The Translation of Language Play in Roald Dahl's 'Charlie and The Great Glass Elevator' and 'The Withches'.
ABSTRACT
Hampir setiap negara di dunia ini memiliki bahasanya masing-masing,
sehingga dunia ini terdiri dari beragam bahasa yang sangat banyak jumlahnya.
Penerjemahan sangatlah dibutuhkan untuk membantu tercapainya komunikasi
antar orang-orang yang menggunakan bahasa yang berbeda.
Salah satu jenis teks yang sulit diterjemahkan adalah language play
(permainan bahasa). Permainan bahasa digunakan oleh para penulis yang kreatif
untuk dapat mengangkat hasil karyanya menjadi suatu karya yang tidak
membosankan dan memiliki suatu nilai tambah di mata para pembacanya. Dalam
menerjemahan teks yang mengandung permainan bahasa, penerjemah akan
menemukan kesulitan karena sebuah teks yang mengandung permainan bahasa
memiliki pesan yang terungkap melalui dua hal yaitu arti kata dan bentuk kata.
Adapun yang menjadi tujuan dalam penulisan skripsi ini adalah untuk
mengetahui kemungkinan yang dapat terjadi dalam penerjemahan permainan
bahasa yang terdapat dalam dua novel karya Roald Dahl yang berjudul Charlie
and the Great Glass Elevator dan The Witches yang diterjemahkan ke dalam
bahasa Indonesia dengan judul Charlie dan Elevator Kaca Luar Biasa dan Ratu
Penyihir. Dalam skripsi ini akan ditemukan jenis-jenis permainan bahasa yang
digunakan serta hasil penerjemahannya dalam bahasa Indonesia, efek yang
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dihasilkan terhadap pembaca bilamana terdapat kekurangan dalam hasil
terjemahan. Di samping itu, skripsi ini juga membahas beragam kesulitan dalam
menerjemahkan permainan bahasa.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE……………………………………………………………………..
i
TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………..……… iii
ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………… iv
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study……………………………………………….
Statement of the Problem……………………………………………….
Purpose of the Study……………………………………………………
Methods of Research…………………………………………………...
Organisation of the Thesis…………………………………………….
1
4
5
5
5
CHAPTER TWO: THEORIES OF LANGUAGE PLAY
AND TRANSLATION………………………………………………..
7
CHAPTER THREE: ANALYSIS OF THE TRANSLATION OF
LANGUAGE PLAY IN CHARLIE AND THE GREAT GLASS
ELEVATOR AND THE WITCHES………….……………………... 14
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION………………………………………... 48
BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………..… 53
APPENDICES:
Summary of Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator………………...….. 56
Summary of The Witches…………………………………………….... 58
Table 1. Translation of Language Play in
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator …..................................... 59
Table 2. Translation of Language Play in The Witches ….…………... 65
iii
Summary of CHARLIE AND THE GREAT GLASS ELEVATOR
Charlie Bucket, with his parents and his four grandparents, has been living
inside the factory since Mr. Wonka gives his factory to Charlie. One day, Mr.
Wonka invites all of them to travel by the Great Glass Elevator. On the way back
to the factory, Grandma Josephine grabs and shakes Mr. Wonka so hard that he
cannot operate the Elevator; therefore, the Elevator goes too far off into the earth
orbit.
At the outer space is the new launched Space Hotel. Mr. Wonka links the
Elevator so that he and the others in the Elevator can go inside the Space Hotel.
Meanwhile, on earth, the President of the USA and 500 million people all over the
world are watching these strange creatures, who are actually Mr. Wonka, Charlie,
his parents and his four grandparents. The President of the USA thinks that those
creatures, who have trespassed on the USA property, are dangerous. To Mr.
Wonka and the others who have been out from the Great Glass Elevator, he gives
an order through the loudspeaker inside the Space Hotel to say who they actually
are. After hearing that, suddenly Mr. Wonka recites a poem with nonsense words
that makes the President assume they are men from Mars.
In the midst of this, strange, nasty egg-like shaped creatures with eyes
called Vermicious Knids come from the elevator in the Space Hotel. They change
their shape and form the word SCRAM by their bodies, which makes Mr. Wonka,
Charlie, his parents and his four grandparents get out quickly from the Space
Hotel and go back to the Great Glass Elevator. Not long after that, a battle
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between the Great Glass Elevator which is operated by Mr. Wonka and the knids
happens before all of them can finally go back safely to the factory.
In the factory, Mr. Wonka wants to make Charlie’s grandparents get up of
their bed. Mr. Wonka proposes a pill he has invented, Wonka-Vite, to make them
young again. One pill makes the taker exactly twenty years younger. Grandma
Josephine, Grandpa George and Grandma Georgina lose eighty years because
each of them swallows four pills of Wonka Vite; therefore, George becomes one
year old, Josephine becomes three months, and Grandma Georgina minus two,
because she was seventy eight years old. Charlie and Mr. Wonka make the
journey in the Great Glass Elevator to Minusland to get Georgina back. Mr.
Wonka brings his Vita-Wonk, a sprayable compound that makes people older, but
because he sprays it too much, Grandma Georgina becomes the oldest person in
the world. Mr. Wonka tries to turn Grandpa George, Grandma Georgina and
Grandma Josephine to their original ages. He uses Wonka Vite to Grandma
Georgina and Vita Wonk to Grandpa George and Grandma Josephine. Finally
after they are restored to their proper ages, the grandparents leap out of their bed
because they do not want to be left in bed as they want to go to the White House.
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Summary of THE WITCHES
The boy who is the protagonist in this story lives in Norway with his
grandma who likes to tell stories about witches. On a summer holiday, the boy
and his grandma go to a nice hotel in the South Coast of England where all the
adventures happen. In the hotel, there is a "Royal Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Children" meeting, which actually is the annual meeting of British
witches. In those meetings, the Grand High Witch announces her master plan to
destroy all children using chocolate which has been mixed with Formula 86
Delayed Action Mouse-Maker, a kind of magic potion that will turn children who
eat it into mice at 9 a.m. on the day after they eat the chocolate.
The boy is trapped in the meeting room. He does not realise that the
women who come into that room are witches. He hides and hears the entire plan
before he is finally smelt by the witches in the meeting room. The Grand Witch
pours the entire contents of Formula 86 Delayed Action Mouse-Maker bottle into
the boy’s throat. Because of that, the boy is turned into a mouse for his entire life.
The boy who has been turned into a mouse tries to reach his grandma’s room.
After having succeeded in reaching his grandma’s room, he and his grandma
make a plan to steal the bottle of Formula 86 Delayed Action Mouse-Maker in the
Grand High Witch’s room and pour it into the soup that is reserved for all the
witches at tea time. Suddenly, all the witches change into mice, which causes the
entire hotel staff to get into a panic. The boy who has metamorphosed and his
grandma make a new plan to destroy all the witches using the rest of the potion
that has not been used.
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59
Table 1. Translation of Language Play in Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
Indonesian
English
LOSS
No
Sentence
Language
Play used
1
“We must hurry!” said Mr
Wonka. We have so much
time and so little to do!
(p.3)
Contradictory
Words
2
“He’s cracked as a crab!”
said Grandma Georgina.
(p.4)
Simile
3
4
Alliteration
…, there was a tremendous
hustle and bustle to send up
the first guest.
( p.11)
Minimal Pair
You’ll never get anywhere if
you go about what-iffing
like that.
( p.18)
Compounding
Affixation
(Suffix -ing)
Sentence
“Kita harus buru-buru!” ujar Mr.
Wonka. “Begitu banyak waktu
dan sedikit sekali pekerjaan!
(p.12)
“Ia sinting seperti kepiting!”
sembur Grandma Georgina.
(p.12)
…, mereka sibuk sekali
mengirim para tamu pertama.
(p.21)
Kalian tak bakal sampai kemana
pun kalau terus ber bagaimanakalau seperti itu.
( p.31)
Language
Play used
Content/
Sense
Form/Style
Existence of
Same type of
Language
Play
Language Play
Contradictory
Words
✕
✕
✕
Simile
✕
✕
✕
Rhyming Pair
✕
✕
✓
✕
✓
✓
✕
✕
✕
✕
✕
~
Compounding
Affixation
(Prefix ber-)
60
Table 1. Translation of Language Play in Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
Indonesian
English
LOSS
No
Sentence
5
He had a false moustache, a
false beard, false eyelashes,
false teeth, and a falsetto voice.
