AN ANALYSIS ON THE TRANSLATION OF

SHIRAISHI’S YOUNG HEROES: THE INDONESIAN FAMILY

IN POLITICS INTO PAHLAWAN-PAHLAWAN BELIA: KELUARGA

INDONESIA DALAM POLITIK BASED ON TRANSLATION

EQUIVALENCE THEORIES

A Thesis Presented to The Graduate Program in English Language Studies

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

Magister Humaniora (M. Hum) in

English Language Studies

by

YOHANA VENIRANDA

01.6332.007

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2003

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

PAGE OF TITLE ……………..……………………………………………..… i

PAGE OF APPROVAL ………...…………………………………………..…. ii

PAGE OF DEFENCE APPROVAL PAGE …………………………………. iii

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ……………………………………….…. iv

LIST OF TABLES ……………………..……………………………………..... v

LIST OF FIGURES …………………….…………………………………..…. vi

ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………………...…. vii

ABSTRAK ….…………………………………………………………….….… ix

PREFACE …………………………………………………………………...… xi

TABLE OF CONTENTS ………………………………………………...….. xiii

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION …………………………………………….. 1

A. Background of Study………………………………………………….…… 1

B. Problem Formulation …………………………………………………..….. 7

C. Objectives of Study ………………………………………………………… 7

D. Problem Limitation ………………………………………………….….…. 8

E. Benefits of the Study ………………………………………………….…… 8

CHAPTER II. THEORETICAL REVIEW …………………………………. 10

A. Definitions of Terms …………………………………………………….…. 10

1. Translation ………………………………………………………………..… 10

2. Source Text (ST) ...…………………………………………………………. 12

3. Target Text (TT) ………………………………………………………....… 12

4. Source Language (SL) …………………………………………………...… 13

5. Target Language (TL) …………………………………………………..…. 13

B. Theories on Translation……………………………………………….…... 13

1. The Processes of Translation ………………………………………….…... 14

2. General Principles of Translation ………………………………………..… 21

3. Approaches to Translation ………………………………………….……… 23

a. The Functional Approach ……………………………………….….…… 24

b. The Variational Approach ……………………………………….……… 25

4. Approaches to Teaching Translation ……………………………….……….27

a. The Process-Oriented Approach ……………………………….……...… 27

b. The Product-Oriented Approach ………………………………….……... 31

5. Equivalence …………………………………………………………..…….. 31

a. Equivalence at Word Level ……………………………………….……... 32

b. Equivalence above Word Level ….……………………………….……... 36

c. Grammatical, Textual, and Pragmatic Equivalence .……………….….… 39

6. Untranslatability ……………………………………………………….….... 46

7. Using Translation as a Resource for the Promotion of Language

Learning …………………………….……………………………………… 48

C. Theories on English to Indonesian Translation ….……………………… 50

1. Simple and Complex Noun Phrases ………………….………………….… 51

2. Conjunctions and Conjuncts ………………………….…………………… 51

3. Relative Pronouns …………………………………….…………………… 53

4. Tense and Aspect …………………………………….……………………. 54

5. Articles ……………………………………………….………….…………. 56

6. Prepositions ………………………………………….………….………….. 57

7. Pronouns …………………………………………….………….…………... 60

8. Singular and Plural ………………………………….……………………… 61

9. Problems in English to Indonesian Translation: Grammatical and

Socio-Political-Cultural Aspects …………………….……………….…….. 63

CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY …………………………………………. 69

A. Research Data ………………………….…………………………………. 69.

B. Research Procedures ……………. …………………………………….… 70.

C. Data Analysis ………….………………………….…………………….…. 70

CHAPTER IV. DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ………………..… 74

A. Data ……………………………………………………………………...… 74

B. Analysis …..……………………………………………………………...… 97

C. Discussion …..……………………………………………………………... 130

CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS …………….…… 140

A. Conclusions …..….……………………………………………………..… 140

B. Suggestions ……....……………………………………………………….. 144

BIBLIOGRAPHY …………………………………………………………… 147

APPENDIX ….……………………………………………………………….. 151

ABSTRACT

YOHANA VENIRANDA. (2003). AN ANALYSIS ON THE TRANSLATION OF SHIRAISHI’S YOUNG HEROES: THE INDONESIAN FAMILY IN POLITICS INTO PAHLAWAN-PAHLAWAN BELIA: KELUARGA INDONESIA DALAM POLITIK BASED ON TRANSLATION EQUIVALENCE THEORIES. Yogyakarta: English Language Studies, Graduate Program, Sanata Dharma University.

This thesis has aimed at exploring the theories on translation as an overview in general and the theories on English to Indonesian in particular, and presenting the results of a case study on a translation product. There are three questions in this study. The first is what the psychological nature of translation processes is. The second is what the theoretical nature of English to Indonesian translation is. And the third is how the results of the analysis on the phrases and sentences in the translation of Shiraishi’s Young Heroes: The Indonesian Family in Politics into Pahlawan-Pahlawan Belia: Keluarga Indonesia dalam Politik are. The answers to questions number one and number two have been derived from the study on the theories on translation. The answer to the third question has been the result of the analysis on the data, that consist of phrases and sentences, of the translation of Young Heroes: The Indonesian Family in Politics into Pahlawan-Pahlawan Belia: Keluarga Indonesia dalam Politik.

From several models of translation processes, it can be concluded that the process of translation is the process of information processing. The psychological nature of translation process is the transfer of meaning. The translator needs to discover the meaning of the ST and re-express the meaning in the TL. The process involves syntactic, semantic and pragmatic analyzers, which continues with syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic synthesizers. It is possible for some stages to be passed through very quickly, for example in the Frequent Structure Store and Frequent Lexis Store. The norm for the process is a combination of bottom-up and top-down. The nature of English to Indonesian translation can be concluded as follows: 1. English and Indonesian have some differences in grammatical aspects, among

others are the use tenses and aspects, verb agreement/ concord with the Subject, use of pronouns, relative pronouns, singular and plural markers of noun phrases, use of articles, positions of conjuncts, and meanings of conjunctions

2. Some problems in socio-political-cultural aspects include some daily expressions, idioms, fixed expressions, and use of measurements.

3. Understanding the nature of the differences between the SL and the TL, a translator will be able to anticipate problems that may arise from the differences.

The results of the analysis on the translation product show that the translation of Young Heroes: The Indonesian Family in Politics into Pahlawan-Pahlawan Belia: Keluarga Indonesia dalam Politik can be considered good for the following reasons:

1. Meaning or message has been the main focus rather than the forms. The translator is not too much tied up with the literal words and phrases. For a better understanding, many reformulations of the sentences have been done.

2. Easy reading has been tempted by cutting very long sentences into shorter and precise ones. The translator has taken into account the consideration that the TT is a popular reading.

3. Most of the translation losses have been for some purposes such as to avoid lengthy repetition, to make the sentence more precise, to avoid unexpected misinterpretation of some phrases. The translation losses have been mostly for understandable reasons and there are no significant meaning biases that have changed or destroyed the main message of the ST.

4. Machali’s description of good translation can be used to describe the result of the analysis of the data in this study: There is basically no distortion of meaning. There are some inappropriate literal translations, grammatical and idiomatic mistakes but less than 15% of the whole text, and there are one or two uses of non-standard terms and one or two spelling errors.” (Machali, 2000:120)

At the end of the discussion on the theories on translation, it is worthwhile to remind translators that in translation, translators have some missions to accomplish. Benjamin (1968:76) mentions that the task of the translator consists in finding that intended effect (intention) upon the language into which he is translating which produces in it the echo of the original. Siegel (1986:7) emphasizes the responsibility of a translator because translation can sustain a culture as well as stifle it. Sontag (2002:340-341) mentions three variants of the modern idea of translation, i.e. translation as explanation, translation as adaptation, and translation as improvement.

It can be stated as a closing remark that many studies have resulted in many theories on translation and on translators. However, some existing theories of translation should not be seen as the solution to all problems in translation. As Beaugrande (Beaugrande in Bell, 1997:23) said it is inappropriate to expect that a theoretical model of translation should solve all the problems a translator encounters. Instead, according to him, it should formulate a set of strategies for approaching problems and for coordinating the different aspects entailed. In other words, translation theory is reoriented towards description, whether of process or product, and away from prescription.

ABSTRAK

YOHANA VENIRANDA. (2003). AN ANALYSIS ON THE TRANSLATION OF SHIRAISHI’S YOUNG HEROES: THE INDONESIAN FAMILY IN POLITICS INTO PAHLAWAN-PAHLAWAN BELIA: KELUARGA INDONESIA DALAM POLITIK BASED ON TRANSLATION EQUIVALENCE THEORIES. Yogyakarta: English Language Studies. Graduate Program. Sanata Dharma University.

Tesis ini bertujuan mendalami teori terjemahan sebagai tinjauan umum, dan teori terjemahan dari bahasa Inggris ke bahasa Indonesia khususnya, dan melaporkan hasil studi kasus suatu hasil terjemahan. Ada tiga pertanyaan dalam penelitian ini. Pertanyaan pertama tentang hakekat psikologis dari proses terjemahan. Yang kedua tentang hakekat teori terjemahan dari bahasa Inggris ke bahasa Indonesia. Dan yang ketiga, hasil analisa dari frasa dan kalimat dalam terjemahan karya Shiraishi Young Heroes: The Indonesian Family in Politics menjadi Pahlawan-Pahlawan Belia: Keluarga Indonesia dalam Politik. Jawaban untuk pertanyaan pertama dan kedua diperoleh dari kajian pustaka tentang teori-teori terjemahan. Jawaban untuk pertanyaan ketiga diperoleh dari hasil analisa data, yang terdiri dari frasa-frasa dan kalimat-kalimat, dari terjemahan Young Heroes: The Indonesian Family in Politics menjadi Pahlawan-Pahlawan Belia: Keluarga Indonesia dalam Politik. Dari beberapa model proses terjemahan, dapatlah disimpulkan bahwa proses terjemahan adalah proses pengolahan informasi. Hakekat psikologis dari terjemahan adalah transfer makna. Penerjemah menemukan makna dari naskah sumber dan menyampaikan makna tersebut dalam bahasa yang dituju. Proses itu mencakup analisa sintaksis, semantik, dan pragmatik, yang kemudian dilanjutkan dengan sintesa sintaksis, semantik, dan pragmatik. Beberapa tahap dilalui dengan cepat, seperti di Frequent Structure Store and Frequent Lexis Store. Proses ini merupakan kombinasi proses dari bawah ke atas dan dari atas ke bawah. Hakekat teoritis terjemahan dari bahasa Inggris ke bahasa Indonesia dapat disimpulkan sebagai berikut: 1. Bahasa Inggris dan bahasa Indonesia memiliki perbedaan dari segi tata bahasa,

antara lain penggunaan tenses dan aspek, perubahan kata kerja yang disesuaikan dengan Subyek, penggunaan kata ganti, kata ganti penghubung, penunjuk kata benda tunggal/jamak, penggunaan artikel, posisi kata penghubung kalimat, dan arti kata sambung.

2. Beberapa masalah aspek social, politik, dan budaya mencakup ungkapan sehari-hari, kata kiasan, peribahasa, dan istilah untuk penunjuk ukuran.

3. Dengan memahami hakekat perbedaan antara bahasa sumber dan bahasa yang dituju, seorang penerjemah dapat mengantisipasi masalah yang mungkin muncul dari perbedaan itu.

Hasil analisa terjemahan menunjukkan bahwa terjemahan Young Heroes:

The Indonesian Family in Politics menjadi Pahlawan-Pahlawan Belia: Keluarga Indonesia dalam Politik dapat dikelompokkan ke dalam terjemahan yang baik karena:

1. Makna lebih menjadi pokok perhatian dari pada bentuk. Penerjemah tidak terlalu terikat pada kata dan frasa secara harafiah. Untuk memberikan pemahaman yang lebih baik penataan ulang kalimat telah dilakukan.

2. Untuk menghasilkan karya yang nyaman dibaca, kalimat-kalimat yang terlalu panjang telah dipenggal menjadi lebih pendek. Penerjemah mempertimbangan bahwa naskah terjemahan ditujukan untuk bacaan popular.

3. Sebagian besar dari bagian yang hilang dalam terjemahan memiliki tujuan tertentu seperti untuk menghindari pengulangan yang terlalu banyak, untuk menghasilkan kalimat yang lebih ringkas, dan untuk menghindari penafsiran yang keliru dari beberapa bagian frasa. Terjemahan yang hilang lebih dikarenakan alasan-alasan yang dapat diterima dan tidak ada penyimpangan makna yang signifikan yang mengubah atau merusak makna inti dari naskah sumber.

4. Penjelasan Machali tentang terjemahan yang baik dapat digunakan untuk menjelaskan hasil analisa data dalam penelitian ini: Tidak ada distorsi makna; Ada terjemahan harafiah yang kaku, kesalahan tata bahasa dan idiom tetapi relatif tidak lebih dari 15% dari keseluruhan teks. Ada satu-dua penggunaan istilah yang tidak baku/umum dan satu atau dua kesalahan tata ejaan.” (dari Machali, 2000:120)

Pada akhir pembahasan tentang teori terjemahan, perlulah mengingatkan

penerjemah bahwa dalam menerjemahkan, penerjemah memiliki misi yang perlu dicapai. Benjamin (1968:76) menyebutkan tugas dari penerjemah mencakup penyampaikan makna yang dimaksudkan dengan bahasa yang dituju, yang dapat menghasilkan gaung dari bahasa sumber. Siegel (1986:7) menekankan tanggung jawab penerjemah karena penerjemahan dapat mempertahankan dan juga meniadakan suatu budaya. Sontag (2002:340-341) menyebutkan tiga pemikiran baru tentang terjemahan, yaitu terjemahan sebagai penjelasan, sebagai adaptasi, dan sebagai perbaikan.

Sebagai kata penutup, dapat disampaikan bahwa banyak penelitian yang telah menghasilkan teori-teori penerjemahan dan tentang penerjemah. Akan tetapi, teori-teori terjemahan yang ada, seharusnya tidak dilihat sebagai solusi untuk semua masalah dalam terjemahan. Beaugrande (dalam Bell, 1`997:23) menyatakan bahwa tidak semestinya berharap suatu model teori terjemahan dapat menyelesaikan semua masalah yang dihadapi seorang penerjemah. Menurutnya, teori terjemahan semestinya merumuskan suatu rangkaian strategi untuk menyelesaikan masalah dan untuk mengkoordinasikan berbagai aspek yang terkait. Dengan kata lain, teori terjemahan diarahkan untuk deskripsi, baik untuk proses ataupun produk, dan bukan untuk preskripsi.

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of Study

Some cases of onomatopoeia, i.e. the use of words, which have been

formed like the noise of the thing that they are describing or representing, can be

interesting to start the discussion of translation. When English people write down

the sound of the cocks in the morning as cock-a-doodle-doo, the sound is ku-ku-

ru-yuk in Indonesian, and it becomes tik-ti-la-ok in the Philippines. The sound of a

gun, for example, in English is usually written down as bang-bang but in

Indonesian, it is dor-dor. To imitate the knock on the door in English, people use

“knock-knock” and in Indonesian it is “tok-tok-tok”.

Cases of idiomatic expressions can be funny jokes. Translating It’s

raining cats and dogs into Indonesian will not mention the two kinds of animals.

It is Hujan lebat sekali. Translating This book costs me a fortune, a student has

confidently related it to a familiar word fortune teller and the result was Saya

membutuhkan seorang peramal untuk memberitahu saya harga buku ini instead of

Buku ini sangat mahal. A Further question is why puppy love is cinta monyet.

And still about animals, let the sleeping dogs lie is Jangan membangunkan macan

tidur.

The examples above can be discussed from the view Saussure proposes,

i.e. about the sign, the signified and the signifier. In a language, the signified is the

concept, the signifier is the acoustic image (which is mental), and the relation

between concept and image is the sign (the word, for instance), which is a

concrete entity (Saussure in Barthes, 1972:113). Starting from the fact that in

human language the choice of sounds is not imposed on us by the meaning itself,

Saussure had spoken of an arbitrary relation between signifier and signified. The

ox does not determine the sound ox, since in any case the sound is different in

other languages (Barthes, 1981:50). A further problem for translators to recognize

is the second set of sign, signifier and signified, which form a myth. The

following figure shows the pattern:

Figure 1.1. The Tri-dimensional Pattern of the Signifier, the Signified and

the Sign in Myth (Barthes, 1972:115) 1. Signifier 2. Signified

3. Sign I SIGNIFIER

II SIGNIFIED

III SIGN

Language MYTH

Barthes (1972:115) calls the first set ‘language-object’ and the second set

‘metalanguage’. When talking about the signs, translators cannot avoid

considering the signified and the signifier of the source language and the target

language, especially in the level of myth. The same sign between the source

language and the target language will not always refer to the same signifier or

signified.

The examples and description above show that translation is not merely a

process of transferring words into their counterpart target language words.

Sometimes, a warning like “Be careful with the dictionary when you translate!”

seems necessary because some students feel that as long as they already base their

translation on the words in the dictionary, they are “safe”, meaning they cannot be

wrong.

Translation can be a complex process that involves many aspects to

consider before we come to a final version of a translation product. Some

teachers consider translation as a separate skill. It implies that translation requires

practice rather than theories. To some extent, translation is a skill because the

more one practices to translate, the better he can do it. However, some students

have complained that they cannot improve themselves well by merely keeping on

translating without understanding any theories on translation.

Some teachers treat translation as a scientific orientation to linguistic

structures, semantic analysis, and information theory. According to Nida and

Taber (1974:vii), translation is far more than a science. It is also a skill, and in the

ultimate analysis, fully satisfactory translation is always an art. The translation of

the Bible into some 800 languages, representing about 80 percent of the world’s

population involved at least 3,000 persons. According to Nida and Taber

(1974:1), in the translation of the Bible, the underlying theory of translation has

not caught up with the development of skills. Despite consecrated talent and

painstaking efforts, a comprehension of the basic principles of translation and

communication in the bible translation has lagged behind the translation in secular

fields. Translators of religious materials have sometimes not been prompted by

the feeling of urgency to make sense (Nida and Taber, 1974:1).

There are people who believe that skill in translation cannot be learned,

and cannot be taught. There is an assumption that some people are born with a gift

of being good translators. In other words, skill in translation is a talent: either you

have got it or you have not. Translation is similar to subjects like mathematics or

physics. Some people are good at it, others find it difficult (Hervey and Higgins,

1992: 13).

Hervey and Higgins (1992:13) argue that when we talk of proficiency in

translation, we are no longer thinking merely of the basis of natural talent an

individual may have, but of the skill and facility that require learning, technique,

practice and experience. The answer to anyone who is skeptical about the formal

teaching of translation is twofold: students with a gift for translation invariably

find it useful in building their native talent into a fully-developed translating

proficiency; students without a gift for translation invariably acquire some degree

of proficiency.

Newmark (1981:38) quotes Savory’s words from The Art of Translation

(1968:54):

A translation must give the words of the original. A translation must give the ideas of the original. A translation should read like an original work. A translation should read like a translation. A translation should reflect the style of the original. A translation should possess the style of the translation. A translation should read as a contemporary of the original. A translation should read as a contemporary of the translation. A translation may add to or omit from the original. A translation may never add to or omit from the original. A translation of verse should be in prose. A translation of verse should be in verse.

Savory’s words above describe how translation is not a single absolute definition.

It does not consist of a single absolute criterion. The debate over how a

translation should be cannot reach a single absolute solution or conclusion.

Belitt (1983:481) describes translation from different groups of people’s

point of view:

“Indeed, Babel is always with us. The moralist will say, for example: Translation is a long discipline of self-denial, a matter of fidelity or betrayal. The vitalist will say: Translation is a matter of life and death, merely: the life of the original or the death of it. The poet will say: Translation is either the composition of a new poem in the language of the translator, or the systematic liquidation of a master-piece from the language of the original. The epistemologist will say: “Translation is an illusion of the original forced upon the translator at every turn because he has begun by substituting his own language and occasion for that of the poet’s and must fabricate his reality as he goes. The sybil sees all and says: Translation is the truth of the original in the only language capable of rendering it “in truth”: the original language untouched by translation.” (Belitt: 1983:481)

The quotation above adds the list of the various descriptions and definitions of

translation with a sense of confusion in it.

A translation class has not been an easy class to handle. The problem lies

on the difficulties to judge a translation of a certain text when we are given a list

of alternatives. We can only say this one is possible and that one is also possible.

Then a decision on which is better between two alternatives or which is the best

among several alternatives is made. Sometimes it takes a long time to decide

which version of translation is better or the best. The decision is usually not a

single absolute choice and it is sometimes still debatable. Going through such a

process of decision-making can sometimes be tiring, but students need to

understand that the process can also be part of learning.

This study is going to explore the theories on translation in general and the

theories on English to Indonesian translation in particular. It is an attempt to look

at translation both as a process and as a product. This study uses the translation

product of Shiraishi’s Pahlawan-Pahlawan Belia:Keluarga Indonesia dalam

Politik, which is translated from Young Heroes: The Indonesian Family in

Politics, as a case study, for the analysis. Henceforth, in most part of this thesis,

the source text is referred to as Young Heroes and the target text is Pahlawan-

Pahlawan Belia. The source text has been chosen on the ground that it is a

research report, an academic work. As a form of scientific writing, the language

is a formal language. It uses good and standard English. Choosing a novel or

another kind of literary work will require another kind of analysis and it will

involve more cultural implications, rhymes, beauty, style, and some personal

mode.

The writer of Young Heroes, Shiraishi, is a Japanese, who pursued her

further studies at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. This book is derived

from her dissertation for her doctorate degree. From the point of the content, it is

an interesting book because it depicts a lot of Indonesian family values. The

values are projected and reflected into the political life of the nation. One part of

the book also discusses children in the classroom. This book is worth reading for

teachers and anyone involved in educational field.

Another reason is that it has been translated into Indonesian by Tim

Jakarta Jakarta, with Seno Gumira Ajidarma, who is an artist and a novelist, as

the coordinator. With the English and the Indonesian versions at hand, the

analysis can be done. We may see and learn something from Tim Jakarta

Jakarta, because they are professionals in using Indonesian for popular purposes.

Discussing the audience of the source text and the target text can be

interesting. The audience of the source text (ST), as a research report and a

dissertation, is the professors at Cornell University. In other words, the audience

is mostly non-Indonesians, although they are ‘Indonesianists’, who have involved

a lot in Indonesian studies. The audience of the target text (TT), as a popular

book, is Indonesians, especially the educated, middle-class Indonesians. This

difference may result in some consequences in the translation product. It can be

interesting to find out the consequences of such different audiences for the ST and

TT. Even Shiraishi herself said that she was anxious to wait and see how this

book would be read by Indonesians. In her opinion, Indonesian people like to

introduce themselves as the Javanese, the Sundanese, etc. Shiraishi wants to

convince to readers that the concept of “Indonesian people” does exist. She is

curious how the translators will maintain the nuance of her English text into

Indonesian. In many examples of cases in her book, Indonesian is a language

which often maintains a weird emptiness, a void at its core (Shiraishi, 1997:121).

B. Problem Formulation

This study tries to answer the following questions:

1. What is the psychological nature of translation processes?

2. What is the theoretical nature of English to Indonesian translation?

3. How are the results of the analysis on the phrases and sentences in the

translation of Shiraishi’s Young Heroes: The Indonesian Family in Politics

into Pahlawan-Pahlawan Belia: Keluarga Indonesia dalam Politik?

C. Objectives of Study

This study aims at exploring the theories on translation in general and the

theories on English to Indonesian translation in particular, and presenting the

results of a case study on a translation product. By using Shiraishi’s Pahlawan-

Pahlawan Belia: Keluarga Indonesia dalam Politik, which has been translated

from Young Heroes: The Indonesian Family in Politics, this study tries to present

an example of an English to Indonesian translation product. The analysis to

present the strengths and weaknesses of the translation product is done based on

the theories on translation.

D. Problem Limitation

Some theories on translation are applicable to translation in general. It

means that they can be used as the general principles to translate a text of any

languages into any other languages. This study focuses on English to Indonesian

translation. Some general theories on translation are included on the

considerations that they are useful to provide some basic principles of translation

and some general approaches to translation. The discussion on the general theories

on translation is followed by the discussion on the theories English to Indonesian

translation. In this part, more examples of English to Indonesian translation are

given. It is impossible to include all the theories on translation in this study. The

theories presented are chosen on the consideration that they are applicable to

translation in general and relevant to the analysis of English to Indonesian

translation.

E. Benefits of the Study

The theories on translation can help us see the psychological processes of

translation, some basic principles of translation and some general approaches to

translation. The theories on English to Indonesian translation can provide us with

some general principles of translating English to Indonesian texts. The theories

include some discussion on the difference between the two languages in lexical,

syntactic, as well as socio-political-cultural aspects.

The results of the analysis on the translation product will provide us with

some insights about the problems, techniques and considerations in English to

Indonesian translation. Shiraishi’s Young Heroes: The Indonesian Family in

Politics is an interesting book. There are a lot of similar books on Indonesian,

which are still written in English. The translation of such books will be useful for

more Indonesian people to reflect on themselves. The analysis on the book in this

study can be as a sample for other translators who are interested in translating

similar books.

Hopefully, with a better understanding of the theories, the difficulties and

the considerations, some suitable exercise models for translation classes can be

developed and students can then improve their skills more.

CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL REVIEW

A. Definitions of Terms

1. Translation

According to Webster (1994), translation is an act, process, or instance of

translating as a) a rendering from one language into another, and also the product

of such a rendering, b) a change to a different substance, form, or appearance

(conversion). Webster describes the verb to translate as 1) to turn into one’s own

or another language, 2) to transfer or turn from one set of symbols into another

(transcribe), 3) to express in different terms and especially different words

(paraphrase), 4) to express in more comprehensible terms (explain, interpret).

Nida and Taber (1974:12) define translation as the reproduction in a

receptor language of the closest natural equivalent of the source message, first in

terms of meaning, and secondly in terms of style. Cobuild (1995:1781) defines

translation as a piece of writing or speech that has been translated from a different

language. Hornby (1974:919) defines translation as giving the meaning of

something said or written into another language. However, Hornby differentiates

a translator from an interpreter. He defines a translator as a person who translates,

especially something written, and an interpreter for something spoken. Other

authors have other different opinions.

