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QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF CULTURAL TERMS IN SOLO
TOURISM LEAFLETS
Thesis
Submitted as a partial fulfillment of requirement For the Sarjana Sastra Degree at English Department
Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts Sebelas Maret University
By:
Alwi Ridwan Akmal
C 0305010
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LETTERS AND FINE ARTS
SEBELAS MARET UNIVERSITY
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Name : Alwi Ridwan Akmal
NIM : C 0305010
States truthfully that there is no plagiarism in completing the thesis
entitled “
An Analysis of Translation Techniques and Quality Assessment of Cultural Terms in Solo Tourism Leaflets”.Similar contents are purely
quotation and included within bibliography.
If the researcher is proven for cheating, the researcher will take the
responsibility.
Surakarta, October 2011
The Researcher
Alwi R. Akmal
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DEDICATION
This thesis is dedicated to:
Myself
My family
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First of all, I would like to be thankful to Allah SWT and I am delighted
this acknowledge to those who have helped and give their contributions on this
research. My gratitude to:
1. Drs. Riyadi Santosa, M. A as Dean of Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts.
2. Dra. Rara Sugiarti, M. Tourism as my thesis consultant who has been
leading on my research.
3. Ida Kusuma Dewi, S. S., M. A. for her advice and valuable knowledge
of translation.
4. Yuyun Kusdianto, S. S, M.A as my academic consultant.
5. Prof. Dr. Djatmika, M. A as Head of English Department.
6. Lecturers of English Department and Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts.
7. My raters: Mr. Dion, Mr. Heri and Mr. Alif for their contribution on my
research.
8. My beloved family (Bani Mulyono) and its members.
9. Officer, librarian, and parker on my beloved faculty.
10.My friends in English Departement 2005 “Semangat”.
11.My brothers and sisters on English Departement.
12.My team mate on futsal club, Bakwan FC and ED 05 FC
Finally, I realized that this research is far away from perfect. Therefore, I
took forward for any criticism, and suggestion.
Alwi R. Akmal
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
APPROVAL OF THE THESIS CONSULTANT ... ii
APPROVAL OF THE BROAD OF EXAMINERS ... iii
PRONOUCEMENT ... iv A. Definition of Translation ... 6
B. Definition of Cultural Term ... 7
C. Problems in Translating Cultural Term ... 8
D. The Criteria of Translation Quality Assessment ... 15
1. Accuracy ... 15
2. Acceptability ... 17
E. Translation Technique ... 20
F. Tourism Leaflet ... 24
CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METODHOLOGY A. Research Type and Design ... 26
B. Data and Source of Data ... 27
C. Method of Data Collection ... 28
D. Technique of Data Analysis ... 20
E. Research Procedure ... 31
CHAPTER IV. DATA ANALYSIS A. Research Finding ... 32
1. The Analysis of Translation Technique ... 32
a. Borrowing or Borrowing plus Explanation ... 32
b. Transposition ... 33
c. Equivalence ... 34
d. Literal Translation ... 35
e. Deletion or Omission... 36
2. The Analysis of Translation Accuracy ... 40
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c. Inaccurate Translation ... 44
d. Very Inaccurate Translation ... 45
e. The Analysis of Accuracy in Each Leaflet ... 46
3. The Analysis of Translation Acceptability ... 50
a. Acceptable Translation ... 52
b. Less Acceptable Translation ... 53
c. Unacceptable Translation ... 54
d. The Analysis of Acceptability in Each Leaflet ... 55
B. Discussion ... 57
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSSION AND SUGGESTION A. Conclusion ... 63
B. Suggestion ... 65
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Table II. 1: The Scale of Accuracy ... 16
Table II. 2: The Scale of Acceptability ... 19
Table III. 1: Reformulation of the Scale of Accuracy ... 28
Table III. 2: Reformulation of the Scale of Acceptability ... 29
Table IV. 1: The Distribution of the Technique in Each Leaflet ... 37
Table IV. 2: The Accuracy Score and Definition ... 41
Table IV. 3: The Formula of Statistic Calculation ... 42
Table IV. 4: The Classification of the Translation Accuracy ... 46
Table IV. 5: The Distribution of Accuracy in Each Leaflet ... 46
Table IV. 6: The Acceptability Score and Definition ... 51
Table IV. 7: The Formula of Statistic Calculation ... 51
Table IV. 8: The Classification of the Translation Acceptability ... 55
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ABSTRACT
Alwi Ridwan Akmal. C0305010. 2011. An Analysis of Translation Techniques and Quality Assessment of Cultural Terms in Solo Tourism Leaflets. Undergraduate Thesis: English Department. Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts. Sebelas Maret University. Surakarta. 2011.
This research focuses on the translation techniques and quality assessment of cultural terms in Solo tourism leaflets. The objectives of the research are to: a) find out the translation techniques employed by the translator in translating the Indonesian cultural terms into English and b) find out the quality assessment of the English expression of the cultural terms in term of accuracy and acceptability. This research is expected to improve the competence in producing a good quality translation of Indonesian cultural terms of students of English Department. It is also expected to be beneficial for the translator as an input for giving additional information and improving their capability in translating Indonesian cultural terms. Moreover, it is also expected to give benefit to the other researchers for conducting similar research.
This research employed criterion-based selection sampling technique. There were 70 data in the form of cultural terms in both Indonesian and English. The data were analyzed using a descriptive qualitative method. The result of data analysis shows that there are five techniques found in the translation of cultural terms of Solo tourism leaflets. They are: a) borrowing or borrowing plus explanation (41 data or 58.57 %), b) transposition (9 data or 12.86 %), c) equivalence (9 data or 12.86 %), d) literal translation (7 data or 10 %), and e) deletion or omission (4 data or 5.71 %)
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AN ANALYSIS OF TRANSLATION TECHNIQUES AND QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF CULTURAL TERMS IN
SOLO TOURISM LEAFLETS
Alwi Ridwan Akmal1 Dra. Rara Sugiarti, M.Tourism2
ABSTRACT
2011.. Undergraduate Thesis: English Department. Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts. Sebelas Maret University. Surakarta. 2011.