( p.27)
Language
Play used
Lexical
Repetition
Sentence
Pria itu memakai kumis palsu,
janggut palsu, bulu mata palsu, gigi
palsu, dan bersuara sumbang.
Language
Play used
Content/
Sense
Form/Style
Existence of
Same type of
Language
Play
Language Play
Lexical
Repetition
~
~
~
Onomatopoeia
✕
✕
✕
✕
✕
✕
( p.41)
“Knock-knock,” said the
President
( p.28)
Onomatopoeia
7
“You’re hot sir! You’re
boiling hot! Go on!”
( p.28)
Misuse of
words
“Sudah lebih dekat lagi, Sir!
Sangat dekat sekali! Teruskan!”
(p.42)
-
✕
✓
✓
8
“Great garbage!” cried the
President,…
( p.29)
Contradictory
words
“Rongsokan busuk!” President
berteriak…
( p.43)
-
✕
✓
✓
6
“Tok-tok ,” kata President.
( p.43)
Misuse of
Words
Misuse of
Words
61
Table 1. Translation of Language Play in Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
English
Indonesian
LOSS
No
Sentence
9
“It makes such a lovely
noise. Woomph-woomph!”
( p.43)
10 “You look as much like a man
from Mars as a bedbug! …”
(p.45)
Sentence
Language
Play used
Onomatopoeia
Contradictory
words
Simile
“Suaranya bagus sekali.
Bummm-bummm!”
( p.59)
“Kemiripanmu pada makhluk Mars
sama seperti kemiripan kutu busuk !
…”
Language
Play used
Content/
Sense
Form/Style
Existence of
Same type of
Language
Play
Language Play
✕
✕
✕
✕
✓
✓
Simile
✕
✕
✕
Onomatopoeia
Contradictory
words
( p.63)
11
…, growing taller and taller,
thinner and thinner, curving
and twisting, stretching and
stretching, curling and
bending,….
( p.52)
Rhyming
Pairs
… menjadi panjang dan pelanpelan memanjang ke atas, lebih
tinggi dan makin tinggi, lebih kurus
dan makin kurus, meliuk dan
melingkar, mengulur dan terus
mengulur, melingkar dan
membungkuk,…
( p.71)
-
✕
✓
✓
12
“Those oozy-woozy grobes …”
Reduplication
“Para grobe lengket berlendir …”
-
✕
✓
✓
( p.54)
( p.74)
62
Table 1. Translation of Language Play in Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
Indonesian
English
LOSS
No
Sentence
13
The Great Glass Elevator is
shockproof, waterproof,
bombproof, bulletproof, and
knidproof
Sentence
Language
Play used
Compounding
Elevator Kaca Luar Biasa ini kedap
guncangan, kedap air, kedap bom,
kedap peluru dan kedap Knid
Language
Play used
Content/
Sense
Form/Style
Existence of
Same type of
Language
Play
Language Play
✕
✓
✓
~
✕
✕
Alliteration
~
✕
✕
-
~
✓
✓
Simile
~
✕
✕
-
( p.78)
( p.57)
14
I knew him as a tiny tot
I nursed him on my knee
I used to sit him on the pot
And wait for him to wee
Rhyming
(p.63)
Aku mengenalnya sejak ia kecil sekali
Aku memberinya susu dengan dot
Aku mengurusnya sejak ia masih bayi
Dan sering mendudukannya di atas
pispot
Rhyming
( p.84)
15
They’ve been frizzled to a
fritter!
( p.83)
Alliteration
Mereka sudah digoreng
garing!...
( p.107)
16
“He’s cracked as a crawfish!”
cried Grandma Georgina.
Alliteration
“Ia tak punya otak seperti
udang!” teriak Grandma Georgina.
( p.84)
Simile
( p.109)
63
Table 1. Translation of Language Play in Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
English
Indonesian
LOSS
No
Phrase
Language
Play used
Phrase
Language
Play used
Content/
Sense
Form/Style
Existence of
Same type of
Language
Play
Language Play
17
THE TRUNK (AND THE
SUITCASE) OF AN
ELEPHANT
( p.103)
Homonym
BELALAI 1 (DAN KOPER)
( p.132)
-
✕
✓
✓
18
THE HIDE (AND THE
SEEK) OF A SPOTTED
WHANGDOODLE
( p.103)
Homonym
KULIT (HIDE) (DAN SEEK)
WHANGDOODLE
BERBINTIK
( p.133)
-
✕
✓
✓
19
THE HIP ( AND THE PO
AND THE POT) OF A
HIPPOPOTAMUS
(p.103)
Clipping
Clipping
✓
✕
✕
20
THE HORN OF A COW
(IT MUST BE A LOUD
HORN)
( p.103)
Homonym
(horn)
Homonym
(keras)
~
✕
~
HIP (DAN PO DAN POT)
KUDA NIL
(HIPPOPOTAMUS)
(p.133)
TANDUK SAPI ( TAPI HARUS
KERAS)
( p.133)
64
Table 1. Translation of Language Play in Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
English
Indonesian
LOSS
No
Phrase / Sentence
Language
Play used
Phrase / Sentence
21
A MOLE FROM A MOLE
(p.103)
Homonym
TAHI LALAT MOLE
( p.133)
22
THE THREE FEET OF A
SNOZZWANGER (IF YOU
CAN’T GET THREE
FEET, ONE YARD WILL
DO)
(p.104)
Homonym
TIGA KAKI SEEKOR
SNOZZWANGER (KALAU
KAU TIDAK BISA
MENDAPATKAN TIGA
KAKI, SATU YARD JUGA
BOLEH)
( p.133)
23
THE CHEST (AND THE
DRAWERS) OF A WILD
GROUT
Homonym
Suffixation
Language
Play used
Content/
Sense
Form/Style
Existence of
Same type of
Language
Play
Language Play
-
✕
✓
✓
Homonym
✕
✕
✕
DADA (CHEST) (DAN LACI)8
GROUT LIAR
( p.133)
-
✕
✓
✓
Ia lebih plus dari kau atau aku!
( p.170)
-
✕
✓
✓
( p.104)
24
She’s more plussy than you or
than me!
( p.135)
65
Table 2. Translation of Language Play in The Witches
Indonesian
English
LOSS
No
Sentence
1
2
3
REAL WITCHES dress in
ordinary clothes and look much
like ordinary women. They live
in ordinary houses and they
work in ORDINARY JOBS
(p.7)
… her mind will always be
plotting and scheming and
churning and burning and
whizzing and phizzing
( p.7)
…, a REAL WITCH is easily the
most dangerous of all living
creatures on the earth. What
makes he doubly dangerous
is the fact that she doesn’t
look dangerous.
( p.10)
Sentence
Language
Play used
Lexical
Repetition
PARA PENYIHIR SUNGGUHAN
mengenakan pakaian biasa dan
tampak seperti wanita biasa.
Mereka tinggal di rumah biasa dan
melakukan pekerjaan biasa.
Language
Play used
Content/
Sense
Lexical
Repetition
✕
-
~
~
~
Lexical
Repetition
✕
Form/Style
Existence of
Same type of
Language
Play
Language Play
✕
✕
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✕
✕
( p.10)
Rhyming
Words
Minimal pairs
Nonsense
Lexical
Repetition
…otaknya selalu berputar
kencang untuk memikirkan
rencana-rencana menyeramkan
dan mengerikan
( p.10)
…, PENYIHIR SUNGGUHAN adalah
mahkluk hidup yang paling
berbahaya di muka bumi ini.
Yang membuatnya berlipat
ganda berbahaya adalah fakta
bahwa dia tidak kelihatan
berbahaya.
( p.12)
66
Table 2. Translation of Language Play in The Witches
Indonesian
English
LOSS
No
Sentence
4
5
6
“Bald as a boiled egg,” my
grandmother said
( p.25)
….” The cleaner you happen to
be, the more smelly you are to
the witch”. “That can be true,” I
said. “An absolutely clean child
gives off the most ghastly
stench to a witch,” my
grandmother said. ”The dirtier
you are, the less you smell.”
“But that doesn’t make sense,
Grandmamma.”
( p.26)
“Useless lazy vitches! Feeble
frrribbling vitches! You are a
heap of idle good-fornothing vurms!”
( p.72)
Sentence
Language
Play used
Simile
Alliteration
Contradictory
words
Spelling
“Botak seperti telur rebus,” kata
nenekku.
( p.29)
…” Makin bersih kau, makin
gampang penyihir membauimu.”
