PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED IN TRANSLATING INDONESIAN PROVERBS INTO ENGLISH.

(1)

PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED IN TRANSLATING INDONESIAN PROVERBS INTO ENGLISH

A Thesis

Submitted to the English Applied Linguistics Study Program In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

Magister Humaniora

DEWI WULANDARI Registration Number 8126112009

ENGLISH APPLIED LINGUISTICS STUDY PROGRAM

POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL

STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN

2014

(2)

PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED IN TRANSLATING INDONESIAN PROVERBS INTO ENGLISH

A Thesis

Submitted to the English Applied Linguistics Study Program In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

Magister Humaniora

DEWI WULANDARI Registration Number 8126112009

ENGLISH APPLIED LINGUISTICS STUDY PROGRAM

POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL

STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN

2014

(3)

(4)

(5)

ABSTRACT

DEWI WULANDARI. Problems Encountered in Translating Indonesian Proverbs into English. Postgraduate School of the State University of Medan. 2014.

This study aims to find out the problems that the students encounter in translation Indonesian proverbs into English. Error analysis was used to analyze the data in this study. The result of the students’ translation considered as the primary data and the result of interview was as the secondary data. There were 50 Indonesian proverbs which consist of 10 Maxims, 10 Sayings, 10 Parable, 10 Idioms and 10 Slogan. Cultural problem was the most problems in translating Indonesian proverbs into English. The problem occurred because the students translated the proverbs literally and could not find the equivalence of the Indonesian proverbs in English. Therefore, it is suggested for the students to master grammatical and linguistic competence to overcome the translation problems.

(6)

ABSTRAK

DEWI WULANDARI. NIM : 8126112009. Problems Encountered in Translating Indonesian Proverbs into English. Program Studi Linguistik Terapan Bahasa Inggris, Program Pascasarjana, Universitas Negeri Medan 2014.

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui masalah yang dihadapi oleh mahasiswa dalam menerjemahkan peribahasa bahasa Indonesia kedalam bahasa Inggris. Analisis kesalahan digunakan untuk menganalisis data dalam penelitian. Hasil terjemahan mahasiswa merupakan data utama dan hasil interview adalah data kedua. Ada 50 peribahasa Indonesia yang terdiri dari 10 Bidalan, 10 Pepatah, 10 Perumpamaan, 10 Simpulan dan 10 Pameo. Masalah budaya merupakan masalah yang paling dominan dalam menerjemahkan peribahasa bahasa Indonesia kedalam bahasa Inggris. Masalah terjadi dikarenakan mahasiswa-mahasiswa menerjemahkan peribahasa secara literal dan tidak dapat menemukan persamaan persamaan peribahasa bahasa Indonesia kedalam bahasa Inggris. Oleh karena itu diharapkan mahasiwa menguasai kompetensi bahasa dan budaya untuk mengatasi masalah dalam penerjemahan.

(7)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

A very deepest gratitude is primarily expressed to Allah SWT for all blessings and Mercy that have enabled the writer to finish writing this thesis. It is also impossible to be finished without guidance and the help of many people. Foremost, the writer would like to express her sincere gratitude to her advisers Dr. Syahron Lubis, M.A and Dr. Zainuddin, M.Hum, for the continuous support, patience, motivation, and suggestions so that the writer could finish this thesis.

Then, the writer would like to thank Prof. Busmin Gurning, M.Pd as the Head of English Applied Linguistics Study Program and his secretary, Dr. Sri Minda Murni, M.S, and all the lecturers that have given me encouragement and a lot of experience and knowledge.

Also, the writer thanks to Prof. Amrin Saragih, M.A, Ph.D, Dr. Didik Santoso, M.Pd and Dr. Sri Minda Murni, M.S as the examiners for the valuable suggestions that have shaped up this thesis.

And for all my classmates who always support me to finish this thesis, especially for Lasyuli Simbolon and Hijri Rizki. Thanks a lot for all favor that you gave to the writer. The writer wishes that our friendship will be ever lasting. Best friend forever.

