Students Problems in Translating Source Language Texts Essay Example

Students Problems in Translating Source Language Texts Essay STUDENTS’ PROBLEMS AND METHODS IN TRANSLATING SOURCE LANGUAGE TEXTS A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Language Education By Wendy Rahmad Biyandi Student Number: 071214131 ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2012 STUDENTS’ PROBLEMS AND METHODS IN TRANSLATING SOURCE LANGUAGE TEXTS A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Language Education By Wendy Rahmad Biyandi Student Number: 071214131 ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2012 i A Sarjana Pendidikan Thesis on STUDENTS’ PROBLEMS AND METHODS IN TRANSLATING SOURCE LANGUAGE TEXTS By Wendy Rahmad Biyandi Student Number: 071214131 Approved by Sponsor Date Made Frida Yulia, S. Pd. , M. Pd. 15 May 2012 ii A Sarjana Pendidikan Thesis on STUDENTS’ PROBLEMS AND METHODS IN TRANSLATING SOURCE LANGUAGE TEXTS By WENDY RAHMAD BIYANDI Student Number: 071214131 Defended before the Board of Examiners on . and Declared Acceptable Board of Examiners Chairperson Secretary Member Member Member : C. Tutyandari, S. Pd. , M. Pd. : : : ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ Yogyakarta, Faculty of Teachers Training and Education Sanata Dharma University Dean, Rohandi, Ph. D. iii STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain the work or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the references, as a scientific paper should. Yogyakarta, 06 July 2012 The writer We will write a custom essay sample on Students Problems in Translating Source Language Texts specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Students Problems in Translating Source Language Texts specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Students Problems in Translating Source Language Texts specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Wendy Rahmad Biyandi 071214131 iv LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama Nomor Mahasiswa : Wendy Rahmad Biyandi : 071214131 Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul: STUDENTS’ PROBLEMS AND METHODS IN TRANSLATING SOURCE LANGUAGE TEXTS Beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan rolayti kepada saya selama saya tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis. Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal: 06 July 2012 Yang menyatakan Wendy Rahmad Biyandi v ABSTRACT Biyandi, Wendy Rahmad. (2012). Students’ Problems and Methods in Translating Source Language Texts. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University. Most courses in ELESP are designed to support students’ acquiring English language, such as structure, pronunciation, reading, writing, listening, speaking, vocabulary, and many more. In the higher levels of study, the students are expected to be able to use their competences of English language in some more advanced purposes, such as how to translate a source language text (SLT) into a target language text (TLT). The lecturers of the Translation Classes in ELESP must have been encouraging the students with some methods, approaches, or techniques of how to ease them in doing the translation tasks. However, there have remained some problems which make the results of the students’ translation not quite appropriate. This research is intended to answer two research questions: (1) What specific translation problems occurred in the students’ translating process? and (2) What methods did the students tend to use during the translating process? To answer the first research question, the researcher applied document analysis. The documents were taken from the results of mid-term test conducted by Translation I class A in the academic year 2011/2012. Meanwhile, to answer the second research question, the researcher still applied the document analysis to identify the methods used by the students in the translation works. From the findings, it could be identified that there were 22 problems found in the students’ translation works which were divided into two classifications. The first classification was grammatical problems involving complicated source language grammar (83,33%). The second classification was lexical problems involving idioms (100%). Afterwards, the researcher revealed the identified translation methods which were categorized into (1) literal translation involving word for word translation (8,33%) and literal translation (100%) and (2) non literal translation involving semantic translation (33%). Based on the research findings, firstly, the researcher encourages the students to enrich their capability in translating the text, especially the text which contains so many difficult lexical words or phrases. This could be done by fostering the students’ reading motivation. Dealing with the methods that the students tend to use during the translating process, the researcher really recommends the students to be flexible. The researcher also recommends the ELESP lecturers to give the Translation I class students more practices to translate sentences which contain difficult lexical problems, such as idioms, collocations, proverbs, and many more. Lastly, for future researchers, the researcher encourages other researchers who are interested in studying this topic to deeper analyze other problems or methods that possibly occur in translating. Keywords: problems, methods, translation i ABSTRAK Biyandi, Wendy Rahmad. (2012). Students’ Problems and Methods in Translating Source Language Texts. Yogyakarta: Universitas Sanata Dharma. Sebagian besar mata kuliah di PBI di rancang untuk membantu para mahasiswa dalam mempelajari bahasa Inggris, seperti structure, pronunciation, reading, writing, listening, speaking, vocabulary, dan masih banyak lagi. Saat menca pai tingkat yang lebih tinggi, para mahasiswa diharapkan sudah mampu menggunakan kemampuan berbahasa Inggris mereka untuk diaplikasikan pada tujuan tertentu, seperti menerjemahkan teks dari sumber bahasa tertentu ke bahasa target. Para dosen pengampu mata kuliah Penerjemahan di PBI tentunya sudah memberikan berbagai materi perkuliahan seperti pendekatan, metode-metode, ataupun tekhnik dalam menerjemah kepada para mahasiswa. Akan tetapi, masih saja ada masalah dalam menerjemah yang mana menyebabkan penerjemahan yang dilakukan para mahasiswa kurang dapat diterima dengan baik. Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk menjawab dua pertanyaaan penelitian: (1) Masalah-masalah penerjemahan tertentu seperti apa saja yang muncul pada saat proses menerjemahkan yang dilakukan mahasiswa? an (2) Metode-metode apa saja yang cenderung digunakan mahasiswa dalam menerjemahkan. Untuk menjawab pertanyaan penelitian yang pertama, peneliti melakukan analisa dokumen. Dokumen yang dianalisa diambil dari hasil mid-term tes yang dilakukan oleh mahasiswa di kelas A Translation I tahun akademik 2011/2012. Untuk menjawab pertanyaan penelitian yang kedua, peneliti masih menggunakan analisa dokumen untuk menganalisa metode yang dipakai siswa dalam d alam menerjemahkan. Dari hasil penelitian, ditemukan 22 masalah yang terbagi menjadi dua jenis pengelompokan. Pengelompokan pertama adalah masalah tata bahasa yang mencakup tata bahasa sumber yang rumit (83,33%). Pengelompokan kedua adalah masalah leksis yang mencakup idiom (100%). Kemudian, peneliti mengungkapkan metode-metode penerjemahan yang teridentifikasi yang dikategorikan menjadi (1) penerjemahan harafiah yang mencakup penerjemahan kata demi kata (8,33%) dan penerjemahan harafiah (100%) dan (2) penerjemahan tidak harafiah yang mencakup penerjemahan semantis (33%). Berdasarkan hasil penelitian, pertama, peneliti menghimbau para mahasiswa untuk memperkaya kemampuan mereka menerjemahkan teks sumber, terutama teks yang berisi banyak kata-kata atau frasa leksis yang rumit dengan meningkatkan minat membaca Dalam hal metode dalam menerjemahkan, peneliti sangat menganjurkan mahasiswa untuk fleksibel dalam menerjemahkan. Peneliti juga menganjurkan dosen Translation I PBI untuk lebih memberikan latihanlatihan soal yang berisi permasalahan leksis, seperti idiom, kolokasi, pepatah, dan lebih banyak lagi. Terakhir, untuk peneliti berikutnya, peneliti mendorong peneliti lain yang tertarik pada penelitian yang berhubungan dengan topik ini untuk menganalisa lebih dalam tentang masalah-masalah dan metode-metode yang mungkin muncul dalam menerjemahkan. Kata kunci: masalah, metode, penerjemahan vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Alhamdulilahirobil’alamin. Firstly, I would like to express my greatest gratitude to Allah SWT, who made this thesis possible. I owe my deepest gratitude to my sponsor, Made Frida Yulia, S. Pd. , M. Pd. whose feedback, encouragement, and support from the initial to the final level enabled me to finish this thesis. It is such a great honor for me to be guided by a great lecturer who was willing to share her precious time, knowledge, and experiences. I would like to particularly thank the Translation I Class lecturer in the academic year 2011/2012, Fidelis Chosa Kastuhandani, S. Pd. , M. Hum. for his permission to conduct this research in his class. My sincere gratitude also goes to Herdiansari Hayuningrum for all of her supports and suggestions given to me, and Mbak Devy for her help as my proofreader. I would like to give my special thanks to all of the lecturers of English Language Education Study Program who have taught me everything, especially to Drs. Y. B. Gunawan, M. A. for being my academic advisor. I would also like to thank Mbak Dhanniek and Mbak Tari for their help during my study, the library staff for their hospitality and help; and all of the fifth semester students who were taking Translation I Class C in the academic year 2011/2012 for their willingness to be participants in this research by letting me use their translation works as the data. My sincerest gratitude is addressed to my father Wahyu Widayat for his priceless support, to my mother Widi Harni for her endless love and prayers, to my brother Riski for cheering up my days. I owe my deepest gratitude to Edulight personnels: Heri, Bretya, Asep, Nidya, Susan, Asri, and Gloria for the unforgettable moments that we had all along; to Dwi, Hening, Seto, Shanti, Hedwig, Gaby, and my other friends in ELESP 2007 whom I cannot mention one by one, for accompanying me to conquer the hard time together. I would also like to express my special thanks to my girlfriend Riyani who has always been there for me anytime when I need her. iii May Allah bless all of the people who have supported me during the completion of this thesis. Amen. Wendy Rahmad Biyandi ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TITLE PAGE .. APPROVAL PAGES .. STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY . PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ABSTRACT . ABSTRAK .. ACNOWLEDGEMENTS . TABLE OF CONTENTS .. LIST OF TABLES LIST OF APPENDICES CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Research Background .. B. Problem Formulation C. Problem Limitation D. Research Objectives .. E. Research Benefits F. Definitions of Terms .. CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE A. Theoretical Description . Translation 8 8 1 4 5 5 5 6 i ii iv v vi vii ix x xiv xv x 2. Translation and the Cultural Implication .. 3. Translation’s Considerations .. 4. Translation Problems .. a. Grammatical Problems . b. Lexical Problems . ) Collocations . 2) Idioms . 3) Proverbs . c. Stylistic Problems 1) Formality vs. Informality . 2) Style of Fronting .. 3) Passive and Active Styles . . Translation Methods a. Word for Word Translation b. Literal Translation .. c. Semantic Translation . B. Theoretical Framework CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY A. Research Method .. B. Research Setting .. C. Research Participants D. Instruments and Data Gathering Technique . 1. Human as Instrument .. 10 12 13 14 14 15 15 17 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 28 30 30 30 31 xi 2. Documents E. Data Analysis Technique F. Research Procedure 1. Asking Permissions to the Lecturer . 2. Collecting Data .. 3. Analyzing Data .. 4. Concluding and Reporting Findings CHAPTER IV RESEARCH RESULTS AND FINDINGS A. The Specific Translation Problems that Occured in the Students’ Translating Process .. 1. Idioms . 2. Complicated Source Language Grammar . 3. Collocations . 4. Proverbs . 5. Formality vs. Informality .. 6. Style of Fronting 7. Passive and Active Styles . B. Methods that the Students Tend to Use During the Translating Process 1. Literal Translation . 2. Semantic Translation .. 3. Word for Word Translation . 31 32 35 35 36 36 36 37 39 45 49 51 52 53 54 55 56 59 62 xii CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS A. Conclusions B. Recommendations .. 1. For English Language Education Study Program (ELESP) Students .. 2. For English Language Education Study Program (ELESP) Lecturers . . For Future Researchers .. 70 71 67 65 67 REFERENCES 72 xiii LIST OF TABLES Page Table 3. 1 Types of Grammatical, Lexical, and Stylistic Problems in the Students’ Translation .. Table 3. 2 The Types of Methods in the Students’ Translation Table 4. 1 The Percentage of the Identified Specific Problems in the Students’ Translation Work .. Table 4. 2 The Percentage of the Identified Translation Methods in the Students’ Translation Work .. 56 38 33 34 xiv LIST OF APPENDICES Page Appendix A Permission Letter Appendix B The Analysis Result of Students’ Translation Problems Appendix C The Analysis Result of Students’ Translation Methods . 73 75 81 Appendix D The Frequency of Identified Problems in Students’ Translation Works . Appendix E The Type of Methods Found in the Students’ Translation Works . 87 85 xv CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This chapter consists of six major sections. They are research background, problem formulation, problem limitation, research objectives, research benefits, and definitions of terms. A. Research Background English Language Education Study Program (ELESP) is a study program under Teachers Training and Education Faculty in Sanata Dharma University. ELESP is known as Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris (PBI). This study program aims to prepare future English teachers who have four competences; professional, pedagogic, personal, and social (Panduan Akademik Program Studi PBI, 2007). Several courses in ELESP are designed to support students’ acquiring English language, such as structure, pronunciation, reading, writing, listening, speaking, vocabulary, and many more. In the higher levels of study, the students are expected to be able to use their competences of English language in some more advanced purposes, such as how to translate a source language text (SLT) into a target language text (TLT). When the students are in the fifth semester, the lecturers of the ELESP begin