THE TRANSLATION ANALYSIS OF IDIOMATIC EXPRESSSIONS IN THE FILM ENTITLED TROPIC THUNDER.

(1)

viii

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1Background

Distribution of films keeps growing until today. As the world’s famous film

factory, Hollywood, USA, releases so many world-class films. Such Hollywood films

recently released are: Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, The Dark Knight, Burn After

Reading, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Hancock, Body Of Lies, Kungfu Panda,

Tropic Thunder, and many more. The distribution of these films is not only to American

and European countries which use English as native language, but also to worldwide

which many countries speak non-English. In overcoming the language barrier for those

who have not use English as their first language, language transfer is involved to

facilitate people’s comprehension about the source language (SL) of one film into the

target language (TL). Therefore, it should be translated in order that people understand

the idea, story and message delivered by the film.

There are two main forms of film translation or “language transfer” in film or

television: subtitling and dubbing. Subtitling is “the written translation of the spoken

language (source language) of a television program or film into the language of the

viewing audience (the target language); the translated text usually appears in two lines at

the foot of the screen simultaneously with the dialogue or narration in the source

language” (www.museum.tv/archives/etv/S/htmlS/subtitling/subtitling). Dubbing is “a

voice over which closely approximates the lip movement of the original picture; to place

(5)

2

(www.alsintl.com/services/subtitling). This simultaneous provision of meaning in two

different languages, one in oral and the other in written text, is thus a new form of

language transfer created by film and further developed by television.

When a foreign film is released in a country that uses different language, subtitle

is sometimes added to the film. Furthermore, subtitle is a written translation of the spoken

language or “language transfer” at the bottom of the screen during the scenes of a film or

television show in a foreign language. This is due to in broadening the selling market of

the film. The demand for subtitling was growing in the mid-1990s outside North

America, especially in Europe. In 1994, one company, the Subtitling International Group

centered in Stockholm with branches in six capital cities, produced 26,000 hours of

subtitles for cinema, video and television.

The aim of subtitling and dubbing is to make people comprehend the idea, story

and message from the original film which makes equivalent into the target language (TL).

Idiom or an idiomatic expression is one of terms which are not understood by the

viewers.

Idiom is a phrase or sentence whose meanings cannot be inferred from the

meanings of the words that make it up. In fact, there are a lot of idiomatic expressions

whose meanings are found in a film. Idioms are unique to each language (usually hard to

translate into other languages). To make people understand about idioms, it needs help of

subtitling to convey the message into the target language (TL). Thus, in translating those

idioms appropriately in terms of subtitling, a certain technique is needed so as to be

(6)

3

The English language has many idiomatic expressions. Idiomatic expressions are

expression whose meaning is completely different from the literal meaning; do not follow

any grammatical rules of a language or from the usual meaning of its constituent

elements. However, idioms and idiomatic expressions have become widely used because

they convey clear and meaningful messages in very few words that would otherwise be

lengthy to explain in non-idiomatic manner. Idioms are previously considered informal

expressions but because of their widespread use idiomatic expressions have found

acceptance in formal communications as well. In addition, a figurative expression that

can usually be interpreted literally but that takes a non-literal meaning when used in a

specific context is refers to an idiom. Therefore, idioms cannot be translated

word-for-word because they are different from the individual word-for-words forming it.

Hockett (1958:310-318) points out types of idioms based on the forms. In this

case, he divides them into six types: Substitutes, Proper Names, Abbreviations, English

Phrasal Compounds, Figures of Speech and Slang. The writer found the application of

idiomatic expressions in the film subtitle.

Based on the explanation above, it encourages the writer to do the translation

analysis of idiomatic expressions in the film entitled Tropic Thunder directed by Ben

Stiller.

The subject of this study is a show-business satire comedy film entitled Tropic

Thunder. It was directed by Ben Stiller from DreamWorks Pictures and performed by

Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey, Jr., and Tom Cruise. The casts are notable

names in Hollywood, and the film has original story about Hollywood film-making

(7)

4

Tropic Thunder is a 2008 Hollywood satire comedy film directed by Ben Stiller

and written by Etan Cohen, Ben Stiller, and Justin Theroux. It was a box-office hit and

gained many positive acknowledgements by film critics. The story tells about five actors

set out to make the most expensive war film. After accidentally loses one of the most

hefty-budget scene, the project are forced to be turned down. The frustrated director who

is responsible refuses to stop shooting, and find a solution by leading his casts into the

jungles of Southeast Asia, where they encounter real-time war with Asian

drug-manufacturing gang.

The writer chooses this film as the research subject because the film was very

popular as one of the best comedy film in 2008. This film placed at the 19th widest

release in the United States for 2008. The film also won “Hollywood Comedy of the Year

Award” at the 12th annual Hollywood Film Festival on October 27, 2008. And Robert

Downey Jr., as one of the casts, was nominated in 81st Annual Academy Award 2009 as

“The Best Supporting Actors”. After releasing the film on August 13, 2008, Tropic

Thunder reached more than $180 million gross worldwide.

Related to the film, the research is limited to identify, list, classify, and describe

the idiomatic expressions available in the film entitled Tropic Thunder based on

Hockett’s (1958) theory of types of idioms.

1.2Research Questions

The following research questions are proposed to be answered. They are:

1) What types of idiomatic expressions are found in the film entitled Tropic

(8)

5

2) What translation methods are employed by the translator in translating the

idiomatic expressions in the film entitled Tropic Thunder?

1.3Aims of the Study

Answering the questions above, the aims of the study are:

1) To find out the types of idiomatic expressions which are mostly found in the film

entitled Tropic Thunder.

2) To find out the methods of translation employed by the translator in translating

the idiomatic expressions in the film entitled Tropic Thunder based on

Newmark’s criteria of translation methods.

1.4Significance of the study

This study is expected to investigate about idiomatic expressions. Thus, the result

of the study is expected:

1) To make people through idiomatic expressions learn English as second language

learners.

2) To give valuable information for people who are interested in learning English

and using idiomatic expression both in speaking and writing.

3) To analyze the types of idiomatic expressions and translation methods used in the

film Tropic Thunder subtitle.

4) To give other researchers information used as an additional reference especially

(9)

6 1.5Research Method

In conducting a research, deciding an appropriate method is of great importance.

Collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data by observing what people do and say refers to

qualitative research. According to Frankel and Wallen (1993:380) qualitative research is

understood as a research studies that investigate the quality of relationships, activities,

situations, or materials.

In this case, a descriptive one is the methodology used to conduct this research in

the process of analyzing the data. Gal R.L. as cited in Anggraeni (2004) says that a

method of research that involves collecting data in order to test hypothesis or to answer

question concerning the current status of the subject of the study is defined as descriptive

method. In addition, as quoted from Alwasilah (2002):

Peneliti kualitatif lazimnya berkonsentrasi pada sejumlah orang atau situasi yang relatif sedikit dan perhatiannya terkuras ‘habis-habisan’ pada analisis kekhasan kelompok atau situasi ini saja (p. 108)

Para peneliti berupaya untuk lebih memahami proses (daripada produk) kejadian atau kegiatan yang diamati. Proses yang membantu permujudan fenomena itulah yang paling berkesan, bukannya fenomena itu sendiri.

Thus, it is believed that descriptive method is the appropriate method because the

goal of this research is systematically, factually, and accurately describes or illustrates the

fact, characteristics and relationship of the researched elements.

1.6Data Collection

In conducting the research, there are several steps to be taken:

1) Watching the Tropic Thunder DVD.

2) Copying the English film script from the film dialogue, both the English and

(10)

7

3) Reading the script of Tropic Thunder and its translation.

4) Compiling, classifying, and describing the usage of idiomatic expression on film

subtitle of Tropic Thunder.

5) Doing library research in order to get relevant theories.

The writer will transfer the film dialogues into script both film dialogues and

subtitle script, and then try to analyze and find out the types of idiomatic expressions,

the methods of translation employed by the translator in translating the idiomatic

expressions and the implications of using the idioms in the film entitled Tropic

Thunder. The sources of the data used by the writer were taken from the film entitled

Tropic Thunder and related information.

1.7Data Resources

The main data of the research is taken from the DVD of comedy film “Tropic

Thunder”. Its script is taken from the film’s dialogues and the subtitle script is also taken

from the film. The researcher transfers both dialogues and subtitle into written text.

1.8 Organization of the Paper

The organization of the paper is divided into five chapters as follows.

Chapter I which presents introduction which is divided into background,

limitation of the study, significance of the study, research questions, the aims of the

(11)

8

Chapter II contains with literature review, which serves a set of the relevant

theories as a basis for investigating the research problem, which relate to the study of

translation, the definition of translation, translation method, idioms, types of idiom,

definition of idiom, and subtitling.

The procedures of the research consisting of method of the research, subject of the

research, research problem, data collection and data analysis technique presents at

Chapter III.

Chapter IV reports the data analysis including the findings and the discussions

(12)

21

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter simplifies the procedures of the research used by the writer. It contains method of the research, object of the research, data collection and data

analysis techniques.

3.1 Method of the Research

The method of the research of the study will be using the qualitative research. Research studies that investigate the quality of relationships, activities, situations, or materials are frequently referred to as qualitative research (Frankel

and Wallen (1993:380).

One aim of the qualitative research is to extract the meanings of the

phenomena. In addition, Alwasilah (2002:111) writes that in the qualitative research, context or local situation are determining the meaning of an event. The data is soundless if it does not consider the context.

Robert Bogdan and Sari Knopp Biklen (1992) in Frankel and Wallen (1993:380-381) describe five features that characterize qualitative research as

(13)

22

1) The natural setting is the direct source of data, and the researcher is the key instrument in qualitative research.

Qualitative researchers go directly to the particular setting in which they are interested to observe and collect their data. As Bogdan and Biklen

point out, qualitative researchers go to the particular setting of the interest because they are concerned with context—they feel that activities can be understood in the actual settings in which they occur.

2) Qualitative data are collected in the form or words or pictures rather than numbers.

The kinds of data collected in qualitative research include interview transcripts, field notes, photographs, audio recordings, videotapes, diaries, personal comments, memos, official records, textbook passages, and

anything else that can convey the actual words or actions of people.

3) Qualitative researchers are concerned with process as well as product. Qualitative researchers are especially interested in how things occur. Hence they are likely to observe how people interact with each other; how certain kinds of questions are answered; the meanings that people give to

certain words and actions; how people’s attitudes are translated into actions; how students seem to be affected by a teacher’s manner, or

(14)

23

4) Qualitative researchers tend to analyze their data inductively.

As Bogdan and Biklen suggest, qualitative researchers are not putting

together a puzzle whose picture they already know. They are constructing a picture that takes shape as they collect and examine the parts.

5) How people make sense out of their lives is a major concern to qualitative researchers.

A special interest of qualitative researchers lies in the perspectives of the

subjects of a study. Qualitative researchers want to know what the participants in a study are thinking and why they think what they do.

Assumptions, motives, reasons, goals and values—all are of interest and likely to be the focus of the researcher’s questions.

Moreover, according to Maxwell (1996) in Alwasilah (2002:107-109), there are five characteristics of qualitative research:

1. Understanding the meaning, of the participants in the study, the events, situations, and actions involved with and the accounts of their life and experiences.

2. Understanding the particular context within which the participants act and the influence that this context has on their actions.

3. Identifying unanticipated phenomena and influences, and generating new grounded theories.

4. Understanding the process by which events and actions take place.

(15)

24

A descriptive method is used in presenting the data. According to Fraenkel and Wallen (1993:23), descriptive method is a method used to explain, analyse

and classify something through various techniques, survey, interview, questionnaires, observation and text. The purpose of descriptive research is to

describe current condition without them being influenced by the investigator. Descriptive research may also help to point out the extent of a problem and indicate how serious and widespread it is. Descriptive method would

systematically and factually describe and illustrate the characteristics of and the connection between the phenomena studied (Gay 1987).

3.2 Object of the Study

The object of this study is a film script of comedy film entitled Tropic

Thunder directed by Ben Stiller. This film tells about five actors named Tugg

Speedman, Jeff Portnoy, Kirk Lazarus, Alpa Chino, and Kevin Sandusky who

have to save their big budget film from cancellation after one fatal scene accident. Their director tries to keep the movie released by putting the actor to the real war shooting scene in some South Asian jungle. However, they really face the real

enemy beyond the script which is a drug-manufacturing gang.

3.3 Data Collection Techniques

(16)

25

subtitle script is also taken from the film. The dialogues and subtitle are

transferred into written text.

As explained in chapter two, the writer has classified the data found into translation methods offered by Newmark. The writer has categorized the data into

six types of idiom based on Hockett (1958:310-318) types of idioms.

In conducting this research, some steps are taken in collecting the data;

those steps are as follows:

1. Watching the Tropic Thunder DVD.

The researcher watched the DVD of “Tropic Thunder” several times in

order to see the connection between the film’s dialogue and the subtitling script. The researcher believes that watching the film several times is an important process to understand the whole conversation and it becomes the

basic step before analyzing the methods of translation. 2. Copying the script from the film dialogue.

This step is conducted by the researcher in order to obtain the textual data for this research.

3. Reading the script of Tropic Thunder and its translation.

In this step, the researcher reads and compares every dialogue in the original script of the film with the English-Indonesia subtitle to determine

(17)

26

4. Collecting, classifying, and describing the usage of idiomatic expression on subtitle of Tropic Thunder.

In this step, the researcher will collect, classify and describe the usage of idiomatic expression found in the movie into the methods of translation

offered by Newmark (1988) and types of idioms based on Hockett (1958) types of idioms.

3.4 Data Analysis Technique

In the process of analyzing the data, the writer abbreviates each type of

idiom and translation methods into tables as described below.

Table 3.1 TYPES OF IDIOMS (Hockett 1958:310-318)

Types of Idioms Abbreviation

Substitute S

Proper Names PN

Abbreviation A

English Phrasal Compounds EPC

Figures of Speech FS

(18)

27 Table 3.2

METHODS OF TRANSLATION (Newmark 1988:45-47)

Translation Method Abbreviation

Word-for-Word translation W

Literal translation L

Faithful translation Fa

Semantic translation S

Adaptation A

Free translation Fr

Idiomatic translation I

(19)

51

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

This chapter presents conclusions and suggestions. The conclusions are taken

from findings and discussions in the previous chapter. In addition, the suggestions contain some supportive opinions of the researcher that are intended for those who are interested in reading the paper as well as conducting the further research related to

idiomatic expressions.

5.1 Conclusions

Idiomatic expressions (idioms) are a group of words, phrases or sentences which have different meaning from the individual words that make it up.

Translating the idioms is one of the toughest tasks for translators since the meaning of SL text should be appropriately transferred into TL text. Therefore, idioms

cannot be translated word-for-word because they are different from the individual words forming it.

Based on the classification of idioms by Hockett (1958:310-318), the finding

shows that there are six types of idioms substitute, proper names, abbreviation, English phrasal compounds, figures of speech and slang. Specifically, the idiomatic expressions

(20)

52

There are several kinds of methods of translating proposed by Newmark (1988:45-47), which are applied by the translator in translating the idiomatic expressions. Those methods are literal translation, faithful translation, semantic

translation, and communicative translation.

Based on this finding, there are some methods frequently employed by the

translator in every classification of idiomatic expressions. Literal translation method frequently appears in substitute classification at 50%. Literal translation method also shown frequently in proper name classification at 60%, and 75% in abbreviation

classification. Meanwhile, semantic translation method frequently appears in English phrasal compounds classification at 38%. Communicative translation method frequently

appears in figures of speech classification at 34%, and semantic translation method frequently appears in slang classification at 38%.

Finally, an important thing in doing the translation work is deciding an

appropriate word in translating idioms by using an appropriate method of translation. The translator should watch the film several times in order to understand the idea, story

and message delivered in the film. The researcher should also choose the right film which contains numerous of idioms in the dialogue. Thus, it helps the researcher to compile and classify the idioms as much as possible.

5.2 Suggestions

(21)

53

study for the improvement and the development for further research related to the way of this study. The suggestions are as follows:

1. Further research should investigate the procedures or strategies of translating

idioms in other fields since this research is still concentrated in its scope and depth.

2. Further research should also apply other theories of idiomatic expressions since this research already uses one theory which is considered have to be improved.

3. In translating idioms in the film, translators should have adequate knowledge of cultural background or origin of the film because this is helpful to transfer

the idiomatic expressions into the target language.

4. Since each idiom has different meaning, it is suggested that the translation research also finds out the context of idiomatic expressions used in the film.

(22)

Bibliography

Alwasilah, A. C. (2002). Pokoknya Kualitatif. Jakarta: Pustaka Jaya.

Baker, M. (1992). In Other Words: A Course Book on Translation. London: Routledge.

Bassnett, S. (1991). Translation Studies. London: Routledge.

Choliludin. (2005). The Technique of Making Idiomatic Translation. Jakarta: Kesaint Blanc.

Dixson, R. J. (1971). Essential Idioms in English. United States of America: Regents Publishing Company, inc.

Fraenkle, J. R. and Wallen, N. G. (1993). How To Design Evaluative Research In Education – Second Edition. (1993). Singapore: Mc. Graw Hill Book co. Hatim, B. (2001). Teaching and Researching Translation. London: Longman.

Hatim, B. & Munday, J. (2004). Translation, An Advanced Resource Book.

New York: Routledge.

Hewson, L. & Martin, J. (1991). Redefining Translation, The Variational Approach. New York: Routledge.

Hockett, C. F. (1958). A Course in Modern Linguistics. New York: Macmillan.

Hornby, A.S. (1995). Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hymes, D. (1966). Language and Culture in Society, A Reader in Linguistic and Anthropology. New York: Harper International.

Larson, M. L. (1984). Meaning-Based Translation: A Guide to Cross-Language Equivalence. Boston: University Press of America.

Lefevere, A. (1992). Translation/History/Culture. New York: Routledge.

(23)

Newmark, P. (1988). A Textbook of Translation. London: Prentice Hall International. Ltd.

Nida, E. A. & Taber, C. R. (1974). The Theory and Practice of Translation. Leiden: E.J. Brill.

Prabawa, W. P. (2008). The Translation Analysis of Idiomatic Expressions in The Movie of American Pie 6: The Beta House. Skripsi pada FPBS UPI Bandung, Unpublished paper.

Pratama, J. (2006). Strategies of Subtitling Science Fiction Film (An Analysis of English-Indonesian Subtitling of The Day After Tomorrow Film). Skripsi pada FPBS UPI Bandung. Unpublished paper.

Suryawinata, Z. (1989). Terjemahan: Pengantar Teori dan Praktik. Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Jakarta.

Taufan, I. (2007). The Analysis of Idiomatic Expressions on Subtitle of School of Rock. Skripsi pada FPBS UPI Bandung. Unpublished paper.

Venuti, L. (2004). The Translation Studies Reader. New York: Routledge.

_________. (1995). Lintas Bahasa Media Komunikasi Penerjemah. Jakarta: Pusat Penerjemah.

www.museum.tv/archives/etv/S/htmlS/subtitling/subtitling

www.alsintl.com/services/subtitling

www.government.ph/idioms.html

www.wikipedia.com

(24)