“Tidak mungkin,” kataku tak
percaya. “Menurut penyihir,
anak yang bersih berbau sangat
menusuk,” nenekku
memberitahu ”Makin kotor
badanmu makin samar baumu.”
(p.31)
“Penyihir-penyihir yang
menyebalkan!” dia berteriak.
“Penyihir-penyihir yang malasss!
Penyihir-penyihir yang payah !
Kalian cacing-cacing yang tidak
berguna!
( p.80)
Language
Play used
Content/
Sense
Form/Style
Existence of
Same type of
Language
Play
Language Play
✕
✕
✕
✕
✓
✓
Contradictory
words
✕
✕
✕
Spelling
✕
✕
✕
Simile
-
67
Table 2. Translation of Language Play in The Witches
Indonesian
English
LOSS
No
Sentence
Language
Play used
7 “A stupid vitch who answers back Rhyming Pair
Must burn until her bones are
black!”
( p.74)
Alliteration
Spelling
8
“Frrrizzled like a frrritter,”
said The Grand High Witch.
( p.76)
Simile
Alliteration
Sentence
Language
Play used
10
“Pooooooo!” cried the
audience. “Pooooooo!
“Pooooooo! “Pooooooo!
(p.77)
“You are brilliant, O Your
Grandness! You are
fantabulous!”( p.78)
Mouth Play
Blending
Form/Style
Existence of
Same type of
Language
Play
Language Play
“Penyihir-penyihir bodoh yang
membangkang
Harusss dipanggang sampai
tulang-tulangnya jadi arang!”
( p.82)
Rhyming
Words
✕
✕
✓
-
✕
✓
✓
✕
✕
✕
“Garing ssseperti ikan
kering,” kata Ratu Penyihir.
( p.85)
Simile
Rhyming Pair
Spelling
~
~
~
✕
✕
✕
✓
✕
✕
✕
✕
✓
✕
✓
✓
Spelling
Spelling
9
Content/
Sense
“Tuuuuuuul!” hadirin berteriak
menyetujui. “Tuuuuuuul!
Tuuuuuuul! Tuuuuuuul!”
(p.86)
“Yang Mulia memang hebat!
Yang Mulia luar biasa!”
( p.87)
Clipping
-
68
Table 2. Translation of Language Play in The Witches
Indonesian
English
LOSS
No
Sentence / Phrase
…
11
Now mouse-trrraps come and
every trrrap
Goes snippy-snip and snappysnap
Language
Play used
Rhyming Pair
Reduplication
( p.86)
12
13
But these were not field mice or
house mice or wood mice or
harvest mice. They were white
mice!
( p.89)
…the claw of
crrrabcrrruncher…
( p.95)
Lexical
Repetition
Sentence / Phrase
…
Jebakan-jebakan tikusss pun
dikeluarkan
Sssemua dipasangi umpan.
( p.95)
Namun mereka bukan tikus ladang
atau tikus rumah atau tikus hutan atau
tikus sawah. Mereka tikus putih!
Language
Play used
Rhyming Pair
-
Content/
Sense
~
~
Form/Style
Existence of
Same type of
Language
Play
Language Play
✕
✕
✓
✓
Lexical
Repetition
✕
✕
✕
Minimal Pair
✓
✕
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
( p.99)
Compounding
Spelling
14 …the beak of blabbersnitch … Compounding
( p.95)
…cakar burung camar…
( p.105)
…paruh betet…
( p.105)
-
69
Table 2. Translation of Language Play in The Witches
English
Indonesian
LOSS
No
Phrase / Sentence
…the tongue of
catsprrringer…
15
Language
Play used
Compounding
Spelling
Phrase / Sentence
…lidah musssang…
( p.105)
…will promise to squish and
squallop and squiggle one
thousand children!”
( p.108)
Non Sense
Alliteration
… masing-masing akan menyikat,
menyapu bersih dan
membersihkan seribu anak!”
(p.119)
17 …I began tap-tap-tapping on the Reduplication …aku mulai mengetuk-ngetuk pintu.
door. Tap tap tap tap, I went.
Onomatopoeia
His black moustache was
jumping up and down like
crazy as he spoke.
( p.180)
Tok tok tok tok, aku mengetuk.
Reduplication
Onomatopoeia
( p.158)
( p.145)
18
-
Content/
Sense
Form/Style
Existence of
Same type of
Language
Play
Language Play
✓
✓
✓
✓
✕
✕
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✕
✕
✕
✕
✕
✕
✕
✕
✕
Spelling
( p.95)
16
Language
Play used
Personification
Kumis hitamnya naik-turun
dengan heboh saat dia berbicara.
( p.196)
Personification
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Language, one of the most remarkable things in this world, is a way for
people to communicate with one another. Whether we realise it or not, people
need language to express their feelings and to understand one another. People
communicate by speaking and listening to one another; what is more,
communication also happens in writing and reading. In any form of
communication, language is obviously needed; therefore, language plays the most
important role in communication.
Languages in this world have their own grammar or lexeme, which are
mostly caused by cultural differences. Some words that exist in one language may
not exist in another language. For example, the Indonesian words kebaya and
lotek do not exist in English. It is caused by the fact that in the English culture, we
do not find such clothes as kebaya or such food as lotek.
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These differences have obviously caused people to have difficulties in
communicating with others who use different languages, both in written and in
oral forms. Therefore, translation is essential to help people all over the world to
communicate. A translator translates either a written or an oral form from one
language into another language.
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.’ (Newmark, 1982: 7) Translators must
replace the language in the original source text (ST) with another language which
is called the target text (TT). It is a complex job with a lot of problems in the
process. Translators need to transfer the writer’s message which is put both in the
sense/content and the form/style. The sense/content focuses on the meaning or the
message in words or sentences, while the form/style focuses on the style of
writing in order to present the idea of the writer.
In general, all texts must be translatable. However, according to Roman
Jakobson,
‘Only poetry by definition is untranslatable’ since in verse the form
of words contributes to the construction of the meaning of the text.
Such statements express classical dichotomy in translation between
sense/content on the one hand and form/style on the other. This
clearly is most likely to be in poetry, song, advertising, punning and
so on, where sound and rhyme and double meaning are unlikely to
be recreated in the target language.
(Hatim and Murray, 2004: 10).
In relation to the quotation above, it is clear that a text containing language
play also has the same problems as described above when it is translated. It is
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because a message conveyed through language play always depends on its sense
as well as on its form.
According to Crystal,
We play with language when we manipulate it as a source of
enjoyment, either for ourselves or for the benefit of others. I mean
‘manipulate’ literally: we take some linguistic feature - such as a
word, a phrase, a sentence, a part of word, a group of sound, a series
of letters- and make it do things it does not normally do. We are in
effect, bending and breaking the rules of the language. And if
someone were to ask why we do it, the answer is simply: for fun.
(Crystal, 1987:1)
From the definition above, we can know that the linguistic elements that
may create language play are Phonology, which is ‘…the study of how speech
sounds are organised and how they function in language.’ (Crane, Yeager, and
Whitman,1981: 72); Morphology, which ‘…focuses on the structure of words
and word formations.’ (Crane, Yeager, and Whitman, 1981: 96); Semantics,
which is ‘…the study of the relationship between linguistic forms and entities in
the world; how words literally connect to things.’ (Yule, 1996: 4); Syntax, which
‘…focuses on the sentence structure in which most important grammatical
relationships are expressed.’ (Crystal, 1987:94); Pragmatics, which is ’the study
of meaning as communicated by a speaker (or writer) and interpreted by a listener
(or reader).’ (Yule, 1996:3); and Graphology, which is ‘a variation minor and
superficial part of style, concerning such matters as spelling, capitalization,
hyphenation, italicization, and paragraphing.’ (Leech and Short, 1994:131).
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My topic is related to both translation and language play, and I would like
to show how the language play is translated. I am interested in analysing how the
language play in Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator and The
Witches is translated from English into Indonesian. I find this topic very
challenging since translating language play is not a simple matter. The translators
should be capable of delivering the author’s messages, which are put both in the
content/sense and in the form/style in ST, by conveying it in TT.
Roald Dahl has become my favourite writer. I love his stories ever since I
watched a film that is based on his novel, Matilda. After that, I have been
interested in finding and in reading more of his books. What amazes me most is
his brilliant imagination as well as his limitless creativity in playing with the
language. There are a lot of implicit meanings in the language play in his stories;
furthermore, I am sure that although most of his stories are intended for children,
people of all ages love his stories.