Last, the writer would like to express deep thankful to her lovely parents, Anwar S and Rabiah, my brother and my sisters who have given spirit in my live and helped me in all situation.

(8)

At the end the writer would like express appreciation to her beloved husband, Aulia Rahman, S.T who always encourages the writer to finish this thesis as soon as possible.

Thank you for all love and attention that have been given to the writer.

May Allah SWT always blessed. Amin ya robbal ‘alamin.

Medan, Juli 2014 The writer,

(9)

Page

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………... i

ABSTRACT ………... iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ………... v

LIST OF TABLES ………. vii

LIST OF APPENDICES ………... viii

CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION ……… 1

1.1 Background of the Study………... 1

1.2 The Problems of the Study ……..………… 5

1.3 The Objectives of the Study……….... 5

1.4 The Scope of the Study ………..…………. 5

1.5 The Significance of the Study…………... 6

CHAPTER II : REVIEW LITERATURE ... 8

2.1 Translation Problem ………..……… 8

2.2 Indonesian Proverbs …...………... 13

2.2.1 The Function of Indonesian Proverb... 15

2.2.2 The Types of Indonesian Proverbs…… 17

2.3 The Previous Studies……….. 21

CHAPTER III : RESEARCH METHOD ………... 26

3.1 Research Design ……… 26

3.2 Subject of the Study ………... 27

3.1 Data and Data Source ……… 27

3.4 Technique of Data Elicitation and Data Collection 27 3.5 Technique of Data Analysis ………... 28

3.6 Trustworthiness ………... 29

CHAPTER IV : DATA ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 31 4.1 Data Analysis ……….…... 31

4.1.1 Maxim………..… 32

4.1.2 Saying……….. ………... 38

4.1.3 Parable ….………... 43

4.1.4 Idiom …….………. 47

(10)

4. 2 Research Findings ……… 56

4.3 Discussion ……….… 57

CHAPTER V : CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 59

5.1 Conclusion ………..,… 61

5.2 Suggestions ……….…. 61

REFERENCES ……… 63

(11)

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE Page

4.1 The result of Students’ Translation of Maxim 32

4.2 The result of Students’ Translation of Saying 39

4.3 The result of Students’ Translation of Parable 43

4.4 The result of Students’ Translation of idiom 47

4.5 The result of Students’ Translation of Slogan 50

(12)

LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDICES Page

Appendix 1 The Result of Students’ Translation of Maxim 67 Appendix 2 The Result of Students’ Translation of Saying 71 Appendix 3 The Result of Students’ Translation of Parable 74 Appendix 4 The Result of Students’ Translation of Idiom 77 Appendix 5 The Result of Students’ Translation of Slogan 79

(13)

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Translation is the process of turning an original or source text into a target text which the purpose of translation is to produce a readable and comprehensible text for readerships. Newmark (1988: 5) states that translation is used as a means of communication. As a means of communication, translation is used for multilingual notices. For instance, translation is used for instructions issued by exporting companies; for tourist publicity; for official documents; for reports, papers, articles, textbooks to convey information. In brief, translation is used in every branch of knowledge.

Therefore, it is important for the students to master the translation particularly someone who are interested in working as a translator or interpreter. As a translator, someone has a responsibility to produce a good and comprehensible translation which could be understood well by the readerships. For producing a good or the best translation, there are three requirements which are required by a translator.

The first requirement is the use of the normal language forms of the target language in translation. The use of normal language forms in translation will make easier to readerships for understanding the translation. The second one is the communicative translation. A communicative translation is easy to understand by the readership due to the simple language used not monotone language. Then the last is the maintenance of the dynamic of the original of the Source Language text.

(14)

It means that the translation is presented in such a way that the translation will evoke the same response as the source text attempted to evoke.

