ENGLISH WORDPLAY IN SPONGEBOB MOVIES AND
THEIR TRANSLATD EXPESSIONS IN BAHASA INDONESIA
SUBTITLE
A THESIS
Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Attainment of a Sarjana Satra Degree in English Language and Literature
BY:
NITAMI ATIKA SARI 12211141019
ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS YOGYAKARTA STATE OF UNIVERSITY
v MOTTOS
“You can if you think you can” - George Reeves -
“Imagination is more important than knowledge” - Albert Einstein -
“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all –in which case, you fail by default.”
vi
DEDICATIONS
This thesis is dedicated to:
My beloved parents, and my adorable
vii
AKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Alhamdulillahirobbil’alamin, all praise be to Allah SWT who has given
me His blessings to complete this thesis. I would also like to thank all of those
who have supported me and guided me in the process of writing this thesis.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to:
1. my first and second supervisors, Suhaini M. Saleh, M.A and Andy Bayu
Nugroho, S.S M.Hum for their guidance, advice, ideas, corrections and
suggestions in the process of completing this thesis;
2. my academic supervisor, Niken Anggraeni, M.A., who guided me during my
study at this university;
3. all lecturers of English Department, Yogyakarta State University for all the
knowledge and skill taught to me;
4. my beloved parents, sister and brother, who always give me love and
supports;
5. my beautiful friends, Anis Yoganita Herawati, Khanandya Nila Ulfa, and
Krisna Bayu Aji who became my peer reviewers;
6. my wonderful friends, Ulik, Nia, Ester, Bella, Meli, Anis, Krisna, Kiki for
their endless support, love and wonderful moments;
7. all my classmates of English Literature 2012 for happiness and great
moments that had been shared together;
8. all my friends in Translation Concentration, for the great time that we had;
ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE ... i
APPROVAL SHEET ... ii
RATIFICATION ... ii
PERNYATAAN ... iv
MOTTOS ... v
DEDICATIONS ... vi
AKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... ix
LIST OF FIGURE AND TABLES ... xii LIST OF ABREVIATIONS ... xii
ABSTRACT ... xiii
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ... 1
A. Research Background ...1
B. Research Focus ...3
C. Research Objectives ...5
D. Research Significance ...5
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW AND ANALYTICAL CONSRTUCT ... 6
A. Literature Review ...6
1. Translation ... 6
2. Audiovisual Translation ... 8
3. Wordplay... 9
4. Degree of Equivalence in Translation ... 18
B. About the Movie ...21
x
D. Conceptual Framework ...23
E. Analytical Construct ...24
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD ... 26
A. Type of the Research ...26
B. Form, Context and Source of Data ...26
C. Research Instruments ...26
E. Data Analysis ...30
F. Trustworthiness ...30
CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ... 32
A. FINDINGS ...32
1. Types of Wordplay in SpongeBob Movies ... 32
2. Techniques to Translate Wordplay in SpongeBob Movies ... 33
3. Degree of Equivalence of the Translation of Wordplay in SpongeBob Movies... 35
B. DISCUSSION ...35
1. Types of wordplay in SpongeBob movies ... 35
2. Techniques to Translate Wordplay in SpongeBob Movies. ... 50
3. Degree of Equivalence of the Translation of Wordplay in SpongeBob Movies... 60
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION ... 70
A. Conclusion ...70
B. Suggestions ...71
REFERENCES ... 73
xi
LIST OF FIGURE AND TABLES
Figure.1 Conceptual Framework of the Research ... 25
Table.1 The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie ... 27
Table 2. The Frequency and Precentage of the Types of Wordplay in SpongeBob
Movies ... 33
Table 3. Frequency and Percentage of the Types of the Wordplay in SpongeBob
Movies ... 34
Table 4. The Frequency and Percentage of the Degree of Equivalence of the
xii
TR : Transfer/Source Texts remain
the same with Target Texts
TT : Target Text
Un : Unrealized
WW : Wordplay to Wordplay
WN : Wordplay to Non-Wordplay
xiii
ENGLISH WORDPLAY IN SPONGEBOB MOVIES AND THEIR TRANSLATED EXPRESSIONS IN BAHASA INDONESIA SUBTITLE
By: objectives: 1) to describe the types of the wordplay, 2) to describe the techniques used by translator to translate the wordplay, and 3) to describe the degree of equivalence of the translation of the wordplay in SpongeBob movies.
This research employed descriptive qualitative method as the main method because this research was concerned with the narrative descriptive of the translation phenomena in SpongeBob movies. The forms of data of this research were words and phrases containing wordplay in the movies. They were collected manually from the original VCDs of SpongeBob movies: The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie and SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water and their Bahasa Indonesia subtitle. The main instrument was the researcher who acted as data collector, data analyst and data interpreter. The trustworthiness of this study was achieved by using a triangulation technique.
The findings of this research show that six types of wordplay are found. They are homonymy, homography, paronymy, idiom, syntactic structure and morphological development. Among them, morphological development is in the highest number. Then, the techniques used by translator to translate the wordplay are wordplay to wordplay, wordplay to non-wordplay, wordplay to zero, wordplay in the target text which is similar with the source text, and multiple techniques: editorial and wordplay in the target text which is similar with the source text technique. The most used strategy is wordplay to non-wordplay. In terms of degree of equivalence, from the last findings show 74% of the wordplays are translated equivalent, 16% of the wordplays are translated non-equivalent, and 8% of the wordplays are unrealized or not translated.
1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Research Background
Children’s animated movies are getting more popular these days. One of
the most popular children animated movies is SpongeBob. SpongeBob is one of
the animated movies popular not only among children but also among adults.
Although almost all of the stories of this movie are simple and child-friendly,
adults also can enjoy this movie because sometimes this movie deals with difficult
dialogues or humours that can only be understood by adults. In the movie
SpongeBob SquarePants, there are some interesting and clever humours that make
this movie interesting for all ages. For Example, when SpongeBob and Patrick
went to Shell City to find King Neptune’s crown, Princess Mindy came to them
and reported that Bikini Bottom Has changed into Planktopolis. The word
‘Planktopolis’ is built by the word ‘Plankton’ and ‘Metropolis’. Children may not
understand the wordplay. Some of the children may never hear the word
‘Metropolis’ before, but for adults, it is familiar. Therefore adults can transfer the
meaning and find the wordplay amusing.
Humour mainly becomes a hot topic in SpongeBob movies. SpongeBob
movies become a hot topic because they contain some clever humours. Wordplays
are usually used to create these humours. Wordplay is known as a play on
language. It includes humour, parody, anagram, etc. Wordplay is considered as a
part of culture. It brings information that can only be understood by a community
which belongs to the culture. Wordplay can be a problem when not all people
problem often occurs when people in the different cultures or even countries try to
read or watch some works that contain wordplay. In the SpongeBob Movies for
instance, there are many wordplays that can only be accepted in English. To solve
this problem, translation is necessary.
