A Comparative Translation Technique Analysis Of Two Indonesian Subtitles “Life Of Pi” Movie
6 CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1 Translation Theory
Translation theory is not a solution for all problems that appear in the process of translation. It is a general orientation for the translators in making decisions while they are doing translation. Actually, the understanding about a general concept of translation theory is very important and useful for the translators. So, it is impossible for the translators to get a good translation without understanding the meaning or definition of translation, because translation is a general concept of translation theory. Nababan (1999:13) states: “Teori menerjemahkan memusatkan perhatiannya pada karakteristik dan masalah-masalah penerjemahan sebagai suatu penomena. “Translation’s theory concentrates the attention to the characteristic and the problems of translation as a phenomenon.” Lauven-Zart (as quoted by Nababan 1999:15) says, “Menghasilkan penerjemah dan terjemahan yang lebih baik mungkin saja merupakan produk teori dan metode penerjemahan.” “To produce the better translators and translations are not the first purpose of translation theory. The better translators and translations may be as a product of theory and method of the translation”.
In a narrow sense, translation theory is concerned with the translation method appropriately used for a certain type of the text. However, in a wider sense, translation theory is the body of knowledge that we have about translating, extending from general principles to guidelines, suggestions and hints. Newmark (1988: 9) says: what translation theory does, are, first, to identify a translation problem,second,
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7 to indicate all the actors that have to be taken into account in solving the problem and third, to list all the possible translation procedures, plus the appropriate translation.” Besides those, translation theory is pointless and sterile if it does not arise from the problems of translation practice, from the need to stand back and reflect, to consider all the factors, within the text and outside it, before coming into a decision in fact translating (or translation process) is a matter of making decisions. Because doing the translation needs grammatical rules, it is a science.
Louis Kelly (1979) as quoted by Venuti (2000:4) argues, “a complete theory of translation has three components: specification of function and goal; description; and analysis of operations.” On the other hand Venuti (2000:5) says, “translation theory always rests on particular assumption about language use, even if they are no more than fragmentary hypothesis that remain implicit or unacknowledged.”
2.1.1 Definition of Translation
There are so many definitions of translation suggested by experts. In this part, the writer discusses two of them, both may be different as many experts expresses their own thought or idea about the definition of translation.
Newmark (1988: 28) in his book “A Textbook of Translation” says “Translation is rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the way that the author intended the text”. Newmark says that translation is the way to find the equivalence meaning from source text into target text. Thus we may say that we reconstructing or reproducing the meaning inside the source language text into the form of target language text.
Simatupang (2000: 2) in his book Pengantar Teori Terjemahan states “Menerjemah adalah mengalihkan makna yang terdapat dalam bahasa sumber ke
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8 dalam bahasa sasaran dan mewujudkannya kembali di dalam bahasa sasaran dengan bentuk-bentuk sewajar mungkin menurut aturan-aturan yang berlaku dalam bahasa sasaran”. Translation tries to transfer the meaning in Source Language to Target Language in a form that fit with the rules of target language.
From definitions above, translation is a task that deals with two different languages. The first is source language (SL), the language is about to translate, the second is target language (TL), the form of language that become target. Translation is the process of transferring the meaning from the source language into the target language.
2.1.2 Definition of Audiovisual Translation
Audiovisual translation is a “branch of translation studies concerned with the transfer of multimodal and multimedial texts into another language and/or culture” (Gonzalez, 2009:13). This specific branch deals with various multimedial texts, with movies being one of these mediums. Globalization and technology breakthroughs have resulted in the mass distribution of movies, documentaries, music, TV series, and other forms of media among people of different languages and cultures (Cintas & Anderman, 2009:2). Different approaches were adopted during the transfer process, and one of these approaches is subtiling, where “They (subtitlers) present their translated rendition of whatever is spoken at the precise moment when it is said, and any viewer with a grasp of the original language is able to make an instant connection” (Skuggevik, 2009:197). Gambier (as cited in Munday, 2008:184– 185) lists these approaches as follows: interlingual subtitling, bilingual subtitling, intralingual subtitling, dubbing, voice-over, surtitling, and audio description. Interlingual subtitling is available for the cinema and video in two options, either
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9 “open,” i.e. they cannot be removed from the audiovisual material, or “closed,” meaning the audience has the opt ion of seeing them or not . Bilingual subtitling is available in countries like Belgium, where the subtitles in two TL versions appear simultaneously on the screen. Intralingual subtitling is for the hard of hearing. Dubbing, which covers both lip-synchronization and lip-sync, is when the SL voicetrack is replaced by a TL voice-track. Surtitling consists of subtitles thatappear above the stage at theatres or operas. Whereas, audio descript ion is mainly an intralingual commentary on the accompanying act ion in film or on stage.
