perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id commit to user ANALYSIS OF T TO THE TRAN “THE ADVENTUR Submitted as a Part the Englis FAC TRANSLATION TECHNIQUES AND TH NSLATION QUALITY OF SWEARING W RES OF TINTIN: PRISONERS OF THE S Thesis tial Fulfillment of Requirement for the Sar sh Department Faculty of Letters and Fine Sebelas Maret University By: Nur Rochmania C0306040 ENGLISH DEPARTMENT CULTY OF LETTERS AND FINE ARTS SEBELAS MARET UNIVERSITY SURAKARTA 2011 HE IMPACTS WORD IN SUN” COMIC rjana Degree at e Arts
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ANALYSIS OF TRANSLATION TECHNIQUE
TO THE TRANSLATION QUALITY OF SWEARING WORD IN
“THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: PRISONERS OF THE SUN” COMIC
Submitted as a Partial Fulfillment of Requirement for the Sarjana Degree at
the English De
FACULTY OF LETTERS AND FINE ARTS
ANALYSIS OF TRANSLATION TECHNIQUES AND THE IMPACT
TO THE TRANSLATION QUALITY OF SWEARING WORD IN
“THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: PRISONERS OF THE SUN” COMIC
Thesis
Submitted as a Partial Fulfillment of Requirement for the Sarjana Degree at
the English Department Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts
Sebelas Maret University
By:
Nur Rochmania
C0306040
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LETTERS AND FINE ARTS
SEBELAS MARET UNIVERSITY
SURAKARTA
2011
AND THE IMPACTS
TO THE TRANSLATION QUALITY OF SWEARING WORD IN
“THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: PRISONERS OF THE SUN” COMIC
Submitted as a Partial Fulfillment of Requirement for the Sarjana Degree at
of Letters and Fine Arts
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ANALYSIS OF TRANSLATION TECHNIQUES AND THE IMPACTS
TO THE TRANSLATION QUALITY OF SWEARING WORD IN
“THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: PRISONERS OF THE SUN” COMIC
By:
Nur Rochmania
C0306040
Approved to be examined before the Board of Examiners of English Department
Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts
Sebelas Maret University
Thesis Supervisor:
Prof. Drs. MR. Nababan, M.Ed., M.A., Ph.D.
NIP. 196303281992011001
Head of English Department
DR. Djatmika, M.A.
NIP. 196707261993021001
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ANALYSIS OF TRANSLATION TECHNIQUES AND THE IMPACTS TO
THE TRANSLATION QUALITY OF SWEARING WORD IN “THE
ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: PRISONERS OF THE SUN” COMIC
By:
Nur Rochmania
C0306040
Accepted and Approved by the Board of Examiners of English Department
Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts
Sebelas Maret University
On , 2011
Position Name Signature
Chairman DR. Djatmika, M.A. ( )
NIP. 196707261993021001
Secretary Dyah Ayu Nila K, S.S., M. Hum. ( )
NIP. 198302112006042001
First Examiner Prof. Drs. MR. Nababan, M.Ed.,M.A., Ph.D.( )
NIP. 196303281992011001
Second Examiner Ida Kusuma Dewi, S.S., M.A. ( )
NIP. 197105251998022001
Dean of Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts
Sebelas Maret University
Drs. Sudarno, M.A.NIP. 195303141985061001
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PRONOUNCEMENT
Name : Nur Rochmania
NIM : C0306040
Stated whole-heartedly that the thesis entitled Analysis of Translation Techniques and the Impacts to the Translation Quality of Swearing Word in “The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun” Comic is originally made by the researcher. It is neither plagiarism, nor made by others. Any thing related to the other researcher’s work is written in quotation and included within the bibliography.
If it is then proved that the researcher cheats, the researcher will take the responsibility.
Surakarta, January 2011
The Researcher,
Nur Rochmania
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MOTTO
The success you are enjoying today is the result of the price you have
paid in the past."
(Brian Tracy)
Good work done little by little becomes great work.
Your house of success will be built brick by brick."
(Max Steingart)
An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.
(Benjamin Franklin)
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DEDICATION
This thesis is dedicated to:
My beloved mother and the mother of her
Friends and special person who always supports me
Myself and my future
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
All praise just for Allah SWT, the Almighty God, for the blessing and
guidance for me in conducting this research and finishing this thesis. I realize that
this thesis cannot be completed without any help and support from many people.
Therefore, I would like to deliver special thank for the people who give many
contribution to this thesis.
1. To the Dean of Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts, Drs. Sudarno, M.A, and
to the Head of English Department, DR. Djatmika, M.A, thank you for
approving this thesis.
