CHAPTER2
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
In this chapter, the writer would like to discuss the theories which were used to
support this thesis. writing. There are theories of translation, the definition of translation,
kinds of translation, equivalent translation, linguistics aspect of translation containing
translation shift, transposition, diction, semantics aspect of translation, and pragmatics
aspect of translation.
2.1. Theory of translation
There are two definitions of translation which the writer took from two theorists
that were discussed in this research. According to Newmark (Machali, 2000, p.5),
translation is reproducing the meaning of a textual material from one language into
.another .language in accordance
"Translation
is
studying
with the intention
the lexicon,
grammatical
of the original authors.
structure,
communication
situation, and cultural context of the source language text (SL), analyzing it in order
to determine its meaning and then reconstructing this same meaning using the
.lexicon and grammatical structure which are appropriate in the receptor language
(TL) and it cultural context." (Larson, 1998, p.3) the process is illustrated in the
model in the following figure.
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SOURCE LANGUAGE
RECEPTOR LANGUAGE
Text to be
TRANSLATION
Re-express
the meaning
Discover the
meaning
MEANING
Figure 1: Model of translation by Larson (1998, p.4)
Figure 1 shows that the translator must understand what the text is about, from
the structure of granunar, the communication and the cultural context so that the
translator knows what the author's intention is, then the translator must try to reexpress the meaning with the equivalent translation meaning that the translation
must be suitable with all. the aspects of the Target Language.
2.1.1 Kinds of translation
According to Machali (2000, p.53), there are four kinds of translation
methods:
I. Adaptation
To translate literary works, translator tends to use this kind of
translation method in order not to change the theme and plot in poem and
characters in drama. In this translation, cultural shift often occur and it will
cause the text written in SL adapted with TL culture but still keep the
characters and the plot in SL.
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2. Free translation
This translation method aims to emphasize on the content of the text
rather than its form so the text becomes longer or shorter than the original
text. This method of translation is usually used by the mass media such as in
translating the news headline depending on the purpose of the translation. It
is mostly for humor because it emphasizes on special responses from the TL
speaker.
3. Idiomatic translation
The texts which are translated idiomatically will become more familiar,
alive ·and natural in the TL and be likely to be used to show high solidarity
b_etween characters when the translator tries to translate dialogues. This kind
of translation is the goal since it used the natural sentence structure
(grammar) and words choices of the TL and the intention is similar with the
SL (Larson, 1998).
Ex: It's a piece of cake ---Ini hal yang sangat mudah
4. Communicative translation
The translation method is usually used to translate the informative and
vocative text and the translator should pay attention to the language style of
the author's and the communication principal such as the readers and the
purpose of the text translation. It produces the text which will be translated
accurately and efficiently. This method of translation strives for reproducing
contextual meaning with the result which is easy to understand by the
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readers. Newmark (1981) concluded that conununicative translation tends to
be smoother, simpler, clearer, and .straight.
2.1.2 Equivalent translation
It is impossible for the translator to fmd the one-for-one equivalence of
lexical items because the components of languages are different one to another,
so translators must correct the structure of the text they are translating so they
will at least produce relatively close equivalence (Larson, 1998). There are some
aspects in translating text which can be categorized as a good and equivalent
translation (Machali, 2000, p.115). They are:
2.1.2.1 Linguistics aspects
This aspect of translation consists of modulation, transposition, and
lexicon or diction. This thesis analyzed the translation of the book by using
the theory of transposition and diction.
2.1.2.1.1 Transposition
In Machali (2000, p.63) the writer found that it was interesting to
discuss about the translation shift called transposition (Catford, 1965).
Transposition is a procedure that involves the granunatical form from
the SL
to the TL. There are fourkinds of transpositions which were
analyzed in this research:
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2.1.2.1.1.1 Automatitransposition
The transposition must be used because the system and the
rules of SL and TL are different so the translator does not have any
other option that transposition should occur. The first is plural
nouns in English becomes singular in Indonesian. For example,
some books becomes beberapa buku. If it is without article some,
the word books will be translated into buku-buku.
The second is adjective repetition in Indonesian that shows the
meaning of variation and causes the plural nouns in English (eg.
Wanita Indonesia cantik-cantik is translated into Indonesian women
are beautiful).
· The third translation shift which is included in the automatic
transpositions is word order. In English the usual word order is
adjective +noun but in Indonesian it changes into noun+ adjective.
