ANALYSIS OF PROCEDURES IN TRANSLATING SWEARING WORDS
IN
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: PRISONERS OF THE SUN
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Zulfa Septyaningrum 112011040
ENGLISH EDUCATION PROGRAM
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
ii
ANALYSIS OF PROCEDURES IN TRANSLATING SWEARING WORDS
IN
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: PRISONERS OF THE SUN
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Zulfa Septyaningrum 112011040
ENGLISH EDUCATION PROGRAM
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
vi
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in any course or
accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my
knowledge and my belief, this contains no material previously published or written by any
other person except where due reference is made in the text.
Copyright@ 2015. Zulfa Septyaningrum and Dr. Elisabet Titik Murtisari.
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the
permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English Department, Faculty of
Language and Literature, Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga.
viii
TABLE OF CONTENT
... i
Cover ... ii
Approval Page ... v
Copyright Statement ... vi
Publication Agreement of Declaration ... vii
Table of Content ... viii
List of Ta les ……….. x
List of a reviations ………. xi
Abstract ... 1
Key Words ... 1
Introduction ... 1
Theoretical Framework... 5
Definition of Swearing Words... 5
Tintin Comics and Its Swearwords ... 7
Translation of Comics ... 9
Translation and Translation Procedures ... 11
The Study ... 21
Finding and Discussion ... 24
Conclusion ... 42
Acknowledgement... 45
References ... 46
ix
Appendix A ... 48
Appendix B ... 55
x LIST OF TABLE
Table 1 Newmark’s Typology Used in Translating Swearing Words in Tintin
xi
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
P: Page
F: Frame
SL: Source Language
TL: Target Language
CQ: Cultural equivalent
FQ: Functional equivalent
ST: Shift or transposition
TR: Transference
LIT: Literal translation
MOD: Modulation
RED: Reduction
EXP: Expansion
MLS: Modulation with little semantic context
1
ANALYSIS OF PROCEDURES IN TRANSLATING SWEARING WORDS IN
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: PRISONERS OF THE SUN
Zulfa Septyaningrum
Abstract
The Indonesian version of the famous comic series The Adventures of Tintin were formerly translated and published by now-defunct Indira publisher. In 2008, the comic series were republished in Indonesia by Gramedia publisher. However, due to copyright issue, the new Indonesian version of Tintin comics were translated differently from the previous version which results in various responses from Tintin fans. Interested to analyze how the two publishers translate the swearing words in each Indonesian version, this study examines the procedures used by Indira and Gramedia in translating the English swearing words into Indonesian in Tintin comic series entitled Prisoners of the Sun. This study is aimed to answer this research question, “What are the translation procedures to render the swearing words from the source text into Indonesian in each comic version?” In order to answer the research question, a descriptive qualitative method is used to analyze the data. The data of the research are taken from the English and the two Indonesian versions of the comics. Newmark‟s typology (1988) is used to categorize the translation procedures used by the two publishers. The study reveals that the procedures used by Indira are literal translation, transference, cultural equivalent, synonymy, modulation, reduction, and couplets. Meanwhile, the procedures used by Gramedia are literal translation, naturalization, cultural equivalence, functional equivalent, synonymy, modulation, reduction, and couplets. The finding also reveals that from the procedures mentioned previously, modulation, couplets and cultural equivalent
are the three procedures which frequently employed by the translators of the two publishers.
Key words: swearing words, Tintin comics, translation of comics, translation procedures.
INTRODUCTION
The Adventures of Tintin comic series, which used to be published by Indira from
1975, have enjoyed popularity in Indonesia. Due to some unfortunate quality problems
with its 2005 prints, the company lost the right to publish the series, and Gramedia, the
biggest publisher in the country, started printing the comics with a copy right from
2
cannot adopt almost all of the names of the characters used by Indira due to some legal
reasons, which make the Tintin‟s fans in the country seem unhappy1. Apart from this
problem, the new versions have also been criticized for under translating the comic
books. As Kenneth (2014) stated that “Some older fans feel the new translations are
weaker and have lost part of the humor.” As a result, Indira‟s version still seems to be
much preferred and considered to be the “perfect” translation by many of its readers. One
area of translation of special interest relevant to this issue is the translation of the
swearing words of the comic series by the two publishers. One character who contributes
many vibrant swearing words in the comic series is the prominent character Captain
Archibald Haddock, Tintin‟s best companion beside his dog.
The first time Hergé introduced the character of Captain Haddock in his comic, he
needed to find a way to eliminate harsh words and replaced them with unique swearing
words that have equal emotion since his comic series were mainly targeted for children.
