The study on cultural untranslatability : the accuracy, the acceptability, and the translation strategies in translating The Joy Luck Club into Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan - USD Repository

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THE STUDY ON CULTURAL UNTRANSLATABILITY:

THE ACCURACY, THE ACCEPTABILITY, AND

THE TRANSLATION STRATEGIES IN TRANSLATING

THE JOY LUCK CLUB

_INTO

PERKUMPULAN KEBAHAGIAAN DAN KEBERUNTUNGAN

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By Nur Indah

Student Number: 044214130

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

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THE STUDY ON CULTURAL UNTRANSLATABILITY:

THE ACCURACY, THE ACCEPTABILITY, AND

THE TRANSLATION STRATEGIES IN TRANSLATING

THE JOY LUCK CLUB

_INTO

PERKUMPULAN KEBAHAGIAAN DAN KEBERUNTUNGAN

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

Nur Indah

Student Number: 044214130

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

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Newton and the apple,

Freud and anxiety,

Jung and dreams,

Piaget and his children,

Darwin and Galapagos tortoises,

Marx and England factories,

Whyne and street corners,

What are you obsessed with?

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I dedicated

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to start by thanking Heavenly and Gracious Father for this day and the blessings He has bestowed upon me. Secondly, I would like to thank my wonderful family. Mom and Dad, thank you so much for your constant love and support. Dad, you are right I can make it, Mom I can never repay what you have done for me, and my dear Li sisters, it has been a pleasure to growing up with you.

Thirdly, I am very grateful to have Harris Hermasyah S., S.S., M.Hum. as my advisor for helping this possible with the advice, guidance, and invaluable counsel. Fourthly, I would like to sincerely thank Dra. Bernardine Ria Lestari, M.S., my co-advisor, for her corrections and suggestion on the stage of this thesis writing. I also wish to express my appreciation and special thanks to all of English Letters lecturers and the staff in all these years.

Fifthly, a special thanks must be given to Nopi (thank you for being so understand and remaining such a true friend, I hope our friendship will remain the same), my wonderful and helpful friends Hilda, Reena, Ayu, Lucia, Vina, and Nita (thanks for being my best friend), and students of English Letters 2004, especially D class. Finally, to anyone I can not mention here, sorry and thank you.

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ABSTRACT

Nur Indah. The Study on Cultural Untranslatability: The Accuracy, the Acceptability, and the Translation Strategies in Translating The Joy Luck Club into Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2008.

This undergraduate thesis is about cultural untranslatability found in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club and its translation version, Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan. In this literary work, there are many expressions which hold Chinese cultural concept and they need to be translated to allow the target readers who have totally different culture understand the whole context in the story. In this case, the translation quality in terms of the accuracy and the acceptability is an important factor to identify how these Chinese terms are translated. In dealing with the problem of cultural untranslatability, the translation strategies are other important aspects for a translation to be accepted without difficulties by the target readers with the minimum loss of meaning implied in the SL.

There are three problems analyzed in this undergraduate thesis. The first problem is how accurate the Chinese expressions in The Joy Luck Club are translated in Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan. The second problem is how the readers’ cultural background affects the acceptability of the Chinese expressions in Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan. The last problem is how the translation strategy applied influences the acceptability of the Chinese expressions in Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan.

The method used in this study is the combination of library and field research. The method of library research is used to find out the applied translation strategies by collecting theories and concept to support the study, while the field research is used to find out the accuracy and the acceptability of the translation by spreading questionnaires to find the readers’ response toward the translation.

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ABSTRAK

Nur Indah. The Study on Cultural Untranslatability: The Accuracy, the Acceptability, and the Translation Strategies in Translating The Joy Luck Club into Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, University Sanata Dharma, 2008.

Skripsi ini membahas tentang cultural untranlatability yang ditemukan dalam The Joy Luck Club karya Amy Tan dan versi terjemahannya, Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan. Dalam karya sastra ini, terdapat banyak ungkapan yang bermuatan konsep budaya Cina dan ungkapan-ungkapan ini perlu diterjemahkan supaya pembaca sasaran yang latar budayanya yang berbeda sama sekali memahami keseluruhan konteks di dalam cerita. Dalam hal ini, kualitas terjemahan dalam hal keakuratan dan keberterimaan adalah faktor penting untuk mengetahui bagaimana istilah-istilah bahasa Cina ini diterjemahkan. Dalam menangani masalah cultural untranlatability, strategi-strategi penterjemahan merupakan aspek penting lain dari terjemahan agar bisa diterima tanpa kesulitan oleh pembaca sasaran dengan kehilangan makna yang minimal pada Bsu.

Terdapat 3 masalah yang dibahas dalam skripsi ini. Masalah pertama adalah seberapa akurat ungkapan-ungkapan bahasa Cina dalam The Joy Luck Club diterjemahkan dalam Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan. Masalah kedua adalah bagaimana latar budaya pembaca mempengaruhi keberterimaan ungkapan-ungkapan bahasa Cina dalam Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan. Masalah terakhir adalah bagaimana strategi penterjemahn yang diterapkan mempengaruhi keberterimaan ungkapan-ungkapan bahasa Cina dalam Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan.

Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah gabungan dari penelitian perpustakaan dan penelitian lapangan. Metode penelitian perpustakaan digunakan untuk mengetahui strategi penterjemahan yang diterapkan dengan mengumpulkan teori dan konsep untuk mendukung penelitian, sedangkan penelitian lapangan digunakan untuk mengetahui keakuratan dan keberterimaan dengan menyebarkan kuesioner untuk mencari respon pembaca terhadap terjemahan.

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the study

In many book stores or libraries, it is easy to find novels, popular books,

scientific books, comics, magazines and other types of readings, which have been

translated from English into Indonesian as the result of the need of learning about

technology, economics, politics, culture and other subjects from foreign countries.

In this case, translation holds an important role for communication.

However, some problems start to arise in the practice of translation. One

of them is cultural differences (Larson, 1984:137). Each language is influenced by

the culture in the place where it is spoken. Therefore, there will be some words in

the source language (SL), especially words related to cultural differences that

have no equivalence to the target language (TL). The Chinese word, Tao_for

example, can not be translated easily even by using a long explanation. This is

called cultural untranslatability.

