AN ANALYSIS ON TRANSLATION SHIFTS:
CROSS-LINGUISTIC STUDY BETWEEN ENGLISH AND
INDONESIAN TRANSLATION VERSIONS OF HOLY QURAN
SURAH AL-ARAF
THESIS
By:
SRI WAHYUNI NINGSIH
201210100311222
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
AN ANALYSIS ON TRANSLATION SHIFTS:
CROSS-LINGUISTIC STUDY BETWEEN ENGLISH AND
INDONESIAN TRANSLATION VERSIONS OF HOLY QURAN
SURAH AL-ARAF
This thesis is submitted to meet one of the requirements to achieve
Sarjana Degree in English Education
By:
SRI WAHYUNI NINGSIH
201210100311222
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Alhamdulillah, all praises be upon Allah SWT, the Most Gracious and Most Merciful, due to His blessing, this challenging thesis can be finished properly in the right time. Peace and blessing also be upon Muhammad SAW, the last prophet in the world. In its final accomplishment, I am totally realize that this thesis is still imperfect. Thus, I openly welcome all criticism and constructive suggestions from all parties as the betterment of this thesis.
Obviously, I would like to express my gratefulness and appreciation to my
first advisor, Mister Puji Sumarsono, S.Pd., M.Ed. and my second advisor, Ma’am
Laela Hikmah Nurbatra, S.Pd., M.EdLead. for their patience, advices and supports during guiding me in finishing this thesis. Furthermore, my great gratitude
addressed to my thesis examiners, Ma’am Rina Wahyu Setyaningrum, S.Pd.,
M.Ed. and Mister Adityo, S.S., M.A. for their valuable suggestions so that I can make this thesis is better than before.
Additionally, my countless gratitude is dedicated for both of my parents, Ibu Malikah and Bapak Suparlan, who ceaselessly offer me with everlasting and peaceable affections. Moreover, my boundless appreciation goes to the one and only my elder brother, Imam Malik, for his endless supports and nice affection.
Henceforth, I would like to express my wholehearted gratitude to Mister Riski Lestiono, M.A. and also all of the lecturers who help me in conducting this thesis.
TABLE OF CONTENT
APPROVAL ……… iii
MOTTOS AND DEDICATIONS ……….. v
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY………. vi
ABSTRACT ………. vii
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
4.1.1 Category Shift Found in English and Indonesian Versions of Holy Quran Surah Al-Araf ... 19
4.1.1.1 Unit Shift ... 20
4.1.1.2 Structure Shift ... 23
4.1.1.3 Class Shift ... 26
4.1.1.4Intra-system Shift ... 28
APPENDIX
Appendix 1 A table of category shifts found in English and Indonesian versions of Holy Quran surah AL-Araf
REFERENCES
Al-Jabari, Read. 2008. Reasons for the Possible Incomprehensibility of Some Verses of Three Translations of the Meaning of the Holy Quran into English.
Thesis. Doctoral Program of University of Salford, Salford, United Kingdom.
Ary, Donald et al. 2010. Introduction to Research in Education (8th Edition). Belmont: Wadsworth.
Catford, J.C. 1965. A Linguistic Theory of Translation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Creswell, John W. (2008). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing
among five approaches (2nd Edition). Thousand Oaks, Sage Publication.
Hancock, Beverley. Ockleford, Elizabeth & Windridge, Kate. 2009. An Introduction to Qualitative Research. The NIHR Research Design Service for the East Midlands.
Hatim, Basil & Munday, Jeremy. 2004. Translation: An Advanced Resource
Book. London & New York: Roudledge.
Herman. 2014. Category Shifts in the English Translation of Harry Potter and the
Philosopher’s Stone Movie Subtitle into Indonesia (An Applied Linguistics
Study). Volume 19. Issue 12. Journal of Humanities and Social Science. University of HKBP Nommensen, Medan.
Hijjo, Nael. 2013. The Analysis of Grammatical Shifts in Translating English
News into Arabic. Dissertation. University of Malaya.
Khanmohammad, Hajar & Mousavinasab, S.M.H. 2014. Translation Shifts in
Medical Translation From English Into Farsi. Volume 7. Islamic Azad
University, Iran.
Munday, Jeremy. 2001. Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and
Application (3rd Edition). United State of America & Canada : Routledge. Prawita, Ni Ketut Rista Dewi. 2014. Shifts In Translation Of Complex Noun
Phrase From English Into Indonesian In Oprah. Post-Graduate Program
Rasyidie, Faldy et al. 2013. Translation Shifts In The Novel “Mansfield Park” By Jane Austen Translated By Berliani Mantili Nugrahani. Volume 1. Journal of Science and Culture. National University of Jakarta.
Sugema, Sony. Quranic Digital Version 3. 2014. Software Application. Available
at: http://digital-quran-v3.blogspot.co.id/. Accessed on January 2016.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
In regard to the following research of this present study, this chapter
provides the explanation about how the researcher begins this study. Chapter one
is dealing with some prime information that required in research. It will include
background of study, statement of problem, purpose of study, significance of
study, scope and limitation, and also definition of key terms. Each section will be
defined below.
1.1Background of the Study
Language as a means of communication has been used by human beings in
this world for thousand years. Language has an imperative role for human beings
to help them convey their ideas, thoughts and also to communicate each other. As
noted by Wardhaugh (2006:1) a language is what the members of a particular
society speak. In general meaning, language is an instrument for humans to
communicate each other whether in a form of spoken or written.