This research focuses on the translation techniques and quality assessment of cultural terms in Solo tourism leaflets. The objectives of the research are to: a) find out the translation techniques employed by the translator in translating the Indonesian cultural terms into English and b) find out the quality assessment of the English expression of the cultural terms in term of accuracy and acceptability. This research is expected to improve the competence in producing a good quality translation of Indonesian cultural terms of students of English Department. It is also expected to be beneficial for the translator as an input for giving additional information and improving their capability in translating Indonesian cultural terms. Moreover, it is also expected to give benefit to the other researchers for conducting similar research. This research employed criterion-based selection sampling technique. There were 70 data in the form of cultural terms in both Indonesian and English. The data were analyzed using a descriptive qualitative method. The result of data analysis shows that there are five techniques found in the translation of cultural terms of Solo tourism leaflets. They are: a) borrowing or borrowing plus explanation (41 data or 58.57 %), b) transposition (9 data or 12.86 %), c) equivalence (9 data or 12.86 %), d) literal
1
Mahasiswa Jurusan Sastra Inggris dengan NIM C0305010. 2
Dosen Pembimbing
translation (7 data or 10 %), and e) deletion or omission (4 data or 5.71 %)
From 70 data, 48 data (68.57 %) are accurately translated. The less accurate data are 16 data (22.86 %). The inaccurate data are 6 data (8.57 %), whereas there is no very inaccurate data. In acceptability level, 59 data (84.29 %) are categorized as acceptable, and the rest of data, 11 data (15.71 %) are categorized in less acceptable. There is no unacceptable category found in this data.
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1
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Research Background
Today, more people travel all over the world to find new places or spots.
They try to find their need, pleasure. They look for the information about the
place through the internet or others sources like booklet or leaflets.
In Indonesia, there are many kinds of places or destinations to be visited. In
order to give those kinds of information to the foreigner and to get the benefit
from them, that information is given by using a leaflet. This kind of information is
provided in the form of printed media. The leaflet mostly is written in English, the
universal languages in the world. Here, the leaflet translates the information
needed by the foreigner.
A tourism leaflet contains the cultural aspects such as cultural terms. This
aspect must be concerned by the translators. In addition, the translators are faced
not only cultural terms but also the grammatical structure between the source
language and target language. Consequently, they are expected to overcome the
problems. Those make the translation as a hard process. Since Indonesia and
English have different in grammatical structure as well as cultural terms, an
analysis of translated leaflets can be a challenging research. However, this
research is only focusing on the cultural terms.
Newmark (1988:94) states culture as “the way of life and its manifestations
that are particular to a community that use a particular language as its mean of
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used as means of communication. But, Newmark does not include language as a
part of culture. It means the difference between cultures is more difficulties for the
translation than the differences of language among culture. Translating the culture
is more difficult than translating the word. In others words, the more difference in
the culture, the more difficult transferring message to target language.
Cultural terms are sensitive problems to be translated. A culture is related to
the personality and the originality of a nation. For this reason, the effective
translation techniques are required to produce the quality translation in terms of
accuracy and acceptability. Larson (1998:470) states that as a part of culture,
translation from one language to another language can not be done adequately
without having knowledge about two cultures as well as two language structures.
It is strongly recommend that the translator should master that knowledge and
able to translate the cultural terms. Without this knowledge, the translators face
the difficulties in translation.
Cultural word can be divided into several categories. It can be classified as
ecology, material culture, social culture, religious culture, and linguistic culture.
These categories may be translated indifferent ways.
In Solo tourism leaflets, as source data of this research is bilingual tourism
leaflets. It employs many Indonesian cultural terms. They may be equivalent or
they may not equivalent from Indonesia to English.
The example 1 can be seen in the quotation below:
Source text: Oleh karena itu di Jawa, keris disebut tosan aji atau wesi aji yang
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Target text: That is why keris also named as “tosan aji” or “wesi aji” by
Javanese people.
In the example above, the words of “keris”, and “tosan aji” are translated
directly. All of those words are cultural terms from Indonesia. There are no
equivalent words in English. To solve this kind of problems, the translator uses
borrowing technique.
The example 2 can be seen in the quotation below:
Source Text: Karena semakin bertambah, sejak tahun 1960 mereka mulai
mendirikan kios
Target Text: Since it was getting bigger and crowded, in 1960 they started to
install the kios (a traditional display room)
In the example above, the translator adds a clear explanation to the
translated word. The word “kios” is directly taken into target text, but there is
additional information to make the reader understand.
Based on the background above, the researcher is interested to analyze the
applied techniques of the cultural terms found in Solo tourism leaflets. The
researcher also studied the quality of translation produced in terms of accuracy
and acceptability.
B. Research Limitation
This research is describes on the techniques of the translation applied and
the quality of the translation in terms of accuracy and acceptability in translating
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research is focused on English translation of the Indonesian cultural terms in form
of word, and phrase.
C. Problem Statements
In this research, the researcher proposes the following problems:
1. What are the kinds of translation techniques applied in translating Indonesian
cultural terms into English in Solo tourism leaflets?
2. How is the translation quality of the cultural terms in terms of accuracy and
acceptability?
D. Research Objectives
Based on the Problem Statement, the objective of this research is:
1. To describe the translation techniques applied in translating Indonesian cultural
terms into English in Solo tourism leaflets.
2. To describe the translation quality of the cultural in terms of accuracy and
acceptability.
E. Research Benefits
This research is expected to give benefits to:
1. The Students of English Department: to be able in producing a good
quality translation of cultural terms in term accuracy and acceptability.
2. The translator: as an input for giving additional information and improving
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3. The other researchers: to be able to provide any information especially in
conducting further research about cultural terms.
F. Thesis Organization
The thesis is organized as follow;
Chapter I is Introduction which includes research background, research
limitation, problem statements, research objectives, research benefits and thesis
organization.
Chapter II is Literature Review. This chapter explains the definition of
translation, definition of cultural term, problems in translating cultural terms, the
criteria of translation quality assessment; accuracy and acceptability in translation,
translation techniques, and the definition of tourism leaflet.