to introduce translation course. There are several kinds of problems that the students face in translating either English into Indonesian or Indonesian into English text. The main aim of 1 2 translation is to serve as a cross-cultural bilingual communication vehicle among people (Gerding-Salas, 2000). In order to make such a good ‘communication vehicle’ among people, a translator then must try to translate a certain text properly so that the target people will be able to understand the meaning of the source language. Thus, translating means a translator re-tells the source language by using the target language without deforming its original meaning. Ghazala (2008) notes that in translating a text, there must be some difficulties that the translators might face, â€Å"a translation problem is any difficulty we come across at translating, that invites us to stop translating in order to check, recheck, reconsider or rewrite it, and make a sense of it† (p. 17). In this case, ELESP students are trained to be able to not only transfer the meaning of the source language into the target language text but also understand the principles, problems, or the process of translation. Meanwhile Newmark (1988) explains that â€Å"in a narrow sense, translation theory is concerned with the translation method appropriately used for a certain type of text† (p. 10). The lecturers of the translation class in ELESP must have been encouraging the students with some methods, approaches, or techniques of how to ease them in doing the translation tasks. However, there have remained some problems which make the results of the students’ translation are not appropriate. According to Molina and Albir (2002), â€Å"translation method refers to the way of a particular translation process that is carried out in terms of the translator’s objective, such as a global option that affects the whole texts† (p. 507). Moreover, during the activity of translating, some problems which include grammar, lexical, 3 stylistic, or phonological are also forcing the translators to hardly continue translating. This situation puts a translator into a condition where he has to negotiate form and meaning between the source language text and the reader of target language. When the students in the translation class are working on a translation task, he or she might hardly consider some methods in translating. In fact, recognizing and understanding the methods in translating are actually helpful for them in the process of translation. Some examples of this phenomenon could be established as follows, Joanne gave me two tickets yesterday which is translated into Joanne memberi saya dua tiket kemarin. People who understand English, especially ELESP students know that the result of the English language sentence into Indonesian language is acceptable. However, the sentence still sounds a little bit awkward and unnatural. There is another better alternative sentence that a translator can choose, such as kemarin Joanne memberiku dua tiket. A similar way of how students do their translation task from Indonesian language text into English language text sometimes frequently occurred. For instance, cepat atau lambat cuacanya akan berubah which is translated into fast or slow the weather will change. The result of the translation does sound English and grammatically correct, but it sounds awkward and is very unnatural in English. The sentence â€Å"sooner or later the weather will change† would be much more appropriate to be used. The examples above show that there is a consideration about the result of the translation, whether a translator should be ‘faithful’ to the form of the sentence 4 or the meaning of the sentence. In the world of translation, there is a tendency of people to use a ‘word for word’ translation method (Newmark, 1988, p. 6) since maybe the SLT is unbearably too difficult to be translated into TLT. Thus, he keeps to be faithful to the form of the sentence. Nevertheless, there are also many people or translators who try to consider the level of faithfulness based on not only the form but also the meaning. Therefore, it is important for the students in translation class to pay attention to the methods of translation before they s tart translating. Understanding the methods would help translators to doing translation because the methods influence the result of the whole text (Newmark, 1988, p. 45). Nevertheless, not all methods can be considered good to be used in the translation tasks. All these kinds of general facts about translation can be found on every translator’s works, including the works done by the translation class students of ELESP. Therefore, based on the phenomena that there are several problems in translating as well as less attention to the methods of translation, a research to find out the the students problems and methods in translating source language texts is conducted. B. Research Problems In the research problems, there are two questions to answer. 1. What specific translation problems occurred in the students’ translating process? 2. What methods do the students tend to use during the translating process? 5 C. Problem Limitation In this study, the writer analyzes the translation products done by Translation I class students. Since it is Translation I class, the translation is the one from English as the source language into Indonesian as the target language text. The data are taken from their result of progress I translation test. The writer analyzes the problems as well as the methods of how the students work on the translation task. There are a number of problems and methods elaboration of which they are explained in the Chapter II. Any mistake in spelling and punctuation will be disregarded since the writer would only focus on the problems and methods out of the minimum requirements. D. Research Objectives Dealing with the two research questions mentioned previously, this study is conducted to achieve these objectives. 1. To figure out the specific problems occurring in the students’ translating process. 2. To find out the methods which the students tend to use during the translating process. E. Research Benefits This research is expected to give benefits to both students and lecturers. For the students, the research shows them how well their mastery in translating so that they know which part should be improved. It also makes them know some 6 crucial problems that might occur in translating. It is expected that by learning from their problems, students will be more careful in translating and encouraged to optimize the use of translation methods Also, by knowing which part of students’ difficulties in translating, lecturers would find it easier to teach them based on their needs and weaknesses. Hopefully, by exposing the students to some various types of problems and methods in translation to keep in mind, the ELESP students can be more careful in doing their translation tasks. F. Definitions of Terms It is important to define some terms used in this study to avoid misunderstanding and to lead readers to a better understanding on the topic being discussed. The terms are as follows. 