However, the language diversity between one society to another is one thing
which cannot be denied. Different characters, languages and ethnicities in the
communication of human will bring new problems for human survival. Here, the
existing of translation is required to overcome this problem and help the people to
be able to interact each other among different languages across cultures and
countries around the world. Munday (2001:4) states that the term translation itself
has several meanings: it can refer to the general subject field, the product (the text
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otherwise known as translating). Additionally, he also states that the process of
translation between two different written languages involves the translator
changing an original written text (the source text or ST) in the original verbal
language (the source language or SL) into a written text (the target text or TT) in a
different verbal language (the target language or TL). Hence, we can conclude
that the purpose of translation itself is to transfer the message from Source
Language (SL) into Target Language (TL) in order to make other people can
interpret the meaning of message.
In line with the previous explanation, it is quite interesting to have a closer
study on translation. Nevertheless, translation studies has so many aspects which
need to be learned. Then, to be a good translator, one should be capable of not
only translating the meaning from the SL into the TL, but also delivering the
authentic message (Rasyidie, et al. 2013:63).
Translation shift has become an interesting issue to be discussed in linguistic
area since many years ago because by using shift in translation, the translator
could translate and deliver the message accurately and clearly. In particular this
study focuses on the categories of translation shift. The actual term shift was
introduced by Catford in 1965 and then followed by Jeremy Munday and Basil
Hatim who did a study on this. Then, the translation shift itself has four kinds of
categories, those are; structure shift, class shift, unit shift, and also intra-system
shift (Rasyidie, et al. 2013:64). As noted by Herman (2014:33), structure shift is
happen when there is a grammatical change between the structures. The, Hatim &
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source and target language come from different class, then it is called as class
shift. Besides, Hatim & Munday (2004:146) also declare that when there is a rank
change between the translation equivalent of item in the source and target
language, it is called as unit shift. While, the last shift is intra-system shift wich
occurs when the source and the target language possess systems which
approximately correspond formally as to their constitution, but when translation
involves selection of a non-corresponding term in the TL system (Herman,
2014:33)
In accordance with the previous explanation, the researcher is intended to
analyze the category of translation shift. In this study the researcher do not focus
on the source and target text, yet it emphasizes on the comparison and the
difference versions between English and Indonesia versions. The source of data in
this thesis is English into Indonesian translation versions of Holy Quran chapter 7.
This study is more challenging, interesting, and different since based on the
researcher’s personal experience, there still few researches who conducted a study
on the use of translation shift in Holy Quran. Hence, in this study the researcher
convinces that Holy Quran is the exact choice to be analyzed. Then, the researcher
choose surah Al – Araf as the object of the research considering it has 106 verses in which it is the second longest surah in Holy Quran. Considering this reason, the
researcher believes that there are many possibilities of translation shifts that will
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1.2 Statement of the Problems
In order to make this present study in its track to find the goal, the researcher
proposed two research questions which presented as below:
1. What are kinds of category shift found in English and Indonesian
translation versions of Holy Quran Surah Al-Araf?
2. What is the dominant category shift employed in English and Indonesian
translation versions of Holy Quran Surah Al-Araf?
1.3Purposes of the Study
In line with the research questions formulated above, the researcher formed
some purposes in order to guide this present study. The purpose of this study is
focus on discovering the answer of research questions as below:
1. To investigate the kinds of category shift found in English and
Indonesian translation versions of Holy Quran Surah Al-Araf
2. To find out the dominant category shift which employed in English and
Indonesian translation versions of Holy Quran Surah Al-Araf.
1.4Significances of the Study
Whether it is theoretical or practical, the existence of this study is expected to
be meaningfully for all or parties such as the readers or learners, lectures,
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1. For the readers or learners
Expectantly, the output of this research might be useful as an additional
information and knowledge for the readers or learners about translation
shift particularly about its category in Holy Quran based on English and
Indonesia translation versions. Moreover, this study also expected to
enhance and deepen students’ comprehending about translation studies. 2. For the lecturers
student who want to be translator or currently work as translator. So that,
this information will help them to modify and beautify their work in
translating the text.
4. For the next researchers
This research is expected can be an additional reference for those who
are interested in learning translation studies especially about translation
shift.
1.5Scope and Limitation
The scope in this study is on investigating what kinds of category shift and
what is the dominant category which exists and employed in both English and
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the translation of Holy Quran Chapter 7 (Al-Araf) which taken from a Quranic
Digital Version 3 which was originally developed by Sugema (2004) and the
copyright belongs to him.
1.6Definitions of Key Terms
In order to avoid some miscomprehension about certain words in this study,
the researcher tries to explain some definitions as follows:
1. Translation is a process or an attempt to constitute or to replace a
message of one language into the equivalent message in another language
(Rasyidie, et al. 2013:64)
2. Translation shift is small linguistic changes occurring in translation of
Source Text (ST) to Target Text (TT) (Munday, 2001:55)
3. Al-Araf is the second longest surah in Holy Quran consisting of 206
verses which means the highest place.
4. Holy Quran is “the literal word of God revealed to His messenger Muhammad by means of the Angel Gabriel in order to lead people out of
the darkness of ignorance and polytheism to the light of guidance and
