Translation strategies in overcoming cultural problems in translating Mangunwijaya`s Burung-Burung Manyar into the weaverbirds - USD Repository
TRANSLATION STRATEGIES
IN TRANSLATING MANGUNWIJAYA’S BURUNG-BURUNG
MANYAR INTO THE WEAVERBIRDS
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
YUNITA WULANSARI
Student Number: 014214105
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
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I I M M A A G G
I I N N A A T T
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Firstly, I would like to praise Allah SWT for the blessings during the long process of this undergraduate thesis writing. I would also like to thank my mother, who prays every night and day for me, my patient and supportive father, and my sister, who is always there to listen to all of my problems.
I am very grateful to my advisor Bu Venti for helping me doing my undergraduate thesis with her advice, guidance, and patience for almost three semesters. My gratitude also goes to Pak Harris for giving me many corrections for my undergraduate thesis. I would also like to thank the Faculty of Letters secretariat staff for helping me a lot during this process, especially for passing my drafts to Bu Venti very often.
Many thanks must also be given to all students of English Letters 2001, my best friends: Inul, Inem, Pusiati, Nono, Maman, Opit, Dina, Yekti, Adek, Dewi “Dora”, and Aryani (I share many good and bad times with all of them), Yeni and Lia (thanks for helping me in finding books in S2 library), Mas Miswanto (who is willing to fix my computer although he is very busy), the “Petung 19F” girls: Una, Dian, Mbak Arti, Jeng Sri, “Pildacil” Wahyu and Dita, Lina, and Sasa. Lastly, I would like to express many thanks to all people who have helped me during my study in Sanata Dharma University who are too many to mention.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
e. Pragmatic Equivalence ........................................................ 15
B. Theoretical Framework ................................................................... 22
10. Contrastive Analysis................................................................. 22
9. The Translation of Prose............................................................ 21
8. Dynamic Equivalence and Adjustment ..................................... 20
7. Culture........................................................................................ 19
b. Translation Strategies for Idioms ........................................ 18
a. Translation Strategies for Non-Equivalence at Word Level ................................................................................... 16
6. Translation Strategies ................................................................ 16
d. Textual Equivalence............................................................. 14
TITLE PAGE ............................................................................................... i APPROVAL PAGE ..................................................................................... ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE ................................................................................ iii MOTTO PAGE ............................................................................................ iv DEDICATION PAGE ................................................................................. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ........................................................................... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................. vii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................. xi ABSTRAK ................................................................................................... x
c. Grammatical Equivalence.................................................... 13
b. Equivalence above Word Level........................................... 12
a. Equivalence at Word Level.................................................. 11
5. Equivalence ............................................................................... 10
4. Problems in Translation.............................................................. 9
3. Translation Procedures .............................................................. 8
2. Translation Methods................................................................... 6
1. Definition of Translation ........................................................... 6
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ............................................................... 1 A. Background of the Study ............................................................... 1 B. Problem Formulation ...................................................................... 4 C. Objective of the Study .................................................................... 4 D. Definition of Terms ........................................................................ 4
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW ............................................... 6
A. Review on Related Theories ........................................................... 6
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY ............................................................ 24
A. Object of the Study ......................................................................... 24 B. Method of Study ............................................................................ 25 C. Data Collecting................................................................................ 25
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS ......................................................................... 27
A. Problematic Words and Phrases ..................................................... 271. Concrete Objects ....................................................................... 27
2. Abstract Concepts ...................................................................... 30
B. Translation Strategies Revealed from the Translation Product ....... 39
1. Translation by a More General Word (Superordinate) ......... ...... 39
2. Translation by Cultural Substitution ............................................ 41
3. Translation Using a Loan Word plus Explanation ...................... 44
4. Translation by Paraphrase Using a Related Word ............. ........ 50
5. Translation by Paraphrase Using Unrelated Word ..................... 51
6. Translation by Omission ..................................................... ....... 55
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION ................................................................... 57
BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................... 62APPENDIX................................................................................................... 64
YUNITA WULANSARI. Translation Strategies in Overcoming Cultural
Problems in Translating Mangunwijaya’s Burung-Burung Manyar into The
Weaverbirds. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters,
Sanata Dharma University. 2007.This undergraduate thesis is about the strategies used in The
Weaverbirds , the English translation of Burung-Burung Manyar, a novel by Y.B.
