VERBAL HUMOR IN
GUARDIAN OF THE GALAXY
AND ITS
BAHASA INDONESIA
SUBTITLING TEXT
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Attainment of aSarjana SastraDegree in English Literature
Nadindra Nirvana Irawan 10211144002
ENGLISH LITERATURE STUDY PROGRAM ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS YOGYAKARTA STATE UNIVERSITY
v
MOTTO
You can’t pick and choose the days that you feel like being responsible. It’s not something that disappears when you’re tired.
vi
This thesis is wholeheartedly dedicated toPapa (Alm.)andMamawho have raised me to be the person I am today. I thank them for the unconditional love,
guidance and support that they have given to me.
I love them both.
vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Praise be to Allah SWT, the Beneficent and Merciful, who has given me His mercies, blessing and everything to complete this thesis. Also, may peace be to the prophet Muhammad SAW and his family. It is necessary to be known that this thesis would never have come into existence without all the supports, encouragement and assistence given to me by several outstanding people. Therefore, I would like to address my deepest gratitude to
1. my encouragingly resourceful first consultant Pak Andy Bayu Nugroho, SS., M.Hum. and my second consultant and academic consultant all at once, Pak Yosa Abduh Alzuhdy, SS., M.Hum. for all their time, help, guidance and patience throughout the undertaking of this study;
2. all lecturers of the English Language and Literature Study Program of FBS, UNY for all their knowledge given to me during my academic years; 3. my beloved parents Teguh Irawan (Alm.) and Tri Feriyanti, for their
patience and willingness to wait for my graduation. My sincere gratitude and love are also dedicated to my brothers and sister Aditia Trisno Nugroho and Priesca Indahlia Irawan and Priestian Imanuar Irawan for their unstoppable support and patience;
ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ... i
APPROVAL SHEET ... ii
RATIFICATION SHEET ... iii
PERNYATAAN ... iv
MOTTOS ... v
DEDICATIONS ... vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... ix
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES... xii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ... xiii
ABSTRACT ... xiv
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Problem ... 1
B. Focus of the Research ... 6
C. Objectives of the Research ... 9
D. Significance of the Research ... 10
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK A. Theoretical Review ... 11
1. Translation ... 11
a. Definitions of Translation ... 11
b. Translation Process ... 13
c. Types of Translation ... 13
2. Audiovisual Translation ... 15
x
d. Subtitling Strategies ... 21
3. Verbal Humor... 24
a. Types of Verbal Humor ... 26
4. Acceptability ... 31
5. Previous Studies ... 33
6. Guardian of the Galaxy... 34
B. Conceptual Framework ... 35
C. Analytical Construct ... 37
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD A. Type of Research... 38
B. Data and Data Sources ... 38
C. Research Instruments ... 39
D. Data Collection Techniques ... 39
E. Data Analysis Techniques... 40
F. Trustworthiness ... 41
CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION A. Findings... 44
1. Types of the Verbal Humor inGuardian of the Galaxy... 44
2. Subtitling Strategy of the English Verbal Humor in Guardian of the Galaxy... 45
3. Degree of Acceptability in the Translation of Verbal Humor in Guardian of the Galaxy... 47
B. Discussion ... 50
1. Types of Verbal Humor inGuardian of the Galaxy... 50
2. Subtitling Strategies in Translation of Verbal Humor in Guardian of the Galaxy... 61
xi
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
A. Conclusion ... 83
B. Suggestions ... 86
REFERENCES ... 88
APPENDICES ... 91
A. The Data Sheet ... 92
xii
Table 1. The Acceptability Assessment Scale System... 32
Table 2.Data Sheet ... 42
Table 3. Types of Verbal Humor by the Characters inGuardian of
the Galaxy... 45
Table 4. Subtitling Strategies of Translation of Verbal Humor inGuardian
of the Galaxy... 46
Table 5. Degree of Acceptability in the Translation of Verbal Humor in
Guardian of the Galaxy... 47
Table 6. Relationship of Types of Verbal Humor, Strategies and Degree of Acceptability ... 48
Figure 1. Process of Translation ... 13
xiii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
Ac : Acceptable
Al : Allusion
Cn : Condensation
Dc : Decimation
Dl : Deletion
Ds : Dislocation
Ex : Expansion
Im : Imitation
Lac : Less Acceptable
Pp : Paraphrase
Rs : Resignation
SE : Source Expression
SL : Source Language
ST : Source Text
Tc : Transcription
Tr : Transfer
TE : Target Expression
TL : Target Language
TT : Target Text
Unc : Unacceptable
VI : Verbal Irony
xiv
By:
Nadindra Nirvana Irawan 10211144002
ABSTRACT
This research attempts to analyze how verbal humor in Guardian of the Galaxy movie is translated into Bahasa Indonesia. In doing so, three objectives are formulated: 1) to describe the types of verbal humor found inGuardian of The Galaxy movie, 2) to describe the strategies used by the translator to translate the verbal humor in Guardian of The Galaxy into Indonesian subtitle, and 3) to evaluate the impacts of the translation strategies on the degree of acceptability in verbal humor in Guardian of The Galaxy Indonesian subtitle. This research employed a descriptive qualitative method since it provides descriptions of translation phenomena inGuardian of the Galaxymovie. The data of this research were taken from words, phrases and sentences that contain verbal humor found in
Guardian of the Galaxy movie and its Bahasa Indonesia subtitle. They were collected manually from English text as the phonic channel andBahasa Indonesia
1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Problem
Movie is one of many kinds of entertainment that most people in the world had an eye on. It becomes the communication tools to transfer ideas and might be one of the information sources which have extended its influence. This form of entertainment is enjoyed by a lot of people from children to adults because it gives pleasures. The pleasures that people get by watching movie are, for instance, getting more knowledge, experiencing something they never have before, having a media to escape from their hard daily life, knowing other people’s culture, and so on. With such benefits, once a movie is produced in a certain country, it will be followed by the act of spreading the movie to other countries to grab attention from wider audiences. That is what happens to American movie industries.
Speaking about American movie industries, often metonymously as Hollywood, rules the global movie market since the early 20th century. As one of the largest cinema industries in the world, Hollywood own some very well known worldwide studios, for instances, Paramount Pictures, Warner Brothers, Walt Disney Studios, 20th Century Fox, MGM, etc. Every year, Hollywood movie studios make more than five hundred movies and most of them reach millions of audiences watching each of them.