Martinich (1996:441-442) says that a sentence of English can be

understood or interpreted in English. In contrast, translation requires a second

language. Further, Martinich says that translation is like linguistic understanding

insofar as translation is supposed to preserve the meaning of the original

utterance, and it is unlike interpretation, which aims at going beyond the meaning

of the utterance.

Though some writers differentiate translation from interpretation, many

writers use the two terms interchangeably. According to Quine and Davidson (in

Martinich, 1996:442), the fact that understanding, interpretation, and translation

are conventionally used in different circumstances is not relevant to the fact that

the cognitive activity is the same in each case. In other words, according to them,

the difference between the terms is a matter of usage, not meaning.

Bell (1997:19) discusses translation as bilingual communication. He

describes the communication process in the following figure.

Figure 2.1.

Translation as bilingual communication (Bell, 1997:19) Code 1 Channel Channel SENDER SIG[message]NAL 1 TRANSLATOR Content 1 Code 2 RECEIVER SIG[message]NAL 2 Channel Channel Content 2

Bell describes the figure as follows: translator receives signal 1 containing

message, recognizes code 1, decodes signal 1, retrieves message, comprehends

message, translator selects code 2, encodes message by means of code 2, selects

channel, transmits signal 2 containing message.

Bell (1997:13) also tries to define three distinguishable meanings for the

word translation.

a. Translating: the process (to translate; the activity rather than the tangible

object);

b. A translation: the product of the process of translating (i.e. the translated text);

c. Translation: the abstract concept, which encompasses both the process of

translating and the product of that process.

In this study, translation is defined as bilingual communication that

involves the reproduction in a target language or receptor language of the closest

natural equivalent of the source message, both in meaning and style.

2. Source Text (ST)

A source text or ST is the text that requires translation (Hervey and

Higgins, 1992: 15). The source text is sometimes referred to as the original

version of a text. In this study, the source text (ST) is the English text of

Shiraishi’s Young Heroes: The Indonesian Family in Politics.

3. Target Text (TT)

A target text or TT is the text which is a translation of the ST (Hervey and

Higgins, 1992: 15). The target text (TT) is sometimes referred to as the translated

version of a text. In this study, the Indonesian text of Pahlawan-Pahlawan Belia:

Keluarga Indonesia dalam Politik is the target text (TT).

4. Source Language (SL)

A source language or SL is the language in which the text requiring

translation is couched (Hervey and Higgins, 1992: 14). In this study, Shiraishi’s

Young Heroes, which is the source text (ST), uses English. Therefore, English is

the source language (SL).

5. Target Language (TL)

A target language or TL is the language into which the original text is to

be translated (Hervey and Higgins, 1992:15). Some other writers such as Larson

(1984), Nida and Taber (1974) also use the term a receptor language to refer to

TL. In this study, Pahlawan-Pahlawan Belia, which is the target text (TT), uses

Indonesian. Indonesian is the target language (TL).

B. Theories on Translation

“The purpose of translation theory is to reach an understanding of the

process undertaken in the act of translation and not to provide a set of norms for

affecting the perfect translation” (Bassnett-Mcguire in Bell, 1997:22). De

Beaugrande (in Bell, 1997:23) gives a warning that it is inappropriate to expect a

theoretical model of translation to solve all the problems a translator encounters.

Instead, it should formulate a set of strategies for approaching problems and for

coordinating the different aspects entailed. In other words, translation theory is

reoriented towards description, whether of process or product, and away from

prescription.

Given the word translation, three possible theories depending on the focus

of the investigation can be drawn as follows.

The first is a theory of translation as process (i.e. a theory of translating).

This would require a study of information processing and within that, such topics

as perception, memory, the encoding and decoding of messages, and would draw

heavily on psychology and on psycholinguistics.

The second is a theory of translation as product (i.e. a theory of translated

texts). This would require a study of texts not merely by means of the transitional

levels of linguistics (syntax and semantics) but also making use of stylistics and

recent advances in text-linguistics and discourse analysis.

The third is a theory of translation as both process and product (i.e. a

theory of translating and translation). This would require the integrated study of

both and such a general theory is, presumably, the long- term goal for translation

studies (Bell, 1997:26).

1. The Process of Translation

According to Hervey and Higgins (1992:15), a translation process can, in

crude terms, be broken down into two types of activity, i.e. understanding an ST

and formulating a TT. According to Nida and Taber (1974:208), translation,

which aims at dynamic equivalence comprises three stages, namely analysis,

transfer, and restructuring. Larson (1984:3) states that translation consists of

studying the lexicon, grammatical structure, communication situation and cultural

context:

“Translation, then, consists of studying the lexicon, grammatical structure, communication situation, and cultural context of the source language text, 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 and its cultural context.”

Larson’s description of the process of translation is shown in figure 2.2.

Figure 2.2.

The Process of Translation (Larson, 1984:4)

SOURCE LANGUAGE RECEPTOR LANGUAGE Text to be Translation Translated Discovering Re-express the meaning the meaning

MEANING Widdowson (1979:108) thinks of translation in terms of three alternative

processes, which is shown in the following figure.

Figure 2.3.

Three Processes of Translation (Widdowson, 1979:108)

Rhetorical deep structure (pragmatic representations)

SL surface TL surface forms forms

Grammatical deep structure (semantic representations)

If one follows the path through semantic representations one can

demonstrate how sentences in the SL and TL relate to a common deep structure

such as is, for example, partially realized in the common propositions of case

grammar, deliberately grouping together sentences in the two languages which are

structurally distinct at the superficial level of analysis. If one follows the path

through pragmatic representations, one teaches communicative acts and shows

how they may be realized in formally diverse ways in the SL and TL.

Bathgate (in Widyamartaya, 1989:40-41) describes the translation process

into seven steps, namely tuning, analysis, understanding, terminology,

restructuring, checking, and discussion. Tuning means trying to get the feel of the

text to be translated. Each ‘register’ as it is usually called, demands a different

mental approach, a different choice of words or turn of phrase. In the analysis,

after the translator attunes his mind to the framework of the text to be translated,

he will take each sentence in turn and split it up into translatable units - words and

phrases. The syntactic relations between the various elements of the sentence are

also established.

In the next step, i.e. understanding, after having split up the sentence into

its elements, the translator will generally put it together again in a form which he

can understand. Due attention to both form and content is essential. In the next

step called terminology, the translator considers the key words and phrases in the

sentence to make sure they are in line with standardized usage and is neither

misleading, ridiculous, nor offensive for the target-language reader.

In restructuring, when all the bricks needed for the edifice of the target

language text have been gathered or made, the translator will fit them together in

a form which is in accordance with good usage in the TL. This is the phase

where ‘form’, as opposed to ‘content’, comes into its own.

In the next step, checking, the translator will check his draft translation for

typing errors and passages where a second perusal suggests a more elegant, or

more correct, translation. In addition, someone other than the translator can read

through the finished translation and make or suggest changes.

The last step is discussion. A good way to end the translation process is a

discussion between the translator and the expert on the subject matter. It is

inadvisable to have more than two participants – out of this: too many cooks spoil

the broth. On the other hand, it is sometimes necessary to point out to translators

that they should not work in isolation.

It can be inferred from the process above that the translation process is not

a one-punch work. In the restructuring and checking, the translator may need to

go back to the beginning of the process again.

Bell (1997:44-45) describes the process of translation that includes the

process in the memory system. The model can be seen in figure 2.4. He explains

that there are several assumptions that underlie the model. The process of

translating:

a. is a special case of the more general phenomenon of human information

processing;

b. should be modeled in a way which reflects its position within the

psychological domain of information processing;

c. takes place in both short-term and long-term memory through devices for

decoding text in the SL and encoding text into the TL, via a non-language-

specific semantic representation;

d. operates at the linguistic level of clause, irrespective of whether the process is

one of the analysis of incoming signals or the synthesis of outgoing ones

(monolingual, reading and/or writing, or bilingual, i.e. translation);

e. proceeds in both a bottom-up and a top-down manner in processing text and

integrates both approaches by means of a style of operation which is both

cascaded and interactive, i.e. analysis or synthesis at one stage need not be

completed before the next stage is activated and revision is expected and

permitted;

f. requires there to be, for both languages

1) a visual word-recognition system and a writing system

2) a syntactic processor which handles the options of the MOOD system

and contains a

3) Frequent Lexis Stores (FLS), a Lexical Search Mechanism (LSM), a

Frequent Structure Store (FSS), and a parser, through which

information passes to (or from) a

4) semantic processor which handles the options available in the

TRANSITIVITY system and exchanges information with a

5) pragmatic processor which handles the options available in the THEME

system and there is also an

6) idea organizer which follows and organizes the progression of the speech

acts in the text (and, if the text-type is not known, makes inferences on the

basis of the information available) as part of the strategy for carrying out

plans for attaining goals, devised and stored in the

7) planner which is concerned with creating plans for reaching goals of all

kinds. Some of these plans may involve uses of language such as text-

processing. This might include translating a text and this decision might

well have been made even before its first clause had been processed.

Figure 2.4. A Model of the Translation Process (Bell, 1997:59)

The figure contains several important terms. The first is Frequent Lexis

Stores (FLS). This is the mental (psycholinguistic) correlate of the physical

glossary or terminology database, i.e. an instant ‘look-up’ facility for lexical items

both ‘words’ and ‘idioms’ (Crystal in Bell, 1997:47). The second is Frequent

Structure Store (FSS). It is a set of operations that involves the exploitation of

frequently occurring structures, which are stored in memory in their entirety as is

a lexical item with direct access to phrases and sentences, nearly as rapid as it is

for individual words (Steinberg in Bell, 1997:48).

The third is Lexical Search Mechanism (LSM). This has the task of

probing and attempting to ‘make sense’ of any lexical item which cannot be

matched with items already stored in the FLS. The fourth is Parser. Parser has

the task of analyzing any clause for which analysis appears necessary. The

following sample sentence can be used to describe parser:

The smaggly bognats grolled the fimbled ashlars for a vorit.

It is the sequence of phrases NP-VP-NP-PP. Bognats and ashlars are countable,

possess the attributes of being smaggly and fimbled respectively. Bognats are able

to groll ashlars either for a period of time (how long) or for some client (i.e. on

behalf of a vorit). All this information is derived from the reader’s syntactic

knowledge (Bell, 1997:49).

The next term is Tenor of Discourse. The tenor of the discourse is the

relationship with the receiver, which the sender indicates through the choices

made in the text. The tenor consists of a number of overlapping (Bell, 1997:186-

188). The sixth term is Mode of Discourse. The mode of discourse is the

medium selected for realizing the text (Bell, 1997:188-190).

The last one is Domain of Discourse. The domain of discourse is the

‘field’ covered by the text; the role it is playing in the communication activity;

what the clause is for, what the sender intended to convey; and its communicative

value. Domain is connected with function. In a narrow sense, domain is

connected with the use of language to persuade, to inform or some other speech

acts. In a much broader sense, domain can refer to such macro-institutions of

society as the family, friendship, education, and so forth (Bell, 1997:191).

Tenor, mode and domain of discourse are three stylistic parameters. In

sociological variables, tenor refers to the participants, mode refers to the

purposes, and domain refers to the settings (Bell, 1997:9)

2. General Principles of Translation

In 1540, Dolet published a short outline of translation principles, entitled

La manière de bien traduire d’une langue en aultre (How to Translate Well from

One Language into Another) and established five principles for the translator

(Bassnett, 1996:54):

a. the translator must fully understand the sense and meaning of the original

author, although he is at liberty to clarify obscurities;

b. the translator should have a perfect knowledge of both SL and TL;

c. the translator should avoid word-for-word renderings;

d. the translator should use forms of speech in common use;

e. the translator should choose and order words appropriately to produce the

correct tone.

Dolet’s principles stress the importance of understanding the SL text as

primary requisite. According to Dolet, the translator is far more than a competent

linguist, and translation involves both a scholarly and sensitive appraisal of the SL

text and an awareness of the place the translation is intended to occupy in the TL

system.

Nida and Taber (1974:173) try to answer the question “What is a good

translation?” They try to answer it by contrasting a good translation with bad

translations of two kinds:

Table 2.1. A Good Translation Contrasted with Two Kinds of Bad Translations (Nida

and Taber, 1974:173)

BAD GOOD BAD Formal correspondence: the form (syntax and classes of words) is preserved; the meaning is lost or distorted

Dynamic equivalence: the form is restructured (different syntax and lexicon) to preserve the same meaning

Paraphrase by addition, deletion, or skewing of the message.

Further Nida and Taber explain that it is possible to produce a bad

translation, as in column 1, by preserving the form at the expense of the context.

On the other hand, it is possible to produce a bad translation as in column 3, by

paraphrasing loosely and distorting the message to conform to alien cultural

patterns. This is the bad sense of the word “paraphrase”. However, as in column

2, a good translation focuses on the meaning or context as such and aims to

preserve that intact; and in the process it may quite radically restructure the form.

This is paraphrase in the proper sense.

Larson (1984:6) discusses what the best translation should be. According

to Larson, the best translation is the one which

a. uses the normal language form of the receptor language

b. communicates, as much as possible, to the receptor language speakers the

same meaning that was understood by the speakers of the source language, and

c. maintains the dynamics of the original source language text.

Maintaining the “dynamics” of the original source text means that the

translation is presented in such a way that it will, hopefully, evoke the same

response as the source text attempted to evoke.

Hymes (in Bell, 1997:11) describes a good translation to be:

“That in which the merit of the original work is so completely transfused into another language, as to be as distinctly apprehended, and as strongly felt, by a native of the country to which that language belongs, as it is by those who speak the language of the original work.”

From this, Hymes says that three laws. The first is that the translation

should give a complete transcript of the ideas of the original work. The second is

that the style and manner of writing should be of the same character with that of

the original. And the third is that the translation should have all the ease of

original composition.

3. Approaches to Translation

Translation can be seen from different approaches. A different approach

results in a different method and procedure in conducting the process of

translation

a. The Functional Approach

In the functional approach, the translation strategies should follow a ‘top-

down’ procedure, as shown in figure 2.5.

Figure 2.5. The Top-down Procedure in the Functional Approach

(Nord, 1994:65)

1) Text function in situation

2) Cultural norms and conventions

3) Linguistic structures

4) Context

5) Translator

Nord (1994:66) describes the steps in the procedure as follows:

1) a particular translation problem is analyzed with regard to its function in the

text and in the target situation;

2) the analysis leads to a decision whether the translation has to be adapted to

target-culture norms and conventions or whether it should reproduce source-

culture conventions used in the source text;

3) this decision sets limits to the range of linguistic means to be used;

4) from the linguistic means, the translator chooses the one which fits into

specific context, such as text-type, register, style, etc.;

5) if there is still a choice between various means, the translator may decide

according to individual preferences.

b. The Variational Approach

The approach is not a description of ‘what happens’ when one translate,

but a proposition for a more dynamic approach to translating. As shown in figure

2.6, the two complementary procedures of generation and selection are

productive, and can help the translator to break away from the somewhat

mechanical notion of one-to-one equivalents, which some people tend to work

with.

The separation between the two halves of the model appears rigid in the

figure, but given the speed of operations carried out, it is likely that there may be a

to-and-fro movement within the model, as options are generated, selected, and

then submitted to a regeneration process as certain parameters start to take

precedence (Hewson and Martin, 1991: 182).

Figure 2.6 that shows the articulation of the Variational Approach contains

several abbreviations. They are LC, TO and TI. LC is Language Culture, and

LC1, therefore, goes beyond what is called elsewhere the ‘Source Language’, as it

necessarily brings in the indissociable pair of Language and Culture. The same

applies to LC2, which replaces ‘Target Language.’

TO is Translation Operator, and is used to bring out the fundamental and

active role of a translator. Hewson and Martin (1991:116) say that a TO is

naturally bound first and foremost by the position he occupies in relation to the

languages he operates between.

Figure 2.6. The Articulation of the Variational Approach

(Hewson and Martin, 1991:183)

Production of ST Choice of ST

ST

Production of interlinguistic homologies p G E N E R A T I O N p i a LC1 LC2 i a n r Source Text potential n r t a and its LC1 TT t a r p homological forms e p a h positioning r h l r l r i a i a n s n s g e T H E C U L T U R A L E Q U A T I O N g e s s

filtered

through the TO’s sensibility, motivations, competence

SOCIO-CULTURAL/ECONOMIC PARAMETERS identity/ nature of TO’s socio- LC1 LC2 existing need of translation economic environ- environ- trans- TI order environment ment ment lations

S E L E C T I O N

TT

TT Readers

TI is Translation Initiator. The illustration of the fundamental role of the

TI can be started from the premise that translation does not just ‘happen’.

Translation results from 1) a need, and 2) an order. The need corresponds to a

foreseen or actual breakdown in communication. The order corresponds to the

instructions given by the TI to ensure that communication takes place. Once one

has identified the TI as the driving force behind the translation operation, it

becomes clear that his identity, his ‘position’ in socio-cultural and LC terms, is of

prime importance. The translation will be fashioned to suit his order. That very

order can be determining in itself if it is of a restricted or specific nature (Hewson

and Martin, 1991:113).

4. Approaches to Teaching Translation

Different approaches to teaching translation result in different techniques

of teaching translation, and in assessing translation products.

a. The Process-Oriented Approach

Gile (1994:108) sums up the basic philosophy of a process-oriented

translation training system as follows:

1) during the process-oriented part of the course, trainees are considered as

students of translation methods rather than as procedures of finished products;

2) teachers take a normative attitude as far as the process are concerned. They

ask questions like “Why this choice?” “Did you consider alternatives?” “If

so, what made you choose this solution?” “Are you satisfied with this

solution as far as logic/clarity/language is concerned?”;

3) processes are supported by theoretical models which explain and integrate

them. The most important one is the sequential model of translation, which is

discussed in the following part and shown in Figure 2.7;

4) problem diagnosis can be done partly by analyzing the product and partly by

putting questions to the students as explained above. When handling in

translation assignments, students are also required to report in writing the

problem they encountered while doing the translation – difficulties in

understanding a particular sentence, in reformulating an idea, in finding the

meaning of a source language term, in finding a good target language

equivalent, etc.

The sequential model of translation, as mentioned above as an important

model in process-oriented translation consists of a ‘comprehension phase’ and a

‘reformulation phase’. Translation starts with a ‘translation unit’. It is read. Its

meaning is inferred from the text as a meaning hypothesis. This hypothesis is then

checked for plausibility on the basis of the translator’s existing linguistic and

extra-linguistic knowledge. If the first meaning hypothesis is deemed plausible,

the translator can move to the reformulation phase. If not, the translator must find

another hypothesis and check its plausibility, etc.

In the reformulation phase, the translator formulates a first target language

text for the translation unit. He then tests it for fidelity and for linguistic

acceptability. If results are not satisfactory, he writes a new target language text

for the same unit and tests it again, and so on.

Periodically, fidelity and acceptability tests are conducted for groups of

translation units, as good results at the single translation unit level do not ensure

good results at the text level. At every step of the process, existing linguistic and

extra-linguistic knowledge must be used, and whenever necessary, additional

knowledge must be sought.

When finding a problematic word or statement in a translation, the teacher

asks the student whether this solution sounds logical, plausible, linguistically

acceptable, and consistent with the rest of the text. The teacher can accept the

answer on the grounds that the procedure was correct, even if the student’s

solution is wrong by his standards. The teacher can make a mental (or written)

note of recurrent problems, which will have to be dealt with in the product-

oriented part of the course.

Psychologically, the process-oriented approach seems to generate less

stress than the product-oriented approach. Problem- reporting is a strong

component of the approach.

There are some limitations of the process-oriented approach. One of them

is that it may not be a powerful tool for product fine-tuning because it focuses on

the process. Another is it requires theoretical preparation. Sometimes teachers

are reluctant to learn or develop explicit process rules. The process-oriented

approach may only help students do away with some of the linguistic weaknesses

of their initial output.

Figure 2.7. The Sequential Model of Translation in the Process-Oriented Approach

(Gile, 1994:109) Translation unit

C O M Meaning P Hypothesis R E H E N Plausible? S I O N KNOWLEDGE KNOWLEDGE R BASE ACQUISITION E F O TL R Reformulation M U L A T I O Faithful? N Acceptable? Faithful? Acceptable?

The process-oriented does seem powerful as a methodological guiding

approach in that it reduces product deficiencies attributable to incorrect translation

methodology. However, it is definitely not a sufficient teaching tool for students

whose motivation is weak and for those whose linguistic norms in the target

language are poor, in so far as it does not teach how to write. Similarly, it does

not provide solutions for difficult cases. The approach is very useful in the first

part of the course, but product-oriented teaching must follow (Gile, 1994:112).

b. The Product-Oriented Approach

Machali (2000:156-157) discusses the product-oriented approach in

looking at translation as the step following the process-oriented approach.

Otherwise, learners or translators may consider their work as already good

because the process is already appropriate. The product-oriented approach is

expected to lead to better-quality translation.

In teaching, according to Machali, the activities can involve changing a

target text so that it is suitable for the target readers, and revising a text that

involves re-ordering sentences. Some exercises on collecting terms, analyzing

them, and standardizing them, and putting them in a database that can be retrieved

when needed, can be done.

5. Equivalence

Discussing how a TT and a ST are equivalent, translators are familiar with

the definition of translation that says translation requires equivalence in meaning

and style. Translators may need to question further how equivalence in meaning

and style can be achieved. The following part discusses equivalence at word level

and equivalence above word level, and continued with grammatical, textual, and

pragmatic equivalence. These types of equivalence are part of the attempt to

achieve equivalence in meaning and style.

a. Equivalence at Word Level

A discussion on equivalence can be started with a discussion on non-

equivalence. Larson (1984:89-97) discusses the non-equivalence or mismatching

of lexical systems between languages. Even though the same things, events, and

attributes may exist in the referential world, the systems of reference do not match

one-to-one across languages. Languages arbitrarily divide the meaning

differently. Larson uses examples of various languages to describe the difference

in lexical systems:

English red Mbembe orange okora yellow

green ohina

blue black house oikos numuno

The Greek word oikos is used in the sentence Peter went up to the

housetop to pray. A translation into languages of Papua New Guinea may result

in a very distorted understanding if simply translated with the word numuno. The

round thatched roof would be an inappropriate place to climb up on in order to

pray (Larson,1984:96).

Larson (1984:181-184) classifies the problems in finding lexical

equivalence into several types, i.e. symbolic words, word combinations and

false literal translation, and “False friends”. Symbolic words acquire some

symbolic value and carry figurative or metaphorical meaning as well as the basic

meaning of the word, for example the word cross. It refers to the wooden cross

used for crucifixion during the time of the Roman empire. Symbolically, it means

death and suffering, it can also stands for Christianity. In the translation of

Ephesians 2:16, the word cross is retained and addition has been made in order to

carry the correct meaning:

ST: … might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross thereby bringing hostility to an end…

TT1: …by his death on the cross Christ destroyed the enmity; by means of the cross he united both races into one body and brought them back to God.

TT2: he died on the cross to put an end to the hatred and bring us back to God as one people.

There are problems with word combinations and false literal translation

because some groups of words function in the same way as a single word. The

meaning of the combination as a whole cannot always be determined by the

meaning of the individual constituent parts. For example, a translation from the

French word pomme de terre would be potato in English and not the literal apple

of earth.

“False friends” can be defined as words in the source language, which look

very much like words in the receptor language because they are cognate with

them, but in fact mean very different. An example is the word affair in English

and afair in Indonesian.

Baker (1992:21-26) classifies the problems in word-equivalence into

cultural-specific concepts, the source-language concept is not lexicalized in the

target language, the source-language word is semantically complex, the source

and the target languages make different distinctions in meaning, the target

language lacks a super-ordinate, the target language lacks a specific term

(hyponym), difference in physical or interpersonal perspective, differences in

expressive meaning, differences in form, differences in frequency and purpose of

using specific forms, and the use of loan words in the source text.

Besides listing the types of problems, Baker (1992: 26-42) also suggests

several strategies to cope with the problems. The first is translation by a more

general word (super-ordinate). Translator may need to go up a level in a given

semantic field to find a more general word that covers the core propositional

meaning of the missing hyponym in the target language. For example, the verb

shampoo when translated into Spanish, the back translation is wash. Another

example, translating the word to orbit into Spanish, the back translation is to

revolve (Baker, 1992:27).

The second is translation by a more neutral/less expressive word. For

example, translating an English word mumbles into Italian:

Someone mumbles, “Our competitors do it.” Qualcuno suggerisce: “i nostri concorrenti lo fanno.” Back translation: Someone suggests: Our competitors do it.”

The Italian near equivalent mugugnare tends to suggest dissatisfaction

rather than embarrassment or confusion (Morgan Matroc in Baker, 1992:29).

The third is translation by cultural substitution. For example,

translating the word porca in Italian into bitch in English represents a

straightforward cultural substitution in the following quotation.

…prese a pesterare i piedi sacripantanto porca, porca, porca, porca… finché la non ismise, che non fu molto presto.

…and began to stamp his feet, bellowing bitch, bitch, bitch… until she gave up, which was not very soon.

Porca is literally the female of swine (piglet), when applied to a woman,

indicates unchastity and harlotry (Trevelyan in Baker, 1992:33)

The fourth is translation using a loan word or loan word plus

explanation. This strategy is common in dealing with culture-specific, modern,

and buzz words. Following the loan words with an explanation is very useful

when the word in question is repeated several times in the text. Once explained,

the loan words can then be used on its own.

The fifth is translation by paraphrase using a related word. For

example, translating the word creamy into Arabic, the back translation is that

resembles cream. Another example, translating terraced gardens into French, the

back translation is gardens created in a terrace.

The sixth is translation by paraphrase using unrelated words. For

example, translating a Lonrho affidavit into Arabic, the back translation is a

written communication supported by an oath presented by the Lonrho

organization. Another example, translating the word accessible into Chinese, the

back translation is where human beings enter most easily.

The seventh is translation by omission. This strategy may sound rather

drastic, but in fact it does no harm to omit translating a word expression in some

contexts. If the meaning conveyed by a particular item or expression is not vital

enough to the development of the text to justify distracting the reader with lengthy

explanations, translators can and often do simply omit the word or expression in

question.