The reasons for each of these approaches are various, ranging from economic grounds to political motives and others (Ariza, 2004).
2.1.3 Subtitling
Subtitles have been perceived as producing translation through a new medium, i.e. what is spoken to what is written (Bannon, 2010: 3, Schwarz, 2002). “Subtitling consists of the production of snippets of written texts (subtitles, or captions in American English) to be super imposed on visual footage – normally near the bottom of the frame–while an audiovisual text is projected, played or broadcast” (Gonzalez, 2009:14). While subtitling first emerged for the deaf, hard of hearing, and language learners, the approach was then adopted by translators to provide a translation of audiovisual texts. In brief, the subtitling process involves the segmentation of the audiovisual text into “snippets” and adding the translation to each segment, individually. Such a process can be deemed successful in the transfer process; however, it does have limitations along with its advantages. It has been found that subtitles deliver 43 percent less text than the original audiovisual text(Gonzalez, 2009:15). The main obvious reason is the technical constraints
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10 regarding subtitling, where screen space and time are the prominent factors that cause subtitlers to adjust their translations compared to the audiovisual text . Two lines of text consisting of 35 characters that correspond to the fragmented speech unit, are the standard imposed ideal (Karamitroglou, 2008).
A form of subtitling that has emerged because of the rapid growthin technology is fan subs (Munday, 2008:190). Fan subs, which initially referred to the subtitling of Japanese manga and anime, is the legal practice of amateur fans of certain audiovisual programs, Japanese anime for instance, in providing the subtitles for these programs, and distributing them online (Munday, 2008:190). Fan subs have popularized certain shows, and made them accessible to different linguistic communities (Bogucki, 2009:49), and continue to flourish with advances in technology. Bartoll (2004:53) provides a look at the parameters used for the classification of subtitles, and also gives a more encompassing classification system taking into account past work and recent developments in technology. Studies on subtitling focus on the two main aspects of the process: the linguistic aspect and the technical aspect, and Gottlieb (Bartoll, 2004:53) provides a classification of subtitling from these perspectives:
Linguistically:
1. Intralingual subtitling, within the same language. Both the subtitling of local programs, subtitled in the same language for the deaf and hard of hearing, and subtitles for people learning languages fall within this group.
2. Interlingual subtitling, between two languages. Technically:
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11 1. Open subtitles, which go with the original film or the television version. According to Gottlieb, all film subtitling belongs within this category, as “Even today, electronic subtitling is limited to television and video” (Gottlieb, 2009: 72).
2. Close subtitles, which can be voluntarily added, both to teletext and satellite channels, which offer various subtitled versions to different frequencies.
According to Gottlieb (Bartoll, 2004:54), subtitling can also be seen as being either vertical or diagonal. Vertical subtitling refers to subtitling that “transcribes oral discourse,” in other words, intralingual subtitling. Diagonal subtitling, or subtitling “obliquely,” refers to when subtitling crosses one dimension into another; from oral discourse in the source language, to written text in the target language (Bartoll, 2004:54).
On the other hand, Ivarsson’s (Bartoll, 2004:54) classification deals with subtitling for cinema and television along with multilingual subtitling, where the subtitling appears in more than one language, which is usually done in bilingual states. His classification also deals withteletext subtitling for the hard of hearing; reduced subtitling for news and live events; subtitling live or in real time; translation of the opera, theatrical works, conferences, etc. , which have accompanying texts on screens. These classificat ions focus more on the technical aspects of subtitling.