Marvel. Marvel Entertainment is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies under The Walt Disney Company with more than 8.000 characters featured in many media for more than seventy years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing and publishing and most of those characters are then adapted to screen. People can see it from the repeated production of superhero movies since the early 21st century such as
Spider-Man II (2004), The Dark Knight (2008), Iron Man (2008), The Avengers
(2012) and The Guardian of the Galaxy (2014) and many more.There are many reasons why these movies are in a lot of demand. Some of them are because of the good looking casts, the great act, the interesting plot, the awesome audio and visual effects and last but not least is the humor in the movies.
Entertaining movie is one that could capture the audience’s interest and it usually contains humor. It is not easy to get audience’s attention if the movie is too serious and tense. Regardless of the genre, a movie should have at least a little bit touch of humor in order not to be called as an emotionally-strict movie. In fact, even emotional movies have scenes of comedy. All the factors mentioned above are the top things that successfully steal the audience’s heart.
3
Since there is a significant increasing interest of worldwide audiences including Indonesian people watching American movies, translators, at this point, have something more to do. In order to make people enjoy the movie well, the subtitle of the audience’s language should have a good quality. Not only because some people do not understand the language in it, but also because there are some parts of the source has language that contain cultural stuffs like humor. Humor is not a universal thing that could easily be understood by anyone in any country. Even if there is still a universal one, but when it appears in a particular movie from a particular country, mostly it contains cultural humors that can only be understood by the natives or people who have learned their language and culture.
However, a translator who masters both the source language and the target language will have to consider some factors before translating difficult expressions like humor. Besides having to decide whether the target language reader understand the humor, translators also have to render the humor-inducing effect of the source text. They have to make sure that the source humor can function as humor in the target culture. Translators’ ability to make creative decisions is often tested by culturally bound elements and language-specific devices in those expressions.
Here is an example of verbal humor expression from an American computer-animated comedy movie entitled Madagascar. This movie was produced by DreamWorks Animation and releaseed on May 27, 2005.
SL: Did that just say GrandCentral Station? Or my aunt’s constipation? TL:Katanya “Stasiun GrandCentral” atau “bibikumual”
The words ‘Central Station’ and ‘constipation’ are considered wordplay due to their sound similarity. The translator translates them intoBahasa Indonesia
by replacing the wordplay with two words with the same rhyme of ‘al’, that is ‘central’ and ‘mual’. That is the example of verbal humor in terms of wordplay. When translating wordplay, the translator has to notice some aspects. A translator has to maintain the wordplay of the ST in the TT. It is not easy to maintain the whole aspects when translating wordplay, thus, the TT does not necessarily have to possess the exact meaning and form of the ST as long as both the ST and TT share similar concept and the humorous effect of ST can still be felt in the TT. Another example of verbal humor use can be found in Modern Familysitcom. It is an American sitcom television series that won many awards.
(Luke’s head stuck in the bane stair and Phil try to get him out of it with a baby oil.)
SL:
Phil : Buddy, why do you keep getting stuck like this? Luke : I thought I can get out this time.
Alex :I’m just gonna say it, he needs to be checked by a specialist. Luke : Aaa... (Finally can get his head out)
Phil : There! Be free,Excalibur! TL:
Phil : Kawan, kenapa kau selalu tersangkut seperti ini? Luke: Aku pikir aku bisa keluar kali ini.
Alex: Harus aku katakan, Dia perlu diperiksa sama spesialis. Luke: Aduh...
5
(Modern Family-S1,Ep1)
The example above belongs to proper noun allusion. Excalibur is a legendary sword attributed with magical powers owned by King Arthur in the mythology of Great BritainKing Arthur. This sword can only be drawn from the stone by Arthur, the rightful king. In relation with Luke’s case, Luke’s head is compared to Excalibur in the stone or in this case, the bane stair that is going to be drawn by his father. The use of loan translation strategy in translating ‘Excalibur’ makes the word transferred without any change. Only people who know what Excalibur is will understand the jokes.
This is another example of allusion used in verbal humor. It occurs in
Guardian of the Galaxy movie. This movie is the object that the researcher used as the data source. In this scene, Peter Quill cast by Chris Pratt was caught trying to take the sacred orb from the mysterious planet by Korath and his troops. Korath then interrogates him while his troops hold into him.
SL:
Korath: You don’t look like a junker. You’re wearing Ravager garb. Peter: This is just an outfit, man. Ninja turtle, you better stop poking me. TL:
Korath: Kau bukan tukang barang bekas. Itu seragam Ravager.
Peter: Ini hanya pakaian.Kura-kura Ninja, berhentilah menyodokku.
(Guardian of the Galaxy)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesmovie.Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(TMNT) was first published as a comic book series in 1995 by Archie Comics. The characters are then adapted to screen and became popular all over the world. It specifically refers to proper name allusion types of verbal humor. The expression reminds the viewers to certain popular figures, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Leonardo, Donatello, Michaelangelo and Raphael that creates a humorous effect and makes the viewers laugh.
In Guardian of the Galaxy movie, the researcher would like to analyze whether the SE and the TE, especially the expressions that contain humorous expession, are rendered in a good way or not. Humor is a big thing when it comes to translation. Not only the language from the ST that is translated to the TT that matters, but also the fact that not all countries share the same way to deliver humor. Guardian of the Galaxy contains a lot of jokes that suit the researcher’s thesis about humor. Thus, Guardian of the Galaxy is an interesting object to be studied.
B. Focus of the Research
Commonly, there are three major problems of translating humor related to the movie. The three problems are from linguistic aspect, cultural aspect and subtitling aspect.
7
of the language as long as the meaning of the whole sentence is maintained. Yet, the audiences will be unable to understand the subtitle completely because the humor is unsuccessfully rendered. Most humors depend on the structure of the language. Usually, it is because of the structure, then the humor is created. When humor is translated, the language structure changes, which will then sometimes cause the humor loses its essence and become less meaningful in the target language. That is why it is not at all easy for the translators to translate humor.
The second problem is from cultural aspect. Translation is not merely an act of substituting the words from one language to another language. It is also an act of transferring the source language’s culture to the target language’s culture. Sometimes, what is considered a humor in one culture may not be considered the same in others. A translator should find the most appropriate strategy in order to successfully convey the messages in the target language to make sure that the translation is acceptable in the target language.
the original text tries to convey to the audiences. Thus, translators’ capability to produce the desired effects and the acceptability of the humor’s translation are tested here to prove whether they are qualified translators or not. Here is the example.
SL:‘Just think of what work it would make with the day and night! You see the earth takes twenty-four hours to turn around on itsaxis-‘
‘Talking ofaxes, said the Duchess, ‘chop off her head!’
TL: “Coba bayangkan akibatnya pada siang dan malam! Kau tahu, bumi memerlukan waktu dua puluh empat jam untuk berputar pada porosnya – “Omong-omong soalkapak” kata sang Duchess, penggal kepalanya!”