The eighth is translation by illustration. For example, there is no easy

way of translating tagged, as in tagged teabags, into Arabic without going into

lengthy explanations which would clutter the text. An illustration of a tagged

teabag is used instead of a paraphrase (Baker, 1992:42).

b. Equivalence above Word Level

The discussion on equivalence above word level includes the discussion

on first, collocation, and second, idioms and fixed expressions. Collocation refers

to the tendency of certain words to co-occur regularly in a given language. For

example, cheque is more like to occur with bank, pay, money, write than with

moon, butter, playground or repair. Strong tea is literally dense tea in Japanese.

Break the law is an unacceptable collocation in Arabic, the more common is

contradict the law (Baker, 1992:47-54).

Marked collocation or unusual combination of words is sometimes used in

the source text in order to create new images. Ideally, the translation of a marked

collocation will be similarly marked in the target language.

In translating idioms and fixed expressions, there are some main

difficulties:

1) an idiom or fixed expression may have no equivalent in the target language;

2) an idiom or fixed expression may have a similar counterpart in the target

language, but its context of use may be different;

3) an idiom may be used in the source text in both its literal and idiomatic sense

at the same time. Unless the target language idiom corresponds to the source

language idiom both in form and meaning, the play on idiom cannot be

successfully reproduced in the target text;

4) the very convention of using idioms in written discourse, the context in which

they can be used, and their frequency of use may be different in the source and

target languages.

Idiom demands that the translator be not only accurate, but also highly

sensitive to the rhetorical nuances of the language. Some strategies to translate

idioms are proposed by Baker (1992:72-78). The first is using an idiom of

similar meaning and form. The second is using an idiom of similar meaning but

dissimilar form. The third is translation by paraphrase, and the fourth is

translation by omission

Larson (1984:111-117) discusses this kind of equivalence in figurative

senses of lexical items. Besides idioms, some types of uses of figurative senses of

lexical items that require careful treatment are metonymy, synecdoche,

euphemism, and hyperbole.

Metonymy is the use of words in a figurative sense involving association,

for example, The kettle is boiling (water), He has a good head (brain), The

response from the floor was positive (people). In the first example, what is

boiling is not the kettle but the water in the kettle. The kettle is used to refer to the

water in the kettle. In the second example, the head is used to refer to the brain.

In the third example, the floor refers to the people.

Synecdoche is the use of figurative senses based on part-whole

relationships, for example, Only 8 hardy souls showed up for work (persons),

There are a lot of lonely hearts out there (persons), She said to my face (me). In

the examples, the words the souls, the hearts, and the face are used to refer to the

persons as a whole.

Euphemism is the use of one word for another or one expression for

another to avoid offensive expression or one that is socially unacceptable or

unpleasant (Beekman and Callow, 1974 in Larson, 1884:116). All languages have

euphemistic expressions, especially in the areas of sex, death, and the

supernatural. To say die, English uses pass away. Hebrew used gone to the

fathers. In Mangga Buang of Papua New Guinea, your daughter’s eyes are

closed is preferable to your daughter is dead. In the US old people are now

called senior citizens. In Chontal, the devil is called older brother. In Finnish, he

is sitting in his hotel means he is in prison. The important thing is for the

translator to recognize the euphemistic nature of the source language expression

and then translate with an appropriate and acceptable expression of the receptor

language whether euphemistic or direct. The Greek Expression he is sleeping

with his fathers might be translated he went to his village in Twi. Some others

might simply say he died.

A hyperbole is a metonymy or synecdoche with more said than the writer

intended the reader to understand. The exaggeration is deliberately used for

effect, and is not to be understood as if it were a literal description. For example,

they turned the world upside down; I am frozen to death; I am starving; He’s

mad. Such deliberate exaggerations in the source language text may be

understood as untruths if they are translated literally. Much care must be taken to

be sure that the desired effect is retained in the receptor language but that the

correct meaning is also retained.

The goal of translation is not to eliminate all secondary and figurative

senses. It is to use only secondary and figurative senses, which are peculiar to the

receptor language and eliminate any strange collocations or wrong meaning

caused by literal translation of source language secondary and figurative senses

(Larson, 1984:114).

c. Grammatical, Textual, and Pragmatic Equivalence

There is no doubt that translators work with words and phrases as their

raw material. Equivalence, however, cannot be truly established at this level

alone. At the decision-making stage, the appropriateness of particular items can

only be judged in the light of the item’s place within the overall plan of the text

(Hatim and Mason, 1990: 180). With this thought in mind, translators also need

to always consider equivalence above word level.

1) Grammatical Equivalence

It is difficult to find a notional category, which is regularly and uniformly

expressed in all languages. Some major categories in the following discussion,

namely number, gender, person, tense and aspect and voice, can illustrate the

kinds of difficulty that translators often encounter because of differences in the

grammatical structures of source and target languages (Baker, 1992: 82-110).

The first category is number. English recognizes a distinction between

one and more than one. Arabic, Eskimos, and some Slavonic languages formally

distinguish between one, two, and more than two. A small number of languages,

such as Fijian, even distinguish between singular, dual, trial, and plural. A

translator working from a language which has number distinctions into a language

with no category of number has two main options: one, omit the relevant

information on number, and two, encode this information lexically.

The second category is gender. French distinguishes between masculine

and feminine gender in nouns such as fils/fille (son/daughter) and chat/chatte

(male cat/ female cat). In addition, nouns such as magazine and construction are

also classified as masculine and feminine respectively. An Arabic speaker or

writer has to selct between ‘you, masculine’ (anta) and ‘you, feminine (anti) in

the case of the second singular. This type of information must be signaled in the

form of the verb itself. The use of passive voice instead of imperative form of the

verb allows the translator to avoid specifying the subject of the verb altogether

(Baker, 1992:90-94).

The third category is person. A large number of modern European

languages, not including English, have a formality/ politeness dimension in their

person system. For example, French vous as opposed to tu. Some languages also

have different forms of plural pronouns which are used to express different levels

of familiarity or deference in interaction with several addressees (Baker, 1992:94-

98).

The fourth category is tense and aspect. Baker (1992:99) points out that

tense and aspect are grammatical categories in a large number of languages.

However, some languages have no formal category of tense and aspect. The form

of verb in some languages does not change to express temporal or aspectual

distinctions. If necessary, time reference can be indicated by means of various

particles and adverbials.

The fifth is voice. Languages which have a category of voice do not

always use the passive with the same frequency. Nida (in Baker, 1992:106)

explains that in some Nilotic languages the passive forms of verbs are so

preferred that instead of saying ‘he went to town’, it is much more normal to

employ an expression such as ‘the town was gone to by him’.

Baker (1992: 167-172) suggests some strategies for minimizing linear

dislocation, i.e. by voice change, change of verb, nominalization, and extra-

position. Extra-position involves changing the position of the entire clause in the

sentence by, for instance, embedding a simple clause in a complex sentence.

Cleft and pseudo-cleft structures provide good examples.

To sum up, a translator cannot always follow the thematic organization of

the original. A translator should make an effort to present the target text from a

perspective similar to that of the source text. Certain features of syntactic

structure such as restrictions on word order, the principle of end-weight, and the

natural phraseology of the target language often mean that the thematic

organization of the source text has to be abandoned. What matters is that the

target text has some thematic organization of its own, that it reads naturally and

smoothly, does not distort the information structure of the original, and that it

preserves, where possible, any special emphasis signaled by marked structures in

the original and maintains a coherent point of view as a text in its own right

(Baker, 1992:172).

2) Textual Equivalence

The discussion on textual equivalence is the discussion on cohesion.

Baker (1992:180-208) discusses Halliday and Hasan’s five main cohesive devices

in English, namely reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction, and lexical

cohesion.

Reference is a device, which allows the reader/hearer to trace participants,

entities, events, etc. in a text. Hebrew, unlike English, prefers to use proper

names to trace participants through a discourse. In some languages such as

Japanese and Chinese, pronouns are hardly ever used and a participant is

introduced. Continuity of reference is signaled by omitting the subjects of

following clauses. Different preferences exist across languages for certain general

patterns of reference.

In substitution, an item (or items) is replaced by another item (or items).

For example, My axe is too blunt. I must get a sharper one. (One replaces axe).

Ellipsis involves the omission of an item. In other words, an item is replaced by

nothing. For example, Joan brought some carnations, and Catherine some sweet

peas. (Ellipted item: brought on the second clause). In Arabic, all verbs agree

with their subjects in gender and number, which means that links between the two

are clear even when they are separated by a number of embedded clauses with

their own subjects and verbs. Every language has its own devices for establishing

cohesive links. Language and text-type preferences must both be taken into

consideration in the process of translation (Baker, 1992:189-190).

Conjunction involves the use of formal markers to relate sentences,

clauses, and paragraphs to each other. Conjunction expresses one of a small

number of general relations. The main relations are: additive, adversative, causal,

temporal, and continuatives. Languages vary in the type of conjunctions they

prefer to use as well as the frequency with which they use such items. Some

languages, such as German, tend to express relation through subordination and

complex structures. Chinese and Japanese prefer to use simpler and shorter

structures and to mark the relations between these structures explicitly where

necessary. Arabic prefers to group information into very large grammatical

chunks (Baker, 1992:190-192).

Lexical cohesion refers to the role played by the selection of vocabulary in

organizing relation within a text. A given lexical item cannot be said to have a

cohesive function per se, but any lexical item can enter into a cohesive relation

with other items in a text. An example comes from an advertisement of a

woman’s magazine which shows a woman wearing a large hat, accompanied by

the following caption: ‘If you think Woman’s Realm is old hat… think again’

(Cosmopolitan, October, 1999). Old hat means ‘boringly familiar/uninteresting’,

but the literal meaning of hat is used here to create a lexical/visual chain by tying

in with the actual hat in the photograph. This type of chain often has to be

sacrificed in translation because interweaving idiom-controlled chains can only

be reproduced if the target language has an idiom which is identical to the source

idiom in both form and meaning.

The translator must always avoid is the extreme case of producing what

appears to be a random collection of items which do not add up to recognizable

lexical chains that make sense in a given text (Baker, 1992:207).

3) Pragmatic Equivalence

The discussion on pragmatic equivalence is the discussion on the question

of ‘making sense” and the areas of difficulty in cross-cultural communication.

Two useful topics are coherence and implicature (Baker, 1992: 218). To discuss

coherence, implicature and translation strategies, Baker underlines the importance

of some considerations on some of the following aspects. The first is the

conventional meanings of words and structures and the identity of reference.

Knowledge of the language system may not be sufficient but it is essential if one

is to understand what is going on in any kind of verbal communication. The

ability to identify references to participants and entities is essential for drawing

inferences and for maintaining coherence of a text.

The second consideration is on the co-operative Principle and its maxims:

Grice suggests that co-operative principle and its maxims are not arbitrary but are

a feature of any rational behaviour. Bible translators who regularly work with

languages and cultures considerably different from those in the center of

linguistic and academic enquiry are quicker to voice their suspicion and to

consider the possibility the co-operative principle and its maxims are not

universal. Thomson (1982, in Baker 1992:233) considers the possibility that “a

certain type of implicature, say quality implicature, is never used by speakers of a

particular language, or that the context in which a type of implicature will be used

will differ from one language community to the next.” Grice himself concedes

that the four maxims do not represent an exhaustive list and suggests that other

maxims such as “Be polite” may be added. In some translation contexts, being

polite can be far more important than being accurate. A translator may decide to

omit or replace whole stretches of text which violate the reader’s expectations of

how a taboo subject should be handled – if at all - in order to avoid giving

offence.

The third is the context, linguistic or otherwise, of the utterance. Apart

from the actual setting and the participants involved in an exchange, the context

also includes co-text and the linguistic conventions of a community in general.

The fourth consideration is on the items of background knowledge: text-

presented information can only make sense if it can be related to other

information we already know. A text may confirm, contradict, modify, or extend

what we know about the world, as long as it relates to it in some way. It is

important to note that in translation, as in any act of communication, a text does

not necessarily have to conform to the expectations of its readership. Readers’

versions of reality, their expectations, and their preferences can be challenged

without affecting the coherence of a text, provided the challenge is motivated and

the reader is prepared for it.

The last consideration is on the availability of all relevant items falling

under the previous headings. In order to convey an intended meaning, the

speaker/writer must be able to assume that the hearer/reader has access to all the

necessary background information, features of context, etc., that is items listed

above, and that it is well within his/her competence to work out any intended

implicatures. In attempting to fill gaps in their readers’ knowledge and fulfill

their expectations of what is normal or acceptable, translators should not ‘overdo’

things by explaining too much and leaving the reader with nothing to do.

Bell’s (1997:54) discussion on pragmatic analysis in the translation process,

include theme and register. Theme deals with the distribution of information and

question on whether this is a marked or unmarked order. Register deals with

stylistic characteristics including purpose, and takes into account the three

stylistic parameters, i.e. the tenor, the mode, and the domain of discourse.

6. Untranslatability

Catford (1974:98-99) distinguishes two types of untranslatability, i.e.

linguistic and cultural untranslatability. Linguistic untranslatability is due to

differences in the SL and the TL, whereas cultural untranslatability is due to the

absence in TL culture of a relevant situational feature for the SL.

One of the difficulties mentioned above in the difficulties at word level

is the cultural-specific concept. Most cultural-specific concepts are

untranslatable. Shiraishi keeps the word bapak-anak relationship in her book

because the literal translation father-child cannot match the concept.

Many translators also admit that some jokes and fixed expressions are

untranslatable. Suryawinata (1989:37) says that figurative expressions, idioms,

abbreviations, and acronyms are mostly untranslatable. Some terms of science

and technology, which have a universal nature can be directly used, for

example, in English to Indonesian translation: DNA, radar, laser, data,

sample, populasi, reliabilitas, AIDS, and others. When translating Indonesian

to English, acronyms like Kapolri, kakanwil, Depdikbud, Menaker, and so on

are mostly given as the original.

About the untranslatability of jokes, Hervey and Higgins (1992:23) say,

“Humour itself is a highly culture-bound phenomenon, which means that the

cross-cultural equivalence of laughter itself is questionable.” There was an

experience translating a book that consists of many funny jokes, which play on

English words. Most readers of the English text can laugh but the translation

cannot maintain the funny parts in Indonesian. They are not funny in

Indonesian.

Rafael (1988: 110-111) uses the example of the people listening to the

priest’s sermon in Rizal’s Noli me tangere to show the failure of the Spanish

notion of translation. Tagalog responses seem to have been at odds with Spanish

intentions. The discussion goes as follows:

Their conversion to Christianity, like their learning of Castilian, occurred

in ways that were not fully accountable in Spanish-Christian terms. It was as if the

Tagalogs, in confronting the discourse of clerical-colonial authority, always had

something else in mind, which the procedures of missionary translation and

conversion were unable to circumscribe. Something in Tagalog culture could not

be unequivocally restated in Spanish-Christian terms, just as some aspects of the

vernacular exceeded the limits that the missionaries sought to set for it. One of the

examples is the use of the word nono. The explanation is as follows:

“The attempts to put the word at the apex of a hierarchy of tutelary deities become a case of wishful mistranslation that spawns a multitude of other mistranslations. The tagalogs understood the word in various ways that had little to do with the theological and historical implications of the category “paganism,” in which the missionary sought to situate it. Nono always referred to something more than could be spoken of: spirits in nature and ghosts of dead ancestors.” (Rafael, 1988: 113-114)

Benjamin (1968: 81) says that untranslatability may be caused by the loose

ness of meaning of the ST. Benjamin discusses untranslatability as follows:

“Translations prove to be untranslatable not because of any inherent difficulty, but

because of the looseness with which meaning attaches to them.”

According to Hervey and Higgins (1992: 24) and James (2002:7), the

transfer of meaning from Source Text (ST) to Target Text (TT) necessarily

involves a certain degree of translation loss; that is, a TT will always lack certain

culturally relevant features that are present in the ST. They also mention that the

translator can concentrate on the realistic aim of cutting down on translation loss,

rather than the unrealistic one of seeking the ultimate translation of the ST.

Untranslatibility results in translation loss. About this, Hervey and Higgins

add the following opinion:

The challenge to the translator is thus not to eliminate translation loss altogether, but to reduce it by deciding which of the relevant features in the ST it is most important to preserve, and which can most legitimately be sacrificed in preserving them. The translator is striving to reduce translation loss, to minimize difference rather than to maximize sameness (Hervey and Higgins, 1992: 25). In the sub-title to describe how translators should deal with

untranslatability, Hervey and Higgins (1992:34-35) use the phrase

“Compromise and Compensation”.

“Compromise in translation means reconciling oneself to the fact that while one would like to do full justice to the ‘richness’ of the ST, one’s final TT inevitably suffers from various translation loss. Compensation refers to the techniques of making up for the loss of important ST features through replicating ST effects approximately in the TT by means other than those used in the ST.”

7. Using Translation as a Resource for the Promotion of Language Learning

Widdowson (1979:101) says that the use of translation has long been

viewed with suspicion by language teachers and many proscribe it altogether as a

matter of principle. Widdowson argues that translation, conceived of in a certain

way, can be a very useful pedagogic device and in some circumstances, notably

those where a foreign language is being learnt for special purposes as a service

subject, translation of a kind may provide the most effective means of learning.

Further Widdowson (1979:107) describes the reasons why there are objections to

the use of translation and he also makes some suggestions about the use

translation as a teaching technique. He points out that the objections to the use of

translation are based on the assumption that it must involve establishing structural

equivalence. It is said that translation leads the learner to suppose that there is a

direct one- to-one correspondence of meaning between the sentences in the TL

and those in the SL. Another objection is that it draws the attention of the learner

to the formal properties of the TL sentences and distracts him from the search for

contextual meaning, i.e. meaning which is a function of a relationship between

sentences and appropriate situations.

According to Widdowson, if translation is carried out with reference to

grammatical deep structure, as an exercise is establishing semantic equivalence, it

is not open to the first objection; and if it is carried out with reference to rhetorical

deep structure, as an exercise in establishing pragmatic equivalence, it is not open

to the second objection.

Newmark (1981:183) also agrees with the opinion that translation can be a

superb academic exercise, particularly when it is combined with translation

criticism, and discussion. It offers a particular insight into the nature of language

as well as contrastive linguistic and cultural studies.

Duff (1992:5-7) lists the reasons why translation has been avoided by

teachers and the reasons why translation can be a useful activity in the classroom.

According to Duff, translation has been avoided by teachers because of some

main reasons such as: It is confined to only two skills – reading and writing; it is

not a communicative activity because it involves no oral interaction; it is time-

consuming; the use of the mother tongue is required and it is not desirable; it is

boring, both to do and to correct.

C. Theories on English to Indonesian Translation

In book-stores or libraries, it is easy to find novels, popular books,

scientific books, comics, magazines and many other types of readings, which have

been translated from English into Indonesian. Tou (1997:4) mentions that despite

the practical and ‘theoretical’ activities of translation, the field remains

problematic. Many writers have tried to look at translation from different angles.

In this part of discussion, grammar is taken as the focus of the theories on English

to Indonesian translation. Some problems of the socio-political-cultural aspects

are also reviewed. .

The discussion deals with most differences in grammar between English

and Indonesian. Nida and Taber (1974:34) say that grammar has meanings. It

means that different language grammar may express different meanings. Each

language has their own patterns to express certain meanings. This can be one of

the reasons why learners need to understand the difference between I chased the

dog and I was chased by the dog. Or the difference between I am bored and I am

boring. For this part, the discussion is mostly taken from books written by

Indonesian authors.

1. Simple and Complex Noun Phrases

A noun cluster or a noun phrase or a noun group consists of a noun that

functions as the head -word and a modifier or modifiers. Modifiers can be pre-

modifiers (before the head) or post-modifiers (after the head). Pre-modifiers can

be: article, adjective, noun, numeral, adverb, conjunction, or pronoun. Post-

modifiers can be a preposition phrase, or a relative clause. Noun clusters usually

occupy the positions of Subject, Object, or Subject Complement. The ability to

translate noun clusters correctly is a prerequisite to translate the whole sentence

well (Soge, 1989:10-23).

Soge (1989:23) describes the general principle to translate complex noun

phrases as follows: When translating noun clusters, we can use a general

principle, i.e. start from the head- word, and then translate the pre-modifiers.

Begin with the closest pre-modifier to the head , and then move to the furthest

pre-modifier from the head. Next will be the post-modifier(s), which can be in the

form of a prepositional group or a relative clause. When there is a numeral, the

numeral is translated before the head.

In the application of the general principle above, some adjustment should

be done to produce a noun phrase that is equal in meaning to the source text.

Identifying which word that functions as the head of the noun phrase can be useful

to make sure that it is also the head in the translation.

2. Conjunctions and Conjuncts

Widyamartaya writes that lengthy sentences can be cut down into some

shorter sentences (1989:106). Sakri (1985:69) also suggests the same alternative

way to translate long sentences that contain several conjunctions.

Some relations between sentences are implied. The relation is not shown

by a conjunction or a conjunct. Translating such sentences requires the ability to

identify the relation. The sentences below are taken from Azar (1989: 311-318):

1) Lacking the necessary qualifications, he was not considered for the job. (Karena …)

2) Not wanting to hurt her feelings, he didn’t tell her the bad news. (Karena …) 3) Watching the children’s energetic play, I felt like an old man even though I am

only forty. (Ketika …) 4) Pointing to the sentences on the board, the teacher explained the meaning of

modifying phrases. (Ketika …) The first two sentences express “cause and effect”, and the last two

sentences express “during the same time”. Translating the sentences into

Indonesian will require conjunctions because Indonesian does not have such non-

finite clauses.

Another difference in showing the relations between sentences is the use

of sentence connectors or conjuncts like however, nevertheless, nonetheless,

therefore, consequently, and otherwise. The positions of these words can be in

the initial position, in the middle, or at the end of a sentence in English. The

following sentences are taken from Azar (1989:306)

1) Al didn’t study. Therefore, he failed the test. Al tidak belajar. Oleh karena itu, dia tidak lulus ujian. 2) Al didn’t study. He, therefore, failed the test. Al tidak belajar. Oleh karena itu, dia tidak lulus ujian. 3) Al didn’t study. He failed the test, therefore. Al tidak belajar. Oleh karena itu, dia tidak lulus ujian. The alternative positions for the connectors do not exist in Indonesian. In

Indonesian, only the initial position is acceptable. The there sentences will be

translated in the same way, i.e. with the connector in the initial position in

Indonesian.

Difficulties may also arise from some conjunctions or conjuncts that have

alternative meanings. For example, while may express time or opposition, so it

may mean ketika or pada saat, or sedangkan. Translators need to make sure which

meaning is conveyed by the context.

3. Relative Pronouns

The construction with relative clauses in English usually results in

constructions with yang in Indonesian. For example, the girl who is holding a

dictionary is gadis yang sedang membawa kamus. Whose can be translated as

yang …-nya. The blank is usually filled in with an NP. For example, whose

father is yang ayahnya, whose left eye is yang mata kirinya, whose cover is yang

sampulnya.

Translating constructions like to whom, from whom, with whom, in whom,

to which, from which, with which, and other similar relative pronouns with a

fronted preposition can usually be confusing. According to Widyawamtaya

(1989:104), we have to avoid using phrases like yang mana, hal mana, di atas

mana, dari mana, dari siapa, dengan siapa and so on, as a result of literal

translation that consists of a preposition and the relative pronoun.

Widyamartaya (1989:105-106) suggests some alternative constructions to

avoid using the phrases above:

a. When in which, on which, etc. express a place, the relative clause can be

started with tempat; for example, “The new world in which we all work together

to build it up…” (Dunia baru tempat kita bekerja bersama-sama untuk

membangunnya…)

b. When in which, on which, at which, etc express time, expressions like saat,

waktu, ketika, hari, minggu, bulan, tahun, masa, abad can be used. Other

possible constructions are tahun terjadinya, minggu kedatangannya, etc.; for

example, “The year, in which that important event occurred …” (Tahun, waktu

peristiwa itu terjadi … or Tahun terjadinya peristiwa yang penting itu …)

c. With whom, who … with, etc. can be translated using teman or lawan. The

result is a sentence like Orang temannya bercakap-cakap itu kawannya sekuliah.

Translators need to consider the context where teman or lawan is not appropriate

because the person to whom someone is speaking is a stranger and he or she is

neither a friend nor an enemy.

d. Phrases like in which, in whom, etc. can be translated using yang and a passive

construction; for example, “… a genre in which posterity was no longer

interested …” (… jenis sastra yang oleh angkatan berikut tidak lagi diminati …)

e. Phrases like from whom, from which, etc. can be translated using yang and an

active construction; for example, The upper-deity from whom all other deities

descernded … (Maha-dewa yang menurunkan semua dewa lainnya …)

f. A relative clause in English can become an independent clause in Indonesian.

In other words, a complex sentence in English can become a compound sentence

in Indonesian, or it can become two or more simple sentences in Indonesian.

4. Tense and Aspect

Tense and aspect are not grammatical categories in Indonesian.

Indonesian does have concepts of past, present, and future, and concepts of

perfective and progressive, but Indonesian does not have verb changes like

English when there is a change of time reference or aspects. The time reference is

usually expressed by adverbials. The verb pergi does not have alternative forms

like go, which has went, goes, and gone.

He went to the dentist last night. (Dia pergi ke dokter gigi tadi malam.) He goes to the dentist every six months. (Dia pergi ke dokter gigi setiap enam bulan sekali.) He will go to the dentist tonight. (Dia akan pergi ke dokter gigi malam ini) He has gone to the dentist twice this month. (Dia telah pergi ke dokter gigi dua kali dalam satu bulan ini.)

One note to remember about translating tenses is that it should not result in

awkward phrases like sudah sedang, akan sedang, akan sudah, akan sudah

sedang, or telah sedang (Widyamartaya, 1989: 57). When the context is clear,

sudah, telah, atau sedang are not necessarily included. To refer to some past

action, event, or condition, sometimes the adverbial dulu or dahulu can be used.

To emphasize a present time reference, sekarang, saat ini, or sampai sekarang can

be used. For example, Hartono is a successful and loveable English teacher. He

was once a notorious street burglar, Hartono sekarang menjadi guru bahasa

Inggris yang sukses dan disukai. Dia dulu seorang perampok jalanan yang

terkenal.

Translating conditional clauses type II or type III, Widayamartaya

(1989:58) suggests the use of andaikata, seandainya, andaikan, or andaikan saja.

These words are effective to express unreal conditions. The word jika is mostly

used for type I. For example, conditional clause type III: Had I been told earlier,

I would have called you, Seandainya saya diberitahu lebih awal, saya pasti

menelpon kamu.