2. I would like to deliver my gratitude to Prof. Drs. MR. Nababan, M.Ed.
MA. Ph.D, my thesis supervisor, for his guidance and advice. This thesis
will not be completed without his guidance. I also would like to thank
Dyah Ayu Nila Khrisna, S.S, M.Hum, my academic supervisor, for giving
advice to my study. I also thank all of the lecturers of English Department
for all guidance and beneficial knowledge taught from the very first lesson
until I finished this thesis.
3. Thanks for all my raters, Mr. Soemardiono, Mr. Zaenal Arifin, and Ms.
Tiara Dwi Andarastuti, for accessing my data. Thank you so much for the
help.
4. I would like to thank my mother and my grandmother, thank you for
understanding me and thank you for providing me anything I need to
finish this thesis. Thank you for your support and trust.
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5. I want to deliver my special thanks for all friends in English Department
2006. Chandra, thanks for being my good listener. Nurfa, do not ever stop
and be hopeless. Ayu, thanks for being my partner in job training, Ikha,
Risti, and the others thank you for your support and help. Keep your spirit
alive!
6. I deliver my special thank for the Sebelas Maret Marching Band for giving
me great experiences I will never forget. Thanks to the board of MB UNS,
the manager team, the coaches and the color guards. Special to Aulia
Rifada, thanks for the swearing word discussion, it’s very helpful. For the
whole team, Do the best, be the best, let God take the rest, UNS jaya!!
7. My special thank also for Dhofir, my beloved one, for being a good friend,
a good brother, a good partner ever. Thanks for your help, patience and
support.
8. For everybody who always gives support and help, thank you so much.
I realizes that this thesis is far from being perfect. Therefore, I expect
suggestions and also criticisms which encourage me to improve the skills. I also
expect that this thesis will be beneficial for students who conduct a research about
translation.
The Researcher,
Nur Rochmania
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE
APPROVAL OF THE SUPERVISOR ................................................... ii
APPROVAL OF THE BOARD OF EXAMINERS ............................... iii
PRONOUNCEMENT............................................................................. iv
MOTTO .................................................................................................. v
DEDICATION ........................................................................................ vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ...................................................................... vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS........................................................................ ix
ABSTRACT............................................................................................ xi
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION............................................................ 1
A. Research Background ................................................... 1
B. Research Limitation ...................................................... 4
C. Research Problems........................................................ 5
D. Research Objectives...................................................... 5
E. Research Benefits.......................................................... 5
F. Research Organizations ................................................ 6
CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW................................................ 8
A. The Definition of Translation ....................................... 8
B. Kinds of Meaning ......................................................... 10
C. Translation Techniques................................................. 11
D. Translation Quality ....................................................... 18
E. Problems in Translation ................................................ 21
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F. Definition of Comic ...................................................... 23
G. Swearing Word ............................................................. 24
H. The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun Comic 27
CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .................................. 29
A. Research Type and Design............................................ 29
B. Data and Source of Data ............................................... 29
C. Sampling Technique ..................................................... 30
D. Method of Data Collection............................................ 30
E. Technique of Data Analysis.......................................... 32
F. Research Procedure....................................................... 32
CHAPTER IV. ANALYSIS ................................................................... 34
A. Introduction................................................................... 34
B. Data Analysis ................................................................ 34
C. Discussion ..................................................................... 58
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION.............. 67
A. Conclusion .................................................................... 67
B. Recommendation .......................................................... 69
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDIX
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ABSTRACT
NUR ROCHMANIA. C0306040. 2011. ANALYSIS OF TRANSLATION TECHNIQUE AND THE IMPACT TO THE TRANSLATION QUALITY OF SWEARING WORD IN “THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: PRISONERS OF THE SUN” COMIC. ENGLISH DEPARTMENT, FACULTY OF LETTERS AND FINE ARTS, SEBELAS MARET UNIVERSITY, SURAKARTA.
This research focuses to find out the translation techniques applied by the translator in translating swearing words in the comic entitled “The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun” and to find out the impact of the translation techniques to the quality of translation in terms of accuracy and acceptability.
This research was conducted by using descriptive qualitative study with total sampling technique. There are two kinds of data used in this research. The primary data are all the swearing words and the translation taken from “The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun” comic. The secondary data is the result of the questionaires given by three raters.
The result of the research shows that there are eight techniques applied to translate swearing words in this comic, they are: adaptation technique, borrowing technique, equivalence technique, generalization technique, addition technique, translation shift, deletion technique, loan translation. The most frequently used technique which is applied by the translator is adaptation covering 59.7% from the total data. The least dominant technique is borrowing technique covering 0.8% of all data.