Statement of the Problem
Based on the topic that I choose, I would like to discuss three problems:
1. What are the sense/content and the form/style of the language play used in the
English version of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator and The
Witches?
2. How are the sense/content and the form/style of the language play conveyed
in the Indonesian translation?
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3. What are the effects when there is loss of form/style after the language play is
translated?
Purpose of the study
In this thesis I would like to show:
1. The sense/content and the form/style of the language play used in the English
version of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator and The
Witches.
2. How the sense/content and the form/style of the language play are conveyed
in the Indonesian translation.
3. The effect when there is loss of form/style after the language play is
translated.
Method of Research
The method I use in writing this thesis is divided into four steps. First, I
search for the linguistic features that contain language play in the English version
of Roald Dahl’s novels. Second, I compare the language play in the English
version with the language play in the Indonesian version, then I analyse both the
English and the Indonesian language play using the theories taken from the text
books and the Internet. Third, I analyse the effects of language play that has been
translated. Finally, I write the research report.
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Organisation of the Thesis
This thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter I, Introduction, contains
Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the Study,
Method of Research, and Organisation of the Thesis. Chapter II provides the
linguistic theories used to discuss the translation of language play. Chapter III
contains the discussion on the translation of language play used in Roald Dahl’s
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator and The Witches. Chapter IV, the
conclusion, presents my personal opinions and comments on the discussion. This
thesis ends with the Bibliography and the Appendices. The Bibliography contains
the list of the references that I use. The Appendices consist of the summaries of
the novels and the tables of data.
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CHAPTER IV
CONCLUSION
There are forty-two data in Chapter III, Analysis of the Indonesian
Translation of Language Play in Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator and The
Witches. Out of the forty-two data, I find that there are twenty-eight data which
contain one type of language play, twelve data containing two types of language
play and the other two data contain three types of language play. Therefore, there
are fifty-eight data which contain language play. There are seventeen data which
are perfectly translated, in which the translators keep both the content/sense and the
form/style, and forty-one data which are imperfectly translated. The imperfect
translation happens when the translator keeps only the content/sense of the
language play, or when the translator keeps only the form/style of language play, or
when the translator keeps neither the content/sense nor the form/style. It means that
twenty-nine per cent of the translation of the language play in the novels is perfect
translations, while seventy-one percent is imperfect.
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Translation of Language Play Found in Roald Dahl's
Novels
Perfect
29%
Imperfect
71%
Based on the percentage above, I think the translators are not good enough
at translating language play in Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
and The Witches because more than half of the number of the language play
translated are imperfect translation. I am sure it happens because, as I have
mentioned in Chapter I, translating language play is difficult. Language play has a
message in both the meaning of the word (content/sense) and the form of the word
(form/style). Besides, the difficulty also occurs because of the different systems of
the English and the Indonesian languages, such as the differences in the grammar
and lexicon, which also affect the phonology and graphology. It is very difficult
for a translator to keep both the content/sense and the form/style at the same time.
When a translator decides to keep the content/sense only, he or she will most
probably ruin the form/style of the language play. On the other hand, when he or
she decides to keep only the form/style, the content/sense is most likely lost.
In my analysis, I find eighteen kinds of language play. They are
onomatopoeia, alliteration, minimal pair, rhyming, mouth play, compounding,
clipping, blending, affixation, reduplication, simile, personification, homonym,
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contradictory words, nonsense, lexical repetition, misuse of words, and spelling.
Among these types of language play, onomatopoeia and personification can
always be translated. In my opinion, onomatopoeia can easily be translated
because the form/style of this language play is taken from the universal sound of
things which also exists in Indonesian; while personification is relatively easy to
translate because by only translating each word used in the personification, we can
automatically have the same type of language play in the Indonesian translation.
Therefore, there is no difficulty for the translator in translating it.
However, there are also some types of language play which can sometimes
be translated and sometimes cannot be translated. They are alliterations, minimal
pairs, rhyming, mouth play, compounding, clipping, blending, affixation,
reduplication, similes, homonyms, contradictory words, nonsense, lexical
repetition, misuse of words, and spelling. In my opinion, whether or not these
kinds of language play are translated perfectly depends heavily on the translator’s
ability, whether he or she can keep the existence of the content/sense or the
form/style or both the content/sense and the form/style. I further notice that one of
the reasons for creating the perfect translation of these kinds of language play is
that the form/style of this language play is presented in the content/sense, for
example, in data 12 of The Witches, which contains lexical repetition But there
were not field mice or house mice or wood mice or harvest mice. They were white
mice! Another possible reason is because one type of language play in English can
also be found in Indonesian, such as simile, as it only involves such words as like,
as, etc, which can be translated well into Indonesian.
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On the other hand, the imperfect translation of these kinds of language
play may occur because of the difficulty in finding the equivalent words in
Indonesian, which use the same type of language play, for example the
equivalence of alliteration. Another possible reason is because the language play
involves the creation of a nonsense word and the content/sense of that word
cannot be translated into Indonesian. The next possible reason for the imperfect
translation of language play is due to the different system of writing and sound
that are involved in the language play. For example, homonyms can hardly be
translated into Indonesian.
Moreover, I find out that of the forty-one data which are imperfect
translations, there are twenty data (49%) in which the translator keeps the
content/sense instead of the form/style of language play; eight data (19.5%) in
which the translator keeps the form/style instead the content/sense of the language
play; eight data (19.5%) in which the translator does not keep the content/sense
but keeps the existence of the form/style of language play, although the type of
language play is changed; five data (12%) in which the translator keeps neither the
content/sense nor the form/style.
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Imperfect Translation of Language Play
None
12.0%
Changes type
of Language Play
19.5%
Content/Sense
49.0%
Form/Style
19.5%
From the above percentages, I find that most of the time the translator
keeps the existence of the content/sense of the language play in the imperfect
translations. In my opinion it is easier for a translator to translate the content/sense
than the form/style. In addition, I also admire the translator’s creative way of
keeping the existence of the language play by changing the type of language play.
For example, alliteration which is replaced with rhyming, or mouth play which is
replaced with clipping.
As the final remark, having carried out the study of the translation of
language play, I do believe that translating language play is not a simple matter.
The most ideal principle of translation, which should convey both the
content/sense and the form/style, very often cannot be fulfilled. Furthermore, if
the translator cannot translate the language play perfectly, I personally think that it
is better for the translator to put the original version of the language play and give
the translation of the content/sense separately so that the Indonesian readers can
still enjoy and understand the language play. Otherwise, the author’s creativity in
creating the language play will not be noticed and appreciated.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
References:
Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. New York: The New
American Library, Inc, 1960.
Crane, L.Ben; et. al. An Introduction to Linguistic. Canada: Little, Brown and
Company, Ltd, 1981.
Crystal, David. Language Play. London: The Penguin Group, 1998.
Fromkin, Victoria, and R. Rodman. An Introduction to Language. Orlando:
Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1974.
Giegerich, Heinz J. English Phonology. An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1992.
Hatim, Basil, and Jeremy Murray. Translation an Advanced Resources Book.
London & New York : Routledge, 2004.
Henni. Analysis of Word Play in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventure in
Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. Bandung: English
Department, Faculty of Letters, Maranatha Christian University, 1999.
Hurtfort, J.R & Heasley, B. Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1984.
Leech, Geoffrey, and Michael Short. Style in Fiction. London and New York:
Longman, 1994.
53
Morris, William. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1981.
Murphy, M.J. Understanding Unseens: An Introduction to English Poetry and the
English Novel. London: George Allen & Unwin, Ltd, 1972.
Nash, Walter. The Language of Humour. New York & London: Longman, 1994.
Newmark, Peter. Approaches to Translation. London: Pergamon Press, 1982.
Savory, Theodore. The Art of Translation. London : Jonathan Cape Ltd, 1968.
Spencer, Andrew. Morphological Theory: An Introduction to Word Structure in
Generative Grammar. Oxford: Blackwell Publisher Ltd, 1991.
Widdowson, H.G. Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Yule, George. The Study of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1996.
Electronic Publications:
http://www.ultralingua.net/?service=ee&text=rhyming (as accessed on 22 May,
2007)
Primary texts:
Dahl, Roald. Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. New York: The Penguin
Group, 1972.
Dahl, Roald. Charlie dan Elevator Kaca Luar Biasa. Trans. Ade Dina Sigarlaki
Jakarta : PT. Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 2003.
Dahl, Roald. The Witches. New York: The Penguin Group, 1983.
54
Dahl, Roald. Ratu Penyihir. Trans. Diniarty Pandia. Jakarta : PT. Gramedia
Pustaka Utama, 2005.