1. Translation According to Larson (1984, p. 3), translation is the transfer of meaning in the source language text into the target text; this is done by replacing the form of the first language by the form of the second language. Translation means rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the way that the author intended the text. In this research, translation represents the students’ process in how the students do the task of rendering the meaning. In other word, the task of what is called ‘translation process’. The students in the Translation I class work on translating Indonesian text as the SLT into English as the SLT. 7 2. Method In this research, Purwati (2010) states that there are many procedures or methods in translation. She adds that a procedure is the act or manner of proceeding in any action or process. In the Mcquarie Dictionary (1982) as quoted by Purwati (2010) explains that â€Å"a method is a way to doing something, especially in accordance with a definite plan†. In this study, method is the way the Translation I class students do something in their process of translating. The method is dealing with how the students create a certain plan to work on their translation task. 3. Translation I Class The next term is Translation I Class; Translation I Class refers to a class or course offered in the fifth semester by ELESP of Sanata Dharma University. Translation is designed to introduce knowledge of the definition, principles, problems, and process of translation. The students are exposed to the hands-on experiences of translating various types of text types. Some concepts dealing with translation are also introduced, such as cultural transfer, naturalization, coherence, unity, and flow (Panduan Akademik Program Studi PBI, 2011). In this research, Translation I Class is the class where the students do the process of translation under the guidance of the lecturer. Panduan Akademik Program Studi PBI additionally stated that the ELESP students are to identify syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic problems in translating letters, news, editorials, leaflets, abstracts, and journals. CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE In this chapter, related literature is discussed as theoretical base on which the study outlined in Chapter I is conducted. There are several important discussions presented in this research. The literature review is divided into two parts; those are theoretical description and theoretical framework. First, the theoretical description contains the relevant theories as references to support this research. Second, the theoretical framework discusses how the selected theories help to answer the research questions. A. Theoretical Description In this section, the researcher presents several theories of translation. Translation theories are important to be discussed since those theories become the major focus of the study. The researcher describes some experts’ definitions related to translation, translation and cultural implications, translation onsiderations, translation problems, as well as translation methods. 1. Translation There are many ways people can describe what translation is. According to Larson (1984), â€Å"Translation consists of changing from one state or form to another, to turn into one’s own or another’s language† (p. 3). Larson (1984) also states that â€Å"translation is the transfer of meaning in the source language text into 8 9 the target text; this is done by replacing the form of the first language by the form of the second language† (p. ). When students of English Language Education Study Program are learning translation, especially in Translation I class, it is not impossible that each of them face some problems in working on the exercise. Hatim and Mason (1990) explains that â€Å"Translators are inevitably acting under the pressure in the negotiation of meaning between the source-language text producer and the reader of the target-language text, both of whom exist within their own, different social frameworks† (p. 21). In Translation I class, the students act as if they are the real translators who have to be able to translate English text into Indonesian text appropriately, but problems still occur here and there. Many cases are found that most students do a literal translation, which more likely make them difficult to translate a source-language text naturally. Such ‘habit’ might lead the students to produce a translation product which does not sound English. Students tend to do the translation word by word, so the result remains too Indonesian. It is English but the context of language used in the translation product hardly represents a common characteristic of the social framework. Hatim and Mason (1990) explains that there are always so many improving aids that translators can utilize to make a good translation product, but actually the problems faced by the translators remain the same. Hatim and Mason (1990) describes several types of problems; the first is about the comprehension of source text, which covers parsing of text (grammar and lexis), access to specialized knowledge, and access to intended meaning. The second is about the 0 transfer of meaning, it includes relaying lexical meaning, relaying grammatical meaning, and relaying rhetorical meaning, including implied or inferable meaning, or potential readers. The third is about assessment of target text, it pervades readability, conforming to generic and discoursal TL conventions, and judging adequacy of translation for specified purpose. 2. Translation and the Cul tural Implications It is mentioned above that translators have a high risk to translate a source language text (SLT) into the target language text (TLT) without any concerns of common characteristics of the social framework. James (2002) states that translation is a kind of activity which inevitably involves at least two languages and two cultural traditions. Therefore, translators are inevitably confronting with how to treat the cultural aspects found in a ST and to find the best technique of conveying the intended meaning in the TLT. James (2002) explains that a gloss translation mostly typifies formal equivalence where form and content are reproduced as faithfully as possible and the TLT reader is able to understand as much as he can of the customs, manner of thought, and means of expression of the SLT context. Persons engaged in the complex task of translating possess some type of underlying or covert theory; as explained by Nida (1991), even though it may be still very embryonic and described only as just being faithful to what the author was trying to say, (p. 19). James (2002) mentions that the cultural implications for translation may take several forms ranging from lexical content and syntax to 11 ideologies and ways of life in a given culture. In this case, translators have to be able to analyze the significances found in the cultural aspects of the SLT and how necessary those significances are to be translated into the TTL. Some of the major problems of translation are over-translation, under-translation, and untranslatability (Abdellah, 2002). This statement implies that if translators fail to transfer the required cultural meanings from the SLT into the TTL, they might lead the translation products into over-translation, under-translation, or even untranslatability. It is true that the richness of vocabulary and the understanding of language structure out of the source language as well as the target language could influence the quality of the translators’ product of translation. However, the depth of the cultural understanding is essential to considering the implications for translation. James (2002), in her study mentions that based on the conclusion of importance to both linguistic and cultural differences between the SLT and the TLT, differences between cultures may cause more severe complications for the translator than do differences in language structure. More theory found in James’ study reveals that no language can exist unless it is steeped in the context of culture; and no culture can exist which does not have at its centre, the structure of natural language. These theories clearly indicate that mere ability or competence to create grammatically correct sentences as an impact to the TLT is not sufficient for the translators to be â€Å"as faithful as possible† to the SLT. The manner in which cultural aspects may be perceived and make translating decisions accordingly (James, 2002). 