Since then, Hergé invented colorful and distinctive swearing words like Blistering
barnacles! which later become the trademark of Captain Haddock‟s swearing. When the
Indonesian version of Tintin comics were republished by Gramedia, the first thing
Tintinologists (appellation of Tintin‟s fans) sought to see is the translation of Captain
Haddock‟s swearing. As one of Tintinologist, Misdianto (2008) said in his blog that “I
have been waiting for the ninth series as I am curious how Gramedia would translate the
well-known Captain Haddock‟s swearing.” Apparently, it shows that the translation of
1
3
swearing words in the new Indonesian version by Gramedia attract Tintin fans to
compare them with the previous version translated by Indira.
Moreover, swearing words have an important role to help readers to be aware of
the character‟s feeling and attitude in comic. As Jay (in Sanders, 2009) explains that
swearing words connect our language system with our emotional system for instance to
express angry or surprise. Therefore, swearing words might have an important role to
illustrate the feeling and attitude of the characters in Tintin comic series. Considering the
importance of the swearing words to illustrate the manner and emotion of the characters
in Tintin comic series and how the swearing words particularly „Captain Haddock‟s
swearing‟ have a special place for Tintin fans. The writer found it interesting to see the
different procedures employed by the translators in each version, since they seem to have
been responded with different levels of enthusiasm. With the previous reason, the present
research would investigate the procedures of the translation of swearing words in the
comic entitled The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun and the two Indonesian
versions by Indira and Gramedia.
In addition, Zanettin (2004, p.3) reports that comics have been used as the
primary data of some translation studies to examine the translation of puns, proper
names, onomatopoeia, citations, allusions and other features of languages. Unfortunately,
there is one area which seems to remain untouched in the ground of comic‟s translation,
namely the translation of „swearing words‟. As Nørgaard & Grønhøj (2014) said that
4
been seen as less prestigious than other areas”. Regardless of this, the writer believes that
the translation of swearing words in comics deserves a special attention.
In relation to the study of the translation of swearing words, some studies have
been conducted such as the studies done by Mujayani (2006) and Kurniawan (2013). The
study done by Mujayani (2013) is entitled An Analysis of Swearing Words Translation in
Sidney Sheldon‟s A Stranger in the Mirror into Indonesian Sosok Asing dalam Cermin by
Hidayat Saleh. The focus of her study were to analyze the strategies used by the
translator in translating the English swearing words into Indonesian in the novel A
Stranger in the Mirror and to identify the accuracy level of the translation. Mujayani
used Mona Baker‟s typology (1992) to examine the strategies used by the translator in
translating the swearing words in the novel. Furthermore, she used questionnaire with
three respondents to rate the level of accuracy of the translation.
Another study is written by Kurniawan (2013) entitled An Analysis of Swearing
Words Translations in the Transformers 3 Movie. In his study, Kurniawan examined the
translation of English swearing words into Indonesian in Transformer 3 movie by using
Newmark‟s typology (1988). The similarity between this study and the two previous
studies is the objective. The three researchers try to look at the strategies or procedures
used by the translators in translating English swearing words into Indonesian. The
typology used in the current study is similar to the typology used in Kurniawan‟s study.
As for the difference of the previous studies and this present study is the source of data of
the research. The data of this research are taken from the swearing words found in comics
5
difference is Mujayani‟s study also evaluated the accuracy level of the translation while
this study focuses only on the analysis of procedures used by translator in translating the
swearing words in Tintin comics from English to Indonesian.
Based on the research background and the objective of the research, this present
study is expected to give a useful reference for translators who want to provide a better
translation of swearing words in comics to Indonesian readers. Hopefully, this research
will also be a beneficial reference for students of Faculty of Language and Literature or
other researchers who conduct study in the same field related to the analysis of translation
procedures of swearing words.
To limit the scope of the study, the writer would focus mainly on analyzing the
„swearing words‟ in comic The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun and the two
Indonesian translations published by Indira and Gramedia, with the following research
question “What are the translation procedures to render the swearing words from the
source text into Indonesian in each comic version?”
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
This section attempts to discuss all the literatures connected to this study from the
definition of swearing words, Tintin comics and its swearing words, translation of
comics, translation and translation procedures as well as the discussion of the typology
used in this study.
Definition of Swearing Words
Swearing words are not easy to define due to the fact that it is a very complex
6
attempted to define swearing words. Adam and Richard (2002) define swearing words as
words which regarded as discourteous and improper form of language, including the
strongest and most unpleasant words. Although swearing words are often referred to as
inconsiderate or bad language, many people still use swearing words in their daily life.
As Svensson (2004) states that in spite of the judgment of swearing as insolent and
impertinent words, some people still use them in their everyday vocabulary. This may
link with Holmes‟s statement (2013) that swearing words may serve various functions in
society as swearing words are not only use by people to convey aggravation, anger and
offense but they are also use to express solidarity and sociability.