55
Hampir setiap negara di dunia ini memiliki bahasanya masing-masing,
sehingga dunia ini terdiri dari beragam bahasa yang sangat banyak jumlahnya.
Penerjemahan sangatlah dibutuhkan untuk membantu tercapainya komunikasi
antar orang-orang yang menggunakan bahasa yang berbeda.
Salah satu jenis teks yang sulit diterjemahkan adalah language play
(permainan bahasa). Permainan bahasa digunakan oleh para penulis yang kreatif
untuk dapat mengangkat hasil karyanya menjadi suatu karya yang tidak
membosankan dan memiliki suatu nilai tambah di mata para pembacanya. Dalam
menerjemahan teks yang mengandung permainan bahasa, penerjemah akan
menemukan kesulitan karena sebuah teks yang mengandung permainan bahasa
memiliki pesan yang terungkap melalui dua hal yaitu arti kata dan bentuk kata.
Adapun yang menjadi tujuan dalam penulisan skripsi ini adalah untuk
mengetahui kemungkinan yang dapat terjadi dalam penerjemahan permainan
bahasa yang terdapat dalam dua novel karya Roald Dahl yang berjudul Charlie
and the Great Glass Elevator dan The Witches yang diterjemahkan ke dalam
bahasa Indonesia dengan judul Charlie dan Elevator Kaca Luar Biasa dan Ratu
Penyihir. Dalam skripsi ini akan ditemukan jenis-jenis permainan bahasa yang
digunakan serta hasil penerjemahannya dalam bahasa Indonesia, efek yang
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dihasilkan terhadap pembaca bilamana terdapat kekurangan dalam hasil
terjemahan. Di samping itu, skripsi ini juga membahas beragam kesulitan dalam
menerjemahkan permainan bahasa.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE……………………………………………………………………..
i
TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………..……… iii
ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………… iv
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study……………………………………………….
Statement of the Problem……………………………………………….
Purpose of the Study……………………………………………………
Methods of Research…………………………………………………...
Organisation of the Thesis…………………………………………….
1
4
5
5
5
CHAPTER TWO: THEORIES OF LANGUAGE PLAY
AND TRANSLATION………………………………………………..
7
CHAPTER THREE: ANALYSIS OF THE TRANSLATION OF
LANGUAGE PLAY IN CHARLIE AND THE GREAT GLASS
ELEVATOR AND THE WITCHES………….……………………... 14
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION………………………………………... 48
BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………..… 53
APPENDICES:
Summary of Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator………………...….. 56
Summary of The Witches…………………………………………….... 58
Table 1. Translation of Language Play in
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator …..................................... 59
Table 2. Translation of Language Play in The Witches ….…………... 65
iii
Summary of CHARLIE AND THE GREAT GLASS ELEVATOR
Charlie Bucket, with his parents and his four grandparents, has been living
inside the factory since Mr. Wonka gives his factory to Charlie. One day, Mr.
Wonka invites all of them to travel by the Great Glass Elevator. On the way back
to the factory, Grandma Josephine grabs and shakes Mr. Wonka so hard that he
cannot operate the Elevator; therefore, the Elevator goes too far off into the earth
orbit.
At the outer space is the new launched Space Hotel. Mr. Wonka links the
Elevator so that he and the others in the Elevator can go inside the Space Hotel.
Meanwhile, on earth, the President of the USA and 500 million people all over the
world are watching these strange creatures, who are actually Mr. Wonka, Charlie,
his parents and his four grandparents. The President of the USA thinks that those
creatures, who have trespassed on the USA property, are dangerous. To Mr.
Wonka and the others who have been out from the Great Glass Elevator, he gives
an order through the loudspeaker inside the Space Hotel to say who they actually
are. After hearing that, suddenly Mr. Wonka recites a poem with nonsense words
that makes the President assume they are men from Mars.
In the midst of this, strange, nasty egg-like shaped creatures with eyes
called Vermicious Knids come from the elevator in the Space Hotel. They change
their shape and form the word SCRAM by their bodies, which makes Mr. Wonka,
Charlie, his parents and his four grandparents get out quickly from the Space
Hotel and go back to the Great Glass Elevator. Not long after that, a battle
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between the Great Glass Elevator which is operated by Mr. Wonka and the knids
happens before all of them can finally go back safely to the factory.
In the factory, Mr. Wonka wants to make Charlie’s grandparents get up of
their bed. Mr. Wonka proposes a pill he has invented, Wonka-Vite, to make them
young again. One pill makes the taker exactly twenty years younger. Grandma
Josephine, Grandpa George and Grandma Georgina lose eighty years because
each of them swallows four pills of Wonka Vite; therefore, George becomes one
year old, Josephine becomes three months, and Grandma Georgina minus two,
because she was seventy eight years old. Charlie and Mr. Wonka make the
journey in the Great Glass Elevator to Minusland to get Georgina back. Mr.
Wonka brings his Vita-Wonk, a sprayable compound that makes people older, but
because he sprays it too much, Grandma Georgina becomes the oldest person in
the world. Mr. Wonka tries to turn Grandpa George, Grandma Georgina and
Grandma Josephine to their original ages. He uses Wonka Vite to Grandma
Georgina and Vita Wonk to Grandpa George and Grandma Josephine. Finally
after they are restored to their proper ages, the grandparents leap out of their bed
because they do not want to be left in bed as they want to go to the White House.
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Summary of THE WITCHES
The boy who is the protagonist in this story lives in Norway with his
grandma who likes to tell stories about witches. On a summer holiday, the boy
and his grandma go to a nice hotel in the South Coast of England where all the
adventures happen. In the hotel, there is a "Royal Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Children" meeting, which actually is the annual meeting of British
witches. In those meetings, the Grand High Witch announces her master plan to
destroy all children using chocolate which has been mixed with Formula 86
Delayed Action Mouse-Maker, a kind of magic potion that will turn children who
eat it into mice at 9 a.m. on the day after they eat the chocolate.
The boy is trapped in the meeting room. He does not realise that the
women who come into that room are witches. He hides and hears the entire plan
before he is finally smelt by the witches in the meeting room. The Grand Witch
pours the entire contents of Formula 86 Delayed Action Mouse-Maker bottle into
the boy’s throat. Because of that, the boy is turned into a mouse for his entire life.
The boy who has been turned into a mouse tries to reach his grandma’s room.
After having succeeded in reaching his grandma’s room, he and his grandma
make a plan to steal the bottle of Formula 86 Delayed Action Mouse-Maker in the
Grand High Witch’s room and pour it into the soup that is reserved for all the
witches at tea time. Suddenly, all the witches change into mice, which causes the
entire hotel staff to get into a panic. The boy who has metamorphosed and his
grandma make a new plan to destroy all the witches using the rest of the potion
that has not been used.
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59
Table 1. Translation of Language Play in Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
Indonesian
English
LOSS
No
Sentence
Language
Play used
1
“We must hurry!” said Mr
Wonka. We have so much
time and so little to do!
(p.3)
Contradictory
Words
2
“He’s cracked as a crab!”
said Grandma Georgina.
(p.4)
Simile
3
4
Alliteration
…, there was a tremendous
hustle and bustle to send up
the first guest.
( p.11)
Minimal Pair
You’ll never get anywhere if
you go about what-iffing
like that.
( p.18)
Compounding
Affixation
(Suffix -ing)
Sentence
“Kita harus buru-buru!” ujar Mr.
Wonka. “Begitu banyak waktu
dan sedikit sekali pekerjaan!
(p.12)
“Ia sinting seperti kepiting!”
sembur Grandma Georgina.
(p.12)
…, mereka sibuk sekali
mengirim para tamu pertama.
(p.21)
Kalian tak bakal sampai kemana
pun kalau terus ber bagaimanakalau seperti itu.
( p.31)
Language
Play used
Content/
Sense
Form/Style
Existence of
Same type of
Language
Play
Language Play
Contradictory
Words
✕
✕
✕
Simile
✕
✕
✕
Rhyming Pair
✕
✕
✓
✕
✓
✓
✕
✕
✕
✕
✕
~
Compounding
Affixation
(Prefix ber-)
60
Table 1. Translation of Language Play in Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
Indonesian
English
LOSS
No
Sentence
5
He had a false moustache, a
false beard, false eyelashes,
false teeth, and a falsetto voice.
( p.27)
Language
Play used
Lexical
Repetition
Sentence
Pria itu memakai kumis palsu,
janggut palsu, bulu mata palsu, gigi
palsu, dan bersuara sumbang.
