The study on cultural untranslatability : the accuracy, the acceptability, and the translation strategies in translating The Joy Luck Club into Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan - USD Repository

  

THE STUDY ON CULTURAL UNTRANSLATABILITY:

THE ACCURACY, THE ACCEPTABILITY, AND

THE TRANSLATION STRATEGIES IN TRANSLATING

THE JOY LUCK CLUB INTO

PERKUMPULAN KEBAHAGIAAN DAN KEBERUNTUNGAN

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

  

Nur Indah

  Student Number: 044214130

  

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

  

THE STUDY ON CULTURAL UNTRANSLATABILITY:

THE ACCURACY, THE ACCEPTABILITY, AND

THE TRANSLATION STRATEGIES IN TRANSLATING

THE JOY LUCK CLUB INTO

PERKUMPULAN KEBAHAGIAAN DAN KEBERUNTUNGAN

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

  

Nur Indah

  Student Number: 044214130

  

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

  Newton and the apple, Freud and anxiety, Jung and dreams, Piaget and his children,

Darwin and Galapagos tortoises,

Marx and England factories,

  Whyne and street corners, What are you obsessed with?

  

I dedicated

This Undergraduate Thesis to

My late Dad

  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  First and foremost, I would like to start by thanking Heavenly and Gracious Father for this day and the blessings He has bestowed upon me.

  Secondly, I would like to thank my wonderful family. Mom and Dad, thank you so much for your constant love and support. Dad, you are right I can make it, Mom I can never repay what you have done for me, and my dear Li sisters, it has been a pleasure to growing up with you.

  Thirdly, I am very grateful to have Harris Hermasyah S., S.S., M.Hum. as my advisor for helping this possible with the advice, guidance, and invaluable counsel. Fourthly, I would like to sincerely thank Dra. Bernardine Ria Lestari, M.S., my co-advisor, for her corrections and suggestion on the stage of this thesis writing. I also wish to express my appreciation and special thanks to all of English Letters lecturers and the staff in all these years.

  Fifthly, a special thanks must be given to Nopi (thank you for being so understand and remaining such a true friend, I hope our friendship will remain the same), my wonderful and helpful friends Hilda, Reena, Ayu, Lucia, Vina, and Nita (thanks for being my best friend), and students of English Letters 2004, especially D class. Finally, to anyone I can not mention here, sorry and thank you.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  b. Cultural Equivalent ........................................................................... 18

  D. R ESEARCH F RAMEWORK ............................................................................ 21

  C. T HEORETICAL F RAMEWORK ....................................................................... 20

  h. Omission ........................................................................................... 20 i. Modulation ........................................................................................ 20

  g. Addition ............................................................................................ 19

  f. Reduction and Expansion.................................................................. 19

  e. Official Translation ........................................................................... 19

  d. Synonym ........................................................................................... 19

  c. Descriptive Equivalent ...................................................................... 18

  a. Borrowing ......................................................................................... 18

  TITLE PAGE ........................................................................................................ I APPROVAL PAGE .............................................................................................II ACCEPTANCE PAGE ...................................................................................... III

  5. Translation Strategies................................................................................ 17

  4. Cultural Translation .................................................................................. 14

  3. Problems in Translation ............................................................................ 11

  2. Criteria of a Good Translation .................................................................. 10

  1. Definition of Translation............................................................................. 9

  CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION....................................................................... 1 A. B ACKGROUND OF THE STUDY ....................................................................... 1 B. P ROBLEM F ORMULATION ............................................................................. 4 C. O BJECTIVES OF THE S TUDY .......................................................................... 4 D. D EFINITION OF T ERMS ................................................................................. 5 CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW...................................................... 7 A. R EVIEW OF R ELATED S TUDIES ...................................................................... 7 B. R EVIEW OF R ELATED T HEORIES .................................................................... 9

  STATEMENT PAGE ..........................................................................................V DEDICATION PAGE........................................................................................ VI ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................. VII TABLE OF CONTENTS.................................................................................VIII ABSTRACT.........................................................................................................X ABSTRAK ......................................................................................................... XI