Translation is the process in changing a language from the source
language into the target language. The aim of translating is reproducing the
message of source language into the target one. Here, translation focuses on the
message from the source text into the target text. In a movie, translation can be in
the form of dubbing or subtitling, but mostly translators translate a movie in a
form of subtitling. Gottlieb in Orero (2004: 86) defines subtitling as “the
rendering in a different language of verbal messages in filmic media, in the shape
of one or more lines of written text, presented on the screen in synch with the
original verbal message”. According to his explanation, subtitling a movie should
have the same meaning between the source text and the target text.
Making subtitle from the source text into the target text is not an easy job.
There are several things to be considered by a translator. The translator should
understand aspects related to the translation process of a text, such as the
background or the cultural aspects of the text. In the SpongeBob movies wordplay
becomes a challenge to the translator. Translating wordplay is challenging
because it creates such problem like when the source text wordplay is translated
into non-wordplay in the target text and therefore it makes the effect of the
problems of translatability because different languages have different
meaning-form distributions (Delabastita 2004: 601).
In this research, according to the phenomena above, the researcher decides
to analyse wordplay in SpongeBob movies. The first movie was released in
November 19, 2004 and the second movie was released in February 6, 2015.
These two movies have different stories. Also, there are wordplay in these movies
that create problems for people who watch the movies. Thus, the researcher is
interested to analyse the wordplays used in these movies.
B. Research Focus
Translating dialogues in a movie in a form of subtitle has become a need.
A translated movie can be very helpful for people from different cultures and
countries to understand the movie. It also can be a source of learning by students
who want to understand other cultures. Although a translated movie is very
helpful, sometimes some problems come from this translated movie because
translation is not only changing writings from one language to another, words by
words, or sentence by sentence, but also interpreting the cultural differences.
There are some words that are difficult to be translated, especially words that are
culturally bounds.
Wordplay may be difficult to be translated from the source text into the
target text. It is because wordplay is culturally bound. In translating wordplays,
the translator must consider the techniques of translating it. The translator often
makes some necessary changes because translation deals with all aspects exist in
Loss or change of meaning may happen because the written text cannot transfer
all the nuances of the language.
Another problem comes from translating the wordplays are equivalence
aspect since it is closely related to meaning produced by the translator. The more
accurate the meaning produced, the higher the degree of equivalence is and vice
versa. Catford points out in his book that finding TL equivalence is the central
problem of translation-practice. He also adds that a central task of translation
theory is to define the nature and conditions of translation equivalents (Catford
1965: 21). In accordance with meaning in wordplay translation, to get accurate
and equivalent meaning, a translator must know what meaning he or she should
produce.
There are some reasons why the researcher is interested in these movies.
First, SpongeBob has interesting story line in every episodes and movies. They
also contain simple yet interesting humours. Second, the researcher interested in
wordplay since not many people are familiar with it. Third, SpongeBob movies
contain significant number of wordplays which become the data of the research.
Based on the problems identified above, the problems of the research are
formulated as follows.
1. What are the types of wordplay used in SpongeBob movies?
2. What are the translation techniques used in translating the wordplay in
SpongeBob movies into Bahasa Indonesia subtitle?
3. What is the degree of equivalence of the translation of wordplay in
C. Research Objectives
Based on the formulation of the problems, the objectives of the research
are:
1. to describe the types of wordplay used in SpongeBob movies,
2. to describe the translations techniques used in translating the wordplay in
SpongeBob movies into Bahasa Indonesia subtitle, and
3. to describe the degree of equivalence of the translation of wordplay in
SpongeBob movies into Bahasa Indonesia subtitle.
D. Research Significance
1. Theoretical benefits
This research can be used as additional reference for lecturers in teaching
translation subject and can give useful insight to the field of translation,
especially about wordplays and the techniques in translating them.
2. Practical benefits
This research can give better understanding for the student, especially in
understanding the wordplays found in the movies and can help translators to
6 CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
A. Literature Review
1. Translation
Translation is often used in daily activity as a tool to transferring meaning from
one language to another. The purpose of translation is to reproducing the message
from the source language to the target one. The researcher discussed the definition
on translation based on the view of some scholars in translation studies.
a. Notions of translation
There are some definitions attached to translation. Munday (2001: 4-5)
refferings the term of translation to the general subject field, the product (the text
that has been translated) or the process (the act of producing the translation,
otherwise known as translating). Koller (1998: 196) narrows it down as a
transposing activity from a source language into a target language. In this activity,
the result between text in TT (targte-language text) and the ST (source-language
text) should be equivalent.
In a more specific definition, according to Nida (1975: 33), “translating
consists in producing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent to the
message of the source language, first in meaning and secondly in style”. In this
definition, Nida explains clearly that meaning and style should be equivalent in
translating a text. Dubbois in Bell (1991: 5) also pursues the same line of
emphasis on meaning and style in his translation “translation is the expression in
another language (or the target language) of what has been expressed in another,
From the three definitions above, it seems that Nida is more accurate in
serving the basis concept of translation. From his explanation, it can be concluded
that a translator should focus not only on semantic transference from SL to TL,
but also on the appropriate stylistic and diction in the TL.
b. Types of Translation
Three categories of translation described by the Czech structuralist Roman
Jakobson in his seminar paper 'On Linguistic Aspects of Translation' (1959: 114).
Jakobson's categories are as follows.
1) Intralingual translation, or 'rewording' is defined as an interpretation of verbal
signs by means of other signs of the same language.
2) Interlingual translation, or 'translation proper' is defined as an interpretation
of verbal signs by means of some other language.
3) intersemiotic translation, or 'transmutation' is defined as an interpretation of
verbal signs by means of signs of non-verbal sign systems.
Furthermore, Jackobson (1959) explains that intralingual translation of a
word uses either another, more or less synonymous. Yet synonymy, as a rule, is
not complete equivalence, for example, every celibate is a bachelor, but not every
bachelor is a celibate. Moreover, a word or an idiomatic phrase-word may be fully
interpreted only by means of an equivalent combination of code-units, for
instance, a message referring to this code unit: ‘every bachelor is an unmarried
man, and every unmarried man is a bachelor’.
For interlingual translation, Jackobson states that there is ordinarily no full
interpretations of messages. He states that the translator recodes and transmits a
message received from another source. Thus translation involves two equivalent
messages in two different codes.
Different from intralingual and interlingual translation, in intersemiotic
translation symbols or signs may interpreted into other symbols or signs of the
same system or another system. For example, intersemiotic translation can happen
when translating a written text into music, movie, or painting.