Lukyen (Bartoll, 2004:54) distinguishes between traditional subtitling with subcategories of subtitling in complete, reduced, and bilingual sentences and simultaneous subtitling.
Linde (Bartoll, 2004:54) distinguishes between interlingual subtitling and intralingual subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing.
Cintas’ (Bartoll, 2004: 54) classification includes a main distinction between traditional subtitling and simultaneous subtitling, as well as bilingual subtitles;
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12 intralinguistic subtitles, for the hard of hearing, language students and karaoke; interlinguistic subtitles; and openand closed subtitles.
Taking into account the aforementioned classifications and Gottlieb’s classification based on the technical and linguistic parameters, Bartoll suggests somewhat of a merging between the two, where all the classifications should be added to the two main perspectives of technical and linguistic parameters (Bartoll, 2004: 55).
Technical parameters refer to the various opt ions under which subtitles fall. One such opt ion or parameter is the centering and non-centering of subtitles. Usually, subtitles done with the hard of hearing and deaf people in mind are non-centered and appear on various parts of thescreen, depending on who is talking.
Another technical parameter concerning subtitles is their availability as separate products – where they can be easily altered and revised, versus their availability joined with the audiovisual product, where altering the subtitles might not be a very smooth process. Anothertechnical variable to consider is the location of subtitles, and here Bartoll (2004: 55) differentiates amongst subtitles, intertitles, and surtitles. Here subtitles refer to text that goes underneath images; intertitles refer to text that goes between to images; and surtitles refer to text that goes above images.
The mobility of subtitles is also another parameter Bartoll touches upon (2004: 56). Mobile or fixed subtitles refer to the movement of the subtitles while they appear, or their fixed stance.
Another parameter of subtitles is the optionality of subtitles, and by this Bartoll (2004:56) differentiates between optional or closed subtitles and non-optional or open subtitles. Closed or optional subtitles refer to subtitles where viewers have the opt ion of viewing or hiding thesubtitles, as is the case with special programs in
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13 TV by a control but ton on the remote control , or the subtitle options available in DVDs, among other audiovisual opt ions. Open or non-optional subtitles refer to the inability to switch the subtitle option off from a TV program, DVD, news telecast, or other audiovisual domains.
Time is also a technical parameter of subtitles. There are simultaneous subtitles that are done and projected at the same time as the audiovisual product, and prerecorded subtitles that are done with more time at hand (Bartoll , 2004: 56; Caimi, 2009: 241).
The products themselves also make up a technical parameter. By this, Bartoll (2004: 56) distinguishes between cinema, television, video, DVD, LaserDisc, CDRom, computer games, Internet (Streaming Video), and live performances such as performance theatre, opera, and conferences. The advancement of technology has also served to make the technical aspect of subtitling easier, with the availability of multiple processing programs and various methods of linking subtitles to the audiovisual product (Karamitroglou, 1999).
The color of the subtitles is another technical parameter to take into account (Bartoll, 2004:57). The variables that determine the color choices are the interlocutors, colors appearing in the film, and the products being subtitled.
The last technical parameter according to Bartoll (2004:56–57) is the channel used in broadcasting the subtitles. The subtitles can be either broadcasted independently of the audiovisual product, on a display screen or teletext, or simultaneously with the audiovisual product.
When it comes to the linguistic parameters, the relationship between the source and target language is the first parameter here, and where the languages are the same or different. Here, when two languages are involved, subtitles are seen as
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14 translations, while when only one language is involved, subtitles are seen as transcriptions. Where intralinguistic subtitles are concerned – in other words, transcript ions –Bartoll (2004: 57) differentiates between transcriptions intended for the hard of hearing, and those intended for language students or amateur and karaoke singers.
The purpose of subtitles is also another linguistic parameter where Nord (as cited in Bartoll, 2004: 56–57) differentiates between what he calls Instrumental Subtitles and Documentary Subtitles. Instrumental Subtitles refer to subtitles aimed at people who either do not understand the source oral language or cannot hear it; these subtitles can be either transcriptions or translations and are done with the purpose of communicating in the target language. Documentary subtitles, on the other hand, refer to transcription subtitles done with the purpose of learning; the subtitles are aimed at people who want to learn languages or for singing.