Chapter III is Research Methodology. It consists of research type and
design, data and source of data, methods of data collection, technique of data
analysis, and research procedure.
Chapter IV is Data Analysis. This chapter consists of research finding and
discussion.
Chapter V is Conclusion and Suggestion. This chapter consists of
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CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
A. Definition of Translation
In general, translation is the transfer of message from one language into
another. Many experts proposed the definitions of translation. According to
Brislin (1976): translation is the general term referring to the transfer of thoughts
or ideas from one language (source) to another (target), whether the languages are
in written or oral form; whether the languages have established orthographies or
do not have such standardization or whether one or both languages is based on
signs, as with sign languages of the deaf.
Meanwhile, Nida and Taber quoted by Suryawinata and Hariyanto
(2000:12) define that “translating consists of reproducing in the receptor language
the closest natural equivalent of the source language message, first in term of
meaning and secondly in terms of style”
Mildred L Larson (1984:74) says:
“Translation consists of transferring the meaning of the source language into the
receptor language. This is done by going from the form of the first language to the
form of a second by way of semantic structure. It is meaning which is being
transferred and must be held constant. Only the form changes”
From the definitions above, it can be concluded that translation is not only
related to the activity to find equivalent words or sentences, but also the process of
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B. Definition of Cultural Term
Newmark (1988) defines culture as the way of life and its manifestations
that are peculiar to a community that uses a particular language as its mean of
expression. According to Edward Sapir (in Katan : 1999) culture is that complex
whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, art, moral, law, custom, and other
capabilities and habit acquired by man as a member of society.
Based on the definition above, culture covers knowledge, belief, art,
moral, law, custom, and other capabilities or habit acquired by human being in
their society.
Since a translation is dealing with cultural terms, a translator is also called
a cultural mediator. Moreover his/her idea is a mediating agent. A translator as
cultural mediator has a significant rule. According to R. Taft (in Katan 1999):
“A cultural mediator is a person who facilities communication,
understanding and action between person and group who differ with respect to language and culture. The rule of mediator is performed by interpreting the expression, intension, perception, and expectation of each cultural group to the other. That is, by establishing and balancing the communication between them, in order to serve as a link in this sense. The mediator must be able to participate to
some extent in both cultures”
From the definition above, it can be concluded that culture is the way of
life as an evidence of intellectual development in human society that uses a
particular language to express. Moreover, the cultural term is a term expressing
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C. Problems in Translating Cultural Term
Translation is a complicated activity which requires some specific
competencies of the translator to result in good product. Problems of translation
are common things appearing in the process of translation one of the problems is
cultural term. The cultural problems for translation may take several forms
ranging from lexical content and syntax to ideologies and ways of life in a given
culture. The translator also has to decide on the importance given to certain
cultural aspects and to what extent it is necessary or desirable to translate them
into the target language.
The problems appear and are usually related to the difficulties in
transferring the message or the content of the text as well as its form and style
because translation is not solely changing one language into another; it is a
reproduction of the source language material into the target language.
Related to the explanation above, Nababan (2003:48) says:
“Dalam praktek menerjemahkan yang sesungguhnya, perhatian seorang
penerjemah terfokus tidak hanya pada pengalihan makna suatu kata.
Perhatiannya meluas ke masalah pengalihan pesan atau amanat”.
The main problem faced by the translator in doing the process of
translation in cultural terms is transferring the message, the equivalency. It is
usual when there are no cultural equivalents from the source language into target
language because there are no languages in this world having the same language
systems. A complete equivalency is impossible due to the gap of the source
language and target language. The translator also considers a technique in
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or functional equivalent as the proper way to solve the problems of translating
cultural terms.
Related to that, Catford (1965:21) states that the central problem of
translation practice is that of finding the target language translation equivalences.
A central task of translation theory is that of defining the natures and conditions of
translation equivalence.
Equivalency in translation covers two main aspects i.e. equivalency in
form and equivalency in meaning. Soemarno (1990) says:
“The problem of translation deals with the linguistics and meaning aspect.
Linguistics problem covers word order, part of speech, suffixes, structures, etc.
Meaning problem covers lexical meaning, grammatical meaning, textual and
contextual meaning, socio-cultural meaning, etc”.
Problems of equivalency in the translation occur because of some factors.
Nida (1964) classifies five points:
1. Ecological Problem
This problem emerges from geographical factors. The geographical
condition of one nation differs from that of other nations. For example, people in
Eskimo have more than one word to describe snow based on its form and texture,
but Indonesian people only have one word to describe snow, that is salju, because
Indonesia is a tropical country so that there are only two seasons in a year,
summer and rainy season. It will be difficult for the translator to translate a text
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2. Material Cultural Problem
This problem is closely related to the material objects produced by human
being. For example, Indonesia has many types of traditional house such as joglo
and gadang, which have specific characteristics. The translator may find some
difficulties in translating the word joglo or gadang into another language because
the target readers do not understand the conception of joglo and gadang because
they are the material culture product of Indonesia.
3. Social Cultural Problem
Each society has its own cultural background. It has different behaviors
and rituals, and the society has specific terms to call them. The cultural events
make the translator finds problems to translate it, for example: Thanksgiving Day
in America, Tingkeban in Java, and Ngaben in Bali.
4. Religious Cultural Problem
Religion represents belief to God. Since there are many religions exist in
the world, each has its own term to refer to something that may have the same
meaning, for example; haji and tawaf . In English there is no word haji so the
translator has to explain the meaning of haji; someone who has made the pilgrim
to the Mecca, and for tawaf; the ceremony of circumambulation of the Ka’bah in
Mecca for seven times.
5. Linguistic Problems
Each language has its own rules and characteristics which make them
different each other. These differences may include grammar and vocabulary
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necessary, but it may not be in another language. This problem is very complex
and very important in translation because language is the medium for transferring
the message. In English, there is no level in usage of language, but in Java there
are ngoko, krama., krama inggil. So the translation must give more attention
during the translation process.