12 3. Translation’s Considerations Gerding-Salas (2000) states that every translation activity has one or more specific purposes and whichever they may be; the main aim of translation is to serve as a cross-cultural bilingual communication vehicle among peoples. In translating, there are several procedures, processes, or techniques of which a translator must consider, â€Å"Through experience I have learned that the consequences of wrong translations can be catastrophic† (Gerding-Salas, 2000). This statement shows how the task of translating could be getting much more difficult. Thus, translators cannot just simply translate a SLT into TLT without considering some kind of approaches. The translators’ habitual use of the language is unavoidably determining how perfect the result of the translation product (Gerding-Salas, 2000), â€Å"I shall assume that you, the reader, are learning to translate into your language of habitual use, since that is the only way you can translate naturally, accurately and with maximum effectiveness†. In fact, however, most translators do translate out of their own language. Gerding-Salas (2000) mentions that there is always a way of approaching an SLT, whether the translator chooses the author-centered traditional model, the text-centered structuralistic model or the cognitive reader-centered model. In order to decide which approach a translator must go on, a translator has to understand â€Å"the nature† of the confronted text. Several kinds of problems are provided in the study conducted by Gerding-Salas (2000). One of the problems is dealing with semantic and cultural nature (Tricas, 1995). According to GerdingSalas, this problem occurs when the translators happen to reading and 3 comprehending the SLT. In this case, the richness of vocabulary that the translators have plays quite a big role. Additionally, the cultural understanding supports the translators to comprehend the deep meanings of the SLT. Furthermore, Gerding-Salas (2000) adds that there might be a possibility of â€Å"Linguistic Untranslatability†, of which it obstacles the translators from finding the appropriate lexical terms, such as true and false friends, calque, and other forms of interference; institutional and standardized terms, neologisms, aphorisms, and many more. Another one Gerding-Salas (2000) states is about the â€Å"Cultural Untranslatability† such as idioms, sayings, proverbs, jokes, and so on. Thus, it would lead the translator into the ability to determine which one is to translate and which one is supposed to be not. As a result, cautious attitude towards these problematical issues in the translating process is taken into account. Otherwise, the result of the translation would be vulnerable to some misuse or interference of both languages. 4. Translation Problems Ghazala (1995) states that â€Å"A translation problem is any difficulty we come across at translating, that invites us to stop translating in order to check, recheck, reconsider or rewrite it, or use a dictionary, or a reference of some kind to help us overcome it and make sense of it† (p. 17). In this section, the researcher discusses several problems that might occur during the translation process. There are three major focus of translation problems to be discussed. The first one is about 14 grammatical problems, the second is about lexical problems, and the third is about stylistic problems. . Grammatical Problems English and Indonesian grammars are different according to each of its structure. Ghazala (1995) provides one example of sentence dealing with this problem, of the three books you have recommended to me, I have chosen only one. If the sentence is translated into Indonesian, it will become dari ketiga buku yang telah kamu rekomendasikan kepada saya, saya hanya memilih satu. According to Ghazala (1995), this kind of sentence structure, which is starting with ‘of’ and postponing the main clause ‘i have chosen’ to a back position, is considered complex. Ghazala (1995) notes that it can make the students of translation find it difficult to understand easily and directly. He adds that the point becomes clearer at comparing it to the following normal and direct structure, just like I have chosen only one of the three books you have recommended to me, or in Indonesian it becomes Saya telah memilih satu dari ketiga buku yang kamu anjurkan kepada saya. b. Lexical Problems Ghazala (1995) explains that â€Å"Lexical problems occur when a word, a phrase or an expression is not understood clearly and directly, misunderstood, not known at all to students, or not found in standard dictionaries (p. 9). According to Ghazala (1995), there are specific problems that the students might worry. The problems are dealing with collocations, idioms, proverbs, and cultural terms. 15 1) Collocations According to Ghazala (1995), collocation is the combination of two or more words that always occur consistently in different texts and contexts in language (p. 106). Ghazala (1995) adds that collocations occur in several conditions, such as certain nouns occur with certain adjectives (e. g. ‘blind confidence), a verb with a noun (e. g. ‘draw a sword), a noun with a noun (e. g. brain drain), and many more. Indonesian and English have their own different collocations. Meanwhile, Ghazala (1995) emphasizes that collocations play a vital role in a language (p. 106). Collocations are sometimes inevitabe and it creates a beautiful part in a language. Therefore, Ghazala (1995) notes that students need to attend to the collocations fully in Indonesian to lend the Indonesian version the same beauty of the English text (p. 106). It means that it is important for the students to undermine the concern with the translation of the English collocations in Indonesian. ) Idioms Ghazala (1995) explains that idiom is any â€Å"phrases which have fixed forms and special meaning of their words† (p. 19). English idioms, such as found in this sentence, ladies and gentlemen, lend me your ears, cannot be translated directly into Indonesian. Ghazala (1995) states that it has methaporical meanings, and it is saying something to mean something else (p. 129). However, translating English idioms directly into Indonesian is still acceptable only if the meaning can be clearly understood. For example, the 16 company is on the black list. In Indonesian translation, the sentence would be perusahaan itu sedang dalam daftar hitam. In Indonesia, daftar hitam has the same meaning as black list, of which this word tries to describe a list of people who are out of favor. However, the case is different from this sentence example, the exam was a piece of cake for me. If the sentence is translated literally into Indonesian, the sentence would be ujiannya seperti sepotong kue bagi saya. The phrase ‘a piece of cake’ in English means undertaking something that is so much easy to do. Therefore, it has no relation at all with Indonesian words sepotong kue. Another problematic problem dealing with idioms is phrasal verb. Ghazala (1995) explains that phrasal verb is a combination of a verb and an adverb or preposition, or both an adverb and a preposition, such as up, down, on off, in, out, over, and many more (p. 133). If the verb and the adverb or preposition are combined together, it might result a specific idiomatic meaning. The meaning of the combination between the verb and adverb or preposition usually cannot be understood individually. The students of the translation class might face this kind of problem. Students sometimes become misled and confused when they are trying to distinguish which English phrasal verb is idiomatic or normal. There are two examples of sentences which indicate whether it is prepositional verb or phrasal verb that has specific meaning. Put the book on the table, this sentence has a clear meaning and it is understandable, there is the verb ‘put’ and the preposition ‘on’. The other example is put your coat on, this sentence is different from the 17 previous one. There is something missing after the preposition ‘on’, there is no adverb such as found on the former sentence. The second sentence indicates an idiomatic meaning which has no relation to the first sentence, eventhough both sentences are using the verb and the preposition ‘put on’. 3) Proverbs Ghazala (1995) states that proverbs are special, fixed, unchanged phrases which have special, fixed, and unchanged meanings, just like idioms (p. 138). According to Ghazala (1995), a proverb cannot be understood as a collection of the individual meanings of its words. Ghazala (1995) adds that proverbs are metaphor and stand for something else. Proverbs in English cannot be translated or understood directly because it has a certain relation with culture. Students might become more confused when they are trying to find an Indonesian phrase which has a closest proverb relation with the English phrase. c. Stylistic Problems The next set of problems of translation is dealing with stylistic problems. According to Ghazala (1995), style is viewed as a part of meaning and affects it in different ways and to different degrees (p. 222). The statement means that if there is a change in the style, the meaning will be changed either. Ghazala (1995) mentions that meaning was claimed to stand on its own, it is unaffected by such certain style (p. 222). Nevertheless, style has been given a special attention and it is indeed part of meaning. 18 If translators attend to style and consider the importance of using style in their work, they will fully attend to the meaning. Meanwhile, if translators ignore the presence of style, they will ignore some parts of the meaning. There are two sentences to show that the significance of style is worth discussing. Her mother died yesterday and her mother was killed yesterday. Those two sentences have the meaning that her mother is dead. In Indonesian, it can be translated as ibunya meninggal kemarin. However, translators cannot just translate the above sentences into one and the same Indonesian version of translation because the cause of the death is crucial to both the dead person and to the family. Her mother died yesterday is normal and neutral death, meanwhile her mother was killed yesterday is abnormal, unnatural, and disgraceful crime. From the examples above, it can be inferred that style has its own role in any aspect of language and meaning. Ghazala (1995) defines style as â€Å"different choices made by writers from the language stock in regard to layout (of shape), grammar, vocabulary (or words) and phonology (or sounds), namely, from all aspects, levels and components of language (p. 223). 1) Formality vs. Informality Ghazala (1995) suggests a scale of five ‘styles’ of English language, which is general but proved to be widely acceptable by most people. There are frozen fornal, formal, informal, colloquial, and vulgar (slang). Examples: a. Frozen formal : ‘Be seated’ b. Formal : ‘Have a seat’ Duduk Silakan duduk 19 c. Informal d. Colloquial : ‘Sit down, please’ : ‘Feel at home Mari, silakan duduk Anggap lah rumah sendiri Ayo cepet duduk! e. Vulgar (slang) : ‘Sit bloody down! ’ However, it is difficult to distinguish formal and informal styles of language. Ghazala (1995) explains that â€Å"despite the difficulty and personal nature of the distinction between the five styles of English language, we can understand and apply them in general terms (p. 226). The examples provided above has their own different effect and meaning. The example a is so official and seems to be impolite, it can be said by a harch person or a man of a high position, such as a boss, a manager, a king, and many more. Whereas example b is official but polite, it can be used in the similas context as the example number 1, but appropriately to friends or personal acquaitances. The example example c is much more polite, and considered rather unofficial. Meanwhile example number 4 is quite friendly, intimate, and kind, of which it reflects colloquial tone. The last example is so strong and rude, usually it is said as a humorous context to close friends. ) Style of Fronting Another important stylistic device is the style of fronting. According to Ghazala (1995), it is a widely used style at both the sentence and text levels which has the purpose to move a word, a phrase or a clause from its original place in the middle or at the end of the sentence to the beginning (or the front position) of the sentence (p. 231). Examples: a. In my room he slept Di kamarku dia tidur 20 b. If you apologize, I will forgive you Bila kamu meminta maaf, aku akan memaafkan kamu Ghazala (1995) notes that making such frontings are not made by a chance, it is made for good reasons (p. 31). The fronting is made by putting the subordinate clause before the main clause. This changing position of the clause means nothing but giving important function of emphasis than the other part of the sentence. Therefore, the fronting style means that it plays a vital role in understanding meaning. In my room he slept instead of he slept in my room, the first sentence tries to emphasize that ‘in my room’ is to be more noticed rather than ‘he slept’. The next is, If you apologize, I will forgive you means that the person concerned demands apology in order to give forgiveness to the other person. ) Passive and Active Styles Ghazala (1995) explains that passive and active are two contrastive forms and styles, they have different funct ions (p. 246). The researcher does not say that Indonesian language tends to be active or passive, or so does English. Ghazala (1995) points out that both styles have to be reflected in Indonesian for their important functions to the message. Example: a. The American solidiers killed five Afghans children yesterday. b. Five Afghans children were killed yesterday. Those two sentences above have the same meaning. However, if those sentences are carefully considered, they look different. The first sentence is active 21 and it clearly shows that the killers or the doers of the action is revealed. Meanwhile the second sentence is passive and it hides the killers or the doers. From the examples above, it can be shown how the distinction between the active and the passive style influences the meaning of the sentence. The active sentence one focuses on the murderer or the killer, this might be due to political reasons or its relation with public media. Meanwhile, the second passive sentence does not focus on the doer of the action, it is more on the results of what the doer has done. Hiding the identity of the doer can probably mean that the doer is not quite important and is just possible to ignore. 5. Translation Methods Newmark (1988) suggests that the central problems of translating has always been whether to translate literally or freely (p. 45). Students in translation class apply some various ways on how they do the translating process so that the result would be considered as a good translation. Some of the students are trying to translate the text very carefully that they are afraid of distracting the meaning. On the other hand, some other students strive hard translating the text faithfully because they think that every single word or sentence in the text is important to translate. Molina and Albir (2002) states that there are two categories which can be used to analyze translations (p. 498). The categories are textual and contextual. According to Molina and Albir (2002), textual categories describe mechanisms of coherence, cohesion, and thematic progression. Meanwhile contextual categories 22 introduce all extra-textual elements related to the context of the SLT and the translation production (p. 498). Based on the statement described, how well the students have solved their problems in translation is actually influenced much by the two categories. Students cannot translate the SLT into TLT just the way they like it since it would affect the result of translation product, whether the translation is acceptable and natural enough for the directed readers. Therefore, translating needs some specific strategies and methods. The strategies are how the students carefully see the text through textual and contextual categories, and how the students make use of the methods based on the strategies afterwards. In this part of the chapter, the researcher try to describe specific ways to translate SLT into TLT which are considered as methods of translation. Literal and non-literal translation are the two focuses to be highlighted. The Literal translation is divided into two topics to discuss, there are word for word translation and literal translation. Meanwhile, the non-literal translation is described into one topic, that is semantic translation. a. Word for Word Translation Newmark (1988) explains that this method of translation is often demonstrated as interlinear translation with the target language is immediately below the source language (p. 45). What is meant by interlinear is that supposed there two sentences written down lined up, the above sentence is the source language sentence, and below is the target language sentence. Usually a translator who performs this kind of translation method would likely put the meaning of every single word of the source language sentence down below. 23 Example: SLT TLT : Look, little guy, you all should not be doing that. : Lihat, kecil anak, kamu semua harus tidak melakukan itu. According to Ghazala (1995), â€Å"this method regards translation to be a translation of individual words† (p. 5). The arrangement of the TLT is perfectly the same as the one SLT. The translators translate the sentence ord by word, general meanings are prioritized, meanwhile the context is not taken into account. Ghazala (1995) adds that the whole concentration of this translaton method is on the source language, whereas the target language should follow, imitate, and mirror it blindly, perfectly and precisely, neither more nor less (p. 5). b. Literal Translation Newmark (1988) explains that a literal translation is when the SLT grammatical constructions are converted to the nearest TLT e quivalents, but the lexical words are again translated singly, out of context (p. 6). This translation method is almost similar to the previous one, word for word translation. In the process of translating, the translators are trying to identify the grammatical construction of the SLT which is similar to the TLT. At the first time, translating the SLT by using a word for word translation method is initial action to do, but then the translators adjust the construction of the SLT grammar with the TLT grammar. This type of translation method is actually described as translating between using word for word translation method and free method. However, the result of the translation still remains out of context of the meaning. According to Ghazala 24 (1995), this method of translation means to translate each source language word or phrase into an identical word or phrase in the target language, with the same number, grammatical class, and type of language (p. 6). Example : a. SLT TLT b. SLT TLT : Look, little guy, you all should not be doing that. : Lihat, anak kecil, kamu seharusnya tidak berbuat seperti itu. : His position is in the right place. : Posisinya berada di tempat yang benar. Ghazala (1995) adds that the process of translating using this method is like a noun is translated into a noun, two nouns into two nouns, one adjective into one adjective, two into two, and so on and so forth (p. 6). c. Semantic Translation Semantic translation has a quite close relation with faithful translation. According to Newmark (1988), faithful translation attempts to reproduce the precise contextual meaning of the original within the constraints of the target language grammatical structures (p. 46). What makes semantic translation different with faithful translation, based on Newmark (1988), is that it differs from faithful translation only in as far as it must take more account of the aesthetic value, that is, the beautiful and natural sounds of the source language text (p. 46). From the differences between the faithful translation and semantic translation above, semantic translation is considered more flexible to the TLT. Semantic translation should take an account of aesthetic or so-called beautiful features of the SLT to be compromised with the possible meaning in TLT. 5 Example : SLT TLT : He is a book-worm. : Dia adalah seseorang yang suka sekali membaca. The word ‘book-worm’ in the above example could be actually translated into the word ‘kutu buku’ in Indonesia, so the sentence in TLT would become ‘dia seorang kutu buku’. However, the the above TLT sample sentence is translated accordance to the cultural context as well as accepted functional limitation of the TLT. B. Theoretical Framework This chapter synthesizes all relevant theories which are significant to discuss for the sake of this research. Translation means retelling what a translator has obtained from the source language to the target language. The researcher selected the theories of translation from Larson (1984) because it is quite relevant to the study. When translating something, a student or a translator is trying to transfer the meaning from the first language into the second language or vice versa. The translator should pay attention to the source language text’s social framework which might be different from the target language text. If the translator just attempts to do a