Catatan kaki:
1. Poros dalam bahasa Inggris adalah axis.
2. Kapak dalam bahasa Inggris adalah axes. Axis dan axes terdengar mirip. Maksud Alice mengatakan axis. Sementara sang Ratu berpikir Alice mengucapkan axes.
9
This research will focus on three problems. They are the types of verbal humor, the strategies used by the translator in translating the verbal humor and the degree of equivalence of the translation of verbal humor in Guardian of the Galaxymovie. Based on the problems identified above, the problems of the study are formulated as follows.
1.
What types of verbal humor are found inGuardian of the Galaxymovie? 2. What strategies are used to translate the verbal humor in Guardian of theGalaxymovie into theBahasa Indonesiasubtitling text?
3. What are the impacts of the translation strategies on the degree of acceptability in verbal humor ofGuardian of the GalaxyIndonesian subtitle?
C. Objectives of the Research
Based on the formulation of the problems above the objectives of this study are:
1. to describe the types of verbal humor found inGuardian of the Galaxymovie 2. to describe the strategies used by the translator to translate the verbal humor in
Guardian of the GalaxyIndonesian subtitle, and
3. to evaluate the impacts of the translation strategies on the degree of acceptability in verbal humor inGuardian of the GalaxyIndonesian subtitle.
D. Significance of the Research
The aim of this study is to bring the following significances:
2. the study can give contribution to the field of translation studies especially in relation to the translation of verbal humor, and
38
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD A. Type of Research
The research conducted by the researcher is using descriptive qualitative
method. According to Wahyuni (2012:12), one of the characteristics of qualitative
research is that it is descriptive in nature. What is meant by descriptive is that in a
qualitative research the data collected are in the form of words rather than
numbers. This research aim at describing the phenomena found in the translation
of verbal humor inGuardian of the Galaxy movie. It analyses the types of verbal
humor, the techniques used to translate verbal humor and the degree of
equivalence of the verbal humor. Thus, a qualitative method is considered
relevant to be applied in this research.
B. Data and Data Sources
Schreiber (2008: 185) defines data as a collection of information that can
be in the form of numbers, words, pictures, video, audio, or concepts. More
specifically, Firmin (2008 : 190) states that in qualitative research, the term data is
frequently related to words. The data of this research are words, phrases and
sentences containing verbal humor found in Guardian of the Galaxy movie in
English spoken expression and its Bahasa Indonesia subtitling text, while the
context of the data is the dialogues of the characters in Guardian of the Galaxy
movie. So, the data sources are the English spoken expressions and the Bahasa
C. Research Instruments
According to Lincoln and Guba in Vanderstoep and Johnston (2009:188)
human is the best instrument in a qualitative research. In line with Lincoln and
Guba, Moleong (2009: 168) points out that in qualitative research, the researcher
is the center of the whole research process because he is the one who plan the
research, collect, analyze, interpret the data, and eventually report the research
findings. In conclusion, it can be said that the researcher is the main instrument in
this research. In this research, two kinds of instruments are used concerning the
method of collecting data.
1. The Researcher
The researcher is the center of the whole research process because he is
the one who plan the research, collect, analyze, interpret the data, and also report
the research findings.
2. Data Sheets
Data sheet is the supporting instrument used to record and classify the
verbal humor data in the movie.
D. Data Collection Techniques
The steps taken to collect the data for this research include:
1. watching the movie several times to get an insight about the phenomena under
study, which is the translation of verbal humor,
2. transcribing the English text that contains verbal humor and their Bahasa
Indonesiasubtitling text,
40
4. classifying the verbal humor and their translations,
5. comparing the data and made classification based on their subtitling strategies,
6. classifying based on the acceptability of meaning, and
7. putting the data into the data sheet.
E. Data Analysis Techniques
The data in this research were analyzed using some steps as follows.
1. Reading
In this first step all the data that had been collected before, both from the ST
and from TT, were read comprehensively.
2. Classifying
The relevant data were categorized using a table. The table was made to
classify the data into types of verbal humor, subtitling strategies used to
translate the humor, and the degree of acceptability of the verbal humor.
3. Interpreting
When the classification was finished, the data were analyzed by interpreting
each datum to answer the research questions.
4. Reporting
In this last step, the data were presented in the discussion. Some examples
from the findings were taken and further explanations of the interpretation
F. Trustworthiness
Moleong (2001:173) states that there are four criteria of validity and
reliability to obtain trustworthiness of a data. They consist of credibility,
transferability, dependability, and conformability. This research only employed
credibility and dependability.
To achieve trustworthiness, the concepts of credibility were applied in
this research. In this research, the researcher reread both texts carefully so that the
data were in accordance with the research questions. Moreover, the credibility was
also obtained by conducting triangulation technique. The triangulation technique
was attained by asking other people to discuss the data in order to know the
correct interpretation. The triangulators are three students of English Literature
study program with translation concentration, the researcher first’s consultant, and
the second consultant. Their capability in analyzing and criticizing translation
would be in accordance with this research.
To achieve the degree of dependability, the researcher examined the data
collection and data analysis. The researcher reread the data to gain certainty and
stability of the data. The researcher ensured that the data were in accordance with
42
Table 2: Data Sheet
N o
Datum
Code Source Expression Target Expression Situation
VH Types Subtitling Strategies Acceptability W Peter: This is just an outfit, man.Ninja Turtle, you better stop
poking me." putting this deal together.
Below is the complete convention of abbreviation used in data coding:
1 : Number of the Datum
Ac : Acceptable
Al : Allusion
Cn : Condensation
Dc : Decimation
Dl : Deletion
Ds : Dislocation
Ex : Expansion
Im : Imitation
Lac : Less Acceptable
Pp : Paraphrase
Rs : Resignation
SE : Source Expression
Tc : Transcription
Tr : Transfer
TE : Target Expression
Unc : Unacceptable
VI : Verbal Irony
44 CHAPTER IV
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
A. FINDINGS
There are 48 data found in this research. They are classified based on the
theory discussed in the previous chapter. There are tables and the detail
explanation of the findings in this section.
The tables provide description of the findings. They contain a list of spoken
expressions that belongs to the types of verbal humor (wordplay, allusion, and
verbal irony) expressed by the characters in Guardian of the Galaxy. The tables
indicate the frequency of occurrence of the verbal humor in the movie.
There are three findings in this chapter. They are types of verbal humor in
Guardian of the Galaxy movie, subtitling strategies used by the translator to
translate the English spoken expression especially verbal humor and the degree of
acceptability of the translation of verbal humor in Guardian of the Galaxy movie
intoBahasa Indonesia.