More over, the translators may face situation that the cultural term in the
source language has no direct equivalent in the target language. This is called
non-equivalence in word level. Different kind of non-equivalence require
different technique, some very straight forward, others more involve and difficult
to be solved. Baker (1992. p.21) proposes some common type of non-equivalence
on word level. There are;
1. Culture-specific concepts
The word in the source language is totally unknown in the target language.
The concept can be in form of abstract or concrete. The word relates to a
religious, believe, social custom, or even type of food. For example: thanksgiving,
it is the cultural event occurs only in U.S. There is no similar event in Indonesia.
2. The source-language concept is not lexicalized in the target language
The source-language concept may express a concept which is known in the
target culture but simply not lexicalized, that is not „allocated‟ a target language
word to express it. The example for this problem is the adjective standard
(meaning „ordinary, not extra‟, as in standard range of products) expresses a
concept which is very accessible and readily understood by most people, yet
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3. The source-language word is semantically complex.
It means that the single morpheme can be expressed by more complex set
of meaning than a whole sentence. This is a fairly common problem in translation
since the translator should explain the word in target language in a long sentence.
For example; “karak” in English there is no equivalent word as the result the
translation should be in “karak ( a fried cracker made from rice)”
4. The source and target languages make different distinctions in meaning
The target language may have distinction in meaning than the source
language. What one language regards as an important distinction in meaning
another language may not perceive it as relevant. For example, Indonesian makes
distinction between going out in the rain without the knowledge that it is raining
(kehujanan) and going out in the rain with the knowledge that it is raining (
hujan-hujanan). The translator has difficulty in finding the equivalent. They must read
the context of the situation.
5. The target language lacks a super ordinate
The target language may have specific words (hyponyms) but no general
word (super ordinate). It has to be translated in specific ones. For example;
Moslem who has expertise of Islamic knowledge in English only said as moslem
scholar, but in Indonesia there are some words that have specific meaning
(Cendikiawan muslim, Kyai, Ustadz, Ulama). The translator should find the
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6. The target language lack of specific term (hyponym)
It is usual that a word has general word but lack of specific word
(hyponym). A specific word in source language can be translated into general
word in target language since there is no specific word for that. In English there
are some words under “house” which difficult to find in the target language. For
example are “bungalow, villa, and mansion”. The easy way in translating those
words is using the hyponym and giving the explanation.
7. Differences in physical or interpersonal perspective
Baker (1992) states “Physical perspective may be of more importance in
one language than it is in another. Physical perspective has to do with where
things or people are in relation to one another or to a place, as expressed in pairs
of words such as come/go, take/bring, arrive/depart, and so on. Perspective may
also include the relationship between participants in discourse (tenor)”. It means
that a physical perspective in one source language can be more important than in
the target language. For example; kissing a cheek right or left on your friends
(man/woman) is common thing in western country. In Indonesia this is unusual or
even more it is impolite.
8. Differences in expressive meaning
A word may have the same proportional (true meaning) both in source
language and target language but it has different expressive meaning. This is often
in the case with sensitive issue such as religion, politics, and sex. For example: the
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status. It is not pejorative word in English but in Indonesia is considered as a
pejorative meaning. The equaivalent word is “kumpul kebo”.
9. Differences in form
The source language and target language have differences in form, such as
in certain suffixes, prefixes, and reduplication. Certain suffixes and prefixes which
convey propositional and other types of meaning in English often have no direct
equivalents in other languages. English has many couplets such as
employer/employee, trainer/trainee, and payer/payee. In Indonesia does not have
those forms. Therefore, it recommends translating those words into majikan/
karyawan, pelatih/pemain, and pembeli/penjual.
10. Different in frequency and purpose of using specific forms
Baker states that “When a particular form does have a ready equivalent in
the target language, there may be a different in frequency with which it is used or
the purpose for which it is used.” For example; “who” considers as “siapa”, but
“who” as adjective clause considers as “yang”.
11. The use of loan word in the source text
The use of loan words in source text also becomes a problem. It is used
when there is no equivalent word in target text. For example; prom night ( a
farewell dancing party) is translated as itself since there is no equivalent word in
Indonesia.
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D. The Criteria of Translation Quality Assessment
Translation quality assessment is needed since the result shows whether
the translation is accurate or not. It is involved in translation criticism. In this
research uses accuracy, acceptabilityfor testing a translation.
1. Accuracy
According to Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary (1995: 9) “accuracy”
is the state of being correct or exact and without error, especially as a result of
careful effort.
It is a term used in translation evaluation to refer to the extent to which a
translation matches its original. Nababan (2003) argues there are three main
points in quality evaluation of translation;
a. The accuracy of transferring message.
The original message cannot be changed, added or deducted. The translators
should recognize the message correctly before they compose equivalent words or
sentence of original message.
b. The accuracy of target language structure.
It concerns in the way the original message is composed in target language
structurally.
c. Naturalness of target language.
In transferring the original message, the translators should give attention
intensively to the naturalness of the target language. They should use familiar
genre which is suitable for or conform to the culture, norm, and convention of
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accuracy in content as indeed by the original author. In the other words, both the
information content and the style (manner of writing) of the source language in
order to make the translation able to evoke the same response as the source
language attempted to and to deliver the same purpose or intention of the original
writer.
The scale of accuracy-rating instrument can be seen in the Table 1:
Table II. 1: The Scale of Accuracy:
Scale Description
1
The content of the source sentence is accurately conveyed into the target
sentence. Translated sentence is clear to the evaluator and no rewriting is
needed.
2
The content of the source sentence is accurately conveyed to the target
sentence. Translated sentence can be clearly understood by the evaluator.
But some rewritings and some change in word order are needed.
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sentence. There are some problems with the choice of lexical items and
with the relationships between phrase, clause, and sentence elements.
4
The content of the source sentence is not translated at all into target
sentence, i.e it is omitted or deleted.
Adapted from: Tsujii and Nakamura in Nababan, 2003
2. Acceptability
Acceptability of a text refers to the natural “feel” of the translation. A
translation which leans toward acceptability can thus be thought as fulfilling the
requirement of “reading as an original” written in target language rather than that
of “reading as theoriginal” (Shuttleworth and Cowie , 1997: 2-3).