  MOTTO PAGE .................................................................................................. IV

  CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY ................................................................ 22 A. O BJECT OF THE S TUDY .................................................................................. 22 B. M ETHOD OF THE S TUDY ................................................................................ 22 C. R ESEARCH P ROCEDURE ................................................................................. 23

  2. Data Collection ......................................................................................... 25

  3. Data Analysis ............................................................................................ 25

  CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS

  ............................................................................. 28

  A. T HE T RANSLATION A CCURACY ..................................................................... 29

  B. T HE T RANSLATION A CCEPTABILITY AND C ULTURAL B ACKGROUND

  I NFLUENCE ......................................................................................................... 38

  1. The Joy Luck Club Translation Acceptability........................................... 38

  2. Cultural Background Influence ................................................................. 45

  C. T HE T RANSLATION S TRATEGIES AND

  I TS P OSSIBLE

  I NFLUENCE TO THE T RANSLATION A CCEPTABILITY .......................................................................... 47

  1. The Joy Luck Club Translation Strategies ................................................ 47

  a. Borrowing.............................................................................................. 47 i. Transliteration .................................................................................... 48 ii. Naturalization.................................................................................... 50 b. Cultural Equivalent ............................................................................... 50

  c. The Combination of Descriptive Equivalent and Transliteration Strategy ..................................................................................................... 51

  d. Synonym ............................................................................................... 52

  e. Addition................................................................................................. 53

  2. The Possible Influence of Translation Strategy on the Translation Acceptability ................................................................................................. 55

  CHAPTER V CONCLUSION

  ........................................................................ 58

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  ............................................................................................ 61

  APPENDICES

  .................................................................................................. 64

  PPENDIX

  IST OF ENTENCES WHICH OLD HINESE ULTURAL ONCEPT

  A 1: L S H C C C

  64 PPENDIX CCURACY UESTIONAIRE A 2: A Q ........................................................... 66

  PPENDIX CCEPTABILITY UESTIONAIRE

  A 3: A Q .................................................... 71

  PPENDIX ATA OF ABULATION CCEPTABILITY

  A 5: D T (A ) ..................................... 75

  

PPENDIX ATA OF ABULATION ESPONDENTS WITH HINESE ULTURAL

  A 6: D T (R C C

  ACKGROUND S CCEPTABILITY

  B ’ A ) ..................................................................... 76

  PPENDIX ATA OF ABULATION ESPONDENTS WITH ON HINESE

  A 7: D T (R N C

  ULTURAL ACKGROUND S CCEPTABILITY

  C B ’ A ) ................................................... 77

  

ABSTRACT

  Nur Indah. The Study on Cultural Untranslatability: The Accuracy, the

  

Acceptability, and the Translation Strategies in Translating The Joy Luck

Club into Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan. Yogyakarta:

Department of English Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2008.

  This undergraduate thesis is about cultural untranslatability found in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club and its translation version, Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan

  

dan Keberuntungan. In this literary work, there are many expressions which hold

  Chinese cultural concept and they need to be translated to allow the target readers who have totally different culture understand the whole context in the story. In this case, the translation quality in terms of the accuracy and the acceptability is an important factor to identify how these Chinese terms are translated. In dealing with the problem of cultural untranslatability, the translation strategies are other important aspects for a translation to be accepted without difficulties by the target readers with the minimum loss of meaning implied in the SL.

  There are three problems analyzed in this undergraduate thesis. The first problem is how accurate the Chinese expressions in The Joy Luck Club are translated in Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan. The second problem is how the readers’ cultural background affects the acceptability of the Chinese expressions in Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan. The last problem is how the translation strategy applied influences the acceptability of the Chinese expressions in Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan.

  The method used in this study is the combination of library and field research. The method of library research is used to find out the applied translation strategies by collecting theories and concept to support the study, while the field research is used to find out the accuracy and the acceptability of the translation by spreading questionnaires to find the readers’ response toward the translation.