1. Types of the Verbal Humor inGuardian of the Galaxy
There are three types of verbal humor found in this research. They are
wordplay, allusion and verbal irony. Table 3 provides a description of the first
finding. It contains the list of three types of verbal humor expressed in Guardian
Table 3: Types of Verbal Humor by the Characters inGuardian of the
GalaxyMovie
No Types of Verbal Humor Frequency Percentage
1 Verbal Irony 32 66.67 %
2 Allusion 12 25 %
3 Wordplay 4 8.33 %
TOTAL 48 100 %
According to the table above, verbal irony is the most frequent type of
verbal humor with 66.67 % data occurrence. It is followed by allusion in the
second place with 25 % data occurrence and wordplay with 8.33 % data
occurrence in the third place. It can be concluded that verbal irony is the most
common type of verbal humor. It is used in common daily conversation and come
out as the most ordinary form of verbal humor that the audiences can easily
comprehend.
2. Subtitling Strategy of the English Verbal Humor in Guardian of the
Galaxy
In Table 4, it can be seen that the translator uses seven subtitling strategies in
translating verbal humor in Guardian of the Galaxy movie out of ten subtitling
strategies in the theory. The strategies used to translate the verbal humor are
46
decimation. Dislocation, expansion and resignation are the strategies that are not
used by the translator to translate the verbal humor.
Table 4: Subtitling Strategies of Translation of Verbal Humor in
Guardian of the GalaxyMovie.
No Subtitling Strategy Frequency Percentage
1 Transfer 14 29.17 %
2 Paraphrase 8 16.67 %
3 Condensation 8 16.67 %
4 Imitation 7 14.58 %
5 Deletion 6 12.5 %
6 Transcription 4 8.33 %
7 Decimation 1 2.08 %
8 Expansion 0 0 %
9 Dislocation 0 0 %
10 Resignation 0 0 %
TOTAL 48 100 %
According to Table 4, the result of the analysis shows that out of 48 data,
transfer is the most frequent subtitling strategy used by the translator in translating
the verbal humor dialogue with 29.17 % of occurrence. The second and the third
rank with 14.58 % occurrence, deletion 12.5 % and last but not least, decimation
is on the seventh rank with 2.08 % occurrence.
3. Degree of Acceptability of the Translation of Verbal Humor in Guardian
of the Galaxy
Acceptability is divided into 3 degrees. They are acceptable, less acceptable
and unacceptable. The table below shows the frequency of degree of acceptability
in the translation of Indonesian subtitle from theGuardian of the Galaxymovie.
Table 5: Degree of Acceptability in the Translation of Verbal Humor
inGuardian of the GalaxyMovie
No Degree of Acceptability Frequency Percentage
1 Acceptable 33 68.75 %
2 Less Acceptable 13 27.08 %
3 Unacceptable 2 4.17 %
TOTAL 48 100 %
From the table above, 68.75 % data in the research that belong to acceptable
degree. The researcher also found 27.08 % data that are considered less acceptable
and 4.17 % data are unacceptable. The findings indicate that the translation of
verbal humor inGuardian of the Galaxymovie is considered acceptable.
Table 6 shows the relationship between all the previous three findings which
48
acceptability. Through this table, the relationship of the findings can be seen in
two points of view. First, the application of the subtitling strategies used in
translating the types of verbal humor. The second is the translated verbal humor
that is used the subtitling strategies and the acceptability degree.
Table 6. Relationship of Types of Verbal Humor, Strategies and
Wordplay Allusion Verbal Irony Total
Transfer Ac :
in 1 less acceptable translation while transcription results in 2 acceptable
translations and 1 less acceptable translation.
Additionally, allusion is translated using 4 different strategies. They are
transfer, paraphrase, imitation and transcription strategies. Transfer results in 3
acceptable translations. Paraphrase results in 1 less acceptable translation.
Imitation results in 7 acceptable translations and transcription results in 1
acceptable translation.
Lastly, verbal irony is translated using 5 different strategies. They are
transfer, paraphrase, condensation, deletion and decimation. Transfer results in 10
acceptable translations and 1 unacceptable translation. Paraphrase results in 5
acceptable translations and 2 less acceptable translations. Condensation results in
2 acceptable translations and 5 less acceptable translations. Deletion results in 3
acceptable translations and 3 less acceptable translations, while decimation
produces only 1 unacceptable translation.
B. DISCUSSION
1. Types of Verbal Humor inGuardian of the Galaxy
a. Verbal Irony
Irony in verbal humor is using word to express something completely
different from the literal meaning. Usually, the speaker says something opposite
of what he/she means and the listener believes the opposite of what the speaker
says. Verbal irony according to Pelsmaekers and Van Bensien (2002: 246 in Salik
2010: 9) comprises hyperbolic expression, tag question, hyperformaility,
50
researcher found verbal irony as the most frequent verbal humor occur with 32
occurrences out of 48 verbal humor found in the research. From 32 occurrences,
11 of them are translated with transfer strategy in which 10 of them are considered
acceptable and 1 as unacceptable. The frequency of occurrences here indicates
that verbal irony is the most common form of verbal humor that can be found in
common daily conversation and come out as the most ordinary form of verbal
humor that the audiences can easily comprehend. Below are the examples of
verbal irony occurring in theGuardian of the Galaxymovie.
SE:
Rocket: His people are completely literal. Metaphors are gonna go over his head.
Drax: Nothing goes over my head. My reflexes are too fast. I would catch it.
Gamora:I'm gonna die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy
TE:
Rocket: Bangsanya benar-benar harfiah. Kiasan akan lewat begitu saja. Drax: Takkan ada yang lewat.Refleksku cepat. Aku tentu akan
menangkapnya.
Gamora:Aku akan mati dikelilingi orang-orang terbodoh di tata
surya.
(Datum number: 23/Vi/Tr/Ac)
In this scene, Groot, Rocket, Peter, Gamora and Drax were trying to escape
the prison. When Rocket got ready for his plan, Peter mocked Drax as a walking
thesaurus and he got Drax feeling offended because he was very literal. Drax and
his people, called The Destroyer, were not the kind of people who understand
metaphor, so, when people talked about it they will only catch the literal meaning,
because she had to stuck with a group of people whom she refered as the biggest
idiots in the galaxy.
The expressionI'm gonna die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxyis
a hyperbolic expression. She was exaggerating the situation that she could die for
being stuck with her companions whom she considered idiot. The verbal humor
expression above is translated into Aku akan mati dikelilingi orang-orang
terbodoh di tata surya using transfer strategy. This strategy is chosen by the
translator because it does not give any significant change in the translation.