The example of this transposition is red shoes translated into sepatu
merah.
2.1.2.1.1.2 Transposition occur if TL does not have the same
grammatical structure
into we should try the new menu in the restaurant. It will be strange
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· · Passive in Indonesian becomes active in English for example,
the sentence menu baru di restoran itu harus kita coba is translated
Transposition is a procedure that involves the granunatical form from
the SL
to the TL. There are fourkinds of transpositions which were
analyzed in this research:
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restaurant should be tried by us. The translation literally is correct
but the use of the words' structure is unfamiliar. The next kind of
transposition .is verb in Indonesian is used in front while in English,
it is used
at the
back
of the
sentence (eg.
Telah dilarang
penggunaannya becomes Its usage has been forbidden.)
2.1.2.1.1.3 Transposition occurs because of idioms naturalness
This kind of translation shift happens when an idiom in SL can
be translated literally into TL but the translation is not equivalent.
The phrase the pursuit of happiness (noun+ noun) is translated into
mengejar kebahagiaan (verb + noun) not pengejaran kebahagiaan
(nourt + noun). The phrase showed the noun or noun phrase in
English, changed into verb in Indonesian.
The other example of this kind of transpositions is the
· combination of adjective and noun in English can be noun + noun
in Indonesian for
example, traveling
agent
becomes
agen
perjalanan, whitening cream becomes krim pemutih, hunting dog
becomes anjingpemburu.
The clause in English ·which is implicit becomes explicit in
. Indonesian for example, the girl wearing skirt is the doctor's
daughter, is translated into anak perempuan yang memakai rok
adalah anak dokter itu. The English sentence of the example above
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Indonesian, the words which is is translated into the word yang
which function as determiner.
Another example of this transposition is combination of noun
and adjective from intransitive verb becomes noun + clause in
Indonesian. The crying baby is translated into bayi yang menangis,
the painted house is. translated into rumcih yang dicat and the
barking dog becomes anjing yang menggonggong.
2.1.2.1.1.4 Transposition occurs to fill vocabulary gaps
In Machali (2000, p.68), the example for this translation shift is
called "unit shift" (Catford, 1965). Word translated into phrase or
clause for example cozy becomes suasana nyaman, hangat dan
akrab and trainee becomes peserta latihan or the example from
Indonesian into English, santan is translated into coconut sauce.
The transposition also includes the textual function such as 1-lah/
and !-pun/ in Indonesian. The example is hanya kebahagiaanlah
yang dicari oleh setiap orang becomes it is only happiness which is
looked for by everyone.
2.1.2.1.2 Diction
There are three main points of diction from Keraf (2010):
1. ·Diction defmed as which word that is used to convey one's
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which szyle of writing (formal or infomial) to use in a certain
situation. Word
is
a unit
of
language that
has
certain
composition and it can be used freely in a sentence. The most
important thing
of the combination of words
is the text
understanding. For example saya meminum air itu, air itu saya
minum, kuminum air it. These
structure but the idea
three sentences have different
of each
understanding the text, an author
sentence is the same. By
or a translator will know
which sentence to use in certain context and particular intention
because
words
are tools to communicate with others and
combinations of words are important to convey one's ideas so
that it will make others know what he or she aims to say.
2. Diction is not only about the accurate use of words but also
whether a word is accepted in the societY or not, for example
the word separo and setengah. If a text talks about Jakarta in
the past and one of the characters is talking and using the word
separo (e.g. gue kaga 'bisa kalo musti ngabisin yang separo
lagi) with the meaning of half of, it will be necessary. In the
contrary, the word separo cannot be used in a formal business
text although the meaning is also half of and it is better to
replace it with setengah, for example setengah dari aset yang
kita miliki berupa properti. The meaning of a word will be
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chooses accurate and suitable word. In the same case, it is
necessary for the translator to choose the right words to
translate texts that will generate the close equivalent meaning.
A writer must be able to distinguish the words' different nuance
of the idea that he or she wants to put into words and also must
be able to find the suitable word to use with the intention that
the readers will understand his or her intention.
3. Vocabulary
comprehension
is the third requirement
since
correct and appropriate diction can be done by the translators
only if they have a good vocabulary comprehension. It is
essential in communication
because people who know only
some vocabularies will find it difficult to express their thoughts
· because they do ·not know that there are some words which are
more appropriate to use in a sentence and they do not know the
difference of those words which are synonymy. Vocabulary is
also about denotation and connotation meaning of words,
collocation (which word collocates with this word) and other
aspects in linguistics.