  There are 18 expressions with cultural untranslatability found in The Joy

  

Luck Club. The first result found in the analysis is the translation accuracy which

  is 80 % accurate. Based on Nababan’s accuracy rating instrument, this result indicates that the content of the SL sentences is accurately conveyed in the TL sentence. The sentence as the result of translation is understood clearly by assessor but there are needs of rewriting and word rearranging (Setiajid, 2007: 10). The second result is that the grade of translation acceptability given by respondent with Chinese cultural background (67.5 %) is lower than the one given by respondents with non Chinese cultural background (75 %). The third result is the ways of translating cultural untranslatability that show the application of translation strategies. They are borrowing, cultural equivalent, the combination of descriptive equivalent and transliteration, synonym, and addition. As the result from comparing two frequent uses of translation strategies (borrowing and addition) with its translation acceptability scores, the use of translation strategy

  

ABSTRAK

  Nur Indah. The Study on Cultural Untranslatability: The Accuracy, the

  

Acceptability, and the Translation Strategies in Translating The Joy Luck

Club into Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan. Yogyakarta: Jurusan

Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, University Sanata Dharma, 2008.

  Skripsi ini membahas tentang cultural untranlatability yang ditemukan dalam The Joy Luck Club karya Amy Tan dan versi terjemahannya, Perkumpulan

  

Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan. Dalam karya sastra ini, terdapat banyak

  ungkapan yang bermuatan konsep budaya Cina dan ungkapan-ungkapan ini perlu diterjemahkan supaya pembaca sasaran yang latar budayanya yang berbeda sama sekali memahami keseluruhan konteks di dalam cerita. Dalam hal ini, kualitas terjemahan dalam hal keakuratan dan keberterimaan adalah faktor penting untuk mengetahui bagaimana istilah-istilah bahasa Cina ini diterjemahkan. Dalam menangani masalah cultural untranlatability, strategi-strategi penterjemahan merupakan aspek penting lain dari terjemahan agar bisa diterima tanpa kesulitan oleh pembaca sasaran dengan kehilangan makna yang minimal pada Bsu.

  Terdapat 3 masalah yang dibahas dalam skripsi ini. Masalah pertama adalah seberapa akurat ungkapan-ungkapan bahasa Cina dalam The Joy Luck Club diterjemahkan dalam Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan. Masalah kedua adalah bagaimana latar budaya pembaca mempengaruhi keberterimaan ungkapan-ungkapan bahasa Cina dalam Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan

  

Keberuntungan. Masalah terakhir adalah bagaimana strategi penterjemahn yang

  diterapkan mempengaruhi keberterimaan ungkapan-ungkapan bahasa Cina dalam Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan.

  Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah gabungan dari penelitian perpustakaan dan penelitian lapangan. Metode penelitian perpustakaan digunakan untuk mengetahui strategi penterjemahan yang diterapkan dengan mengumpulkan teori dan konsep untuk mendukung penelitian, sedangkan penelitian lapangan digunakan untuk mengetahui keakuratan dan keberterimaan dengan menyebarkan kuesioner untuk mencari respon pembaca terhadap terjemahan.

  Terdapat 18 ungkapan dengan cultural untranslatability yang ditemukan dalam The Joy Luck Club. Hasil pertama yang diperoleh dalam analisis adalah keakuratan terjemahan yakni 80 % akurat. Berdasarkan skala dan indikator kualitas terjemahan versi Nababan, hasil ini mengindikasikan bahwa isi kalimat Bsu secara akurat tersampaikan ke dalam kalimat Bsa. Kalimat hasil terjemahan bisa dengan jelas dipahami oleh penilai, tetapi penulisan kembali dan perubahan susunan kata diperlukan (Setiajid, 2007:10). Hasil kedua yang diperoleh adalah tingkat keberterimaan terjemahan yang diberikan oleh responden dengan latar budaya Cina (67.5 %) lebih rendah dari tingkat keberterimaan yang diberikan oleh responden dengan latar budaya selain Cina. Hasil ketiga yang diperoleh yaitu membandingkan dua strategi penterjemahan yang sering digunakan (pungutan dan penambahan) dengan skor keberterimaan terjemahannya, pengunaan strategi penterjemahan mempengaruhi perolehan keberterimaan terjemahan. Persentase keberterimaan terjemahan dari penerapan strategi penambahan (70 %) lebih tinggi dari persentase keberterimaan terjemahan dari penerapan strategi pungutan (67.5 %).

