AN OVERVIEW OF TRANSLATION 2.1 The Definition of Translation PDF

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CHAPTER II AN OVERVIEW OF TRANSLATION 2.1 The Definition of Translation As it is stated in Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2000:1438) Translation is the process of changing something that is written or spoken into another language. Wiratno (2003) says that translation is a process of transferr...

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CHAPTER II AN OVERVIEW OF TRANSLATION

2.1

The Definition of Translation As it is stated in Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2000:1438)

Translation is the process of changing something that is written or spoken into another language. Wiratno (2003) says that translation is a process of transferring message from SL into TL. SL or Source Language is an origin language which is translated, while TL or Target Language is a final language which is used to express the result of translation. He states the previous statement in his book: “Penerjemahan ialah proses pengalihan pesan dari bahasa sumber ke dalam bahasa sasaran. Bahasa sumber adalah bahasa asal yang diterjemahkan, sedangkan bahasa sasaran adalah bahasa target yang digunakan untuk mengungkapkan hasil terjemahan.” But the definition of translation is not that simple. There are so many definitions about translation from many experts. They define the definitions about translation in many ways. According to Catford (1965:20), “Translation is the replacement of textual material in one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL)” and Nida (1969:12) states that translation consists of reproducing in the receptor language the natural equivalent of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and second in terms of style. The definition of translation from the expert is not limited only on Catford’s and Nida’s point of view. There are several definitions stated by some experts.

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However, translation deals with the meaning. Translation with correct structure is useless without the meaning. Larson (1984:3) states that translation means transferring the meaning of the source language into receptor language. And Newmark states a further view towards the transferring meaning in a translation. As he says (1988:5), Translation is rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the way that the author intended the text. Moreover, translation also deals with culture aspects. Kridalaksana, an expert in translation theory states on his book (1983:128), “Terjemahan adalah pengalihan amanat antarbudaya dan/atau antarbahasa dalam tataran gramatikal dan leksikal dengan maksud, efek atau ujud yang sedapat mungkin tetap dipertahankan.” In brief, his view about translation is a transferring message among cultures and languages.

2.2

Function of Translation According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2000:546), Function is

a special activity or purpose of a person or thing. Basically, the special purpose or function of translation is as a medium of communications. As Duff (1989:5) says, “As a process of communication, translation functions as the medium ‘across the linguistic and cultural barriers’ in conveying the message written in the foreign languages.” In other words, the function of translation is a medium or a means to carry the message from the SL to TL. And it is very helpful for people which come from around the world in communication to each other. As Nida (1981:2) states, “Translation means communication because it has three essential elements to form a process of communication. The three essential 9

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elements are source, message, and receptor, and these elements must be found in all communication activities”. In brief that, translation is a means in communication, that has source, message, and receptor which must be found in all communication activities.

2.3

Process of Translation Nida and Taber (1969) in Munday (2001:40) divide the process of translating

into three stages system: 1) analysis of message in the SL; 2) transfer, and; 3) reconstruction of the transferred message in the TL. This process is described in the following figure.

A (Source Language)

B (Receptor Language)

(Analysis)

X

(Restructuring)

(Transfer)

Y

Figure 1 Diagram of the Translation Process

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From the diagram, we can see that the source language is analyzing the grammatical relationship and the meaning of words and its combination. Then it transferred the meaning from SL into TL. The Reconstruction phase is the phase where the translator rewrites or re-expresses the materials in such a way that the translation product is readable and acceptable in terms of rules and styles in the TL. Furthermore, Nababan (2003:25), he writes that “Proses penerjemahan terdiri atas tiga tahap, yaitu 1) analisis teks bahasa sumber (Bsu), 2) pengalihan pesan, 3) restrukturisasi.” The process of translation have three steps, those are 1) the analysis of the source language (SL), 2) transferring the message, 3) restructuring.

2.4

Types of Translation Brislin (1976: 3-4) states that: according to the purpose, translation can be

divided into four types: (a) pragmatic, Pragmatic translation is the translation of a message with an interest in accuracy of the information meant to be communicated in the target language form. Belonging to such translation is the translation of technical information, such as repairing instructions. (b) aesthetic-poetic, The second type is aesthetic-poetic translation that does not only focus on the information, but also the emotion, feeling, beauty involved in the original writing. (c) ethnographic,

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The third is ethnographic translation that explicates the cultural context of the source and second language versions. (d) linguistic translation The last type is linguistic translation, the one that is concerned with equivalent meanings of the constituent morphemes of the second language and with grammatical form. Seen from this classification, the translation of literary work should be the aesthetic-poetic one. Otherwise, Jakobson (1969) in Venuti (2000:114) states that the kind of translation is divided into three differently labeled: 1. Intralingual translation or rewording is an interpretation of verbal signs by means of other signs of the same language. For instance: Charles dickens’ Animal Farm is rewording into children language version but still in English. 2. Interlingual translation or translation proper is an interpretation of verbal signs by means of some other language. For instance: a text in Indonesian language is translated into English. A novel by Andrea Hirata, Laskar Pelangi has been translated into English become “The Rainbow Troops”. 3. Intersemiotic translation or transmutation is an interpretation of verbal signs by means of signs of nonverbal sign systems. For instance: if we see one symbol on the road, which picture is a spoon and a fork, it means that we will find a restaurant not too far from the road.

