First Meeting

INTRODUCTION

Hakikat Menerjemahkan
(The Nature of Translating )
Syllabus Orientation

* The Nature of Translating

* Theory of Translation
* Process of Translation
* Procedure of Translation
* Type of Sentences in Translation
* Compound Word, Figure of Speech and Idiom in Translation
* Concept of Meaning In Translation
* Letter and Meeting in Translation
 Apa itu menerjemahkan?
◦ Hal utama dan paling penting diketahui penerjemah sebelum memulai tugasnya sebagai penerjemah
adalah memahami hakikat kegiatannya sebagai penerjemah. Sebagai penerjemah, ia perlu memahami betul
arti menerjemahkan. Menerjemahkan adalah mengalihkan pesan dari teks bahasa sumber ke teks bahasa
penerima.

◦ ’Mengalihkan pesan’ artinya memindahkan pesan yang sama dari teks bahasa sumber (TBS) ke teks
bahasa penerima (TBP). Misalnya, memindahkan pesan yang sama dari bahasa Indonesia ke bahasa Inggris.
Apa itu ’pesan yang sama’? Pesan yang sama artinya PESAN yang dipahami pembaca TBS sama dengan
pesan yang dipahami pembaca TBP. Dengan kata lain, pesan yang dinyatakan dalam teks bahasa sumber,
sama persis dengan pesan yang dinyatakan dalam bahasa penerima. Misalnya, kalau kita menanyakan, ”Di
mana Anda tinggal?”, maka pesan yang sama dalam bahasa Inggris adalah, ” Where do you live?” bukan
”Where do you work?”. Jadi, secara sederhana dapat dipahami bahwa menerjemahkan adalah memindahkan
pesan yang sama dari teks bahasa sumber ke teks bahasa penerima.

◦ Dengan demikian, tugas penerjemah adalah mengalihkan pesan yang sama dari TBS ke TBP. Pesan
merupakan fokus utama.
 Menerjemahkan adalah mengalihkan PESAN dari teks bahasa
sumber (TBS) ke dalam teks bahasa penerima (TBP)

◦ Misalnya, dalam bahasa Indonesia kata ’bersaudara’ cukup diungkapkan dengan satu kata saja. Tetapi
bila pertanyaan ’Berapa Anda bersaudara?’ hendak diterjemahkan ke dalam bahasa Inggris, maka kata
’bersaudara’ tidak cukup diterjemahkan dengan satu kata, tetapi lebih dari satu kata, yaitu ’How many
brothers and sisters do you have?’ Demikian pula terdapat banyak unsur struktur gramatikal (susunan kata)
yang berbeda antara bahasa Inggris dan bahasa Indonesia; perbedaan itu perlu dicermati pula. Misalnya,
kalimat ’I have a new book’ bila diterjemahkan ke dalam bahasa Indonesia akan memiliki struktrur kalimat
yang sangat berbeda ’Saya memiliki buku baru’ bukan ’Saya memiliki sebuah baru buku’. Karena itu,
terjemahan yang baik adalah terjemahan yang berfokus pada pesan atau arti, bukan pada bentuk bahasa
TBS.
◦ Perhatikan contoh terjemahan yang mengikuti struktur bahasa TBS di bawah ini:

No. TBS (Bahasa Inggris) TBP (Bahasa Indonesia)

1 The water is boiling. Can you turn it Air sedang mendidih. Dapatkah Anda
off? mematikannya?*

2 Let’s go out. It isn’t raining now. Ayo kita keluar. Itu sedang tidak hujan
sekarang.*

3 I am going to bed now. Goodnight! Saya sedang pergi ke tempat tidur sekarang.
Selamat malam!*

4 I am always losing things. Saya selalu sedang kehilangan barang-

barang.*

5 Can you open the door? Dapatkah Anda membuka pintu?*

Kalau kita perhatikan dengan cermat terjemahan di atas, tentunya penutur bahasa Indonesia akan sepaham
bahwa terjemahan di atas tidak enak dibaca. Mengapa demikian? Karena, terjemahan di atas mengikuti struktur
bahasa TBS. Semua kata diterjemahkan oleh penerjemah. Padahal, untuk menerjemahkan dengan baik, yang
harus dialihkan adalah pesannya, yaitu pesan yang ada dalam TBS, bukan memindahkan struktur.
Cermatilah dua jenis terjemahan di bawah ini. Terjemahan pertama di halaman sebelumnya adalah terjemahan
kaku, yaitu terjemahan yang mengikuti struktur TBS dan terjemahan kedua adalah terjemahan wajar, yaitu
terjemahan yang tidak berbau terjemahan.