From the three types of translation above, Interlingual Translation or
Translation Proper is close to the researcher’s topic. By defining that Translation
proper involves two different codes, the researcher believes it can happen in a
movie because it needs to be translated into many languages. The object of this
research is SpongeBob movies and the major topic is wordplays, therefore
Interlingual Translation is needed to translate the wordplays into many languages
so that people with different languages and cultures can understand the wordplays
very well. A translation activity which involves multimedia, especially movies,
can be categorized as Audiovisual Translation.
2. Audiovisual Translation
Audiovisual Translation or Screen translation ia a branch of translation
studies concerned with the transfer of multimodal and multimedial texts into
another language and culture (Gonzales 2014: 13,14). It consists of three types;
subtitling, dubbing, and voice over. As the word suggests, audiovisuals are made
to be both heard (audio) and seen (visual) simultaneously but they are primarily
printed texts because the verbal and visual contents of audiovisual products
function inseparably to create a meaningful whole. The most common screen
translation is subtitle.
Subtitles, sometimes referred to captions, are transcriptions of film or TV
dialogue, presented simultaneously on the screen (Baker 2005: 244). Subtitles are
commonly presented in the bottom of the picture. It consists of two lines of an
average maximum length of 35 characters (Baker 2005: 245). Subtitling is one of
the most commonly used translation approaches to be found in the category of
screen translation. Furthermore, Gottlieb (in Orero 2004: 86) defines subtitling as
“the rendering in a different language of verbal messages in filmic media, in the
shape of one or more lines of written text, presented on the screen in synch with
the original verbal message”.
The subtitling technique is the translation of movie dialogues, started
taking shape with the invention of sound movie in 1927 (Ivarsson, 2004). The
first movie to feature some audible dialogue lines was The Jazz Singer directed by
Al Jolson. From the years 1927, movie producers decided to insert titles in the
picture due to translation issue. This technique is called subtitling.
3. Wordplay
a. Notions of Wordplay
Many researchers who wrote on the subject of wordplay seem to use the
terms “wordplay" and "pun" more or less interchangeably. Delabastita in Schröter
‘instance of wordplay”. Balci (2005: 8) also agrees with Delebastita stating that
the two terms can be used interchangeably and refer to the same thing.
Chiaro (1992: 2) says that wordplay is “the use of language with intent to
amuse”. The ‘amuse’ here can be in the form of humour or seriousness, but in
many cases of wordplay, comical or humorous is the main effect of using it.
However, in creating this comical or humorous effect, at the same time, wordplay
reflects a fundamental characteristic of the linguistic system, the anisomorphism
between the levels of signifier and signified, lack of a one-to-one correspondence
between form and meaning, which is evident in phenomena like polysemy or
homophony. As Delabastita (1994: 223) points out that the semantic and
pragmatic effects of source text wordplay find their origin in particular structural
characteristics of the source language such as the existence of certain
homophones, near homophones, polysemic clusters, idioms or grammatical rules.
Practically every definition of the wordplay emphasizes what one could
call the identity (or similarity) of form versus the difference in meaning. Leech,
for example, in his definition about wordplay, he points out homonymy or
polysemy is the origin of wordplay as a foregrounded lexical ambiguity (1969:
209). Further, Delabastita (1996: 128) gives a definition on wordplay in more
precise and comprehensive way as the general name for the various textual
phenomena in which structural features of the language(s) are exploited in order
to bring about a communicatively significant confrontation of two (or more)
linguistic structures with more or less similar forms and more or less different
b. Typology of Wordplay
Delebastita classified wordplay ( a term he uses interchangeably with pun)
into four basic categories (1993:102).
1) Phonological Structure
The English phonological system makes use of a limited number of
phonemes. There are groups of words that share one or more phonemes in spite of
their being unrelated etymologycally or semantically.
a) Homonymy
Homonymy occurs when two or more words are identical both in spelling and
pronunciation but different in meaning.
Example: He had a blue face since yesterday.
The word blue has some different meanings; ‘blue’ as a colour, or ‘blue’ as a sad
feeling.
b) Homophony
Homophony occurs when a word which is pronounced the same as another word
but has a different meaning or a different spelling or both.
Example :
I hope my plants do not die in this heat.
Santi wants to dye her hair brown.
The words ‘die’ and ‘dye’ are pronounce the same.
c) Homography
A word which is spelled the same as another word and might be pronounced the
Example: A garden will produce produce.
In the example above, the first ‘produce’ is pronounced /prəˈdjuːs/ , and the
second ‘produce’ is pronounced /ˈprɒd.juːs/
d) Paronymy
Paronymy occurs when words are similar but not identical in spelling and
pronunciation.
Example:
Do cats eat bats? Do bats eat cats?
In this example, ‘cats’ and ‘bats’ are paronymy because of the sound of
/æts/ they possess.
2) Lexical Developments
a) Polysemy
Polysemy and homonymy sometimes difficult to distinguish since both are
words with the same spelling and pronunciation, but different meaning. Bergen
(2008: 1) clears this problem with Murphy (2010:84) states that polysemy refers
to the situation where a word has two or more distinct meanings but those are still
related in sense.
Example :
A mother with a big potato chip is holding one up to the wall.
Mama says she accidentally put a chip in the wall.
The similarity of the two sentences is the word chip. It refers to a long thin
is for a chip paint which also has a thin shape. Both chips have different meaning
but they are still related in sense.
b) Idiom
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionarydefines idiom as “a group of words
whose meaning is different from the individual words”. Example: To "have bitten
off more than you can chew" is an idiom that means you have tried to do
something which is too difficult for you.
3) Syntactic Structure
Syntactic structure ambiguity arises when a complex phrase or a sentence
can be parsed in more than one way. The example can be seen below:
When the gong sounded, a woman carrying a monkey and a large elephant entered
the ring.
From the sentence above, it can be interpreted differently. First, the
woman can only carry the monkey and that the elephant was walking beside her,
in front of her or behind her. Second, the woman carrying the monkey and the
elephant.
4) Morphological Developments
Morphological is composed by words which can be related to other words
by mend of morphological devices such as derivation or compounding. Example :
I was agog. And my agogness was soon to be rewarded.
c. Translation Techniques for Wordplay
Delabastita has presented the following translation techniques for
1. Wordplay Translated into Wordplay (Wordplay Wordplay)
The source-text wordplay is translated by a target-language wordplay,
which may be more or less different from the original wordplay in terms of formal
structure, semantic structure, or lexical function. The example of this technique
can be seen from the translation of Alice in Wonderland below.
Source Expression :
‘You promised to tell me your history, you know ?’ said Alice ‘and why it is you hate –C and D’ she added in a whisper half afraid that it would be offended again. ‘Mine is a long and a sad tale’ said the Mouse, turning to Alice, and sighing ‘It is a long tail, certainly’, said Alice, looking down with wonder at the Mouse’s tail; ‘but why do you call it sad ?’