On the other hand, a text’s job is to communicate all information including

the culture values that may appear in order to allow people exchange information

with other societies who have different cultures and languages. This can be a big

deal if some terms in the SL can not be easily translated into the TL. The target

readers will misunderstand with the given information, especially about cultural

values. This can be seen from Pepsi’s slogan “ Pepsi Adds Life” that met some

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back from the grave”. Marketers quickly launched a new translation, Baishi Kele,

literally meaning “One Hundred Things to be Happy About”. (Robinson, 1997:

223)

In dealing with the problem on cultural untranslatability, some strategies

may be applied so the translation can be accepted without difficulties by the TL

readers with the minimum loss of meaning implied in the SL. Some terms related

to cultural differences, although have been translated into the TL using some

translation strategies, may be confusing for those who have different culture

because of the low accuracy in a translation. Related to the accuracy of a

translation, then there comes a question, is the translation acceptable in the TL? A

text may be accurate in its meanings but at the same time it may not be accepted

by readers because the text is hard to be understood by the readers. These three

aspects (the accuracy, the acceptability, and strategies applied by the translator)

are very important in the practice of translation considering the fact that the

misunderstanding of certain cultural values may give a bad impression of certain

culture to the target readers.

From many literary works, Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club is chosen in

particular because this novel is a work of popular literature which is produced by

the society. It communicates many values in it, especially cultural values. Its story

is dominated by Chinese culture because it explores the clash between Chinese

culture and American culture. Many expressions uttered in the novel may be

difficult to translate because they hold cultural concepts that can only be

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aspect of the plot. This can be a big deal for a translator to transfer the messages

from the SL into the TL, in this case Indonesian, as many Chinese terms used to

present the story may be confusing for target readers who have different culture,

although those terms have been translated into Indonesia.

Here, the translation strategies applied, the accuracy and acceptability in

translating the cultural untranslatability are chosen as the focus of the study

because analyzing these three aspects can be a worthwhile challenge considering

the fact that one of the most difficult problem found in translation is cultural

difference.

The Joy Luck Club is an interesting book. This novel offers a unique story

of old world versus modern American visions. It describes the lives of four

Chinese mothers and their daughters. The barriers that exist between the mothers

and the daughters are often due to their inability to communicate with one

another. Although the daughters know some Chinese words and the mothers speak

some English, communication often becomes a matter of translation which often

leads them to misunderstandings. Here, translation is not only holding important

role of communication in tranferring meanings, but it is also becoming the power

of the story. Consequently, translator should be careful in translating both Chinese

concepts and American concepts brought by characters throughout the book.

There are a lot of similar books which are still written in English. The

translation of such books will be useful for more Indonesian people because such

books would deliver many other values that are important to be learnt. The

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consideration in cultural translation and it can be a reference for other translators

who are interested in translating similar books.

Due to the facts above, the researcher is interested to discuss the Chinese

expressions found in the work The Joy Luck Club written by Amy Tan and how

they are translated in Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan.

B. Problem Formulation

1. How accurate are the Chinese expressions in The Joy Luck Club translated in

Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan?

2. How does the readers’ cultural background affect the acceptability of the

Chinese expressions in Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan?

3. How does the translation strategy applied influence the acceptability of the

Chinese expressions in Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan?

C. Objectives of the Study

This study aims at exploring the translation problem on untranslatabilty

because of cultural differences between the source language and the target

language. By using Tan’s The Joy Luck Club, which has been translated into

Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan, as the example of English to

Indonesian translation product, this study tries firstly to find out how accurate the

Chinese expressions in The Joy Luck Club, which are culturally problematic to

translate are translated in Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan.

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Chinese expressions in Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan. Thirdly,

how the translation strategy applied influences the acceptability of the Chinese

expressions in Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan.

D. Definition of Terms

The following exaplanations might help readers to get into the discussion.

Cultural Untranslatability

J.C. Catford in A Linguistic Theory of Translation mentions the term

‘cultural untranslatability’ to describe translation failure which is due to the

absence of the SL situational feature which is relevant in the TL culture. In other

words cultural untranslatability is cultural terms or expressions that are difficult to

be translated without something missing from the original message and addition

to the target text.

Accuracy

Accuracy refers to preserving the meaning of the original text. The term

accuracy is essentially synonymous with the term faithfulness, A translation

which is accurate is faithful to the intended meaning of the original author. A

translation can be accurate, at least in a commonly used sense of the term.

Acceptability

Hatim in his book Teaching and Researching Translation defines

acceptability in a simplest way as text receiver’s response (2001:117). In the same

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function of the adherence to those norms and conventions (both linguistic-textual

and literary-aesthetic) which operate in the target system (2007:147).

Translation Strategies

Strategies are also known as shifts or procedures or techniques.

Suryawinata and Hariyanto in their book “Translation” define translation strategy

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CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL REVIEW

A. Review of Related Studies

A study comes from Nababan who tries to explore translation as a process

in relation to exploitation of given strategies and how those strategies have impact

on the quality of the resulting translation (2007: 202). In his research, Nababan

finds out that there is interplay between the process, the strategies and the product.

Strategies to increase readability are used consistently by producing more

paragraphs and less complex sentences. He also finds out that readability and

accuracy of translation are two distinct outcomes and may not be balanced (2007:

213-214).

A similar study about translation strategies is also done by Wulandari and

Setiajid. They discuss the translation strategies used in translating Burung-burung

Manyar into the Weaverbirds, a novel by Y.B. Mangunwijaya, where there are

many Javanese expressions having no English equivalent (2007: 57). As the

result, they find out that the strategies used by the translator to translate

Burung-burung Manyar into English are translation by a more general word, by cultural

substitution, by using a loan-word plus explanation, by paraphrase using

unrelated/related words, and by omission (2007:67).

According to Angela Loo Siang Yen, human translator may be armed with

some grammatical knowledge of the target language, but may not be able to

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provided with a dictionary. In her study English to Japanese—to What Extent Can

Translation Be Accurate? She discusses the simulation of a computer by a

translator who is "pre-programmed" with standard Japanese grammatical rules and

structures, notwithstanding the fact that she does not possess the proficiency to

deal with exceptional cases or idiomatic phrases. Her conclusions demonstrate

that the intricacies of languages do not allow for perfect translation. The translated

sentences would have to be as close in meaning to the English idiom as possible.

Such is perhaps one of the best forms of translation that translators could hope to

achieve for MT or machine translation (www.accurapid.com).

Another study focuses on criterion for assessing the acceptability or even

the quality of a translation done by the native speaker of the TL (Pokorn, 2005:

ix). As the findings, it is stated that native English speakers are not always able to

identify inverse translations. The assumption that every native speaker is able to

rapidly detect any non-member of his/her linguistic community, when confronted

only with a written document, has no solid foundation. On the other hand,

translations into a non-mother tongue are often regarded as acceptable by the

target readership, with the degree of acceptability depending on the individual

capacities of the translator'' (2005: 117).