By translating it literally, the translator hopes that the message can be
transferred completely. The verbal humor in this expression can be rendered well
and does not feel like translation when the audiences read the subtitle. Thus, the
translation of the SE into the TE is considered acceptable.
SE:
Yondu: I mean, really? And now you’re gonna rip me off! We do not
do that to each other.We’re Ravagers. We got a code.
Peter:Yeah, and that code is “steal from everybody.
TE:
Yondu: Kini kau memerasku! Kita tak saling mencuri. Kita Ravager. Kita punya prinsip.
Peter:Ya, dan prinsipnya adalah “mencuri dari semua orang.”
(Datum number 05/Vi/Pp/Ac)
Yondu, the leader of Ravager was contacted Peter. Peter did not want to
pick up the call because he had been avoiding him, but Bereet accidentally picked
52
so Yondu could get the profit share from selling the orb. Yet, Peter refused to tell
him where he is.
The conversation above belongs to ironic repetition of previous talk that
translated with paraphrase strategy. Since the translation can be understood easily
and the humor can be felt by the audiences, the translation considered acceptable.
SE:
Peter: Shut up. Hey! What is that?
Rocket: That's for if things get really hardcore. Or if you wanna blow up moons.
TE:
Peter: Diam. Hei. Apa ini?
Rocket:Untuk keadaan mendesak. Atau meledakkan bulan.
(Datum number: 25/Vi/Cn/Lac)
In this scene, Peter found a bomb in Rocket's belonging. He was shocked
and shouted to Rocket then asked what the suspicious thing within his bag is.
Rocket then answered that it was a bomb, which can be used in what he called a
hardcore situation.
The expression above is a hyperbolic expression that is translated with
condensation strategy. The expression “That’s for if things get really hardcore”is
translated into “Untuk keadaan mendesak”is considered less acceptable because
the hyperbolic expression from SE cannot be felt by the audiences. For
suggestion, the translator can translate it with expansion strategy into “Ini untuk
b. Allusion
Allusion is something that is said or written that is intended to make readers
think of particular thing or person related to the humor function. Leppihalme
(1997: 10 in Hellgren 2007: 12) divides allusion into two parts, i.e.; proper name
allusion and key phrase allusion. Proper name is identical with names of people
either in real life or in fictional works, titles of fictional works and names of
organizations. In the other hand, key phrase allusion does not contain any proper
name, for example, references to song lyrics and well known literary works. Out
of 48 data, the occurrences of allusion are 12 times. 11 of them are considered
acceptable, and 1 considered less acceptable.
Allusion becomes the second most frequent occurrences in the research. It is
the type of verbal humor that strongly depends on the audiences’ knowledge and
familiarities towards the particular expression containing cultural elements in in
the movie. For example, if the reader has heard a name or a phrase repeatedly
since childhood, read in books, heard at school or in songs they listen to, in films
and television programs etc. s/he will easily recognize them and their sources.
Below are the examples of allusion that found in the ST of Guardian of the
Galaxymovie.
SE:
Korath: You don't look like a junker.You're wearing Ravager garb. Peter: This is just an outfit, man.Ninja Turtle,you better stop poking me."
TE:
Korath: Kau bukan tukang barang bekas. Itu seragam Ravager.
54
(Datum number: 02/Al/Tr/Ac)
Peter was on a mission to get a sacred ball called Orb in a foreign planet. He
did not know that the Orb was something with great power and had been wanted
by a lot of people, including Ronan, The Accuser. Peter took the orb and brought
it casually, Korath, one of Ronan’s trusted soldier was trying to snatched the Orb.
Korath and his troops were then tied Peter up and asked him questions. Peter
claimed himself as a junker but Korath and his troops suspected him because his
outfit did not look like a junker. Peter got mad because Korath’s troops kept him
from escaping. Since they wore a mask, Peter then called themNinja Turtle.
The allusion found in the SE above is a proper name allusion. In the
expression Ninja Turtle, you better stop poking me, the word Ninja Turtle is a
fictional character in a well-known movie,Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtlemovie or
usually abbreviate as TMNT. In TMNT, the main characters are human
half-turtle superheroes who use masks on their face and so do Korath’s troops. Since
TMNT is a quite well known movie, most audiences will immediately relate the
expression stop poking me you ninja turtle that is said by Peter with the 5 well
known character known as a half turtle half human wearing color mask who save
the city.
In the scene mentioned above, the men who tried to arrest Peter under
Korath’s command were wearing armors and iron masks. The scene looks tense
and serious, until Peter said Ninja Turtle, stop poking me. The expression causes
an amusement for the audience because the situation that at first feels tense
In translating the expression, the translator uses transfer strategy. He/ she
chooses to use it becauseKura-Kura Ninja is not a new thing and already a
well-known movie for Indonesian audiences. Allusion, especially the proper name
allusion is the type of verbal humor that is said or written with intention to make
people think of particular thing/person. Thus, to achieve such purpose, the
translator has to be able to make the viewers understand what the movie intends to
say.
SE:
Drax: How are we gonna leave?
Peter: Well, he's got a plan. Right? Or is that another thing you made up? Rocket: I have a plan! I have a plan!
Drax: Cease your yammering and relieve us from this irksome confinement.
Peter: Yeah, I'll have to agree with the walkingthesauruson that one. Drax: Do not ever call me athesaurus.
TE:
Drax: Bagaimana kita akan pergi?
Peter: Dia punya rencana. Benar? Atau itu karanganmu juga? Rocket: Aku punya rencana!
Drax: Hentikan ocehanmu dan bebaskan kami dari kurungan ini. Peter: Aku setuju dengankamusberjalan ini dalam hal itu.
Drax: Jangan panggil akukamus.
(Datum number 22/Al/Tr/Ac)
Peter, Gamora, Rocket, Groot and Drax were ready for Rocket's plan to
escape the prison. In the middle of their conversation, Peter called Drax a walking
thesaurus. Drax got upset because Peter called him a walking thesaurus. This
expression causes an amusement because Peter dares to call the monster-like
56
The expression walking thesaurus above is a proper name allusion which
translated into kamus berjalan with transfer strategy. It directly reminds us of a
dictionary. Since the translation can easily be understood and arising amusement,
the translation is considered acceptable.
SE:
Groot: I am Groot.
Peter: Well, that's just as fascinating as the first 89 times you told me that. What is wrong withGiving Tree, here?
TE:
Groot: Aku Groot.
Peter: Sudah 89 kali kau mengatakannya dan masih terdengar menarik.
Ada apa denganPohon Murah Hatiini?