Target Expression :
“Kamu sudah berjanji untuk menceritakan sejarah dirimu kepadaku, bukankah demikian,” kata Alice, “dan mengapa kamu membenci K dan A,” bisiknya, setengahnya takut menyinggung kembali perasaan si Tikus.
“Ceritaku berbuntut panjang dan menyedihkan!” kata si Tikus, berpaling
kearah Alice dan menghela nafas.
“Buntutmu memang panjang, sudah pasti itu,” kata Alice sambil melihat ke
arah ekor si Tikus dengan bingung, “tetapi mengapa kamu bilang menyedihkan?”
In the example above, the wordplay expression ‘tale’ and ‘tail’ are
homophony, and they are pronounced the same. In the target expression, the
translator used ‘buntut’ and ‘buntut’ because they are homonymy, and also
pronounced the same.
2. Wordplay Translated into Non-Wordplay (Wordplay Non-wordplay)
The wordplay is rendered by a non-wordplaying phrase which may salvage
both senses of wordplay but in a non-wordplaying conjunction, or select one of
both components of the wordplay are translated ‘beyond recognition’. Example
below is taken from Shrek movie.
Source Expression:
SHREK: So, Charming, you want to let me out of these so we can settle this ogre-to-man?
PRINCE CHARMING: That sounds fun. But I have a better idea
Target Expression:
SHREK: Mau lepaskan ini agar kita bisa selesaikan antara ogre dan pria? PANGERAN CHARMING: Kedengarannya menyenangkan. Tapi aku punya ide yang lebih baik.
The wordplay in the example above can be found in the phrase ‘ogre
-to-men’. It is actually a play on idiom man-to-man. However, because Shrek is an
ogre and Prince Charming is a man, Shrek replaces the word ‘man’ with ‘ogre’.
3. Wordplay Translated Using Related Rethorical Devices (Wordplay
Rethorical Devices)
The wordplay is replaced by some wordplay using related rhetorical device
(repetition, alliteration, rhyme, referential vagueness, irony, paradox, etc.) which
also aims to recapture the effect of the source-text wordplay. The example of this
technique clearly portrays in the translation of wordplay in Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory.
Source Expression:
“Did we go too far?” Charlie asked.
‘Too far?’ cried Mr Wonka. ‘Of course we went too far! You know where we’ve
gone, my friends? We’ve gone into orbit!’ Target Expression:
“Apakah kita pergi terlalu jauh?” tanya Charlie.
“Terlalu jauh?” teriak Mr. Wonka. “Tentu saja kita pergi terlalu jauh! Kalian
The wordplay in the example above is using repetition. This wordplay is
also translated in the target expression with the same style.
4. Wordplay Translated into Zero (Wordplay Zero)
The portion of text containing the wordplay is simply omitted.
Source Expression:
KING HAROLD: Where are we?
WAITRESS: Hi. Welcome to Friar's Fat Boy! May I take your order?
FAIRY GODMOTHER: My diet is ruined! I hope you're happy. Two Renaissance Wraps, no Mayo...chili rings...
PRICE CHARMING: I'll have the Medieval Meal.
Target Expression:
RAJA HAROLD: Kita dimana?
PELAYAN: Selamat datang. Bisa kucatat pesananmu?
IBU PERI: Dietku berantakan. Kuharap kau sengan. Dua ‘Renaissance’, tanpa mayo…
PANGERAN CHARMING: Aku mau paket kuno.
From the example above, the wordplay ‘Friar's Fat Boy’ in the source
expression cannot be found in the target expression. It means, the translator
simply omitted it.
5. Wordplay TT which is similar with Wordplay ST (TT=ST)
The translator reproduces the source-text wordplay and possibly its
immediate environment in its original formulation, i.e. without actually
‘translating’ it.
Source Expression:
SHREK: My but is itching up a storm and I can't reach it in this monkey suit. Hey, you! Come here. What's your name?
Target Expression:
SHREK: Bokongku gatal dan aku tak bisa menggaruknya dengan baju monyet ini. Kau, kemarilah! Siapa namamu?
PEMBANTU: Fiddlesworth, Tuan. SHREK: Sempurna
The name ‘Fiddlesworth’ is actually a play on the phrase ‘a fiddle’s worth’
which means ‘a small amount’. The translator does not change it into another
word because it refers to a proper name.
6. Editorial Technique
Explanatory footnotes or endnotes, comments provided in translator’s
forewords, the anthological presentation of different, supposedly complementary
solutions to one and the same source-text problem, and so forth” (1996, 134).
Source Expression:
‘Just think of what work it would make with the day and night!You see the earth takes twenty-four hours to turn around on its axis -‘
‘Taking of axes, said the Duchess, ‘chop off her head!’
Target Expression:
“Coba bayangkan akibatnya pada siang dan malam! Kau tahu, bumi memerlukan waktu dua puluh empat jam untuk berputar pada porosnya –
“Omong-omong soal kapak” kata sang Duchess, “penggal kepalanya!”
Catatan kaki:
1. Poros dalam bahasa Inggris adalah axis.
2. Kapak dalam bahasa Inggris adalah axes. Axis dan axes terdengar mirip. Maksud Alice mengatakan axis. Sementara sang Ratu berpikir Alice mengucapkan axes. (Alice Adventure in Wonderland)
In the example above, the translator adds footnotes to inform the readers
about the wordplay used in the source expression. This technique cannot be
4. Degree of Equivalence in Translation
The basic problem of translation is Equivalence. In translating texts, both
the source text and the target text should have the same meaning and style in the
same context. Machali (1998: 3) states that target language equivalents have to be
sought not simply in terms of the “sameness of meaning”, but in terms of the
greatest possible overlap of situational range. Bell (1991: 6) mentions equivalence
can be in different degrees (fully or partially equivalent), different levels of
presentation (equivalent in respect of context, of semantics, of grammar, of lexis,
etc.) and at different ranks (word-for-word, phrase-for-phrase, sentence-for-
sentence). He also adds that the idea of total equivalence in the translation
equivalence is a chimera. Since every word has their own codes, rules, and
grammatical structure, there is no absolute synonym between words even in the
same language.
Based on explanation above, the degree of equivalence can be categorized
into 4 (modified from Bell’s).
a. Fully Equivalent
The wordplay and the meaning of the source text expression are maintained
in the target text.
Example:
Source Expression:
FIONA: And what of my groom-to-be? Lord Farquaad? What's he like?
SHREK: Let me put it this way, Princess. Men of Farquaad’s stature are in short supply.
FIONA: You’re just jealous you can never measure up to a great ruler like Lord Farquaad. SHREK: But I’ll let you do the “measuring” when you see him tomorrow.
