivalence to the original.
2) Dynamic Equivalence
Dynamic equivalence is a translation procedure that aims at complete
naturalness of expression. In dynamic equivalence, the literal equivalence is not
the main objective since the translation equivalence is “dynamic” to the original.
12
2.
Culture-specific Terms
a.
Culture
Human beings cannot be separated from culture. In every society, culture
becomes their characteristic and identity that distinguish their way of life from the
others. Culture has various definitions as scholars explain it in different
perspectives. Newmark (1988:94) states that culture is “the way of life and its
manifestations that are peculiar to a community that uses a particular language as
its means of expression”. Meanwhile, Hofstede (1991:5) sees culture as “the
collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one
group or category of people from another”. Furthermore, Mulholland in Belshek
(2006:3) interprets culture as a set of shared and enduring meaning, values, and
beliefs that characterize national, ethnic, or other groups and orient their behavior.
The numerous definitions of culture indicate that it is a complex concept.
However, it can be summarized that culture is a system of knowledge shared
among a large group of people. Culture may also refer to ideas, beliefs, and
traditions that have been passed through generation within a group. It can also be
said that culture as way of life that reflects the identity of a certain group of
people.
b. Culture-specific Terms
Culture always affects the use of language in a particular group. As
Vermeer says, language is always part of a culture (Vermeer, 1989:222).
Moreover, as Newmark stated previously, every way of life and its manifestations
13
of a certain group can be peculiar to other groups. It can be said that each group
has its own particular culturally specific features in its language system.
The different culture patterns make cultural knowledge a major focus in
the translation department. Translators have been paid a lot of attention to this
subject. The main issues are those words or phrases bounded heavily into a certain
culture that are difficult to translate. In translation, these words and phrases are
called culture-specific terms.
Mona Baker, in her book entitled In Other Words: A Coursebook on
Translation, provides a concept on culture-specific terms.
The source-language word may express a concept which is totally
unknown in the target culture. The concept in question may be
abstract or concrete; it may relate to a religious belief, a social
custom, or even a type of food. Such concepts are often referred to as
„culture-specific’ (1992:21).
In line with Baker’s view, Aixelá proposes a more dynamic definition of
culture-specific terms. According to him, an item can be seen as culture-specific
only in relation to another language, in which that item is unknown or has a
different value. Culture-specific terms can also change their status over time
because objects, habits or values once restricted to one community can come to be
shared by others (Aixelá, 1996: 58).
Another translation theorist, Nord (1997:34), suggests an idea of culture
specific-terms which she mentions as „cultureme’. Cultureme refers to semiotic
units containing culture-specific ideas. Further, she defines cultureme as social
phenomenon of a culture X that is regarded as relevant by members of this
14
culture; and, when compared to a corresponding social phenomenon in a culture
Y, is found to be specific to culture X.
Based on the concepts above, culture-specific terms can be defined as
terms which refer to objects or concepts related to various aspects of culture.
Moreover, culture-specificity of the objects or concepts depends on the languages
and cultural distance between the SL and TL.
Newmark
(1988:
95-102),
adapting
Nida,
sets
comprehensive
classification of cultural categories as follows:
1) Ecology: Flora, fauna, winds, plains, hills. For example: „tundra’,
„honeysuckle’, and „paddy field’
2) Material culture
a) Food, for example: „zabaglione’, „sake’,
b) Clothes, for example: „anorak’, kanga, sarong
c) Houses and towns, for example: kampong, bourg, „chalet’
d) Transport, for example: cabriolet,’tilbury’, „Moulton’
3) Social culture: work and leisure. For example: ajaki amah, condotttere, sithar
4) Social organization
a) Political and administrative
b) Religious, for example: dharma, karma
c) Artistic
5) Gestures and habits, for example: „Cock a snook’, „spitting’
15
A different taxonomy of culture-specific terms comes from Gambier. He
categorizes culture-specific terms into six subtypes, which include system, food
and measurements, sport, institutions, famous people and events, and finally the
legal system (Gambier 2004: 160).
Furthermore, Espindola also comes up with
her own version of cultural terms categories. In her journal, she characterizes what
she calls “culture-bound terms” into 12 different categories. The categorization of
culture-specific terms according to Espindola is presented in the table 1 below. .
Table 1. Espindola’s Categorization of Culture-bound Words (Espindola,
2005:19)
Culture-bound terms categorization
A place name, a geographical name, a proper
Toponym
name of locality, region
Ordinary and famous people’s names and
Anthroponyms
nicknames and names referring to regional
background which acquires identification status.
Amusement including public performances and
Forms of entertainment
shows.
Facilities to move people or goods from one
Means of transportation
place to another.
Fictional character
A person in novel, play, or a film.
Rules of conduct inherent in human nature and
Legal system
essential to or binding upon
human society.
An organization that serves people in certain
Local Institution
area.
Units to determine size, weight, speed, length,
Measuring system
etc. of something in different culture.
Any solid or liquid substance used by human
Food and drink
beings as source of nourishment.
Scholastic reference
Related to school or studying
To do something special to mark a religious
Religious celebration
occasion.
User-related variation, which determines
Dialect
speaker’s status as regards social class, age, sex,
education, etc.
16
3.
Foreignization and Domestication
a.
Notions of Foreignization and Domestication
The word „strategy’ seems to share similar meaning with the words
technique, tactic, and method. In translation studies, a 'strategy' can be seen as
generalization about typical courses-of-action exhibited by professional
translators. (Neubert and Shreve, 1992:52). Many translator scholars use the term
„translation strategy’ widely, but they have different perspectives to distinguish it
in their own way.
Krings (1986:18) defines translation strategy as "translator's potentially
conscious plans for solving concrete translation problems in the framework of a
concrete translation task". Krings’ view on translation strategy is in line with
Loescher (1991:8), who views translation strategy as "a potentially conscious
procedure for solving a problem faced in translating a text, or any segment of it".
Many scholars may suggest different labels for translation strategies.
However, it is important to note that although they use different names, many
strategies denote the same strategy in translation process. In his work entitled The
Translator Invisibility, Venuti (1995:20) proposes two translation strategies which
he calls foreignization and domestication. Foreignization anoints the translation
type in which the target text “deliberately breaks target conventions by retaining
something of the foreignness of the original (Shuttleworth and Cowie, 1997:59). It
means that foreignizaton strategy allows the reader to feel the cultural differences.
In other hand, domestication is a strategy in which the target language uses
17
transparent and fluent style to minimize the strangeness of the foreign text for
target language readers (Venuti, in Baker, 1998a:240)
Foreignization is a translation strategy that invites readers to enter the
scope of foreign cultures. This strategy preserves the meaning of certain cultural
terms in the source text. Venuti states, foreignization should signify “the
difference of the foreign text, yet only by disrupting the cultural codes that prevail
in the target language.” (1995: 20)
In other hand, domestication strategy, according to Venuti (1995: 20),
involves „an ethnocentric reduction of the foreign text to target-language cultural
values’. He claims that domestication is a translation strategy that renders the
message and culture of the source language text into the target language text. The
purpose of this strategy is to minimize the foreignness and make the cultural terms
acceptable to the target language readers.
b. Categories of Foreignization and Domestication
Foreignization and domestication are two broad poles of strategies to
translate culture-specific terms. Translator scholars have classified different
translation procedures based on their foreignization and domestication nature.