(Datum number: 18/Al/Pp/Lac)
In this scene, Peter, Gamora, Rocket and Groot were arrested and sent to the
KYLN, the High Security Prison of Xandar. On their way to the cell, Peter asked
Gamora about what is the orb for, but Groot butted in by answering Peter question
in 3 wordsI am Groot. Groot was known as a living tree who was also the partner
of Rocket in sought for fugitives to get money. As a living thing, it can only talk
to people with a very limited vocabularies, which only consists of three words; I
and am andGroot. Peter who did not know about that, felt annoyed and saidWhat
is wrong with giving tree, here?
Groot’s words and Peter’s reaction towards it are what makes it funny. An
allusion is found in the expression above. The type of allusion found is proper
name allusion in the expressionWhat is wrong with Giving Tree, here?When this
phrase uttered, the audiences will immediately associates it with Christmas tree
with paraphrase strategy and it is considered less acceptable. The translation of
pohon murah hati can be accepted semantically, but the humor of the SE cannot
be perceived by the audiences.
c. Wordplay
Wordplay is a humorous play on words with intention to amuse people.
Delabatista divided wordplay into five types, i.e.; homonymy, homophony,
homograph, paronymy and polisemy. In this research, wordplay becomes the last
frequent verbal humor that occurs for 4 times with 2 considered acceptable and 2
considered less acceptable.
SE:
Corpsman: He says that he's an "a hole." But he's not, and I'm quoting him, here,"100 % a dick."
Nova: Do you believe him?
Corpsman: I don't know if I believe anyone is 100 % a dick ma'am. Nova: I mean do you believe that he is here to help?
Corpsman: Yeah.
TE:
Corpsman: Dia bilang dia seorang "bedebah" tapi dia tidak, dan aku mengutip kata-katanya"100 persen brengsek".
Nova: Kau percaya dia?
Corpsman: Aku tak percaya ada orang yang 100 persen brengsek. Nova: Kau percaya dia disini untuk menolong?
Corpsman: Ya.
(Datum number: 46/Wp/Tc/Ac)
The situation is quite similar with the previous topic. Ronan (the antagonist in
the Guardian of the Galaxy movie) was on his way to destroy Xandar. Peter and
his friends, who knew about the situation, were then trying to save the planet.
58
force in Xandar) through her crew named Corpsman Dey. Since Peter and his
friends were fugitives, Nova Prime and her crew doubted whether the message
that Peter sent was actually the real warning or just a prank. In his message, Peter
said sorry for being100 % a dick, but he really meant to help Xandar. When Nova
asks Corpsman whether he believes Peter or not, he then said that he did not know
if he believes that anyone is100 % a dick, whereas what Nova meant to ask was
only if he believes that Peter’s message was real or not.
The verbal humor found in the SE is wordplay in the form of homonymy. The
worddickis a variety of language called slang which considered vulgar. As in the
Cambridge Advanced Learner Dictionary Third Edition, it is used to refer to the
part of a male's body which is used for urinating and in sexual activity. Yet, in the
daily life it usually used as a term for individuals, who are considered to be rude,
abrasive, inconsiderate or otherwise contemptible. This expression is frequently
used in America to express that someone is not a good person. In this context, it
can be used interchangeably with the wordjerk.
In translating the expression, the translator uses transcription strategy. The
word dick in the expression is considered as a slang and unusual expression that
cannot be translated literally into the TE. Along with the context of the
conversation, the translator translates the expression into brengsek. This
translation is considered acceptable and can be perceived well by the audiences.
SE:
TE:
Corpsman: Dia bilang awaknya kabur dari penjara jadi dia tak punya
alasan lain ke Xandar selain menolong. Dia bilang dia seorang
"bedebah"Tapi dia tidak.
(Datum number: 45/Wp/Tc/Lac)
In this part, datum number 45 has the same situation as the previous
discussion, datum number 46. Peter and his friends were trying to save the planet
by sending a message to Nova Prime. Peter called himself as an asshole, but
Corpsman defended Peter by saying that he was not.
Homonymy is the type of wordplay that has one word with different,
unrelated meaning. When the SE uses wordplay in the expression a-hole, the a
letter that known as the first letter of the alphabet is an abbreviation that stands for
ass. The expression is actually intended to say asshole which in Cambridge
Advanced Learner Dictionary Third Edition can also be defined as an unpleasant
or stupid person. The writer chooses to abbreviate the word assintoa not only to
keep the language appropriate, but also to arise the amusement and makes the
viewers laugh because it is considered as a funny expression.
Transcription strategy is used by the translator in translating the wordplay
a-holeintobedebah. This strategy is usually used to translate third language or
non-sense language. A-hole itself is an unusual word for the source language. It can
only be understood when the viewer understand the language used in source
language and the context of the conversation or if the viewers are natives who
speak English or people who learn English language and its culture. The
60
SE:
Rocket: ...Look at Mr. Smiles over here. Where’s your wife, old man? What aclass-A pervert. Right, Groot?...
TE:
Rocket: ...Lihat Tuan Senyum itu. Dimana istrimu, Pak tua? Dasar
cabul. Benar, Groot?...
(Datum number: 12/Wp/Cn/Lac)
When Rocket and Groot were trying to find fugitives using radar, Rocket
found a lot of people that pissed him off. One of them is an old man who tried to
seduce a young woman. He called the old man a class-A pervert. Such response
from Rocket towards the old man’s deed amuses the audiences because it is a little
raccoon who say that.
The expression a class-A pervert is a wordplay that is translated with
condensation strategy into cabul. By using condensation strategy, the information
is partially reduced and the translation becomes shortened.
It is considered less acceptable because the translator reducing the
information that is considered important. The important supporting information
states that the old man is a professional seducer, which Rocket refers class-A
pervert is omitted. It makes the message that the SE trying to send becomes less
funny as the SE intended to. For suggestion, it can be translated with expansion
2. Subtitling Strategies in Translation of Verbal Humor inGuardian of the
Galaxy
There are six strategies found in the translation of verbal humor of
Guardian of the Galaxy Movie. They are transfer, paraphrase, condensation,
imitation, deletion, transcription and decimation. Examples of each type and more
detailed explanations of them are discussed below.
a. Transfer Strategy in Verbal Humor Translation
Transfer is a strategy that is used in translating ST completely and correctly.
This strategy is used by the translator in order to make the audience gets the
meaning and the message of the ST as a whole. In this research, transfer strategy
is the most used strategy to translate the verbal humor expression with 14 data out
of 48 data. Transfer strategy is seen as the most frequent strategy used by the
translator. It usually happens when the translator has an intention to make the TT
feels less foreign and tends to be more TL friendly.
Below, the researcher writes down the examples of the application of transfer
strategy in verbal humor translation. In Guardian of the Galaxy movie, the
strategy is only applied in allusion and verbal irony types.
