PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED IN TRANSLATING INDONESIAN PROVERBS INTO ENGLISH
A Thesis
Submitted to the English Applied Linguistics Study Program In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Magister Humaniora
By
DEWI WULANDARI Registration Number 8126112009
ENGLISH APPLIED LINGUISTICS STUDY PROGRAM
POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL
PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED IN TRANSLATING INDONESIAN PROVERBS INTO ENGLISH
A Thesis
Submitted to the English Applied Linguistics Study Program In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Magister Humaniora
By
DEWI WULANDARI Registration Number 8126112009
ENGLISH APPLIED LINGUISTICS STUDY PROGRAM
POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL
ABSTRACT
DEWI WULANDARI. Problems Encountered in Translating Indonesian Proverbs into English. Postgraduate School of the State University of Medan. 2014.
This study aims to find out the problems that the students encounter in translation
Indonesian proverbs into English. Error analysis was used to analyze the data in this study. The result of the students’ translation considered as the primary data and the result of interview was as the secondary data. There were 50 Indonesian
proverbs which consist of 10 Maxims, 10 Sayings, 10 Parable, 10 Idioms and 10
Slogan. Cultural problem was the most problems in translating Indonesian
proverbs into English. The problem occurred because the students translated the
proverbs literally and could not find the equivalence of the Indonesian proverbs in
English. Therefore, it is suggested for the students to master grammatical and
ABSTRAK
DEWI WULANDARI. NIM : 8126112009. Problems Encountered in Translating Indonesian Proverbs into English. Program Studi Linguistik Terapan Bahasa Inggris, Program Pascasarjana, Universitas Negeri Medan 2014.
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui masalah yang dihadapi oleh mahasiswa
dalam menerjemahkan peribahasa bahasa Indonesia kedalam bahasa Inggris.
Analisis kesalahan digunakan untuk menganalisis data dalam penelitian. Hasil
terjemahan mahasiswa merupakan data utama dan hasil interview adalah data
kedua. Ada 50 peribahasa Indonesia yang terdiri dari 10 Bidalan, 10 Pepatah, 10
Perumpamaan, 10 Simpulan dan 10 Pameo. Masalah budaya merupakan masalah
yang paling dominan dalam menerjemahkan peribahasa bahasa Indonesia kedalam
bahasa Inggris. Masalah terjadi dikarenakan mahasiswa-mahasiswa
menerjemahkan peribahasa secara literal dan tidak dapat menemukan persamaan
persamaan peribahasa bahasa Indonesia kedalam bahasa Inggris. Oleh karena itu
diharapkan mahasiwa menguasai kompetensi bahasa dan budaya untuk mengatasi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
A very deepest gratitude is primarily expressed to Allah SWT for all
blessings and Mercy that have enabled the writer to finish writing this thesis. It is
also impossible to be finished without guidance and the help of many people.
Foremost, the writer would like to express her sincere gratitude to her advisers Dr.
Syahron Lubis, M.A and Dr. Zainuddin, M.Hum, for the continuous support,
patience, motivation, and suggestions so that the writer could finish this thesis.
Then, the writer would like to thank Prof. Busmin Gurning, M.Pd as the
Head of English Applied Linguistics Study Program and his secretary, Dr. Sri
Minda Murni, M.S, and all the lecturers that have given me encouragement and a
lot of experience and knowledge.
Also, the writer thanks to Prof. Amrin Saragih, M.A, Ph.D, Dr. Didik
Santoso, M.Pd and Dr. Sri Minda Murni, M.S as the examiners for the valuable
suggestions that have shaped up this thesis.
And for all my classmates who always support me to finish this thesis,
especially for Lasyuli Simbolon and Hijri Rizki. Thanks a lot for all favor that you
gave to the writer. The writer wishes that our friendship will be ever lasting. Best
friend forever.
Last, the writer would like to express deep thankful to her lovely parents,
Anwar S and Rabiah, my brother and my sisters who have given spirit in my live
At the end the writer would like express appreciation to her beloved
husband, Aulia Rahman, S.T who always encourages the writer to finish this
thesis as soon as possible.
Thank you for all love and attention that have been given to the writer.
May Allah SWT always blessed. Amin ya robbal ‘alamin.