2.2 Translation Techniques
Translation techniques (translation procedures or translation shifts) are defined as “the smallest linguistic changes occurring in translation of ST (source text) to TT (target text)” (Munday, 2001: 55). The analysis to this thesis uses Vinay and Darbelnet’s translation techniques. They are:
1. Literal translation
2. Transference
3. Transposition
4. Calque
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15 6. Equivalence
7. Adaptation
There are also cases in which scholars confuses a translation technique with another. This is because the difference of the translation of text using a translation technique compared to using another is so little that it is easily ignored.
For example:
SL Rani eats fried chicken
TL1 Rani makan ayam goreng
TL2 Ayam goreng Rani makan.
In TL1, the translation technique used is literal translation in which the text is translated word by word. Meanwhile, modulation is used in translating SL text into TL2. The difference here is the emphases on the sentences. TL1 emphasizes on who
(Rani) is doing the action (eat), whereas TL2 emphasizes on the object (fried
chicken) to which the action is being done (eaten).
Therefore, to avoid such error, we need to get a better understanding of each and all of the translation techniques used before doing a translation and analyzing one.
2.2.1 Literal translation
Literal translation is a translation technique commonly used in translating literary texts and many other kinds of texts. Literary translation may be briefly explained as follows:
Literal, or word for word, translation is the direct transfer of SL text into a grammatically and idiomatically appropriate TL text in which the translators’
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16 task is limited to observing the adherence to the linguistic servitudes of the TL. (Vinay and Darbelnet (1958) in Venuti (2000: 86).
It may be useful to distinguish literal from word-for-word and one-to-one translation. Word-for-word translation transfers SL grammar and word order, as well as the primary meanings of all the SL words, into the translation, and it is normally effective only for brief simple neutral sentences...In one-to-one translation, a broader form of translation, each SL word has a corresponding TL word, but their primary (isolated) meanings may differ...Since one-to-one translation normally respects collocational meanings, which are the most powerful contextual influence on translation, it is more common than word-for-word translation. (Newmark, 1988: 86)
Newmark added that literal translation ranges from one word to one word, e.g.: SL book
TL buku
through group to group, e.g.: SL a bowl of soup
TL semangkuk sup
collocation to collocation, e.g.: SL reading a journal
TL membaca sebuah jurnal
clause to clause, e.g.: SL if you go
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17 sentence to sentence, e.g.:
SL They sat under the oak tree.
TL Mereka duduk di bawah pohon ek itu.
The longer the unit, the rarer the one-to-one.
2.2.2 Transference
Transference (or loan words) is the process of transferring SL word to TL text as a translation procedure (Newmark, 1988: 98). It is the same as Catford’s transference and includes transliteration, which relates to the conversion of different alphabets, such as Cyrillic, Arabic, Chinese, etc. into English. However, since the alphabets of both languages used in the analysis (English and Bahasa Indonesia) are Latin alphabets, transliteration is omitted. Other common terms for transference are ‘loan word’ and ‘borrowing’. In giving the purposes of transference, Matthews and Orrantia wrote that it is used:
a) to overcome a gap or lacuna, e.g. ‘paintball’, ‘cerebellum’, ‘legato’, ‘casebook’ (these terms don’t have their equivalents in Bahasa Indonesia);
b) to create stylistic effect, e.g. ‘cake’ (instead of kue), ‘meeting’ (instead of rapat), ‘nervous’ (instead of gugup); and
c) to create the flavor of SL, e.g. ‘sushi’, ‘burger’, ‘salad’, ‘smoothie’.
