Module 13 - 14
Transfer and Semantic Adjustment
• Transfer and Semantic Adjustment
Deverbalisasi (Transfer)
“Melepaskan diri dari ikatan – ikatan teks
sumber untuk menangkap isi pesannya secara
lebih terperinci (kalimat demi kalimat, paragraf
demi paragraf, atau pasal demi pasal,
tergantung pada pertimbangan kita masingmasing).
Langkah ini disebut “transfer”. Dimana kita
mencari pemecahan permasalahan dari luar
teks seperti dalam langkah pertama.
In transferring from English into
Indonesian several semantic adjustments
should be made. They lie in the essential
distinction between the two languages,
cultural and linguistic equivalence and
connotative meaning of words.
The form, on the other hand, is the
external shape which the message takes
to effect its passage from the source’s
mind to the receptor’s mind. And it is
almost invariably true that in any given
content, a language makes available
numerous forms which could equally well
convey the message.
In the principle of closest, natural
equivalent, meaning or content should
some first, and the style or from of the
language second. The content is the
conceptual intent of the message, together
with the connotative values, which the
source wishes to communicate; it is what
the message is about.
One common problem of content is metaphorical
expressions, including idioms, figurative meanings,
proverbs, etc.
It will be so much the better if we can convey the same
content in Indonesian in a form which is similar to that in
English. It is in the same case with some instances of
metaphorical expressions when we transfer from
proverbs to proverbs.
“Still waters run deep”
can be rendered into
‘Air tenang beriak dalam’.
In the process of transfer, the translator
becomes the reader of the original text and at
the same time the one who turns the text into the
receptor language. He becomes the person who
first reacts emotionally to the original text before
he transfers it into the receptor language.
He should therefore be careful not to colour the
work or transfer its connotations as he likes, but
should give in the receptor language the
connotations the author of the original text
intended.
• Example of Transfer and Semantic Adjustment
“The burning sun of Syria had not yet attained its
highest point in the horizon, when a knight of the
Red Cross, who had left his distant northern
home, and joined the host of the Crusaders in
Palestine, was pacing slowly along the sandy
deserts which lie in the vicinity of the Dead Sea,
or, as it is called, the Lake Asphaltites, where the
waves of the Jordan pour themselves into an
inland sea, from which there is no discharge of
waters”.
Waktu itu matahari di Suriah yang terasa
membakar belumlah mencapai titik tertinggi di
cakrawala, ketika seorang ksatria Palang Merah
yang telah meninggalkan rumahnya jauh di
Utara dan menggabungkan diri dengan Pasukan
Perang Salib di Palestina, sedang
melangkahkan kudanya perlahan-lahan di
sepanjang gurun pasir. Gurun itu letaknya di
dekat Laut Mati, atau yang juga disebut Danau
Aspal, dimana Sungai Jordan menuangkan
airnya kedalam laut buntu tersebut , yang tiada
saluran keluarnya ke laut bebas’.
Since the paragraph consists of long and
complex sentences, the translator will perhaps
delete some parts of the text to make it shorter
and turn it into some simple sentences as
follows:
Pada suatu pagi yang terik di Suriah, seorang
ksatria menggabungkan diri dengan pasukan
Perang Salib di Palestina. Ia telah meninggalkan
rumahnya jauh di Utara. Ketika itu ia sedang
melangkahkan kudanya perlahan-lahan di
sepanjang gurun pasir dekat Laut Mati dimana
aliran Sungai Jordan berakhir’.
• In the process of transfer, the translator
becomes the reader of the original text and at
the same time the one who turns the text into the
receptor language. He becomes the person who
first reacts emotionally to the original text before
he transfers it into the receptor language. He
should therefore be careful no to colour the work
or transfer its connotations as he likes, but
should give in the receptor language the
connotations the author of the original text
intended.
•
• Sometimes, in the process of transfer, we
must make certain shift in the central
meaning of word to get the exact more
than one meaning. The shift can be done
from generic to specific, e.g. “we” as ‘kita’
or ‘kami’; “brother” as ‘kakak laki laki’ or
‘adik laki laki’, “sister” as ‘kakak
perempuan’ or ‘adik perempuan’.
•
• When there are distinct differences between the
cultural forms or functions of English referents
and the corresponding Indonesian parallels, it
may be necessary to add some cultural
conditioning in the form of classifiers to the
unknown terms, e.g. to give a classifier to the
word “Bermuda” as ‘Kepulauan Bermuda’;
“Pluto” as ‘Dewa Pluto’, ‘Planet Pluto’, etc, to
avoid any misunderstanding.
•
• In the actual process of translating the
translator will constantly swing back and
forth between the analytical and the
restructuring process. He will even
anticipate what he knows he must confront
in the next process.
• For example, the sentences “I have read the
letter “ will be unnatural if it is translated into ‘
Saya telah membaca surat itu’. In the process of
analysis the translator should know that in some
cases he may not retain the active construction
but change it into the passive one with the agent
added, or else it will be obscure in the receptor
language. And so in the transfer the rendering
becomes ‘Surat itu telah kubaca’, which is more
natural and explicit.