Venuti in Munday (2001: 146) states that:
“A translated text, whether prose or poetry, fiction or non-fiction, is judged
acceptable by most publishers, reviewers, and readers when it reads fluently,
when the absence of any linguistic or stylistic peculiarities make it seem
transparent, giving the appearance that it reflects the foreign writer‟s personality
or intention or the essential meaning of the foreign text—the appearance, in other
words, that the translation is not in fact a translation, but the original”
Finlay in Simatupang (2000: 3) also states that “Ideally, the translation
should give the sense of the original in such a way that the reader is unaware the
he is reading a translation”. It means that an acceptable translation likes the
original composition written in the target language.
In addition, many experts suggest some recommendations for assessing a
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1. The cloze technique
In this technique the readers get a text in which some words are deleted
from the translation question. The readers are asked to choose the right word that
might it with the context. Nababan (2004:56) says, “Penilai sengaja
menghilangkan beberapa kata dari terjemahan. Kemudian dia meminta pembaca
unutk memprediksi kata-kata yang dihilangkan tersebut.”. In this case, the degree
of the comprehensibility of the readers can predict the quality of translation. If the
readers can guess the right word with the context as much as possible, it indicates
that they comprehend the text. The greater the number of correct guesses, the
easier the text is to comprehend because its predictability is greater.
2. Reading-aloud technique
In Nababan, (2004:56-57) says this technique is done by some readers as
the tester. The readers are asked to read aloud the translation. If the tester reads it
fluently, it indicates that the translation has no problems.
3. Knowledge test
In Nababan, (2004:57) says this test measures the translation quality
through knowledge testing of the target readers. The target readers are asked to
read a translation and answer a question about it. The disadvantages of this
technique are: it is spending much time; this technique is not full interpretation the
quality of the translation because the culture of the reader of the original and the
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4. Performance test
In Nababan, (2004:58) says it is a way of measuring the quality of
technical translation by having readers performs a task using the translation. If the
technicians can repair the equipment by reading the target language, the
translation is accurate in content. This is very time-consuming process, however,
and requires expert supervision if clear results are to be obtained.
5. Back translation
In Nababan, (2004:59) says it is a way to assess the translation by having
someone who is bilingual in the source and receptor language, make a
back-translation of the translated text into the source language.. For example, one
translates a text from English into Indonesian, a translator then turns the
Indonesian text back into English, and the resulting English text is compared with
the original English text. If the texts are virtually identical, it is evident that the
original translation is of high quality.
The scale of acceptability-rating instrument can be seen in the Table 2:
Table II. 2: The Scale of Acceptability:
Scale Description
1
The translation sounds natural, almost does not feel like translation.
There is no grammatical error.
2
The translated sentences sound like translation. There are some
grammatical errors, but not more than 25 % of the whole sentence.
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many grammatical errors, more than 25% of whole sentence.
Adapted from Machali, 2000:119-120
E. Translation Techniques
Translation techniques concentrate on the observation to decide option
general methods. It is also used by the researcher for studying of the translation
product as the re-observation. Translation technique is the special technique used
by the translator when transferring the message of the source language to target
language, including the choice of equivalents. The technique describes the
translation product and it can be used to clarity the type of translation solution.
According to Vinay and Dalrbenet (1977), the techniques are classified as
direct (literal) and oblique (free translation). Literal translation occurs when there
is an exact structural, lexical, even morphological equivalence between two
languages. This is possible when the two languages are very close to each other.
The literal (direct) translation techniques are:
1. Borrowing (loan word) or borrowing plus explanation
This technique is particularly common in dealing with culture-specific
terms, names, places, and modern concepts. The borrowing words or the loan
word is repeated several times in the cultural text. If those words occur many
times in the text, the translator only needs to give the explanation once. Once
explained, the loan word can be used own its own, the reader can understand it
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Borrowing words are taken directly from another language, e.g., the
English word bluetooth has been incorporated directly into Bahasa Indonesia.
This is a newest technology and it has not equivalent word in Bahasa Indonesia.
The way to solve is by borrowing the word without translating.
2. Calque.
A calque is a literal translation at the level of phrase. One language is
transferred to another language by a literal translation of each of the individual
elements. But, Vinay and Darbelnet do not consider its use at the morphemic level
in translating term. Therefore the target language seems like source language
style. The result of this technique is not natural if we viewed from translation
acceptability. e.g., interest rate is translated into tingkat suku bunga.
3. Literal translation.
A Word for word translation, it begun from word for translation and then
makes change to conformity of source language grammar with target language.
Literal translation follows the form of the source language. The translator still
tries to produce the closest equivalent in order to reduce the meaning of source
language e.g. I will ring you is translated into Saya akan menelpon Anda.
Oblique translation occurs when word for word translation is impossible.
The oblique translation techniques are:
1. Transposition.
A „shift‟ (Catford‟s term) or „transposition‟ (Vinay and Darbelnet) is a
translation technique involving a change in the grammar from source language to
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can be found in a shift of word class, from word into phrase and from phrase into
word. For instance, a compound keyword in English is translated as kata kunci
(Phrase) in Bahasa Indonesia.
2. Modulation.
Modulation is variation through a change of viewpoint, of perspective and
very often of category of thought. Modulation is used when literal translation
produces unnatural text.
There are two types of modulation (Machali : 2000). First, there is free or
optional modulation. The example is “I cut my finger” in English. It is translated
as “Jariku teriris”in Bahasa Indonesia.
Second, modulation is also considered as fixed modulation or „negated
contrary‟, which is a technique that relies on changing the value of the source
language in translation from negative to positive or vice versa,. For example, “It
isn‟t expensive” is translated to be It’s cheap.
3. Equivalence.
This term is used to refer to cases where languages describe the same
situation of the cultural terms. According to Newmark, this technique is applied to
find the equivalence of the cultural terms. There are two conditions about this
theory. First, if there is an equivalence word in the target language, the cultural
word is translated by cultural word. Second, he states when there is no
equivalence word, it request the use of a culture-free word (Newmark: 1988:86).