Mangunwijaya. This work was written with Javanese culture as the background. There are many Javanese expressions in this work which have no English equivalence. However they need to be translated so that the target text readers will understand the whole context in the story as the source text readers do. Besides, the translations of these expressions are also needed to introduce Javanese culture to the target text readers. The translator has to find a way to translate each expression so that the messages in the original can be delivered. In this case, translation strategies can help the translator in his job.There are two problems that will be analyzed in this undergraduate thesis. The first problem is what Javanese expressions in Burung Burung Manyar which are culturally problematic to translate, and the second is how they are translated in The Weaverbirds.
The method used in this study was contrastive because the Javanese expressions in Burung-Burung Manyar were contrasted to their translation in The
Weaverbirds . This was done to find out how the Javanese expressions were
translated and what strategies applied in the translation product.The first results of this analysis is the finding of the Javanese expressions that are problematic to translate because they are absent in the target language which is English. There are 48 expressions found in the source text. These Javanese expressions can be concrete or abstract. The expressions which refer to concrete things are name of a species that is not common in the target language environment, food, location, tools, and traditional clothes, while those which refer to abstract concept are related to Javanese calendar system, nobility title, traditional game, traditional art, Javanese language level, belief and superstition, names of puppet shadow and folktale character, government officials, traditional health treatment, and skin colour. The second result is the finding of the ways of translating these expressions in The Weaverbirds that show the application of translation strategies that have been proposed in the translation theory. They are translation by a more general word (superordinate), a cultural substitution, a loan word plus explanation, a paraphrase using a related word, a paraphrase using unrelated word, and translation by omission. YUNITA WULANSARI. Translation Strategies in Overcoming Cultural
Problems in Translating Mangunwijaya’s Burung-Burung Manyar into The
Weaverbirds. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas
Sanata Dharma. 2007.Skripsi ini membahas tentang strategi-strategi yang digunakan dalam
The Weaverbirds , terjemahan bahasa Inggris dari novel Burung-Burung Manyar
karya Y.B. Mangunwijaya. Karya sastra ini ditulis dengan latar belakang budaya Jawa. Dalam novel ini terdapat banyak ungkapan yang bermuatan budaya Jawa yang tidak memiliki padanan dalam bahasa Inggris. Bagaimanapun, ungkapan- ungkapan tersebut tetap harus diterjemahkan agar pembaca teks sasaran dapat memahami keseluruhan konteks cerita seperti halnya pembaca teks asli. Selain itu, ungkapan-ungkapan ini juga perlu diterjemahkan untuk memperkenalkan budaya Jawa kepada pembaca teks sasaran. Penerjemah harus mencari cara untuk menerjemahkan setiap ungkapan sehingga pesan-pesan yang disampaikan teks asli bisa sampai pada pembaca. Dalam hal ini, strategi penerjemahan dapat membantu penerjemah dalam melaksanakan tugasnya.
Terdapat dua masalah yang akan dibahas dalam skripsi ini. Masalah pertama adalah ungkapan apa saja dalam novel Burung-Burung Manyar yang sulit diterjemahkan karena bermuatan budaya Jawa, dan kedua yaitu bagaimana ungkapan-ungkapan tersebut diterjemahkan dalam The Weaverbirds.
Metode yang digunakan digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah pembandingan, karena ungkapan-ungkapan yang bermuatan budaya Jawa dalam novel Burung-Burung Manyar dibandingkan dengan terjemahannya dalam The
Weaverbirds . Metode ini dilakukan untuk menemukan bagaimana ungkapan-
ungkapan tersebut diterjemahkan dan strategi penerjemahan apa saja yang diterapkan dalam hasil terjemahan.