Although the three requirements have been fulfilled, there is a situation where a translator has a difficulty to translate a text, particularly a text which contains some cultural expressions. This difficulty will become a serious problem for a translator. Moreover, if the aspects of target language are immensely different from the aspects of source language such semantics, phonology, morphology, syntax and pragmatics.

The difference aspects from the source language to a target language caused frequently by the translation equivalence. It is not rare that the translation equivalence will become the problems in the incomprehensible translations. The case occurs in translating cultural expressions from Indonesian as the national language of the Republic of Indonesia into English which has role as an international language. To translate the cultural expressions from Indonesian to English is not an easy work. Moreover, Indonesia is famous for its variety of ethnic groups which has many cultures. The cultures influence Indonesian people whether consciously or unconsciously and automatically also influence the process of cultural expressions translation from Indonesian into English.

One of Indonesian cultural expressions is proverbs. In Indonesia, proverbs are believed to contain the wisdom of the elders or ancestors in the society because proverbs often evolve from traditional lore, history and religion.

Ashipu (2007:521) views proverbs as a dominant means of communication in the unlettered culture and are quoted constantly when folks engage in a discourse. It means that proverbs are used as means of communication

(15)

in a discourse by folks who have unlettered culture. Meanwhile, the folks consider that the use of proverbs is the best way to express the feeling or the desire such as quipping someone.

Therefore, it can be concluded that proverbs are not only wise sayings, but also a medium which is considered to be able to express the feeling or the desire.

Though proverbs can be used as a medium to express the feeling or desire and constitutes cultural expressions and also taught at schools, but it is not an easy work to translate proverbs as the cultural expressions. Frequently, students fail to translate the proverbs from the source language to a target language. Based on the data obtained which comprises of ten proverbs translated, it was found that seven proverbs were not translated into to the English ones. Here are the proverbs which had been translated by the students:

1. Tak kenal maka tak sayang. 2. Ada udang dibalik batu.

3. Dimana langit dipijak, disitu langit dijunjung. 4. Habis gelap terbitlah terang.

5. Malas pangkal miskin.

6. Sekali mendayung dua tiga pulau terlampaui. 7. Nasi sudah menjadi bubur.

8. Air susu dibalas dengan air tuba.

9. Karena nila setitik rusak susu sebelanga. 10. Air cucuran atap jatuhnya ke pelimpahan juga.

(16)

The result of data shows that only three proverbs which were translated well. The proverbs are:

- Tak kenal maka tak sayang. (unknown, unloved)

- Dimana langit dipijak, disitu langit dijunjung. (When you are in Rome, act like Roman)

- Nasi sudah menjadi bubur. (No use to cry over the split milk).

The rest, seven proverbs were not translated by the students. There is not a certain reason why the students can not translate the proverbs.

Meanwhile, Dweik and Suleiman (2013) conducted a research about “Problems Encountered in Translating Cultural Expressions from Arabic into English”. This research aimed at investigating the problems that Jordanian graduate students majoring in the English language faced when translating culture–bound expressions. The results of the research revealed that graduate students encounter different kinds of problems when translating cultural expressions. These problems are mostly related to: 1) unfamiliarity with cultural expressions 2) failure to achieve the equivalence in the second language, 3) ambiguity of some cultural expressions, 4) lack of knowledge of translation techniques and translation strategies.

Based on the previous study, researcher conducts a research to entitled “Problems Encountered in Translating Indonesian Proverbs into English”. This study aims to find out the problems that the students of English Applied Linguistics Program encounter in translating Indonesian proverbs into English.

(17)

1.2 The Problems of the Study

The problems of the study are formulated as the following:

1. What are the problems that students encounter in translating Indonesian proverbs into English?

2. How do students’ problems occur in translating Indonesian proverbs into English?

3. Why do the problems occur in translating Indonesian proverbs into English?

1.3 The Objectives of the Study

In accordance with the problems of the study, the objectives of the study are: 1. to find out the problems that students encounter in Indonesian proverbs into

English.