SE:
Rocket: ...Look atMr. Smilesover here. Where’s your wife, old man? What a class-A pervert. Right, Groot?...
TE:
Rocket: ...LihatTuan Senyumitu. Dimana istrimu, Pak tua? Dasar
62
(Datum number: 11/Al/Tr/Ac)
Rocket and Groot were in Xandar planet, sought for fugitives using special
radar to get bounty from catching the fugitives. Through his radar, Rocket found
something that disgusted him. An old man was trying to seduce a young woman.
As he kept on smiling and talking to the young woman, Rocket was grumbling
and mocking the old man by calling himMr. Smiles.
Mr. Smilesthat is translated into Tuan Senyum is an allusion type of verbal
humor. Smiles is a well known symbol pictures and text icons or usually called
emoticons with small and round shape and yellow color with three curve lines that
can be associated with a smile expression. The utterance Look at Mr. Smiles is
immediately making the audiences associate it with the well-known emoticon
symbol which brings an amusement.
The expression Mr. Smiles is translated into Tuan Senyum using transfer
strategy. This strategy is suitable for the translation because it can maintain the
meaning of the SE. Therefore, the translation can be considered acceptable.
SE:
Rocket: ... Look at this guy! Can you believe they call us criminals, when he’s assaulting us with that haircut?
TE:
Rocket: ...Lihat orang ini! Kau percaya mereka sebut kita penjahat sementara dia menghina kita dengan potongan rambutnya?
(Datum number:08/Vi/Tr/Unc)
Still in the same scene as the previous analysis where Rocket and Groot
trying to find fugitives in order to collect bounty, Rocket was upset because he
they did not have the right to call them criminal when they could not even arrange
their hair in the right way.
The utterance is a hyperbolic expression translated with transfer strategy. It
is considered unacceptable because the TE sounds like translation and the
meaning of the TE cannot be understood. Thus, the humor lost its essence. For
suggestion, the translator can use paraphrase strategy and translate it into “
Orang-orang ini menyebut kita penjahat, menata rambutnya saja mereka tidak becus”
b. Paraphrase Strategy in Verbal Humor Translation
Paraphrase is a strategy that is used when the original text cannot be
reconstructed in the same syntactic way in the target language. The message
alternates from SL into TL in order to provide an acceptable translation in the TL
form. There are 8 occurrences of paraphrase strategy found in the research. 5 of
them are considered acceptable and 3 considered less acceptable. 7 out of 8 are
used to translate verbal irony and the other 1 is used to translate allusion.
SE:
Groot: I am Groot.
Peter:Well, that's just as fascinating as the first 89 times you told me that.What is wrong with Giving Tree, here?
TE:
Groot: Aku Groot.
Peter:Sudah 89 kali kau mengatakannya dan masih terdengar
menarik.Ada apa dengan Pohon Murah Hati ini?
(Datum number: 17/Vi/Pp/Ac)
Peter, Gamora, Rocket and Groot were arrested and sent to the KYLN, The
64
orb is for and Groot answered him with his only vocabularies, 3 words: I am
Grootwhich made Peter upset for hearing him said the same thing repeatedly and
made Peter said Well, that's just as fascinating as the first 89 times you told me
that.
This expression is translated with paraphrase strategy which gives an
amusement. The expression stated is an exaggeration and an irony. Groot did not
really said the words 89 times and Peter was not interested in what Groot said at
all. It can be seen from his expression and intonation that is highly effective to
create a humorous effect.
In the Bahasa Indonesia subtitling text, the translator translates the SE
intoSudah 89 kali kau mengatakannya dan masih terdengar menarik. It is already
a good translation because the message and the humor can be rendered well by the
audiences. Thus, the transation can be considered as an acceptable translation.
SE:
Rocket: ...Look how it thinks it’s so cool. It’s not cool to get help!
Walk by yourself, you little gargoyle...
TE:
Rocket: ...Dia pikir dirinya keren. Minta bantuan tidaklah keren!
Jalanlah sendiri, Monster kecil. ...
(Datum number: 09/Vi/Pp/Ac)
Rocket was taking a look on his radar to find fugitives, but then he saw a
baby who was learning to walk and helped by her parents. Rocket then bashed the
baby girl around by saying “Look how it thinks it’s so cool. It’s not cool to get
It is considered funny that a little raccoon grumbling such thing and not
knowing that a baby can’t walk by him/her self. The expression is a verbal irony
which translated using paraphrase strategy where some unimportant words are
omitted, yet, it can still be understood and the humor can still be felt. Thus, the
trannslation considered acceptable.
c. Condensation
Condensation usually applied by the translator when there is a long dialogue,
thus, the translator necessarily uses reduction information and then increases
coherence for the viewers. It can be said condensation is the shortening of the text.
The aim of this strategy is to reduce partially without deleting a meaning.
Condensation strategy occurs 8 times in the research. It consists of 2 acceptable
translations and 6 less acceptable translations. This strategy seems to give less
acceptable translation than the acceptable one when it comes to verbal humor. It is
probably because condensation reduces information that sometimes considered as
an important supporting element that will be better if it does not omitted by the
translator.
SE:
Peter: Shut up. Hey! What is that?
Rocket: That's for if things get really hardcore. Or if you wanna blow up moons.
Peter: No one's blowing up moons.
Rocket:You just wanna suck the joy out of everything.
TE:
Peter: Diam. Hei. Apa ini?
Rocket: Untuk keadaan mendesak. Atau meledakkan bulan. Peter: Tak ada yang meledakkan bulan.
66
(Datum number: 27/Vi/Cn/Ac)
The scene happens when Rocket was trying to find a place to keep his spare
weapons. It made Peter upset because he scattered Peter’s ship without his
permission. Peter found a bomb that Rocket made by himself and scolded him
because Rocket left such a dangerous thing like a bomb lying around. The
utterance uttered by Rocket is a hyperbolic translation translated with
condensation strategy which translated into “kau selalu merusak kesenangan and
considered acceptable, because, although there are many reductions in the
expression, the main idea / message can still be found in the translation. Thus, the
translation of the SE is acceptable.
SE:
Broker: Where’s Yondu?
Peter: Wanted to be here. Sends his love.And told me to tell you that you got the best eyebrows in the business.
TE:
Broker: Mana Yondu?
Peter: Dia ingin datang. Dia titip salam. Dia bilang katanya kau punya alis mata terbaik di bisnis ini.
(Datum number: 13/Vi/Cn/Lac)
Peter met Broker, the merchant in Xandar. He took the orb from Korath,
hide it from Yondu, and brought it to Broker so he can sell it in a high price.