Hasil pertama yang diperoleh dari analisis ini yaitu ditemukannya ungkapan-ungkapan yang bermuatan budaya Jawa yang sulit diterjemahkan ke dalam bahasa Inggris karena kekosongan kosa kata. Ada 48 ungkapan yang ditemukan di teks sumber. Ungkapan-ungkapan tersebut dapat berupa hal-hal konkrit maupun konsep-konsep abstrak. Hal-hal yang konkrit antara lain nama spesies yang sulit ditemukan di lingkungan bahasa sasaran, makanan, tempat, alat, dan pakaian tradisional, sedangkan konsep-konsep abstrak antara lain berhubungan dengan sistem penanggalan Jawa, gelar kebangsawanan, permainan tradisional, kesenian tradisional, tingkatan bahasa Jawa, kepercayaan dan takhyul, tokoh-tokoh wayang dan cerita rakyat, pejabat pemerintahan, perawatan kesehatan tradisional, dan warna kulit. Hasil yang kedua yaitu ditemukannya cara untuk menerjemahkan ungkapan-ungkapan tersebut dalam The Weaverbirds. Cara-cara yang digunakan penerjemah menunjukkan penerapan strategi-strategi penerjemahan yang telah ada di teori terjemahan, antara lain penerjemahan dengan kata yang lebih umum, padanan budaya, kata pinjaman disertai penjelasan, uraian dengan kata yang berhubungan, uraian dengan kata yang tidak berhubungan, dan penghilangan.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study The translation activities have been done for a very long time. Translation
became an important factor of the culture development in Europe thousands years ago. The Romans’ highly civilized culture was more or less the imitation of the Greek’s. The Grecian culture then spread throughout Europe through the invasion of the Romans to other European areas. Of course, the cultural value brought by the Romans could not be passed on without the activity of translation (Newmark, 1981: 3).
Today translation is widely done. The whole world appears to be united along with the growth of transportation and communication system. People are curious of what happened outside their own areas and they want their culture to be known and appreciated by other people. Nevertheless, they often stumbled at language differences. In this case translation holds an important role for communication. People can exchange information with other societies who have different cultures and languages.
Cultural values of certain society can be learnt from documentaries or non-fiction texts that are usually made by foreign researchers. These values can also be seen from literature, in which we can see from the point of view of its own people. Literature is a work of art that is produced by the society. It communicates more than do any non-fiction texts. Unlike other works of art that can be enjoyed by all people, literature which is created by arranging words can only be enjoyed by people who speak the language. This work of art should be translated into other languages so that other societies can enjoy and appreciate it.
Translation is obviously needed everywhere especially in developing countries like ours. We need to learn from developed countries about technology, economics, politics, and other subjects to make a better system and situation in our country. Reading is one of the ways of learning. To support this effort, texts in foreign languages must be translated into Indonesian to help those who do not speak the languages. On the other hand, Indonesia has valuable texts especially in literature that are worthy enough to translate into foreign languages, so that these texts can be read, enjoyed, and appreciated by people outside the country. This is important to get people’s respect considering the political issues reported by the news that can give bad impression toward our country.
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. The Javanese word onde-onde, kromo and Pahing for example, cannot be easily translated into English. English has no equivalence for those words because there is no need for English speakers to name those objects. The absence of words in the target language is just one of the problems in the practice of translation. Translators will face many other problems in translating literary works.
For this reason, a bilingual person is not automatically a good translator. A good translator should know well the culture of both the source language (SL) and target language (TL). This knowledge should also be supported by sensitivity to catch the message that the original author want to deliver, and ability to reproduce the message in the TL. The result of the message reproduction should be acceptable for people who speak the TL.