2. to find out how the students’ problems occur in translating Indonesian proverbs into English

3. to find out why the problems occur in translating Indonesian proverbs into English.

1.4 The Scope of the Study

The scope of the study focuses on the problems which are encountered by the Postgraduate students of State University of Medan who attend the course of Translation Studies 1 in translating appropriate proverbs of Indonesian and English. The researcher also wants to find out how the problems occur in translating Indonesian proverbs into English and also to find out why the problems occur in translating Indonesian proverbs into English. There are fifty

(18)

Indonesian proverbs are used as the data of the study which comprises ten of maxim, ten of sayings, ten of parable, ten of idioms and ten of slogans.

1.5 The Significance of the Study

The findings of the study are expected to be relevant and significant theoretically and practically. The findings could give the contribution to all readers for those who are concerned with this field. In the following significances of the study are stated theoretically and practically.

a. Theoretically

Theoretically, the usefulness of the findings is described as the following. 1. The students can enrich their knowledge about translation particularly in

translating Indonesian Proverb into English.

2. The study improves the implication of translation theories from source language to the target language

b. Practically

Practically the usefulness of the findings is the following.

1. By knowing the translation problems, it is expected for the translators will learn more about proverbs so that the translators will not find the problems in translating the Indonesian proverbs into English.

2. For the students, the study encourages and motivates them to be a good translator particularly in translating proverbs from the source language to a target language.

(19)

3. For the lecturers and teachers, the study can give contribution to the translation course, particularly at Postgraduate program of State University of Medan

(20)

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

5.1 Conclusions

After analyzing the data, the conclusions are drawn as the following: 1. The problems that students encounter in translating Indonesian proverbs into

English are linguistic and cultural problems. Linguistic problems occurred when the students put the wrong lexical word or meaning to translate the Indonesian proverbs into English.

2. The students’ problems occur when the students found the difficulty in translating Indonesian proverbs into English. The students could not find the equivalence of the Indonesian proverbs in English so that the students translated the Indonesian proverbs literally.

3. The problems occur in translating Indonesian proverbs into English due to the lack of knowledge about proverbs. The students could not find the equivalence of the Indonesian proverbs in English because the students did not memorize all the proverbs

5.2 Suggestions

In relation to the conclusions, suggestions are stated as the following: (1) For Students

It is advised that the students should master three competences namely grammatical and linguistic competence both in English and Indonesian. And also the students know well the text which will be translated.

(21)

(2) For Lecturers

It is suggested that lecturers help the students to overcome the translation problems by providing the text which not only concern to the linguistic aspects but also concern to cultural aspects.

(3) For Researchers

It is recommended that the next researchers find the translation strategy, translation method and translation technique which can be used to overcome the translation problems.

(22)

REFERENCES

Ahmed, Al-Nakhalah.(2006). Tenses Difficulties That Face Students of English in Bell, Roger T. (1991). Translation and Translating: Theory and Practice (Applied

Linguistics and Language Study. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data: London.

Benerdi. (2010). Proverbs in Bahasa Gayo and Their Usage in Society. Syiah Kuala University

Bogdan, Robert & Biklen, Sari Knopp. (1982). Qualitative research for education: An introduction to theory and methods. Boston.

Brislin, R.W. (1976). Translation: Application and Research. New York: Garden Press, Inc.

Budick, Sanford .(1996). The Translatability of Cultures. Standford University Press. California

Catford, J. (2004). A Linguistic Theory of Translation: an Essay on Applied Linguistics. Moscow: Editorial URSS; Russian.

Chaer, Abdul. 1994. Linguistic Umum. Jakarta: Rineka Cipta

Chen, Y.P. (2005). A Comparative Study of Yan Fu and Newmark’s translation theories from perspective of modes of thinking. Journal of Shijiazhuang Teachers Colleges, 7(5). 89- 92.