In the meantime, from the analysis of translation quality, it can be seen that the level of accuracy is high. It means that the translation of swearing word in the comic is considered as accurate translation. The level of acceptability of the translation is not really high. It shows that the translation is considered to be less acceptable.
The result of the analysis shows the impact of the techniques applied in the translation of swearing word to the quality of translation in terms of accuracy and acceptability. The translation technique applied by the translator to produce a high level of accuracy is borrowing technique. There is only one datum translated by using this technique and it is considered as accurate translation. On the other hand, the translation technique that produces the low level of accuracy is deletion. There are 4 data translated by using this technique and three of them are considered as inaccurate translation. Meanwhile, the translation technique applied to produce a high level of acceptability is adaptation. This technique is the most dominant technique applied by the translator. There are 77 data translated by using adaptation technique and the 24 data of them are considered as acceptable translation. The rest data are considered as less acceptable and unacceptable translation. On the other hand, the translation technique producing a low level of acceptability is loan translation. There are 15 data translated by using this technique and all of them are considered as unacceptable translation.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Research Background
In daily communication, people sometimes use swearing words. It can
be avoided since the using of swearing words closely related to the important
function of language named expressive function. Swearing words are utterances to
express feelings of anger, dissatisfaction, and other extreme emotions. They are
considered to be impolite and inappropriate in some contexts.
The concept of swearing words exists in most languages and cultures.
Every language in the world has its own swearing words. Every different dialect
of the same language has different curses or exclamation. Even everyone has his
own swearing words. There are some purposes of people using swearing words.
Generally, people swear to express their dissatisfaction of not-enjoyable situation.
According to Hughes and Rothwell (in Japutri, 2006: 9-10) the purposes of using
swearing words are to create attention, to discredit, to provoke, to identify
personalization, to provide Catharsis, and to insult the others.
According to Zsuzsanna Ardó (2001), “cursing is not necessarily abusive
or aggressive. It can be humourous, playful, and creative.” The swearing or
cursing which is examined by the researcher in this thesis can be considered as
humorous and creative. Most of them are not considered taboo since there is no
swearing word which is related to the verbal obscenity.
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Swearing words in English into Indonesian translation often become a
problem. The different background of cultures, society and values may be the
basic reason why translators are sometimes troubled in finding the equivalent
words. Some techniques of translation can be applied to translate swearing words
in order to get the high level of accuracy, but sometimes the equivalence cannot
be accepted. In order to get the acceptability, translators are able to apply
adaptation technique to translate English swearing words into the swearing words
which are known by Indonesian people. Take a look at the example below:
Example 1
ST (Source Text) : Thundering typhoons, I know that! If he wasn’t asleep
you wouldn’t have to wake him up!... Tell him it’s very,
very urgent!
TT (Target Text) : Jangkrik! Saya tahu! Kalau tidak tidur tentu Anda tak
perlu membangunkannya! Katakan ini penting sekali!
The example is taken from “The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the
Sun” comic. The example is a dialogue between police officer and a captain
named Haddock. The swearing word ‘thundering typhoons’ showing the annoyed
Haddock is translated into ‘jangkrik’. ‘Typhoon’ is a very violent tropical storm
(Oxford Learner’s Pocket Dictionary, 2000, p.467). The word thundering
emphasizes typhoon in order to show the great annoying expression.
Meanwhile, ‘jangkrik’ in Indonesian means black or brown bugs which
live in fields (Kamus Bahasa Indonesia, 1997, p.233). The word ‘jangkrik’ itself
often becomes a typical swearing word in Indonesia, especially in East Java. This
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word is derived from other swearing word, ‘jancuk’ , which meaning is more
abusive than ‘jangkrik’ (http://forum.kompas.com/showthread.php?5407-
tahukah-anda..asal-muasal../page2). The technique which is used by the translator
in translating ‘thundering typhoons’ into ‘jangkrik’ is adaptation. The translator
replaces the essence of culture. It will be easier for the target readers to feel the
expressive meaning of ‘jangkrik’ swearing word than ‘angin topan’.
Example 2
ST : Blistering Barnacles, I know!... When Ilama angry, he always do that!
TT : Setan laut! Saya tahu!.. Jika Llama marah, selalu begitu!
The example is also taken from the comic of “The Adventures of Tintin:
Prisoners of the Sun”. The dialogue is between Captain Haddock and a travel
guide. The swearing words ‘blistering barnacles’ shows that he is annoyed by the
llama. According to Wikipedia encyclopedia, barnacles is a type of arthropod
belonging to infraclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacea, and is hence
related to crabs and lobsters. In simple word, ‘barnacle’ is a kind of sea creature.
The translation technique which is used by the translator is also adaptation. The
word ‘setan’ which means devil is more acceptable for Indonesian to insult the
others.