There is no translation that is absolutely perfect, but certain strategies may be used to translate the SL when there are some problems related to the cultural differences so the translation can be accepted without difficulties by the TL readers with the minimum loss of meaning implied in the SL. In researching the translation strategies that can be applied to overcome the cultural problems, an Indonesian novel Burung Burung Manyar and its English translation, The Weaverbirds, are chosen as the objects of the research. Burung Burung Manyar was written by Y.B. Mangunwijaya and translated into English by Thomas M Hunter who had been involved in the study of Indonesian culture since 1970.
Burung Burung Manyar is the representation of social and historical
background in Indonesia, particularly in Java, and set up between the late of the Dutch colonialism and the early independence era. Many expressions uttered in the novel may be difficult to translate because they hold cultural concepts that can only be understood by Javanese society. The words and phrases containing cultural concepts that can only be understood by SL speaker may relate to social system (eg.: ulu-ulu), religious belief (eg.: nyadran), superstition (eg.: wewe), or even types of food. Mangunwijaya also used the characters of the puppet shadow as the metaphor in his novel. These characters are used to symbolize common things that often faced by people in their daily life, for example Kama-Ratih is the symbol of love, and Arjuna is the symbol of a “lady killer” man. Some of them are familiar to Javanese speakers, but not to the foreigners. These terms, although have been translated into English, may be confusing for those who have different culture.
B. Problem Formulation
1. What Javanese expressions in Burung Burung Manyar are culturally problematic to translate?
2. How are the culturally problematic Javanese expressions in Burung Burung
Manyar translated in The Weaverbirds?
C. Objective of the Study
The aims of this research are to find out the Javanese expressions in
Burung Burung Manyar which are culturally problematic to translate and how they
are translated in The Weaverbirds.D. Definition of Terms
1. Cultural problem Mildred L. Larson in Meaning-Based Translation stated that “culture is a complex of belief, attitudes, values, and rules which a group of people share”
(1984: 431). Culture differences between SL and TL become a difficult problem for a translator. Some SL concepts may have no lexical equivalence in TL because of differences in geography, customs, beliefs, worldview, and various other factors (1984:163). From the statements above, cultural problem means the difficulty faced by translator that is caused by cultural differences between two languages that he deals with.
2. Translation strategy According to Newmark, “Translation is a craft consisting in the attempt to replace a written message and/or statement in one language by the same message and/or statement in another language” (1981:7). AS Honby in Oxford Advanced
Learner’s Dictionary of Current English defines strategy as “skill in managing any
affair” (1987:854). In this study, translation strategy means the effort to manage any difficulties in the activity of translation to achieve a good result.
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review on Related Theories
1. Definition of Translation
Maurits D.S. Simatupang in his book, Pengantar Teori Terjemahan stated that translating is transferring the meaning existing in the SL to the TL, and make it as natural as possible along with the rules of the TL (2000: 3). A translation should transfer meaning, not form, for example the Indonesian utterance terimakasih
kembali (the response of terimakasih) is not translated into thank you in return, but
don’t mention it. This is done to reach the naturalness of the translation.A translation should not read as a translation. Besides, it should carry the same meaning without any addition and omission (2000: 3). However, making an ideal translation which fulfils those requirements is not easy. Jean Paul Viney as quoted by Simatupang states that in translation, there is always something missing from the original message (2000: 3).
2. Translation Methods
According to Peter Newmark in Rochayah Machali’s book Pedoman bagi
Penerjemah , there are eight kinds of translation methods that can be classified into
two groups, SL emphasis and TL emphasis translation (2000:49). In the methods of SL emphasis, the translator tries to deliver the precise contextual meaning of the
ST, while TL emphasis methods try to result the same impact toward readers that the author of the ST want to create.
The methods in SL emphasis include: 1. word-for-word translation
In this method, usually the TL words are put below the SL words in the text. These words are translated one by one without considering the context. This method is commonly used in pre-translation process to comprehend a difficult text. 2. literal translation
The SL words are translated without considering the context, but the grammatical construction is converted into the closest TL equivalent.