Target Expression:
FIONA: Bagaimana calon mempelai priaku, Lord Faquaard? Seperti apa dia?
SHREK: Begini saja menyebutnya. Pria setinggi Farquaad tersedia pendek. DONKEY: Sejumlah kalangan menganggap kecil dirinya.
FIONA: Hentikan, kalian berdua. Kalian hanya cemburu tak bias sebanding dengan penguasa seperti Farquaard.
SHREK: Mungkin kau benar. Tapi biar kau saja yang “membandingkan” saat kau lihat dia besok.
The word ‘little’ has two different meanings, ‘small in size’ and ‘small in
influence’. The translation of ‘little’ in Bahasa Indonesia is ‘kecil’. It is also has
two different meanings. The example above is considered as fully equivalent
because the translator can maintain the meaning and the style of the wordplay.
b. Partially Equivalent
The wordplay of the target text either has the same meaning or the style with
the source text.
Example:
Source Expression:
SHREK: Where do you think you are going? ARTIE: Far Far Away... from you!
SHREK: You get back here, young man, and I mean it.
Target Expression:
SHREK: Kau mau kemana? ARTIE: Jauh darimu.
SHREK: Kembali ke sini, aku serius!
The actual meaning of ‘Far Far Away’ in the source expression is a proper
c. Non-equivalent
The wordplay is translated into non-wordplay and the meaning of the target
text expression is different from the source text expression.
Example:
Source Expression:
SHREK: Now, which way am I kicking?
MERLIN: I could tell you, but since you're in the midst of a self-destructive rage spiral, it would be karmically irresponsible.
Target Expression:
SHREK: Ke arah mana aku menendang?
MERLIN: Aku akan beri tahu, tapi karena kau punya emosi yang merusak itu tak baik untuk karma.
There is no word ‘karmically’ in English, the suffix –lly is added to create a
humourous effect, but in Bahasa Indonesia it is difficult to create the same effect.
d. Unrealized
In some cases the wordplay in the ST is not realized in the TT.
Example:
Source Expression:
DONKEY: It's nothing to be ashamed of. I cry all the time. Just thinking about my grandma, or thinking about baby kittens, or my grandma kissing a baby kitten, or a little baby grandma kitten. That is so darn sad.
Target Expression:
The translation of word ‘darn’ in source expression cannot be found in
target expression.
B. About the Movie
1. The SpongeBob SquarePantsMovie
This movie was released in 19 November 2004 in USA. This movie was
released under Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon Movies, and United Plankton
Movies production companies. In a summary, Plankton stole a King Neptune’s
crown and blamed it on Mr. Krab to get Krabby Patty secret formula. King
Neptunes got angry and ready to punish Mr. Krab. SpongeBob, the one who is
loyal to Mr. Krab, tried to save Mr. Krab from being punished with go to a place
named Shell City to get back the crown. King Neptune gave SpongeBob and
Patrick six days to get back the crown, if they failed Mr Krab will be executed. In
the end of the story, SpongeBob and Patrick succeed with the crown and Mr Krab
is free from being executed meanwhile Plankton failed to overcome Mr Krab.
2. The SpongeBob Movie : Sponge Out of Water
After 10 years, SpongeBob has another movie. The movie released in 6
February 2015. The production was still in the same production companies. As the
previous movie, this movie also had an interesting plot. During a fight between
the Krusty Krab and Plankton, the secret formula suddenly disappears. The Bikini
Bottomites go crazy and they all believe that SpongeBob and Plankton stole the
secret formula. SpongeBob and Plankton then create a time machine to get the
disappeared and take it back to the present day time. They then realized that it is a
fake formula Plankton made when he was trying to steal the real one. Then
SpongeBob smells the krabby patty and all people follow him and they arrive at
the bank of the surface. Everyone except SpongeBob, Patrick, Mr Krabs,
Squidward, Sandy, and Plankton go back home while they go to the surface with
the help of Bubbles. Soon they know that the pirate who is selling krabby patty is
the thief and they change into superheroes to take back the secret formula.
C. Related Studies
Considering wordplays becoming popular, the researcher believe there are
many studies that had been conducted in this field. The researcher took a look and
studied many studies of wordplays as references for the sake of this research. Two
of them are a thesis by Sigit Wibisono (2009) “Wordplay In Shrek Movies and Its
Bahasa Indonesia Subtitling Text” and a research “Translating Wordplay: Lewis
Caroll in Galician and Spanish” by Fransisco Javier Diaz Perez (1999).
In Sigit Wibisono’s research, the researcher found 3 objectives that is
similar with the researcher’s objectives. First, he identifies the types of wordplays
in Shrek Movies. Second, he analyses the technique to translate the wordplays
into Bahasa Idonesia in Shrek Movies. The last, he identifies the degree of
equivalence of the translation of wordplays in Shrek Movies in Bahasa Indonesia.
The results of his research are there are five types of wordplays in Shrek movies:
homonymy, paronymy, lexical development: polysemy, lexical development:
idiom, and morphological development. For the technique to translate the
translation, loan translation, deletion, literal-wordplay to wordplay, literal-loan,
and literal-deletion. Meanwhile, he concludes that 79.24% of the translations of
wordplays in Shrek Movies are equivalent.
The second research is “Translating Wordplay: Lewis Caroll in Galician
and Spanish” by Fransisco Javier Diaz Perez. In this research, Diaz Perez analyses
how puns have been dealt in one Galician and Spanish of Lewis Caroll’s novel.
He also examines some possible translation strategies for puns. Lastly, he
analyses of all the pun translations in the corpus and draws some general
conclusions. The results of his research shows that the strategy most frequently
applied in the translation of puns in the corpus is that of pun-to-pun with 64.92%
of the cases a TT pun is chosen to render ST wordplay. Furthermore, he explains
the Galician translation shows fewer pun-to-pun translations than the Spanish
ones.
D. Conceptual Framework
According to Nida (1975:33), “translating consists in producing in the
receptor language the closest natural equivalent to the message of the source
language, first in meaning and secondly in style”. In this definition, Nida clearly
explains that meaning and style should be equivalent in translating text which is
can be applied to translating wordplays.
Wordplay is a phenomenon which happens in daily language. However,
there are many people do not familiar with the concept of wordplay. Dirk
Delabastita’s defines wordplay as the general name for the various textual
to bring about a communicatively significant confrontation of two (or more)
linguistic structures with more or less similar forms and more or less different
meanings. (Delabastita 1996: 128)
Wordplay can be categorized into several categories. Delebastita
categorizes it into four: Phonological structure (Homonymy, homophony,
homography, paronymy), Lexical development (polysemy, idiom), syntactic
structure and morphological development. Since wordplay is considered as a part
of culture, there are some techniques to translating it so that other people from
different cultures can understand it well. Delebastita presents the techniques as:
wordplay to wordplay, wordplay to non-wordplay, wordplay using rhetorical
devices, wordplay to zero, wordplay ST similar with wordplay TT, and editorial
techniques.