Furthermore, Davies (2003: 72-89) suggests some translation procedures
of foreignization and domestication in dealing with culture-specific terms. In her
book, she mentions some translation procedures including preservation, addition,
omission, globalization, localization, and transformation.
1) Foreignization Categories
a)
Preservation
18
This strategy is used when the translators decide “to maintain the source
text term in the translation” (Davies, 2003:72). In this procedure, the original
word is unchanged. For example:
Datum 66
ST: Sekaliannya turunlah dari atas bendi, sambil membawa bekal masingmasing, lalu pergi ke pinggir sungai Arau, akan mencari sebuah
sampan tambangan, yang dapat membawa mereka ke seberang.
TT: They all jumped out of the cart, each carrying their provisions, and
went to the bank of the river in search of sampan to take them across.
b) Addition
This translation procedure occurs when translators preserve the original
word but supplement the text with whatever information considered necessary.
(Davies, 2003:77). This procedure can also be done by adding glossaries or
footnotes. For example:
Datum 112
ST: “Dari manakah datangnya waktu itu dan ke manakah perginya?
Adakah awalnya dan adakah akhimya? Wallahualam.”
TT: “And whence comes time and where does it go? Does it have a
beginning? An end?”
Glossary: Wallahualam: Allah alone knows the truth.
c) Literal Translation
19
Literal translation of a foreign word or phrase; it can be lexical or
structural. In this procedure, each element is translated literally. For example:
Datum 1
ST: “Anakmu kaumasukkan ke sekolah Belanda.”
TT: “You put your own child in the Dutch school.”
2) Domestication Categories
a) Omission
The translator omits the culture-specific term in the target text. For
example:
Datum 16
ST: “Engku muda, janganlah marah”
TT: “Please, don’t be angry with me.”
b) Globalization
Davies (2003:83) views globalization as the process of replacing culturespecific terms in more general references. For example:
Datum 12
ST: “…sebab tadi malam ia minta izin kepada ayahku, pergi menonton
komidi kuda”
TT: “Last night he asked my father if he could go see the circus.”
c)
Localization
It is the opposite of globalization procedure. It is when translators use
more specific terms “to anchor a reference firmly in the culture of the target
audience.” (Davies, 2003:83-84) For example:
20
Datum 174
ST: Bukankah terkadang-kadang seorang kuli, boleh merasa lebih senang
dan sentosa daripada seorang raja?
TT: Doesn't a coolie, from time to time, feel more content and at peace
than a king?
d) Transformation
Transformation strategy distorts the original meaning of the culturespecific terms by using totally different expressions. For example:
Datum 9
ST: Pada kedua belah cuping telinganya kelihatan subang perak.
TT: On each ear, a small polished diamond radiated the light of morning
dew.
4.
Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai
Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai is a novel written by Marah Rusli, an
Indonesian author. It is one of the pioneers of Indonesian literature. This novel
was firstly published by Balai Pustaka, the state owned publisher of the Dutch
East Indies in 1922.
Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai novel sets in Padang in the early 20th
century. This novel tells about a story of two lovers, Sitti Nurbaya and
Samsulbahri. The two teenagers love each other. One day, they are forced to
separate since Samsulbahri has to research in Batavia (Jakarta). However, they are
still in long distance relationship and keep in touch by sending letters.
21
Meanwhile, Datuk Meringgih is a trader who originated from a poor
family, and became rich as a result of shady business dealings. Jealous of Sitti
Nurbaya’s father, Baginda Sulaiman, Datuk Meringgih does whatever he can to
bankrupt him. Datuk Meringgih successes his plans and leave Baginda Sulaiman
with huge debt. Going bankrupt, Baginda Sulaiman cannot pay his huge debt to
Datuk Meringgih. Then, Datuk Meringgih asked Sitti Nurbaya as the substitute of
the debt. Unfortunately, Sitti Nurbaya must accept her fate as she was forced to
marry him, because she wants to save her father.
News has been spread and Samsulbahri hears it. He feels very angry about
the sly Datuk Meringgih. However, Sitti Nurbaya runs away from Padang to
Jakarta to be with Samsulbahri. Unfortunately, Datuk Meringgih’s servants get
Sitti Nurbaya and bring her to Padang. Afterwards, Datuk Meringgih poisons Sitti
Nurbaya to death. Samsulbahri is very furious to hear that. He promises to make
Datuk Meringgih pays.
Ten years later, Datuk Meringgih leads an uprising against Dutch
government to protest tax rising. During the uprising, Samsulbahri who is now a
Dutch soldier, meets Datuk Meringgih and kills him. Although he kills Datuk
Meringgih, he is badly wounded. After meeting with his father and asking for
forgiveness, he dies.
B. Previous Researches
Several studies on foreignization and domestication in translating culturespecific terms have been conducted by other researchers. Karjalainen (2014)
conducts a research entitled (Re)Visiting Retranslation Hypothesis: The Case Of
22
Mary Poppins. The research uses Finnish translated versions of Marry Poppins by
three different translators. In this research, she aims to identify translation
strategies and procedures to translate culture-specific terms in the Finnish
translations of Marry Poppins that may categorized as foreignization and
domestication.
Another research that shares relevant topic with this thesis is
Foreignization And Domestication Of Culture-Specific Terms In Sophie Kinsella’s
And Siska Yuanita’s I’ve Got Your Number Bilingual Translational Texts by
Heiditya Maharani (2014). The research describes the categories of culturespecific terms in Sophie Kinsella’s I’ve Got Your Number novel, the
foreignization and domestication strategies employed in the English version of
this novel. This research also explains the degree of meaning equivalence of the
translation of the culture-specific terms in the novel.
Both of the studies share related objectives to define the foreignization and
domestication strategies in translating culture-specific terms. Therefore, the
researcher finds both of the studies are useful to achieve the objectives of this
thesis.
C. Conceptual Framework
This research aims to analyze foreignization and domestication strategies
in translating culture-specific terms in Marah Rusli’s Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih tak
Sampai into George Fowler’s Sitti Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized. The research
focuses on investigating translation strategies used by the translators in translating
those culture-specific terms into their equivalent in English.
23
In this research, the researcher employs a basic translation theory proposed
by Jakobson (in Schulte and Biguenet, 1992:145). His theory explains three types
of translation: intralingual translation, interlingual translation, and intersemiotic
translation. Interlingual translation is the translation of verbal sign within the same
language. Moreover, interlingual translation represents translation of verbal signs
in different language. Interlingual translation can be separated into bilingual or
multilingual translation. Then, intersemiotic translation is translation of verbal
signs into nonverbal signs. This research belongs to interlingual translation,
specifically bilingual translation since it involves two different languages.
Furthermore, this research also employs Newmark’s (1988: 95-102)
cultural categories to classify the culture-specific terms found in the source text.
According to Newmark, there are five categories of culture-specific terms, namely
ecology, material culture, social culture, social organization, and gesture and
habit. However, the cultural-specific terms found within any form of poetry in the
novel are not discussed. It is because they are translated figuratively in different
form of expressions due to aesthetic and expressive values.