5. Articles

Articles in English and Indonesian are different in the way that in English,

whenever a noun is used, the considerations involve whether the noun is

countable or uncountable, if countable, then singular or plural, and then definite

or indefinite. The use of articles is part of the grammatical requirement, and it

does not matter even though it will result in a lot of articles in a text. In

Indonesian, articles are used when some emphasis is intended. Articles are

applied mostly optionally in Indonesian.

a. Indefinite articles: a, an

A and an are not always translated. For example, A dog is an intelligent

animal is translated as Anjing binatang yang cerdas. In English, a and an are

used to imply that a noun is singular (hanya satu, sebuah, seorang, sebutir, dsb).

The two articles are also used to refer to general concepts.

1) “A dog is an intelligent animal” is a concept. It is enough to translate it as

Anjing binatang yang cerdas. It is not necessary to add seekor.

2) “There is a dog in the garden” is not a concept about a dog. It is translated as

seekor anjing. There is a possibility when the context is clear, Ada anjing di

kebun is acceptable. If not, it is better to translate it as Ada seekor anjing di

kebun.

b. Definite article: the

Like a and an, the is not always translated. When translated, the can be

translated as –nya, itu, tersebut, tadi. See the example “There is a dog in the

garden.” Another example,

“Some of the men work in the prison factory, where they make mail-bags. But Coke often works in the field outside.” is translated as Beberapa dari orang-orang itu ada yang bekerja di pabrik penjara, tempat mereka membuat kantung-kantung surat. Tetapi, Coke kerap kali bekerja di ladang di luar. 1) “Some of the men” can also be translated as Dari orang-orang itu, ada yang…

or Dari mereka, ada yang... or Beberapa dari mereka, ada yang…

2) “In the prison factory”: the is not translated because it is definite from the

context.

3) “In the field”: the is also not translated because it is definite from the context.

In Indonesian, articles are not as important as in English. In English, we have

to use the whenever the noun is definite, even though it may result in a lot of the

in the sentences. In Indonesian, articles are avoided if the context is clear. Too

many –nya or itu will result in an awkward language (Widyamartaya, 1989:46-

48).

6. Prepositions

There are more prepositions in English than in Indonesian. The following

list of examples, some of which are taken from Quirk (1972) and Echols and

Shadily (1995), can show us how English makes more distinctions on the use of

prepositions than in Indonesian:

at seven o’clock: pada jam on Saturday: pada hari in July 4, 1999: pada tanggal in September: pada bulan

in 1970: pada tahun in the rainy season: pada musim in the afternoon: pada at night: pada.

In Indonesian, another word is usually added to the time expressions, i.e. jam,

hari, tanggal, bulan, tahun, or musim. The Indonesian preposition di is used for the

for the following expressions of place. An optional addition of words can be used:

on the table: di (atas) in Texas: di (kota) in the closet: di (dalam) at Sanata Dharma University: di at the airport: di.

The following expressions of place are less variable in Indonesian.

over the mountains: di atas above the sink: di atas under the tree: di bawah underneath the rug: di bawah beneath a tree: di bawah below us: di bawah

English makes a distinction between di antara dua and di antara banyak.

The distinction can be done in Indonesian by adding the word dua for between in

the following case:

between his sons: di antara dua orang putranya among his grandchildren: di antara cucu-cucunya. However, when the objects of the preposition are mentioned, dua is not

needed:

between Zita and Dodit: di antara Zita dan Dodit between love and hatred: antara cinta dan benci.

The case with for may be different because for can be translated into variable

Indonesian words:

for one hour: selama satu jam for Judith: untuk Judith or bagi Judith for money: demi uang

Some expressions using for are fixed expressions.

for good: untuk selama-lamanya for goodness’ sake: aduh or astaga

The following prepositions may not cause too much difficulty because they

are mostly one-to-one correspondence.

by next Monday: sebelum during the holiday: selama in five minutes: dalam (waktu) near the university: (di) dekat next to the post office: di sebelah beside his wife: di samping

without you: tanpa opposite the theatre: di seberang around the island: di sekeliling through that street: melalui with great care: dengan

The discussion on the translation of the preposition of can be interesting. It is

sometimes not translated and it is sometimes expressed in various words

(Widyamartaya, 1989:58-60).

The father of the bride: ayah mempelai wanita The car of my uncle: mobil (milik) paman saya The title of the book: judul buku itu The influence of Sanskrit: pengaruh bahasa Sansekerta The holy places of Buddhism: tempat suci orang beragama Budha The language of the Indonesian people: bahasa orang Indonesia The interpretation of the relevant sources: penafsiran (terhadap) sumber-

sumber yang relevan The happiness of gathering together: kebahagiaan berkumpul bersama The clarity of explanation: kejelasan (dalam) menerangkan A substance of great benefit: zat yang sangat bermanfaat A gem of great value: permata yang sangat berharga An effort of no use: usaha yang sia-sia

From the examples, the preposition of may result in words like milik,

terhadap, dalam, and yang. When the meaning is dari (or daripada), it is usually

optionally expressed. Widyamartaya suggests that dari or daripada should be

avoided.

Some prepositions are in the form of a group of words. For example, In case

of rain, the picnic will be canceled: Kalau hujan, piknik akan dibatalkan. In case

of has nothing to do with a case, kasus). Another example, As a result of the

engineer’s carelessness, many people were injured: Karena kecerobohan insinyur

itu, banyak orang yang terluka. The word gara-gara can also be a good choice in

this context. The literal translation of result as hasil is not appropriate.

Other prepositions are because of, regardless of, and in spite of. For

example, Because of his selfishness, he has very few friends: Karena

keegoisannnya, dia memiliki sedikit teman. He went ahead regardless of all

warnings about the danger of his mission: Dia tetap meneruskan rencananya

meskipun banyak yang mengingatkan dia akan bahaya misinya itu. She

succeeded in her life in spite of her physical handicaps: Dia berhasil dalam

hidupnya walaupun dia cacat fisik. The translation of some prepositions can

result in conjunctions in Indonesian.

A preposition like instead of can be translated as follows.

Instead of watching TV, we’d better go playing outside (Daripada menonton TV, kita lebih baik bermain di luar) Instead of helping the old woman, the crowd of teens laughed at her. (Bukannya membantu, sekelompok anak muda itu malah menertawakan wanita tua itu.)

7. Pronouns

Catford (in Baker, 1992:95) explains that Indonesian has a nine-term

pronoun system where English has only seven. The gender dimension is absent

from Indonesian, but two other dimensions are of relevance:

a. the inclusive/exclusive dimension: English we has two translations kami and

kita, depending on whether the addressee is included or excluded;

b. the familiar/non-familiar dimension aku and saya for English I, depending on

the relationship pertaining between speaker and hearer.

Widyamartaya (1989: 48-49) uses the following examples to discuss the

translation of pronouns.

1) My older brother is married to an English girl. He loves her very much. Kakak laki-laki saya menikah dengan (seorang) gadis Inggris. Ia sangat mencintai istrinya.

2) There is a big mango tree in my garden. It bears plenty of fruits each year. Di kebun saya ada (sebuah) pohon mangga yang besar. Pohon itu berbuah banyak sekali tiap tahun. Di kebun saya ada (sebuah) pohon mangga yang besar. Tiap tahun berbuah banyak.

There are several notes about the translation of English to Indonesian

pronouns:

a. in Indonesian, the pronouns for the third singular cannot make a difference

between the genders (a male or a female);

b. he, his, him, she, hers, her, it, its, they, theirs, them have wider scope of

meaning than ia, -nya, dia, mereka. In Indonesian, Ia, dia, -nya, mereka

generally refer to a person/persons. In English those pronouns may also refer

to an animal/animals or even some un-living things;

c. the translation of English pronouns into Indonesian is often done by the

repetition of the reference;

d. it, a pronoun of mango tree in the second example cannot be merely translated

by itu or ini. In the example, it can be repeated or omitted.

8. Singular and Plural

In general, English has -s/-es as the suffixes for plural forms. There are

other irregular forms of plural in English like phenomenon-phenomena, man-men,

goose-geese, mouse-mice, and others. In general, Indonesian uses repetition to

signify plurals, such as buku becomes buku-buku, wajah becomes wajah-wajah,

and so on.

In translation, there are several considerations about singular and plural

forms: Not all plural forms in Indonesian require repetition. Some nouns can be

awkward when repeated because the singular form is a repeated form already. For

example, words like kura-kura, kupu-kupu, mata-mata (a spy), biri-biri, and

others.

Repeated forms are not necessary when there is another word that signifies

plural, such as a numeral, either a definite or an indefinite numeral, that signifies

plural. Widyamartaya (1989:46) lists the following words: tiga, lima, seratus,

seribu, banyak, sedikit, beberapa, para, semua, kaum, himpunan, sekelompok,

sejumlah, and rombongan. Therefore, a group of tourists can be translated as

sekelompok turis.

Some vocabulary is viewed differently. Some words are always used in

plurals in English but they are singular in Indonesian. For example, for words

like trousers, pants, scissors, glasses, and lips, repetition in Indonesian will

sometimes result in not only awkward but also funny phrases. Although English

and Indonesian people understand upper and lower lips, but to translate He kissed

her lips into Dia mencium bibir-bibirnya is awkward and funny. Translating He

was wearing dark-blue trousers as Dia memakai celana-celana biru tua may raise

a question how he looked like.

Machali (2000:64) says that the change of plural nouns in English into

singular nouns in Indonesian should be noticed by translators. She listed the

following examples with the word a pair.

A pair of trousers is sebuah celana A pair of glasses is sebuah kacamata A pair of scissors is sebuah gunting

9. Problems in English to Indonesian Translation: Grammatical Aspects

and Socio-Political-Cultural Aspects.

Many recent studies have contributed new insights to the development of

translation. A look at the post-colonial theories on the difficulties on translation

can give some insights about translation. Gandhi (1998: viii) says that in the last

decade, post-colonialism has taken its place with theories such post-structuralism,

psychoanalysis, and feminism as a major critical discourse in the humanities. The

aim of postcolonial criticism can be quoted from Lo and Gilbert (1998:6):

The aim of postcolonial criticism is to expose gaps, absences and ambivalences in historical representations, to identify moments of rupture where the exercise of imperial power is incomplete and/or compromised by colonial resistance, to elicit suppressed or forgotten (subaltern) histories, and to problematise the very modes through which ‘history’ has accrued its authority as ‘truth’.

An article by Zabus (1995:314) in the Postcolonial Reader discusses

translation from another different point of view. It deals mostly with the

translation of African languages into English. Zabus uses the term relexification.

He says that this term has been used by other writers, such as Todd (1982).

According to Zabus, Todd’s formulation – the relexification of one’s mother

tongue, using English vocabulary but indigenous structures and rhythms – best

describes the process at work when the African language is simulated in the

European text. Relexification is the making of a new register of communication

out of an alien lexicon. The adjectives ‘new’ and ‘alien’ are particularly relevant

in a post-colonial context in which the European language remains alien or

irreducibly ‘other’ to a large majority of the West African population. When

relexified, it is not ‘metropolitan’ English or French that appears on the page, but

an unfamiliar European language that constantly suggests another tongue.

Relexification is tied to the notion ‘approximation’, and of ‘transparence’.

It also encompasses those of ‘transposition’, ‘paraphrase’, ‘translation’ (even

‘psychic’), ‘transliteration’, ‘transference’, and ‘transmutation’. Unlike

interpretive translation or the activity of transcodage, which both take place

between two texts – the original and the translated version – relexification is

characterized by the absence of an original. It does not operate from the language

of one text to the other but from one language to the other within the same text.

On the methodological level, relexification stems from a need to solve an

immediate artistic problem in rendering African concepts, thought-patterns and

linguistic features in the European language. On the strategic level, relexification

seeks to subvert the linguistically codified, to decolonize the language of early,

colonial literature and to affirm a revised, non-atavistic orality via the imposed

medium.

An example of relexification from the books in this study is the use of

bapak by Shiraishi in her English version. Shiraishi tries to translate the word

bapak in Indonesian into English, but the English words father or mister cannot

provide the intended meaning of bapak. Therefore, in the English text, bapak

remains bapak. By the postcolonial theories, the difficulties in translating a term

like bapak can be explained. A further study is required to look into translation

and relexification.

The discussion on the previous parts has shown that there are grammatical

differences between English and Indonesian. Some of the grammatical problems

mentioned above include the use tenses and aspects, verb agreement/ concord

with the Subject, use of pronouns, relative pronouns, singular and plural markers

of noun phrases, use of articles, positions of conjuncts, and meanings of

conjunctions.

Hanafi (1986:35-39) uses Newman’s (1977) categories of problems in

equivalence: words, sentence structure, terms, grammar and allusion. Words

usually have different meanings in different contexts, for example,

George gets home before midnight: George tiba di rumah sebelum tengah malam. He gets lots of mails: Dia menerima banyak surat. Get the doctor! : Panggilkan dokter! Get my towel: Ambilkan handukku. I have to get a new shirt: Saya harus membeli kemeja baru. Please get the window: Tolong bukakan jendelanya. Get the boys before he leaves!: Tangkap bocah itu sebelum dia kabur! Ali has got the chicken pox: Ali terkena sakit cacar.

The examples of problems in sentence structure and grammar can be seen

in the previous discussion. Some additional examples are as follows.

He does not believe in you: Dia tidak mempercayai dalam kamu (It should be Dia tidak mempercayaimu). Susy broke her legs: Susi telah mematahkan kaki-kakinya (It should be: Kedua kaki Susi patah).

Hanafi suggests some alternative solutions in dealing with the problems in

finding Indonesian terms for many English terms. The first is by underlining the

words in translation and provide some notes on it. The second is by adopting the

words using Indonesian system (EYD), for example, Oenology – enologi,

scenography – senografi, scyphistoma – sifistoma. The third is by finding

another term in the TL which is similar to the term in the SL. The fourth is by

defining the term as the SL defines it. The last is by using some sketch or picture

if necessary.

Besides grammatical differences, translators also need to anticipate the

problems that arise from socio-cultural differences. Kamil (1993:32) mentions a

simple example that requires socio-cultural understanding, i.e. the translation of

“How are you?” This sentence cannot be literally translated. The common

expression for Indonesians will be “Apa kabar?” instead of “Bagaimana

keadaanmu?” Some other English expression such as “…, you know, …” cannot

be always translated as “Anda tahu.”. Another similar expression is “How do you

do?”

Another problem may arise from terms like sisters or daughters.

Translators need to consider translating sisters as kakak perempuan or adik

perempuan and translating daughters as anak perempuan or putri. (Simatupang

(1999:86).

The problem with allusion in Newman’s category is similar to the use of

figurative language. Kamil (1993) mentions a sample expression like “He kicked

the bucket,” which means “He died.” Idioms and fixed expressions are included

as one of the main problems in translation, not only from English to Indonesian.

The first step to treat them appropriately is to realize that literal translation usually

does not work. In other words, translators need to first realize and recognize the

expression as an idiom or fixed expression.

The problems that are related to socio-cultural aspects include the

difference in some concepts. Nababan (1999:59) gives an example of difficulties

in translating abstract concepts, which may be different, for example the concept

“rich”. Indonesians’ and Americans’ concept of “rich” are different. In Indonesia,

having a car can be considered rich. In America, it is a common means of

transportation that people own.

Another difference of preference between English and Indonesian is the

expression of measurement for weight and height. Sakri (1985:69) mentions the

need to express measurement in the measurement that is commonly used by

Indonesians. It can be understood how this need to be done to provide a better

understanding by the target readers or listeners.

Listening to the words and looking at the expression shown by a reporter,

people in Indonesia in general can only understand that a woman has lost a great

amount of body weight, but it is not clear how many kilos it is. “This woman has

lost 50 pounds in one year. Look at the picture, this is before and that is after.”

People in Indonesia are not used to using pounds. When watching such news,

people may only comment “Wow, the big fat woman is now slim. It is a great

lost. How many kilos is it 50 pounds?” The 50 pounds is translated as 50 pon.

Not many people in Indonesia understand that 1 pound is equal to 0.45 kilogram.

The same problem also occurs with height, when it is in inches and

translated as inci. In Indonesia, it is more common to mention height in meters or

centimeters. One inch is equal to 2.54 centimeters. Other kinds of measurement

are feet and yard. When they are translated into Indonesian as kaki and yard, they

are not commonly used measurements, so they often invite questions like “How

many meters is that?” or “How wide is this?”

Considering using a more common kind of measurement in the TL can

provide a better understanding of the intended description. In Indonesia, people

usually express the measurement in the metric system, i.e. a decimal system of

weights and measures based on the meter and on the kilogram. Therefore,

translators of English to Indonesian are recommended to translate the

measurement using the metric system.

An example of the influence of the political aspect in translation can be

taken from the Australian Geography, published by Australia-Indonesia Institute,

1999 (in Machali, 2000:134).

ST: When Indonesia annexed the former Portuguese colony of East Timor in 1975, many Australian understood this as part of the process of decolonization. 1) Ketika Indonesia mencaplok Timor Timur, bekas koloni Portugis di tahun 1975 banyak orang Australia yang melihatnya sebagai proses dekolonisasi. 2) Ketika Timor Timur, sebagai bekas daerah jajahan Portugis, berintegrasi dengan Indonesia pada tahun 1975, banyak orang Australia yang menganggapnya sebagai proses dekolonisasi.

The version that is allowed to be quoted in the junior and senior high

school text- books by the Indonesian government is the second version. This is an

example how translation can be influenced by politics.

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

A. Research Data

To answer the first and the second question in the problem formulation,

i.e. about the psychological nature of translation processes and the theoretical

nature of English to Indonesian translation, the theories from various translation

books and articles were collected. The theories on English to Indonesian

translation were taken from the books written by mostly Indonesian writers.

The answer to the third problem is the result of the analysis of the phrases

and sentences from the book Pahlawan-Pahlawan Belia: Keluarga Indonesia

dalam Politik and its ST Young Heroes: The Indonesian Family in Politics. The

two books, as the source data for the analysis, have the following description:

1. Young Heroes was written by Saya S. Shiraishi. The book is of a quarto size.

It consists of seven chapters, 183 pages. It was published in 1997 in New

York by SEAP (Souteast Asia Program Publications) of Cornell University.

2. Pahlawan-Pahlawan Belia, the translated version of Young Heroes, was

translated by Tim Jakarta-Jakarta, which consisted of Agni Amorita AMD.,

FX. Rudi Gunawan, Frans Sartono, and Seno Gumira Ajidarma as the

coordinator. This book is of half of a quarto size. The width and the length

are more or less half of the original version. It consists of 290 pages.

Pahlawan-Pahlawan Belia was published in 2001 in Jakarta by KPG

(Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia) in cooperation with Yayasan Adikarya

IKAPI and the Ford Foundation.

To collect the data, the Indonesian and the English version were put side

by side, and then sentence by sentence in the English version were compared with

the Indonesian version. Phrases and terms were also compared. At the time the

two texts were put side by side and the comparison was done, the examples of

good translation of simple or complex noun phrases and sentences, the examples

of the application of certain translation techniques, and the examples of

questionable or inappropriate parts were marked.

B. Research Procedures

The procedures of this study were done as follows:

1. Collect and study the theories on translation

2. Collect the phrases and sentences from Pahlawan-Pahlawan Belia and their

counterparts from the original version Young Heroes.

3. Analyze the translation product based on the theories on translation.

4. Present the strengths and weaknesses of the translation product.

5. Draw some conclusions on the theories on translation in general, and on the

theories on English to Indonesian in particular, and on the results of the analysis

of the translation product.

C. Data Analysis

The analysis was done on the phrases and sentences in Shiraishi’s

Pahlawan-Pahlawan Belia and its original version Young Heroes. The analysis

covers both the phrase and sentence levels. Since the study tries to present the

analysis on English to Indonesian translation, the way the analysis is carried out is

from the English text to the Indonesian one.

The following paragraphs describe the steps of how the study was

conducted and describe some examples of how the data were collected. The data

are divided into five main categories:

1. Phrases considered as good translation

2. Sentences considered as good translation

3. Phrases considered as inappropriate translation

4. Sentences considered as inappropriate translation

5. Phrases and sentences lost or partly translated

The criteria for the selection of the phrases and sentences in the data are

described as follows.

1. The criteria for the phrases and sentences to be listed as the examples of good

translation are based on Larson’s description (1984:6) of what he terms as “the

best translation”, i.e. the one which uses the normal language form of the

receptor language, communicates, as mush as possible, to the receptor

language speakers the same meaning that was understood by the speakers of

the source language, and maintains the dynamics of the original source

language text.

2. The phrases listed in the data as good or inappropriate translation are mainly

complex noun phrases, i.e. noun phrases with a pre-modifier or pre-modifiers

and/ or with a post modifier or post-modifiers.

3. The sentences listed in the data as good translation are selected on the ground

that they apply some translation technique or techniques.

4. The sentences listed in the data as inappropriate translation include sentences

that have been partly mistranslated or completely mistranslated. The list

includes some sentences in the target text (TT) that have an opposite meaning

from the original or source text (ST).

It is not easy to put a sentence under one criterion - either as good or

inappropriate - because in one sentence, certain part as the focus of discussion can

be considered as good, but in the same sentence, some other parts can also be

debatable as appropriate. For such difficulty, the discussion of a sentence

considered as good translation is focused on the part that applies certain

translation technique or techniques. For the other parts in the same sentence that

are debatable as appropriate translation, the discussion is done on the third part of

Chapter IV under the sub-heading of “Discussion”.

The steps and some examples of the data collection and data analysis are

described in the following paragraphs:

The translation of “the political coming-age of the Indonesian nation” as

“merekahnya fajar politik bangsa Indonesia” is underlined and given a tick. This

is an example of a good translation of a complex noun phrase (NP). The page

number of the original text is given, so rechecking can be easier. This phrase in

on page 7 in the Indonesian version, but we can find it on page 12 in the English

version.

The use of “Soeharto“ to translate “he” is circled as an example of the

application of a translation technique, i.e. the repetition of a pronoun to avoid

ambiguity. “The AMONG SYSTEM” is translated as “SISTEM AMONG“

(ngemong atau asuh -Pent). Such part is also circled for it applies another

translation technique, i.e. a note provided by the translator. “Pent” stands for

penterjemah, the translator.

Certain parts which have been mistranslated are circled or put in a box and

marked with a cross. For example, “Is it the Javanese family, the Minangkabau,

the Acehnese, the Balinese, or what?” is translated as “Ini keluarga Jawa,

Minangkabau…”. As a question, “is it” should be translated as “apakah“ not

“ini“ as for “it is”. Another alternative is to use neither ini nor apakah. In

Indonesian, it is possible to make a question using a statement with a rising

intonation. Therefore, the translation can be: “Keluarga Jawa, Minangkabau,

Aceh, Bali, atau apa?”

Another part, for example, which is questionable, is circled or put in a box

and marked with a question mark. There is a possibility that the part has been

mistranslated. For example, “The exposition is more detailed in the English

version of the autobiography, obviously because non-Indonesians are not expected

to be graced with Javanese wisdom” is translated as “Penjelasan yang lebih rinci

dimuat dalam bahasa Inggris, tak pelak lagi karena para pembaca yang bukan

orang Indonesia tidak diharapkan terbuai oleh kearifan Jawa.”

The positive tone in the original version has been changed into a negative

tone in the Indonesian version. An alternative version for such part can be

“…karena para pembaca yang bukan orang Indonesia diperkirakan tidak tahu

banyak tentang ajaran atau kata-kata arif adat budaya Jawa.” Such analysis and

alternative version are listed in Chapter IV, in the Data Analysis and Discussion.

CHAPTER IV

DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

A. Data

The data consist of phrases and sentences quoted from Young Heroes: The

Indonesian Family in Politics and the counter-parts phrases and sentences quoted

from Pahlawan-Pahlawan Belia: Keluarge Indonesia dalam Politik. The phrases

and sentences are categorized into different groups. As mentioned in the

methodology, there are phrases and sentences which are considered as good

examples of translation. There are also phrases and sentences which are

considered as inappropriate. The phrases and sentences of different categories are

put in different tables. Table 4.5. lists the phrases and sentences from Young

Heroes which are “lost”, meaning they are not translated or they are partly

translated. The Indonesian words are typed in italics. The parts being focused in

the good or inappropriate translation are italicized and underlined. The parts being

focused in the English version are italicized.

The criteria for the selection of the phrases and sentences are described in

the previous chapter, in the Methodology. The results of the data collection can be

seen in the following tables.