Another problem arises from wordplay is equivalence because translating
a wordplay is not only a matter of meaning but also the style. Bell (1991: 6)
mentions a problem of equivalence which can be in different degrees (fully or
partially equivalent), different levels of presentation (equivalent in respect of
context, of semantics, of grammar, of lexis, etc.) and at different ranks
(word-for-word, phrase-for-phrase, sentence-for- sentence). According to Bell’s explanation,
equivalence can be categorized into four, they are fully equivalent, partially
equivalent, non-equivalent, and unrealized.
E. Analytical Construct
In reference to the conceptual framework above, the following diagram
Translation 3. Wordplay translated using
Rethorical Devices 4. Wordplay to Zero
5. Wordplay in TT is the same with Wordplay in ST 6. Editorial Technique
27 CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD
A. Type of the Research
This research is using a qualitative method to describe ways to translate
wordplay and to know the degree of equivalence. This research is also using
quantitative method to examine the occurrence of the types of wordplay,
techniques to translate the wordplay, and degree of equivalence. In conducting
this research, the writer collected, rewrote, classified, analysed the data and made
some conclusions.
B. Form, Context and Source of Data
The data in this research are in the forms of spoken words, phrases or
sentences to be considered as wordplay that are found in SpongeBob movies and
their Bahasa Indonesia subtitling texts. The context of the data was the dialogues
of the characters in SpongeBob movies. The movies were taken from original
VCDs of Hillenburg’s SpongeBob movies: The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
and Tibbit’s The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water.
C. Research Instruments
There are two kinds of instruments used in this research concerning the
method of collecting data. The two instruments are:
1. The researcher. The researcher is the key instrument for collecting, measuring,
and analysing the data.
2. Data sheets. Data sheets are used to record words, phrases and sentences that
28 Code SE & TE Subtitle Explanation
Types of Wordplay Translation Techniques Equivalence
Code : Code Number
RD : using rhetorical devices
SE : Source Language
TR : Transfer/Source Texts remain
the same with Target Texts
Sy : Syntactic Structure
TE : Target Text
Un : Unrealized
WW : Wordplay to Wordplay
WN : Wordplay to Non-Wordplay
WZ : Wordplay to Zero
Technique to translate the wordplay
Types of wordplay
In collecting the data, the researcher conducted some techniques.
1. The researcher watched the movie in order the researcher understand well the
content of the movie.
2. The researcher recorded the data by writing down the dialogues containing
wordplays. The record was in English and Bahasa Indonesia versions.
3. The researcher put the data into data sheet.
E. Data Analysis
The data analysis is the process of systematically searching and arranging
he collected data. The techniques of analysing data were carried out as follows.
1. The researcher read and compared the wordplays in English and their
translation in Bahasa Indonesia subtitle.
2. The researcher analysed and classified the collected data based on their
translation strategies on wordplay. The data were categorized using a table.
The table was made to classify the data into types of wordplay, techniques
used to translate the wordplay, and the degree of equivalence of the wordplay.
3. The researcher interpreted the data to answer the research questions.
F. Trustworthiness
In this research, the trustworthiness is gained by using credibility.
Credibility is concerned with the accuracy of the data. The researcher performs
deep and detail observation of the data, and applies theories from experts of
translation to confirm the research data. Credibility implies that the data are
English Literature students to evalute the data and discussed the research with
32 CHAPTER IV
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
A. FINDINGS
1. Types of Wordplay in SpongeBob Movies
Wordplay is known as a play on language, especially in humourous way. It
is considered as a part of culture. It brings information that can only be
understood by a community which belongs to the culture. The problem of
wordplay arises when people from different countries try to understand wordplays
from certain works. It happens a lot in a film or novel. Wordplay becames an
interesting pheomena, but unfortunately some audiences who are non-native of
the English language do not clearly understand. It happens in SpongeBob movies.
There are clever wordplays that are supposed to be funny, but it is hard for peope
from diferent countrie to understand unless those wordplay is translated into their
languages. Thus, the focuses of this research are to describe the types of
wordplay, the technique to translate the wordplay, and to measure the equivalence
of the wordplay in SpongeBob Movies.
According to Delebastita (1993:102), there are four basic categories for
wordplay: phonological structure, lexical development, syntactic structure, and
morphological development. Phonological structure is divided into four. They are
homophony, homonymy, homography, and paronymy. Lexical development is
divided into two: polysemy and idiom. The table below shows the frequency and
Table 2. The Frequency and Precentage of the Types of Wordplay in SpongeBob Movies
No. Types of Wordplay Frequency Percentage
1. Phonological Structure
a. Homonymy 2 8%
b. Homophony - -
c. Homography 1 4%
d. Paronymy 7 28%
2. Lexical Developments
a. Polysemy -
b. Idiom 4 16%
3. Syntactic Structure 1 4%
4. Morphological Developments 10 40%
Total 25 100%
From the table above, it can be seen that morphological developments has
the most data with 10 out of total 25 data and the highest percentage 40%,
followed with paronymy with seven data, idiom with four data, homonymy and
syntactic structure with each two data. For the last place belongs to homography
with one datum.
2. Techniques to Translate Wordplay in SpongeBob Movies
There are six techniques of translating wordplay according to Delebastita
(1996). In this research, only five methods that are found in bahasa Indonesia
subtitle of SpongeBob movies. They are wordplay to wordplay, wordplay to
non-wordplay, wordplay to zero, wordplay in the target text which is the same with
Table 3. Frequency and Percentage of the Types of the Wordplay in SpongeBob Movies
No. Techniques Frequency Percentage
1. Wordplay Wordplay 2 8%
more than one technique are used. Table 3 shows the frequency and percentage of
the types of the wordplay in SpongeBob movies.
From the table above, wordplay to non-wordplay is the most used strategy
to translate the wordplay in SpongeBob movies. Out of total 25 data, wordplay to
non-wordplay has the most data with 16 data or 64%. It is followed with wordplay
in the target text is the same with wordplay in the source text technique as the
second most used technique with four data or 16%. In the third place there is
wordplay translated into zero with two data or 8%. Meanwhile wordplay
translated into wordplay has two data and multiple techniques is the lowest with
3. Degree of Equivalence of the Translation of Wordplay in SpongeBob Movies
According to Bell (1991: 6) there are 4 degree of equivalence as the results
of the translated expressions of the wordplay in the movies. They are fully
equivalent, partially equivalent, non-equivalent, and unrealized.