Medan, Juli 2014
The writer,
TABLE OF CONTENTS
2.2.1 The Function of Indonesian Proverb... 15
2.2.2 The Types of Indonesian Proverbs…… 17
2.3 The Previous Studies……….. 21
CHAPTER III : RESEARCH METHOD ………... 26
3.1 Research Design ……… 26
3.2 Subject of the Study ………... 27
3.1 Data and Data Source ……… 27
3.4 Technique of Data Elicitation and Data Collection 27 3.5 Technique of Data Analysis ………... 28
3.6 Trustworthiness ………... 29
4. 2 Research Findings ……… 56
4.3 Discussion ……….… 57
CHAPTER V : CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 59
5.1 Conclusion ………..,… 61
5.2 Suggestions ……….…. 61
REFERENCES ……… 63
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE Page
4.1 The result of Students’ Translation of Maxim 32
4.2 The result of Students’ Translation of Saying 39
4.3 The result of Students’ Translation of Parable 43
4.4 The result of Students’ Translation of idiom 47
4.5 The result of Students’ Translation of Slogan 50
LIST OF APPENDICES
APPENDICES Page
Appendix 1 The Result of Students’ Translation of Maxim 67
Appendix 2 The Result of Students’ Translation of Saying 71
Appendix 3 The Result of Students’ Translation of Parable 74
Appendix 4 The Result of Students’ Translation of Idiom 77
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Translation is the process of turning an original or source text into a
target text which the purpose of translation is to produce a readable and
comprehensible text for readerships. Newmark (1988: 5) states that translation is
used as a means of communication. As a means of communication, translation is
used for multilingual notices. For instance, translation is used for instructions
issued by exporting companies; for tourist publicity; for official documents; for
reports, papers, articles, textbooks to convey information. In brief, translation is
used in every branch of knowledge.
Therefore, it is important for the students to master the translation
particularly someone who are interested in working as a translator or interpreter.
As a translator, someone has a responsibility to produce a good and
comprehensible translation which could be understood well by the readerships.
For producing a good or the best translation, there are three requirements which
are required by a translator.
The first requirement is the use of the normal language forms of the target
language in translation. The use of normal language forms in translation will make
easier to readerships for understanding the translation. The second one is the
communicative translation. A communicative translation is easy to understand by
the readership due to the simple language used not monotone language. Then the
It means that the translation is presented in such a way that the translation will
evoke the same response as the source text attempted to evoke.
Although the three requirements have been fulfilled, there is a situation
where a translator has a difficulty to translate a text, particularly a text which
contains some cultural expressions. This difficulty will become a serious problem
for a translator. Moreover, if the aspects of target language are immensely
different from the aspects of source language such semantics, phonology,
morphology, syntax and pragmatics.
The difference aspects from the source language to a target language
caused frequently by the translation equivalence. It is not rare that the translation
equivalence will become the problems in the incomprehensible translations. The
case occurs in translating cultural expressions from Indonesian as the national
language of the Republic of Indonesia into English which has role as an
international language. To translate the cultural expressions from Indonesian to
English is not an easy work. Moreover, Indonesia is famous for its variety of
ethnic groups which has many cultures. The cultures influence Indonesian people
whether consciously or unconsciously and automatically also influence the
process of cultural expressions translation from Indonesian into English.
One of Indonesian cultural expressions is proverbs. In Indonesia,
proverbs are believed to contain the wisdom of the elders or ancestors in the
society because proverbs often evolve from traditional lore, history and religion.
Ashipu (2007:521) views proverbs as a dominant means of
communication in the unlettered culture and are quoted constantly when folks
in a discourse by folks who have unlettered culture. Meanwhile, the folks consider
that the use of proverbs is the best way to express the feeling or the desire such as
quipping someone.
Therefore, it can be concluded that proverbs are not only wise sayings, but
also a medium which is considered to be able to express the feeling or the desire.
Though proverbs can be used as a medium to express the feeling or
desire and constitutes cultural expressions and also taught at schools, but it is not
an easy work to translate proverbs as the cultural expressions. Frequently,
students fail to translate the proverbs from the source language to a target
language. Based on the data obtained which comprises of ten proverbs translated,
it was found that seven proverbs were not translated into to the English ones. Here
are the proverbs which had been translated by the students:
1. Tak kenal maka tak sayang.
2. Ada udang dibalik batu.
3. Dimana langit dipijak, disitu langit dijunjung.
4. Habis gelap terbitlah terang.
5. Malas pangkal miskin.
6. Sekali mendayung dua tiga pulau terlampaui.
7. Nasi sudah menjadi bubur.
8. Air susu dibalas dengan air tuba.
9. Karena nila setitik rusak susu sebelanga.
The result of data shows that only three proverbs which were translated well.