Swearing words have been appearing in literature since long time ago.
Its evolution began in sixteenth century. Many curses were recognized in the
Shakespearean works. They develop to the languages use today and to the literary
works such as novel, short stories, drama, and even comic. One of comics
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containing many swearing words as the expression is the whole series of comic
The Adventures of Tintin.
The Adventures of Tintin comic is created by Belgian artist Georges
Prosper Remi or Herge. The series appeared for the first time in French in a
children’s supplement of a Belgian newspaper and had been translated in more
than 30 languages in the world including Indonesian. The first publisher who
published these series in Indonesian is PT. Indira on 1976, by adapting from the
English version published by Egmont Publisher.
The swearing words which are listed in the comic and their Indonesian
translation are the main focus of this research. The researcher took The
Adventures of Tintin comic as the data because this comic has been well-known
by many people in the world and contains distinctions of swearing culture which
become problems in the process of translation. There are many various swearing
words and their different translation in the comic. The researcher is interested in
discussing the techniques which are used by the translator, the accuracy and the
acceptability of the translation. This research is focused only on one of the series
of the translated comic The Adventures of Tintin entitled The Adventures of Tintin:
Prisoners of the Sun.
B. Research Limitation
This research is focused on the English swearing words found in The
Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun comic and their Indonesian translation.
The analysis was focused on the translation technique applied by the translator of
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the comic in translating the swearing words. The researcher also analyzed the
accuracy and the acceptability of the translation of the swearing words.
C. Research Problems
1. What are the translation techniques applied by the translator in translating
the swearing words in The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun
comic?
2. What are the impacts of the translation technique to the quality of the
translation of swearing words in terms of accuracy and the acceptability in
The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun comic?
D. Research Objectives
1. To find out the translation techniques applied by the translator in
translating the swearing words in The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of
the Sun comic.
2. To find out the impacts of the translation technique to the quality of the
translation of swearing words in terms of accuracy and acceptability in
The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun comic.
E. Research Benefits
1. The students of English Department
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The research is hopefully beneficial to the students of English Department
who conduct a research related to the translation technique and the swearing word
as additional information about the study.
2. Translators
The research is hopefully beneficial to give information about swearing
words translation and the level of accuracy and acceptability of the translation.
3. Other researchers
The research is hopefully beneficial to give contribution for the other
researchers who need information about the technique of translating swearing
words in comic and the impact of the technique to the accuracy and the
acceptability.
F. Research Organizations
The research is organized as follows:
Chapter I: Introduction
This chapter consists of research background, research limitation,
research problems, research objectives, research benefits, and research
organizations.
Chapter II: Literature Review
This chapter consists of definition of translation, kinds of meaning,
translation technique, translation quality, problems in translation, definition of
comic, swearing words, the Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun comic.
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Chapter III: Research Methodology
This chapter consists of research type and design, data and source of
data, sampling technique, methods of data collection, techniques of data analysis,
and research procedure.
Chapter IV: Research Findings and Discussion
This chapter consists of introduction, data analysis, and discussion.
Chapter V: Conclusion and Recommendation
This chapter consists of conclusion and recommendation.
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CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
A. The Definition of Translation
There are many definitions of translation. Generally, translation is a
process of transferring message or text from source language into target language.
According to Catford (1965), translation is “the replacement of textual material in
one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL)”
(p.20). The definition of translation stated by Catfort’s does not explain briefly the
different structure and style of the two languages. The process of translation
occurs when the structure and the style of the source language and the target
language is not the same. The translator is required to transmit the message in a
condition of different languages.
Roger T. Bell (1991) defined translation as “the replacement of a
representation of a text in one language by a representation of an equivalent text
in a second language” (p.6). In addition, any text in different language is able to
be fully or partially equal in different degrees, in respect of different levels of
presentation, and different ranks.
It is stated by Newmark (1988) that all translation is partly science, partly
craft, partly art, and partly a matter of taste (p.189). Firstly, what Newmark thinks
of science is the matter of wrong rather than right. There are two types of
scientific mistakes: referential (about facts, real world, propositions not words)
and linguistic (grammatical or lexical, including words, collocations or idioms).
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Secondly, translation is a craft also means translation is a skill. Skill refers to the
ability to follow or to vary from the appropriate natural usage.
Thirdly, translation as an art is the contextual re-creation. A translator
needs to go beyond the text to the sub-text. He emphasizes on what writer means
rather than what the writer says or produces an economical exposition of a stretch
of language. The fourth, what a translation means as a matter of taste is the
preferences of the translator. It is considered as a subjective factor. A translator
can decide to prefer between lexical synonym to sentences or paragraphs which
are translated in different places. It is also related to the preferences of the
technique application e.g. to apply literal or free translation.