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the study In many book stores or libraries, it is easy to find novels, popular books,

  scientific books, comics, magazines and other types of readings, which have been translated from English into Indonesian as the result of the need of learning about technology, economics, politics, culture and other subjects from foreign countries. In this case, translation holds an important role for communication.

  However, some problems start to arise in the practice of translation. One of them is cultural differences (Larson, 1984:137). Each language is influenced by the culture in the place where it is spoken. Therefore, there will be some words in the source language (SL), especially words related to cultural differences that have no equivalence to the target language (TL). The Chinese word, Tao for example, can not be translated easily even by using a long explanation. This is called cultural untranslatability.

  On the other hand, a text’s job is to communicate all information including the culture values that may appear in order to allow people exchange information with other societies who have different cultures and languages. This can be a big deal if some terms in the SL can not be easily translated into the TL. The target readers will misunderstand with the given information, especially about cultural back from the grave”. Marketers quickly launched a new translation, Baishi Kele, literally meaning “One Hundred Things to be Happy About”. (Robinson, 1997: 223)

  In dealing with the problem on cultural untranslatability, some strategies may be applied so the translation can be accepted without difficulties by the TL readers with the minimum loss of meaning implied in the SL. Some terms related to cultural differences, although have been translated into the TL using some translation strategies, may be confusing for those who have different culture because of the low accuracy in a translation. Related to the accuracy of a translation, then there comes a question, is the translation acceptable in the TL? A text may be accurate in its meanings but at the same time it may not be accepted by readers because the text is hard to be understood by the readers. These three aspects (the accuracy, the acceptability, and strategies applied by the translator) are very important in the practice of translation considering the fact that the misunderstanding of certain cultural values may give a bad impression of certain culture to the target readers.

  From many literary works, Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club is chosen in particular because this novel is a work of popular literature which is produced by the society. It communicates many values in it, especially cultural values. Its story is dominated by Chinese culture because it explores the clash between Chinese culture and American culture. Many expressions uttered in the novel may be difficult to translate because they hold cultural concepts that can only be aspect of the plot. This can be a big deal for a translator to transfer the messages from the SL into the TL, in this case Indonesian, as many Chinese terms used to present the story may be confusing for target readers who have different culture, although those terms have been translated into Indonesia.

  Here, the translation strategies applied, the accuracy and acceptability in translating the cultural untranslatability are chosen as the focus of the study because analyzing these three aspects can be a worthwhile challenge considering the fact that one of the most difficult problem found in translation is cultural difference.

  The Joy Luck Club is an interesting book. This novel offers a unique story

  of old world versus modern American visions. It describes the lives of four Chinese mothers and their daughters. The barriers that exist between the mothers and the daughters are often due to their inability to communicate with one another. Although the daughters know some Chinese words and the mothers speak some English, communication often becomes a matter of translation which often leads them to misunderstandings. Here, translation is not only holding important role of communication in tranferring meanings, but it is also becoming the power of the story. Consequently, translator should be careful in translating both Chinese concepts and American concepts brought by characters throughout the book.

  There are a lot of similar books which are still written in English. The translation of such books will be useful for more Indonesian people because such books would deliver many other values that are important to be learnt. The consideration in cultural translation and it can be a reference for other translators who are interested in translating similar books.

  Due to the facts above, the researcher is interested to discuss the Chinese expressions found in the work The Joy Luck Club written by Amy Tan and how they are translated in Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan.

B. Problem Formulation

  1. How accurate are the Chinese expressions in The Joy Luck Club translated in

  Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan?

  2. How does the readers’ cultural background affect the acceptability of the Chinese expressions in Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan?

  3. How does the translation strategy applied influence the acceptability of the Chinese expressions in Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan?