For example, an interjection “Ouch!” in English can be translated to be
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may be able to be translated as Nasi sudah menjadi bubur in Bahasa Indonesia, or
playing hard to get is translated into jinak – jinak merpati.
4. Adaptation.
This is a shift in term, character and cultural condition. Newmark (1988)
states the translator can translate a source language cultural word by a target
language cultural word. Baker (1992) mentions the use of this technique is useful
for giving the reader a concept which s/he can identify, something familiar and
appealing. Therefore, even though the translation may not be accurate, the good
thing is that this technique provides a natural translation for the reader.
The example is “as white as snow” translated into “seputih kapas” not
“seputih salju” because of in Indonesia there isn‟t any snow.
These basic techniques are complemented by other technique.
1. Deletion or omission.
The technique is used by omitting or deleting words or other parts of the
source language in the target language. In other words, the translator does not
translate some parts of the source language (Suryawinata and Hariyanto,
2000:75).
Sometimes the translator applies this technique because the omitted parts
do not give important meaning to the text. On the other hand, this technique
sometimes produces less accurate or inaccurate translation.
For example :
ST: IDP should be reviewed, updated, and changed at mid year and end
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TT: IDP harus dievaluasi dan diperbaharui setiap pertengahan dan akhir
tahun.
The word “changed” in the target text is not translated or be omitted. So,
the translation is less accurate.
F. Tourism Leaflets
Tourism is regarded as the largest and the fastest growing industry in total
word-wide services. As an industry, tourism has direct impact in many sectors ;
the national revenue for all tourist countries, it creates work opportunities,
industries, and several investments to serve and raise nations performance and
cultures, also distributes their history, civilization, and traditions.
In tourism industry, promotion is the crucial aspect. Tourism promotion is
aimed at increasing the sale of tourism products. Promotion is communicating
with the public in an attempt to influence them toward buying the products and/or
services (www.sbinfocanada.about.com/cs/marketing/g/promotion.htm).
Tourism promotion has developed rapidly. Promotion in tourism can be
done in two ways; indirect promotion (dealer promotion) and direct promotion
(consumer promotion). Direct promotion includes display of the products, printed
media (prospectus, folder, leaflet, and brochure). While, indirect promotion is
publishing and selling activity. The direct promotions use printed media, and
indirect promotions use electronic media; television, cinema, internet, and CD
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The printed media as the representative of direct promotion is a way to
promote which tourism product. Direct promotion offers consumers the
advantages of convenience and personal attention, an example of the printed
media is tourism leaflet which can be found at several places such as T.I.C
(Tourist Information Centre), in the airport, railway station, bus station, and hotel
as well as tourist attractions.
A leaflet is a printed sheet of paper containing information or
advertisement and usually distributed freely. A tourism leaflet is a sheet of paper
containing the information of the tourist attractions which functions as a kind of
guiding or added information. The tourist leaflet offers the information needed by
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26
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A. Research Type and Design
In this research, the applied method is a qualitative method. The researcher
only collected and classified the data and then drew conclusion without making
generalization. Creswell (1998:15) defined the qualitative research as follows:
“Qualitative research is an inquiry process of understanding based on distinct
methodological traditions of inquiry that explore a social or human problem. The
researcher builds a complex, holistic picture, analyzes words, reports detailed
views of informants, and conducts the study in a natural setting”.
This research also employed descriptive method. This means that the
research only describes a phenomenon and does not show hypothesis. Descriptive
method is designed to gather information about presenting existing phenomenon.
Hadi (1989: 20) defined that “Descriptive method is a method for finding facts
about actual phenomenon through the process of collecting data, classifying data,
analyzing and interpreting based on the analysis result”
The researcher only investigated specific aspects of a particular case: 1)
translation techniques in translating cultural terms on the Solo tourism leaflets. 2)
the quality assessment in terms of accuracy and acceptability of the translation of
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This research was only focused on a specific characteristic of the data i.e.
the analysis of translation techniques and the quality of translation in terms of
accuracy and acceptability of cultural terms of Solo tourism leaflets.
B. Data and Source of Data
The source of data used in this research is Solo tourism leaflets, published
by Tourism and Cultural Office of Surakarta in 2010. The data are the cultural
terms taken from the Solo tourism leaflets and its translation in to English. The
whole parts of the data which is in the form of word and phrase are used as
primary data. This was because they are able to represent the whole meaning of
message. The data in this research are divided into two. They are the Indonesian
cultural terms and their translation in English, and the information added by the
informants evaluating the quality of translation in terms of accuracy and
acceptability.
The informants in this research are the one who has the information which
can answer research questions and had these following qualifications:
They should master both languages, English and Bahasa Indonesia.
They should have knowledge in translation field.
They should have practical experience in translation.
They should be willing to participate in this research by providing the
information needed.
In this research, the data taken from the three informants are the
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degree of the accuracy and acceptability of the document based on certain
qualifications given by the researcher.
C. Methods of Data Collection
This research applied two method of collecting data. First is
criterion-based sampling technique. This research used some criteria for collecting the data.
The criterion is the data in the form of word and phrase. This was because they are
able to represent the whole meaning of message. The data is cultural terms on
Solo tourism leaflets in Bahasa Indonesia and their translation.
In the second method is a close and open-ended questionnaire. In the
closed format, the raters should give mark or score of the accuracy and the
acceptability of the translation. In the open format the rates should give their
comments related to the translation. In this research, the researcher involved three
raters.
The raters should give the mark of the accuracy and the acceptability of
the translation based on the following scales which were reformulated based from
Tsujii and Nakamura in Nababan, (2003):
Table III. 1: Reformulation of the Scale of Accuracy
Scale Description
4
Accurate:
The translation of Indonesian cultural term is accurately conveyed. The
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Table III. 2: Reformulation of the Scale of Acceptability
Scale Description
3
Acceptable:
The translation of the Indonesian cultural term sounds natural as an
English expression, almost does not feel like translation.
2
Less acceptable:
The translation of the Indonesian cultural term sounds like translation.
It is closely natural but it still founds some uncommon in the
translation of cultural terms.