Table 4.1. Phrases Considered as Good Translation

No. YOUNG HEROES PAHLAWAN-PAHLAWAN BELIA

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

the political coming-age of the

Indonesian nation (p.12)

the glaring sunset-red soil (p.15)

The Red Land (p.15)

this four-feet wide space (p.16)

object of anticipation (p.16)

went independent (p.40)

one of the best residential areas in

Jakarta, with large, spacious

houses shielded under the deep

eaves of rosy-red tiled roofs and a

canopy of stately trees (p.43)

Aidit’s movement that day (p.46)

reports of unknown military

maneuvers (p.50)

by the evening of October 1

(p.50)

on that fateful day of revolution,

Indonesian style (p.51)

his hot-headed revolutionary –

kidnappers – anak buah (p.51)

To put it in a different way (p.53)

standard cultural answer (p.64)

Roni’s baby sister (p.66)

the respect language (p.65)

a sleeveless undershirt and white

under-shorts (.78)

merekahnya fajar politik bangsa

Indonesia (p.7)

tanah liat berwarna merah senja (p.12)

Lemah Abang (p.12)

lorong selebar 1,2 meter (p.12)

obyek yang mereka antisipasi (p.14)

meraih kemerdekaan (p.55)

wilayah pemukiman terbaik di Jakarta,

dengan rumah-rumah yang besar dan

berhalaman luas, terlindung di bawah

atap genteng kemerah-merahan dan

tirai pohon-pohon yang megah (p.61)

apa yang dilakukan Aidit pada hari itu

(p.66)

laporan adanya gerakan militer tak

dikenal (p.72)

pada 1 Oktobe malam (p.71)

pada hari yang menentukan revolusi

gaya Indonesia itu (p.75)

anak buah- penculik- revolusioner yang

pemarah (p.75)

dengan kata lain (p.77)

jawaban cultural yang baku (p.94)

adik perempuan Roni (p.97)

bahasa krama (p.96)

kaus singlet dan celana kolor putih

(p.116)

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

32.

the intimacy very deep and thick

(p.78)

since his elementary school days

under the Dutch (p.79)

a continuing theme (p.81)

from Java to the “outer islands”

(p.82)

an already well-developed

formulation of family-ism (p.82)

in the late 1910s (p.82)

contemporary children’s literature

(p.85)

learn self-control and self sacrifice

(p.85)

Soeharto’s reactionary Father-

knows-best model (p.86)

into Malay-Indonesian (p.86)

“Pak So-and-So”, “Bu So-and-So”

(p.93)

“Pak So-and-So”, “Bu So-and-So”

(p.95)

shiny new glass and steel high rise

building in Jakarta (p.95)

bapak as a caring father for his

children/subordinates who meets

their endless expectations (p.97)

unconditional pampering (p.97)

keakraban yang sangat dekat (p.117)

sejak dia masih duduk di bangku

Sekolah Rakyat di zaman Belanda

(p.119)

tema yang terus berlanjut (p.122)

baik di Jawa maupun di luar Jawa

(p.123)

rumusan famili-isme yang telah

dikembangkan dengan baik (p.124)

pada akhir era 1910-an (p.124)

cerita anak-anak Indonesia

kontemporer (p.128)

belajar menguasai diri dan berkorban

diri (p.129)

model Soeharto, bapak-tahu-segala

(Father-knows-best) yang reaksioner

(p.131)

dalam bahasa Melayu-Indonesia(p.131)

“Pak ini, Pak itu” atau "Bu ini, Bu itu”

(p.144)

“Pak A atau Pak B”, "Bu A atau Bu B”

(p.147)

gedung kaca bertingkat di Jakarta

(p.147)

bapak sebagai seorang ayah yang

penuh perhatian sekaligus mampu

memenuhi harapan tanpa batas anak-

anak atau bawahannya (p.147)

memanjakan tanpa syarat (p.147)

33.

34.

35.

36.

37.

38.

39.

40.

41.

42.

43.

44.

45.

46.

a posh high rise building in Jakarta

(97)

the family spirit of mutual help

(p.100)

passengers-robbers (p.105)

this informal but systematic

reliance on personal tolerance

(p.105)

the bapak’s it-can-be-taken-care-

of generosity (p.105)

the source of arbitrary power and

its remedy (p.173)

a huge, air-conditioned, cozy,

extended family courtyard (p.112)

the rising star in banking business

(p.113)

the foundation stones of the

regime (p.116)

unsheathed bayonets (p.120)

Commander of the Jakarta

Regional Military Command

Major General Amir Machmud

(p.120)

In Indonesia (p.123)

the white-and-red uniformed

children (p.125)

this immensely fat, heavily made-

up, impeccably dressed woman in

lacy green dress (p.125)

sebuah gedung bertingkat di Jakarta

(p.147)

semangat tolong-menolong dalam

keluarga (p.155)

penumpangnya yang perampok (p.164)

toleransi pribadi itu, yang berjalan

secara informal namun sistematis

(p.165)

sikap dermawan itu-bisa-diatur-nya

bapak (p.165)

sumber sekaligus penawar kesewenang-

wenangan kekuasaan (p.110)

rumah besar yang nyaman ber-AC

milik keluarga (p.177)

bintang yang melejit di bisnis bank

(p.179)

batu fondasi rejim (p.183)

sangkur terhunus (p.191)

Panglima Daerah Militer Jakarta

Mayjen Amir Machmud (p.192)

di bumi Indonesia (p.195)

anak-anak yang berseragam merah-

putih (p.199)

Ibu gemuk itu, yang berbedak tebal dan

bergaun hijau (p.200)

47.

48.

49.

50.

51.

52.

53.

54.

55.

56.

57.

58.

59.

60.

many different social, economic,

religious, and ethnic backgrounds

(p.127)

the tolerance expected of a person

with power and authority (p.128)

their short intimate names (p.129)

their long official names in

alphabetical order (p.129)

Pramoedya’s angry teacher (p.134)

the vinyl string attached to her

light blue plastic holding bottle

(p.140)

a life line in a sea (p.140)

students’ school life (p.143)

the parent-teacher (p.143)

during the late 1980s and early

1990s (p.149)

the wonder child of Indonesian

journalism (p.149)

from ethnic, religious, and racial

matters (p.153)

weh-weh-weh (p.156)

on the polished marble floor of a

spacious mosque (p.157)

berbagai latar belakang social,

ekonomi, agama, dan suku yang

berbeda-beda (p.203)

toleransi yang diharapkan dari

seseorang yang memiliki kekuasaan

dan wewenang (p.206)

nama panggilan masing-masing yang

pendek (p.207)

nama panjang mereka sesuai urutan

abjad (p,.207)

sosok guru marah yang ditampilkan

Pramudya (p.215)

tali plastik botol minum bekalnya dari

rumah (p.225)

sekoci penyelamat di laut lepas (p.225)

kehidupan sekolah (p.230)

guru sekaligus bertindak bak orangtua

(p.231)

selama akhir 80-an dan awal 90-an

(p.237)

anak ajaib dunia jurnalistik Indonesia

(p.238)

masalah SARA (suku, agama, ras, dan

antargolongan) (p.244)

wek wek wek (p.250)

di atas lantai marmer sebuah mesjid

yang megah (p.251)

Table 4.2. Sentences Considered as Good Translation

No. YOUNG HEROES PAHLAWAN-PAHLAWAN BELIA

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

They form a silent shadowy mass,

which, nonetheless, is not bound

together…(p.16)

He is the grandpa to this sweet little

girl. There can be no doubt about it.

(p.16)

It is warm, soft, and comforting

beyond anything else. (p.18)

All the other strangers around them

or in front of them just do not exist

in their eyes, or appear to be mere

faceless obstructions. (p.18)

One has to pay for not being awaited

or for not arriving in the way one

should. (p.18)

Yet to this day, there are disputes

over whom, or what party, was

ultimately responsible for initiating

the coup, and several scenarios,

ranging from possible to probable,

have been proposed. (p.37)

Kerumunan itu membentuk

kumpulan bayang-bayang bisu, yang

meskipun berkumpul, tidak terikat

dalam kebersamaan…(p.13)

Tak disangsikan lagi, dialah kakek

dari si gadis cilik yang manis. (p.16)

Suatu kehangatan, kelembutan, dan

kenyamanan berada di atas segala-

galanya. (p.16)

Semua orang tak dikenal di sekitar

atau di depan mereka sama sekali

tidak nampak di mata mereka.

Kalaupun kelihatan, paling-paling

hanya berupa penghalang yang tak

berwajah. (p.18)

Tidak ditunggu atau tiba dengan

cara yang tidak lazim membuat

seseorang harus membayar mahal.

(p.18)

Hingga kini orang masih berdebat

tentang siapa atau pihak mana yang

mendalangi kudeta tersebut.

Berbagai skenario mengenal hal itu

juga telah diajukan. (p.49)

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

While the different versions of the

coup scenarios have been subjected

to debates, these accounts seem to

have been accepted without much

controversy. (p.37)

For the older word kedaulatan

[sovereignty or authority], so often,

in this time of revolution, married to

rakjat [the people], gave birth to the

new word mendaulat, which

acquired rapid currency all over

Java, and which meant the

deposition, humiliation, kidnapping,

or murder of hated officials or other

representatives of authority, usually

carried out by groups of armed

pemuda. (p.37)

This was the very moment of

revolution, Indonesian style. (p.39)

Had Untung been at the house of

General Suprapto, Second Deputy to

the Minister/ Commander of the

Army, to witness his mean men

carrying out the raid, he would have

been fully satisfied. (p.42)

The visitors acted not as those who

were acquainted with the generals.

(p.43)

Meskipun berbagai versi skenario

kudeta masih diperdebatkan,

laporan koran-koran itu tampaknya

diterima tanpa banyak kontroversi.

(p.49)

Kata kedaulatan yang muncul lebih

dahulu, pada masa revolusi

seringkali dipadukan dengan rakyat,

sehingga melahirkan kata baru

mendaulat. Kata tersebut, yang

beredar dengan cepat di seluruh

Jawa, bermakna penggulingan,

penghujatan, penculikan, dan

pembunuhan para pejabat atau

wakil penguagalain yang dibenci.

Berbagai tindakan tersebut

umumnya dilakukan oleh kelompok-

kelompok pemuda bersenjata. (p.50)

Inilah saat-saat puncak revolusi

gaya Indonesia. (p.52)

Jika Untung berada di rumah

Jendral Suprapto, Deputi Dua

Menteri/ Kastaf Angkatan Darat,

untuk menyaksikan orang-orangnya

menyergap, ia mungkin akan sangat

puas. (p.58)

Para pendatang tersebut bertindak

tidak hormat terhadap para

jenderal. (p.60)

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

It still is one of the best residential

areas in Jakarta. (p.43)

His adjutant was mistaken for him.

(p.44)

Sukarno’s voice could have changed

the course of the coup and, hence,

history. (p.45)

Many conflicting interpretations of

the abortive coup have been offered

in large part, it seems, because the

movement of key figures can be

interpreted differently. (p.45)

I have no means at this point of

knowing whether the letter is

authentic or not. (p.46)

Note the difference in the tone of

two words, antar and bawa, through

which the two identical acts of

taking someone somewhere are

differentiated. (p.49)

The statement could be well-

intentioned. (p.49)

The feeling of warmth can be

shared, but not the pain of pinching

(p.65)

Sampai sekarang, kawasan itu masih

merupakan wilayah pemukiman

terbaik di Jakarta. (p.61)

Ajudannya dikira dirinya (p.62)

Suara Sukarno bisa mengubah

jalannya kudeta, dan juga sejarah.

(p.64)

Keberadaan tokoh-tokoh kunci

kudeta gagal tersebut, yang dapat

ditafsirkan secara berlainan

menyebabkan munculnya banyak

interpretasi yang saling

bertentangan atas peristiwa

tersebut. (p.64)

Saya tidak tahu, apakah surat itu

otentik atau tidak. (p.66)

Perhatikan perbedaan makna kata

antar dan bawa. Kata-kata tersebut

digunakan untuk dua tindakan yang

identik, membawa seseorang ke

suatu tempat, namun maknanya

berbeda. (p.70)

Pernyataan ini bisa jadi bermaksud

baik. (p.71)

Rasa sakit sebuah cubitan tidak bisa

dibagi seperti orang berbagi rasa

hangat. (p.95)

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

It is thanks to the mother, ever wise

and attentive, that Roni overcomes

the crisis. (p.66)

Without self-control and self-

sacrifice, she is immature. (p.71)

What is the difference between Rina,

the mature eldest daughter, and

Roni, the mature eldest son? (p.71)

I am proud of having your wife as

my daughter-in-law. (p.72)

But evidently it was a very

important matter for the

rector.(p.75)

They are officially named as New

Order “Revolutionary Heroes”, less

because of their achievements or

courage than because of their deaths

and sacrifices. (p.77)

Harold Crouch estimates the number

of victims at 250,000 to 500,000.

(p.77)

The pounding increased in strength

and were repeated. (p.78)

Bu Har felt compassion seeing Pak

Har. (p.78)

It was as if to say that the targets of

the coup were the ideal husbands

and fathers of the family rather than

high-ranking army generals. (p.80)

Ternyata ibulah yang menjadi juru

selamat. (p.96)

Tanpa itu semua, seorang

perempuan belumlah matang(p.104)

Apa beda antara Rina dan Roni?

(p.105)

Aku bangga mempunyai menantu

seperti istrimu. (p.106)

Tapi peristiwa itu sangat penting

bagi Ibu Rektor. (p.112)

Mereka secara resmi dijuluki

“Pahlawan Revolusi” Orde Baru,

lebih disebabkan karena kematian

dan pengorbanan mereka

dibandingkan dengan prestasi atau

keberanian mereka. (p.115)

Harold Crouch memperkirakan

jumlah korban sekitar 250.000

sampai 500.000 orang. (p.115)

Gedoran makin mengeras dan

beruntun. (p.116)

Bu Har merasa iba melihat

kenyenyakan Pak Har. (p.117)

Itulah sebabnya seolah-olah bisa

dikatakan, target kudeta itu adalah

suami dan ayah ideal dalam sebuah

keluarga, bukan seorang jendral

terkemuka. (p.120)

30.

31.

32.

33.

This is from Soeharto’s

autobiography, where he explains

what it means that he gives

guidance, petunjuk, to his assistants,

that is: cabinet ministers. (p.81)

The committee for Javanese

Nationalism was a youthful

vanguard of the Boedi Oetomo, a

culturally proud but politically timid,

progressive, Javanese association,

and was joined and supported by

Dutch-educated young Javanese

aristocrats in Yogyakarta and

Surakarta. (p.83)

No society is possible (p.84)

He equates democracy with equal

rights, no duties, and he simply

cannot imagine such democracy

creating the solidarity (which he

calls “unity”) on which society is

built. (p.85)

Kutipan di atas telah diambil dari

otobiografi Soehart. Dalam kutipan

tersebut Soeharto menjelaskan apa

yang dimaksudnya dengan memberi

petunjuk kepada para pembantunya,

yakni para menteri kabinet. (p.121)

Komite untuk Nasionalisme Jawa

merupakan barisan depan pemuda

Boedi Oetomo, sebuah perkumpulan

orang-orang Jawa yang progresif.

Mereka mengagung-agungkan

budaya Jawa, tapi masih takut-takut

untuk urusan politik. Perkumpulan

ini di dukung dan diikuti oleh kaum

bangsawan Jawa yang

berpendidikan Belanda di

Yogyakarta dan Solo. (p.125)

Masyarakat tak mungkin terbentuk

(p.128)

Ia menyamakan demokrasi dengan

persamaan hak, tanpa kewajiban,

dan ia tak bisa membayangkan

demokrasi seperti itu mampu

menciptakan rasa senasib

sepenanggungan atau solidaritas

(disebut Soetatmo sebagai

“kesatuan”) tempat masyarakat itu

dibentuk. (p.128)

34.

35.

36.

37.

38.

39.

40.

41.

42.

The parental love, above all the

mother’s love, gives warmth to the

family, but it is Roni who lets the

parental love circulate in the family

sphere. (p.85)

What a question, Stella, dear. (p.87)

It did. (p.94)

He climbed the army hierarchy and

eventually reached the rank of

lieutenant general (p.99)

Money is raised in many different

and creative ways (p.100)

And indeed, it is tough, to say the

least, to live in Jakarta without the

protective “family” network to fall

back on. (p.104)

The article continues: (p.108)

The implication, however, was clear

enough. (p.109)

Money-mad directors who have

neglected the lot of their men and

who above the accumulated

sufferings of their men have lived in

luxury, led a gay life, insulted our

women, and wasted government

funds, must be kicked out of the

Bank and punished accordingly.

(p.113)

Kasih sayang orang tua, terutama

ibu, menghangatkan keluarga. Tapi

Ronilah yang menyebarkan kasih

orangtua itu dalam lingkup

keluarga. (p.129)

Ini pertanyaan menarik, Stella

sahabatku. (p.132)

Mereka mempunyai berbagai

perangkat itu. (p.146)

Kariernya dalam militer terus

menanjak dan pensiun dengan

pangkat Letnan Jendral. (p.153)

Uang dicari dengan berbagai cara

yang kreatif (p.154)

Dan sungguh, hidup di Jakarta

memang keras tanpa jaringan

keluarga yang protektif untuk

menyandarkan diri. (p162)

Berikut lanjutan laporan di atas:

(p.170)

Meski begitu, implikasinya cukup

jelas. (p.171)

Direktur yang gila uang yang

menelantarkan nasib dan menambah

kesengsaraan karyawan. Mereka

hidup dalam kemewahan, menghina

wanita, dan menghamburkan dana

pemerintah. Mereka harus

ditendang dari bank dan dihukum

setimpal. (p.178)

43.

44.

45.

46.

All of this pretty much made one’s

hair stand on end (p.118)

In 1987, 24,931,000 out of

25,689,000 children aged seven to

twelve years of (which is the

primary school age in Indonesia)

attended schools; that is 97 percent.

In the same year, 8,825,000 out of

12,268,000 children aged thirteen to

fifteen attended secondary schools:

72 percent. Out of 2,956,100

government employees in 1987,

1,646,000 or 55 percent were school

teachers. (p.124)

Schooling is a huge national project

run by the state, and today, school

childhood constitutes a fundamental

national experience in which

children learn Indonesian and

become Indonesians. (p.124)

“Oh, here is your friend si Anu, why

don’t you sit next to her?” (p.128)

Ini semua membuat bulu kuduk

berdiri (p.187)

Pada 1987, ada 24.931.000 dari

25.689.000 (97 persen) anak umur

tujuh hingga dua belas tahun (yang

merupakan umur untuk

mendapatkan pendidikan dasar di

sekolahdasar Indonesia) masuk

sekolah. Pada tahun yang sama,

8.825.000 dari 12.268.000 (72

persen) anak umur 13 hingga 15

tahun memasuki sekolah menengah

pertama. Sebanyak 1.646.000 dari

2.956.100 pegawai pemerintah pada

tahun 1987 (55 persen) adalah guru

sekolah. (p.197)

Pendidikan sekolah merupakan

proyek nasional raksasa yang

dijalankan negara. Kini masa

sekolah mengandung makna sebagai

pengalaman nasional yang

mendasar, yang di dalamnya anak-

anak belajar bahasa Indonesia dan

menjadi orang Indonesia (p.197)

Oh itu dia temanmu si Anu, kenapa

kamu nggak duduk sebelah dia

saja?” (p.205)

47.

48.

49.

50.

51.

The anger of today’s teacher cannot

be as intimidating or terrifying as

the anger of Pramoedya’s teacher’s.

(p.134)

They may not draw the line free

hand. (p.142)

But hopefully we can get some sense

of its rebelliousness from the lyric.

(p.158)

Nor is the classroom immune to this

duality. (p. 164)

The interchangeability of parent-

child with king-subject is, again,

striking. (p.165)

Kemarahan guru masa kini tidak

bisa semenakutkan kemarahan

gurunya Pramoedya. (p.216)

Mereka tidak boleh begitu saja

membuat garis “cakar ayam”.

(p.228)

Namun semoga semangat tersebut

tetap dapat ditangkap dari liriknya

yang memberontak. (p.254)

Ruang kelas pun tidak kebal dari

sifat mendua tersebut. (p.263)

Lagi-lagi, kemampuan

menjungkirbalikkan posisi orangtua-

anak dan penguasa-rakyat

menyodok. (p.265)

Table 4.3. Phrases Considered as Inappropriate

No. YOUNG HEROES PAHLAWAN-PAHLAWAN BELIA

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

over his shoulder (p.18)

just to be here with his mother (p.18)

of course (p.19)

whose amorous adventures never

cease to delight the Javanese (p.19)

Sukarno’s “as-told-to”

autobiography (p.41)

young raiders (p.44)

as early as October 15 (p.53)

unconcerned and unmoved (p.57)

sensation of happiness (p.57)

a young research assistant at a

techers’ training college (p.62)

her daughter’s oral hygiene (p.63)

the Javanese ideals (p.83)

a hopelessly broken family (p.84)

thirty-three persons (p.91)

thirteen regional stations (p.91)

six thousand employees (p.91)

dibalik punggungnya (p.17)

seolah hanya ada dia dengan ibunya

di sana (p.17)

meski demikian (p.19)

yang petualangan cintanya tak

kunjung memuaskan orang Jawa

(p.19)

otobiogafi “seperti-dituturkan-

kepada” Sukarno (p.57)

seorang penyerang muda (p.62)

segera setelah 15 Oktober (p.78)

tidak terpusat dan tidak bergerak

(p.82)

sensasi kebahagiaan (p.82)

seorang peneliti muda kolega saya

di IKIP (p.90)

kebiasaan makan anaknya yang

buruk (p.92)

Jawa yang ideal (p.125)

keluarga berantakan yang tak lagi

punya harapan (p.128)

dua puluh tiga orang (p.141)

dua puluh tiga stasiun regional

(p.141)

enam ratus ribu karyawan (p. 141)

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

no moral power and authority

(p.108)

sixty-five years old in 1990 (p.113)

a lot of white holes and rough spots

filled with white chalk powder

(p.128)

the structure of the daily roll call

(p.130)

intelligible human language (p.136)

to kill the time (p.142)

a prolific, highly successful writer-

poet-playwright-editor in Jakarta in

1980s (p.149)

dirty glasses, spoons, and forks

(p.153)

dirty plates, spoons, and forks

(p.157)

tak ada moral, kekuasaan, dan

kewibawaan (p.169)

47 tahun pada 1990 (p.178)

banyak lobang-lobang putih dan

kasar yang penuh dengan bubuk

kapur tulis (p.204)

aturan presensi keseharian (p.208)

bahasa manusia yang cerdas (p.220)

membunuh waktu (p.229)

seorang pengarang yang produktif

dan sukses, penulis puisi, drama,

dan redaktur di Jakarta pada 1980-

an (p.238)

gelas bekas pakai, sendok dan garpu

(p.243)

piring kotor, sendok dan garpu

(p.250)

Table 4.4. Sentences Considered as Inappropriate

No. YOUNG HEROES PAHLAWAN-PAHLAWAN BELIA

1.

2

3.

4.

The exposition is more detailed in

the English version of the

autobiography, obviously because

non-Indonesians are not expected to

be graced with Javanese wisdom.

(p.10)

In order to achieve this, it is not

possible for this system to be

authoritative which makes use of

power and coercion. (p.10)

What kind of family is it then that

singularly represents this multi-

ethnic nation as a family? Is it the

Javanese family, the Minangkabau,

the Acehnese, the Balinese, or what?

(p.11)

In spite of the commotion of the ebb

and flow of people arriving and

departing, a peculiar stony silence

seems to lie among the people who

are standing behind the railing with

their hands holding onto it. (p.16)

Penjelasan yang lebih rinci dimuat

dalam bahasa Inggris, tak pelak lagi

karena para pembaca yang bukan

orang Indonesia tidak diharapkan

terbuai oleh kearifan Jawa. (p.3)

Sistem pendidikan ini tidak mungkin

dapat dicapai dan dipatuhi dengan

menggunakan kekuasaan dan

paksaan. (p.3)

Keluarga macam apakah kiranya

yang menjadi wakil satu-satunya

bangsa multi-etnik ini sebagai

sebuah keluarga? Ini keluarga

Jawa, Minangkabau, Aceh, Bali,

atau apa? (p.6)

Kendati orang-orang yang datang

dan pergi lalu-lalang dengan

perasaan galau, sikap bisu yang

kaku mencekam semua orang yang

berdiri di balik pagar sambil

memeganginya. (p.13)

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

Considering all the arrangement

that need to be made before a car

can take to the road, it is not

uncommon for the dedicated

penjemput (person who comes to

pick up someone) to fail to appear

on time. (p.18)

Instead of making himself a general,

Lieutenant Colonel Untung decided

to remain a lieutenant colonel …

(p.52)

This is equivalent to the

Rengasdengklok kidnapping. (p.53)

To put it in a different way, the

movement was an attempt to

restructure the army, approximating

its inner structure to the bapak-anak

buah relationship, simplifying its

rank hierarchy and reducing its

structure to bapak and anak buah.

(p.53)

The more arbitrarily he acts, the

more amusing he becomes. (p.57)

Tidaklah biasa penjemput yang setia

datang tidak tepat waktu.(p.18)

Daripada mengangkat dirinya jadi

jenderal, Letnan Kolonel Untung

memutuskan tetap berpangkat letnan

kolonel…(p.77)

Keputusan ini sama halnya dengan

penculikan Rengasdengklok (p.77)

Dengan kata lain, gerakan itu

adalah usaha restrukturisasi

angkatan bersenjata. Dengan

perkiraan bahwa struktur dalamnya

adalah hubungan bapak-anak buah,

gerakan itu menyederhanakan

hierarki dan struktur kepangkatan

menjadi Bapak dan anak-buah.

(p.77)

Semakin menarik tingkahnya,

semakin mengagumkanlah anak itu.

(p.81)

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

He would often be sighted, a half

hour later, still squatting at the foot

of the black iron gate at the house of

his neighbour-friend, who usually is

either washing, polishing, or

admiring the new Mitsubishi family

van parked just inside the gate.

(p.57)

We were covered with her love

(kasih sayang) like layers of

blankets. (p.69)

The historical origins of family-ism

go back to the colonial period. (p.83)

Bank Duta grew fast from 1978 to

1985, and in 1984 was ranked third

to fourth among the national private

banks. (p.113)

Nonetheless, the system works,

whether it looks beautiful or shady,

less because of the beautifying

empty language than because of the

programmed silence that renders the

national language powerless to

name, articulate, and prosecute the

guilty. (p.116)

Nevertheless, they were sure that

pak guru was as clever as one can

ever be in this world. (p.133)

Sampai setengah jam kemudian, dia

sering masih terlihat berdiri di

depan pintu gerbang hitam

tetangganya yang sedang mencuci

mobil, sambil mengagumi kilap

mobil Mitsubishi van barunya.

(p.82)

Dengan penuh kasih sayang kami

diselimutinya berlapis-lapis (p.100)

Sejarah asal usul famili-isme

terlentang hingga ke masa kolonial

(p.123)

Bank Duta berkembang pesat dari

tahun 1978-1985. Pada tahun 1984,

bank ini menduduki peringkat ketiga

di antara empat bank swasta

nasional. (p.179)

Meski demikian sistem tersebut tetap

berjalan, dan ini lebih karena

bahasa kosong yang diperindah,

ketimbang karena kebisuan yang

diprogramkan, yang membuat

bahasa nasional tak berdaya untuk

menyebut, menyuarakan, dan

menghukum yang bersalah. (p.183)

Namun, mereka yakin, pak guru

adalah sepandai-pandainya orang di

dunia ini. (p.214)

Table 4.5. Phrases and Sentences Lost or Partly Translated

No. YOUNG HEROES PAHLAWAN-PAHLAWAN BELIA

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

…Soeharto does refer to his

ministers as children,…(p.9)

Antar means to escort someone

somewhere, and jemput to come to

meet someone in order to escort

her/him somewhere else. (p.15)

hundreds of naked staring eyes

(p.15-16)

in this particular place and at this

specific moment (p.16)

the thick and high imposing walls

(p.43)

If we fully consider the wide range

of possible interpretation of this

kindly act in Indonesia, however, we

may well think twice before

gratefully being picked up at the

airport (p.47)

The more details are “revealed”,

however, the more contradictions

and unanswerable questions seem to

surface. (p.47)

in a recently published, controversial

book (p.47)

…, Soeharto menganggap para

menterinya sebagai anak,… (p.1)

- (p.15)

ditatap ratusan pasang mata (p.12)

di tempat itu pada waktu itu (p13)

tembok tebal dan tinggi (p.61)

Jika kita benar-benar menyadari,

kemungkinan penafsiran atas

tindakan yang murah hati ini begitu

beragam di Indonesia, tentu kita

akan berpikir dua kali sebelum

berterima kasih karena dijemput di

bandara (p.68)

Makin rinci “penjelasannya”, makin

bertentangan dan tak mungkin

terjawablah pertanyaan-pertanyaan

yang muncul. (p.68)

dalam sebuah buku controversial

(p.68)

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

The more dangerous and hostile the

outside world looms, the more

secure and warm that small, once

lost and now recalled, sanctuary

becomes. (p.62)

The last illustration in the book

describes Roni’s father and mother

watching and caressing him with

affection, while Roni is pointing his

finger at his baby sister as if

redirecting the flow of parental

attention from him to his sister. He

is giving away to his sister the

parental love once he monopolized.