According to Newmark, ecology covers all geographical and ecological
features such as plains, hills, animals, plants, and so on (Newmark, 1988: 97). For
example, many countries have their own „local’ word to name plains such as
„prairies’, tundras’, „steppes’, and so on. In Bahasa Indonesia, there are some
terms such as sengkedan; which is a form of graduated terrace in mountains or
hills rice field farming. It is a common agriculture method employed in Indonesia
24
and other rice-consuming countries. It is a quite alien term in English culture and
sometimes it is translated to terraced rice field.
Meanwhile, material culture category is related to food, clothes, towns,
and so on. For example, wajik is translated into sweet rice cake. Since wajik is a
traditional Indonesian food, it is unlikely for the translator to find equivalent
meaning in English. Instead, s/he uses more general term such as rice cake.
Moreover, social culture briefly described as referring to work and leisure.
For example, the word gamelan, a kind of musical performance that is popular in
Javanese culture, is translated into orchestra in English.
Social organization involves political, administrative, religious, artistic,
and historical term. For example, in Bahasa Indonesia, there is a term ngaben,
which is Balinese religious funeral ceremony by burning the deceased. The
deceased will be placed as if s/he is sleeping, and the family will continue to treat
the deceased as if s/he is still sleeping. Since there is no such concept in English
culture, this term is generally defined as cremation ceremony or simply cremation.
Moreover, gestures and habits are explained as body movements that are
used to express an idea or feeling. Further, Newmark (1988:102) states that there
are different types of gestures which occur in some cultures and not in other; for
example, spit as blessing, and smile a little when someone dies. Another example
comes from Javanese culture that has a distinctive gesture called ngapurancang.
Javanese people do this gesture by standing with hands clasped before them to
express humility and respect to others. Since there is no such concept in English
culture, the term ngapurancang is sometimes translated into clasped hands.
25
In this research, the researcher employs foreignization and domestication
strategies suggested by Davies (2003:72-89). There are three foreignization
strategies including preservation, addition, and literal translation. Meanwhile, the
four domestication strategies used in research are omission, globalization,
localization, and transformation.
To rate the degree of meaning equivalence, the researcher adopts Bell’s
theory (1994:6). He states that text in different languages may be equivalent in
different degrees (fully or partially). Furthermore, the degree of equivalence
categories in this research can be seen as follows:
1) Equivalent
a)
Fully equivalent
The meanings from the source text are completely transferred into the
target text. This degree indicates optimal translation in which there is no loss in
meaning, for example:
Datum 52
ST: Anak muda ini memakai baju putih berkerawang, kain Palembang,
selop hitam, topi sutera hitam yang miring letaknya di atas kepalanya
TT: He wore a white lace shirt, a sarong in the Palembang style, black
slippers, and a black silk hat slightly tilted on his head.
b) Partly equivalent
The source text is partially rendered to the target text. The meaning can be
either increased or decreased, for example:
26
Datum 56
ST: … berbuat ibadat kepada Allah subhanahu wataala, bahwa subuh
telah ada.
TT: … perform their devotion to God the Most Holy and the Most High
that the time for the dawn prayer had arrived.
2) Non Equivalent
a)
Different meaning
The translators render the information within the source text with words
that have different meaning in the target text, for example:
Datum 196
ST: Diembangkan dan ditimbunlah liang kubur itu. Kemudian dibacakan
talkin.
TT: The grave covered over, and the final prayers and Confession of
Faith recited.
b) No meaning
Translator alters the information so that the expression in source text loses
all its meanings in the target text.
Datum 173
ST: Meskipun ananda insyaf dan mengakui sekalian kesalahan itu, tetapi
bukan ampunan atau hukuman yang enteng yang ananda peroleh.
TT: Even though I acknowledge those wrongs, I have received neither a
pardon nor a light sentence.
27
D. Analytical Construct
Translation
Intralingual
Interlingual
Intersemiotic
ST: Sitti Nurbaya:
Kasih Tak Sampai
Culture-specific Terms
in the ST
Ecology
TT: Sitti Nurbaya:
A Love Unrealized
Translation of Culture-specific
Terms in ST
Translation
Process
Translation
Strategies
Realization
Material
culture
Degree of
Meaning
Equivalence
Social
Culture
Social
organization
Foreignization
Strategies
Gesture and
habit
Preservation
Domestication
Strategies
Omission
Equivalent
Addition
Literal
Translation
NonEquivalent
Globalization
Fully
Equivalent
Different
Meaning
Localization
Transformation
Fig 2. Analytical Construct
Partly
Equivalent
No
Meaning
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHOD
This chapter explains the methods employed in the study. The chapter
consists of six sections. They are type of the research, data and sources of the
data, research instruments, data collection, data analysis, and trustworthiness. The
type of study is described and followed by the data and data sources. Then,
instruments of the research are explained. Data collection presents the techniques
used to collect the data. Further, data analysis sect
CULTURE-SPECIFIC TERMS IN MARAH RUSLI’S SITTI NURBAYA:
KASIH TAK SAMPAI INTO GEORGE FOWLER’S SITTI NURBAYA:
A LOVE UNREALIZED
A THESIS
Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Attainment of
a Sarjana Sastra Degree in English Literature
By:
Editya Eka Novridian
10211141042
ENGLISH LITERATURE STUDY PROGRAM
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
YOGYAKARTA STATE UNIVERSITY
2016
MOTTOS
“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is
being superior to your former self”
(Ernest Hemingway)
“If you think you can do a thing,
or think you can't do a thing,
you're right”
(Henry Ford)
v
DEDICATIONS
I dedicate this thesis to:
The late Bpk. Santuri and Ibu Yuliawati
vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
All praise be to Allah SWT, the God of all mankind, for the endless
mercies and blessings that always enlighten me and make it possible for me to
finish this thesis. This thesis cannot be completed without some help from
other people either, and therefore, my sincere gratitude is delivered to:
1. Drs. Suhaini M. Saleh, M.A., my first consultant, and Yosa Abduh
Alzuhdy, S.S., M.Hum, my second consultant, who have given me their
guidance, wisdom, and support;
2. The late Asih Sigit, M. Hum., my academic supervisor, who guided and
helped me through my academic years;
3. all the lecturers of the English Education Department of Yogyakarta
State University for their precious knowledge and support during my
study at the university;
4. my parents, the late Bpk. Santuri and Ibu Yuliawati for their
unconditional love, inspiration, and support day by day;
5. Koko and Ical, my triangulators, for their time, support, and hard work;
6. all my friends at the English Literature Study Program for the awesome
time through all these years;
7. all people, whom I cannot mention, who helped me finish this thesis.
Finishing this thesis would have been impossible without the assistance
from the afore-mentioned people. They have helped to keep my spirit high
during my period in conducting this thesis. Any suggestions and criticism are
obviously welcome to improve my thesis since it is far from being perfect.
However, I hope this thesis will give some contribution to the readers.