C. Objectives of the Study

  This study aims at exploring the translation problem on untranslatabilty because of cultural differences between the source language and the target language. By using Tan’s The Joy Luck Club, which has been translated into

  

Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan, as the example of English to

  Indonesian translation product, this study tries firstly to find out how accurate the Chinese expressions in The Joy Luck Club, which are culturally problematic to translate are translated in Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan.

  Chinese expressions in Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan. Thirdly, how the translation strategy applied influences the acceptability of the Chinese expressions in Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan.

D. Definition of Terms The following exaplanations might help readers to get into the discussion. Cultural Untranslatability

  J.C. Catford in A Linguistic Theory of Translation mentions the term ‘cultural untranslatability’ to describe translation failure which is due to the absence of the SL situational feature which is relevant in the TL culture. In other words cultural untranslatability is cultural terms or expressions that are difficult to be translated without something missing from the original message and addition to the target text.

  Accuracy

  Accuracy refers to preserving the meaning of the original text. The term accuracy is essentially synonymous with the term faithfulness, A translation which is accurate is faithful to the intended meaning of the original author. A translation can be accurate, at least in a commonly used sense of the term.

  Acceptability

  Hatim in his book Teaching and Researching Translation defines acceptability in a simplest way as text receiver’s response (2001:117). In the same book, Toury suggest another definition. According to him acceptability is a function of the adherence to those norms and conventions (both linguistic-textual and literary-aesthetic) which operate in the target system (2007:147).

  Translation Strategies Strategies are also known as shifts or procedures or techniques.

  Suryawinata and Hariyanto in their book “Translation” define translation strategy as a tactic of translator for translating words, phrases or a sentence (2003:67).

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies A study comes from Nababan who tries to explore translation as a process

  in relation to exploitation of given strategies and how those strategies have impact on the quality of the resulting translation (2007: 202). In his research, Nababan finds out that there is interplay between the process, the strategies and the product. Strategies to increase readability are used consistently by producing more paragraphs and less complex sentences. He also finds out that readability and accuracy of translation are two distinct outcomes and may not be balanced (2007: 213-214).

  A similar study about translation strategies is also done by Wulandari and Setiajid. They discuss the translation strategies used in translating Burung-burung

  

Manyar into the Weaverbirds, a novel by Y.B. Mangunwijaya, where there are

  many Javanese expressions having no English equivalent (2007: 57). As the result, they find out that the strategies used by the translator to translate Burung-

  

burung Manyar into English are translation by a more general word, by cultural

  substitution, by using a loan-word plus explanation, by paraphrase using unrelated/related words, and by omission (2007:67).

  According to Angela Loo Siang Yen, human translator may be armed with provided with a dictionary. In her study English to Japanese—to What Extent Can

  

Translation Be Accurate? She discusses the simulation of a computer by a

  translator who is "pre-programmed" with standard Japanese grammatical rules and structures, notwithstanding the fact that she does not possess the proficiency to deal with exceptional cases or idiomatic phrases. Her conclusions demonstrate that the intricacies of languages do not allow for perfect translation. The translated sentences would have to be as close in meaning to the English idiom as possible. Such is perhaps one of the best forms of translation that translators could hope to achieve for MT or machine translation (www.accurapid.com).

  Another study focuses on criterion for assessing the acceptability or even the quality of a translation done by the native speaker of the TL (Pokorn, 2005: ix). As the findings, it is stated that native English speakers are not always able to identify inverse translations. The assumption that every native speaker is able to rapidly detect any non-member of his/her linguistic community, when confronted only with a written document, has no solid foundation. On the other hand, translations into a non-mother tongue are often regarded as acceptable by the target readership, with the degree of acceptability depending on the individual capacities of the translator'' (2005: 117).

  Meanwhile, Jordi Mas López, who studies on how Japanese humor can be expressed within the context of Catalan culture in translating Japanese Anime into Catalan, finds out that in the dubbing process, the priority is given to acceptability in the target language, rather than to faithfulness to the original text. This is done entertainment: they expect to sit in front of the TV and enjoy a coherent, realistic story with easy-flowing dialogue (www.translationdirectory.com).