1
Unacceptable:
The translation of the Indonesian cultural term is extremely sound like
translation, and it is unnatural. The cultural term sounds like
Indonesian expression. Unfamiliar expression in English expression. with the original cultural term (Bahasa Indonesia).
3
Less accurate:
The translation of Indonesian cultural term is less accurately
transferred. The message in the original term (Bahasa Indonesia) is not
transferred well.
2
Inaccurate :
The message in the translated cultural term is different. There are
problems in the translated cultural term in English.
1
Very Inaccurate:
The message of the original cultural term is not transferred at all. It is
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D.Technique of Data Analysis
The data were analyzed as follow:
1. Firstly, the data were observed and compared. The data are the
cultural terms in Solo tourism leaflets, both Bahasa Indonesia and
English.
2. Secondly, a questionnaire containing expression from the Solo
tourism leaflets in Bahasa Indonesia and English version are
arranged. Then, the raters are asked to analyze the level of the
accuracy, acceptability of the message transfer of the data. Next,
the interview guidelines are used to complete the analysis.
3. After the raters had finished their analysis, the data were classified
based on the level of the accuracy and the acceptability. The next
step was making classification of data based on the translation
techniques found in the document.
4. After analyzing all the data, the percentage of the data based on
each classification is counted. For the first analysis, counted the
mean of the data by dividing the total score given by all raters with
total raters. The second analysis is the percentage of the total
number of each technique with the total number of the data then
multiplied it with 100.
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Diagram III. 1: Flow of Analysis
E.Research Procedure
This research was conducted in the following procedures:
1. Determining the document to be analyzed i.e. the cultural terms in Solo
tourism leaflets in both version (Bahasa Indonesia and English version).
2. Collecting the data from the document in the forms of word and phrase.
3. Validating the data on Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI).
4. Numbering the data and analyzing the obtained data from the document.
5. Analyzing and classifying the translation techniques which occurred in
the translation of the data.
6. Analyzing based on problem statements.
7. Drawing conclusion in order to find the answer of the problem
statements and providing the suggestions. Source of Data:
Solo tourism leaflets
Analysis of accuracy and acceptability level by questionnaires and interview
guidelines.
Classification of data in term of accuracy and acceptability
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32
CHAPTER IV
DATA ANALYSIS
A. Research Finding
1. The Analysis of Translation Technique
This section presents the techniques applied by the translator to translate
the cultural terms in the leaflets. There are 5 techniques found in the Solo tourism
leaflets i.e.: borrowing or borrowing plus explanation, transposition, equivalence,
literal translation, and deletion or omission.
a. Borrowing or Borrowing plus explanation.
This technique is particularly common in dealing with culture-specific
terms, names, places, and modern concepts. If the loan words occur many times in
the text, the translator only needs to give the explanation once. Once explained,
the loan word can be used own its own, the reader can understand it and not
distracted by further lengthy explanation (Mona Baker: 1992). The word is taken
directly from another language.
Here are the example data no. 067 and 068 :
ST: Untuk menghidupkan suasana, dalang dibantu oleh musisi yang memainkan
gamelan dan para sinden yang menyanyikan lagu-lagu Jawa yang sedang
dimainkan.
TT: Musicians play gamelan and sindens sing Javanese songs. They help the
dalang to enlivened the atmosphere.
In the data above, there are cultural terms in the source text. The word “
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be translated into “singer”, the translator did not translate it. Because of there is a
big different meaning between singer and sinden. A sinden only sings a Javanese
song.
The word “dalang” also can not be translated in to “director”. There are
big gap between “dalang” and “director”. Dalang is the one who role all the
characters and conduct the show directly as a narrator. Director is the one who
only conduct the play behind the scene. So, there are not equivalent words found
in the target text.
The other example is datum no. 039
ST: Karena semakin bertambah, sejak tahun 1960 mereka mulai mendirikan kios
TT: Since it was getting bigger and crowded, in 1960 they started to install the
kios (a traditional display room)
In the datum above, the translator adds a clear explanation to the
translated word. The word “kios” is directly taken into target text, but there is
additional information to make the reader understand. Actually, there are 41 data
or 58.57 % that belong to this category.
b. Transposition
A „shift‟ (Catford‟s term) or „transposition‟ (Vinay and Darbelnet) is a
translation technique involving a change in the grammar from source language to
target language (Newmark, 1988: 85) without changing the meaning of the
message. In the level of cultural terms, transposition can be found in a shift of
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The example is datum no: 012
ST: Di kraton kasunanan surakarta terdapat art gallery yang manyimpan
bermacam benda-benda bersejarah yang mempunyai nilai seni dan sejarah
yang tinggi. Beberapa koleksi yang ada antara lain kereta kencana,
bermacam-macam senjata, wayang kulit dan beberapa peninggalan jaman
dulu.
TT: There is an art gallery in Kasunanan Palace to keep the reminders from the
past of the empire like Kereta Kencana ( the Golden Cart), various kinds of
traditional weapons, leather puppet and many other antique collection that
have aesthetic and historical values.
ST: Kraton Kasunanan
H M
TT: Kasunanan Palace
M H
In the datum above, in the source text, Indonesia, “kraton” must precede
its modifier “kasunanan”. In the target text, English, the word “kasunanan” that
function as modifier precedes the word “palace” , means “kraton”, having
function as the head of noun phrase. Actually, there are 9 data or 12.86 % that
belong to this category.
c. Equivalence
This term is used to refer to cases where languages describe the same
situation of the cultural terms. According to Newmark, this technique is applied to
find the equivalence of the cultural terms. There are two conditions about this
theory. First, if there is an equivalence word in the target text, the cultural word is
translated by cultural word. Second, he states when there is no equivalence word,
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The example is : datum no 009
ST: Gamelan merepresentasikan semangat kebersamaan, keselarasan, saling
pengertian, dan gotong royong dalam permainannya yang sangat sesuai
dengan nilai dasar budaya bangsa Indonesia.