There is what we call direct borrowing in which the SL term is put into TT, just as it is. This is usually because (a) the SL term doesn’t have any equivalent in TL and/or (b) the SL term has been recognized in TL vocabulary. Examples of such borrowing include ‘orbit’, ‘portal’, ‘data’, ‘panorama’, and ‘batik’. There is also
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18 natural borrowing, a type of transference in which the ‘borrowed’ SL term is modified to TL spelling and TL users’ ease of pronunciation. Example:
SL TL
computer komputer
tour tur
inflation inflasi
boycott boikot
dictator diktator
Satay sate
2.2.3 Transposition
“A ‘shift’ (Catford’s term) or ‘transposition’ (Vinay and Darbelnet) is a translation procedure involving a change in the grammar from SL to TL” (Newmark, 1988: 102).
Catford (1965) in Venuti (2000:141) states that shifts are departures from formal correspondence in the process of going from SL (source language) to the TL (target language). He also states that shifts is divided into two major types, those are; level shift and category shift.
2.2.3.1 Level Shifts
As Catford (1965) in Venuti (2000:141) states “Level shifts. By a shift of level we mean that a SL item at one Linguistic level has a TL translation equivalent at a different level”. It means that a grammatical unit in English, such as noun, affixes,
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19 etc, has a lexical unit in Bahasa Indonesia. The followings are the examples of level shifts:
1. (a) Sinta pun tidak membawa tas kecilnya. (b) Even Sinta does not bring her purse.
2. (a) Ray has bought his new suit, because he wants to go to the party. (b) Ray sudah membeli jas barunya, karena dia akan pergi ke pesta. In example (1), we can see that a unit (morpheme) in Bahasa Indonesia grammar ‘pun’ is translated into ‘even’ a lexis in English. And also in example (2), itcan be seen that in English if ‘have’ comes together with past participle of ‘sell’. Theform ‘have + past participle’ in English is translated into ‘sudah’, a lexis in Bahasa Indonesia.
2.2.3.2 Category Shifts
The second types of shift, is category shift, it is referred to unbounded and rank-bound translation. Unbounded translation means that translation equivalences may occur between sentences, clauses, groups, words and morphemes. While the term rank-bound translation only to refer to those special cases where equivalence is limited to ranks below the sentence.
a. Structure-Shifts
Structure shift is about the changing of grammatical between the structure of the SL and the TL, because of the structure of the SL and TL is not correspondent.
For example:
The form of the noun phrase of SL is Modifier-Head, while the form of the noun phrase of TL is Head-Modifier.
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20 dirty glass → gelas
Adjective Noun Noun Adjective kotor
Dirty glass in the source language text is constructed of modifier (dirty) + head (glass), meanwhile in the target language it becomes gelas kotor which is constructed of head (gelas) + modifier (kotor).
b. Class-Shifts
Class Shifts is about when the translation equivalent of a SL item is a component of a different class in TL.
For example: a. a technical
Adjective Noun meeting
b. rapat
Noun Noun teknis
c. Unit-Shifts
Unit shifts is about to changes of rank. In which the translation equivalent of a unit at one rank in the SL is a unit at a different rank in the TL.
For example:
Shift from phrase to word were raised → dibesarkan
Phrase Word
Word-Shifts
Word shifts is a part of unit-shifts, it is about the changes from word in the SL or Source Language into another ranks in TL or Target Language.
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21 For Example:
Shift from word (Adjective.) to phrase He is my honorary uncle→ dia paman
Adjective Phrase
yang ku hormati
d. Intra-System-Shifts
Intra system shifts is the last shifts, it is about the shifts which occur along with the names of the types of shift affecting the other fundamental categories of grammar-unit, structure and class.
For example: a. a pair of
Noun (plural) scissors
b. sebuah
Noun (singular) gunting
2.2.4 Calque
According to Vinay and Darbelnet (1958) in Venuti (2000: 86), a calque is a special kind of borrowing whereby a language borrows an expression form of another, but then translates literally each of its elements. They divided calque into two kinds:
2.2.4.1 Lexical Calque
Lexical calque is a calque which respects the syntactic structure of TL, whilst introducing a new mode of expression.
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22
For example: SL TL
four-by-four (4x4) empat kali empat (4x4) table tennis tenis meja
classic guitar gitar klasik
2.2.4.2Structural Calque
Structural calque is a calque which introduces a new construction into the language (TL).