(p.66)

The family, which otherwise would

have remained a biological accident,

becomes a lasting social and cultural

institution. (p.68)

This way, her mother is dissociated

from her milieu that has

automatically accommodated all her

needs, and becomes, for the first

time, separate from herself. (p.69)

a qualified wife-to-be (p.71)

The advertisement, playing with the

word bunga, which means both

flower and interest, equates interest

with the flower which signifies love

of the mother/land. (p.72)

- (p.90)

Ilustrasi terakhir dalam buku itu

menggambarkan ayah dan ibu

memperhatikan Roni yang tengah

bermain bersama adiknya dengan

penuh kasih sayang. (p.97)

Dengan kata lain, keluarga akan

menjadi institusi social dan budaya

yang kekal. (p.99)

- (p.102)

seorang istri yang baik (p.105)

Iklan tersebut bermain-main dengan

kata bunga, maksudnya

menyamakan bunga bank dengan

bunga sebagai tanda cinta dari

seorang ibu maupun ibu pertiwi.

(p.107)

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

Both gifts come from BungHari,

Brother Hari/ Flower of the day/

Daily Interest, that is not only from

the bank but also from the land and

the mother. (p,.72)

The basic “civilized” response to

such culturally defined “childish”

behaviors is to manage the situation

nonchalantly, as if nothing that

matters has happened. (p.74)

He was the red candy she desired to

have. Her parents did not approve

her marriage with him less because

of who he was than because of her

making the choice herself. Her

parents, however, did not provide

her with another young man of their

choice, or the green candy, and thus

failed to impose their choice on her.

(p.75)

There follows Mother Haryono’s

unhurried flashback, … (p.78)

The intimacy very deep and thick

(p.78)

“Let us have a share, you know,

pap.” (p.78)

…, and he simply cannot imagine

such democracy …(p.85)

Kedua hadiah tersebut berasal dari

“BungHari”, yaitu bunga harian

bank yang tidak hanya dimaksudkan

sebagai pemberian bank saja tapi

juga pemberian dari bumi dan

seorang ibu. (p.108)

- (p.110)

- (p.112)

Lalu diikuti kilas balik dari ingatan

Bu Haryono, …(p.117)

Keakraban yang sangat dekat

(p.117)

“Bagi-bagi dong, pap.” (p.118)

… dan ia tak bisa membayangkan

demokrasi seperti itu … (p.128)

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

Benedict Anderson writes about the

historical significance of this

vacuous Malay- Indonesian for the

making of Indonesia. (p.87)

…, and it was subsequently used in

army barracks, judicial courts,

hospitals, offices, schools, and

media during the colonial period.

(p.87)

A new social model was presented

in practice for peoples with many

different languages, histories, and

cultures to see, understand, and

emulate. (p.89)

Ibu Tien (the First Lady, or rather

the first Mother), …(p.98)

They have entered many fields,

starting from commerce, fishery,

food, livestock, finance,

construction, pharmacy, to the paper

industry. (p.99)

…penyelewengan, irregularity or

deviation, … (p.107)

… was nevertheless alive, not dead.

(p.109)

In fact, the family system asserted

itself in rescuing the bapak trapped

in this scandal. (p.115)

As in the early morning of October

1, 1965, …(p.115)

Benedict Anderson menulis tentang

peran penting sejarah bahasa

Melayu-Indonesia dalam membentuk

Indonesia. (p.132)

Bahasa itu digunakan di barak

tentara, pengadilan, rumahsakit,

kantor, sekolah, dan media massa

pada masa penjajahan. (p,.133)

Sebuah model social baru

diperkenalkan dalam praktek untuk

masyarakat yang berbeda bahasa,

sejarah dan kultur. (p.136)

Ibu Tien, …(p.152)

Mereka masuk ke banyak bidang,

mulai dari perdagangan, perikanan,

makanan, kebutuhan pokok,

konstruksi, farmasi, sampai industri

kertas. (p.153)

penyelewengan …(p.168)

… masih hidup, tidak mati. (p.172)

Sistem tersebut juga tampil

menyelamatkan bapak yang

terperangkap skandal. (p.182)

Seperti pagi hari pada Oktober

1965, …(p.182)

31.

32.

33.

34.

35.

His classmates, drawn to the sight of

an enormous body trying to

accommodate itself into the narrow

aisle, did not notice his silent

singing. (p.125)

The Indonesian family is constructed

in the textbook through a process

that appears to involve mere

translation that simply exchanges

exchangeable words between the

national language and ethnic mother

tongues. (p.133)

Rp 18,000 (about US$10 then)

(p.141)

In one corner a small quarrel started

between a boy and a girl who sat

next to each other. She has picked

up his ruler. Unlike other children,

the boy protested. (p.142)

piles of old women’s magazines

(p.153)

Sementara itu seisi kelas terbawa

untuk tidak mempedulikan nyanyian

lirih tersebut. (p.200)

Keluarga Indonesia dibanguan

dalam buku pelajaran melalui

proses, yang tampaknya

mengikutsertakan terjemahan yang

secara sederhana mengganti kata-

kata yang dapat ditukar antara

bahasa nasional dan bahasa ibu.

(p.213)

Rp 18.000,- (p.227)

Di salah satu pojok, perselisihan

kecil terjadi antara seorang bocah

lelaki dan perempuan yang duduk

bersebelahan. Tak seperti murid

lainnya, si bocah lelaki ini protes.

(p.229)

tumpukan majalah lama (p.244)

B. Analysis

The analysis is given to each table in general, and to the items in each of

the tables. Through the analysis, the reasons why the phrases and sentences are

considered as good or inappropriate will be shown. Table 4.5, which shows the

parts lost or partly translated, will be analyzed based on the theory of translation

loss. The items in this table can be examples of either good or inappropriate

translation. Some types of translation loss are unavoidable, so they are acceptable

because there are no equivalent words in the target language. Some of the loss in

table 4.5 could have been avoidable and there will be some alternatives of

translation for them.

Table 4.1. Phrases Considered as Good Translation

This table lists the phrases which are considered as good translation.

The theory on English to Indonesian translation provides some basic steps in

translating complex noun phrases. In general, a tanslator starts with identifying

the head. The phrases included in this table can be discussed based on different

criteria.

Some phrases have been included in this table because of the selection of

words, which are poetic sounding:

1) the political coming-age of the Indonesian nation (p.12): merekahnya fajar politik bangsa Indonesia (p.7)

2) the glaring sunset-red soil (p.15): tanah liat berwarna merah senja (p.12)

42) unsheathed bayonets (p.120): sangkur terhunus (p.191) 44) In Indonesia (p.123): di bumi Indonesia (p.195) 47) many different social, economic, religious, and ethnic backgrounds

(p.127): berbagai latar belakang social, ekonomi, agama, dan suku yang berbeda-beda (p.203)

53) a life line in a sea (p.140): sekoci penyelamat di laut lepas (p.225)

Some phrases have been translated using names and terms which are

commonly used in the target language, Indonesian. Item number 3, for example,

has been translated based on the name, which is used by the people in Jakarta.

Since the translator has some background knowledge about it, the Red Land is not

translated as Tanah Merah, an Indonesian phrase, but as Lemah Abang, a

Javanese term.

3) The Red Land (p.15): Lemah Abang (p.12) 13) To put it in a different way (p.53): dengan kata lain (p.77) 16) the respect language (p.65): bahasa krama (p.96) 17) a sleeveless undershirt and white under-shorts (.78): kaus singlet dan

celana kolor putih (p.116) 19) since his elementary school days under the Dutch (p.79): sejak dia

masih duduk di bangku Sekolah Rakyat di zaman Belanda (p.119) 21) from Java to the “outer islands” (p.82): baik di Jawa maupun di luar

Jawa (p.123) 43) Commander of the Jakarta Regional Military Command Major

General Amir Machmud (p.120): Panglima Daerah Militer Jakarta Mayjen Amir Machmud (p.192)

49) their short intimate names (p.129): nama panggilan masing-masing yang pendek (p.207)

50) their long official names in alphabetical order (p.129): nama panjang mereka sesuai urutan abjad (p,.207)

58) from ethnic, religious, and racial matters (p.153): masalah SARA (suku, agama, ras, dan antargolongan) (p.244)

Like the translation of sentences, some of the phrases are made precise

without loosing their significant details:

15) Roni’s baby sister (p.66):adik perempuan Roni (p.97) 18) the intimacy very deep and thick (p.78): keakraban yang sangat dekat

(p.117) 30) shiny new glass and steel high rise building in Jakarta (p.95): gedung

kaca bertingkat di Jakarta (p.147) 33) a posh high rise building in Jakarta (97): sebuah gedung bertingkat di

Jakarta (p.147) 39) a huge, air-conditioned, cozy, extended family courtyard (p.112):

rumah besar yang nyaman ber-AC milik keluarga (p.177) 46) this immensely fat, heavily made-up, impeccably dressed woman in

lacy green dress (p.125): Ibu gemuk itu, yang berbedak tebal dan bergaun hijau (p.200)

54) students’ school life (p.143): kehidupan sekolah (p.230)

Translating a sentence that functions as a modifier in an NP can be seen in

items number 26 and 37:

26) Soeharto’s reactionary Father-knows-best model (p.86): model Seoharto, bapak-tahu-segala (Father-knows-best) yang reaksioner (p.131)

37) the bapak’s it-can-be-taken-care-of generosity (p.105): sikap dermawan itu-bisa-diatur-nya bapak (p.165)

Translation of measurement, dates, and years can be seen in items number

4, 10, 23, and 56. In item number 4, the translator converts the measurement into

meter because in Indonesia feet is not commonly used. The phrase 1,2 meter is

better understood than 4 kaki. Such changes of measurement may require another

consideration such as how detail the expression is given in the ST and in the TT.

Discussing item number 4, for example, four-feet wide is a rough estimate, but 1,2

meter gives an impression of an exact figure, a very detail and careful

measurement, not a rough estimate. Such difference of effect may be reduced by

saying satu meter lebih sedikit, to keep the rough estimate as a rough estimate.

4) this four-feet wide space (p.16): lorong selebar 1,2 meter (p.12) 10) by the evening of October 1 (p.50): pada 1 Oktober malam (p.71) 23) in the late 1910s (p.82): pada akhir era 1910-an (p.124) 56) during the late 1980s and early 1990s (p.149): selama akhir 80-an dan

awal 90-an (p.237)

Sometimes a translator needs to give the meaning of a phrase instead of

literally translating it. Some examples can be seen in number 27, 31, 35, 51, and

55. In item number 27, the word bahasa is added to the language. In item number

31, there is a repositioning of the post-modifiers.

27) into Malay-Indonesian (p.86): dalam bahasa Melayu-Indonesia (p.131)

31) bapak as a caring father for his children/subordinates who meets their endless expectations (p.97): bapak sebagai seorang ayah yang penuh perhatian sekaligus mampu memenuhi harapan tanpa batas anak-anak atau bawahannya (p.147)

35) passengers-robbers (p.105): penumpangnya yang perampok (p.164) 51) Pramoedya’s angry teacher (p.134): sosok guru marah yang

ditampilkan Pramudya (p.215) 52) the vinyl string attached to her light blue plastic holding bottle (p.140):

tali plastik botol minum bekalnya dari rumah (p.225) 55) the parent-teacher (p.143): guru sekaligus bertindak bak orangtua

(p.231)

Some examples of present participle (V-ing) and past participle (V-en) in

NPs can be seen in the following items:

20) a continuing theme (p.81): tema yang terus berlanjut (p.122) 22) an already well-developed formulation of family-ism (p.82): rumusan

famili-isme yang telah dikembangkan dengan baik (p.124) 40) the rising star in banking business (p.113): bintang yang melejit di

bisnis bank (p.179) 45) the white-and-red uniformed children (p.125): anak-anak yang

berseragam merah-putih (p.199) 48) the tolerance expected of a person with power and authority (p.128):

toleransi yang diharapkan dari seseorang yang memiliki kekuasaan dan wewenang (p.206)

Grammatical categories are sometimes changed in NPs and VPs. About

this, Larson (1984: 205) uses the term skewing. Larson says that the reason why

literal translations do not communicate is that they keep the source language

skewing. He also says that it is helpful to think of the semantic structure (the

meaning) rather than the grammar (forms) as one translates. A noun in the ST may

not be necessarily maintained as a noun in the TT. In item number 5, the noun

phrase anticipation has been changed into a verb phrase, antisipasi. Independent

as an adjective becomes kemerdekaan, a noun.

5) object of anticipation (p.16): obyek yang mereka antisipasi (p.14) 6) went independent (p.40): meraih kemerdekaan (p.55) 8) Aidit’s movement that day (p.46): apa yang dilakukan Aidit pada hari

itu (p.66)

11) on that fateful day of revolution, Indonesian style (p.51): pada hari yang menentukan revolusi gaya Indonesia itu (p.75)

25) learn self-control and self sacrifice (p.85): belajar menguasai diri dan berkorban diri (p.129)

32) unconditional pampering (p.97): memanjakan tanpa syarat (p.147)

Translating NPs by starting with the head, and then the pre-modifier/s, and

followed by the post-modifier/s can be noticed in the following examples:

7) one of the best residential areas in Jakarta, with large, spacious houses shielded under the deep eaves of rosy-red tiled roofs and a canopy of stately trees (p.43): wilayah pemukiman terbaik di Jakarta, dengan rumah-rumah yang besar dan berhalaman luas, terlindung di bawah atap genteng kemerah-merahan dan tirai pohon-pohon yang megah (p.61)

9) reports of unknown military maneuvers (p.50): laporan adanya gerakan militer tak dikenal (p.72)

12) his hot-headed revolutionary – kidnappers – anak buah (p.51): anak buah- penculik- revolusioner yang pemarah (p.75)

14) standard cultural answer (p.64): jawaban cultural yang baku (p.94) 24) contemporary children’s literature (p.85): cerita anak-anak Indonesia

kontemporer (p.128) 41) the foundation stones of the regime (p.116): batu fondasi rejim (p.183) 57) the wonder child of Indonesian journalism (p.149): anak ajaib dunia

jurnalistik Indonesia (p.238) 60) on the polished marble floor of a spacious mosque (p.157): di atas

lantai marmer sebuah mesjid yang megah (p.251)

Item number 34 is a different case, because spirit of mutual help is

translated first and the pre-modifier family is added using a preposition dalam.

However, it is still possible to apply the steps in translating a complex NP and the

alternative result is semangat kekeluargaan saling tolong menolong:

34) the family spirit of mutual help (p.100): semangat tolong-menolong dalam keluarga (p.155)

The use of coordination in NPs with and and but can be seen in the

following items:

36) this informal but systematic reliance on personal tolerance (p.105): toleransi pribadi itu, yang berjalan secara informal namun sistematis (p.165)

38) the source of arbitrary power and its remedy (p.173): sumber sekaligus penawar kesewenang-wenangan kekuasaan (p.110)

Translating an indefinite pronoun like so and so can be done using the

following alternative expressions:

28) “Pak So-and-So”, “Bu So-and-So” (p.93): “Pak ini, Pak itu” atau "Bu ini, Bu itu” (p.144)

29) “Pak So-and-So”, “Bu So-and-So” (p.95): “Pak A atau Pak B”, "Bu A atau Bu B” (p.147)

Translating sounds needs adjustment. For the quacking of ducks, the

translator uses wek instead of weh. There is another more common kwek to imitate

the quacking of ducks.

59) weh-weh-weh (p.156): wek wek wek (p.250)

Table 4.2. Sentences Considered as Good Translation

In translation, translators need not always maintain the grammatical

category of a word in an ST into the same category in the TT (Simatupang

2000:77). It may sometimes sound more natural to change an adjective, for

example, into a noun, or others. Some examples of changes of word categories

can be seen in the data in table 4.2, they are sentences in items number 3, 7, 27,

and 49:

3) It is warm, soft, and comforting beyond anything else. (p.18) Suatu kehangatan, kelembutan, dan kenyamanan berada di atas segala-galanya. (p.16)) ( Adj. N.)

In this sentence, the adjectives in the ST (warm, soft, and comforting)

become nouns in the TT (kehangatan, kelembutan, dan kenyamanan).

7) While the different versions of the coup scenarios have been subjected to debates, these accounts seem to have been accepted without much controversy. (p.37)

Meskipun berbagai versi skenario kudeta masih diperdebatkan, laporan koran-koran itu tampaknya diterima tanpa banyak kontroversi. (p.49)) (N. V.)

In this sentence, debates as a noun is translated as diperdebatkan, which is

a verb.

27) The poundings increased in strength and were repeated. (p.78) Gedoran makin mengeras dan beruntun. (p.116)) (N. V.)

In this sentence, strength is a noun and it is translated as mengeras, a verb.

49) But hopefully we can get some sense of its rebelliousness from the lyric. (p.158)

Namun semoga semangat tersebut tetap dapat ditangkap dari liriknya yang memberontak. (p.254) (N. V.)

In this sentence, the noun rebelliousness is translated as memberontak, a

verb.

As stated in the theory of English to Indonesian translation, long sentences

may need to be cut down into shorter sentences. Sentence number 2 is different.

It combines short English sentences into one Indonesian sentence. Such case is

not as many as cutting down long sentences into shorter ones. Some examples of

cutting down long sentences can be seen in sentences number 6, 8, 17, 30, 31, 42,

and 45.

6) Yet to this day, there are disputes over whom, or what party, was ultimately responsible for initiating the coup, and several scenarios, ranging from possible to probable, have been proposed. (p.37)

Hingga kini orang masih berdebat tentang siapa atau pihak mana yang mendalangi kudeta tersebut. Berbagai skenario mengenal hal itu juga telah diajukan. (p.49)

8) For the older word kedaulatan [sovereignty or authority], so often, in

this time of revolution, married to rakjat [the people], gave birth to the new word mendaulat, which acquired rapid currency all over Java, and which meant the deposition, humiliation, kidnapping, or murder of

hated officials or other representatives of authority, usually carried out by groups of armed pemuda. (p.37)

Kata kedaulatan yang muncul lebih dahulu, pada masa revolusi seringkali dipadukan dengan rakyat, sehingga melahirkan kata baru mendaulat. Kata tersebut, yang beredar dengan cepat di seluruh Jawa, bermakna penggulingan, penghujatan, penculikan, dan pembunuhan para pejabat atau wakil penguagalain yang dibenci. Berbagai tindakan tersebut umumnya dilakukan oleh kelompok-kelompok pemuda bersenjata. (p.50)

17) Note the difference in the tone of two words, antar and bawa, through

which the two identical acts of taking someone somewhere are differentiated. (p.49)

Perhatikan perbedaan makna kata antar dan bawa. Kata-kata tersebut digunakan untuk dua tindakan yang identik, membawa seseorang ke suatu tempat, namun maknanya berbeda. (p.70)

30) This is from Soeharto’s autobiography, where he explains what it

means that he gives guidance, petunjuk, to his assistants, that is: cabinet ministers. (p.81)

Kutipan di atas telah diambil dari otobiografi Soehart. Dalam kutipan tersebut Soeharto menjelaskan apa yang dimaksudnya dengan memberi petunjuk kepada para pembantunya, yakni para menteri kabinet. (p.121)

31) The committee for Javanese Nationalism was a youthful vanguard of

the Boedi Oetomo, a culturally proud but politically timid, progressive, Javanese association, and was joined and supported by Dutch-educated young Javanese aristocrats in Yogyakarta and Surakarta. (p.83)

Komite untuk Nasionalisme Jawa merupakan barisan depan pemuda Boedi Oetomo, sebuah perkumpulan orang-orang Jawa yang progresif. Mereka mengagung-agungkan budaya Jawa, tapi masih takut-takut untuk urusan politik. Perkumpulan ini di dukung dan diikuti oleh kaum bangsawan Jawa yang berpendidikan Belanda di Yogyakarta dan Solo. (p.125)

42) Money-mad directors who have neglected the lot of their men and who

above the accumulated sufferings of their men have lived in luxury, led a gay life, insulted our women, and wasted government funds, must be kicked out of the Bank and punished accordingly. (p.113)

Direktur yang gila uang yang menelantarkan nasib dan menambah kesengsaraan karyawan. Mereka hidup dalam kemewahan, menghina wanita, dan menghamburkan dana pemerintah. Mereka harus ditendang dari bank dan dihukum setimpal. (p.178)

45) Schooling is a huge national project run by the state, and today, school childhood constitutes a fundamental national experience in which children learn Indonesian and become Indonesians. (p.124)

Pendidikan sekolah merupakan proyek nasional raksasa yang dijalankan negara. Kini masa sekolah mengandung makna sebagai pengalaman nasional yang mendasar, yang di dalamnya anak-anak belajar bahasa Indonesia dan menjadi orang Indonesia (p.197)

Sentences that need to be cut down usually involve the use of relative

pronouns in English.

The translation of conjunctions, whose meaning need to be adjusted with

the context, or some inversion with omitted if, can be seen in items number 1, 4,

and 10.

1) They form a silent shadowy mass, which, nonetheless, is not bound together…(p.16)

Kerumunan itu membentuk kumpulan bayang-bayang bisu, yang meskipun berkumpul, tidak terikat dalam kebersamaan…(p.13)

In this sentence, the idea of the word nonetheless is made clear by the

words meskipun berkumpul. Literally, nonetheless means meskipun demikian.

4) All the other strangers around them or in front of them just do not exist in their eyes, or appear to be mere faceless obstructions. (p.18)

Semua orang tak dikenal di sekitar atau di depan mereka sama sekali tidak nampak di mata mereka. Kalaupun kelihatan, paling-paling hanya berupa penghalang yang tak berwajah. (p.18)

In the theory of translating coordinators, coordinators may not always

signify one absolute meaning. In item number 4, the word or in the sentence

cannot be expressed merely by atau. The translators chose to cut the original one

sentence into two sentences. The word or is translated as kalaupun kelihatan

(even if they are seen). Larson (1984: 318) says it is important that a translator

realizes that words in grammar, which have a primary meaning such as sequential,

reason, alternation, etc., may have secondary senses just like other words have

secondary senses. They may have other functions than the primary usage, which

first comes to the mind of the mother-tongue speaker.

10) Had Untung been at the house of General Suprapto, Second Deputy to the Minister/ Commander of the Army, to witness his mean men carrying out the raid, he would have been fully satisfied. (p.42)

Jika Untung berada di rumah Jendral Suprapto, Deputi Dua Menteri/ Kastaf Angkatan Darat, untuk menyaksikan orang-orangnya menyergap, ia mungkin akan sangat puas. (p.58)

Fronted conjuncts can be seen in item number 41 and 51:

41) The implication, however, was clear enough. (p.109) Meski begitu, implikasinya cukup jelas. (p.171)

51) The interchangeability of parent-child with king-subject is, again, striking. (p.165)

Lagi-lagi, kemampuan menjungkirbalikkan posisi orangtua-anak dan penguasa-rakyat menyodok. (p.265)

In sentences number 41 and 51, the words however and again, which are

not in the initial position, are fronted in the translation. However, some fronted

negative adverbials may not occupy the initial position in the translation. For

example, item number 50. Nor has the meaning of pun tidak after the S.

50) Nor is the classroom immune to this duality. (p. 164) Ruang kelas pun tidak kebal dari sifat mendua tersebut. (p.263)

No in the initial position of a sentence can be translated as sentence

number 32:

32) No society is possible (p.84) Masyarakat tak mungkin terbentuk (p.128)

Some examples of the translation of tenses can be seen in items number 12

and 14.

12) It still is one of the best residential areas in Jakarta. (p.43) Sampai sekarang, kawasan itu masih merupakan wilayah pemukiman

terbaik di Jakarta. (p.61)

This sentences uses additional adverb sampai sekarang to emphasize the

present tense.

14) Sukarno’s voice could have changed the course of the coup and, hence, history. (p.45)

Suara Sukarno bisa mengubah jalannya kudeta, dan juga sejarah. (p.64)

Perfective could have, has been simplified as bisa mengubah, because the

context about Sukarno, which is in the past, is clear and it need not be phrased as

telah bisa mengubah.

Translators sometimes change a passive sentence in the ST into an active

sentence in the TT or vice versa to produce a more natural sentences in the TT,

like in 18 and 49:

18) The statement could be well-intentioned. (p.49) Pernyataan ini bisa jadi bermaksud baik. (p.71) 49) But hopefully we can get some sense of its rebelliousness from the

lyric. (p.158) Namun semoga semangat tersebut tetap dapat ditangkap dari liriknya

yang memberontak. (p.254)

Translating pronouns may sometimes require the translator to use the

reference or certain proper names, certain nouns or certain events instead of

translating the pronoun as a pronoun. “He”, for example, may need to be the

name of the person instead of just dia. Some cases of translating pronouns can be

seen in items number 7, 33, and 36.

7) It did. (p.94) Mereka mempunyai berbagai perangkat itu. (p.146) A sentence like number 7 can invite interesting discussion. A sentence

with a subject and an operator will be translated based on the previous context. It

did here and It did in another context may result in different meaning.

