Module 07-08
Problems in Translating
What’s Inside
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Category of Respect
Lexicon
Polysemy
Ambiguity
Figurative Language
Syntax
Semantic Translation
Linguistic equivalence is equivalence in
meaning between the source-language
information and the receptor-language
information.
1. Category of Respect
The Indonesian language distinguishes kinds of respect
when referring to or addressing certain kinds of people.
The classification is usually determined by such factors as age, rank,
social status, or familiarity and has three major levels:
a)
b)
c)
d)
Speaking up: to older people or people of higher rank, as a soldier
to his commander, a pupil to his teacher, etc.
Speaking down: to younger people or people of lower rank as a
teacher
to his pupils, parents to their children, etc.
Speaking to peers: to those of the same level.
2. Lexicon
The meaning of words discussed in the previous
section has been dependent primarily upon the cultural
factors of the environment. The problem of meaning in
which this section treats concerns the linguistic factors
in the meaning of the words, though sometimes we
cannot get rid of cultural significance.
a). Polysemy
Polysemy (or polysemia) is a compound noun for a basic
linguistic feature. The name comes from Greek poly (many)
and semy (to do with meaning, as in semantics). Polysemy
is also called radiation or multiplication. This happens when
a word acquires a wider range of meanings.
For example, "paper" comes from Greek papyrus.
Originally it referred to writing material made from the
papyrus reeds of the Nile, later to other writing materials,
and now it refers to things such as government documents,
scientific reports, family archives or newspapers.
Example (English word Run)
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The athlete is running.
Her nose is running.
For how long is the movie running?
Who left the water running?
She's running the flag up the pole.
Mr. Kelly is running for President.
Does your car run?
Trains run on rails
My computer runs on Windows.
You want to run that by me again?
His sermons seem to run on forever.
We scored a run in the sixth inning.
I have a run in my stocking.
There are two components to meaning: semantic field and semantic
context.
By semantic field, we mean the full range of ways the word has and
can be used. By examining the "field" of possible meanings, we
begin to narrow the options. Normally, there are still too many
options, so we have to take another step. The second step is to
determine the semantic context.
If "run" for instance can refer to rapid, bipedal locomotion in some
contexts, we can eliminate that option in contexts where there are no
legs or feet.
If "run" can mean "flow," or "drip," it is a possible way of understanding
it where noses and faucets appear, but not where liquids do not
appear. In everyday speech, we do this kind of comparison to semantic
context so rapidly and unreflectively that we are not normally aware of
doing it. But we do it nevertheless and normally with great accuracy.
b). Ambiguity
Ambiguity comes from Latin ambiguitas meaning acting both ways.
Something is ambiguous when it can be understood in two or more
possible senses or ways.
The word "ambiguity" itself can mean an indecision as to what you
mean, an intention to mean several things, a probability that one or
other or both of two things has been meant, and the fact that a
statement has several meanings.
Ambiguity tends to increase with frequency of usage. The sentence
“They can fish “ can be understood in two ways: “They may or are
able to fish” and “They put fish in cans.”
If the ambiguity is in a single word it is called lexical ambiguity. In a
sentence or clause, it is called structural ambiguity.
Examples
Arm
Either of the two upper limbs of the human body, from the shoulder to the hand.
Branch of division of a country’s military forces.
Bank
Land sloping up along each side of a river or canal; ground near a river.
Establishment for keeping money, valuables, etc, safely, the money being paid out on the
customer’s order (by means of checks).
Magazine
Paper-covered periodical, usually weekly or monthly, with articles, stories, etc, by various
writers.
Chamber holding the cartridges of a rifle of pistol before they are fed into the
breech.
Figurative Language
Figurative language is language that does not mean
exactly what it says word by word, but it must be
understood as a whole expression. Figurative
expressions are used by writers and speakers to give
mental picture to their listeners or readers. These
expressions are usually descriptive and colorful, and in
order to understand them one has to guess the meaning
from the context.
• Belonged to figurative language is the idiom. An
idiom is a group of words in one language that
take on a specialized meaning distinct from the
meanings of the individual words considered
separately.
• Metaphor is a figure of speech where a word or
phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is
used to designate another, thus making an
implicit (figurative) comparison.
Syntax
Syntax is a study of language that deals with
the arrangement of words. Since English and
Indonesian differ linguistically, in most cases
the two languages do not correspond in the
types of arrangement of words. Every word
may be correct in form, but the entire
expression may be meaningless.
The problem of syntax which translators have
encountered in types of modification and which needs
attention is the use of classifiers. Classifiers must be
added in translation to conform to the obligatory pattern
of the Indonesian language.
Bahasa Indonesia possesses different kinds of classifiers.
These are words which denote the class of the object
spoken about, for example, "piece" is translated as ‘secarik’
(for paper, cloth, etc.), ‘sepotong’ (for bread, chalk, etc.)
‘sebidang’ (for land, board, etc.), ‘sebilah’ (for knife,sword,
etc.), and still many others.
These indicators are used not only for numbers as shown
above, but also for other forms which are particularly used
with proper nouns.
Semantic translation
Semantic translation is the process of using
semantic information to aid in the translation of
data in one representation or data model to
another representation or data model.
Semantic translation takes advantage of
semantics that associate meaning with individual
data elements in one dictionary to create an
equivalent meaning is a second system.
Semantic translation requires that data elements in the source and
destination systems have "semantic mappings" to a central registry
or registries of data elements. There are three types of semantic
mappings:
Class Equivalence - indicating that class or "concepts" are
equivalent. For example: "Person" is the same as "Individual"
Property Equivalence - indicating that two properties are
equivalent. For example: "PersonGivenName" is the same as
"FirstName"
Instance Equivalence - indicating that two individual instances of
objects are equivalent. For example: "Dan Smith" is the same
person as "Daniel Smith"
Semantic translation is very difficult if the terms in a particular data
model do not have direct one-to-one mappings to data elements in a
foreign data model. In that situation an alternative approach must be
used to find mappings from the original data to the foreign data
elements.