For example:
SL ‘equity financing’
TL pemerataan keuangan.
As well as borrowings, there are many fixed calques which is after a period of time, become an integral part of the language. These similar to borrowings, may have undergone a semantic change, turning them into faux amis [i.e. pairs of words in two languages or dialects (or letters in two alphabets) that look or sound similar, but differ in meaning; false friends]. Translators are more interested in new calques which can serve to fill a lacuna, without having to use an actual borrowing. (Vinay and Darbelnet (1958) in Venuti (2000: 85-86)
2.2.5 Modulation
Modulation is a variation through a change of viewpoint, of perspective and very often of category of thought (Newmark, 1988: 105). This translation technique
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23 is normally used when SL text is translated literally, or transposed, into TL, is still considered unsuitable, unidiomatic, or awkward in TL, although the translation is grammatically correct (Vinay and Darbelnet (1958) in Venuti (2000: 89).
In general, modulation is divided into standard modulation and free modulation. Standard modulations are the ones recorded in bilingual dictionaries, such as:
SL train station
TL stasiun kereta api
Free modulations are used by translators when TL rejects literal translation. Perhaps free modulation is better illustrated by the following:
Modulasi bebas adalah prosedur penerjemahan yang dilakukan karena alasan nonliguistik, misalnya untuk memperjelas makna, menimbulkan kesetalian dalam BSa, mencari padanan yang terasa alami dalam Bsa, dan sebagainya. (Machali, 2000: 70)
[Free modulation is a translation procedure employed for non-linguistic purposes, such as to clarify meaning, to create a connection in TL, to find equivalence that seems natural in TL, etc.]
The two general types of modulations are further divided into eleven categories:
(i) Negated contrary (or double negative for positive, as Newmark termed it) is a concrete translation procedure which can be applied in principle to any action (verb) or quality (adjective or adverb).
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24 Example:
SL You shouldn’t disrespect
TL Kamu
your father. harus menghormati
(ii) Part for the whole is a modulation in which the SL text of a part of a whole set, which refers to the whole set, is translated as the whole set itself in TL.
ayahmu.
Example:
SL “I don’t wan’t that hairball TL “Aku tidak mau
in my room!” shouted Mia. kucingitu ada di kamarku!” teriak Mia.
(iii) One part for another is a modulation that occurs when a referent in SL is referred to as a certain part of it and to its other part in TL.
Example:
SL The little girl was wearing red from head to toe
TL Pakaian anak perempuan itu bernuansa merah dari
.
ujung rambut hingga ujung kaki.
(iv) Abstract for concrete is a modulation in which the meaning of SL text is made explicit in TL.
Example:
SL The soldier wrote
TL Prajurit itu
to his wife everyday when he was in battlefield.
menyurati istrinya tiap hari ketika berada di medan
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25 (v) Cause for effect includes cause for effect, means for result, and substance
for object modulations. Example of cause for effect:
SL The twins weren’t happy about my visit to their house, and to add insult to injury
TL Si kembar tidak senang aku berkunjung ke rumah mereka, dan
, they threw away my teddy bear.
yang membuatku lebih sedih lagi
Example of means for result:
, mereka membuangboneka beruangku.
SL My friend will drive
TL Temanku akan
us to the mall.
mengantar kita ke mal naik mobil Example of substance for object:
.
SL Literature TL
isn’t as easy as one thinks it would be.
Ilmu kesusasteraan tidaklah semudah yang orang anggap.
(vi) Reversal of terms occurs when the subject in SL becomes the object in TL, and vice versa.
Example:
SL I won’t fit into that gown.
TL Gaun itu takkan muat sama aku.
(vii) Active for passive is used when the active form of the text in TL sounds awkward or is grammatically incorrect.
Example:
SL The code to the safe was changed yesterday.
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26 (viii) Space for time is used when an occurrence signified as a term indicating space in SL, is modulated into a term in TL that indicates time, and vice versa.
Example:
SL They were my best friends in high school
TL Mereka sahabatku
. semasa SMA.