Table 4. The Frequency and Percentage of the Degree of Equivalence of the Wordplay in SpongeBob Movies
No. Degree of Meaning Equivalence Frequency Percentage
1. Equivalent
a. Fully Equivalent 2 8%
b. Partially Equivalent 17 68%
2. Non-Equivalent 4 16%
3. Unrealized 2 8%
Total 25 100%
From Table 4, It can be seen that out of total 25 data, 17 data or 68% of the
translation of the wordplay in SpongeBob movies are partially equivalent. Four
data are non-equivalent, and two data are fully equivalent. However there are two
data that are unrealized in the Bahasa Indonesia subtitle.
B. DISCUSSION
This part presents deeper and detail explanation about the wordplay used
in SpongeBob movies and their translation in Bahasa Indonesia subtitle. The
discussion provides deeper explanation associated with some examples.
1. Types of wordplay in SpongeBob movies
From the findings above, types of wordplay used in SpongeBob movies are
morphological developments. The examples of each type and more detailed
explanation of them are discussed below.
a. Homonymy
Homonymy is a type of wordplay that has identical spelling and sound but
different in meaning. This condition is exploited in order to arouse humorous
effect. There are two data that are found in the movies. The first example can be
seen in the datum below.
SE
SPONGEBOB: Get him, The Rodent!
SANDY: Consider him roasted! aw, nuts! I’m all out of nuts! TE
SPONGEBOB: Kalahkan dia The Rodent!
SANDY: Tentu saja! sial, aku kehabisan kacang!
(Datum 21/Hm/WNW/Pq/01:13:06)
When Bikini Bottom is in chaos, Spongebob, Mr. Krabs, Squidward,
Sandy, Patrick, and Plankton go to the surface looking for Krabby Patty’s secret
recipe that is lost. With the help of Bubble, they arrive safely. Then they find out
that Burger Bread is the one who steals the recipe with a magic book. SpongeBob
and the others try to take back the secret recipe but they are too small and weak.
Burger Bread does not feel threatened and he sends them to Pelican Island. After
come back from Pelican Island, SpongeBob and the others change into superhero
with the help of a piece of paper from the magic book and they try to chase
Burger Bread who runs with the secret recipe.
With her superpower, Sandy shots Burger Bread with nuts, but he can
by saying ‘nuts’ (/nʌts/) which is the expression of anger and ‘nuts’ (/nʌts/)
which refers to the dry fruit of particular trees which grows in a hard shell and can
often be eaten. The word ‘nuts’ here can be categorized into homonymy because
they have the same spelling and pronunciation. When Sandy plays with the word
‘nuts’, she creates an amusement.
In the translation of Bahasa Indonesia, the translator translated the
wordplay literally. The expression of angry ‘nuts’ translated into ‘sial’ and the
actual ‘nuts’ translated into ‘Kacang’. In Bahasa Indonesia there is no similar
word to ‘Kacang’ that can express the anger. Although the amusement of using
wordplay in the target text is lost, the translation can still maintain the meaning of
the source text expressions. Therefore, the translation can be considered as
partially equivalent.
SE:
MR. KRABS: Don't worry, little formuler, you'll be safe in this, uh, safe.
TE:
MR.KRABS: Jangan khawatir sayangku. Kau akan aman disini.Tetap terjaga.
(Datum 11/Hp/Rt/Nq/00:07:33)
Mr Krab understands the situation outside the krusty krab. Plankton is trying
to steal krabby patty’s secret formula again with creating a war with SpongeBob
and Patrick. While SpongeBob and Patrick try to hold Plankton from stealing the
formula, Mr Krab checks the formula in his safe and says, ‘Don't worry, little
formuler, you'll be safe in this, uh, safe’.
In the datum above, the wordplay is found in the word ‘safe’. It refers to two
strong box or cupboard with special locks. Mr. Krabs uses both ‘safe’ in one
sentence and it creates a humour. Meanwhile, in Bahasa Indonesia the word ‘safe’
is translated into two different meanings; ‘aman’ and ‘terjaga’. The word ‘aman’
is the translation of ‘safe’, but ‘terjaga’ is not the actual translation of the second
‘safe’. The second‘safe’ is supposed to be translated into ‘brankas’. However, the
translator translated it into ‘terjaga’. The translator may want to keep creating the
effect of humour, because ‘aman’ and ‘terjaga’ are closely related and they are
considered as wordplay.
b. Homography
Homography refers to a word which is spelled the same as another word and
might be pronounced the same or differently, but which has a different meaning.
The example can be seen in the datum below.
SE:
PLANKTON: Where do you think you're going?
BURGER BEARD: Why don't you get going, little fella, before you hurt yourself?
SPONGEBOB: Plankton? PLANKTON: It's Plank-Ton!
TE:
PLANTON: Mau pergi kemana kau?
BURGER BEARD: Kenapa kau tak pergi saja, dasar kecil, sebelum kau melukai dirimu sendiri.
know that Plankton follows him to take back the recipe. Just like the others,
Plankton also got a super power. He gets bigger and stronger. SpongeBob suprises
to see him and calls him doubtfully ‘Plankton?’. Plankton corrects him with
saying ‘It’s Plank-Ton’
The wordplay in the datum above can be found in the name ‘Plankton’.
When SpongeBob calls the name ‘Plankton’ (/ˈplæŋk.tən/), Plankton himself corrects his name becomes ‘PlankTon’ (/ˈplæŋk.tʌn/). He changes his name according to the super power he has. He becomes stronger and bigger. The name
‘Plankton’ becomes a wordplay because they share the same writing but different
pronunciatin.
In Bahasa Indonesia subtitle, the translator simply transfers the wordplay
from the source text to the target text. Since it is a proper name, the translator does
not translate it into another name in Bahasa Indonesia. Although the style of the
wordplay cannot be seen in the target text, the meaning of the wordplay also does
not change.
c. Paronymy
Paronymy refers to a condition when words or group words are nearly but not
quite identical in spelling and pronunciation. The first example can be seen below.
SE
SPONGEBOB: Clear the area, citizens. There’s going to be some serious aft-kicking here.
TE
SPONGEBOB: jangan takut warga setempat. Akan ada perkelahian di sini.
After coming back from Pelican Island which Burger Bread sent them,
SpongeBob and his friends change into superheroes. They are going to start a war
and SpongeBob tells the citizens who are buying krabby patty in Burger Bread
food truck to go. He says “there’s going to be some serious aft-kicking here” to
refer that there will be a fight. SpongeBob uses ‘aft-kicking’(/æft/-/kɪkɪŋ/) as a
refer to ‘ass-kicking’ (/æs/-/kɪkɪŋ/) which has the same meaning with kick (some)
ass, and it means ‘to punish someone or to defeat someone with a lot of force’.