Yogyakarta, 2016
Editya Eka Novridian
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE
........................................................................................................... i
APPROVAL SHEET .................................................................................... ii
RATIFICATION SHEET ............................................................................. iii
SURAT PERNYATAAN .................................................................................. iv
MOTTOS ....................................................................................................... v
DEDICATIONS ............................................................................................. vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................. vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................... viii
LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................... xi
LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................... xii
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................... xiii
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION .................................................................... 1
A. Background of the Research ................................................................ 1
B. Focus of the Research .......................................................................... 3
C. Objectives of the Research .................................................................. 5
D. Significance of the Research ............................................................... 5
CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................... 7
A. Theoretical Review .............................................................................. 7
1. Translation .................................................................................... 8
a. Notions of Translation ............................................................. 8
b. Types of Translation ................................................................ 8
c. Translation Process .................................................................. 9
d. Translation Equivalence .......................................................... 10
2. Culture-specific Terms .................................................................. 12
a. Culture ..................................................................................... 12
b. Culture-specific Terms ............................................................ 12
viii
3. Foreignization and Domestication ................................................ 16
a. Notions of Foreignization and Domestication .......................... 16
b. Categories of Foreignization and Domestication ..................... 17
4. Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai Novel ........................................ 20
B. Previous Researches ............................................................................ 21
C. Conceptual Framework ........................................................................ 22
D. Analytical Construct ............................................................................ 27
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHOD ......................................................... 28
A. Type of the Research ........................................................................... 28
B. Data and Sources of the Data .............................................................. 29
C. Research Instruments ........................................................................... 29
D. Data Collection .................................................................................... 30
E. Data Analysis ....................................................................................... 30
F. Trustworthiness ................................................................................... 33
CHAPTER IV
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .......................................... 34
A. Findings ............................................................................................... 34
1.
The Culture-specific Term Categories in Marah Rusli’s Sitti
Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai ......................................................... 34
2. The Foreignization and Domestication Categories in Marah
Rusli’s Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai into George Fowler’s
Sitti Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized ................................................ 35
3. The Degree of Meaning Equivalence of Culture-Specific Terms
in Marah Rusli’s Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai into George
Fowler’s Sitti Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized .................................. 36
B. Discussion ........................................................................................... 37
1. The Description of Culture-specific Terms Types
in Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai into George Fowler’s Sitti
Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized ......................................................... 38
a. Ecology .................................................................................... 38
b. Material Culture ....................................................................... 40
ix
c. Social Culture .......................................................................... 42
d. Social Organization ................................................................ 44
e. Gesture and Habits ................................................................... 47
2. The Description of Foreignization and Domestication Strategies
in Translating Culture-specific Terms in Marah Rusli’s Sitti
Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai into George Fowler’s Sitti
Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized ........................................................ 48
a. Foreignization .......................................................................... 48
b. Domestication .......................................................................... 55
3. The Description of the Degree of Meaning Equivalence of
Culture-Specific Terms in Marah Rusli’s Sitti Nurbaya:
Kasih Tak Sampai into George Fowler’s Sitti Nurbaya: A Love
Unrealized ..................................................................................... 62
a. Equivalence ............................................................................. 62
b. Non-equivalence ...................................................................... 66
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS .............................. 71
A. Conclusions ......................................................................................... 71
B. Suggestions ......................................................................................... 72
REFERENCES ................................................................................................ 74
APPENDICES ................................................................................................ 77
x
LIST OF FIGURES
Page
Figure 1. Translation Process by Nida.............................................................10
Figure 2. Analytical Construct .........................................................................27
xi
LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table 1. Espindola’s Categorization of Culture-bound Words ...................... 15
Table 2. Data Sheet (Table of Analysis) ........................................................ 32
Table 3. The Occurrence of Culture-specific Terms in Marah Rusli’s Sitti
Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai ............................................................ 35
Table 4. The Frequency of Foreignization and Domestication Strategies
Employed in Marah Rusli’s Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai into
George Fowler’s Sitti Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized ........................ 36
Table 5. The Frequency of Degree of Meaning Equivalence in the
Translation of Culture-specific Terms in Marah Rusli’s Sitti
Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai into George Fowler’s Sitti
Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized ........................................................... 37
xii
FOREIGNIZATION AND DOMESTICATION OF
CULTURE-SPECIFIC TERMS IN MARAH RUSLI’S SITTI NURBAYA:
KASIH TAK SAMPAI INTO GEORGE FOWLER’S SITTI NURBAYA:
A LOVE UNREALIZED
By:
Editya Eka N
10211141042
ABSTRACT
The presence of cultural gaps leads to different culture-specific terms
that may cause some issues in translating process. Foreignization and
domestication are two types of strategies that can be employed to translate
culture-specific terms. The aims of this research are: (1) to describe the
categories of Indonesian culture-specific terms in the novel, (2) to describe how
foreignization and domestication strategies are represented in translating the
culture-specific terms, and (3) to describe the degree of meaning equivalence of
the culture-specific terms in Marah Rusli’s Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih tak Sampai
novel represented in George Fowler’s Sitti Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized.
The research employed mixed method of quantitative and qualitative
approaches. The data used for this research are culture-specific terms and their
translation found in Marah Rusli’s Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai into
George Fowler’s Sitti Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized. The main instrument is
represented by the researcher and the second instrument is the data sheet. In
addition, to gain trustworthiness of the data, triangulation method was applied.
There are three findings obtained from the study. Firstly, five categories
of culture-specific terms were identified: ecology, material culture, social
culture, social organization, and gesture and habits. Material culture terms have
the highest frequency with 66 terms (33.17%). Secondly, the researcher
identified three foreignization strategies used in translating the culture-specific
terms, they are preservation, addition, and literal translation. On the other hand,
there are four domestication strategies; they are omission, globalization,
localization, and transformation. It is revealed that 161 terms (80.90%) are
translated with domestication strategies. Thirdly, in terms of degree of meaning
equivalence, 184 terms (92.46%) are translated with equivalent meanings. The
domestication ideology seems to be used more frequently since the translator
tries to make the terms more familiar to the target readers.
Keywords: foreignization, domestication, culture-specific terms, Sitti Nurbaya:
Kasih Tak Sampai
xiii
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter consists of four parts, namely background of the research,
focus of the research, objective of the research, and significance of the research.
The background of the research describes brief information about the reason why
this research is conducted. Then, in the focus of the research, the problems are
formulated into specific questions. Furthermore, based on the formulation, the
objectives of the research are conducted. The objectives of the research are to
define the categories of culture-specific terms, to describe how foreignization and
domestication strategies are employed in translating culture-specific terms in Sitti
Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai into English and to describe the degree of meaning
equivalence represented in the target language. Finally, the significance of the
research describes the theoretical and practical benefits of this thesis.
A. Background of the Research
Communication has essential functions to deliver information. Language
as a means of communication is needed for the transmission of informative
messages in communication. As the world moves forward and develops, there are
increasing needs for communication. Moreover, with the fast development of
technology, people now live in an internationalized world where the contact to
foreign languages and cultures become much easier that it makes language
interaction growth is undeniable, especially on global communication such as
1
2
books, mass media, internet, etc. In this case, the language barrier and cultural
differences become some obstacles for individuals who speak different languages.