Language
Play used
Content/
Sense
Form/Style
Existence of
Same type of
Language
Play
Language Play
Lexical
Repetition
~
~
~
Onomatopoeia
✕
✕
✕
✕
✕
✕
( p.41)
“Knock-knock,” said the
President
( p.28)
Onomatopoeia
7
“You’re hot sir! You’re
boiling hot! Go on!”
( p.28)
Misuse of
words
“Sudah lebih dekat lagi, Sir!
Sangat dekat sekali! Teruskan!”
(p.42)
-
✕
✓
✓
8
“Great garbage!” cried the
President,…
( p.29)
Contradictory
words
“Rongsokan busuk!” President
berteriak…
( p.43)
-
✕
✓
✓
6
“Tok-tok ,” kata President.
( p.43)
Misuse of
Words
Misuse of
Words
61
Table 1. Translation of Language Play in Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
English
Indonesian
LOSS
No
Sentence
9
“It makes such a lovely
noise. Woomph-woomph!”
( p.43)
10 “You look as much like a man
from Mars as a bedbug! …”
(p.45)
Sentence
Language
Play used
Onomatopoeia
Contradictory
words
Simile
“Suaranya bagus sekali.
Bummm-bummm!”
( p.59)
“Kemiripanmu pada makhluk Mars
sama seperti kemiripan kutu busuk !
…”
Language
Play used
Content/
Sense
Form/Style
Existence of
Same type of
Language
Play
Language Play
✕
✕
✕
✕
✓
✓
Simile
✕
✕
✕
Onomatopoeia
Contradictory
words
( p.63)
11
…, growing taller and taller,
thinner and thinner, curving
and twisting, stretching and
stretching, curling and
bending,….
( p.52)
Rhyming
Pairs
… menjadi panjang dan pelanpelan memanjang ke atas, lebih
tinggi dan makin tinggi, lebih kurus
dan makin kurus, meliuk dan
melingkar, mengulur dan terus
mengulur, melingkar dan
membungkuk,…
( p.71)
-
✕
✓
✓
12
“Those oozy-woozy grobes …”
Reduplication
“Para grobe lengket berlendir …”
-
✕
✓
✓
( p.54)
( p.74)
62
Table 1. Translation of Language Play in Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
Indonesian
English
LOSS
No
Sentence
13
The Great Glass Elevator is
shockproof, waterproof,
bombproof, bulletproof, and
knidproof
Sentence
Language
Play used
Compounding
Elevator Kaca Luar Biasa ini kedap
guncangan, kedap air, kedap bom,
kedap peluru dan kedap Knid
Language
Play used
Content/
Sense
Form/Style
Existence of
Same type of
Language
Play
Language Play
✕
✓
✓
~
✕
✕
Alliteration
~
✕
✕
-
~
✓
✓
Simile
~
✕
✕
-
( p.78)
( p.57)
14
I knew him as a tiny tot
I nursed him on my knee
I used to sit him on the pot
And wait for him to wee
Rhyming
(p.63)
Aku mengenalnya sejak ia kecil sekali
Aku memberinya susu dengan dot
Aku mengurusnya sejak ia masih bayi
Dan sering mendudukannya di atas
pispot
Rhyming
( p.84)
15
They’ve been frizzled to a
fritter!
( p.83)
Alliteration
Mereka sudah digoreng
garing!...
( p.107)
16
“He’s cracked as a crawfish!”
cried Grandma Georgina.
Alliteration
“Ia tak punya otak seperti
udang!” teriak Grandma Georgina.
( p.84)
Simile
( p.109)
63
Table 1. Translation of Language Play in Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
English
Indonesian
LOSS
No
Phrase
Language
Play used
Phrase
Language
Play used
Content/
Sense
Form/Style
Existence of
Same type of
Language
Play
Language Play
17
THE TRUNK (AND THE
SUITCASE) OF AN
ELEPHANT
( p.103)
Homonym
BELALAI 1 (DAN KOPER)
( p.132)
-
✕
✓
✓
18
THE HIDE (AND THE
SEEK) OF A SPOTTED
WHANGDOODLE
( p.103)
Homonym
KULIT (HIDE) (DAN SEEK)
WHANGDOODLE
BERBINTIK
( p.133)
-
✕
✓
✓
19
THE HIP ( AND THE PO
AND THE POT) OF A
HIPPOPOTAMUS
(p.103)
Clipping
Clipping
✓
✕
✕
20
THE HORN OF A COW
(IT MUST BE A LOUD
HORN)
( p.103)
Homonym
(horn)
Homonym
(keras)
~
✕
~
HIP (DAN PO DAN POT)
KUDA NIL
(HIPPOPOTAMUS)
(p.133)
TANDUK SAPI ( TAPI HARUS
KERAS)
( p.133)
64
Table 1. Translation of Language Play in Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
English
Indonesian
LOSS
No
Phrase / Sentence
Language
Play used
Phrase / Sentence
21
A MOLE FROM A MOLE
(p.103)
Homonym
TAHI LALAT MOLE
( p.133)
22
THE THREE FEET OF A
SNOZZWANGER (IF YOU
CAN’T GET THREE
FEET, ONE YARD WILL
DO)
(p.104)
Homonym
TIGA KAKI SEEKOR
SNOZZWANGER (KALAU
KAU TIDAK BISA
MENDAPATKAN TIGA
KAKI, SATU YARD JUGA
BOLEH)
( p.133)
23
THE CHEST (AND THE
DRAWERS) OF A WILD
GROUT
Homonym
Suffixation
Language
Play used
Content/
Sense
Form/Style
Existence of
Same type of
Language
Play
Language Play
-
✕
✓
✓
Homonym
✕
✕
✕
DADA (CHEST) (DAN LACI)8
GROUT LIAR
( p.133)
-
✕
✓
✓
Ia lebih plus dari kau atau aku!
( p.170)
-
✕
✓
✓
( p.104)
24
She’s more plussy than you or
than me!
( p.135)
65
Table 2. Translation of Language Play in The Witches
Indonesian
English
LOSS
No
Sentence
1
2
3
REAL WITCHES dress in
ordinary clothes and look much
like ordinary women. They live
in ordinary houses and they
work in ORDINARY JOBS
(p.7)
… her mind will always be
plotting and scheming and
churning and burning and
whizzing and phizzing
( p.7)
…, a REAL WITCH is easily the
most dangerous of all living
creatures on the earth. What
makes he doubly dangerous
is the fact that she doesn’t
look dangerous.
( p.10)
Sentence
Language
Play used
Lexical
Repetition
PARA PENYIHIR SUNGGUHAN
mengenakan pakaian biasa dan
tampak seperti wanita biasa.
Mereka tinggal di rumah biasa dan
melakukan pekerjaan biasa.
Language
Play used
Content/
Sense
Lexical
Repetition
✕
-
~
~
~
Lexical
Repetition
✕
Form/Style
Existence of
Same type of
Language
Play
Language Play
✕
✕
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✕
✕
( p.10)
Rhyming
Words
Minimal pairs
Nonsense
Lexical
Repetition
…otaknya selalu berputar
kencang untuk memikirkan
rencana-rencana menyeramkan
dan mengerikan
( p.10)
…, PENYIHIR SUNGGUHAN adalah
mahkluk hidup yang paling
berbahaya di muka bumi ini.
Yang membuatnya berlipat
ganda berbahaya adalah fakta
bahwa dia tidak kelihatan
berbahaya.
( p.12)
66
Table 2. Translation of Language Play in The Witches
Indonesian
English
LOSS
No
Sentence
4
5
6
“Bald as a boiled egg,” my
grandmother said
( p.25)
….” The cleaner you happen to
be, the more smelly you are to
the witch”. “That can be true,” I
said. “An absolutely clean child
gives off the most ghastly
stench to a witch,” my
grandmother said. ”The dirtier
you are, the less you smell.”
“But that doesn’t make sense,
Grandmamma.”
( p.26)
“Useless lazy vitches! Feeble
frrribbling vitches! You are a
heap of idle good-fornothing vurms!”
( p.72)
Sentence
Language
Play used
Simile
Alliteration
Contradictory
words
Spelling
“Botak seperti telur rebus,” kata
nenekku.
( p.29)
…” Makin bersih kau, makin
gampang penyihir membauimu.”
“Tidak mungkin,” kataku tak
percaya. “Menurut penyihir,
anak yang bersih berbau sangat
menusuk,” nenekku
memberitahu ”Makin kotor
badanmu makin samar baumu.”