There are also ten main requirements for translators asserted by
Keraf(2010):
I. Translators must be able to make different the denotation and
connotation.
One
example
m
Indonesian
is
Anjing
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kesayanganmu hampir tertabrak mobil. Both of the words
nyaris and hampir have the same meaning but the word nyaris
·is explicitly show that the sentence associates with something
which is dangerous.
2.
Translators must be able to differentiate the words which are
synonymy, for
example mati,
meninggal, wafat, gugur,
· mangkat, etc. Translators must choose the best word to convey
what
they want
to
say so it will
not
cause
different
interpretation.
3. Translators should distinguish the words which have almost
· same spelling, such as Para penonton sangsi atas sanksi yang
diberikan oleh wasit kepada pemain itu. The relation of these
two underlined words in Indonesian is named homofon.
4.
Translators must avoid the self-made words. It is better to use
the non-translated words since many words in English original
form of language are used in communication among Indonesian
(e.g. boss, close up, hand-made, make-up, feedback, delivery
order, and touch-screen).
5.
Translators must pay attention to the use of words with foreign
suffixes because they settle on part of speech of the words (e.g.
comfortable and comfort, happily and happiness, various and
variety, idiom and idiomatic, etc).
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6. Translators must use the correct collocation for example bake
· and roast have the same meaning of cooking food in a high
temperature using oven. But the term bake is usually used with
the word cake so it becomes bake the cake and the word roast
is used with meat and it will be roast the meat or roast a
chicken..
7.
Translators must be able to distinct between hyponymy and its
super-ordinate
(e.g. flower and lily, cook and boil or fry,
memotong and mengiris or mencincang). Distinguishing these
words will help to know which word is better to use to express
the intended meaning.
8.
Translators must use suitable words which tell the readers about
what they experience using their sense (eyes, nose, tongue,
ears, and skin) in making description such as bright or shiny
when they are talking about the sun or lamp and stinky if they
are talking about smells of rubbish.
9.
Translators should notice the shift of meaning such as saudara
which was used to call a person who has the same parents or
grandparents with us, but now it is used to call everyone who is
older or has higher position in formal situation. Figurative
language such as metaphor, metonymy can also be categorized
as shift of meaning.
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10. Translators must pay attention to straightforwardness of words
choice. It depends on the technique in choosing words so that
their messages can be delivered accurately and economically.
This requirement can help translators to avoid ambiguity.
In· linguistics aspects in translation, idioms that are translated
should be correct, clear and natural. Idiom is a group of words which
has special meaning and the meaning will be different from the meaning
of the individual word. The example can be like this, Andi menjadi
ktimbing· hitam dalam kasus hilangnya
uang kas kelas kita. The
underlined words literally mean a goat with a black fur. If translators do
not understand the meaning of this idiom, they will interpret it to be
black goat. In English, there is an equivalent term for this idiom which
is scape-goat ·with ·the definition
of a person who is blamed for
something bad that somebody else has done or for some failure (Oxford
Advance Leamer's Dictionary, 2000).
In order to know how to translate a term, there is one more
requirement that translators must know the culture of SL and they must
be able to find .alternative words to translate certain terms which has no
equivalent term in TL. Absence of the same culture in SL and TL will
affect the word choices. The writer watched a Korean movie titled He Is
Beautiful in Korean ·version and the Indonesian version on television
which was played by one of TV station, Indosiar from Monday to
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member in one boy band group and another member knew about it.
When they were having a conversation, the man pretended that he
didn't know about the truth and told her to call him Hyung (a term used
by a man to call his elder brother) and asked whether she wants to call
him Oppa (a term used by a woman to call his elder brother.
Indonesian does not have that kind of term. Both man and woman,
called their elder brother Kakak, so the translator must improvise in
translating the term. If both words are translated into Kakak, it will be
confusing and the audience will not get the intention of the script writer.
So in Indonesian the man asked her to call him Kakak or she wanted to
call him Sayang. Although the translator
changed the term, the
translation can be understood easily and the audience got the idea of the
scene played by the actor and actress. It shows that absence of culture in
TL will affect the diction of a translated text.