Meanwhile, Jordi Mas López, who studies on how Japanese humor can be

expressed within the context of Catalan culture in translating Japanese Anime into

Catalan, finds out that in the dubbing process, the priority is given to acceptability

in the target language, rather than to faithfulness to the original text. This is done

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entertainment: they expect to sit in front of the TV and enjoy a coherent, realistic

story with easy-flowing dialogue (www.translationdirectory.com).

Based on the explanation previously, it can be classified that this study

will develop other studies that have been studied before. If other studies merely

focus on one problem translation, whether it is the strategies used in translating or

the accuracy of a translation or the acceptability of a translation, on the other

hand, this study will focus on those three problems with different perspective.

Different perspective here means this study tries to discuss another side of the

translation problems, for example if a study previously explores the acceptability

of a translation from the quality of the translator as the native speaker, this study

will focus on how acceptable the translation can be gained by the readers and how

the translation strategies can affect it.

B. Review of Related Theories

1. Definition of Translation

According to Larson (1984: 3), translation is transferring the meaning of

the source language into the receptor language by going from the form of the first

language to the form of a second language by way of semantic structure.

A similar definition comes from Mauritus D.S. Simatupang, in his book,

Pengantar Teori Terjemahan, he stated that translating is transferring the meaning

existing in the SL (source language) to the TL (target language), and make it as

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Nida and Taber (1974: 12) define translation as the reproduction in a

receptor language of the closest natural equivalent of the source message, first in

terms of meaning, and secondly in terms of style.

As quoted in Nababan’s study, Astika said that regardless of the various

ways the scholar define translation differently, they agree on the basic principles

of which focus on meaning as the most important consideration (1993:66).

2. Criteria of a Good Translation

As said by Larson, it is meaning which is being transferred and must be

held constant. A good translation is the one which a) uses the normal language

forms of the target language, b) communicates, as much as possible, to target

language speaker the same meaning that was understood by the speaker of the

source language, and c) maintains the dynamics of the original source language

text (1984:6).

From a different perspective, El Touny, in Antar S.Abdellah’s study,

focused on differentiating between different types of translation. He indicated that

there are eight types of translation: word-for-word translation, literal translation,

faithful translation, semantic translation, adaptive translation, free translation,

idiomatic translation, and communicative translation. He advocated the last type

as the one which transmits the meaning from the context, respecting the form and

structure of the original and which is easily comprehensible by the readers of the

target language (www.accurapid.com). It can be said that a good translation is one

that carries all the ideas of the original as well as its structural and cultural

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3. Problems in Translation

Making an ideal translation, which fulfills the requirements, is not easy. In

doing translation process, a translator may be faced with terms or concept in the

SL that do not exist in the TL. When “there is no lexical or syntactical substitute

in the TL for an SL item” (Bassnett, 1991), it means the translator is dealing with

the untranslatability.

Here, the untranslatability must not be understood as “impossible to be

translated”. The translation of words with the untranslatability is possible. The

one which is untranslatable is the concept that follows the word. This is because

in the untranslatbility the “same” meaning is usually imposibble.

Catford in A linguistic Theory of Translation distinguished

untranslatability into two categories, namely linguistic and cultural

untranslatabilty. Linguistic untranslatability is due to differences in the SL and the

TL, whereas cultural untranslatability is due to the absence in the TL culture of a

relevant situational feature for the SL (1974:98-99).

Untranslatability problems are often originated by cultural differences. In

cultures where there is snow six months of the year, there are many verbs to

express "to snow" and many nouns to express "snow", depending on the quality of

the snow: icy, wet, friable, etc. Translating into a language/culture where snow is

seldom seen, a word-for-word translation is obviously impossible. In countries

like Italy or France, there are qualities and varieties of cheese and wine that,

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Culture constitutes another major problem that faces translators. A bad

model of translated pieces of literature may give misconceptions about the

original. The problem on cultural lies on cultural concepts, and it mostly deals

with the difficulties at word level. Most cultural concepts which are often specific

are untranslatable. In the Indonesian translation of Amy Tan’s the Joy Luck Club,

the translator keeps the word popo because the literal translation nenek

(grandmother) cannot match the concept.

When a translator deals with the difficulties in translating untranslatable

concepts, then accuracy is the most important parameter for an adequate

translation. If a translation is offered with its clarity or its rhetoric flourishes, but

is not accurate, then it is not worth using, since we cannot trust what it says. The

level of accuracy of translation demanded by Brophy-Phillips is mainly achieved

by a combination of the use of translators of the highest quality and the systematic

application of methodical checking system. To maintain a high standard of

translation, a translator must translate into their native language to ensure that the

resulting translation is both clear and succinct. The translator must also have a

sufficient knowledge of the field being translated to have a full understanding of

the subject matter. Only by having a full and clear understanding of the concepts

involved in the subject matter can a translator produce a translation which is both

accurate and easy to read.

The following categories that have been proposed by Nababan as cited in

Setaijid’s study could be used to find out the accuracy of a translation. In these

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Scale Indicator 1 The content of the SL sentence is accurately conveyed in the TL

sentence. The sentence as the result of translation is felt clear by assessor and there is no need of rewriting.

2 The content of the SL sentence is accurately conveyed in the TL sentence. The sentence as the result of translation is felt clear by assessor but there are needs of rewriting and word rearranging. 3 The content of the SL sentence is not accurately conveyed in the

TL sentence. There are some problems in choosing words and its relation with phrase, clause, and sentence elements.

4 The SL sentence is not completely translated in the TL sentence, omitted in purpose.

Table 1. Accuracy Rating Instrument (In Setiajid, 2007: 10; my translation)

A translation that is “accurate” but does not communicate the proper

message is not really accurate at all. If the term “accuracy” is to mean anything,

its definition must include reference to reader comprehension. If a translation is

truly clear, accurate, naturally worded, it will be powerful and full of impact.

Since translations are meant to communicate (and not just reproduce the form of

the source text), the question of audience comprehension – the reader’s

understanding – is of utmost importance (Munger, 1999: 20-22).

A translation can communicate its messages and a measure of that is the

acceptability of the text. Acceptability is text receiver’s response (Hatim,

2001:117). As cited in Hatim, Toury states that what should be addressed instead

in a translation is whether and to what extent the translation is ‘acceptable’. The

translations which tend towards the ‘acceptability’ pole may be thought of as

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4. Cultural Translation

Cultural knowledge and cultural differences have been a major focus of

translator training and translation theory for long. The main concern has

traditionally been with words and phrases that are so heavily and exclusively

grounded in one culture that they are almost impossible to translate into the terms

– verbal or otherwise – of another (Robinson, 1997: 223).