TT: From the way it is played, gamelan represents the spirit of togetherness,
harmony, understanding, and cooperation which are very much alike with
Indonesian basic cultural values
In the datum above, the translator translates the term “gotong royong”
into “cooperation” in English. This is a good solution to translate the word,
because the target readers have their understanding about it cooperation in their
culture.
The others example is datum no: 061
ST: Wayang
TT: Shadow puppet
In the datum above, the Indonesian term, “wayang” has no equivalent in
the target text. In this case, “wayang” is translated by using the culture-free word
into “shadow puppet” due to the way of the performance of this show. Therefore,
the translation makes the target readers easily understand. There are 9 data or
12.86 % that belong to this category.
d. Literal Translation
This technique came from a word for word translation, then makes
change to conformity of source language grammar with target language. Literal
translation follows the form of the source language. This technique mostly used
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to translate simple and short sentences. The translator still tries to produce the
closest equivalent by rearranging the structure of target language.
Below is the example: datum no 037
ST: Pasar Triwindu atau Windujenar adalah hadiah ulang tahun ke 24 Gusti
Putri Mangkunegara VII yang bernama Nurul Khamari.l
TT: Triwindu Market or Windujenar was the 24th birthday gift of Princes or
Gusti Putri Mangkunegara the Seventh named Nurul Khamaril in 1939.
From the datum above, there is clearly seen that the translation is
translated word to word in the same structure between source text and target text.
The message is transferred well. Actually, there are 7 data or 10 % that belong to
this category.
e. Deletion or Omission
The technique is used by omitting or deleting words or other parts of the
source text in the target text. The translator does not translate some parts of the
source text. As the result, this technique sometimes produces less accurate or
inaccurate translation.
The example is : datum no. 051
ST: Pendopo adalah Joglo dengan empat saka guru (tiang utama) yang
digunakan untuk resepsi dan pementasan tari tradisional Jawa.
TT: Pendopo is a Joglo building supported by four main pillars. It is used to
held the ceremonies and to perform traditional Javanese dance.
In the datu above, the omitted or deleted words are saka guru. The
untranslated cultural term is automatically loss the message. The text will make
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to write the words and give it additional information to make an accurate level.
Actually, there are 4 data or 5.71 % that belong to this category.
Table IV. 1 : The Distribution of the Technique in Each Leaflet
Leaflet Data
Number Indonesian English
Translation
Technique
1
001 Gamelan Traditional music
instrument
Equivalence
002 Karawitan Karawitan Borrowing
003 Gamelan Gamelan Borrowing
004 Wayang Shadow puppet
show
(wayang)
Borrowing plus
explanation
005 Suling Traditional flute
(suling)
Borrowing plus
explanation
006 Kendang Kendang Borrowing
007 Rebab Rebab Borrowing
008 Gambang Gambang Borrowing
009 Gotong royong Cooperation Equivalence
010 Rancakan Rancakan Borrowing
2
011 Paku Buwono II Paku Buwono II Borrowing
012 Kraton Kasunanan Kasunanan Palace Transposition
013 Kereta Kencana Kereta Kencana
(The Golden Cart)
Borrowing plus
explanation
014 Wayang kulit Leather puppet Literal
translation
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018 Pasar Batik Batik market Transposition
019 Pasar Klewer Klewer Deletion or
omission
3
020 Pasar Klewer Pasar klewer Borrowing
021 Keris Keris Borrowing
022 Pamor Pamor Borrowing
023 Tosan aji Tosan aji Borrowing
024 Empu The keris maker Equivalence
025 Bahan pokok (pamor
026 Paku tatah Carving spikes Transposition
027 Hulu atau gagang The handle Equivalence
028 Hulu keris The handle of the
030 Warangka Warangka Borrowing
031 Hulu keris The handle Borrowing
032 Perabot Perabot Borrowing
033 Pengrajin keris Keris crafts Transposition
4
034 Pasar antik triwindu Triwindu antique
market
Literal
translation
035 Pasar antik triwindu The antique
market triwindu
Transposition
036 Pasar triwindu Triwindu market Transposition
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041 Pasar triwindu Antique market
triwindu
Borrowing plus
explanation
5
042 Puro mangkunegaran Puro
mangkunegaran
Borrowing
043 Raden Mas Said Raden Mas Said Borrowing
044 Pangeran Samber
046 Istana Mangkunegara The
Mangkunegaran
Palace
Transposition
047 Pendhopo Pendhopo Borrowing
048 Dalem Dalem Borrowing
049 Kayu jati Teak wood Equivalence
050 Joglo Joglo Borrowing
051 Saka Guru (tiang
utama)
Main pillars Deletion or
omission
052 Resepsi Ceremonies Equivalence
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Javanese Dance
054 Seperangkat gamelan A set of gamelan Literal
translation
055 Kyai Kanyut Mesem Kyai Kanyut
Mesem
Borrowing
056 Dalem Dalem building Borrowing plus
explanation
057 Wayang kulit Leather puppet Transposition
058 Puro Mangkunegaran The palace of
mangkunegaran
Literal
translation
059 Rekso Pustoko Rekso pustoko Borrowing
060 Pare Anom Pare anom art
062 Wayang Wayang Borrowing
063 Wayang kulit Wayang Deletion or
omission
064 Wali songo Wali songo Borrowing
065 Wayang beber Wayang beber Borrowing
066 Tatah sunggih (ukir
kulit)
Craved leather Deletion or
omission
067 Dalang Dalang Borrowing
068 Sinden Sinden Borrowing
069 Wayang kulit Wayang puppets Equivalence
070 Wayang The puppet Equivalence
2. The Analysis of Translation Accuracy
The accuracy of the translation on this section is analyzed based on the
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based on the result of the questionnaires delivered to the raters. The three raters
give their marks / score to each data base on the rating system below;
Table IV. 2 : The Accuracy Score and Definition
After having three raters, the data is analyzed to find the mean score.
Then count the mean of accuracy score or average score given by the three raters.
The statistical calculation is made to determine the mean of each data with a
formula.
Point Description Score
4
Accurate:
The translation of Indonesian cultural term is accurately conveyed. The message in the translated term is understandable. The message is same with the original cultural term (Bahasa Indonesia).
4.0
3
Less accurate: