Overcoming Difficulty in Translating English Idiom 'The Color of Light' When Working as A Grant Writing Manager Assistant at Rumah Cemara.

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Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

Pada bagian pertama dalam Tugas Akhir ini, saya akan membahas

permasalahan yang saya temukan sewaktu magang di Rumah Cemara. Saya bekerja sebagai grant writing manager assistant dan salah satu pekerjaan saya adalah menerjemahkan buku renungan yang berjudul The Color of

Light. Masalah yang saya temukan sewaktu menerjemahkan yaitu kesulitan dalam mencari terjemahan dari beberapa idiom Bahasa Inggris.

Saya menemukan beberapa penyebab dan dampak dari masalah

tersebut. Penyebabnya adalah saya tidak memiliki pengetahuan yang cukup tentang idiom dalam bahasa Inggris, banyak gangguan yang saya dapatkan selama bekerja di sana, dan tidak memiliki kamus yang lengkap. Sebagai akibatnya saya tidak dapat menyelesaikan pekerjaan tepat waktu dan saya tidak dapat mencari padanan kata yang tepat. Setelah menganalisa

penyebab permasalahan ini, saya mencari beberapa solusi yang dapat mengatasi permasalahan tersebut dan akan dibahas di bagian ketiga dalam Tugas Akhir ini. Solusi yang saya temukan yaitu meminta bantuan rekan kerja, menggunakan kamus online, dan membawa pekerjaan pulang ke rumah.

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Seringkali kita berpikir bahwa kita harus mendapatkan berkat dari alam semesta. Kita berpikir jika melakukan hal-hal yang baik maka kita selalu dilindungi bahkan mungkin dihargai. Masalahnya adalah, kita tidak pernah tahu apakah yang kita lakukan sudah cukup, sehingga kita selalu mencoba melakukan sedikit lebih lagi. Ini adalah cara yang sangat dewasa untuk melihat dunia namun tidak ada kesenangan di dalamnya.

Anak kecil memiiki cara yang lebih baik dalam melihat kehidupan. Mereka berharap untuk mendapatkan hadiah-hadiah yang luar biasa karena mereka anak-anak bukan karena mereka anak yang “nakal” atau “baik”. Kita mempunyai pilihan. Kita bisa menjadi orang dewasa yang penuh kekhawatiran atau bersikap menjadi anak-anak yang tanpa beban

Berkah yang luar biasa sedang dalam perjalanannya pada saya hari ini. Saya tidak perlu melakukan apapun untuk layak mendapatkannya. Hal itu datang pada saya hanya karena

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Maranatha Christian University for the sun, moon, and stars? Can we ask for what we really, really, in our heart of hearts, want?

“What do I want?”This is probably the hardest question we

can ask ourselves. And it’s an important question to answer

because it determines how we live our lives. Think about it for

a while. It’s an important enough question to spend the entire

day thinking about, dreaming about, reaching deep inside, and discovering what we really want.

Once we know what want, we can boldly affirm ourselves and our right to be everything we can be, to be our true creative, divine selves. We can open our chests, throw our shoulders back and say out loud this is what I want. The world is abundant and the more we have, the more we have to share. The more light in our lives, the more light in the world.

Today I will decide what I really want, and I will ask for it. I will be expansive and generous to myself.

January 2

Petunjuk ini mengajarkan kita untuk tidak ragu-ragu meminta - kuncinya adalah untuk meminta secara besar.

-Ann Wigmore

Kita akan seberapa berkembangnya pada hari ini? Seberapa besar? Bisakah kita meminta matahari, bulan, dan bintang? Bisakah kita meminta apa yang benar-benar, dari dalam hati kita, inginkan?

“Apa yang kita inginkan?” Mungkin ini adalah pertanyaan tersulit yang dapat kita tanyakan pada diri kita sendiri. Dan ini adalah pertanyaan yang penting untuk dijawab karena akan menentukan bagaimana kita menjalani hidup kita. Pikirkan tentang ini sejenak. Ini adalah pertanyaan yang cukup penting untuk kita pikirkan sepanjang hari, kita impikan, menjangkau jauh ke dalam, dan mencari tahu apa yang sebenarnya kita inginkan.

Ketika kita tahu apa yang kita inginkan, kita bisa berani menegaskan diri kita sendiri, dan hak kita untuk menjadi apa yang kita bisa, untuk menjadi benar-benar kreatif, hebat. Kita dapat membuka mengembangkan dada kita dan mengatakan dengan lantang, ini yang aku inginkan.

Dunia itu melimpah dan semakin banyak yang kita punya, semakin banyak pula yang kita harus bagi. Semakin banyak cahaya dalam hidup kita, semakin banyak cahaya di dunia.

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Maranatha Christian University January 3

The life man is devided between waking, dreaming, and dreamless sleep. But transcending these three states is super-conscious vision – called the Fourth.

-From the Upanishads

Many of us have had spiritual or mystical experiences that we are hesitant or to share with others. Our fear of being made fun of keeps us isolated in that very important area of our lives. But when we do share some of our deepest feelings

about “what it all means” we are often happily surprised to

discover that our friends have had similar experiences. When we deny our spiritual selves we get out of balance. To heal we must recover our balance and pay attention to all areas of our lives – physical, mental, emotional, and the fourth, spiritual.

Each of us gets to discover our own spirituality. We

needn’t be bound to the reigion of our childhoods. In the end,

we are totally free to find our own path. We are responsible only to our own intuition, to our higher self.

I honour the spiritual beliefs of my brothers and sisters and in return am supported and respect for who i am and what i believe.

January 3

Kehidupan seseorang terbagi atas saat meraka bangun, bermimpi, dan tertidur tanpa bermimpi. Dengan melampaui tiga keadaan tersebut dinyatakan sudah berada di visi supra _– atau yang disebut Keempat.

-dari Upanishads

Banyak dari kita yang pernah mengalami pengalaman spiritual atau mistis dan kita merasa ragu-ragu untuk berbagi dengan orang lain. Ketakutan kita untuk menjadi leluconlah yang mengisolasi kita dari area paling penting dari hidup kita. Namun ketika kita berbagi beberapa perasaan terdalam kita

tentang “apa arti semua ini” kita sering terkejut, gembira, mendapatin bahwa teman-teman kita pun mempunyai pengalaman yang mirip dengan kita.

Disaat kita menyangkal diri kita sendiri, kerohanian kita akan menjadi tidak seimbang. Untuk memulihkannya kita harus mengembalikan keseimbangan kita dan juga memperhatikan seluruh aspek dalam hidup kita – fisik, mental, emosi, dan yang keempat yaitu spiritual.

Setiap dari kita harus mencari tahu sisi spiritualitas yang ada dalam diri kita sendiri. Kita tidak perlu

terikat pada agama kita sewaktu masa kanak-kanak kita. Pada akhirnya, kita benar-benar bebas mencari jalan kita sendiri. Kita bertanggung jawab hanya kepada intiusi kita, kepada keinginan tertinggi dari diri kita sendiri.

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Nowadays, English becomes more and more important not only in daily

life but also in business fields. In the article “Importance of English in

International Business,” it is stated that, “English is the ideal language for

many governments around the world, and it is also prominent in business,

education, world news, and communication” (par. 3). This fact shows not

just education or communication world which uses English, now

companies started using it for business. The previous fact becomes my

motivation to find any government or non-government organizations that

uses English. It is expected that by having internship in any of the place

above, I will improve my English skill.

One of the non government organizations that uses English is Rumah

Cemara (henceforth, RC). RC is a community based organizations for

drugs users and people with HIV - AIDS. One of the reasons why I choose

RC to do the internship because RC has a partnership with the

organization named AISEC (Association Internationale des Étudiants en

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Maranatha Christian University This partnership creates access for foreign students for example from

Australia, Japan, China, and United States to come to Indonesia for

studying or doing research. They come to RC everyday and I have to

interact with them because there are only few staff who can speak English

fluently. By interacting with them allows me to improve my speaking skill.

During my internship I worked as a grant writing manager assistant and

my main duty is to translate the daily devotion entitled The Color of Light.