33) He equates democracy with equal rights, no duties, and he simply cannot imagine such democracy creating the solidarity (which he calls “unity”) on which society is built. (p.85)

Ia menyamakan demokrasi dengan persamaan hak, tanpa kewajiban, dan ia tak bisa membayangkan demokrasi seperti itu mampu menciptakan rasa senasib sepenanggungan atau solidaritas (disebut Soetatmo sebagai “kesatuan”) tempat masyarakat itu dibentuk. (p.128)

When a pronoun is far from the reference, the translator may consider

repeating the noun or the name to avoid obscurity. In the sentence above,

Soetatmo is restated.

36) While the different versions of the coup scenarios have been subjected

to debates, these accounts seem to have been accepted without much controversy. (p.37)

Meskipun berbagai versi skenario kudeta masih diperdebatkan, laporan koran-koran itu tampaknya diterima tanpa banyak kontroversi. (p.49)

In 36, these accounts is translated as laporan koran-koran itu. The

translator chose to use the phrase because these accounts refer to the reports in

newspapers. Literally, these accounts may mean hal-hal ini, or pertimbangan-

pertimbangan ini, or rincian ini, or possibly others.

Item number 21 is the opposite case of the three items above. The nouns,

self-control and self-sacrifice, have been made precise as itu semua. When the

context is clear, the translator may choose to avoid repetition of the same words:

21) Without self-control and self-sacrifice, she is immature. (p.71) Tanpa itu semua, seorang perempuan belumlah matang (p.104)

The context with the preceding sentence is “Ukuran kematangan itu adalah

kemampuan mengendalikan diri dan kesediaan untuk berkorban. Tanpa itu

semua, ... “ The translator considers repetition of the words can be avoided by

using the words itu semua.

Two examples of translating prepositions can be seen in items number 13

and 26. In item number 13, the preposition for need not be translated as a

preposition in Indonesian. It is not translated as bagi or untuk. The translation of

at and to in item number 26 is influenced by the verb estimates. The two

prepositions, combined with the verb memperkirakan, are translated as sekitar and

sampai respectively.

13) His adjutant was mistaken for him. (p.44) Ajudannya dikira dirinya (p.62) 26) Harold Crouch estimates the number of victims at 250,000 to 500,000.

(p.77) Harold Crouch memperkirakan jumlah korban sekitar 250.000 sampai

500.000 orang. (p.115)

Translators sometimes need to reformulate the sentences that have certain

grammatical patterns to achieve the intended meaning. The grammatical patterns

that are used in items number 19, 25, 29, 39, 44 are as follows:

19) but not

25) less… than

29) rather than

39) construction with it + adjective + to-infinitive

44) the position of %

Each of the patterns has been translated and reformulated so that the

meaning of the sentence is appropriately expressed:

19) The feeling of warmth can be shared, but not the pain of pinching (p.65)

Rasa sakit sebuah cubitan tidak bisa dibagi seperti orang berbagi rasa hangat. (p.95)

25) They are officially named as New Order “Revolutionary Heroes”, less because of their achievements or courage than because of their deaths and sacrifices. (p.77)

Mereka secara resmi dijuluki “Pahlawan Revolusi” Orde Baru, lebih disebabkan karena kematian dan pengorbanan mereka dibandingkan dengan prestasi atau keberanian mereka. (p.115)

29) It was as if to say that the targets of the coup were the ideal husbands

and fathers of the family rather than high ranking army generals. (p.80)

Itulah sebabnya seolah-olah bisa dikatakan, target kudeta itu adalah suami dan ayah ideal dalam sebuah keluarga, bukan seorang jendral terkemuka. (p.120)

39) And indeed, it is tough, to say the least, to live in Jakarta without the

protective “family” network to fall back on. (p.104) Dan sungguh, hidup di Jakarta memang keras tanpa jaringan keluarga

yang protektif untuk menyandarkan diri. (p162) 44) In 1987, 24,931,000 out of 25,689,000 children aged seven to twelve

years of (which is the primary school age in Indonesia) attended schools; that is 97 percent. In the same year, 8,825,000 out of 12,268,000 children aged thirteen to fifteen attended secondary schools: 72 percent. Out of 2,956,100 government employees in 1987, 1,646,000 or 55 percent were school teachers. (p.124)

Pada 1987, ada 24.931.000 dari 25.689.000 (97 persen) anak umur tujuh hingga dua belas tahun (yang merupakan umur untuk mendapatkan pendidikan dasar di sekolahdasar Indonesia) masuk sekolah. Pada tahun yang sama, 8.825.000 dari 12.268.000 (72 persen) anak umur 13 hingga 15 tahun memasuki sekolah menengah pertama. Sebanyak 1.646.000 dari 2.956.100 pegawai pemerintah pada tahun 1987 (55 persen) adalah guru sekolah. (p.197)

A note on the figures in 44 is on the use of dots and commas in English as

commas and dots in Indonesian. The position of the % is put near to the numbers

and they are in brackets. By doing this, the information can all be included and

the sentence is made more precise.

Item number 15 is also an example of reformulation. The position of the

cause and effect is reformulated by the translator:

15) Many conflicting interpretations of the abortive coup have been offered in large part, it seems, because the movement of key figures can be interpreted differently. (p.45)

Keberadaan tokoh-tokoh kunci kudeta gagal tersebut, yang dapat ditafsirkan secara berlainan menyebabkan munculnya banyak interpretasi yang saling bertentangan atas peristiwa tersebut. (p.64)

The construction with it in number 39 is combined with to-infinitive. In

translation, the reformulation results in the to-infinitive as the Subject of the

sentence. The construction with it in a cleft sentence is usually translated by lah

to emphasize the word. Item number 34 is an example:

34) The parental love, above all the mother’s love, gives warmth to the family, but it is Roni who lets the parental love circulate in the family sphere. (p.85)

Kasih sayang orang tua, terutama ibu, menghangatkan keluarga. Tapi Ronilah yang menyebarkan kasih orangtua itu dalam lingkup keluarga. (p.129)

In the sentence above, It is Roni … is translated as Ronilah…. Sometimes,

a translator adds a word or words to make the meaning clear or to make the

sentence complete. In item number 5, translating the clause one has to pay

literally into seseorang harus membayar will raise a question “Membayar apa?”

The clause is made complete by the addition of the word mahal. Though this may

not be really the best way to describe the amount of money one has to pay in the

context. An alternative to translate this clause can be seseorang harus

mengeluarkan uang tambahan.

In item number 24, the translator adds the word ibu to form ibu rektor.

From the context, the rector is a woman. In item number 28, the word

kenyenyakan is added. In item number 45, to translate Indonesian, the translator

has to decide whether it refers to the language or the people. Then, the translator

can use bahasa Indonesia or orang Indonesia in the translation.

In item number 11, the translator uses bertindak tidak hormat terhadap

para jenderal to translate acted not as those who were acquainted with the

generals. People who are acquainted with the generals will behave respectfully

towards the generals. In the context, the young raiders behaved rudely and

unrespectfully. They acted not as those who were acquainted with the generals –

unrespectfully.

In item number 35, what a question is translated as Ini pertanyaan yang

menarik. Translating an exclamation can be done if the translator understands the

context. Exclamation is discussed further in the next part, part C. In item number

37, the translator provides the meaning of the word eventually with pensiun.

Pahlawan-Pahlawan Belia is translated for popular reading. The

translator tries to express the ideas in a precise way. It can be seen from some of

the sentences in the data. Synonymous words which can be expressed in one

word is given in one word. Items number 16, 20, 22, 38, and 47 can show the

effort:

16) I have no means at this point of knowing whether the letter is authentic or not. (p.46)

Saya tidak tahu, apakah surat itu otentik atau tidak. (p.66) 20) It is thanks to the mother, ever wise and attentive, that Roni overcomes

the crisis. (p.66) Ternyata ibulah yang menjadi juru selamat. (p.96) 22) What is the difference between Rina, the mature eldest daughter, and

Roni, the mature eldest son? (p.71) Apa beda antara Rina dan Roni? (p.105) 38) Money is raised in many different and creative ways (p.100) Uang dicari dengan berbagai cara yang kreatif (p.154) 47) The anger of today’s teacher cannot be as intimidating or terrifying as

the anger of Pramoedya’s teacher’s. (p.134)

Kemarahan guru masa kini tidak bisa semenakutkan kemarahan gurunya Pramoedya. (p.216)

Translation involves the ability to express the idea of the ST using a

common, idiomatic, not just literal, expressions in the TT. English phrases or

sentences with the word very, if not carefully understood, may result in a phrase

or a sentence that contains the literal meaning sangat.

9) This was the very moment of revolution, Indonesian style. (p.39) Inilah saat-saat puncak revolusi gaya Indonesia. (p.52)

In number 23, instead of using istrimu sebagai menantuku, it is more

common to say menantu seperti istrimu. The idiomatic expressions to make one’s

hair stand on end and to draw the line free hand are translated as follows:

43) All of this pretty much made one’s hair stand on end (p.118) Ini semua membuat bulu kuduk berdiri (p.187) 48) They may not draw the line free hand. (p.142) Mereka tidak boleh begitu saja membuat garis “cakar ayam”. (p.228)

Adjucting the tone and the style is also an important aspect in translation.

In item number 46, the use of kamu and nggak can keep the informal tone. This

means the translator pays attention to the tenor of the discourse, i.e. the informal

tenor.

46) “Oh, here is your friend si Anu, why don’t you sit next to her?” (p.128) Oh itu dia temanmu si Anu, kenapa kamu nggak duduk sebelah dia

saja?” (p.205)

If item number 46 shows an informal tenor, item number 40 show a formal

tenor: The translator maintains the formal tenor by using a sentence like a news

reporter.

40) The article continues: (p.108) Berikut lanjutan laporan di atas: (p.170)

Table 4.3. Phrases Considered as Inappropriate

It is true that sometimes a translator may need to change an expression into

a more common expression in the TT. But the phrase over his shoulder in this

context need not be changed into di balik punggungnya (behind his back). Di atas

bahunya is appropriate.

I once saw an old mother being embraced and kissed by her son after months of separation. Over his shoulder, she gazed out through the lenses of her standing tears at the dark contained air of the front room in her house. (p.18) Suatu ketika saya melihat seorang ibu tua yang dipeluk dan dicium oleh anaknya setelah berpisah berbulan-bulan. Di atas bahu (instead of di balik punggung) anaknya, ibu itu menatap keluar dengan mata menitikkan air mata di tengah kegelapan ruang depan rumahnya. (p.14)

The second phrase can be translated as hanya ingin di sana bersama

ibunya. For item number 3, meski demikian is used to link sentences with

contradictory meanings or unexpected result of something. The word of course in

the ST is used for emphasis. Therefore, it can be expressed by tentu saja.

For item number 4, the phrases in the ST and the TT have opposite

meanings. Never cease to delight means tak kunjung henti memuaskan. Missing

henti in the TT results in the opposite meaning. The word memuaskan can be

replaced by menghibur. So the sentence becomes yang petualangan cintanya tak

kunjung henti menghibur orang Jawa.

For item number 5, the literal translation results in an inappropriate phrase

that means “told to Sukarno”, i.e. “seperti-dituturkan-kepada” Sukarno. This can

be avoided by omitting kepada. It becomes otobiografi “seperti-dituturkan”

Sukarno, or otobiografi Sukarno “seperti-dituturkan”. People who understand

that this autobiography refers to the book written by Cindy Adams, that is “as told

to Cindy Adams”, it becomes otobiografi Sukarno seperti-dituturkan-kepada

Cindy Adams. This can only be done when the translator has the background

knowledge about two well-known books about Sukarno’s autobiography. One is

Sukarno: An Autobiography as Told to Cindy Adams (1965) and the other is

Sukarno my friend (1971).

The problem on item number 6 lies on the use of singular and plural that

has to be treated carefully because it may change the fact. To describe the plural

young raiders, the word para can be used. The phrase young raiders can be

translated as para penyerbu muda.

For item number 7, as early as October 15 should be pada 15 Oktober, not

segera setelah 15 Oktober.

Item number 8 is about a tree which is unconcerned and unmoved. It is

not tidak terpusat dan tidak bergerak, but tidak dipedulikan dan tidak bergerak.

To discuss item number 9, sensation of happiness, which has been

translated as sensasi kebahagiaan, a look at Echols and Shadily can be useful:

Sensation kb. 1. sensasi. The actor is a s. Aktor itu benar-benar merupakan sensasi. to cause/produce a s. mengadakan sensasi. 2. kegemparan, kegegeran. That book created quite a s. Buku itu benar-benar menimbulkan banyak kegemparan. 3. perasaan. to feel a queer s. memperoleh perasaan yang aneh. He had a s. of falling. Ia merasa seakan-akan hendak jatuh. (Echols and Shadily, 1995:513) Sensasi sensation, sensational news. (Echols and Shadily, 1989:502)

The word sensasi can be better be replaced by perasaan (meaning number

3 in Echols and Shadily, 1995). Therefore, sensation of happiness is perasaan

bahagia. This is also applicable to similar phrases used in the book like sensation

of loss, which has been translated as sensasi kehilangan. It is better to replace it

with rasa kehilangan.

For item number 10, a young research assistant at a teachers’ training

college has been translated as seorang peneliti muda kolega saya di IKIP. For

item number 11, her daughter’s oral hygiene has been translated as kebiasaan

makan anaknya yang buruk. At a glance, for item number 10, kolega saya has

been added in the translation. For item number 11, her daughter’s oral hygiene

should be kebersihan mulut anaknya.

Item number 12 is an example of “false friends”. Ideal in English has a

different meaning with ideal in Indonesian in this context. A phrase like an ideal

wife can be translated as istri yang ideal. But the Javanese ideals is cita-cita

orang Jawa instead of orang Jawa yang ideal. Ideal functions as a noun not as an

adjective.

For item number 13, the word “hopelessly” has been misplaced as the

modifier of family. It is not. It should be the modifier of broken. Hopelessly in

this position is similar to:

1) The story is hopelessly confusing.

2) They were on the other side of Berlin and Harry was hopelessly lost.

3) By October 1990, when arrested, he was hopelessly in debt.

“Hopelessly” in this use is to emphasize how bad or inadequate something or

someone is (Cobuild, 1995:813). Therefore a hopelessly broken family is

keluarga yang sungguh berantakan.

I include the phrases on items number 14, 15, and 16, and 18 on the

purpose to show how translating numbers can be crucial. I myself wonder why

the translators translated all the numbers incorrectly.

14) thirty-three persons (p.91): dua puluh tiga orang (p.141) 15) thirteen regional stations (p.91): dua puluh tiga stasiun regional

(p.141) 16) six thousand employees (p.91): enam ratus ribu karyawan (p. 141) 18) sixty-five years old in 1990 (p.113): 47 tahun pada 1990 (p.178) Item number 17 has the problem that is commonly faced by translators

when they have to decide the modifier is to modify which word or words. Item

number 17 can be analyzed together with items number 23, 24, and 25:

17) no moral power and authority (p.108): tak ada moral, kekuasaan, dan kewibawaan (p.169)

23) a prolific, highly successful writer-poet-playwright-editor in Jakarta

in 1980s (p.149): seorang pengarang yang produktif dan sukses, penulis puisi, drama, dan redaktur di Jakarta pada 1980-an (p.238)

24) dirty glasses, spoons, and forks (p.153): gelas bekas pakai, sendok

dan garpu (p.243) 25) dirty plates, spoons, and forks (p.157): piring kotor, sendok dan

garpu (p.250)

The NPs can be drawn as follows:

17) no moral power and authority

23) a prolific, highly successful writer-poet-playwright-editor in Jakarta

in 1980s

24) dirty glasses, spoons, and forks

25) dirty plates, spoons, and forks

By classifying the words above, the translation should start from the

quantifier for number 17 and the article for number 23. They should be followed

by the heads and the adjectives, and the last is the post-modifier for number 23.

The adjectives moral, prolific, highly successful and dirty are to be used to modify

the heads. For items number 24 and 25, the adjectives can be identified as the

modifiers of the head because they are parts of a list that puts “and” to show the

last item in the group of NP, and there is another “and” to show the last item in

the list. The positions of the two NPs in the sentences are as follows:

24) Their rooms are crammed with their modest possessions – clothes, textbooks, a small desk and a cheap vinyl stool, an old manual typewriter, a pin-up calendar of pop singers and film stars, a guitar, a mirror, make-up kits, a bag or two, a pair of shoes, some accessories, souvenir wood carvings, seashells, left-over snacks and dirty glasses, spoons, and forks. (p.153)

25) Their voice is confused and wild, because that is what they are; they

resemble and can be metaphorically represented by their own rooms: crammed with textbooks, a small desk, a manual typewriter, dirty plates, spoons, and forks, obscene pictures, make-up kits, seashells, and so on. (p.157)

By the analysis, then the translation of the NPs will be:

17) tak ada kekuasaan dan kewibawaan moral (instead of tak ada moral, kekuasaan, dan kewibawaan) (p.169) 23) seorang pengarang, penulis puisi, penulis drama, dan redaktur yang

produktif dan sukses di Jakarta pada 1980-an (instead of seorang pengarang yang produktif dan sukses, penulis

puisi, drama, dan redaktur di Jakarta pada 1980-an) (p.238) 24) gelas, sendok dan garpu bekas pakai (instead of gelas bekas pakai, sendok dan garpu) (p.243) 25) piring, sendok dan garpu kotor (instead of piring kotor, sendok dan garpu) (p.250)

For item number 19, the problem lies on the Indonesian banyak lobang-

lobang. In the theory on plural nouns in Indonesian, words need not be repeated

when there is an expression of quantity in front of it. So, it should be banyak

lobang.

For item number 20, the problem lies on the Indonesian keseharian. It is

sufficient to say harian. The phrase the structure of the daily roll call should be

aturan presensi harian.

Item number 21, intelligible human language (p.136) is translated as

bahasa manusia yang cerdas (p.220). There is a possibility that the translator has

mixed it up with the word intelligent. Intelligent is cerdas, but intelligible is

dapat dimengerti. Intelligible human language should be bahasa manusia yang

dapat dimengerti. In the context, it is the opposite of “the quacking of ducks”,

which is not understandable.

The problem in item number 22 is that the translation is too literal for an

idiomatic expression. To kill the time is menghabiskan waktu instead of

membunuh waktu.

Table 4.4. Sentences Considered as Inappropriate

For item number 1, “The exposition is more detailed in the English version

of the autobiography, obviously because non-Indonesians are not expected to be

graced with Javanese wisdom” is translated as “Penjelasan yang lebih rinci

dimuat dalam bahasa Inggris, tak pelak lagi karena para pembaca yang bukan

orang Indonesia tidak diharapkan terbuai oleh kearifan Jawa.”

The positive tone in the original version has been changed into a negative

tone in the Indonesian version. An alternative version for such part can be

“…karena para pembaca yang bukan orang Indonesia diperkirakan tidak tahu

banyak tentang ajaran kata-kata arif adat budaya Jawa.”

For item number 2, there is a mixed up reference of pronouns. To achieve

this, this refers to the purpose, not to the education system. In the TT, this has

been used to refer to system, and the sentence becomes awkward. An alternative

translation can be: “Untuk mencapai tujuan ini, tidaklah mungkin menggunakan

sistem pendidikan yang…”

For item number 3, “Is it the Javanese family, the Minangkabau, the

Acehnese, the Balinese, or what?” is translated as “Ini keluarga Jawa,

Minangkabau…”. As a question, “is it” should be translated as “apakah“ not

“ini“ as for “it is”. Another alternative is to use neither ini nor apakah. In

Indonesian, it is possible to make a question using a statement with a rising

intonation. Therefore, the translation can be: “Keluarga Jawa, Minangkabau,…?”

For item number 4, the problem lies of the result of the translation, which

is not a sentence but a long phrase. The problem can be overcome by omitting the

first and the second yang. The last word memeganginya sounds awkward. It can

be rephrased as memegang pagar. The sentence then becomes: Kendati orang-

orang datang dan pergi lalu-lalang dengan perasaan galau, sikap bisu kaku

mencekam semua orang yang berdiri di balik pagar sambil memegangi pagar.

For item number 5, the first part of this sentence has been lost. The main

clause “It is not uncommon”, which literally means tidaklah tidak biasa, should

result in sudah biasa. The sentence then becomes: Sudah biasa penjemput yang

setia datang tidak tepat waktu.

For item number 6, there is a confusion of the way to translate “instead

of”. From the theory, there can be two different ways to translate this phrase:

1) daripada…lebih baik…

2) bukannya … malah…

To translate item number 6, alternative 2) should be used. The result is: Bukannya

mengangkat dirinya menjadi jenderal, Letnan Kolonel Untung malah memutuskan

untuk tetap berpangkat letnan kolonel.

For item number 7, the problem lies on the translation of the pronoun

“this”. It is true that for such a pronoun, the translator should try to find the

reference, and does not translate it merely as ini. However, this in this sentence

does not refer to a decision (keputusan ini). Rather, it refers to a more general

case: hal ini.

The problem on item number 8 is on the translation of “approximating…

to…”. Approximating here is not as adverb “approximately” (diperkirakan or

perkiraan). It functions as a verb and it is used in its non-finite present participle

form. As a verb, “to approximate… to …” means menyamakan … dengan ….

Therefore, the sentence should be: Dengan kata lain, gerakan itu adalah usaha

restrukturisasi angkatan bersenjata. Dengan menyamakan struktur dalamnya

dengan hubungan bapak-anak buah, gerakan itu menyederhanakan hierarki dan

struktur kepangkatan menjadi Bapak dan anak-buah.

For item number 9, the word arbitrarily that is used to refer to a child’s

acts, should be translated as suka-suka. The sentence then becomes: Semakin

suka-suka ia bertingkah, semakin lucu orang-orang menganggapnya.

In item number 10, the subject of the verb “washing, polishing, and

admiring” has been confused. The subject of the three verbs should be his

neighbour-friend. The translation puts the man, not his neighbour-friend, as the

subject of admiring. To keep the subject of the three verbs his neighrbour-friend,

the sentence can be rewritten as follows: Sampai setengah jam kemudian, dia

sering masih terlihat berdiri di depan pintu gerbang hitam tetangganya yang

biasanya sedang mencuci, melap, atau mengagumi kilap mobil Mitsubishi van

barunya.

Item number 11 is a simile: We were covered with her love (kasih

sayang) like layers of blankets. It has been translated as Dengan penuh kasih

sayang kami diselimutinya berlapis-lapis. There is a misinterpretation of the

phrase in the simile like layers of blankets as the main verb of the sentence.

Literally, the sentences can be translated as Kami dipenuhi kasih saying bagaikan

berlapis-lapis selimut. A better way to express the meaning of the simile can be

Kasih sayangnya selalu menyelimuti kami or Kami dilimpahi kasih sayangnya

yang berlimpah.

For item number 12, the English expression “go back to the colonial

period” implies that it starts in the colonial period. A more common expression to

discuss the historical origins of a word is Sejarah asal-usul famili-isme dimulai

pada masa kolonial, instead of Sejarah asal usul famili-isme terlentang hingga ke

masa kolonial.

For item number 13, the problem lies on the ordinal number, fourth, which

has turned to a cardinal number, four. Third to fourth refers to the rank of the

bank in 1984. Moreover, it is questionable to say that there were only four

national private banks in 1984. There should have been much more than four.

Therefore, the sentences should be: Bank Duta berkembang pesat dari tahun

1978-1985. Pada tahun 1984, bank ini menduduki peringkat ketiga dan keempat

di antara bank-bank swasta nasional.

The problem on item number 14 lies on the difficulty to translate “less…

than …”. When there is a discussion about the cause of something, less A than B,

it means that B becomes the stronger cause than A. What the writer implies, it

should be the other way around. Therefore, the sentence should be Meski

demikian, sistem tersebut tetap berjalan, dan ini bukan karena bahasa kosong

yang diperindah, tetapi lebih karena kebisuan yang diprogramkan, yang membuat

bahasa nasional tak berdaya untuk menyebut, menyuarakan, dan menghukum

yang bersalah.

Item number 15 has an awkward result of translation Namun, mereka

yakin, pak guru adalah sepandai-pandainya orang di dunia ini. In Indonesian,

when there is a phrase sepandai-pandainya orang di dunia ini, something is

expected to follow the phrase. There is a proverb saying Sepandai-pandainya

tupai melompat, sekali-kali akan jatuh juga. To translate the sentence pak guru

was as clever as one can ever be in this world, the direct meaning can be given:

Pak guru adalah orang paling pandai di dunia.

Table 4.5. Phrases and Sentences Lost or Partly Translated

For item number 1, the phrase does refer can be translated as memang

menganggap. By adding the word memang the emphasis of the source text can be

maintained. There are some losses, which can be avoided if the translation has

been done more carefully. Some of the losses that can be avoided are listed

below. The English words lost are in italics:

13) a qualified wife-to-be (p.71): seorang istri yang baik (p.105) 26) They have entered many fields, starting from commerce, fishery, food,

livestock, finance, construction, pharmacy, to the paper industry. (p.99): Mereka masuk ke banyak bidang, mulai dari perdagangan, perikanan, makanan, kebutuhan pokok, konstruksi, farmasi, sampai industri kertas. (p.153)

30) As in the early morning of October 1, 1965, …(p.115): Seperti pagi

hari pada Oktober 1965, …(p.182) 31) His classmates, drawn to the sight of an enormous body trying to

accommodate itself into the narrow aisle, did not notice his silent singing. (p.125): Sementara itu seisi kelas terbawa untuk tidak mempedulikan nyanyian lirih tersebut. (p.200)

34) In one corner a small quarrel started between a boy and a girl who sat

next to each other. She has picked up his ruler. Unlike other children, the boy protested. (p.142): Di salah satu pojok, perselisihan kecil terjadi antara seorang bocah lelaki dan perempuan yang duduk bersebelahan. Tak seperti murid lainnya, si bocah lelaki ini protes. (p.229)

The losses can be overcome by adding some words. For number 13, calon

can be added to include the meaning of to-be. It becomes seorang calon istri yang

baik. For number 26, the word finance has been skipped. The word keuangan can

be added to complete the list. For number 30, the date has been missing. The first

of October should be 1 Oktober. For number 31 and 34, the omission of the

reasons of what happened can be overcome by translating the phrase and sentence

in italics.

For item number 2, the translator has omitted the definition of the words.