One example of this issue can be seen in the case of translating Japanese

anime (Crayon Shinchan) into Catalan. There are some uniquely Japanese

expressions in order to produce humor for which there is no exact equivalent in

European languages. Shinchan, the cheeky 5 years old main character, always

uses the set expression okaeri when he returns home – literally meaning It’s good

you’re back – an expression normally uttered by the people who are at the

receiving end of returning family members. People returning home should

normally say tadaima – I’m back. Furthermore, okaeri is an honorific expression

used to show respect to the returning party, thus one should not use it for oneself.

This deliberate misuse of okaeri by Shinchan is translated into Catalan simply as

adéu (goodbye), so part of its humor is inevitably lost. Worse still, when Shinchan

feels like expanding his okaeri into a pun – okaeringosarada (okaeri + apple

salad), for example – the translator must come up with something equally

ridiculous. In this particular case, it is hola, hola, escarola (hello, hello, endive),

which does not make sense, but rhymes and sounds funny

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Nida discussed the importance to both linguistic and cultural differences

between the SL and the TL and concluded that differences between cultures may

cause more severe complications for the translator than do differences in language

structure. It is further explained that parallels in culture often provide a common

understanding despite significant formal shifts in the translation. According to

him cultural implications for translation are thus of significant importance as well

as lexical concerns (1964: 153).

Mona Baker stated that S.L word might express a concept that is totally

unknown in the target culture. It can be abstract or concrete. It may be a religious

belief, a social custom or even a type of food. In her book, In Other Words, she

argued about the common non-equivalents to which a translator come across

while translating from SL into TL, while both languages have their distinguished

specific culture. She put them in the following order (Baker, 1992: 21-25):

a) Culture specific concepts

b) The SL concept which is not lexicalized in TL

c) The SL word which is semantically complex

d) The source and target languages make different distinction in meaning

e) The TL lacks a super ordinate

f) The TL lacks a specific term (hyponym)

g) Differences in physical or interpersonal perspective

h) Differences in expressive meaning

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j) Differences in frequency and purpose of using specific forms

k) The use of loan words in the source text

Coulthard as cited in Kate James’s study believed that once the ideal ST

readership has been determined, considerations must be made concerning the TT.

He said that the translator's first and major difficulty is the construction of a new

ideal reader who, even if he has the same academic, professional and intellectual

level as the original reader, will have significantly different textual expectations

and cultural knowledge (www.accurapid.com).

In the case of translating Shakespeare’s works that are full with classical

and Renaissance cultures and literatures into Arabic where Islamic culture

predominates for example, the religious considerations are an important aspect

since there are differences in belief between Islam and Christianity. Some of the

oaths that are used by the Shakespearean characters might sound particularly

blasphemous to a Muslim audience. The translators in most cases, when faced

with such problems, change the oath to make it suit Islamic beliefs or omit it

entirely. To be sure, successful translation Shakespeare’s works into Arabic can

only be accomplished as the translators become more and more familiar with

Shakespearean culture. At the same time, however, translator must also maintain

balance in their understanding of the two cultures they represent because the point

of successful translation is to bridge two cultures; it is not to eviscerate the

translations’ own culture (Amin-zaki, 1995:223-240).

In his essay “globalization and translation” Nico Wiersema

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something that he believed translators need to take into account. According to him

translator has three options for the translation of cultural elements:

1- Adopting the foreign word without any explanation.

2- Adopting the foreign word with extensive explanations.

3- Rewriting the text to make it more comprehensible to the target-language

audience.

5. Translation Strategies

Language and culture may thus be seen as being closely related and both

aspects must be considered for translation. When considering the translation of

cultural words and notions, Newmark proposed two opposing methods:

transference and componential analysis. According to him transference gives

"local colour," keeping cultural names and concepts. Although placing the

emphasis on culture, meaningful to initiated readers, he claimed this method

might cause problems for the general readership and limit the comprehension of

certain aspects. The importance of the translation process in communication led

Newmark to propose componential analysis that he described as being "the most

accurate translation procedure, which excludes the culture and highlights the

message" (1988: 96). Newmark also stated the relevance of componential analysis

in translation as a flexible but orderly method of bridging the numerous lexical

gaps, both linguistic and cultural, between one language and another (1988:96).

Another perspective about translation strategies comes from Suryawinata

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structural strategy, a strategy related with sentence structure, and semantic

structure, a strategy related with word meaning (2003: 67).

Semantic strategy consists of a number of strategies (Suryawinata,

2003:70-76). These include:

a. Borrowing

Borrowing is the simplest of all translation strategies. Borrowing is a

translation strategy whereby the translator uses a word or expression from the ST

in the TT. One reason of using foreign terms is to introduce the flavor of the SL

culture into a translation. There are two kinds of borrowing. The first one is

transliteration, a borrowing that keeps the SL word in its original form, either its

sound or spelling. The second one is naturalization. By naturalization, the SL

word’s sound and spelling are adapted into the TL.

b. Cultural Equivalent

In this strategy, the translator translates the SL cultural word with the TL

cultural word. As the example, the Indonesian word “jaksa agung” is translated as

Attorney general in English (not great attorney).

c. Descriptive Equivalent

This strategy is used when the SL word is expressed by its description and

function. For example, the word samurai is described as ‘the Japanese aristocracy

from the eleventh to nineteenth century’; its function was ‘to provide officers and

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d. Synonym

This strategy is used when the translator uses the TL words that have more or

less the same meaning for the SL words. A synonym is only appropriate where

literal translation is not possible and because the word is not important in the text,

in particular for adjective or adverbs quality.

e. Official Translation

In this strategy, the translator uses the official translation that has been

standardized in translating the SL words. As the example, “read-only memory” is

translated as “memori simpan tetap” in “Pendoman Pengindonesiaan Nama dan

Kata Asing”.

f. Reduction and Expansion

Reduction means reducing the SL word component, for example, translating

the word “automobile” as “mobil” in Indonesia. Here, the word element “auto” is

omitted. The expansion is the opposite of reduction. Here, the word component is

expanded in the TL, for example, translating “whale as “ikan paus” in Indonesia

because if it is not added the word “ikan”, it may mean the pope.

g. Addition

In this strategy, the translator gives extra information to the TL readers.