2.1.2.2 Semantics aspects
· Semantics is the study about the meaning of words or sentence in
language or intention of the speakers in their utterance and intention the
writers in their texts (Hurford, 2004). Semantics aspects in translation
contains of referential meaning, interpersonal meaning, and language style
such as connotative meaning should not be changed when the text is
translated into another language.
Reference is the relation between the language and the entity in the
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windows and it is a place where human lives in. The knowledge of what a
house is, stimulated by the experience of living in a house and seeing what a
house looks like. It is the same case with translators who try to translate the
· text but they do not know the exact thing that the author intended or the
translators know the thing intended by the author but they do not know the
name of the thing in the Target Language.
Keraf (2010) explained that connotative meaning
IS
one
of the
meanings that contain emotional values. Some of connotative meanings
happen because the speakers or writers want to express their feelings of
agreement, disagreement, happy, unhappy, etc to the listeners or the readers.
Connotative meaning has relation with synonymy and that's why in
· Indonesian there are some words which are synonymy have connotative
meaning, such as mati, meninggal, wqfat, gugur, mangkat, tewas and
berpulang.
The denotative meaning of these words is stop living. Even so, the
words meninggal, wqfat and berpulang have additional value which is in a
relation with politeness. Indonesian uses these words to show their respect
to the dead person. The word gugur is usually used for heroes or people
who die when they try to protect their nation. mangkat has the relation with
grandeur of the death and it is not commonly used while the word tewas is
used for those who die because of disasters. The most standard word which
is used by Indonesian is mati because the meaning is unbiased and does not
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Interpersonal meaning closely related to pragmatics. It can be the
reactions of the readers after reading the book, the purpose of the translators
by using certain words in translating text, felicity conditions, direct and
indirect way to tell the readers to do something, cert.ain pictures in mind
when the translator made the translation, and the translator's additional
conveyed meaning.
2.1.2.3 Pragmatics aspects
Pragmatics is concerned with what the speakers intend to say by uttering
the words, the utterance contextual meaning, additional intention of the
utterances, and how people use. utterance to others with various distance
(Yule, 2008). There are some pragmatics aspects in translated such as the
text equivalency, the author's intention, and the sentence structure should
not deviate.
Text equivalency today is connected with the text function and the
translation methods that are chosen by the translator to translate the text in
relation with the function of the text (Machali, 2000). The function must not
be changed. If the author Wrote the book in intention to inform something to
the readers, the translator must be able to translate the text with the same
purpose with the author which is to inform the readers.
Yule (2008) conveyed that linguistics forms are used by the author of a
book to facilitate the readers to recognize things. The translators have to be
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the text from the Source Language into the Target Language without
changing the meaning of the author's particular pictures in mind.
Those linguistics forms can be proper nouns (for example, Jakarta,
WTC, Toyota), definite noun phrases (for example, the car, the menu, the
country), or indefinite (for example, a colorful hat, a man, a cat), and
pronouns (for example, he, him, hers, their). Authors tend to use pronouns
to indicate the nouns they have mentioned earlier and translators are
required to be able to understand what things are referred by the pronouns
used by the authors.
cine of the pragmatics concerns is the expression of relative distant.
Social distance scale or solidarity can be intimate and distant or high
solidarity and low solidarity (Holmes, 2005). If there are conversations in
the book, the author will show the distance of people who are talking in
their dialogue. It is important for the translator to know how intimate the
people are and translate the dialogue into the Target Language without
using dissimilar solidarity between them so the intimacy will be illustrated
orrectly in the Target Language.
2.1.2.4 Naturalness
Venuti, one of the leading translation theorists at the moment, disclosed
in his journal article that translators are insisted to observe another method
and occupy other preference to translate the cultural information they put
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and getting rid of the foreign manners and the translation will become more
natural in the Target Language.
Cronin in Contantinescu (2010) was said to write in his book the
definition of translation as producing associations and it must be able to
relate the culture of the·Source. Language to the culture of the Receptor
Language.
Translators also have the obligation to make systematic
circumstances so that they will be able to gather more terms of goods,
technologies and ideas.
That's why translators must have adequate vehicles to create pragmatic
translations that will cover the process of translations of the text and also the
translators. So that the readers, in the process of reading it, will not realize
that the text was a translated text and they will feel the naturalness of the
text in their language. The more invisible the translator, the better the
translation is.