The possibility is that the translator considers Indonesian readers do not need the

definition of the words. Therefore, this loss can be explained by considering the

different audience or readers of the source text and the target text. Some other

examples can be seen below:

2) Antar means to escort someone somewhere, and jemput to come to meet someone in order to escort her/him somewhere else. (p.15): - (p.15)

14) The advertisement, playing with the word bunga, which means both

flower and interest, equates interest with the flower which signifies love of the mother/land. (p.72): Iklan tersebut bermain-main dengan kata bunga, maksudnya menyamakan bunga bank dengan bunga sebagai tanda cinta dari seorang ibu maupun ibu pertiwi. (p.107)

15) Both gifts come from BungHari, Brother Hari/ Flower of the day/

Daily Interest, that is not only from the bank but also from the land and the mother. (p,.72): Kedua hadiah tersebut berasal dari “BungHari”, yaitu bunga harian bank yang tidak hanya dimaksudkan sebagai pemberian bank saja tapi juga pemberian dari bumi dan seorang ibu. (p.108)

25) Ibu Tien (the First Lady, or rather the first Mother), …(p.98): Ibu

Tien, …(p.152) 27) …penyelewengan, irregularity or deviation, … (p.107):

penyelewengan …(p.168) 33) Rp 18,000 (about US$10 then) (p.141): Rp 18.000,- (p.227)

Items number 3 and number 4 are the examples of translation losses that

are acceptable because to translate literally all the words will result in redundant

expressions:

3) hundreds of naked staring eyes (p.15-16): ditatap ratusan pasang mata (p.12)

4) in this particular place and at this specific moment (p.16): di tempat itu

pada waktu itu (p13) According to Hervey and Higgins (1992: 24), the transfer of meaning from

Source Text (ST) to Target Text (TT) necessarily involves a certain degree of

translation loss; that is, a TT will always lack certain culturally relevant features

that are present in the ST. They also mention that the translator can concentrate

on the realistic aim of cutting down on translation loss, rather than the unrealistic

one of seeking the ultimate translation of the ST. Some other examples of losses

that are acceptable can be seen in the following list. The word or words lost are in

italics:

5) the thick and high imposing walls (p.43): tembok tebal dan tinggi (p.61)

18) There follows Mother Haryono’s unhurried flashback, … (p.78): Lalu

diikuti kilas balik dari ingatan Bu Haryono, …(p.117) 19) The intimacy very deep and thick (p.78): Keakraban yang sangat

dekat (p.117) 20) “Let us have a share, you know, pap.” (p.78): “Bagi-bagi dong, pap.”

(p.118) 21) …, and he simply cannot imagine such democracy …(p.85): … dan ia

tak bisa membayangkan demokrasi seperti itu … (p.128) 22) Benedict Anderson writes about the historical significance of this

vacuous Malay- Indonesian for the making of Indonesia. (p.87): Benedict Anderson menulis tentang peran penting sejarah bahasa Melayu-Indonesia dalam membentuk Indonesia. (p.132)

24) A new social model was presented in practice for peoples with many

different languages, histories, and cultures to see, understand, and emulate. (p.89): Sebuah model social baru diperkenalkan dalam praktek untuk masyarakat yang berbeda bahasa, sejarah dan kultur. (p.136)

32) The Indonesian family is constructed in the textbook through a process

that appears to involve mere translation that simply exchanges exchangeable words between the national language and ethnic mother tongues. (p.133): Keluarga Indonesia dibanguan dalam buku pelajaran melalui proses, yang tampaknya mengikutsertakan terjemahan yang secara sederhana mengganti kata-kata yang dapat ditukar antara bahasa nasional dan bahasa ibu. (p.213)

35) piles of old womes’s magazines (p.153): tumpukan majalah lama

(p.244)

The omission of some connecters, such as however, subsequently,

nevertheless, and in fact, are acceptable in that the relation of the clauses are

understandable and the omission does not change the message. The translator

may have ommited the words in the following examples in the consideration of

either avoiding repeatition or trying to be more precise:

6) If we fully consider the wide range of possible interpretation of this kindly act in Indonesia, however, we may well think twice before gratefully being picked up at the airport (p.47): Jika kita benar-benar menyadari, kemungkinan penafsiran atas tindakan yang murah hati ini begitu beragam di Indonesia, tentu kita akan berpikir dua kali sebelum berterima kasih karena dijemput di bandara (p.68)

7) The more details are “revealed”, however, the more contradictions and

unanswerable questions seem to surface. (p.47): Makin rinci “penjelasannya”, makin bertentangan dan tak mungkin terjawablah pertanyaan-pertanyaan yang muncul. (p.68)

23) …, and it was subsequently used in army barracks, judicial courts,

hospitals, offices, schools, and media during the colonial period. (p.87): Bahasa itu digunakan di barak tentara, pengadilan, rumahsakit, kantor, sekolah, dan media massa pada masa penjajahan. (p,.133)

28) … was nevertheless alive, not dead. (p.109): … masih hidup, tidak

mati. (p.172) 29) In fact, the family system asserted itself in rescuing the bapak trapped

in this scandal. (p.115): Sistem tersebut juga tampil menyelamatkan bapak yang terperangkap skandal. (p.182)

There are other losses, which are discussed below:

8) in a recently published, controversial book (p.47): dalam sebuah buku controversial (p.68)

The phrase recently published is not translated to adjust the time of the

publication of Young Heroes and Pahlawan-Pahlawan Belia. Young Heroes was

published in 1997 and Pahlawan-Pahlawan Belia in 2001. What was recent in

1997, after 4 years may not be considered recent anymore. This loss is for time

adjustment.

There is a possibility that the following loss is the result of avoiding

repetition of what has been stated in the perious paragraph. The whole part is

omitted:

17) He was the red candy she desired to have. Her parents did not approve her marriage with him less because of who he was than because of her making the choice herself. Her parents, however, did not provide her with another young man of their choice, or the green candy, and thus failed to impose their choice on her. (p.75): - (p.112)

The next sentences can be the results of avoiding a collection of items,

which do not add up to recognizable lexical chains that make sense in a given

context (Baker, 1992: 207). Translating biological accident as kebetulan biologis

does not result in a common lexical chain in Indonesian. The following losses can

seen an attempt to avoid producing unfamiliar lexical chains that do not contribute

better understanding of the text.

9) The more dangerous and hostile the outside world looms, the more

secure and warm that small, once lost and now recalled, sanctuary becomes. (p.62): - (p.90)

10) The last illustration in the book describes Roni’s father and mother watching and caressing him with affection, while Roni is pointing his finger at his baby sister as if redirecting the flow of parental attention from him to his sister. He is giving away to his sister the parental love once he monopolized. (p.66): Ilustrasi terakhir dalam buku itu menggambarkan ayah dan ibu memperhatikan Roni yang tengah bermain bersama adiknya dengan penuh kasih sayang. (p.97)

11) The family, which otherwise would have remained a biological

accident, becomes a lasting social and cultural institution. (p.68): Dengan kata lain, keluarga akan menjadi institusi social dan budaya yang kekal. (p.99)

12) This way, her mother is dissociated from her milieu that has

automatically accommodated all her needs, and becomes, for the first time, separate from herself. (p.69): - (p.102)

The following item from table 4.5 may give us another kind of example of

translation loss:

16) The basic “civilized” response to such culturally defined “childish” behaviors is to manage the situation nonchalantly, as if nothing that matters has happened. (p.74): - (p.110)

In the case above, the phrases “civilized” and “childish” are not found as

“beradab” or “kekanak-kanakan” in the target text. The whole sentence is

omitted. The sentence has been replaced by the following sentences:

“… Anak-anak memang dibiarkan berlaku seperti itu, karena mereka hanya anak-anak. Mereka dimaklumi, karena dianggap belum bisa mengontrol perilakunya. Makanan yang dimuntahkan paling akan dibersihkan oleh pengasuh atau pembantunya, yang biasanya sudah siap dengan kain atau kertas pembersih.” (p.110)

The context of the use of “civilized” in the source text will not match the meaning

of “beradab”. It may even insult the target readers if the response of Indonesian

mothe rs is considered as the opposite, i.e. “uncivilized” or tidak beradab.

C. Discussion

The theories on translation discussed in chapter II have been parts of the

attempts to answer question number one and number two stated in the problem

formulation. It can be seen from several models of translation processes that the

process of translation is the process of information processing. The psychological

nature of translation process is the transfer of meaning. The translator needs to

discover the meaning of the ST and re-express the meaning in the TL. The

process involves syntactic, semantic and pragmatic analyzers, which continues

with syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic synthesizers. It is possible for some stages

to be passed through very quickly, for example in the Frequent Structure Store

and Frequent Lexis Store. The norm for the process is a combination of bottom-

up and top-down.

At the end of the discussion on the theories on translation, it is worthwhile

to remind translators that in translation, translators have some missions to

accomplish. Benjamin (1968:76) mentions that the task of the translator consists

in finding that intended effect (intention) upon the language into which he is

translating which produces in it the echo of the original. The results of the

analysis on the translation product can provide an example how the translators

have been able to produce the echoes of the ST in the TT.

Siegel (1986:7) emphasizes the responsibility of a translator because

translation can sustain a culture as well as stifle it. Siegel (in Rafael 1988:210)

claims that translation arises from the need to relate one’s interest to that of others

and so to encode it appropriately. If translation is to take place at all, it must do so

within a context of expectation; that in return for one’s submission, one gets back

the other’s acknowledgement of the value of one’s words and behaviour. In this

way, one finds oneself a place on the social map. From Siegel’s point of view

about translation, the translation of Shiraishi’s book can be related to interest,

expectation and the social map in Indonesia.

The interest in on the anxiety to see how scholars of non-Indonesians, who

are called “Indonesianists” discuss Indonesia and Indonesians. Shiraishi herself

was anxious to see how this book would be read by Indonesians. The readers’

expectation is to see how the translators maintain the nuances of Indonesian

cultural specific concepts, which have been written in English, then brought back

by translation into Indonesian. The translation of the book has been special on the

ground that the translators need to consider the translation on the social map. The

book has been written by a non- Indonesian scholar, a Japanese, who is an

Indonesianist. It depicts details of Indonesian family life and relates it with the

political life of the nation. Reading the book is like looking at the reflection of

Indonesians and Indonesia.

Sontag (2002:340-341) mentions briefly three variants of the modern idea

of translation, which may help translators to see what their missions are. First,

translation is as explanation. Motivating the translator’s effort is the project of

replacing ignorance, obscurity by knowledge, transparency. The translator’s

mission is clarification, enlightenment. Second, translation is as adaptation. The

spirit is not simply a freer use of language, which purports to express in another

language. The spirit is the conscious creation of another “version”. The old

English word for translator is “versionist”. Third, translation is as improvement.

Translation as improvement has its own sub-variant: translation as obfuscation (as

in “It sounds better in translation”), a dressing up or paring down of the text,

which may or may not entail actively tampering with it. This opinion gives the

emphasis on the importance of meaning and communicative effect of translation.

The way Shiraishi translates the song “Lessons in Love” (in Young Heroes, p.159)

can provide the examples of how to fulfill the intended meaning and the

communicative effect of translation. “Apakah ‘bokapmu’ orang kaya dulu?” is

“Were your ‘old folks’ rich once?” “Besok-besok ke penghulu!” is “Someday

[we’ll] go to the [Muslim] religious official!”

The discussion on the theories on English to Indonesian translation on part

C in Chapter II has been part of the attempt to answer question number 2. The

nature of English to Indonesian translation can be discussed as follows.

1. English and Indonesian have some differences in grammatical aspects, among

others are the use tenses and aspects, verb agreement/ concord with the

Subject, use of pronouns, relative pronouns, singular and plural markers of

noun phrases, use of articles, positions of conjuncts, and meanings of

conjunctions

2. Some problems in socio-political-cultural aspects include some daily

expressions, idioms, fixed expressions, and use of measurements.

3. Understanding the nature of the differences between the SL and the TL, a

translator will be able to anticipate problems that may arise from the

differences.

Besides the phrases and sentences listed at the beginning of this chapter,

especially in table 4.1 and 4.2, there are many other phrases and sentences, which

are considered as similar cases as represented by the samples. The application of

the technique to cut long sentences into shorter sentences can be found in many

parts in the book. “Fronted conjuncts” is also the case that is applied in many

sentences.

Young Heroes is a doctorate thesis with the university professors as the

main readers, while Pahlawan-Pahlawan Belia is a popular reading with

educated, middle-class Indonesians as the readers. This may have been part of the

background of the writing style. The book is basically a writerly text. Barthes

(1974:4) uses the terms readerly and writerly to describe a text. The readers of

readerly texts are mainly as the consumers of the text. This kind of text can be

read but not written. The writerly text can be written or rewritten. The readers are

no longer merely as the consumers but can be the producers of the text. The

readers of Young Heroes or Pahlawan-Pahlawan Belia are to reflect on the

content, not merely as the consumers. The readers are to participate in looking at

the relations of concepts, events, actions, use of terms and language and others.

Another interesting point to note down is about the content of the book

Young Heroes is about Indonesia and Indonesians. Shiraishi needs to consider

filling in the information gap for non-Indonesian readers when presenting many

concepts about Indonesia and Indonesians. The information gap filling is not

needed when the text is translated and the target readers are Indonesians. Some of

the omissions in the translation have been done for this consideration. The

discussion on the content may have been like a ‘shuttle’ process. First it started

from Indonesian concepts, and then it is presented in English, and finally the text

is brought back into Indonesian.

Besides looking at the techniques of translation, the content and the

writing style of the book, some use of words and patterns are discussed further in

this part. The discussion can be started with the use of the word very. Additional

examples where very should not be translated as sangat are:

1. We will have the meeting in this very room tomorrow. (…di ruang ini…)

2. He is the very person I have been looking for. (Dialah orang yang…)

The next discussion is about the translation of an exclamation or the

pattern What …! How …! In the discussion of semantics, exclamation is one of

the sources of ambiguity. When two boys are sitting in a garden, and suddenly a

girl is passing by, and one of the boys utters “What a girl!”, the two of them most

probably share the same interpretation of this exclamation. It can be either the girl

is very pretty or very messy.

The utterance “What a girl!” can be understood by the listener or reader

who shares some common knowledge with the speaker or writer and the context is

clear. When put in isolation, this sentence may mean: Gadis itu sungguh cantik!

or Gadis itu sungguh jelek! or Gadis itu sungguh galak! or Gadis itu sungguh

ramah! or Gadis itu sungguh sabar! or Gadis itu sungguh agresif! or Gadis itu

sungguh berani! or Gadis itu sungguh penakut! And there are still many other

possibilities for different contexts. In translation, understanding the context is the

requisite to be able to express the intended meaning.

Understanding the context seems to be the requisite to the translation of

many sentence patterns. Besides exclamations, translating a clause like It did,

also requires the understanding of the context as the cases above. The following

example can lead us see a similar pattern as It did, i.e. a pronoun and an auxiliary:

We did:

“In the third round of the competition, each group of the participants were to collect ten eggs hidden among the bushes in the park. I thought we could never make it. We did.”

We did is Kami berhasil. In other contexts “We did” can mean “Kami

melakukannya”, ”Kami melihatnya”, “Kami membatalkannya”, or others. A

translator needs to be aware of such possibilities and decides the proper one based

on the context.

Besides being aware of many sentence patterns in the SL that may have

multiple interpretations, a translator also needs to consider the alternatives or

possible patterns in the TL, and decide the one that is the most natural or the most

common pattern in the TL. For example, a sentence “I am proud to have Asih as

my wife” is worded as Saya bangga mempunyai istri seperti Asih. It is a more

commonly used pattern instead of Saya bangga memiliki Asih sebagai istri saya,

with a strict attachment to the word order. The translator has given the

consideration to use a more common pattern in the TL than to maintain the form

of the SL. This can be one of the reasons why some authors claim that to be a

good translator, one needs to have good mastery in both the SL and the TL.

In this study, the discussion also includes the discussion on the parts that

are not translated or only partly translated. Apart from the parts lost, there are

many parts added, particularly in the form of additional phrases by the translator.

Another form of addition is the picture of the advertisement on page 107 in

Pahlawan-Pahlawan Belia. This way, the translator applies the technique of

translation by illustration, that is the picture is shown. Additional phrases to build

coherence between sentences and paragraphs can provide another interesting list

of data. Further study is required to discuss them.

Another aspect that requires some attention in the discussion of translation

is about the assessment. Setting up the categories for assessing translation may

not be easy. Teachers need to adjust the categories with the condition of the class.

The level of difficulty of the materials to be translated need also be adjusted. The

following categories have been proposed by Machali (2000:119-120). The

original Indonesian version can be seen in the Appendix.

Machali gave some additional notes on the word “wajar”, which she

means wajar dan komunikatif (natural and communicative). The first criterion has

some implication to require students already have “perfect” translation product.

For English students of even the advanced level, it is hard to achieve.

Another note about the first criterion is on the indicators. Since meaning

has been the focus of translation, one of the indicators for the first criterion should

have mentioned it. Machali mentions meaning in the second and the third criteria,

but not in the others.

The indicators for the second and the third categories are also hard because

the mark is C even students can achieve the category “good”. The mark C is not a

very satisfactory mark for a “good” category. Machali seems to set the categories

for professional translators. For learners who have just started their experience in

translation, the expectation of the categories may be too high.

In the assessment of translation, most importantly, the teacher informs the

students what they are expected to do and what aspects are to be taken into

consideration in the assessment. The application of the categories in teaching may

go some adjustment on the criteria.

Table 4.6.

Some Alternative Guidelines for Assessing Translation (from Machali, 2000:119-120, translated by the present researcher)

Category Score Indicator

Excellent 86-90 (A)

It uses natural and communicative expressions. It does not feel like a translation. There are no spelling, grammar, or vocabulary mistakes.

Very good 76-85 (B)

There is no distortion of meaning, no awkward literal translation. There are no vocabulary mistakes. There are one or two grammar or spelling mistakes. (In Arabic, there should be no spelling mistakes).

Good 61-75 (C)

Basically there is no distortion of meaning. There are some inappropriate literal translations but less than 15% of the whole text, so it does not read like a translation very much. Grammatical and idiomatic mistakes are less than 15% of the whole text. There are one or two uses of non-standard terms and one or two spelling errors

Sufficient 46-60 (D)

It feels like a translation. There are some awkward literal translation, but not more than 25%. There are some mistakes in idiomatic expressions and grammar, but not more than 25% of the whole text. There are one or two terms which are non-standard/ not common/ not clear.

Poor 20-45 (E)

It feels obviously like a translation. There are too many awkward literal translations (more than 25% of the whole text). Distortions of meanings and vocabulary mistakes are more than 25% of the whole text.

The data in this study can provide many examples of the application of

translation techniques. Some of the weaknesses can also give some insight that

translation requires not only good knowledge of the two languages and good

command of some translation techniques, but also careful considerations in

decisions and willingness to handle details carefully. By being careful,

unnecessary mistakes can be avoided.

Based on the data and the result of the analysis, the translation of Young

Heroes: The Indonesian Family in Politics into Pahlawan-Pahlawan Belia:

Keluarga Indonesia dalam Politik can be considered as good translation for the

following reasons:

1. Meaning or message has been the main focus rather than the forms. The

translator is not too much tied up with the literal words and phrases. For a

better understanding, many reformulations of the sentences have been done.

2. Easy reading has been tempted by cutting very long sentences into shorter and

precise.ones. The translator has taken into account the consideration that the

TT is a popular reading.

3. Most of the translation losses have been for some purposes such as to avoid

lengthy repetition, to make the sentence more precise, to avoid unexpected

misinterpretation of some phrases. The translation losses have been mostly

for understandable reasons and there are no significant meaning biases that

have changed or destroyed the main message of the ST.

4. Machali’s description of good translation can be used to describe the result of

the analysis of the data in this study:

“Basically there is no distortion of meaning. There are some inappropriate literal translations but less than 15% of the whole text, so it does not read like a translation very much. Grammatical and idiomatic mistakes are less than 15% of the whole text. There are one or two uses of non-standard terms and one or two spelling errors.” (Machali, 2000:120, translated by the present researcher)

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

A. Conclusions

This thesis has aimed at exploring the theories on translation as an

overview in general and the theories on English to Indonesian in particular, and

presenting the results of a case study on a translation product. With the three

questions in the problem formulation in Chapter I, this thesis tries to look at

translation as a process and as a product. In this study, translation is seen as

bilingual communication that involves the reproduction in a target language or

receptor language of the closest natural equivalence of the source message, both in

meaning and style.

The answers to questions number one and number two have been derived

from the study on the theories on translation. The answer to the third question has

been the result of the analysis on the data of the translation product of Pahlawan-

Pahlawan Belia: Keluarga Indonesia dalam Politik from the ST Young Heroes:

The Indonesian Family in Politics.

From several models of translation processes, it can be concluded that the

process of translation is the process of information processing. The

psychological nature of translation process is the transfer of meaning. The

translator needs to discover the meaning of the ST and re-express the meaning in

the TL. The process involves syntactic, semantic and pragmatic analyzers, which

continues with syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic synthesizers. It is possible for

some stages to be passed through very quickly, for example in the Frequent

Structure Store and Frequent Lexis Store. The norm for the process is a

combination of bottom-up and top-down. On the methodological level, Bathgate

(in Widyamartaya, 1989:40-41) describes the translation process into seven steps,

namely tuning, analysis, understanding, terminology, restructuring, checking, and

discussion.

The nature of English to Indonesian translation can be concluded as

follows.

1. English and Indonesian have some differences in grammatical aspects, among

others are the use tenses and aspects, verb agreement/ concord with the

Subject, use of pronouns, relative pronouns, singular and plural markers of

noun phrases, use of articles, positions of conjuncts, and meanings of

conjunctions

2. Some problems in socio-political-cultural aspects include some daily

expressions, idioms, fixed expressions, and use of measurements.

3. Understanding the nature of the differences between the SL and the TL, a

translator will be able to anticipate problems that may arise from the

differences.

The results of the analysis on the translation product show that the

translation of Young Heroes: The Indonesian Family in Politics into Pahlawan-

Pahlawan Belia: Keluarga Indonesia dalam Politik can be considered good for

the following reasons.

1. Meaning or message has been the main focus rather than the forms. The

translator is not too much tied up with the literal words and phrases. For a

better understanding, many reformulations of the sentences have been done.

2. Easy reading has been tempted by cutting very long sentences into shorter and

precise ones. The translator has taken into account the consideration that the

TT is a popular reading.

3. Most of the translation losses have been for some purposes such as to avoid

lengthy repetition, to make the sentence more precise, to avoid unexpected

misinterpretation of some phrases. The translation losses have been mostly

for understandable reasons and there are no significant meaning biases that

have changed or destroyed the main message of the ST.

4. Machali’s description of good translation can be used to describe the result of

the analysis of the data in this study: Basically there is no distortion of

meaning. There are some inappropriate literal translations, grammatical and

idiomatic mistakes but less than 15% of the whole text. There are one or two

uses of non-standard terms and spelling errors.” (Machali, 2000:120)

At the end of the discussion on the theories on translation, it is worthwhile

to remind translators that in translation, translators have some missions to

accomplish. Benjamin (1968:76) mentions that the task of the translator consists

in finding that intended effect (intention) upon the language into which he is

translating which produces in it the echo of the original. The results of the

analysis on the translation product can provide an example how the translators

have been able to produce the echoes of the ST in the TT.

Siegel (1986:7) emphasizes the responsibility of a translator because

translation can sustain a culture as well as stifle it. Sontag (2002:340-341)

mentions briefly three variants of the modern idea of translation, which may help

translators to see what their missions are. First, translation is as explanation.

Second, translation is as adaptation. Third, translation is as improvement. This

opinion gives the emphasis on the importance of meaning and communicative

effect of translation.

It can be stated as a closing remark that many studies have resulted in

many theories on translation and on translators. Some existing theories of

translation, however, should not be seen as the solution to all problems in

translation. As Beaugrande (Beaugrande in Bell, 1997:23) said it is inappropriate

to expect that a theoretical model of translation should solve all the problems a

translator encounters. Instead, according to him, it should formulate a set of

strategies for approaching problems and for coordinating the different aspects

entailed. In other words, translation theory is reoriented towards description,

whether of process or product, and away from prescription.

B. Suggestions

There are some suggestions for further study and for teachers, which are

listed as follows.

1. Students of translation classes should be well informed about the procedure in

the class and the criteria for assessment so that they know what they are

expected to do. Students need to understand that translation is not a one-punch

work or an instant process. Understanding some translation theories and

getting themselves actively involved in practice and discussions are needed to

lead them to improve their skills better.

2. There are many approaches to translation that bring about different methods in

the translation process and techniques for teaching translation. Further studies

can be done to discuss the approaches in more details and provide examples

for the application of each of the approaches. A more concrete description of

the approaches can be done by providing the description of the procedures

better.

3. Apart from the parts lost, there are many parts added, particularly in the form

of additional phrases, by the translator. Another form of addition is the

picture of the advertisement on page 107 in Pahlawan-Pahlawan Belia. This

way, the translator applies the technique of translation by illustration, that is

the picture is shown. Additional phrases to build coherence between

sentences and paragraphs can provide another interesting list of data. A

further study is required to discuss them.

4. The analysis on this study has been done mainly on the semantic and syntactic

aspects. There are only a few cases that require pragmatic considerations or

involve socio-political-cultural aspects. Another study with other sources of

data can focus on the translation of expressions like “You are impossible!” or

the way people say, for example, “Josephine Baker!” which implies calling

someone’s full name to express annoyance. Further study can involve

collecting more data to provide evidence how translators have considered the

target readers, for example, by choosing the song “Tik…tik…tik… bunyi hujan

di atas genting” in the comic book Asterix.

5. A discussion on the developments in translation by computer programs can

also be an interesting topic for further study.

6. Another part, which has not been discussed thoroughly, is the discussion on

the contribution of postcolonial studies to translation. This study provides

only a general overview, especially in the discussion of relexification in the

problems in English to Indonesian translation (Chapter II). Further studies are

required to provide a more comprehensive discussion as Gandhi (1998:viii)

said that in the last decade, post-colonialism has taken its place with theories

such post-structuralism, psychoanalysis, and feminism as a major critical

discourse in the humanities.

7. There are many academic books on Indonesian cultures and societies, which

are written by non-Indonesian scholars and experts at Indonesian studies. The

translators of such books, which are similar to Shiraishi’s Young Heroes: The

Indonesian Family in Politics can benefit by looking more thoroughly at the

examples of the translation of phrases and sentences in this study.

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