No. TBS Terjemahan Kaku Terjemahan Wajar

1 The water is boiling. Air sedang mendidih. Dapatkah Air sudah mendidih.
Can you turn it off? Anda mematikannya?* Tolong matikan kompor.

2 Let’s go out. It isn’t Ayo kita keluar. Itu sedang tidak Ayo kita keluar. Hujan
raining now. hujan sekarang.* sudah berhenti.

3 I am going to bed Saya sedang pergi ke tempat Sekarang, saya mau

now. Goodnight! tidur sekarang. Selamat tidur. Selamat malam!
malam!*

4 I am always losing Saya selalu sedang kehilangan Saya selalu saja

things. barang-barang.* kehilangan barang-
barang.

5 Can you open the Dapatkah Anda membuka Tolong buka pintu.
door? pintu?
 The Nature of Translating

Nida and Taber (1982): translating consists in reproducing in the RL the closest natural equivalent of
the SL message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style.
 Reproducing the message; To reproduce the message one must make a good many
grammatical and lexical adjustments.
 Equivalence rather than identity; In a sense this is just another way of emphasizing the
reproduction of the message rather than the conservation of the form of the utterance,
but it reinforces the need for radical alteration of a phrase such as “it came to pass,”
which may be quite meaningless.
 A natural equivalent: not sound like a translation.
 The closest equivalent.
 The priority of meaning: meaning must be given priority, for it is the content of the
message which is of prime importance in translating a text.
 The significance of style: though style is secondary to content, one should not translate
poetry as though it were prose, nor expository material as though it were straight
narrative.
PRINCIPLES OF TRANSLATION (Alan Duff, 1989, Oxford
University Press)

1. Meaning. ……reflect accurately the meaning of the original

text. Nothing should be arbitrarily added or removed,
though occasionally part of the meaning can be
‘transposed’, for example, impact test-uji benturan, ignition
plug-busi
 Ask yourself:
• is the meaning of the original text clear? If not, where does
the uncertainty lie?
• are any words ‘loaded’, that is, are there any underlying
implications? (Correct me if I am wrong…’ suggests ‘I
know I am right’!)
• is the dictionary meaning of a particular word the most
suitable one? (should subversi be subversion in English?)
• does anything in the translation sound unnatural or
forced?
2. Form.

The ordering of words and ideas in the

translation should match the original as
closely as possible. (esp. in translating legal
documents, guarantees, contracts, etc) But
differences in language structure often
require changes in the form and order of
words. When in doubt, underline in the
original text the words on which the main
stress falls.
3. Register.

Languages often differ greatly in their levels of formality in

a given context (say, business letter). To resolve these
differences, the translator must distinguish between formal
or fixed expressions (Bersama surat ini terlampir….Please
find enclosed…) and personal expressions, in which the
writer or speaker sets the tone.
 Consider also:
• would any expression in the original sound too
formal/informal, cold/warm,
personal/impersonal…if translated literally?
• what is the intention of the speaker or writer?(to
persuade/dissuade, apologize/criticize?) Does
this come through in the translation?
4. Source language influence.
One of the most frequent criticisms of translation is that ‘it doesn’t
sound natural’. This is because the translator’s thoughts and
choice of words are too strongly moulded by the original text.

A good way of shaking off the source language (SL) influence is to

set the text aside and translate a few sentences aloud, from
memory. This will suggest natural patterns of thought in the first
language (L1), which may not come to mind when the eye is fixed
on the SL text.
5. Style and clarity.