Nida and Taber defined translation as “Translating consists in reproducing
in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source language
message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style” (as cited in
Widyamartaya, 1989, p.11).
The definition of translation by Nida and Taber explains that translation
focuses on the response of the language receptor. It means that a good translation
is accepted when it can be easily understood by the readers. The meaning and the
style in target language must be the same as the meaning and the style in source
language. However, the translation must keep the naturalization of the text. In
transferring language from source language into target language, a translator must
be faithful. It means that a translator must keep the accuracy of the message. The
translator is also required to make the translated message readable and acceptable.
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From the definitions above, it can be concluded that translation is a process
of transmitting message from source language into target language with
consideration of meaning, style, the quality of accuracy, readability, and
acceptability. Translation is not only positioned as a science and skill, but also as
an art and, for the translator, a taste of preferences.
B. Kinds of Meaning
Lexical meaning of a word can be considered as the specific value in
particular linguistic system. It can also be considered as the personality assuming
through the using within that system. According to Cruse, there are four types of
meaning in words and utterances (as cited in Baker, 1992, p.13). They are:
1) Propositional meaning
It is a type of meaning providing a basis on which a true or false of an
utterance can be determined. Propositional meaning of words or utterances comes
up from the relation between the words or the utterances and what each of them
defines in a real or imaginary world.
2) Expressive meaning
It relates to the feeling or attitude of the speaker rather than to the words
and utterances means. Hence, this meaning cannot be determined as true or false.
3) Presupposed meaning
It comes up from the limitations of coincidence. There are two kinds of
limitations (or restrictions):
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3.1. Selectional restrictions; refers to the function of the propositional
meaning of a word.
3.2. Collocational restrictions; refers to semantically arbitrary restrictions
which do not follow logically from the propositional meaning of a
word.
4) Evoked meaning.
It comes up from dialect and register variation. Dialect is a variety of
language which has currency within a specific community or group of speakers.
Dialect can be classified as geographical (e.g. lift for Scottish dialect and elevator
for American dialect), temporal (e.g. the use of verily and really by people of
different ages in a community), social (e.g. the use of scent and perfume by people
of different social classes).
Register is a variety of language that a language user considers
appropriate to a specific situation. It comes up from field of discourse (abstract
term for what’s going on), tenor of discourse (abstract term for the relationship
between the people taking part in the discourse), mode of discourse (abstract term
for the role that the language is playing and for its medium of transmission).
C. Translation Techniques
According to Molina and Albir, (2002) translation technique is defined as
“procedures to analyze and classify how translation equivalence works” (p.509).
They offer five basic characterictics that those techniques are;
1) affecting the result of the translation
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2) classified by comparison with the original
3) affecting micro-units of text
4) discursive and contextual
5) functional.
There are many translation techniques which are used by many translators.
In this research, those techniques are:
1) Adaptation.
It is a technique which replaces a source text cultural element with the
element from the target culture (Molina and Albir, 2002, p.509). This technique is
used since the target text has no equivalence of the source text. The target text
may have different concept of culture from the source text. This technique is used
as the result of the difference of cultural background between the source language
and the target language which occurs in the translation. Target language culture
sometimes does not have the same concept of culture as the source language.
Hence, the translator modifies the source language word into the word that has the
same meaning or expression which can be accepted by the norm and the cultural
rule of the target language society.
For example:
ST: I answered with the term I’d always wanted to employ.
“Sonovabitch.”
TT: Aku menjawab dengan istilah yang sejak dulu sudah hendak
kugunakan. “Si Brengsek.”
(Taken from Suryawinata, 2003, p.72)
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From the example above, the word ‘sonovabitch’ is translated into ‘si
brengsek’ rather than ‘anak anjing’. It considers that ‘si brengsek’ is more polite
for the target language culture than ‘anak anjing’.
2) Borrowing.
This technique takes statements or expression straight from another
language (Molina and Albir, 2002, p.510). There are two kinds of borrowing; pure
borrowing and naturalized borrowing. Pure borrowing means that a source text is
translated without any changes into the target text. Naturalized borrowing or
naturalization is a translation technique by fitting the spelling rules (pronunciation
and morphological) of the source text into target language.
For example:
(Pure borrowing) ST: harddisk
TT: harddisk
(Naturalization) ST: mall
TT: mal
3) Loan translation (calque).
It is a linear substitution of elements of one language by elements of the
other (normally noun phrase) (Bell, 1991, p.70). This technique belongs to literal
translation. However, according to Wills (1981), loan translation primarily occurs
in noun compounds and adjectives-non collocations (p.97). This translation, after
a time, is often accepted, or at least, tolerated by the target language.