  Based on the explanation previously, it can be classified that this study will develop other studies that have been studied before. If other studies merely focus on one problem translation, whether it is the strategies used in translating or the accuracy of a translation or the acceptability of a translation, on the other hand, this study will focus on those three problems with different perspective. Different perspective here means this study tries to discuss another side of the translation problems, for example if a study previously explores the acceptability of a translation from the quality of the translator as the native speaker, this study will focus on how acceptable the translation can be gained by the readers and how the translation strategies can affect it.

B. Review of Related Theories

1. Definition of Translation

  According to Larson (1984: 3), translation is transferring the meaning of the source language into the receptor language by going from the form of the first language to the form of a second language by way of semantic structure.

  A similar definition comes from Mauritus D.S. Simatupang, in his book,

  

Pengantar Teori Terjemahan, he stated that translating is transferring the meaning

  existing in the SL (source language) to the TL (target language), and make it as natural as possible along with the rules of the TL (2003: 3).

  Nida and Taber (1974: 12) define translation as the reproduction in a receptor language of the closest natural equivalent of the source message, first in terms of meaning, and secondly in terms of style.

  As quoted in Nababan’s study, Astika said that regardless of the various ways the scholar define translation differently, they agree on the basic principles of which focus on meaning as the most important consideration (1993:66).

2. Criteria of a Good Translation

  As said by Larson, it is meaning which is being transferred and must be held constant. A good translation is the one which a) uses the normal language forms of the target language, b) communicates, as much as possible, to target language speaker the same meaning that was understood by the speaker of the source language, and c) maintains the dynamics of the original source language text (1984:6).

  From a different perspective, El Touny, in Antar S.Abdellah’s study, focused on differentiating between different types of translation. He indicated that there are eight types of translation: word-for-word translation, literal translation, faithful translation, semantic translation, adaptive translation, free translation, idiomatic translation, and communicative translation. He advocated the last type as the one which transmits the meaning from the context, respecting the form and structure of the original and which is easily comprehensible by the readers of the target language (www.accurapid.com). It can be said that a good translation is one that carries all the ideas of the original as well as its structural and cultural

3. Problems in Translation

  Making an ideal translation, which fulfills the requirements, is not easy. In doing translation process, a translator may be faced with terms or concept in the SL that do not exist in the TL. When “there is no lexical or syntactical substitute in the TL for an SL item” (Bassnett, 1991), it means the translator is dealing with the untranslatability.

  Here, the untranslatability must not be understood as “impossible to be translated”. The translation of words with the untranslatability is possible. The one which is untranslatable is the concept that follows the word. This is because in the untranslatbility the “same” meaning is usually imposibble.

  Catford in A linguistic Theory of Translation distinguished untranslatability into two categories, namely linguistic and cultural untranslatabilty. Linguistic untranslatability is due to differences in the SL and the TL, whereas cultural untranslatability is due to the absence in the TL culture of a relevant situational feature for the SL (1974:98-99).

  Untranslatability problems are often originated by cultural differences. In cultures where there is snow six months of the year, there are many verbs to express "to snow" and many nouns to express "snow", depending on the quality of the snow: icy, wet, friable, etc. Translating into a language/culture where snow is seldom seen, a word-for-word translation is obviously impossible. In countries like Italy or France, there are qualities and varieties of cheese and wine that, elsewhere, could be simply unimaginable, and so can be untranslatable.

  Culture constitutes another major problem that faces translators. A bad model of translated pieces of literature may give misconceptions about the original. The problem on cultural lies on cultural concepts, and it mostly deals with the difficulties at word level. Most cultural concepts which are often specific are untranslatable. In the Indonesian translation of Amy Tan’s the Joy Luck Club, the translator keeps the word popo because the literal translation nenek (grandmother) cannot match the concept.

  When a translator deals with the difficulties in translating untranslatable concepts, then accuracy is the most important parameter for an adequate translation. If a translation is offered with its clarity or its rhetoric flourishes, but is not accurate, then it is not worth using, since we cannot trust what it says. The level of accuracy of translation demanded by Brophy-Phillips is mainly achieved by a combination of the use of translators of the highest quality and the systematic application of methodical checking system. To maintain a high standard of translation, a translator must translate into their native language to ensure that the resulting translation is both clear and succinct. The translator must also have a sufficient knowledge of the field being translated to have a full understanding of the subject matter. Only by having a full and clear understanding of the concepts involved in the subject matter can a translator produce a translation which is both accurate and easy to read.