SpongeBob uses ‘aft’ (/æft/) instead of ‘ass’ (/æs/) because Burger Bread’s food
truck is made from a boat and ‘aft’ means ‘towards the back of boat’.
In the translation of Bahasa Indonesia, the translator translated the
wordplay literally into ‘perkelahian’. The translator only can maintain the
meaning and the aspect of wordplay cannot be conveyed in the target text.
A similar case also occurs in the datum below. However, the pronunciation
of the two words being confronted is not as nearly identical as the datum in the
previous discussion.
SE:
CUSTOMERS: Refund! Refund! Refund!
MR. KRABS: Stop! I'm not your enemy! Plankton is your enemy! SQUIDWARD: so is he an anemone or a plankton?
TE:
CUSTOMERS: Pengmbalian uang.
MR. KRABS: Stop. Aku bukanlah musuh kalian. Plankton-lah musuh kalian.
SQUIDWARDS: Jadi dia musuh atau Plankton?
This conversation begins when the secret recipe of krabby patty is lost and
SpongeBob cannot remember how to make a krabby patty. The customers start to
be impatient and ask for refund because they cannot eat krabby patty but they
already pay for it. Mr. Krabs who loves money so much cannot give them the
money and tells them that Plankton is their real enemy because it all happens
because of him. Squidwards then asks ‘so is he an anemone or a plankton?’ because the word ‘Enemy’ and ‘Anemone’ are a little bit identical.
Actually the word ‘anemone’ can refer to two different meanings.
Anemone is any of several types of small plant, wild or grown in gardens, with
red, blue or white flowers. Therefore, anemone also can grow in the sea and it is
called sea anemone and often lives under the rock. Squidwards compares Plankton
to anemone because they are sea creatures.
In the translation of Bahasa Indonesia, the translator dose not translate the
word ‘anemone’ as its meaning but it is tranlslated into ‘musuh’ following what
Mr. Krabs states before. Although the effect of wordplay is lost in the target text,
the translator still can maintain the meaning.
Moreover, different from the discussions above, wordplay can be in the
form of joke. It can be seen from the datum below.
SE:
MR. KRABS: Knock, knock.
PLANKTON: Oh, boy. Who's there? MR. KRABS: Jimmy.
PLANKTON: Jimmy who?
TE:
MR. KRABS: Tok, tok.
PLANKTON: Ya ampun, siapa disana? MR. KRABS: Jimmy.
PLANKTON: Jimmy siapa?
MR. KRABS: Jimmy back my formula, Plankton! (Kembalikan formula-ku, Plankton)
(Datum 14/Pr/TT=ST/Edt/Fq/00:15:44)
The joke happens when Mr. Krabs interogates Plankton for the loss of the
secret recipe of krabby patty. The secret recipe is vanished by itself but he
believes that Plankton is hiding it somewhere. He taped Plankton in a table to get
an answer. Plankton thinks that Mr. Krab will use something to poke his eye or
his nails, but unexpectedly Mr. Krabs wants to play a knock-knock joke. Plankton
thinks that knock-knock joke is a ridiculous way of torture, but the real torture is
when SpongeBob laughing so hard and he will not stop laughing.
As any other knock-knock jokes, Mr. Krabs starting with a knock-knock.
Plankton answer it with ‘who’s there?’ and Mr. Krabs says that it is ‘Jimmy’.
When Plankton asks ‘Jimmy who?’, Mr Krabs answer it with ‘Jimmy back me
formuler’ which the actual sentence is ‘Give me back my formuler’. The word
‘Jimmy’(/ˈdʒɪ.mi/) has identical pronunciation with ‘Gimme’ (/ˈgɪm.i/ ) which is
a short form of ‘Give me’.
In the translation of Bahasa Indonesia, the translator does not put any
changes in the ‘Jimmy’. The translator adds a note at the end of the sentence to
maintain the form of joke itself. The translator leaves the joke as the way it is
d. Idiom
The idiomatic wordplay is constituted by an idiomatic expression. The
meaning of idiom can be different from individual words.
SE:
MR. KRABS: Spongebob! Oh. You were like an underpaid son to me. I would've expected Squidward to stab me in the back.
TE:
MR. KRABS: Spongebob! Kau sudah seperti anak di dalam celanaku. Tapi aku malah mempercayai Squidward untuk menusukku dari belakang.
(Datum 16/Id/W/Fq/00:20:31)
Mr. Krab wants to punish Plankton because he believes that Plankton
steals the secret formula, but SpongeBob stops him and he helps Plankton,
instead. Mr. Krab feels disappointed with SpongeBob because he won’t expect
SpongeBob betrays him. SpongeBob is the most loyal employee to him. Mr.
Krabs expresses his disappointment with an idiom ‘stab me in the back’. The
phrase ‘stab me in the back’ is an idiom refers to ‘betray’.
In the translation of Bahasa Indonesia, the idiom expression is also
translated into an idiom. ‘Menusukku dari belakang’ is a common idiom in
Bahasa Indonesia and it has the same meaning with ‘stab in the back’. Both have
the same meaning ‘betray’ or to do something harmful to someone who trusted
you. Therefore, the transalation in Bahsasa Indonesia is fully equivalent because it
maintains the meaning and the style of the source expression.
Moreover, an idiom in the source expression is not always can be
because the idiom may not common in Bahasa Indonesia. It can be seen from the
datum below.
SE:
SPONGEBOB : Wait a minute, Patrick, look! He's got a tank! PLANKTON: Well, Krabs, you're certainly in a pickle now!
TE:
SPONGEBOB: Tunggu sebentar Patrick, lihat musuh memiliki sebuah tank. PLANKTON: Baiklah Krab, sekarang kau mendapat serangan acar.
(Datum 12/Id/WNW/Nq/00:08:16)
In order to steal the secret recipe of krabby patty, Plankton attacks Mr.
Krabs’ restaurant. He starts with riding a plane and throw a tartar sauce. Mr.
Krabs tells SpongeBob to fight Plankton with sauce but it fails. SpongeBob with
the help of Patrick contonue to fight Plankton with potato and it is success.
Plankton’s plane crashes but then it changes into a tank. Plankton fights back with
shooting pickles with saying ‘Well, Krabs, you're certainly in a pickle now!’.
‘in a pickle’ can be interpreted into two different meanings. The firs is an
idiom and the second is interpreted according to the situation. The situation that
happens in the movie is Plankton shoots pickles to Mr. Krabs’ restaurant, and the
‘you're certainly in a pickle now’ is an appropriate expression. Furthermore, ‘In a
pickle’ as an idiom is also an appropriate expression because it has a meaning to
be in difficult situation. Plankton wants to express that Mr. Krabs now is in a
difficult situation because of him.
In the target expression, the idiom translated into ‘mendapat serangan