Translation, in recent times, has become an utterly important activity to
overcome linguistic and cultural barrier. In this increasingly globalized world, the
importance of translation grows along with the wide spread of information all
over the globe. Translation also becomes significant to enrich knowledge for
people around the world.
Translation process is not as simple as altering words from source
language to target language. In order to make a precise translation, it is very
important for a translator to understand general knowledge in the target language
as well as in the source language. They should also consider linguistic aspects
such as grammatical knowledge and vocabulary. Furthermore, a good translation
depends on how translator transferring information to be fit and equivalent in
meaning.
In intercultural communication, translation has crucial role to mediate the
two different cultures. However, words and phrases that are bounded to certain
culture often cause problems for translators. Translating cultural words is a
challenge for translators since they sometimes found difficulties to find the
equivalent terms. Furthermore, culture-specific terms are sometimes difficult to
translate since there are some differences in cultural ideology between one
country and another.
The translators should possess the ability to tackle the difficulties in
translating culture-specific terms. To reach precise culture-specific terms
3
translation, the translators also need some translating strategies to make the terms
equivalent and accepted in both languages. Foreignization and domestication are
two strategies that can help the translators to overcome the problems in
transferring the meaning of the culture-specific terms.
B. Focus of the Research
A novel is one of literary works that is helpful for people who study
translation. Since novel is a popular literary work and has a lot of authors as well
as readers, it is often translated into different languages. Translating literary
works, particularly novel, is more complicated than other texts. When translating
literary works such as novel, translators have to deal with many language issues
from source language, one of which is culture-specific term. Culture-specific
terms are often found in literary works since it is commonly bounded in certain
language system in wide variety of contexts.
In translating novels, culture differences are often inevitable. Certain word
or expression may refer to a concept that is completely different and unfamiliar to
one language and another. The translation of culture-specific terms in novel is a
real challenge for translators since they need to be familiar with both cultures
from the source language and the target language. Translators should be able to
find possibilities that include all the diversities of translation strategies to solve
the problems of translating culture-specific terms between languages
Translating culture-specific terms in novel needs some strategies in order
to gain precise translation. Foreignization and domestication are translation
strategies which provide linguistic and cultural guidance to accommodate the
4
translators to deal with culture-specific terms. Foreignization is a basic translation
strategy that retains foreignness of information from the source text.
Foreignization strategies allow the translators to preserve the meaning of cultural
terms in the target text. Domestication, on the other hand, is a translation strategy
that minimizes foreign elements of source text to the language cultural values.
Indonesia is a country with rich culture. The cultures from certain regions
in Indonesia are often represented in Indonesian novels. The representation of
culture in novel raises the probability of culture-specific terms being involved.
Many culture-specific terms are found in Indonesian novels. One of them is a
novel written by Rusli in 1922 entitled Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai. In 2011,
Fowler translated this novel with the title Sitti Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized. In
this research, the researcher tried to analyze the categories of culture specificterms found in the novel and how foreignization and domestication strategies are
used in translating them. In addition, the researcher also analyzed the degree of
meaning equivalence of the translation of culture specific terms found in the
novel.
Based on the problems identified above, the focus of the research can be
formulated as follows:
1.
What are the categories of culture-specific terms in Marah Rusli’s Sitti
Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai into George Fowler’s Sitti Nurbaya: A Love
Unrealized?
5
2.
How are the foreignization and domestication strategies of culture-specific
terms in Marah Rusli’s Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai into George
Fowler’s Sitti Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized?
3.
To what degree of meaning equivalence is the translation of culture-specific
terms in Marah Rusli’s Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai into George
Fowler’s Sitti Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized?
C. Objectives of the Research
From the formulation of the problems mentioned above, the objectives of
this research are:
1.
to describe the categories of culture-specific terms in Marah Rusli’s Sitti
Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai into George Fowler’s Sitti Nurbaya: A Love
Unrealized,
2.
to describe the foreignization and domestication strategies of culture-specific
terms represented in the Marah Rusli’s Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai into
George Fowler’s Sitti Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized, and
3.
to describe the degree of meaning equivalence in the translation of culturespecific terms in Marah Rusli’s Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai into George
Fowler’s Sitti Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized.
D. Significance of the Research
1.
Theoretical Benefit
6
This research can be a helpful reference for people who are studying or
teaching translation subject. Specifically, this research can give deeper
understanding about strategies in translating culture-specific terms.
2.
Practical Benefit
This research can provide better understanding for the readers of the novel,
especially in understanding culture-specific terms translation. This research
also can give useful insights to translators to translate culture-specific terms
appropriately. Furthermore, it can also provide references for other researcher
with the same study area.
CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter is segmented into four parts, i.e. theoretical descriptions,
previous studies, conceptual framework, and analytical construct. The theoretical
description covers the definition of translation, culture-specific terms,
foreignization and domestication, and summary of Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak
Sampai novel. The previous studies part describes brief explanation of studies
related to foreignization and domestication. The conceptual framework explains
the theories applied by the researcher, while the analytical construct provides a
hierarchical concept map of the theories employed in this thesis.
A. Theoretical Review
In order to achieve the objectives of the research, some theoretical
descriptions are required. In this part, the researcher discusses some theories
associated to the research. The theories presented in this chapter cover the topics
about translation, culture-specific terms, foreignization and domestication, and
meaning equivalence. Firstly, the theories related to translation proposed by
several translation scholars are mentioned. Secondly, the theories related to
culture-specific terms are included with brief explanations and some examples.
Then, several theories related to foreignization and domestication strategies are
presented.
7
8
1.
Translation
a.
Notions of Translation
Translation has been defined in many ways by various scholars, depending
on their approaches in linguistics. One of the well-known translation definitions
comes from Catford (1965:20), who states that translation is the replacement of
textual material in one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another
language (TL). Catford’s definition of translation focuses on the equivalence
between SL and TL. It is in line with Savory (1968:37) who views that translation
is made possible by an equivalent of idea that lies behind its verbal expressions.
Meanwhile, Nida and Taber (1982: 12) also propose a definition that is closely
related to the previously mentioned views. They state that “translating consists in
reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the sourcelanguage message.”
On the other hand, Mc Guire (1980:2) states that translation is the
rendering of a source language (SL) text into the target language (TL) so as ensure
that (1) the surface meaning of the two will be approximately similar and (2) the
structures of the source language will be preserved a closely as possible but not so
closely that target language structures will be seriously distorted.
b. Types of Translation
Many scholars have defined translation in various ways. Furthermore,
there are also some classifications of translation types by some experts. Roman
9
Jakobson. (in Schulte and Biguenet, 1992:145) classifies translation into three
types which are put as follows:
1) Intralingual translation or rewording
Intralingual translation interprets verbal signs of language by means of
other signs in the same language. The expressions or texts are translated into
different expression or texts in the same language. Paraphrasing sentences,
simplifying a novel, and rendering poems into prose are some examples of
intralingual translation.
2) Interlingual translation or translation proper
Interlingual translation is an interpretation of verbal signs of language by
means of other languages; it can be bilingual or multilingual. Furthermore,
Interlingual translation can be seen in the translation of literary works into
different languages.