Christoph, Antons. (2009). "What is "Traditional Cultural Expression?" International Definitions And Their Application in Developing Asia".WI PO Journal. Convention for the safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage. Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD. Accessed on September 25, 2013

(23)

Chung-ling Shih. (2013).“Subjectivity Identification: A Case Study of Chinese-to-English Translation of Hakka Proverbs”. International Journal of English Linguistics; Vol. 3, No. 5. Canadian Center of Science and Education. Retrieved from: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v3n5p38

Duff, Alan. (1989). Translation. Oxford University Press.

Dweik, Bader and Maisa Suleiman. (2013). “Problems Encountered in Translating Cultural Expressions from Arabic”. Department of English, Middle East University, Amman, Jordan. Retrieved from:

http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v3n5p47

Gan, H.Y. ( 2005). On Under Translation and Overtranslation and the shunning Strategy. Journal of Huaihua University.

Grzybek, Peter. 1994. "Proverb." Simple Forms: An Encyclopaedia of Simple Text-Types in Lore and Literature. Ed.Walter Koch. Bochum: Brockmeyer. Gutt. (1991). Translation and Relevance: Cognition and Context. Oxford

Hatim, Basil and Ian Mason. (1990). Discourse and The Translator. Pearson Education

Honeck, Richard P. (1997): A Proverb in Mind: The Cognitive Science of Proverbial Wit and Wisdom

Hosny, Khalid M. (2010). Journal Pattern Recognition Letters archive. Volume 31 Issue 7

Korzeniowska, Aniela. (2005). Successful Polish-English Translation; Wydawn. Naukowe PWN. University of Virginia

Larson, Mildred L. (1984).Meaning-based translation: A guide to cross-language equivalence. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.

(24)

Lincoln, YS. & Guba, EG. (1985). Naturalistic Inquiry. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

Long, Karen J. (2004). Unit of Analysis. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods. Retrieved from:

http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412950589

Lubis, Syahron. (2013). “Collocation as Source of Translation Unacceptabilty: Indonesian Students’ Experiences. International Journal of English Linguistics. Canadian Center of Science and Education. Retrieved from: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v3n5p20

Mieder, Wolfgang. (1993). Proverbs Are Never Out of Season: Popular Wisdom in the Modern Age. New York: Oxford UP.

Miles, M. B& Huberman, A. M. (1984). Qualitative Data Analysis: A Sourcebook of New Methods. California; SAGE publications Inc.

Nasroen, M. (1967). Falsafah Indonesia (Indonesian Philosophy). Jakarta: Penerbit Bulan Bintang

Newmark, Peter. (1988). A Textbook of Translation. Prentice-Hall International Nord, Christiane. (1997). Translating as a purposeful activity: functionalist

approaches explained. Universitas Michigan.

Ordudari, Mahmoud . (2007). Translation Journal: Translation Procedures, Strategies and Methods. Volume 11, No. 3

Palestinian Universities While translating from English to Arabic- A Case Study of Al-Quds. Open University. Retrieved from:

(25)

Shariati, Mohammad. ( 2012). A Comparative Study of Proverbs’ Characteristics of Mesopotamian Language, and a Local Dialect of Persian. Vol. 2, No. 2; April 2012. International Journal of English Linguistics. Retrieved from: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v2n2p141.

Simpson, John and Jennifer Speake. (2009). The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs. Oxford University Press.

Taylor, Archer. (1931). The Proverbs. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP.

Torop, Peeter. (2002). Translation as Translating as Culture. Sign Systems Studies 30. Deptartment of Semiotics. University of Tartu. Estonia

Trianto, Agus. (2006). Pasti Bisa: Pembahasan Tuntas Kompetensi Bahasa Indonesia. Jakarta. Erlangga.

Venuti, Lawrence. (1994). The Translator's Invisibility. Routledge.

Wajidi, Farid. (1993). Analisis Isi: Pengantar Teori dan Metodologi. Jakarta. Rajawali Pers.

Zakhir, Marouane Zakhir. (2008). Translation Procedures. University of Soultan Moulay Slimane, Morocco.