(ix) Intervals and limits is a type of modulation in which the interval of time and limit of space in SL are modified to a more commonly used TL equivalents, which also sound more natural in TL.
Example in time: SL See you TL
in a week. Sampai jumpa Example in space:
minggu depan.
SL No parking TL
between signs.
Dilarang parkir hingga rambu berikutnya.
(x) Change of symbols occurs when a unit in SL is translated into TL as a unit more commonly used by TL natives.
Example:
SL The harbor is only few miles
TL Pelabuhan itu hanya
away from here. beberapa kilometerdari sini.
(xi) Sensory modulation is a modulation of sensory elements (visual, audio, etc.) from SL into TL.
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27 Example:
SL brown beans
TL kacang merah
2.2.6 Equivalence
In Vinay and Darbelnet’s own words, the classical example of equivalence is given by the reaction of an amateur who accidentally hits his finger with a hammer: if he were French his cry of pain would be transcribed as “Aïe!”, but if he were English this would be interpreted as “Ouch!”. [If he were Indonesian, the interpretation of his cry of pain would be: “Aduh!”] Another striking case of equivalences are the many onomatopoeia of animal sounds.
For example:
SL cock-a-doodle-doo TL kukuruyuk
SL meow TL meong
These simple examples illustrate a particular feature of equivalences: more often than they are not of a syntagmatic nature, and affect the whole of the message. As a result, most equivalences are fixed, and belong to a phraseological repertoire of idioms, clichés, proverbs, nominal or adjectival phrases, etc. In general, proverbs are perfect examples of equivalences.
For example:
SL It’s raining cats and dogs
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28 SL Birds of a feather flock together.
TL Rasam minyak dengan minyak, rasam air dengan air.
2.2.7 Adaptation
Adaptation is used in those cases where the type of situation being referred to by the SL message is unknown in the TL culture. In such cases translators have to create a new situation that can be considered as being equivalent. Adaptation can, therefore, be described as a special kind of equivalence, a situational equivalence. They are particularly frequent in the translation of book and film titles. (Vinay and Darbelnet (1958/1995) in Hatim and Munday (2004: 151).
For example:
SL TL
• ‘After the Night’ [a novel by Linda Howard]
Menunggu Fajar
• ‘Evil Under the Sun’ [a novel by Agatha Christie]
Pembunuhan di Teluk Pixy
• Voldemort (You Know Who) [a
character in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series]
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23 is normally used when SL text is translated literally, or transposed, into TL, is still considered unsuitable, unidiomatic, or awkward in TL, although the translation is grammatically correct (Vinay and Darbelnet (1958) in Venuti (2000: 89).
In general, modulation is divided into standard modulation and free modulation. Standard modulations are the ones recorded in bilingual dictionaries, such as:
SL train station TL stasiun kereta api
Free modulations are used by translators when TL rejects literal translation. Perhaps free modulation is better illustrated by the following:
Modulasi bebas adalah prosedur penerjemahan yang dilakukan karena alasan nonliguistik, misalnya untuk memperjelas makna, menimbulkan kesetalian dalam BSa, mencari padanan yang terasa alami dalam Bsa, dan sebagainya. (Machali, 2000: 70)
[Free modulation is a translation procedure employed for non-linguistic purposes, such as to clarify meaning, to create a connection in TL, to find equivalence that seems natural in TL, etc.]
The two general types of modulations are further divided into eleven categories:
(i) Negated contrary (or double negative for positive, as Newmark termed it) is a concrete translation procedure which can be applied in principle to any action (verb) or quality (adjective or adverb).
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24 Example:
SL You shouldn’t disrespect TL Kamu
your father. harus menghormati
(ii) Part for the whole is a modulation in which the SL text of a part of a whole set, which refers to the whole set, is translated as the whole set itself in TL.
ayahmu.
Example:
SL “I don’t wan’t that hairball TL “Aku tidak mau
in my room!” shouted Mia. kucingitu ada di kamarku!” teriak Mia.
(iii) One part for another is a modulation that occurs when a referent in SL is referred to as a certain part of it and to its other part in TL.