When Broker asked Peter where Yondu is, Peter lied and told Broker that Yondu
could not come and sent his regards, Peter also said that Yondu wanted Peter to
tell Broker that he got the best eyebrows in the business which causes an
The expression above is translated using condensation strategy into “Dia
bilang katanya kau punya alis mata terbaik di bisnis ini” which considered less
acceptable because there is an unnecessary redundant word and the transferred
meaning can be changed into “Katanya kau ahli dalam bisnis ini.”
d. Imitation
Imitation is a process of adopting foreign expression in the translation that the
target audience are not familiar with. It maintains the same forms, typically with
names of people and places. In this research, imitation strategy is applied in the
translation process for 7 times in allusion type of verbal humor and all of them are
considered acceptable.
SE:
Peter: Hey! Listen to me, you big blue bastard. Take those headphones off. That’s mine. Those belong to impound. That tape and that player is mine! (The jailer attack Peter with an electric shot, while Hooked on a Feeling song played)
Peter:Hooked on a Feeling. Blue Swede, 1973. That song belongs to me!"
TE:
Peter: Hei! Dengar, Raksasa biru bedebah. Lepaskan headphone itu. Itu punyaku. Itu milik barang sitaan. Pita rekaman dan pemutar itu punyaku! Peter: Hooked on A Feeling. Blue Swede, 1973. Lagu itu punyaku!
(Datum number: 19/Al/Im/Ac)
In this scene, Peter and his new friends are on their way to the cell when they
pass the officer’s room. Peter sees a blue monster officer trying to use a thing that
he acknowledges as his Walkman. He got mad because the Walkman was the gift
from his mother and he really hated if anyone touched it. When he tries to got his
tape player back, the jailer attacked Peter with an electrical shot whileHooked on
68
remember the famous song entitled Hooked on a Feelingsang by Blue Swede in
1973.
The use of imitation strategy in allusion, especially in this expression is
precise because it does not need to be changed in the translation version in order
to maintain the cultural features of the SL in which somehow will be lost if the
translator does not maintain the SL form. Thus, it can be concluded that the
translation is acceptable.
SE:
Gamora: I'll tell the buyer we're on our way. And Quill, your ship is filthy.
Peter: Oh, she had no idea if I had a black light, the place would look like a Jackson Pollockpainting.
Rocket: You had issues, Quill.
TE:
Gamora: Akan ku kabari pembelinya kita dalam perjalanan. Dan Quill, kapalmu kotor.
Peter: Belum tahu dia. Jika pakai lampu hitam kapal ini akan mirip lukisanJackson Pollock.
Rocket: Kau tidak waras, Quill.
(Datum number: 29/Al/Im/Ac)
In this scene, Peter asked Gamora the coordinate of the orb's buyer. Yet,
instead of gave Quill the buyer's coordinate, she criticized Peter by saying that his
ship was filthy. Peter then answered Gamora’s statement by saying that if he had a
black light, his ship would have look like Jackson Pollock’s painting. Jackson
Pollock was an influential American painter and the leading force behind the
of Pollock’s canvases were either set on the floor, or laid out against a wall rather
than being fixed to an easel which might resemble to what Peter thinks about his
ship. Peter’s answer towards Gamora’s statement causes an amusement because
nobody knows who Jackson Pollock is in the outer space.
In translating the proper name allusion, the translator uses imitation strategy
which is right. By maintaining the same form, the humor expression derived from
the SE can be transferred into the TE and considered acceptable. Nonetheless,
only those who possess knowledge about American painter, specifically Jason
Pollock, have the bigger probability to understand this verbal humor expression.
e. Deletion
Deletion refers to the total elimination of parts of a text, especially the less
important aspect. Moreover, deletion is mainly used to deal with non-verbal
content, leaving the most important message to be expressed. In this research of
Guardian of the Galaxy translation, deletion strategy is applied to translate 6
expression of verbal irony. 3 of them are considered acceptable and the other 3 are
considered less acceptable.
SE:
Yondu: I slaved putting this deal together.
Peter:Slaved? Making a few calls is a “slaved”?
TE:
Yondu: Aku bekerja keras mengatur kesepakatan.
Peter:Menelepon adalah “kerja keras?
(Datum number: 04/Vi/Dl/Ac)
In this scene, Yondu, the leader of Ravager is contacting Peter. Peter does
70
accidentally pick it up. It makes Peter upset because he has to face Yondu and get
scolded for escaping him after getting the orb.
The expressionSlaved? Making a few calls is a “slaved”? is funny because
Peter is being sarcastic to Yondu. The SE is translated into Menelepon adalah
“kerja keras?. The word Slaved? is omitted by the translator because it is a
repetitive word that won’t cause any change in the message because it is already
clear enough for the audiences to understand and the humor can be felt like the
SE. Thus, the translation can be considered acceptable.
SE:
Korath: Drop it now!
Peter:Hey, cool, man. No problem. No problem at all.
TE:
Korath: Letakkan, sekarang!
Peter:Tenanglah.Tidak masalah. Sama sekali tidak masalah.
(Datum number: 01/Vi/Dl/Unc)
In this scene, Peter was on a mission to get a sacred ball called Orb in a
foreign planet. He did not know that the Orb was something that possessed a great
power and wanted by many people, including Ronan, The Accuser. Peter took the
orb and brought it casually. Korath, one of Ronan’s trusted soldiers, was then
trying to snatch the Orb and forced him to surrender the orb. Peter then tried to
cool down the situation by saying “Hey, cool man. No problem. No problem at
like there was no problem at all, that actually was the opposite. The way Peter
talked sounds like he was having a conversation with his friend.
The expression “Hey, cool, man.” is considered unacceptable because the
translator omittinghey andmanand translates it into“Tenanglah.”that results in
less funny expression. For suggestion, the translator can maintain the words of the
SE and translate it into,“Hey, santailah sedikit bro”.
f. Transcription
Transcription is used in those cases where a term is unusual even in the SE,
for example the use of third language or nonsense language. There are 4 data of
the research used transcription strategy. Transcription is found in the types of
verbal humor wordplay and allusion in which 3 considered acceptable and 1
considered less acceptable.
SE:
Saal: Peter Quill, this is Denarian Saal of the Nova Corps. For the record, I advised against trusting you here.
Peter: They got my"dick"message!
TE:
Saal: Peter Quill, Ini Denarian Saal dari Nova Corp. Asal tau saja, aku menolak untuk mempercayaimu.
Peter: Mereka menerima pesan"brengsek"dariku!
(Datum number: 47/Wp/Tc/Ac)
In this scene, Peter sent a warning message to Corpsman Dey, one of the
Nova Corps officers. At first, they doubted his message as a prank, but then they
decided to trust Peter with some considerations. Peter was very happy knowing