  The following categories that have been proposed by Nababan as cited in Setaijid’s study could be used to find out the accuracy of a translation. In these

  Scale Indicator

  1 The content of the SL sentence is accurately conveyed in the TL sentence. The sentence as the result of translation is felt clear by assessor and there is no need of rewriting.

  2 The content of the SL sentence is accurately conveyed in the TL sentence. The sentence as the result of translation is felt clear by assessor but there are needs of rewriting and word rearranging.

  3 The content of the SL sentence is not accurately conveyed in the TL sentence. There are some problems in choosing words and its relation with phrase, clause, and sentence elements.

  4 The SL sentence is not completely translated in the TL sentence, omitted in purpose.

  Table 1. Accuracy Rating Instrument (In Setiajid, 2007: 10; my translation)

  A translation that is “accurate” but does not communicate the proper message is not really accurate at all. If the term “accuracy” is to mean anything, its definition must include reference to reader comprehension. If a translation is truly clear, accurate, naturally worded, it will be powerful and full of impact.

  Since translations are meant to communicate (and not just reproduce the form of the source text), the question of audience comprehension – the reader’s understanding – is of utmost importance (Munger, 1999: 20-22).

  A translation can communicate its messages and a measure of that is the acceptability of the text. Acceptability is text receiver’s response (Hatim, 2001:117). As cited in Hatim, Toury states that what should be addressed instead in a translation is whether and to what extent the translation is ‘acceptable’. The translations which tend towards the ‘acceptability’ pole may be thought of as fulfilling the dream of ‘reading as an original’ (2001:147).

4. Cultural Translation

  Cultural knowledge and cultural differences have been a major focus of translator training and translation theory for long. The main concern has traditionally been with words and phrases that are so heavily and exclusively grounded in one culture that they are almost impossible to translate into the terms

• – verbal or otherwise – of another (Robinson, 1997: 223).

  One example of this issue can be seen in the case of translating Japanese anime (Crayon Shinchan) into Catalan. There are some uniquely Japanese expressions in order to produce humor for which there is no exact equivalent in European languages. Shinchan, the cheeky 5 years old main character, always uses the set expression okaeri when he returns home – literally meaning It’s good

  

you’re back – an expression normally uttered by the people who are at the

  receiving end of returning family members. People returning home should normally say tadaima – I’m back. Furthermore, okaeri is an honorific expression used to show respect to the returning party, thus one should not use it for oneself. This deliberate misuse of okaeri by Shinchan is translated into Catalan simply as

  adéu (goodbye), so part of its humor is inevitably lost. Worse still, when Shinchan

  feels like expanding his okaeri into a pun – okaeringosarada (okaeri + apple

  

salad), for example – the translator must come up with something equally

  ridiculous. In this particular case, it is hola, hola, escarola (hello, hello, endive), which does not make sense, but rhymes and sounds funny (www.translationdirectory.com).

  Nida discussed the importance to both linguistic and cultural differences between the SL and the TL and concluded that differences between cultures may cause more severe complications for the translator than do differences in language structure. It is further explained that parallels in culture often provide a common understanding despite significant formal shifts in the translation. According to him cultural implications for translation are thus of significant importance as well as lexical concerns (1964: 153).

  Mona Baker stated that S.L word might express a concept that is totally unknown in the target culture. It can be abstract or concrete. It may be a religious belief, a social custom or even a type of food. In her book, In Other Words, she argued about the common non-equivalents to which a translator come across while translating from SL into TL, while both languages have their distinguished specific culture. She put them in the following order (Baker, 1992: 21-25): a) Culture specific concepts

  b) The SL concept which is not lexicalized in TL

  c) The SL word which is semantically complex

  d) The source and target languages make different distinction in meaning

  e) The TL lacks a super ordinate

  f) The TL lacks a specific term (hyponym)

  g) Differences in physical or interpersonal perspective

  h) Differences in expressive meaning i) Differences in form j) Differences in frequency and purpose of using specific forms k) The use of loan words in the source text Coulthard as cited in Kate James’s study believed that once the ideal ST readership has been determined, considerations must be made concerning the TT.