3) Intersemiotic translation or transmutation
Intersemiotic translation is an interpretation of verbal signs of language by
means of signs of non-verbal sign systems. It involves the use of signs or signals
to communicate. Intersemiotic translation can be applied in some systems such as
sign language or traffic signs.
c.
Translation Process
Translation process refers to the stages of translating in which the
translators proceed at translating something in practice in order to transfer the
10
meaning of the SL into the TL. Nida (1982:33) states that translation as a process
consists of three stages:
1) Analysis
Analysis is the first step in which the surface structure in ST is analyzed in
terms of linguistics such as grammatical relationship and the meaning of the
words and socio-cultural aspects.
2) Transfer
The transfer stage is when the analyzed material is transferred in the
memory of the translators from the SL into the TL.
3) Restructuring
Restructuring stage is the final step in which the transferred material is
restructured in order to make the final message acceptable in the receptor
language.
Nida’s process on translation can be seen in the following model:
Fig 1. Translation process by Nida (1982:33)
d. Translation Equivalence
In translation, equivalence plays an essential role. It is considered the most
powerful element that defines the precision and accuracy of a translation.
11
Newmark states that purpose of any translation should be to gain the equivalence,
or to produce the same effect as close as possible on the readership of the
translation as was obtained on the readership of the original (1988:48).
Equivalence is a procedure which “replicates the same situation as in the original,
whilst using completely different wording”. Moreover, it can maintain stylistic
impact of SL text in the TL text during the translation process (Vinay and
Dalbernet, 1995:342). Therefore, equivalence is essential for a translator when she
or he has to deal with semantic, socio-cultural, and grammatical differences in the
SL and the TL.
The translation process inevitably involves theory of equivalence. Nida
(1964:166) proposes that there are two types of equivalence that he classifies into
formal equivalence, which he later refers to as formal correspondence, and
dynamic equivalence.
1) Formal Correspondence
Formal correspondence focuses attention on the message itself, in both
form and content. Formal correspondence consists of a TL item which represents
the closest equivalent of a SL word or phrase. It requires the TL to be match as
closely as possible with the original SL. Therefore, formal correspondence’s
objective is to reach the “form” equivalence to the original.
2) Dynamic Equivalence
Dynamic equivalence is a translation procedure that aims at complete
naturalness of expression. In dynamic equivalence, the literal equivalence is not
the main objective since the translation equivalence is “dynamic” to the original.
12
2.
Culture-specific Terms
a.
Culture
Human beings cannot be separated from culture. In every society, culture
becomes their characteristic and identity that distinguish their way of life from the
others. Culture has various definitions as scholars explain it in different
perspectives. Newmark (1988:94) states that culture is “the way of life and its
manifestations that are peculiar to a community that uses a particular language as
its means of expression”. Meanwhile, Hofstede (1991:5) sees culture as “the
collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one
group or category of people from another”. Furthermore, Mulholland in Belshek
(2006:3) interprets culture as a set of shared and enduring meaning, values, and
beliefs that characterize national, ethnic, or other groups and orient their behavior.
The numerous definitions of culture indicate that it is a complex concept.
However, it can be summarized that culture is a system of knowledge shared
among a large group of people. Culture may also refer to ideas, beliefs, and
traditions that have been passed through generation within a group. It can also be
said that culture as way of life that reflects the identity of a certain group of
people.
b. Culture-specific Terms
Culture always affects the use of language in a particular group. As
Vermeer says, language is always part of a culture (Vermeer, 1989:222).
Moreover, as Newmark stated previously, every way of life and its manifestations
13
of a certain group can be peculiar to other groups. It can be said that each group
has its own particular culturally specific features in its language system.
The different culture patterns make cultural knowledge a major focus in
the translation department. Translators have been paid a lot of attention to this
subject. The main issues are those words or phrases bounded heavily into a certain
culture that are difficult to translate. In translation, these words and phrases are
called culture-specific terms.
Mona Baker, in her book entitled In Other Words: A Coursebook on
Translation, provides a concept on culture-specific terms.
The source-language word may express a concept which is totally
unknown in the target culture. The concept in question may be
abstract or concrete; it may relate to a religious belief, a social
custom, or even a type of food. Such concepts are often referred to as
„culture-specific’ (1992:21).
In line with Baker’s view, Aixelá proposes a more dynamic definition of
culture-specific terms. According to him, an item can be seen as culture-specific
only in relation to another language, in which that item is unknown or has a
different value. Culture-specific terms can also change their status over time
because objects, habits or values once restricted to one community can come to be
shared by others (Aixelá, 1996: 58).
Another translation theorist, Nord (1997:34), suggests an idea of culture
specific-terms which she mentions as „cultureme’. Cultureme refers to semiotic
units containing culture-specific ideas. Further, she defines cultureme as social
phenomenon of a culture X that is regarded as relevant by members of this
14
culture; and, when compared to a corresponding social phenomenon in a culture
Y, is found to be specific to culture X.
Based on the concepts above, culture-specific terms can be defined as
terms which refer to objects or concepts related to various aspects of culture.
Moreover, culture-specificity of the objects or concepts depends on the languages
and cultural distance between the SL and TL.
Newmark
(1988:
95-102),
adapting
Nida,
sets
comprehensive
classification of cultural categories as follows:
1) Ecology: Flora, fauna, winds, plains, hills. For example: „tundra’,
„honeysuckle’, and „paddy field’
2) Material culture
a) Food, for example: „zabaglione’, „sake’,
b) Clothes, for example: „anorak’, kanga, sarong
c) Houses and towns, for example: kampong, bourg, „chalet’
d) Transport, for example: cabriolet,’tilbury’, „Moulton’
3) Social culture: work and leisure. For example: ajaki amah, condotttere, sithar
4) Social organization
a) Political and administrative
b) Religious, for example: dharma, karma
c) Artistic
5) Gestures and habits, for example: „Cock a snook’, „spitting’
15
A different taxonomy of culture-specific terms comes from Gambier. He
categorizes culture-specific terms into six subtypes, which include system, food
and measurements, sport, institutions, famous people and events, and finally the
legal system (Gambier 2004: 160).
Furthermore, Espindola also comes up with
her own version of cultural terms categories. In her journal, she characterizes what
she calls “culture-bound terms” into 12 different categories. The categorization of
culture-specific terms according to Espindola is presented in the table 1 below. .
Table 1. Espindola’s Categorization of Culture-bound Words (Espindola,
2005:19)
Culture-bound terms categorization
A place name, a geographical name, a proper
Toponym
name of locality, region
Ordinary and famous people’s names and
Anthroponyms
nicknames and names referring to regional
background which acquires identification status.
Amusement including public performances and
Forms of entertainment
shows.
Facilities to move people or goods from one
Means of transportation
place to another.
Fictional character
A person in novel, play, or a film.
Rules of conduct inherent in human nature and
Legal system
essential to or binding upon
human society.
An organization that serves people in certain
Local Institution
area.
Units to determine size, weight, speed, length,
Measuring system
etc. of something in different culture.
Any solid or liquid substance used by human
Food and drink
beings as source of nourishment.
Scholastic reference
Related to school or studying
To do something special to mark a religious
Religious celebration
occasion.