The translator should not change the style of the

original. But if the text is sloppy written, or full of tedious
repetitions, the translator may, for the reader’s sake,
correct the defects.
 6. Idiom.
Idiomatic expressions are notoriously untranslatable. These include
similes, metaphors, proverbs and sayings (as good as gold), jargon,
slang, and colloquialisms (user-friendly, the Big Apple, yuppie, etc), and
(in English) phrasal verbs. If the expressions cannot be directly
translated, try any of the following:

• retain the original, in inverted commas ‘yuppie’

• retain the original expression, with a literal explanation in brackets:
Indian summer( dry, hazy weather in late autumn= berkabut(Ind))
• use a close equivalent: talk of the devil = baru saja dibicarakan lalu
muncul tiba-tiba (literally, the wolf at the door)
• use a non idiomatic or plain prose translation: a bit over the top =…..

 The golden rule is: if the idiom does not work in the L1, do not force it into the translation
1. What are the characteristics of
language which affect translation?

a) form will be used to represent

several alternative meaning.
b) Whole sentences may also have
several functions. A question form may be used for a
nonquestion.

c) A single meaning may be expressed

in a variety of forms.
 2. What is the goal of a translator?

To produce a translation: idiomatic;

the same meaning as the SL but expressed in the
natural form of the RL

The meaning, not the form, is retained.

3. Is it necessary to change the form when translating?

 Whenever necessary, the receptor

language form should be changed in
order that the source language meaning
not be distorted.
 Often necessary to change the form
when translating.
 Depending on the natural form of the
receptor language.
4. How does a translator know that he is successful in
his translation task?

if the receptor language readers do not recognize the

work as a translation at all, but simply as a text
written in the receptor language for their information
and enjoyment.
5. How does a translator make his translation as dynamic as the
original text?

For the translation to have the same

dynamics as the original, it will need to
be natural and easy to understand …
including both the information and the
emotional effect intended by the source
language writer.
6. What is non-equivalence?

Non-equivalence at word level means that the target

language has no direct equivalent for a word which
occurs in the text.
7. Why non-equivalence?
 Culture-specific concepts (Religious belief, a social
custom, or a type of food and tools).
8. How do we handle a non-equivalence
 Translation by a more general word
(superordinate)
 Translation by a more natural/less
expressive word
 Translation by cultural substitution
 Translation using a loan word or loan
word plus explanation
9. How do we handle a non-equivalence
 Translation by paraphrase using a
related word
 Translation by paraphrase using
unrelated words
 Translation by omission
 Translation by illustration
10. Translating and Language Learning
 For your learning process, as you do translating, you might
need to list the new words you encounter (As I do) and make
your own gloss. This might also be a good time for you to trace
all possible meanings of a word. Next time, this can be one of
your references.

 Increase your vocabulary by learning as many adopted words

as possible.
11. Adopted Words

 Examples
 aborsi: abort, abortion
 akreditasi
 akumulasi
 akurat
 analisis
 barter
 basis
 bisnis
 bujet
 unik
 universal
 universitas
 urgen
 valid
 variasi
 verifikasi
12. TESTING THE TRANSLATION
Why test the Translation? 3 reasons (Mildred L. Larson,1984)

1. Accurate: Sometimes mistakes are made in the analysis of the source text
or in the transfer process which result in different meaning.
2. Clear: A translation may be accurate but still does not communicate the
idea. The forms of the language used should be those which make the
message of the TT as easy to understand as the ST itself was to
understand. The clarity can be checked by testing it with a person who are
not familiar with the ST and ask questions, which will show what they
understand.
3. Natural: A translation may be accurate in that the translator understood
correctly the ST and is attempting to communicate that information, and yet
the form may not be natural or idiomatic forms of the TL, the grammatical
forms used are those normally used.
13. Ways of testing a Translation
 There several ways of testing a translation. There is some overlap between them, in
that the same person may be involved in several kinds of test and the tests may give
similar information about the translation.
• Comparison with the source texts and comprehension check, that all the
information is included nothing omitted and/or added, and changed.
• Back translation into the source language
• Naturalness and readability, is to see if the form of translation is natural
and the style appropriate.
• Consistency checks, the use of lexical equivalents for some keys terms.
Learning Video

Students are asked to review the learning video:

How to translate Indonesian to English see

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgdBuNCAgAE&t=20s

and English into Indonesian see

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W736y-MpqJU&t=100s