  He said that the translator's first and major difficulty is the construction of a new ideal reader who, even if he has the same academic, professional and intellectual level as the original reader, will have significantly different textual expectations and cultural knowledge (www.accurapid.com).

  In the case of translating Shakespeare’s works that are full with classical and Renaissance cultures and literatures into Arabic where Islamic culture predominates for example, the religious considerations are an important aspect since there are differences in belief between Islam and Christianity. Some of the oaths that are used by the Shakespearean characters might sound particularly blasphemous to a Muslim audience. The translators in most cases, when faced with such problems, change the oath to make it suit Islamic beliefs or omit it entirely. To be sure, successful translation Shakespeare’s works into Arabic can only be accomplished as the translators become more and more familiar with Shakespearean culture. At the same time, however, translator must also maintain balance in their understanding of the two cultures they represent because the point of successful translation is to bridge two cultures; it is not to eviscerate the translations’ own culture (Amin-zaki, 1995:223-240).

  In his essay “globalization and translation” Nico Wiersema something that he believed translators need to take into account. According to him translator has three options for the translation of cultural elements: 1- Adopting the foreign word without any explanation. 2- Adopting the foreign word with extensive explanations. 3- Rewriting the text to make it more comprehensible to the target-language audience.

5. Translation Strategies

  Language and culture may thus be seen as being closely related and both aspects must be considered for translation. When considering the translation of cultural words and notions, Newmark proposed two opposing methods: transference and componential analysis. According to him transference gives "local colour," keeping cultural names and concepts. Although placing the emphasis on culture, meaningful to initiated readers, he claimed this method might cause problems for the general readership and limit the comprehension of certain aspects. The importance of the translation process in communication led Newmark to propose componential analysis that he described as being "the most accurate translation procedure, which excludes the culture and highlights the message" (1988: 96). Newmark also stated the relevance of componential analysis in translation as a flexible but orderly method of bridging the numerous lexical gaps, both linguistic and cultural, between one language and another (1988:96).

  Another perspective about translation strategies comes from Suryawinata and Hariyanto. They divide the translation strategy into two main types. They are structural strategy, a strategy related with sentence structure, and semantic structure, a strategy related with word meaning (2003: 67).

  Semantic strategy consists of a number of strategies (Suryawinata, 2003:70-76). These include:

  a. Borrowing

  Borrowing is the simplest of all translation strategies. Borrowing is a translation strategy whereby the translator uses a word or expression from the ST in the TT. One reason of using foreign terms is to introduce the flavor of the SL culture into a translation. There are two kinds of borrowing. The first one is

  

transliteration, a borrowing that keeps the SL word in its original form, either its

  sound or spelling. The second one is naturalization. By naturalization, the SL word’s sound and spelling are adapted into the TL.

  b. Cultural Equivalent

  In this strategy, the translator translates the SL cultural word with the TL cultural word. As the example, the Indonesian word “jaksa agung” is translated as Attorney general in English (not great attorney).

  c. Descriptive Equivalent

  This strategy is used when the SL word is expressed by its description and function. For example, the word samurai is described as ‘the Japanese aristocracy from the eleventh to nineteenth century’; its function was ‘to provide officers and administrators’.

  d. Synonym

  This strategy is used when the translator uses the TL words that have more or less the same meaning for the SL words. A synonym is only appropriate where literal translation is not possible and because the word is not important in the text, in particular for adjective or adverbs quality.

  e. Official Translation

  In this strategy, the translator uses the official translation that has been standardized in translating the SL words. As the example, “read-only memory” is translated as “memori simpan tetap” in “Pendoman Pengindonesiaan Nama dan Kata Asing”.

  f. Reduction and Expansion