This daily devotion is about people who suffer from HIV / AIDS and share

their stories and experiences in their lives. Through this book, they also

spread the spirit to others to stay alive, to be healthy, and not be afraid to

face death. I need to translate one hundred and eighty three (183) pages;

approximately 4 (four) paragraphs and 25 (twenty five) lines for each page.

The devotion contains three hundred and sixty five (365) daily devotions to

be read by all the staff, one daily devotion a day, for a whole year before

they start working. This is done to give them new spirit every single day.

While I was translating the daily devotion I face several problems. The

most difficult problem for me is finding the meaning of some idioms. For

example I have difficulty in find out the meaning of “as fit as a fiddle, keep

body and soul together, or a new lease of life.”

Therefore, in this term paper, I am going to discuss about my difficulty

in translating idioms at this daily devotion, and I want to discuss more

about the causes and effects of this difficulty. I also want to find the best

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Maranatha Christian University B.

Identification of the Problem.

The problem that I want to analyze is:

1. Why cannot I translate the English idioms in the daily devotion

entitled The Color of Light?

2. How could I handle the difficulty of translating them?

3. What is the best solution to overcome difficulty in translating those

idioms in the daily devotion?

C. Objectives and Benefits of the Study

There are some objectives for this term paper. The first one is to find

out why I have difficulties in translating English idioms I found in the daily

devotion entitled The Color of Light. The second is to give three solutions

that can be used to handle the problem of translating the idioms. The last

one is to find the best solution to solve the difficulty in translating English

idioms in this daily devotion entitled The Color of Light.

There are some benefits of the study. The first one is to improve my

skill in translating. Then I would like to inform the readers about the

difficulty in translating idioms and how to handle the problems. Thus, the

readers can solve the problem with the solutions I give when they find any

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D. Description of the Institutions

Based on RC’s website (www.rumahcemara.org), it is mentioned that RC is

a community based organizations for drugs users and people with HIV -

AIDS and against any form of discrimination and stigma. RC has a

partnership with AISEC (Association Internationale des Étudiants en

Sciences Économiques et Commerciales) to open access for foreign

student to come to Indonesia thus they can have place to do their

internship. They come to RC to learn about the international

communication between RC and International HIV / AIDS Alliance,

moreover they also learn about the statistic of people with HIV / AIDS in

Indonesia. RC was established on January 1st,2003 as a rehabilitation

center of any drug users and societies of former drug users. There are

forty two (42) staff included five (5) founders which is Patrianto Handoyo,

Hartanto M. K., Darwis B., Ikbal Rahman, dan Deradjat Ginandjar K. RC

is located at Jalan Gegerkalong Girang no. 52.

E. Method of the Study

In this paper, I focus on my difficulty in translating idioms on a daily

devotion when I worked at RC as a grant writing manager assistant and

my main duty is translating the daily devotion. For my primary data, I use

my daily journal, which I wrote every single day during my internship. In

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Maranatha Christian University the books in library which will support my analysis. I also use the daily

devotion entitled The Color of Light.

F. Limitation of the Study

During my internship I became a grant writing manager assistant and

my main duty is translating. The material that I need to translate is a daily

devotion entitled The Color of Light which is about HIV / AIDS issues.

This book contains a lot of idioms inside. My researches focus on my

difficulty in translating English Idioms. I did the internship from January 5th

2011 - February 5th 2011. The working hours were 09 AM - 5 PM from

Monday to Friday. I only focus my study on the daily devotion entitled

Color of Light.

G. Organization of the Term Paper

This term paper has five chapters. Chapter one is about The

Introduction. It is about the Background of The Study, Identification of

The Problem, Objectives and Benefits of the Study, Description of The

Institution, Method of The Study, Limitation of The study, and

Organization of The Term Paper. Chapter two is about Problem

Analysis. It describes the causes and effects of my problem. Chapter

three is about The Potential Solutions and about the negative and

positive effects of the potential solutions. Chapter four is about

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Maranatha Christian University solution, and the conclusion. The last parts will be Bibliography and

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CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSION

During my internship, I had difficulty in translating English idioms. The

causes of my problem are I have lack knowledge about English idioms,

there are some distractions from other staff, and I do not have a good

dictionary. There are two effects of my problem; namely, I cannot submit

my work on time and my translation is not accurate. After doing research

about my difficulty in translating English Idioms, I have three potential

solutions to solve it. First, I have to ask other staff to help me find the

meaning of the idioms. Second, I use an online translator. Third is I take

my work home.