3. faithful translation Faithful translation tries to reproduce the contextual meaning of the SL words within the constraint of the SL grammatical structure. Cultural words are transferred into TL, but the errors in grammar and choice of words are not yet corrected.
4. semantic translation Semantic translation is more natural and flexible than faithful translation.
It should consider the aesthetic value and naturalness of the ST.
While the methods in TL emphasis include: 1. adaptation
Adaptation is the freest translation method that usually used to translate poems or plays. The SL text is rewritten according to TL culture without changing the important elements of the original such as theme, plot, and characters.
2. free translation The priority of free translation method is the content without considering the form. Usually it is a paraphrase which may longer or shorter than the original.
3. idiomatic translation Idiomatic translation reproduces the message in SL text using idiomatic expressions that do not exist in the original to give intimate sense.
4. communicative translation Communicative translation attempts to reproduce the contextual meaning of the original in such a way, that both content and language are comprehensible for the reader without difficulty.
3. Translation Procedures
The difference between translation methods and translation procedures lay on the unit they deal with. Translation methods deal with the whole text, while translation procedures deal with the sentences and the smaller units such as clauses, phrases, and words. Some translation procedures as suggested by Peter Newmark in
Aproaches to Translation (1981: 30-32) are:
1. Transcription (‘loan words’, adoption, transfer) This procedure is usually used in SL institutional or cultural words to provide authenticity or local colour respectively.
2. One-to-one translation This procedure is performed when an SL word is lexicalized in the TL in one word which has the same meaning.
3. Lexical synonymy Lexical synonymy is a procedure of translation by a close TL equivalent although provides less accuracy.
4. Componential analysis The SL word is translated using the components of meaning.
5. Transposition Transposition is the replacement of one grammatical unit by another.
6. Modulation or variation in point of view In this procedure, the translator produces the message from different view.
7. Compensation The loss of meaning in one part of sentence is compensated in another part of the text.
8. Cultural equivalence Cultural equivalence is a procedure of substituting an SL cultural word with a TL cultural word which is different in meaning but has similar quality.
9. Definition This procedure usually recasts as a descriptive noun-phrase or adjectival clause
10. Paraphrase Paraphrase is a free rendering of the meaning of a sentence: the translation last option.
11. Expansion and contraction or grammatical reduction This procedure is performed by adding or reducing word in the TT to avoid ambiguity.
4. Problems in Translation
J.C. Catford in A Linguistic Theory of Translation mention a translation problem namely untranslatability. Untranslatability or translation fails occurs when it is impossible to build functionally relevant features of the situation into the contextual meaning of the TL text (1974:94). There are two categories of untranslatability, linguistic and cultural untranslatability. Linguistic untranslatability is caused by the failure to find a TL equivalent which is due to differences between the source and the TL. In cultural untranslatability, the failure is due to the absence of the situational feature which is relevant in the SL culture in the TL culture.
In his essay, A Framework for the Analysis and Evaluation of Theories of
Translation that is compiled by Sakri in Ikhwal Menerjemahkan, Nida also
mentions two kinds of problems in transferring message, namely problems of content and problems of form. The circumstantial setting of the ST can give a serious problem for the translator to provide the most equivalent text. Every culture has its own characteristic that might be considered weird by other cultures. This is called the problems of content. In such cases the translator may be forced to choose between the less comprehensible cultural setting of the SL and the more intelligible but anachronistic setting of the receptor language (Sakri, 1985:71)
Another problem in translating message is the problem of form. Nida said that “though the difficulties related to the adequate reproduction of content are often acute, they generally do not constitute as complex and intractable a series of problems as the particular formal features of language employed in a message.”
(1976:72). It is easier to analyse and describe the cognitive equivalences of content then to find the formal equivalences of language.