User-related variation, which determines
Dialect
speaker’s status as regards social class, age, sex,
education, etc.
16
3.
Foreignization and Domestication
a.
Notions of Foreignization and Domestication
The word „strategy’ seems to share similar meaning with the words
technique, tactic, and method. In translation studies, a 'strategy' can be seen as
generalization about typical courses-of-action exhibited by professional
translators. (Neubert and Shreve, 1992:52). Many translator scholars use the term
„translation strategy’ widely, but they have different perspectives to distinguish it
in their own way.
Krings (1986:18) defines translation strategy as "translator's potentially
conscious plans for solving concrete translation problems in the framework of a
concrete translation task". Krings’ view on translation strategy is in line with
Loescher (1991:8), who views translation strategy as "a potentially conscious
procedure for solving a problem faced in translating a text, or any segment of it".
Many scholars may suggest different labels for translation strategies.
However, it is important to note that although they use different names, many
strategies denote the same strategy in translation process. In his work entitled The
Translator Invisibility, Venuti (1995:20) proposes two translation strategies which
he calls foreignization and domestication. Foreignization anoints the translation
type in which the target text “deliberately breaks target conventions by retaining
something of the foreignness of the original (Shuttleworth and Cowie, 1997:59). It
means that foreignizaton strategy allows the reader to feel the cultural differences.
In other hand, domestication is a strategy in which the target language uses
17
transparent and fluent style to minimize the strangeness of the foreign text for
target language readers (Venuti, in Baker, 1998a:240)
Foreignization is a translation strategy that invites readers to enter the
scope of foreign cultures. This strategy preserves the meaning of certain cultural
terms in the source text. Venuti states, foreignization should signify “the
difference of the foreign text, yet only by disrupting the cultural codes that prevail
in the target language.” (1995: 20)
In other hand, domestication strategy, according to Venuti (1995: 20),
involves „an ethnocentric reduction of the foreign text to target-language cultural
values’. He claims that domestication is a translation strategy that renders the
message and culture of the source language text into the target language text. The
purpose of this strategy is to minimize the foreignness and make the cultural terms
acceptable to the target language readers.
b. Categories of Foreignization and Domestication
Foreignization and domestication are two broad poles of strategies to
translate culture-specific terms. Translator scholars have classified different
translation procedures based on their foreignization and domestication nature.
Furthermore, Davies (2003: 72-89) suggests some translation procedures
of foreignization and domestication in dealing with culture-specific terms. In her
book, she mentions some translation procedures including preservation, addition,
omission, globalization, localization, and transformation.
1) Foreignization Categories
a)
Preservation
18
This strategy is used when the translators decide “to maintain the source
text term in the translation” (Davies, 2003:72). In this procedure, the original
word is unchanged. For example:
Datum 66
ST: Sekaliannya turunlah dari atas bendi, sambil membawa bekal masingmasing, lalu pergi ke pinggir sungai Arau, akan mencari sebuah
sampan tambangan, yang dapat membawa mereka ke seberang.
TT: They all jumped out of the cart, each carrying their provisions, and
went to the bank of the river in search of sampan to take them across.
b) Addition
This translation procedure occurs when translators preserve the original
word but supplement the text with whatever information considered necessary.
(Davies, 2003:77). This procedure can also be done by adding glossaries or
footnotes. For example:
Datum 112
ST: “Dari manakah datangnya waktu itu dan ke manakah perginya?
Adakah awalnya dan adakah akhimya? Wallahualam.”
TT: “And whence comes time and where does it go? Does it have a
beginning? An end?”
Glossary: Wallahualam: Allah alone knows the truth.
c) Literal Translation
19
Literal translation of a foreign word or phrase; it can be lexical or
structural. In this procedure, each element is translated literally. For example:
Datum 1
ST: “Anakmu kaumasukkan ke sekolah Belanda.”
TT: “You put your own child in the Dutch school.”
2) Domestication Categories
a) Omission
The translator omits the culture-specific term in the target text. For
example:
Datum 16
ST: “Engku muda, janganlah marah”
TT: “Please, don’t be angry with me.”
b) Globalization
Davies (2003:83) views globalization as the process of replacing culturespecific terms in more general references. For example:
Datum 12
ST: “…sebab tadi malam ia minta izin kepada ayahku, pergi menonton
komidi kuda”
TT: “Last night he asked my father if he could go see the circus.”
c)
Localization
It is the opposite of globalization procedure. It is when translators use
more specific terms “to anchor a reference firmly in the culture of the target
audience.” (Davies, 2003:83-84) For example:
20
Datum 174
ST: Bukankah terkadang-kadang seorang kuli, boleh merasa lebih senang
dan sentosa daripada seorang raja?
TT: Doesn't a coolie, from time to time, feel more content and at peace
than a king?
d) Transformation
Transformation strategy distorts the original meaning of the culturespecific terms by using totally different expressions. For example:
Datum 9
ST: Pada kedua belah cuping telinganya kelihatan subang perak.
TT: On each ear, a small polished diamond radiated the light of morning
dew.
4.
Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai
Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai is a novel written by Marah Rusli, an
Indonesian author. It is one of the pioneers of Indonesian literature. This novel
was firstly published by Balai Pustaka, the state owned publisher of the Dutch
East Indies in 1922.
Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih Tak Sampai novel sets in Padang in the early 20th
century. This novel tells about a story of two lovers, Sitti Nurbaya and
Samsulbahri. The two teenagers love each other. One day, they are forced to
separate since Samsulbahri has to research in Batavia (Jakarta). However, they are
still in long distance relationship and keep in touch by sending letters.
21
Meanwhile, Datuk Meringgih is a trader who originated from a poor
family, and became rich as a result of shady business dealings. Jealous of Sitti
Nurbaya’s father, Baginda Sulaiman, Datuk Meringgih does whatever he can to
bankrupt him. Datuk Meringgih successes his plans and leave Baginda Sulaiman
with huge debt. Going bankrupt, Baginda Sulaiman cannot pay his huge debt to
Datuk Meringgih. Then, Datuk Meringgih asked Sitti Nurbaya as the substitute of
the debt. Unfortunately, Sitti Nurbaya must accept her fate as she was forced to
marry him, because she wants to save her father.
News has been spread and Samsulbahri hears it. He feels very angry about
the sly Datuk Meringgih. However, Sitti Nurbaya runs away from Padang to
Jakarta to be with Samsulbahri. Unfortunately, Datuk Meringgih’s servants get
Sitti Nurbaya and bring her to Padang. Afterwards, Datuk Meringgih poisons Sitti
Nurbaya to death. Samsulbahri is very furious to hear that. He promises to make
Datuk Meringgih pays.
Ten years later, Datuk Meringgih leads an uprising against Dutch
government to protest tax rising. During the uprising, Samsulbahri who is now a
Dutch soldier, meets Datuk Meringgih and kills him. Although he kills Datuk
Meringgih, he is badly wounded. After meeting with his father and asking for
forgiveness, he dies.