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2.5

Shifts Catford (1965) in Venuti (2000:141) states that shifts are departures from

formal correspondence in the process of going from SL (source language) to the TL (target language). He also states that shifts divided into two major types, those are; level shift and category shift.

2.5.1

Level Shifts As Catford (1965) in Venuti (2000:141) states “Level shifts. By a shift of

level we mean that a SL item at one Linguistic level has a TL translation equivalent at a different level”. It means that a grammatical unit in English, such as noun, affixes, etc, has a lexical unit in Bahasa Indonesia (Machali 1998:14). The followings are the examples of level shifts: 1. (a) Mary pun tidak mau membeli ketiga benda tersebut. (b) Even Mary does not want to buy those three things. 2. (a) Boni has sold his motorcycle, because he needs some money. (b) Boni sudah menjual sepeda motornya, karena dia butuh uang. In example (1), we can see that a unit (morpheme) in Bahasa Indonesia grammar ‘pun’ is translated into ‘even’ a lexis in English. And also in example (2), it can be seen that in English if ‘have’ comes together with past participle of ‘sell’. The form ‘have + past participle’ in English is translated into ‘sudah’, a lexis in Bahasa Indonesia.

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2.5.2

Category Shifts The second types of shift, is category shift, it is referred to unbounded and

rank-bound translation. Unbounded translation means that translation equivalences may occur between sentences, clauses, groups, words and morphemes. While the term rank-bound translation only to refer to those special cases where equivalence is limited to ranks below the sentence.

2.5.2.1 Structure-Shifts Structure shift is about the changing of grammatical between the structure of the SL and the TL, because of the structure of the SL and TL is not correspondent. For Example: The form of the noun phrase of SL is Modifier-Head, while the form of the noun phrase of TL is Head-Modifier. new Adj

car N

→

mobil N

baru Adj

2.5.2.2 Class-Shifts Class Shifts is about when the translation equivalent of a SL item is a component of a different class in TL. For instance: a.

a medical Adj.

student N

b.

mahasiswa N

kedokteran N

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2.5.2.3 Unit-Shifts Unit shifts is about to changes of rank. In which the translation equivalent of a unit at one rank in the SL is a unit at a different rank in the TL. For example: Shift from phrase to word

The Lord P

→

Tuhan W

2.5.2.3.1 Word-Shifts Word shifts is a part of unit-shifts, it is about the changes from word in the SL or Source Language into another ranks in TL or Target Language. For Example: Shift from word (Adj.) to phrase What about a complete stranger? Adj.

→

Bagaimana dengan orang asing? P

2.5.2.4 Intra-System-Shifts Intra system shifts is the last shifts, intra system shifts is about the shifts which occur along with the names of the types of shift affecting the other fundamental categories of grammar-unit, structure and class. For example: a.

a pair of trousers N (plural)

b.

sebuah celana N (singular)

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2.6

Five Units of Ranks in English Morley (2000:23-24) identifies five grammatical units representing ranks in

English: sentence, clause, group (or phrase), word, and morpheme. 1) Sentence Sentence is a set of words expressing a statement, a question, or an order, usually containing a subject and a verb. (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2000:1212)) E.g. ‘Ferdian went to the Hospital last Thursday’ 2) Clause Clause is a group of words that includes a subject and a verb, and forms a sentence or part of a sentence. (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2000:228)) E.g. ‘We cannot start while it is raining’ the clause is while it is raining 3) Group (Phrase) Group (phrase) is a group of words without a finite verb, especially one that forms part of a sentence. (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2000:988)) E.g. ‘There came a giant to my door’ the phrase is my door 4) Word Word is a single unit of language which means something can be spoken or written. (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2000:1551)) E.g. ‘eat’ 5) Morpheme

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Morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning that a word can be divided into. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2000:862) E.g. the suffix ‘dom’ in the word ‘freedom’ indicates that the word is a noun in English.

2.7

Word Classes Kaplan (1989:108) divides word classes into two groups: major and minor.

The major classes include nouns, verbs, adjective and adverbs. The minor classes include pronoun, preposition, conjunction and interjection. Therefore the discussion of word-shifts will be focused on the major classes of word since the possibility to identify word-shifts is larger than the minor classes of word.

2.7.1

Major Classes of Word The major classes of word include noun, verb, adjective and adverb.

Followings are the description of the major classes of words by Wren and Martin (1975:4): a. Noun A word used as the name of a person, place, or thing. Example: king, sun, rose. b. Verb A word used to say something about some person, place, or thing. Example: wrote, jump, drive. c. Adjective 17

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A word used to add something to the meaning of a noun. Example: brave, beautiful, lazy. d. Adverb A word used to add something to the meaning of verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Example: tomorrow, quickly, this afternoon.

2.7.2

Minor Classes of Word The minor classes of word are pronoun, preposition, conjunction and

interjection. a. Pronoun A word used instead of a noun. Example: he, she, it. b. Preposition A word used with a noun or a pronoun to show how the person or thing denoted by the noun or pronoun stands in relation to something else. Example: in, of, under. c. Conjunction A word used to join words or sentences. Example: and, but, although. d. Interjection A word which expression some sudden feeling. Example: Hurrah!, Alas!, Ohh!. 18

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