5. Equivalence
Mona Baker in her book In Other Words: A Course Book on Translation divided equivalence in translation into five categories according to the level of complexity. They are equivalence at word level, equivalence above word level, grammatical equivalence, textual equivalence, and pragmatic equivalence (1992: 5)
a. Equivalence at Word Level
Equivalence at word level is gained by exploring the meaning of a single word in the ST and replacing it with a TL word which expresses the same meaning as the word in the SL does. The problem in translating a ST can arise from non-equivalence at word level. “Non-equivalence at word level means the TL has no direct equivalent for a word which occurs in the ST.” (1992:20). There is some common non-equivalence at word level as mentioned by Baker (1992:20- 25), such as: 1) Culture-specific concepts
Certain word occuring in the ST may express a concept which is totally unknown in the target culture. The concept may be a concrete object such as a type of food or abstract such as a concept related to religious belief and social custom.
2) The SL word is semantically complex
A single word in the SL which consists of one morpheme can sometimes express a complex set of meanings. The example is a Brazilian word arruaç
āo,
which means ‘clearing ground under coffee trees of rubbish and piling it in the middle of the row in order to aid in the recovery of beans dropped during harvesting’. 3) The TL lacks a superordinate
The TL may have specific words (hyponyms), but no general word (superordinate) to head the semantic field.
4) The TL lacks a specific term (hyponym) The TL often has superordinate but lacks of specific words.
5) Differences in expressive meaning A TL may have the word with the same proportional meaning as the SL word, but the expressive meaning is not definitely yet the same. This often happen in translating a text related to sensitive issues such as religion, politics, and sex. The example is the English word “homosexuality”. This word has a neutral meaning in English, but a pejorative meaning in Arabic.
6) The use of loan words in the ST The use of loan word in the ST can add the atmosphere of sophistication that almost cannot be transferred into the TT. Another problem is called false
friends . False friends are words or expressions which have the same form in two
or more languages, but convey different meaning.” (1992:25). Word or expression which is borrowed into another language will develop in meaning; it rarely has the same meaning as the original.
b. Equivalence Above Word Level The second type of equivalence is equivalence above word level.
Equivalence above word level is gained by exploring the meaning of the combination of words and phrases. This type of equivalence covers collocation, idiom and fixed expression.
Collocation means “the tendency of certain words to co-occur regularly in a given language” (1992:285), for example: break rules, wasting time, and pay a visit. It is not common to say break regulations, perform a visit, or squandering time. The meaning of a word in a collocation often depends on its association with certain collocates. Like individual words, collocational patterns carry meaning and can be culture-specific. A collocation may point to concept which is not easily accessible to the target reader.
Unlike the collocation, an idiom such as “bury the hatchet”, allows no variation in form under normal circumstances. Fixed expression also allows little or no variation in form. Although they behave the same, the meaning of idiom cannot be easily seen from the words that form it while the meaning of fixed expression is transparent. An idiom or fixed expression may have no equivalent in the TL, or have a similar counterpart but different in the context of use. An idiom can also be used in the ST in both its literal and idiomatic senses at the same time.
c. Grammatical Equivalence
Languages have differences in the grammatical structures that often result in some change in the information content of the message during the process of translation (1992:86). Difference in grammatical structures that raise problems for translator may be deal with (1992:167-172): 1) Number
English distinguish between one (singular) and more than one (plural) while Arabic, Eskimos, and some Slavonic languages formally distinguish one (singular), two (dual), and more than two (plural). 2) Gender
Languages have differences in classifying nouns and pronouns into masculine or feminine. In translating you into Arabic, a translator has to choose between anta (masculine) or anti (feminine). 3) Person
Some languages have different forms of pronoun which are used to express different level of familiarity or deference in interaction with several addressees, such as French vous and tu. 4) Tense and Aspect
Some languages have formal category of tense and aspect, while some others do not.
5) Voice The frequency of the use of passive in languages are different. Nida as quoted by Baker (1992:106) explains that in some Nilotic languages, the passive form of verbs are so preferred that the sentence ‘The town was gone by him’ is considered much more normal than ‘He went to town’.
d. Textual Equivalence Cohesion becomes the most highlighted aspect in this level (1992:80).