B. Previous Researches
Several studies on foreignization and domestication in translating culturespecific terms have been conducted by other researchers. Karjalainen (2014)
conducts a research entitled (Re)Visiting Retranslation Hypothesis: The Case Of
22
Mary Poppins. The research uses Finnish translated versions of Marry Poppins by
three different translators. In this research, she aims to identify translation
strategies and procedures to translate culture-specific terms in the Finnish
translations of Marry Poppins that may categorized as foreignization and
domestication.
Another research that shares relevant topic with this thesis is
Foreignization And Domestication Of Culture-Specific Terms In Sophie Kinsella’s
And Siska Yuanita’s I’ve Got Your Number Bilingual Translational Texts by
Heiditya Maharani (2014). The research describes the categories of culturespecific terms in Sophie Kinsella’s I’ve Got Your Number novel, the
foreignization and domestication strategies employed in the English version of
this novel. This research also explains the degree of meaning equivalence of the
translation of the culture-specific terms in the novel.
Both of the studies share related objectives to define the foreignization and
domestication strategies in translating culture-specific terms. Therefore, the
researcher finds both of the studies are useful to achieve the objectives of this
thesis.
C. Conceptual Framework
This research aims to analyze foreignization and domestication strategies
in translating culture-specific terms in Marah Rusli’s Sitti Nurbaya: Kasih tak
Sampai into George Fowler’s Sitti Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized. The research
focuses on investigating translation strategies used by the translators in translating
those culture-specific terms into their equivalent in English.
23
In this research, the researcher employs a basic translation theory proposed
by Jakobson (in Schulte and Biguenet, 1992:145). His theory explains three types
of translation: intralingual translation, interlingual translation, and intersemiotic
translation. Interlingual translation is the translation of verbal sign within the same
language. Moreover, interlingual translation represents translation of verbal signs
in different language. Interlingual translation can be separated into bilingual or
multilingual translation. Then, intersemiotic translation is translation of verbal
signs into nonverbal signs. This research belongs to interlingual translation,
specifically bilingual translation since it involves two different languages.
Furthermore, this research also employs Newmark’s (1988: 95-102)
cultural categories to classify the culture-specific terms found in the source text.
According to Newmark, there are five categories of culture-specific terms, namely
ecology, material culture, social culture, social organization, and gesture and
habit. However, the cultural-specific terms found within any form of poetry in the
novel are not discussed. It is because they are translated figuratively in different
form of expressions due to aesthetic and expressive values.
According to Newmark, ecology covers all geographical and ecological
features such as plains, hills, animals, plants, and so on (Newmark, 1988: 97). For
example, many countries have their own „local’ word to name plains such as
„prairies’, tundras’, „steppes’, and so on. In Bahasa Indonesia, there are some
terms such as sengkedan; which is a form of graduated terrace in mountains or
hills rice field farming. It is a common agriculture method employed in Indonesia
24
and other rice-consuming countries. It is a quite alien term in English culture and
sometimes it is translated to terraced rice field.
Meanwhile, material culture category is related to food, clothes, towns,
and so on. For example, wajik is translated into sweet rice cake. Since wajik is a
traditional Indonesian food, it is unlikely for the translator to find equivalent
meaning in English. Instead, s/he uses more general term such as rice cake.
Moreover, social culture briefly described as referring to work and leisure.
For example, the word gamelan, a kind of musical performance that is popular in
Javanese culture, is translated into orchestra in English.
Social organization involves political, administrative, religious, artistic,
and historical term. For example, in Bahasa Indonesia, there is a term ngaben,
which is Balinese religious funeral ceremony by burning the deceased. The
deceased will be placed as if s/he is sleeping, and the family will continue to treat
the deceased as if s/he is still sleeping. Since there is no such concept in English
culture, this term is generally defined as cremation ceremony or simply cremation.
Moreover, gestures and habits are explained as body movements that are
used to express an idea or feeling. Further, Newmark (1988:102) states that there
are different types of gestures which occur in some cultures and not in other; for
example, spit as blessing, and smile a little when someone dies. Another example
comes from Javanese culture that has a distinctive gesture called ngapurancang.
Javanese people do this gesture by standing with hands clasped before them to
express humility and respect to others. Since there is no such concept in English
culture, the term ngapurancang is sometimes translated into clasped hands.
25
In this research, the researcher employs foreignization and domestication
strategies suggested by Davies (2003:72-89). There are three foreignization
strategies including preservation, addition, and literal translation. Meanwhile, the
four domestication strategies used in research are omission, globalization,
localization, and transformation.
To rate the degree of meaning equivalence, the researcher adopts Bell’s
theory (1994:6). He states that text in different languages may be equivalent in
different degrees (fully or partially). Furthermore, the degree of equivalence
categories in this research can be seen as follows:
1) Equivalent
a)
Fully equivalent
The meanings from the source text are completely transferred into the
target text. This degree indicates optimal translation in which there is no loss in
meaning, for example:
Datum 52
ST: Anak muda ini memakai baju putih berkerawang, kain Palembang,
selop hitam, topi sutera hitam yang miring letaknya di atas kepalanya
TT: He wore a white lace shirt, a sarong in the Palembang style, black
slippers, and a black silk hat slightly tilted on his head.
b) Partly equivalent
The source text is partially rendered to the target text. The meaning can be
either increased or decreased, for example:
26
Datum 56
ST: … berbuat ibadat kepada Allah subhanahu wataala, bahwa subuh
telah ada.
TT: … perform their devotion to God the Most Holy and the Most High
that the time for the dawn prayer had arrived.
2) Non Equivalent
a)
Different meaning
The translators render the information within the source text with words
that have different meaning in the target text, for example:
Datum 196
ST: Diembangkan dan ditimbunlah liang kubur itu. Kemudian dibacakan
talkin.
TT: The grave covered over, and the final prayers and Confession of
Faith recited.
b) No meaning
Translator alters the information so that the expression in source text loses
all its meanings in the target text.
Datum 173
ST: Meskipun ananda insyaf dan mengakui sekalian kesalahan itu, tetapi
bukan ampunan atau hukuman yang enteng yang ananda peroleh.
TT: Even though I acknowledge those wrongs, I have received neither a
pardon nor a light sentence.
27
D. Analytical Construct
Translation
Intralingual
Interlingual
Intersemiotic
ST: Sitti Nurbaya:
Kasih Tak Sampai
Culture-specific Terms
in the ST
Ecology
TT: Sitti Nurbaya:
A Love Unrealized
Translation of Culture-specific
Terms in ST
Translation
Process
Translation
Strategies
Realization
Material
culture
Degree of
Meaning
Equivalence
Social
Culture
Social
organization
Foreignization
Strategies
Gesture and
habit
Preservation
Domestication
Strategies
Omission
Equivalent
Addition
Literal
Translation
NonEquivalent
Globalization
Fully
Equivalent
Different
Meaning
Localization
Transformation
Fig 2. Analytical Construct
Partly
Equivalent
No
Meaning
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHOD
This chapter explains the methods employed in the study. The chapter
consists of six sections. They are type of the research, data and sources of the
data, research instruments, data collection, data analysis, and trustworthiness. The
type of study is described and followed by the data and data sources. Then,
instruments of the research are explained. Data collection presents the techniques
used to collect the data. Further, data analysis sect