In this chapter I would like to analyze the best solution for my problem.

The best solution is to combine the second and the third potential solution.

I will explain why I choose to combine the second and third potential

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First, I use an online translator. Using the online translator allows me to

find the meaning in several phrases for references. In the article “How to

use the Free Online Translator to your Benefit,” according to Henssler, she

says that “a translator should use the online translator when he or she

want to translate a text written in a foreign language into their native

language or a language they understand” (par .4). Using an online

translator helps me finish my work because it is practical, can be used

anytime, and faster in getting the answer. I have to finish translating every

afternoon so that the staff can read the translation in the next morning

before they start working. That is why I need the fastest way to finish

translating. Second, I take my work home. Doing my work at home allows

me to focus more without any distractions such as in the office, thus I can

finish translating. The first potential solution which is asking other staff to

help me find the meaning of the idioms do not help me much to get the

translating done. Asking them might provide me many several references

of answer, but those answers might be wrong because only several staff

know what English idioms are. So that I have to check and recheck the

answer, matching the answer with the context of the whole sentences, and

it takes some time.

I prefer to use the second and third potential solution because I will do

my job better and finish it on time, and also by applying both solutions I

can get the best way to overcome my difficulty in translating idioms in a

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the same problem as I can overcome their problem in translating English

Idioms by using the solutions that I offer.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Printed Source

Nababan, Rudolf M. Teori Menerjemah Bahasa Inggris. Yogyakarta: Pustaka

Pelajar, 2003.

Electronic Source

Andhika, Christina. “6 Cara Sukses Bekerja di Rumah.” 17 January 2012.

Female.kompas.com. 17 January 2012. 20 April 2012.

<http://female.kompas.com/read/

2012/01/17/15250793/6.Cara.Sukses.Bekerja.di.Rumah>.

“Benefits of Team Working.” 21 November 2008. Goals and Achievements.

13 June 2012. <http://goalsandachievements.com/teams/6-benefits-of

team-working/>

Henssler, Anita. “How to use the Free Online Translator to your Benefit.”

2003. Web Pro News / Technology. 29 March 2012.

<http://www.webpronews.com/how-to-use-the-free-online-translator-to

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Maranatha Christian University “How to Translate an Idiom.” 1 September 2011. 8 May 2012.

<http://transliteria.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-to-translate-idiom.html>

“How to Reduce Distraction.” 13 April 2010. 13 June 2012.

<http://www.microsofttraining.net/article-826-how-reduce-distractions.html>

“Importance of English in International Business.” exforsys.com.

2007. Exforsys Inc._{14 March 2012 <http://www.exforsys.com/career}

center/english-vocabulary/importance-of-english-in-international

business.html>.

Licha. “Bekerja Dari Rumah.” my-work.weebly.com. 20 April 2012.

<http://my-work.weebly.com/>.

Mays, Marc. “The Benefits of Working As a Team.” 20 April 2012.

<http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Benefits-of-Working-As-a

Team&id=5639270>

12 April 2012. <http://www.rumahcemara.org>

“Strategies Used to Translate Idioms and Proverbs Which Are Influenced by

Region.” Article Base. 16 September 2010. 20 April 2012.

<http://www.articlesbase.com/languages-articles/strategies-used-to

translate-idioms-and-proverbs-which-are-influenced-by-region

3279907.html>.

Talbot, Rich. “How to Reduce Distraction.” Ezinearticles.com. 12 May 2009.

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Maranatha Christian University Distractions&id=426664>.

“The Importance of Accurate Technical Translation” 6 July 2009.

13 June 2012. <http://www.thetranslationpeople.com/blog/services/the

importance-of-accurate-technical-translations/>

Weissenberger, Beth. “How to Ask for Help at Work.”

businessweek.com. 2010. Bloomberg Businessweek. 12 April 2012.

<http://www.businessweek.com

/managing/content/jun2010/ca2010063_197398.htm>.