Cohesion is the relations that provide links between various parts of a text. Halliday and Hasan identify five main cohesive devices in English (Baker, 1992:182-208), they are: 1) Reference Example: Mrs. Thatcher has resigned. She announced her decision this morning.
→ she refers to Mrs. Thatcher 2) Substitution Example: I like movies. And I do
→ do substitutes like movies 3) Ellipsis Example: Joan brought some carnations, and Catherine some sweet peas.
→ the verb of the second clause is also brought, and it is not mentioned again because the first clause has already mentioned it. 4) Conjunction Example: and, but, although, however, ect.
5) Lexical cohesion Lexical cohesion refers to the role played by the selection of vocabulary in organizing relation within a text
e. Pragmatic Equivalence Pragmatic equivalence deals with how a text ‘make sense’ for reader.
Coherence is the highlighted aspect at this level. Contrasted to cohesion, coherence is more complicated. It refers to the network of conceptual relations which underlie the surface text. The example is the conversation below: A: Shall we go for a walk? B: It’s raining. The B’s answer can mean ‘No, because it is raining’ or ‘Yes, we both like walking in the rain’. The meaning of the response depends on the context.
6. Translation Strategies
a. Translation Strategies for Non-Equivalence at Word Level
Baker suggests some translation strategies in dealing with the non- equivalence at word level (1992:26-42) as follows: 1) Translation by a more general word (superordinate)
When TL has no words which has the same proportional meaning as the SL word, a translator may “go up one level” by giving a word from the higher semantic field, in other word, a more general word.
2) Translation by a more neutral/ less expressive word The example is the word “exotic” in the phrase “this exotic lily”. There is a problem in translating this phrase into Chinese since this language has no equivalent for the word “exotic” because this word is used by western people to refer to unusual and interesting things that comes from distant countries such as China. This phrase is then back-translated from Chinese into “this strange-unique lily flower”.
3) Translation by cultural substitution
This strategy is performed by substituting cultural-specific items or expressions occur in the ST with a TL items which have different proportional meaning, but is likely to have the same impact on the target reader. 4) Translation using a loan word or loan word plus explanation
This strategy is often used to deal with culture-specific items, modern concepts, and buzz words. This strategy is effective when the word is mentioned frequently in the text. Once explained, the word can be mentioned repeatedly without explanation.
5) Translation by paraphrase using a related word This strategy is used when the concept expressed by the source item is lexicalized in the TL, but in a different form. It is also used to avoid repetition of certain word that results on unnaturalness of the TT. 6) Translation by paraphrase using unrelated word
When a concept expressed by the source item is not lexicalized at all in the TL, the paraphrase strategy can still be used in some context. Paraphrasing may be based on modifying a superordinate or unpacking the meaning of the source item.
7) Translation by omission This strategy is used when the meaning carried by a particular item or expression is not vital enough to the development of the text.
8) Translation by illustration An illustration is given rather than giving a lengthy explanation.
b. Translation Strategies for Idioms
Baker suggests some strategies that may help in translating idioms after the meanings of the idioms in the ST are discovered (1992:72-78).
1) Using an idiom of similar meaning and form To translate the idiom occurs in the ST, idiom in the TL which conveys roughly the same meaning is used. The lexical items consisted in the TL idiom are the equivalent of the lexical items in the SL idiom. 2) Using an idiom of similar meaning but dissimilar form
Translator can use an idiom in the TL which has the same meaning as the SL idiom although the form is different from it. The example is the Indonesian idiom “rumahku istanaku” which is translated into “home sweet home” in English.
3) Translation by paraphrase When the translator cannot find any idiomatic form in the TL, he/he may paraphrase the idiom occurs in the ST.
4) Translation by omission An idiom may be omitted because it has no close match in the TL or cannot be easily paraphrased.
Newmark also offers some procedures of translating metaphors in
Aproaches to Translation (1981: 88-91). They are reproducing the same image in
the TL, replacing the image in the SL with a standard TL image, translation of metaphor by simile, translation of metaphor (or simile) by simile plus sense, conversion of metaphor to sense, deletion, and same metaphor combined with sense.