The proverbs are:
- Tak kenal maka tak sayang. (unknown, unloved)
- Dimana langit dipijak, disitu langit dijunjung. (When you are in Rome, act
like Roman)
- Nasi sudah menjadi bubur. (No use to cry over the split milk).
The rest, seven proverbs were not translated by the students. There is not a
certain reason why the students can not translate the proverbs.
Meanwhile, Dweik and Suleiman (2013) conducted a research about
“Problems Encountered in Translating Cultural Expressions from Arabic into
English”. This research aimed at investigating the problems that Jordanian
graduate students majoring in the English language faced when translating
culture–bound expressions. The results of the research revealed that graduate
students encounter different kinds of problems when translating cultural
expressions. These problems are mostly related to: 1) unfamiliarity with cultural
expressions 2) failure to achieve the equivalence in the second language, 3)
ambiguity of some cultural expressions, 4) lack of knowledge of translation
techniques and translation strategies.
Based on the previous study, researcher conducts a research to entitled
“Problems Encountered in Translating Indonesian Proverbs into English”. This
study aims to find out the problems that the students of English Applied
1.2 The Problems of the Study
The problems of the study are formulated as the following:
1. What are the problems that students encounter in translating Indonesian
proverbs into English?
2. How do students’ problems occur in translating Indonesian proverbs into
English?
3. Why do the problems occur in translating Indonesian proverbs into English?
1.3 The Objectives of the Study
In accordance with the problems of the study, the objectives of the study are:
1. to find out the problems that students encounter in Indonesian proverbs into
English.
The scope of the study focuses on the problems which are encountered
by the Postgraduate students of State University of Medan who attend the course
of Translation Studies 1 in translating appropriate proverbs of Indonesian and
English. The researcher also wants to find out how the problems occur in
translating Indonesian proverbs into English and also to find out why the
Indonesian proverbs are used as the data of the study which comprises ten of
maxim, ten of sayings, ten of parable, ten of idioms and ten of slogans.
1.5 The Significance of the Study
The findings of the study are expected to be relevant and significant
theoretically and practically. The findings could give the contribution to all
readers for those who are concerned with this field. In the following significances
of the study are stated theoretically and practically.
a. Theoretically
Theoretically, the usefulness of the findings is described as the following.
1. The students can enrich their knowledge about translation particularly in
translating Indonesian Proverb into English.
2. The study improves the implication of translation theories from source
language to the target language
b. Practically
Practically the usefulness of the findings is the following.
1. By knowing the translation problems, it is expected for the translators
will learn more about proverbs so that the translators will not find the
problems in translating the Indonesian proverbs into English.
2. For the students, the study encourages and motivates them to be a good
translator particularly in translating proverbs from the source language to
3. For the lecturers and teachers, the study can give contribution to the
translation course, particularly at Postgraduate program of State
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
5.1 Conclusions
After analyzing the data, the conclusions are drawn as the following:
1. The problems that students encounter in translating Indonesian proverbs into
English are linguistic and cultural problems. Linguistic problems occurred
when the students put the wrong lexical word or meaning to translate the
Indonesian proverbs into English.
2. The students’ problems occur when the students found the difficulty in translating Indonesian proverbs into English. The students could not find the
equivalence of the Indonesian proverbs in English so that the students
translated the Indonesian proverbs literally.
3. The problems occur in translating Indonesian proverbs into English due to the
lack of knowledge about proverbs. The students could not find the equivalence
of the Indonesian proverbs in English because the students did not memorize
all the proverbs
5.2 Suggestions
In relation to the conclusions, suggestions are stated as the following:
(1) For Students
It is advised that the students should master three competences namely
grammatical and linguistic competence both in English and Indonesian. And
(2) For Lecturers
It is suggested that lecturers help the students to overcome the translation
problems by providing the text which not only concern to the linguistic
aspects but also concern to cultural aspects.
(3) For Researchers
It is recommended that the next researchers find the translation strategy,
translation method and translation technique which can be used to overcome
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