He/she would explain this extra information in a footnote. It may come at the

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h. Omission

Omission means deleting a word or a text part of the SL in the TL. This strategy is

used when the meaning carried by the words is not important enough to the

development of the text.

i. Modulation

Modulation is a variation of the form of the message, obtained by a change in

the point of view. This change can be justified when, literal translation results in a

grammatically correct utterance, it is considered unsuitable, unidiomatic or

awkward in the TL. Translating “I broke my leg” as “kakiku patah” in Indonesia

is an example of modulation. In this translation, the translator views the problem

from its object (“kaki”), not from its subject (“saya”). This is a must because

Indonesian grammar does not allow such structure like “saya mematahkan kaki

saya”.

D. Theoretical Framework

The theories applied in this study are the theories on definition of

translation, the criteria of good translation, problems in translation, cultural

translation and the strategies applied in translating the untranslatability. The

definition of translation helps the writer to get the basic understanding to the topic

being discussed, the criteria of good translation are included to give an idea what

is actually a good translation, the problems of translation are needed to give

description about translation difficulties, cultural translation gives an insight about

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untranslatabilty are used to help analyzing how culturally problematic expressions

are translated. In other words, the theories on translation strategies itself are

important to help the writer answering the third problem formulation.

E. Research Framework

TT Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan

Keberuntungan

ST

The Joy Luck Club

Background

Cultural Untranslatability

Readers

Acceptability Accuracy Strategy

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CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study

There are two works analyzed in this research. The first one is the Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. It was published by Ballantine Books in 1989 in New

York. This book received the Commonwealth Club Gold award for fiction and the American Library Association’s best book for Young Adults award in 1989 and stayed on the New York Times’ bestseller list for nine months (www.amytan.net). The Joy Luck Club talks about mother-daughter relationships as well as

relationships between Chinese American women and their immigrant parents. There are many Chinese expressions used to present the story because it was written with most Chinese culture as the background. The second work is Pekumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan, the translated version of The Joy

Luck Club. It was translated from English by Joyce K. Isa and published by PT.

Gramedia Pustaka Utama Jakarta in May 1995.

B. Method of the Study

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translating The Joy Luck Club, and the acceptability of the translation as a part of the study.

The library survey is held to find the theories of translation needed for the study. In doing the library research, the researcher reads through some books related with this study to gain information about concept and theories that can support this study. The library research is done to form a strong basic for conducting the survey. The library research is also used to construct the questionnaires as the research instrument and to support the result of the study.

After that it is followed by the field survey to find the response of the readers toward the translation version of The Joy Luck Club, in this case the accuracy and the acceptability. It is done by spreading questionaires to respondents with certain criteria.

C. Research Procedure

1. Data Sources

The data sources are divided into two, they are: a. Objective

The objective data used in this research are The Joy Luck Club and

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her daughter. The daughters try to understand and appreciate their mothers' pasts, adapt to the American way of life, and win their mothers' acceptance. The interesting fact about this novel is that every chapter told each mother and their daughters’ life from their own perspective.

The Joy Luck Club was translated into Indonesian by Kathleen SW. The translation was entitled Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan and published by PT. Gramedia Pustaka Utama Jakarta in May 1995. This English version consists of 487 pages.

b. Affective

The survey research is done in this study to collect the affective data from the respondents. It is done by developing a questionnaire of translation acceptability in which the respondents are asked to reflect on translation version of The Joy Luck Club.

This study only involves ten respondents because ten respondents are considered enough to become the representative of the data. Taking one or a hundred more respondents will take the same effect with taking ten respondents. Besides, having more than a hundred respondents for example will be time consuming and not practical enough. By having limited respondents, this study present an efficiency and quality of the research rather than the quantity of the data.

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with no Chinese culture background, or vice versa. Thus this study takes five respondents with Chinese cultural background and five with other cultural backgrounds.

2. Data Collection

The data are Chinese expressions which are culturally problematic to translate. These expressions consist of phrases and terms which hold cultural concepts and are not available in the SL. The form of the data is quotations taken from The Joy Luck Club that contain Chinese expressions.

The sentences and phrases which hold cultural concepts like in the sentences “…then the woman and the swan sailed across an ocean many thousands of li wide, stretching their necks toward America.” is underlined and given a tick. The page number of the original text is given, thus rechecking can be easier. This sentence in English version is on page 3, but in Indonesian version it can be found on page 15. After the data in the ST are collected, the next step is to note their translations in the TL.

3. Data Analysis

The analysis is done on the expressions in Amy Tan’s the Joy Luck Club

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term of accuracy, the validity is considered. To meet the face validity, the assessment of the translation is done under Triangulation technique. There are three types of triangulation; there are Methods triangulation, Triangulation of sources, and Analyst triangulation. In this study, the Analyst Triangulation is chosen as the method. It is a method that is having two or more persons independently analyze the same qualitative data and compare their findings (Patton, 2002:556-560).

The data of translation accuracy are consulted to 3 respondents. By having other people examine the test, the absurdities and ambiguities are discovered, and the face validity of the assessment can be obtained. The Respondents with knowledge on Chinese culture are asked to judge the content of each item, and to scale each translation item using a 1-4 score scale. Their comments and corrections on the test items make the test much more valid.

The next step, the data collected from respondents are processed to find the acceptability of the translation in order to answer the second problem formulation. The scores given by each respondent are calculated by totaling the scores and dividing it by the number of respondents. The result would be the grade of acceptability. The grade of acceptability later relates to the readers’ cultural background as the factor that may influence the result of translation acceptability.

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CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

This chapter consists of three main sections. The first section is the

accuracy of the translated version of The Joy Luck Club. This section concerns with the quality of translation, in the term of accuracy. The sentences with cultural

concept found in the TT would be assessed based on accuracy rating instrument

proposed by Nababan (Setiajid, 2007: 10). The second section is about the

acceptability of the TT sentences. In this section, based on the respondents’

answer on the questionnaires, the researcher would find out how acceptable the

TT sentences that hold cultural concepts are. The factor of readers’ cultural

background is included here in analyzing the Chinese expressions acceptability

because the ones with Chinese cultural background may assess the acceptability

higher than the ones with non Chinese cultural background, or vice versa. The

third section is about the strategies used in translating the literary work. Here, the

ST sentences which hold cultural concept would be compared to the TT sentences,

after that these sentences would be analyzed using document analysis based on the

theories in chapter two. Then, the revealed translation strategies as factors that

influence the grade of acceptability is analyzed related to the acceptability of the

translation by comparing some translation strategies applied to its acceptability

score. Through the analysis in this chapter, at the end it could be revealed the

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translation strategy and its relation with the grade of acceptability from the

translation product.