7. Culture
Mildred L. Larson in Meaning-Based Translation stated that “culture is a complex of belief, attitudes, values, and rules which a group of people share” (1984: 431). Language is also part of culture. Therefore, a translator should be a person who has not only knowledge of SL and TL structure, but also adequate knowledge of both SL and TL culture. Culture differences between SL and TL become a difficult problem for a translator. Some SL concepts may have no lexical equivalence in TL because of differences in geography, customs, beliefs, worldview, and various other factors (1984:163). Culture in a certain area influences the vocabulary of the language spoken there.
Beekman and Callow proposed three basic alternative ways to find an equivalent expression in the receptor language as quoted by Larson (1984: 163-172) a. Modifying a generic word with a descriptive phrase
When an SL concept does not occur in the TL, it may be helpful to analyze its meaning component to discover a generic word and a descriptive modification. Descriptive modification can be based on the form or function of the concept. Form has to do with the physical aspects of particular thing or event, while function has to do with the significance, the reason for, or the purpose of the thing or event. Equivalence may be gained by modifying a generic word and a descriptive phrase. In modifying a descriptive phrase, a translator needs to study the context so he can decide whether to include the form, function, or both. The translator’s decision will depend on which component will be significant in the context.
b. Modifying a loan word A loan word refers to a word from another language and unknown for most receptor language speakers. Loan words are commonly used for the names of people, places, geographical area, ect (1984: 169). Loan word can be used in translation by modifying it with a classifier or with a description of form, function, or both form and function.
c. Cultural substitute Certain SL concept can be translated using a concept which is not exactly the same but occurs in the TL. Cultural substitution strategy cannot be performed in translating historical event or a narrative of an actual happening.
8. Dynamic Equivalence and Adjustment
The response of the receptors to the translated message should become the focus in communicative translation. Nida offers dynamic equivalence to bridge the gap between the two languages as summarized by Hatim (2001:19). Dynamic equivalence is suitable to achieve the reader response to the translation more or less similar to the original reader. Dynamic equivalence procedures include:
a. Substituting more appropriate TL cultural material for less accessible SL items
b. Making references which are implicit in the ST linguistically explicit in the TL c. Regulating redundancy to facilitate comprehension.
In making a dynamically equivalent translation, some adjustments including a set of modification techniques aimed at upholding translation equivalence and ensuring the accessibility of the TL version are used, such as (2001:20):
a. Adding or taking away information
b. Altering the material
c. Providing footnote
d. Generally modifying the ST by removing any element likely to be perceived as alien, if not totally incomprehensible, to the target audience.
9. The Translation of Prose
Hilaire Belloc in Susan Bassnett’s book Translation Studies laid down six general rules for the translator of prose texts (1991: 116): a. The translator should consider the work as an integral unit and translate it in sections.
b. The translator should render idiom by idiom. Idioms of their nature require translation into another form from the original.
c. The translator should render ‘intention by intention’. A given expression in the ST may be disproportionate if translated literally into the TL.
d. Some words or structures may appear to correspond in both SL and TL, but actually do not.
e. the translator is advised to ‘transmute boldly’. The essence of translating is ‘the resurrection of an alien thing in a native body’. f. the translator should never embellish.
10. Contrastive Analysis
Contrastive analysis includes comparing and contrasting two or more languages at various levels of linguistic description. Contrastive analysis provides explanations for and solutions to problems encountered in translation practice. It also in turn received from translation a range of theoretical and practical insights, as well as actual data and specific information (Hatim, 2001:81).
To play such an important role, contrastive analysis has had to be broaden its scope, taking in pragmatics, text linguistics, discourse analysis, rhetoric (2001:81). The translation data used has taken many forms, such as naturally occurring, fabricated or translated by analyst. Its levels are also varied considerably: from word and lexico-grammatical features, to pieces of texts, entire interactions and communicative events.