(p.31)
“Penyihir-penyihir yang
menyebalkan!” dia berteriak.
“Penyihir-penyihir yang malasss!
Penyihir-penyihir yang payah !
Kalian cacing-cacing yang tidak
berguna!
( p.80)
Language
Play used
Content/
Sense
Form/Style
Existence of
Same type of
Language
Play
Language Play
✕
✕
✕
✕
✓
✓
Contradictory
words
✕
✕
✕
Spelling
✕
✕
✕
Simile
-
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Table 2. Translation of Language Play in The Witches
Indonesian
English
LOSS
No
Sentence
Language
Play used
7 “A stupid vitch who answers back Rhyming Pair
Must burn until her bones are
black!”
( p.74)
Alliteration
Spelling
8
“Frrrizzled like a frrritter,”
said The Grand High Witch.
( p.76)
Simile
Alliteration
Sentence
Language
Play used
10
“Pooooooo!” cried the
audience. “Pooooooo!
“Pooooooo! “Pooooooo!
(p.77)
“You are brilliant, O Your
Grandness! You are
fantabulous!”( p.78)
Mouth Play
Blending
Form/Style
Existence of
Same type of
Language
Play
Language Play
“Penyihir-penyihir bodoh yang
membangkang
Harusss dipanggang sampai
tulang-tulangnya jadi arang!”
( p.82)
Rhyming
Words
✕
✕
✓
-
✕
✓
✓
✕
✕
✕
“Garing ssseperti ikan
kering,” kata Ratu Penyihir.
( p.85)
Simile
Rhyming Pair
Spelling
~
~
~
✕
✕
✕
✓
✕
✕
✕
✕
✓
✕
✓
✓
Spelling
Spelling
9
Content/
Sense
“Tuuuuuuul!” hadirin berteriak
menyetujui. “Tuuuuuuul!
Tuuuuuuul! Tuuuuuuul!”
(p.86)
“Yang Mulia memang hebat!
Yang Mulia luar biasa!”
( p.87)
Clipping
-
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Table 2. Translation of Language Play in The Witches
Indonesian
English
LOSS
No
Sentence / Phrase
…
11
Now mouse-trrraps come and
every trrrap
Goes snippy-snip and snappysnap
Language
Play used
Rhyming Pair
Reduplication
( p.86)
12
13
But these were not field mice or
house mice or wood mice or
harvest mice. They were white
mice!
( p.89)
…the claw of
crrrabcrrruncher…
( p.95)
Lexical
Repetition
Sentence / Phrase
…
Jebakan-jebakan tikusss pun
dikeluarkan
Sssemua dipasangi umpan.
( p.95)
Namun mereka bukan tikus ladang
atau tikus rumah atau tikus hutan atau
tikus sawah. Mereka tikus putih!
Language
Play used
Rhyming Pair
-
Content/
Sense
~
~
Form/Style
Existence of
Same type of
Language
Play
Language Play
✕
✕
✓
✓
Lexical
Repetition
✕
✕
✕
Minimal Pair
✓
✕
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
( p.99)
Compounding
Spelling
14 …the beak of blabbersnitch … Compounding
( p.95)
…cakar burung camar…
( p.105)
…paruh betet…
( p.105)
-
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Table 2. Translation of Language Play in The Witches
English
Indonesian
LOSS
No
Phrase / Sentence
…the tongue of
catsprrringer…
15
Language
Play used
Compounding
Spelling
Phrase / Sentence
…lidah musssang…
( p.105)
…will promise to squish and
squallop and squiggle one
thousand children!”
( p.108)
Non Sense
Alliteration
… masing-masing akan menyikat,
menyapu bersih dan
membersihkan seribu anak!”
(p.119)
17 …I began tap-tap-tapping on the Reduplication …aku mulai mengetuk-ngetuk pintu.
door. Tap tap tap tap, I went.
Onomatopoeia
His black moustache was
jumping up and down like
crazy as he spoke.
( p.180)
Tok tok tok tok, aku mengetuk.
Reduplication
Onomatopoeia
( p.158)
( p.145)
18
-
Content/
Sense
Form/Style
Existence of
Same type of
Language
Play
Language Play
✓
✓
✓
✓
✕
✕
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✕
✕
✕
✕
✕
✕
✕
✕
✕
Spelling
( p.95)
16
Language
Play used
Personification
Kumis hitamnya naik-turun
dengan heboh saat dia berbicara.
( p.196)
Personification
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Language, one of the most remarkable things in this world, is a way for
people to communicate with one another. Whether we realise it or not, people
need language to express their feelings and to understand one another. People
communicate by speaking and listening to one another; what is more,
communication also happens in writing and reading. In any form of
communication, language is obviously needed; therefore, language plays the most
important role in communication.
Languages in this world have their own grammar or lexeme, which are
mostly caused by cultural differences. Some words that exist in one language may
not exist in another language. For example, the Indonesian words kebaya and
lotek do not exist in English. It is caused by the fact that in the English culture, we
do not find such clothes as kebaya or such food as lotek.
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These differences have obviously caused people to have difficulties in
communicating with others who use different languages, both in written and in
oral forms. Therefore, translation is essential to help people all over the world to
communicate. A translator translates either a written or an oral form from one
language into another language.
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.’ (Newmark, 1982: 7) Translators must
replace the language in the original source text (ST) with another language which
is called the target text (TT). It is a complex job with a lot of problems in the
process. Translators need to transfer the writer’s message which is put both in the
sense/content and the form/style. The sense/content focuses on the meaning or the
message in words or sentences, while the form/style focuses on the style of
writing in order to present the idea of the writer.
In general, all texts must be translatable. However, according to Roman
Jakobson,
‘Only poetry by definition is untranslatable’ since in verse the form
of words contributes to the construction of the meaning of the text.
Such statements express classical dichotomy in translation between
sense/content on the one hand and form/style on the other. This
clearly is most likely to be in poetry, song, advertising, punning and
so on, where sound and rhyme and double meaning are unlikely to
be recreated in the target language.
(Hatim and Murray, 2004: 10).
In relation to the quotation above, it is clear that a text containing language
play also has the same problems as described above when it is translated. It is
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because a message conveyed through language play always depends on its sense
as well as on its form.
According to Crystal,
We play with language when we manipulate it as a source of
enjoyment, either for ourselves or for the benefit of others. I mean
‘manipulate’ literally: we take some linguistic feature - such as a
word, a phrase, a sentence, a part of word, a group of sound, a series
of letters- and make it do things it does not normally do. We are in
effect, bending and breaking the rules of the language. And if
someone were to ask why we do it, the answer is simply: for fun.
(Crystal, 1987:1)
From the definition above, we can know that the linguistic elements that
may create language play are Phonology, which is ‘…the study of how speech
sounds are organised and how they function in language.’ (Crane, Yeager, and
Whitman,1981: 72); Morphology, which ‘…focuses on the structure of words
and word formations.’ (Crane, Yeager, and Whitman, 1981: 96); Semantics,
which is ‘…the study of the relationship between linguistic forms and entities in
the world; how words literally connect to things.’ (Yule, 1996: 4); Syntax, which
‘…focuses on the sentence structure in which most important grammatical
relationships are expressed.’ (Crystal, 1987:94); Pragmatics, which is ’the study
of meaning as communicated by a speaker (or writer) and interpreted by a listener
(or reader).’ (Yule, 1996:3); and Graphology, which is ‘a variation minor and
superficial part of style, concerning such matters as spelling, capitalization,
hyphenation, italicization, and paragraphing.’ (Leech and Short, 1994:131).
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My topic is related to both translation and language play, and I would like
to show how the language play is translated. I am interested in analysing how the
language play in Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator and The
Witches is translated from English into Indonesian. I find this topic very
challenging since translating language play is not a simple matter. The translators
should be capable of delivering the author’s messages, which are put both in the
content/sense and in the form/style in ST, by conveying it in TT.
Roald Dahl has become my favourite writer. I love his stories ever since I
watched a film that is based on his novel, Matilda. After that, I have been
interested in finding and in reading more of his books. What amazes me most is
his brilliant imagination as well as his limitless creativity in playing with the
language. There are a lot of implicit meanings in the language play in his stories;
furthermore, I am sure that although most of his stories are intended for children,
people of all ages love his stories.
Statement of the Problem
Based on the topic that I choose, I would like to discuss three problems:
1. What are the sense/content and the form/style of the language play used in the
English version of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator and The
Witches?