literal translation without considering the main ideas or cultural characteristic of the source language text, it is possible if the translation product will sound awkward. Translating a source language text into target language text cannot be separated from cultural implications. The researcher agrees with the statement 26 made by James (2002) mentioning that translation is a kind of activity which inevitably involves at least two languages and two cultural traditions. The cultural implications have something to do with the translation considerations. In translating, there are several procedures, rocesses, or techniques of which a translator must consider. Therefore, in order to be able to work on the translation process, the translators should consider the cultural aspects too. James (2002) states that no language can exist unless it is steeped in the context of culture; and no culture can exist which does not have at its center, the structur e of natural language. This is related to the ‘cultural untranslatability’, the explanation made by Gerding-Salas (2000), saying that this phenomenon obstacles the translators from finding the appropriate idioms, sayings, proverbs, jokes, and so on. The basic theories about cultural implications and translation considerations lead the researcher into an overview of how the students in the translation class manage their translating process. In other words, the researcher is able to know whether the students are taking all these kinds of pre-translating activity into account or not. Relating the theories about cultural implications and translation considerations to the problems confronted by the students in translating English as the SLT into Indonesian as the TLT would help the researcher to analyze it more thoroughly. After the researcher has identified the characteristics of the students’ translation works based on the cultural implications and translation considerations, he then moved to what problems that obstacle the students from translating appropriately. There are many kinds of translation problems which 27 probably occur when the students are translating the text. The researcher specified the problems into three major aspects, those are grammatical problems, lexical problems, and stylistic problems. Actually there are many other aspects of translation problems that might be found in the world of translation. The researcher specifically selected the three out of the many other problems described by Ghazala (1995) because those are significant aspects which really influence the quality of the translation product. When the translation problems have been identified and analized, it would help the researcher to move on to the next part to discuss, the methods of the translation. Basically, there are various theories stating about some methods that generally translators use. Molina and Albir (2002) states that there are two categories which can be used to analyze translations (p. 498). The categories are textual and contextual, textual covers mechanisms of coherence, cohesion, and thematic progression. Meanwhile, contextual categories introduce all extra-textual elements related to the context of the SLT and the translation production. The researcher chose the translation methods from Newmark (1988) and Ghazala (1995) because those are quite relevant to the characteristics of categories stated by Molina and Albir (2002). CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY This chapter presents the research methodology employed in the research. It consists of six major sections. They are covering the research method, research setting, research participants, instruments and data gathering technique, data analysis technique, and research procedure. A. Research Method There were two research questions to be investigated and in this research; and qualitative research was used as the methodology. Qualitative research method was selected because it offers the most appropriate ways to gain the research findings. Johnson and Onwuegbuzie (2004) as cited in Ary, Jacobs, and Razavieh (2010) states that â€Å"research methods should follow research questions in a way that offers the best chance to obtain useful (and the most thorough) answer† (p. 24). This research was conducted to obtain useful information about the problems encountered by the fifth semester students of English Language Education Study Program (ELESP) as well as the methods in translating source language texts, in this case translating English as the SLT into Indonesian as the TLT. According to Sprinthall and Schmutte (1991), qualitative method is â€Å"approaches used to systematically gather data, but the data are purely descriptive and therefore not numerical† (p. 100). The researcher was going to present the 28 29 data in the form of words instead of numbers and measures. Therefore, qualitative research is considered the best and the most relevant method to apply. To answer the first research question, which investigates the problems occured in the students’ translating process, document or content analysis was applied in this research. The researcher employed document analysis because he took the students’ translation works as the data. Ary et. al. (2010) states that â€Å"document analysis aimed to identify specified characteristics of written or visual materials† (p. 457). The researcher analyzed the documents based on the students’ translation works which were submitted upon their mid-term test in Translation I class. After the researcher rely on the results of the students’ translation products, the problems that the students encountered would be possibly able to be identified and analyzed. When the researcher has analyzed the problems occurring through the students’ translation test papers, the researcher moved to answer the second research question, the question of what methods that the students tend to use during the translating process. Beside still analyzing what characteristics appeared on the students’ translation papers, the researcher used the analysis of the translation problems which were previously found to support answering the second research question. In addition, related references were also used to support the process of analyzing the data. 0 B. Research Setting The research was conducted in the academic year of 2011 in ELESP of Sanata Dharma University. The location of the data gathering was in the class of Translation I. The research took the data after the students of Translation I class committed their mid-term test. C. Research Participants The participants of this research were the students from Translation I class C in ELESP of Sana ta Dharma University. Actually, there were two classes had employed Translation I as the obligatory course. The total amount of the students are 24, and the researcher selected one class out of the two. The researcher only took 12 translation works as the papers to be analyzed. The students who were having the Translation I class were those who had fulfilled the prerequisite course. The students were eligible to take this course after passing Structure 4 (Panduan Akademik Program Studi PBI, 2011). The class is in the academic year of 2011. As they had taken the prerequisite course, they were expected to have sufficient knowledge in applying their competence for translating. D. Instruments and Data Gathering Technique To obtain in-depth analysis and interpretation about thi