For example:
ST: interest rate
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TT: tingkat suku bunga
From the example above, the word ‘interest rate’ in the SL has linear
substitution in the target language as ‘tingkat suku bunga’. In the TL (Indonesian)
‘tingkat suku bunga’ becomes familiar as a term in economy.
4) Generalization.
According to Molina and Albir (2002), generalization means to use a
more general or neutral term. This technique is related to the semantic shift from
the specific meaning into the general meaning (Simatupang, 2000, p.92). This
technique occurs when the SL word with a specific meaning is translated into a
word with a more general meaning in TL since the word in general meaning is
easier to understand and accepted.
For example:
ST: leg or foot (specific)
TT: kaki (general)
The words ‘leg’ and ‘foot’ in English is more appropriate to be translated
into ‘kaki’ in Indonesian since this word directly means parts of human body used
for walking.
5) Translation shift
Catford (1974) stated that there are two major types of shifts occur: level
shifts and category shifts. Level shifts means that an SL item at one linguistic
level has a TL translation equivalent at a different level. Category shifts are
classified into structure shifts, class shifts, unit shifts, and intra-system shifts.
5.1. Structure shift
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Structure shift can occur at all ranks in grammar.
Example: structure shift at group rank from M-H into H-M
ST: musical instruments
M H
TT: alat musik
H M
In the example, the SL is a noun phrase of which structure is
Modifier-Head. It is translated into TL of which structure is Head-
Modifier. It can be seen that the structure of the noun phrase changes from M-H
into H-M.
5.2. Class shift
Class shift occurs when the translation equivalent of a SL item is a
member of a different class from the original item (Catford, 1965, p.78). Class
shift can also be called as category shift.
Example:
ST: He’s in doubt
N
TT: Dia ragu-ragu
Adj
The word ‘doubt’ is categorized as noun. This word is translated into
‘ragu-ragu’ that is categorized as an adjective. This translation shows a shift from
noun into adjective.
5.3. Unit shift
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It means the changes of rank that is departures from formal
correspondence in which the translation equivalent of a unit at one rank in the SL
is a unit at a different rank in the TL (Catford, 1965, p.79).
Example:
SL: girl
TL: anak perempuan
From the example above, it can be seen a unit shift from word (girl) to
phrase (anak perempuan). This translation shows a shift from word to phrase.
6) Equivalence.
According to Bell (1991), equivalence is “the replacement of a stretch of
SL (particularly idioms, clichés, proverbs, and the like) by its functional
equivalent (greeting, etc)”. This technique is similar to literal translation.
Example:
ST: Stupid.
TT: Tolol.
The exclamation word ‘stupid’ is replaced to be ‘tolol’. The word ‘tolol’ is
familiar in the target language. The meaning of both words is equal.
7) Addition
Addition is a translation technique which is used by adding some
information in order to make a clearer translation. The translator inserts additional
information into the translation because he considers that the readers may need it
(Suryawinata and Hariyanto, 2003, p.74).
Example:
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SL: The skin, which is hard and scaly, is greyfish in colour, thus helping
to camouflage it from predators when underwater.
TL: Kulitnya, yang keras dan bersisik, berwarna abu-abu. Dengan
demikian, kulit ini membantunya berkamuflase, menyesuaikan diri
dengan keadaan lingkungan untuk menyelamatkan diri dari
predator, hewan pemangsa, jika berada di dalam air.
(Taken from Suryawinata and Hariyanto, 2003, p.75)
The addition ‘menyesuaikan diri dengan keadaan lingkungan’ and
‘hewan pemangsa’ is inserted in order to give information to the words
‘camouflage’ and ‘predators’ in the target texts.
8) Deletion
Deletion means an omission of word or part of a text of SL in the text of
TL (Suryawinata, 2003, p.75). This technique occurs when the SL word is
considered less important and difficult to translate. The translator applies deletion
technique in order to avoid producing a confusing translation for the target
readers.
Example:
SL: “Sama dengan raden ayu ibunya,” katanya lirih.
TL: “Just like her mother,” she whispered.
In the example, the phrase ‘raden ayu’ is not translated into the TL. The
translator considers that the translation of the phrase can be amusing the target
readers since they have no cultural concepts about the meaning of ‘raden ayu’.
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D. Translation Quality
Translation quality assessment is also known as translation criticism.
According to Nababan (2003), to criticize the translation product is a very
difficult task, because it needs vast ability in translation to do it (p.83). The critic
must have both ability in translation theory and practice.
According to Newmark (1988), translation criticism is an “essential link
between translation theory and practice” (p.184). It means that in criticizing a
translation product, there is always a connection between the theory of translation
and the application of the theory. A translator is able to assess the translation
product, as well as the quality, by applying the theory of translation.