Example:
SL The little girl was wearing red from head to toe
TL Pakaian anak perempuan itu bernuansa merah dari .
ujung rambut hingga ujung kaki.
(iv) Abstract for concrete is a modulation in which the meaning of SL text is made explicit in TL.
Example:
SL The soldier wrote TL Prajurit itu
to his wife everyday when he was in battlefield. menyurati istrinya tiap hari ketika berada di medan perang.
(3)
25 (v) Cause for effect includes cause for effect, means for result, and substance
for object modulations. Example of cause for effect:
SL The twins weren’t happy about my visit to their house, and to add insult to injury
TL Si kembar tidak senang aku berkunjung ke rumah mereka, dan , they threw away my teddy bear.
yang membuatku lebih sedih lagi
Example of means for result:
, mereka membuangboneka beruangku.
SL My friend will drive TL Temanku akan
us to the mall.
mengantar kita ke mal naik mobil Example of substance for object:
.
SL Literature TL
isn’t as easy as one thinks it would be.
Ilmu kesusasteraan tidaklah semudah yang orang anggap.
(vi) Reversal of terms occurs when the subject in SL becomes the object in TL, and vice versa.
Example:
SL I won’t fit into that gown. TL Gaun itu takkan muat sama aku.
(vii) Active for passive is used when the active form of the text in TL sounds awkward or is grammatically incorrect.
Example:
SL The code to the safe was changed yesterday. TL Ada yang mengubah kode brankas kemarin.
(4)
26 (viii) Space for time is used when an occurrence signified as a term indicating space in SL, is modulated into a term in TL that indicates time, and vice versa.
Example:
SL They were my best friends in high school TL Mereka sahabatku
. semasa SMA.
(ix) Intervals and limits is a type of modulation in which the interval of time and limit of space in SL are modified to a more commonly used TL equivalents, which also sound more natural in TL.
Example in time: SL See you TL
in a week. Sampai jumpa Example in space:
minggu depan.
SL No parking TL
between signs.
Dilarang parkir hingga rambu berikutnya.
(x) Change of symbols occurs when a unit in SL is translated into TL as a unit more commonly used by TL natives.
Example:
SL The harbor is only few miles TL Pelabuhan itu hanya
away from here. beberapa kilometerdari sini.
(xi) Sensory modulation is a modulation of sensory elements (visual, audio, etc.) from SL into TL.
(5)
27 Example:
SL brown beans TL kacang merah
2.2.6 Equivalence
In Vinay and Darbelnet’s own words, the classical example of equivalence is given by the reaction of an amateur who accidentally hits his finger with a hammer: if he were French his cry of pain would be transcribed as “Aïe!”, but if he were English this would be interpreted as “Ouch!”. [If he were Indonesian, the interpretation of his cry of pain would be: “Aduh!”] Another striking case of equivalences are the many onomatopoeia of animal sounds.
For example:
SL cock-a-doodle-doo TL kukuruyuk
SL meow TL meong
These simple examples illustrate a particular feature of equivalences: more often than they are not of a syntagmatic nature, and affect the whole of the message. As a result, most equivalences are fixed, and belong to a phraseological repertoire of idioms, clichés, proverbs, nominal or adjectival phrases, etc. In general, proverbs are perfect examples of equivalences.
For example:
SL It’s raining cats and dogs TL Hujan turun dengan derasnya.
(6)
28 SL Birds of a feather flock together.
TL Rasam minyak dengan minyak, rasam air dengan air.
2.2.7 Adaptation
Adaptation is used in those cases where the type of situation being referred to by the SL message is unknown in the TL culture. In such cases translators have to create a new situation that can be considered as being equivalent. Adaptation can, therefore, be described as a special kind of equivalence, a situational equivalence. They are particularly frequent in the translation of book and film titles. (Vinay and Darbelnet (1958/1995) in Hatim and Munday (2004: 151).
For example:
SL TL
• ‘After the Night’ [a novel by Linda Howard]
Menunggu Fajar
• ‘Evil Under the Sun’ [a novel by Agatha Christie]
Pembunuhan di Teluk Pixy
• Voldemort (You Know Who) [a
character in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series]