A. The Translation Accuracy

One of the aspects that requires some attentions in the discussion of

translation is about assessment. Setting up the categories for assessing translation

may not be easy. The accuracy rating instrument that have been proposed by

Nababan as cited in Setiajid’s study (2007:10) are used to find out how accurate

the Chinese expressions are translated in Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan

Keberuntungan.

There are 1-4 scale options in the accuracy rating instrument. Each option

is indicated by some criteria and these indicators can be seen in chapter two. The

scale 1 is given to sentences with very accurate translation, the scale 2 is given to

sentences with accurate translation, the scale 3 is given to sentences with

inaccurate translation, and the scale 4 is given to sentences with very inaccurate

translation. To make an easier calculation, each scale option is given score, score

4 is given to sentences with scale 1, score 3 is given to sentences with scale 2,

score 2 is given to sentences with scale 3, and score 1 is given to sentence with

scale 4.

In assessing the Chinese expressions accuracy, each sentence which holds

Chinese cultural concept is read several times and examined carefully to place it

into group where it belongs to, whether it is a sentence with scale 1 or scale 2 or

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illustration, if a sentence with Chinese cultural concept is translated accurately,

then it belongs to sentences with scale 2 and it means it has score 3.

To meet the face validity, there are questionnaires about the accuracy that

are consulted to two respondents. By having other people examine the accuracy,

the absurdities and ambiguities are discovered, and the face validity of the test

could be obtained. After the data about the translation accuracy are collected from

two other respondents, the next step is to calculate the average score given the

researcher and two other respondents by totaling scores from each sentence and

dividing it into three. For example, if the researcher gives score a sentence 3, and

two other respondent give score 4 and 2, then the average score would be the total

of 3, 4, and 2 divided into 3 and 3 as the result is the accuracy score of the

sentence.

Later, to find out the translation accuracy of The Joy Luck Club, the whole

score are calculated to find out the average as the number of translation accuracy.

The average score from each sentence are totaled and divided by the total

translation items.

To make an easier understanding about the assessment on the translation

accuracy, the average score from the whole sentences which Chinese cultural

concept is changed into percentage form. The followings are the accuracy score of

each sentence that has been calculated (the more detailed score given by the

researcher and the respondents can be seen in the appendix), and the average score

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ST.1. Then the woman and the swan sailed across an ocean many thousands

of li wide, stretching their necks toward America. (p.3)

TT.1. Lalu wanita dan angsa berleher panjang ini mengarungi lautan yang beribu-ribu li* lebarnya, menjulurkan leher mereka ke arah Benua Amerika. (p.15)

(*1 li = 540 meter)

Score: 3.3 (accurate)

The explanation of li as the Chinese unit of distance which has length 540 meter is

accurate. However, the used of lebar in phrase “beribu-ribu li lebarnya” is felt

awkward. It would be better if the translator changes it into “beribu-ribu li

luasnya”. A respondent said that the exact number of one li is 500 metre not 540

metre.

ST.2. I am to replace my mother, whose seat at the mah jong table has been empty since she died two months ago. (p.5)

TT.2. Untuk mangantikan ibuku, yang kursinya di meja mahyong menjadi kosong sejak kematiaanya dua bulan yang lalu. (p.17)

Mahjong is a game from Chinese, and it is quite familiar in Indonesian culture.

Therefore, the translator keeps the word mahjong and transfers it into the SL as

mahyong.

ST.3. The hostess had to serve special dyansyin foods to bring good fortune of all kinds—dumplings shaped like silver money ingots, long rice noodles for long life, boiled peanuts for conceiving sons, and of course, many good-luck oranges for a plentiful, sweet life. (p.10)

TT.3. Si nyonya rumah harus menghidangkan dimsum khusus untuk mendatangkan segala jenis keberuntungan—bulatan-bulatan tepung isi yang dibentuk seperti uang perak, mi panjang dari beras sebagai simbol panjang umur, kacang rebus supaya mendapat anak laki-laki, dan tentu saja banyak jeruk keberuntungan untuk mendapatkan hidup yang manis dan berkelimpahan. (p.24-25)

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Dimsum is the name for a Chinese cuisine which involves a wide range of light

dishes served alongside Chinese tea. Equivalent terms, such as dyansyin in

Mandarin, exist in other varieties of Chinese, as a generic term for any of a variety

of snacks or small food items.

ST.4. “Once we started to play, nobody could speak, except to say ‘Pung!’ or ‘Chr!’ when taking a tile. (p.11)

TT.4. “Begitu kami mulai bermain, tak ada yang berbicara, kecuali untuk mangatakan Pung!* Atau Chr!** saat mengambil sebuah kartu. (p.26) (*Bentur! <kartunya diambil dari orang yang mengatakan itu dengan membenturkan kartunya sendiri pada kartu yang dilemparkan.—istilah mahyong>)

(**Makan! <kartunya dimakan.—istilah mahyong>)

Both pung and chr are terms in mahjong game. They are not translated in the text

but there are footnotes as the explanation of the terms. The explanation is accurate

and there is no need of rewriting because the terms itself are hard to be translated

in the text. A respondent gives note that Pung is an exclamation when a player has

formed a row of tiles, while Chr is an exclamation when a player has formed a

row of tiles in order.

ST.5. I abandoned my beautiful mahjong table of hong mu. (p.13)

TT.5. Kutinggalkan meja mahyongku yng indah, yang terbuat dari kayu merah. (p.30)

Score: 4 (very accurate)

Kayu merah (red wood) is the literal translation of hong mu. Even though hong

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mu from the characteristic given by its translation that is the red color of the

wood.

ST.6. She’s already made five rows of eight wonton each. (p.18)

TT.6. Dia sudah membuat lima deretan masing-masing delapan pangsit. (p.37)

Wonton is translated into pangsit, a type of food that is more common in the

target culture. A wonton is a type of dumpling commonly found in a number of

Chinese cuisines, A wonton is made with a thin ten centimeter square lye-water

pastry wrapper and filled with savory minced meat, while Pangsit is chopped

meat wrapped with flour eaten with noodles. Even though both wonton and

pangsit are foods which have different concept, they share the same

characteristics, they are a type of dumpling, served as snack, and they may be

served in soup or deep-fried. From their similar characteristics, pangsit can

substitute wonton.