2. How are the sense/content and the form/style of the language play conveyed
in the Indonesian translation?
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3. What are the effects when there is loss of form/style after the language play is
translated?
Purpose of the study
In this thesis I would like to show:
1. The sense/content and the form/style of the language play used in the English
version of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator and The
Witches.
2. How the sense/content and the form/style of the language play are conveyed
in the Indonesian translation.
3. The effect when there is loss of form/style after the language play is
translated.
Method of Research
The method I use in writing this thesis is divided into four steps. First, I
search for the linguistic features that contain language play in the English version
of Roald Dahl’s novels. Second, I compare the language play in the English
version with the language play in the Indonesian version, then I analyse both the
English and the Indonesian language play using the theories taken from the text
books and the Internet. Third, I analyse the effects of language play that has been
translated. Finally, I write the research report.
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Organisation of the Thesis
This thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter I, Introduction, contains
Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the Study,
Method of Research, and Organisation of the Thesis. Chapter II provides the
linguistic theories used to discuss the translation of language play. Chapter III
contains the discussion on the translation of language play used in Roald Dahl’s
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator and The Witches. Chapter IV, the
conclusion, presents my personal opinions and comments on the discussion. This
thesis ends with the Bibliography and the Appendices. The Bibliography contains
the list of the references that I use. The Appendices consist of the summaries of
the novels and the tables of data.
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CHAPTER IV
CONCLUSION
There are forty-two data in Chapter III, Analysis of the Indonesian
Translation of Language Play in Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator and The
Witches. Out of the forty-two data, I find that there are twenty-eight data which
contain one type of language play, twelve data containing two types of language
play and the other two data contain three types of language play. Therefore, there
are fifty-eight data which contain language play. There are seventeen data which
are perfectly translated, in which the translators keep both the content/sense and the
form/style, and forty-one data which are imperfectly translated. The imperfect
translation happens when the translator keeps only the content/sense of the
language play, or when the translator keeps only the form/style of language play, or
when the translator keeps neither the content/sense nor the form/style. It means that
twenty-nine per cent of the translation of the language play in the novels is perfect
translations, while seventy-one percent is imperfect.
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Translation of Language Play Found in Roald Dahl's
Novels
Perfect
29%
Imperfect
71%
Based on the percentage above, I think the translators are not good enough
at translating language play in Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
and The Witches because more than half of the number of the language play
translated are imperfect translation. I am sure it happens because, as I have
mentioned in Chapter I, translating language play is difficult. Language play has a
message in both the meaning of the word (content/sense) and the form of the word
(form/style). Besides, the difficulty also occurs because of the different systems of
the English and the Indonesian languages, such as the differences in the grammar
and lexicon, which also affect the phonology and graphology. It is very difficult
for a translator to keep both the content/sense and the form/style at the same time.
When a translator decides to keep the content/sense only, he or she will most
probably ruin the form/style of the language play. On the other hand, when he or
she decides to keep only the form/style, the content/sense is most likely lost.
In my analysis, I find eighteen kinds of language play. They are
onomatopoeia, alliteration, minimal pair, rhyming, mouth play, compounding,
clipping, blending, affixation, reduplication, simile, personification, homonym,
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contradictory words, nonsense, lexical repetition, misuse of words, and spelling.
Among these types of language play, onomatopoeia and personification can
always be translated. In my opinion, onomatopoeia can easily be translated
because the form/style of this language play is taken from the universal sound of
things which also exists in Indonesian; while personification is relatively easy to
translate because by only translating each word used in the personification, we can
automatically have the same type of language play in the Indonesian translation.
Therefore, there is no difficulty for the translator in translating it.
However, there are also some types of language play which can sometimes
be translated and sometimes cannot be translated. They are alliterations, minimal
pairs, rhyming, mouth play, compounding, clipping, blending, affixation,
reduplication, similes, homonyms, contradictory words, nonsense, lexical
repetition, misuse of words, and spelling. In my opinion, whether or not these
kinds of language play are translated perfectly depends heavily on the translator’s
ability, whether he or she can keep the existence of the content/sense or the
form/style or both the content/sense and the form/style. I further notice that one of
the reasons for creating the perfect translation of these kinds of language play is
that the form/style of this language play is presented in the content/sense, for
example, in data 12 of The Witches, which contains lexical repetition But there
were not field mice or house mice or wood mice or harvest mice. They were white
mice! Another possible reason is because one type of language play in English can
also be found in Indonesian, such as simile, as it only involves such words as like,
as, etc, which can be translated well into Indonesian.
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On the other hand, the imperfect translation of these kinds of language
play may occur because of the difficulty in finding the equivalent words in
Indonesian, which use the same type of language play, for example the
equivalence of alliteration. Another possible reason is because the language play
involves the creation of a nonsense word and the content/sense of that word
cannot be translated into Indonesian. The next possible reason for the imperfect
translation of language play is due to the different system of writing and sound
that are involved in the language play. For example, homonyms can hardly be
translated into Indonesian.
Moreover, I find out that of the forty-one data which are imperfect
translations, there are twenty data (49%) in which the translator keeps the
content/sense instead of the form/style of language play; eight data (19.5%) in
which the translator keeps the form/style instead the content/sense of the language
play; eight data (19.5%) in which the translator does not keep the content/sense
but keeps the existence of the form/style of language play, although the type of
language play is changed; five data (12%) in which the translator keeps neither the
content/sense nor the form/style.
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Imperfect Translation of Language Play
None
12.0%
Changes type
of Language Play
19.5%
Content/Sense
49.0%
Form/Style
19.5%
From the above percentages, I find that most of the time the translator
keeps the existence of the content/sense of the language play in the imperfect
translations. In my opinion it is easier for a translator to translate the content/sense
than the form/style. In addition, I also admire the translator’s creative way of
keeping the existence of the language play by changing the type of language play.
For example, alliteration which is replaced with rhyming, or mouth play which is
replaced with clipping.
As the final remark, having carried out the study of the translation of
language play, I do believe that translating language play is not a simple matter.
The most ideal principle of translation, which should convey both the
content/sense and the form/style, very often cannot be fulfilled. Furthermore, if
the translator cannot translate the language play perfectly, I personally think that it
is better for the translator to put the original version of the language play and give
the translation of the content/sense separately so that the Indonesian readers can
still enjoy and understand the language play. Otherwise, the author’s creativity in
creating the language play will not be noticed and appreciated.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
References:
Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. New York: The New
American Library, Inc, 1960.
Crane, L.Ben; et. al. An Introduction to Linguistic. Canada: Little, Brown and
Company, Ltd, 1981.
Crystal, David. Language Play. London: The Penguin Group, 1998.
Fromkin, Victoria, and R. Rodman. An Introduction to Language. Orlando:
Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1974.
Giegerich, Heinz J. English Phonology. An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1992.
Hatim, Basil, and Jeremy Murray. Translation an Advanced Resources Book.
London & New York : Routledge, 2004.
Henni. Analysis of Word Play in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventure in
Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. Bandung: English
Department, Faculty of Letters, Maranatha Christian University, 1999.
Hurtfort, J.R & Heasley, B. Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1984.
Leech, Geoffrey, and Michael Short. Style in Fiction. London and New York:
Longman, 1994.
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Morris, William. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1981.
Murphy, M.J. Understanding Unseens: An Introduction to English Poetry and the
English Novel. London: George Allen & Unwin, Ltd, 1972.
Nash, Walter. The Language of Humour. New York & London: Longman, 1994.
Newmark, Peter. Approaches to Translation. London: Pergamon Press, 1982.
Savory, Theodore. The Art of Translation. London : Jonathan Cape Ltd, 1968.
Spencer, Andrew. Morphological Theory: An Introduction to Word Structure in
Generative Grammar. Oxford: Blackwell Publisher Ltd, 1991.
Widdowson, H.G. Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Yule, George. The Study of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1996.
Electronic Publications:
http://www.ultralingua.net/?service=ee&text=rhyming (as accessed on 22 May,
2007)
Primary texts:
Dahl, Roald. Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. New York: The Penguin
Group, 1972.
Dahl, Roald. Charlie dan Elevator Kaca Luar Biasa. Trans. Ade Dina Sigarlaki
Jakarta : PT. Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 2003.
Dahl, Roald. The Witches. New York: The Penguin Group, 1983.
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Dahl, Roald. Ratu Penyihir. Trans. Diniarty Pandia. Jakarta : PT. Gramedia
Pustaka Utama, 2005.
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