It is important for a translator to have his translation criticized. His
translation should be tested before it is widely exposed to the public readers.
According to Larson (1984), there are three main reasons for a translator to test a
translation. Firstly, a translator needs to make sure that his translation is accurate.
A translator will work hardly to transfer the meaning and sometimes he will need
to add or to delete some information to reach the highest point of accuracy.
Secondly, a translator needs to make sure that his translation is clear. The
only way to check whether a translation is clear is by testing it with a person who
is not familiar with the source text and then asking questions to find out the
understanding. If the text is easily understood by him, it means that the translation
is communicative for the target readers.
The third reason is to make sure that a translation is natural. A translation
may be understood correctly and it may be communicable, but the form may be
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unnatural for the receptor language. Therefore, a translator needs to pay attention
to the form of the target language. The information needs to be transferred in an
interesting way. It should flow as a coherent text in order to make it readable for
the target readers.
Larson (1984) stated that there are some ways to test a translation
(p.489). Those are;
1) Comparison with the source language. The translator compares several
points of the text of source language to the target language carefully. The
purpose is to check for the equivalence of the information of the text.
2) Back-translation. The translator may ask for help to a person who is truly
bilingual and able to do back-translation. Back-translation is beneficial to
find out the matter of communication. However, back-translation cannot
be applied to test the naturalness of the translation. It focuses more on the
equivalence of the meaning than the naturalness.
3) Comprehension test. The purpose of comprehension test is to check
whether a translation is understood by the target readers correctly without
knowing the source language. The purpose of this is to find out what the
translation is communicating to the audience. The translator may ask for
help from a target reader who has a good fluency in his language (target
language).
4) Naturalness and readability test. The purpose of naturalness checking is to
check if the form of the translation is natural and the style is used
appropriately. The translator may need help from reviewers (people who is
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willing to read the translation). Meanwhile, readability test is to check
whether a translation is readable. It can be seen from the text whether it is
a good writing with a pleasing style and good rhythm and it is flowing.
5) Consistency test. This test is related to the consistency of the translator in
translating some words or phrases and key terms in the text. This test is
done to make sure that the same term is surely used or that there are
different terms used in certain context for some reasons.
The quality of translation covers three main things as the measurements
whether a translation is a good product. They are accuracy, acceptability, and
readability. Accuracy is related to the correctness and incorrectness of the
translation text from the source language to the target language. Acceptability
shows whether a translated text is natural for the target readers and appropriate to
the culture of the target language. Readability shows whether the translated text is
easy to understand and easy to read by the target readers. In this research, the
researcher analyzes the quality of translation only in terms of accuracy and
acceptability without the readability since the data are in the form of words and
phrases.
According to Baker (1992), accuracy is no doubt an important aim in
translation, but it is also important to bear in mind that the use of common target
language patterns which are familiar to the target reader plays an important role in
keeping the communication channels open (p.57). It means that besides
concerning on the accuracy, a translator should pay attention to the pattern or the
form which is commonly used by the target language in order to make the
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information is communicated well to the target readers. In this way, a translator is
considered creating not only accurate translation, but also acceptable translation.
Moreover, when the conveyed information is recognized culturally, the target
readers will accept the information communicated through the natural translation.
E. Problems in Translation
In translating a text from the source language to the target language, a
translator may be troubled in finding the equivalent words or phrases. This
problem may affect the result of the translation. According to Mona Baker (1992,
p.21), the common problems of non-equivalence arise from the following:
1) Culture-specific concepts
It is related to the cultural background differences. The word or text from
the source language sometimes expresses a concept which is very much
unfamiliar or unknown in the target language culture.
2) The source language concept is not lexicalized in the target language
The word or text from the source language sometimes expresses a
concept which is familiar or known by the target language culture but simply not
lexicalized. The concept is not distributed by the target language word to express.
3) The source language word is semantically complex
The SL word may be semantically complex. Baker (1992) stated that a
single word consisting of a single morpheme sometimes expresses a more
complex set of meanings than a whole sentence. This is a fairly common problem
in translation.
4) The SL and TL make different distinctions in meaning
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Target language sometimes creates a more or fewer distinctions in the
meaning than the source language does. Some things which are regarded as an
important meaning in one language can be perceived as irrelevant in another
language.
5) The target language lacks a superordinate
The target language word may has only a specific meaning (hyponymy)
without the general meaning (superordinate). The source language word
sometimes is translated by changing the semantic field from the superordinate into
the hyponymy.
6) The target language lacks a specific term (hyponymy)
The target language word tends to have more general words
(superordinate) than the specific ones (hyponymy).
7) Differences in physical or interpersonal perspective
Physical perspective is associated to where things or people are related to
one another or to a place.
8) Differences in expressive meaning
A target language of which the propositional meaning is the same as the
source language may have a different expressive meaning. When the target
language is neutral compared to the source language, the translator is able to add
evaluative element (by a modifier or adverb).
9) Differences in form
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English suffixes and prefixes conveying propositional meaning and other
types of meaning sometimes do not have direct equivalence in the other language.
It can occur in particular form of the target language.
10) Differences in frequency and purpose of using specific forms
It is possible that difference in the frequency and purpose for which it is
used arises when a form of a source language has the equivalence in the target
language.
11) The use of loan words in the source text
A translator sometimes faces difficulties in finding a loan word with the
same meaning in the target language. The other difficulties related to loan words
are the rise of false friends. False friends refer to words or expressions having the
same form in many language but they deliver different meaning.
F. Definition of Comic
According to Juha Herkman (as cited in Koponen, 2004), the definition of
comics contains three central characteristics. They are a narrative told through a
five series of pictures, recurring pictures, and a combination of dialogue or other
types of texted picture. He also stated that not all of comics follow the
characteristics. There are many kinds of comic which only contain of pictures
without text.
Herkman stated that “the most important determining characteristic of
comics would be the narrative element, which excludes single-frame cartoons or
so-called caricatures”. Another expert, Klaus Kaindl considered comics as “a
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series of at least two pictures telling a story” (as cited in Koponen, 2004). The
combination of text and picture makes comics different from the other genre.
According to Herkman, there are three basic elements of comic. They are
pictorial elements, linguistic elements, and effect elements. Pictorial elements are
the major elements which dominate the whole comic. This elements “immediate
sense of the locations and physical descriptions present in the comic story”.
Linguistic elements include dialogue (located inside the speech bubles), narration
(located in the boxes of the frames or completely outside), detail text inside
pictures, and onomatopoeia or sound effect. The effect elements consist of speed
lines, onomatopoeic sound effects, speech bubbles, typography of the text, and the
symbols or pictograms.
It can be concluded that comic is a series of combination of pictures and
texts which telling a story. The image and the words show the information. There
is a chance that an expression in comics cannot be recognized by word, but it can
be seen by the pictures. A comic translator is often helped by the pictures
whenever he or she finds difficulty in understanding the information or the
message. However, sometimes the words and images may be in contradiction. The
long sentence and the limited space may also be a problem for a comic translator.
G. Swearing Word
According to Oxford English Dictionary, the definition of swearing word
is “rude or offensive word”. Swearing word has a central position in verbal
communicative. It is considered as emotive language function since swearing
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word is used to express dislike, hate, and dissatisfaction of a situation. This
expression is considered as an attack for them who are insulted. According to
Wijana and Rohmadi (2006), at least there are six factors to swear: idiocy,
abnormality, something cursed or forbidden by religion, unfortunate events,
something disgusting, and everything which distracts human live. However, the
people who state it consider swearing word as an intimacy and a freedom of
expression or, in another word, as an expressive language function.
According to Rothwell (as cited in Japutri, 2006, p.9), the principal
purposes for using swearing word are:
1) To create attention. People who swear have intention to attract attention
from the surroundings.
2) Discredit. People who swear intend to show their disinterest of the public
opinion or image.
3) Provoke.
4) Identification. Swearing word can be used as a person’s identification
when somebody else utters it to show his disinterest.
5) Provide catharsis. It means that when somebody’s hurt physically or
mentally, he or she will utter swearing word as revenge.
Hughes (as cited in Japutri, 2006, p.10) also stated that the other purpose
for using swearing word is to insult the others.
Swearing is considered as a taboo matter. Taboo is commonly defined as
something forbidden. Ullmann stated that taboo word comes up as the result of
fear, delicacy, and propriety (as cited in Wijana and Rohmadi, 2006, p.111).
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Taboo of fear is reflected in the prohibition of saying God’s names. Taboo of
delicacy can be reflected in human’s effort to avoid direct indication of unpleasant
things such as death and disease as a form of euphemism. Taboo of propriety can
be reflected in human’s effort to avoid indication of things related to sex, human’s
genital or parts of human body and their function.
According to Wijana and Rohmadi (2006), Indonesian swearing word is
differentiated into three forms; they are swearing word in a form of word such as
sialan, swearing word in a form of phrase such as dasar gila, and swearing word
in a form of clause such as gila benar dia (p.117).
The classification of swearing word, especially in Indonesia, can be seen
in the following forms:
1) Situation. It includes mentally situation, cursed situation, and one’s