ST.7. I’m drawn first to a large platter of chaswei, sweet barbecued pork cut into coin-sized slices. (p.20)

TT.7. Pertama-tama aku lebih tertarik kepada sepinggan chaswei, daging babi panggang manis yang diiris-iris setipis kepingan uang logam. (p.40)

Chaswei is a simple Chinese dish known as barbecued pork. It literally means

"fork burn/roast" the traditional cooking method for the dish. Long strips of

seasoned boneless pork are skewered with long forks and placed in a covered

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(sweet barbecued pork cut into coin-sized slices). Thus, there is no need of

rewriting. In other words it is already accurate translation.

ST.8. So I knew Popo wanted me to forget my mother on purpose, and this is how I came to remember nothing of her. (p.33)

TT.8. Maka aku tahu, Popo sengaja ingin aku melupakan ibuku. (p.59) Score: 2 (inaccurate)

Popo literally can be translated as grandmother. However, the translator keeps it

in the SL form for some purpose. Consequently, the readers can not understand

because it is not clear except it is read with the whole context. A respondent gives

a suggestion that it would be better if popo is translated as “nenek”. In translating

this word, it is all right to keep the word popo because this word is used to explain

a character of a grandmother who lives in traditional way in China, not another

grandmother. To make readers understand the word popo, then it can be

paraphrased for the first time this word appears in the text without repeating

several times for another appearance in the text.

ST.9. “You are the son of a mother who has so little respect she has become ni, a traitor to our ancestors. (p.36)

TT.9. “Kau ini anak seorang ibu hina, yang telah mengkhianati nenek moyang kita. (p.63)

Score: 2.3 (inaccurate)

The translated version of ni should be durhaka not hina. Therefore, it is not

accurate enough. The meaning of the word ni is durhaka, and it should be

translated as durhaka not hina, because they totally have different level of

meaning.

ST.10. It is shou so deep it is in your bones (p.41)

TT.10. Itulah shou* yang begitu dalam sampai terasa ke tulang. (p.70) (*bakti seorang anak kepada orang tuanya)

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Even though the translated version of shou is already clear and accurate, translated

version of the sentence is not accurate. It should be translated as “itulah shou yang

begitu dalam mengakar dalam tulang”.

ST.11. Huang Taitai whispered in her shrrhh-shrrhh voice that perhaps I had an unusually bad pichi, a bad temper. (p.44)

TT.11. Huang Taitai berbisik dengan suara shrrhh-shrrhh-nya, bahwa kemungkinan aku punya pichi—temperamen—yang sangat buruk, suka marah. (p.75)

Score: 3.7 (very accurate)

The translated version of pichi is already accurate and clear. There is no need of

rewriting.

ST.12. I remember it was once a lump of syaumei, a little dumpling I loved to eat. (p.47)

TT.12. Aku ingat suatu kali aku memberi Huang Taitai sebiji syaumei, kulit berisi daging yang kugemari. (p.79)

Score: 3 (accurate)

Syaumei is a type of dumpling with pork inside a thin wheat flour wrapper.

Although it is translated clearly, it is not accurate enough because there are some

missing information, like what kind of kulit used in making syaumei, it is just

simply said as kulit. It should be translated as “kulit tepung yang berisi daging”.

While a respondent said syaumei should be translated as siomai, a term which is

more familiar for TL readers and she also gives revision for the sentence as aku

ingat, suatu kali aku memberi Nyonya Huang sebiji siomai, adonan bulat berisi

daging yg kugemari.

ST.13. But he could not stop my mother from giving me her chang, a necklace made out of a table of red jade. (p.47-48)

TT.13. Tetapi dia tidak dapat mencegah ibuku memberiku chang*-nya, seuntai kalung terbuat dari lempengan batu kumala merah. (p.80) (*semacam jimat supaya selalu beruntung)

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To the Chinese, the most precious and treasure on earth is jade. Since jade is the

most valued accessory of the Chinese, they often carved on jade the image of what

they regarded as important. Parents use to buy a donut-liked piece of jade pendant

to child to bring good luck. Chinese believe in wearing jade accessory with its

extreme hardness, is a way to drive away evil and bad luck. The jade would be

called chang. The explanation of chang in the footnote is accurate. However, it

would be better if the jade which is translated as “batu kumala” is translated as

“batu giok”, a more popular term for the readers.

ST.14. “What’s that stinky smell?” I asked my amah, who always managed to appear next to my bed the instant I was awake. (p.65)

TT.14. “Bau busuk apa itu?” tanyaku pada amah-ku*, yang selalu siap di samping tempat tidurku, begitu aku membuka mata. (p.106)

(*pembantu pribadi)

Score: 3 (accurate)

Amah is a nursemaid. Rather than translating amah as pembantu pribadi, which

has negative connotation, it would be better if it is translated as pengasuh.

According to a respondent, amah is not nursemaid. Amah is grandmother. She

also adds that it does not need to keep the word amah. It should be translated as

nenek.

ST.15. The servant had already packed and loaded a rickshaw with the day’s basic provisions: a woven hamper filled with zong zi, the sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves, some filled with roasted ham, some with sweet lotus seeds. (p.71)

TT.15. Para pembantu sudah berkemas dan mememenuhi sebuah becak dengan makanan untuk hari itu: keranjang yang dipenuhi dengan zong zi*--ketan yang dibungkus dalam daun teratai, ada yang diisi dengan babi panggang, ada yang diisi dengan biji teratai manis. (p.115)

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Zong-zi is pyramid-shaped dumpling made of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo

or reed leaves. It is translated as bakcang. It is accurate and clear. However, it will

be better if in the text zong zi is replaced by bakcang.

ST.16. “For woman is yin, “she cried sadly, “the darkness within, where untempered passions lie. (p.82)

TT.16. “Karena perempuan adalah yin,” ratapnya sedih, “kegelapan yang tersembnyi, tempat nafsu yang tak terkendalikan bersarang. (p.131)

Score: 3.7 ( very accurate)

ST.17. And man is yang, bright truth lighting our minds.” (p.82)

TT.17. Dan laki-laki adalah yang, kebenaran yang bersinar, menerangi pikiran kita.” (p.131)

Score: 3.7 (very accurate)

Both yin and yang is not translated in the TL. It is just simply transferred in their

original form. Even though the readers understand the concept of yin and yang

from the context, it would be better if the translator gives additional information

about yin and yang in the footnote.

ST.18. My mother placed my first trophy to a new plastic chess set that the neighborhood Tao society had given to me. (p.98)

TT.18. Ibu meletakan piala pertamaku di sebelah perangkat catur plastik yang baru, sumbangan dari perkumpulan Tao tetangga. (p.154)

Tao society is a civilization that goes by the Chinese philosophy that teaches its

believers to follow the path of life as it is; a way of life. Tao society is not

translated in the TL. It is just simply transferred as perkumpulan tao.

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From accuracy score of each translation item, then it can be calculated the number

of translation accuracy in The Joy Luck Club:

∑ = total score Total sentences

∑ =

3.3+3.3+3.7+3.3+4.0+3.3+3.3+2.0+2.3+3.0+3.7+3.0+3.3+3.0+3.3+3.7+3.7+3.0

18

∑ = 3.2

In percentage it would be:

∑ = 3.2/4 × 100 %

∑ = 80 %

The translation accuracy in The Joy Luck Club is 80%. It means that most

of translations are done accurately. It is not easy for a translator translating ST

words with specific cultural concept into a TT. They may be translated with the

loss of meaning. In other words, it may be translated with low accuracy. However,

it does not occur in translating Chinese expression in The Joy Luck Club, because

as a literary work, its story is dominated with Chinese culture and it means it is

not familiar for audiences, even for its former readers in USA where this book is

produced for the first time. Thus, it is not awkward if most of the Chinese terms

have been described by its author, Amy Tan. This thing makes the translator’s job

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B. The Translation Acceptability and Cultural Background Influence

1. The Joy Luck Club Translation Acceptability

Besides accuracy, acceptability is another important aspect in assessing the

quality of translation. Acceptability is a state where the translation do not offend

the cultural rules in the language, that is, they are acceptable culturally as well as

socially. A text should be acceptable for its readers, if not then the text could be

called as the failure of translation. The grade of acceptability differs from

respondent to respondent. There is a tendency to value a translation based on their

background.

In this research the respondents are divided into two groups; the

respondent with Chinese cultural background and the respondents with non

Chinese cultural background. As previously known that the focus of this research

is the sentences which hold Chinese cultural concept. Consequently, respondents

with Chinese cultural background may assess the translation acceptability higher

than respondents with non Chinese cultural background, or vice versa. By

separating the respondents into two groups, it can be seen later how the cultural

background may influnce the grade of acceptability in assessing a translation.

The ten respondents are asked to judge the content of each translation item

which contain certain Chinese cultural concept, and to scale options of each item

using a 1-4 score scale. Score 4 is given to sentences with very acceptable

translation, score 3 is given to sentences with acceptable translation, sore 2 is

given to sentences with unacceptable translation, and score 1 is given to sentences

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questionaire are used to find out why some translations of cultural

untranslatability are acceptable and why others are not.

In interpreting the grade of translation acceptability, the score given by

each respondent are calculated then the total is divided by the number of the

repondents (ten). this result would be the grade of translation acceptabilty for each

Chinese expression found in the text. Later to find out the exact number of

translation acceptibility in The Joy Luck Club, the scores given by all respondents

are calculated. This grade of acceptibility are counted from the total score divided

by the the total sentences. The result of translation acceptability is changed into

percentage form in order to have an easier understanding on how many proportion

of Chinese expressions that can be accepted by the readers are.

The following are the score of each translation item and its reason and the

explanation:

TT.1. Lalu wanita dan angsa berleher panjang ini mengarungi lautan yang beribu-ribu li* lebarnya, menjulurkan leher mereka ke arah Benua Amerika. (p.15)

(*1 li = 540 meter)

Score: 2.9 (acceptable)

Most of respondents can accept the translation because of the footnote. However,

some other suggest that it would be better if li is translated into the TL distance

unit like metre or kilometre because li is not common in the TL.

TT.2. Untuk mangantikan ibuku, yang kursinya di meja mahyong menjadi kosong sejak kematiaanya dua bulan yang lalu. (p.17)

Score: 2.5 (unaccepatable)

Some respondents can accept the word mahyong because they are familiar with

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they do not know the description of mahyong although they have heard the term

before.

TT.3. Si nyonya rumah harus menghidangkan dimsum khusus untuk mendatangkan segala jenis keberuntungan—bulatan-bulatan tepung isi yang dibentuk seperti uang perak, mi panjang dari beras sebagai simbol panjang umur, kacang rebus supaya mendapat anak laki-laki, dan tentu saja banyak jeruk keberuntungan untuk mendapatkan hidup yang manis dan berkelimpahan. (p.24-25)

Most of respondents can accept the translation beacause the word dimsum is

already exists in the TL. Moreover, they may refer to the additional information

that follows the word dimsum khusus if they do not know the meaning of dimsum

khusus.

TT.4. “Begitu kami mulai bermain, tak ada yang berbicara, kecuali untuk mangatakan Pung!* Atau Chr!** saat mengambil sebuah kartu. (p.26) (*Bentur! <kartunya diambil dari orang yang mengatakan itu dengan membenturkan kartunya sendiri pada kartu yang dilemparkan.—istilah mahyong>)

(**Makan! <kartunya dimakan.—istilah mahyong>) Score: 2.9 (acceptable)

Although the explanation of the terms in the footnotes are quite helpful to

understand the translation, still the respondents can not imagine how to play the

mahjong game because they are not familiar with it.

TT.5. Kutinggalkan meja mahyongku yng indah, yang terbuat dari kayu merah. (p.30)

Some respondents can accept easily the literal translation. Some others can not

simply understand the translation because the term kayu merah is not commonly

used in the TL. The meaning is also confusing whether it is wood which is red or

The study on cultural untranslatability : the accuracy, the acceptability, and the translation strategies in translating The Joy Luck Club into Perkumpulan Kebahagiaan dan Keberuntungan - USD Repository

THE STUDY ON CULTURAL UNTRANSLATABILITY:

THE ACCURACY, THE ACCEPTABILITY, AND

THE TRANSLATION STRATEGIES IN TRANSLATING

THE JOY LUCK CLUB

INTO

PERKUMPULAN KEBAHAGIAAN DAN KEBERUNTUNGAN

THE STUDY ON CULTURAL UNTRANSLATABILITY:

THE ACCURACY, THE ACCEPTABILITY, AND

THE TRANSLATION STRATEGIES IN TRANSLATING

THE JOY LUCK CLUB

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PERKUMPULAN KEBAHAGIAAN DAN KEBERUNTUNGAN

Newton and the apple,

Freud and anxiety,

Jung and dreams,

Piaget and his children,

Darwin and Galapagos tortoises,

Marx and England factories,

Whyne and street corners,

What are you obsessed with?

I dedicated

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT

ABSTRAK

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL REVIEW

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

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