In addition of swearing words as a way to express emotion, feeling and to show
solidarity, in comics, movies, novels, and many other entertainment media, swearing
words are often uttered not only to express anger, annoyance, and surprise but are also
often used as the elements of jokes or humor. As proposed by Andersson and Trudgill
(1992, p. 36-37) that there are four classification of swearing words and one of them is
humorous swearing. The others are expletive, abusive and auxiliary swearing. To get
better understanding of the four strategies, here are the further explanations.
The first category, expletiveswearing refers to personal feelings or emotions like
anger, annoyance, or surprise and it is not aimed at other people. For instance the
swearing words like Hell! Shit! and God damn it! The second category is abusive
swearing. This swearing is directed to other people and it tends to be offensive. Cursing
7
third type is called humorous swearing. Although humorous swearing is addressed to
other people, this swearing does not intend to abuse or annoy people instead it gives a
sense of humor or playfulness for example Get your ass in gear! The last category is
auxiliary swearing. This type of swearing is not directed to person or circumstances and
it id only used as a way of speaking. This kind of swearing is “often or always non
-emphatic” and usually referred to as lazy swearing. For instance, bloody… or f**king….
Tintin Comics and Its Swearing Words
According to Eisner (1985, p. 5) comic or sequential art is “a means of creative
expression, a distinct discipline, an art and literary form that deals with the arrangement
of pictures or images and words to narrate a story or dramatize and idea.” Eisner‟s point
is that comic is a story or narration which employs pictures and texts to render meaning
to the readers. There are many types of comics including comic strips, comic books,
graphic novel and many more. As for Tintin comic, which is used as the basis data of this
study, belongs to comic series in which the comic is connected one to another through the
main character, Tintin. Each edition of the comic is published individually in series. For
this study, the 14th series of The Adventures of Tintin entitled Prisoners of the Sun and the
two Indonesian versions are used as the source data of the study.
The famous character Tintin was created in 1929 by a Belgian artist named
Georges Rémi, well-known by his pen name as Hergé (created from the French
pronunciation of R.G, his reversed initials). Hergé was born in 1907 in Brussels,
Belgium. He had written 23 comic series of The Adventures of Tintin from the first title
8
he finished the 24th series of Tintin comics entitled Tintin and the Aplha Art. Tintin comic
series were first publicized as the children‟s supplement section Le Petit Vingtieme in
Belgian newspaper Le Vingtieme Siecle (Tjokro, 2010). Then the comics become
prominent around the world and have been translated in many languages including
Indonesian.
The Adventures of Tintin or well-known in Indonesia as Kisah Petualangan Tintin
is popular comic series in Indonesia read by all ages of people, from children, teenagers
to adults. Indonesian people adore the story of the voyage of the smart and brave young
Belgian reporter and his loyal dog around the world to solve mysterious cases. Tintin
comics were first published in Indonesia in 1975 by now-defunct Indira Publisher and
were translated from the English-language version of the comics. Therefore, Indonesian
readers are more familiar with the characters‟ name of the comic that came from the
English version of the comics2. After Indira printing company was closed down,
Gramedia, gained the permission to republish Tintin comics in 2008. Due to authenticity
agreement, Gramedia translated the Tintin comics from its original French editions. As a
result, there are some changes of the characters‟ names of the Tintin comic series3 .
Another difference between Tintin comics published by Indira and Gramedia is the title
of the comic series. Indira‟s version is entitled Kisah Petualangan Tintin: Tawanan Dewa
Matahari while Gramedia is titled as Kisah Petualangan Tintin: Di Kuil Matahari.
2
Tintin’s dog names Milou was known as snowy and Professor Tryphon Tournesol as Curthbert
Calculus 3
9
In Indonesia and other countries, Tintin comic series is loved for the accurate
details of Hergé‟s illustration for places which Hergé himself might have never been
there before like Kemayoran Airport which appeared in The Adventures of Tintin: Flight
714. Another iconic characteristic of Tintin comic series which liked by many
Tintinologists and always become a topic in many Tintin‟s forum is the unique swearing
words in Tintin. The swearing words are very distinctive compared to the swearing words
which used in others media such as novel or movie‟s subtitling and dubbing like hell!
damn! or shit! The unparalleled swearing words are originated from the making of the
character Captain Haddock, whose vocabularies are vibrant and colorful since he is a
sailor. However as Tintin comics are also enjoyed by children, Hergé had to find a way to
replace the harsh swearing words into unique swearing words. Witnessing a market trader
using the word “four-power pact” „agreement of insuring international security signed by
Britain, France, Italy and Germany in 1993‟ to swear, Hergé found a solution for
replacing the swearing words in Tintin with ones which essentially were not „real‟
swearing words but can function as swearing words to express the emotion of the
characters in his comic. Later, he did many researches to invent plentiful unique swearing
words such as Blistering barnacles! Thundering typhoons! and many more which after
their first appearance in the comic became the trademark of Captain Haddock‟s swearing.
Translation of comics
When translators translating novels and comics, they might use similar typology
but they might have different consideration regarding the aspects of the translation, for
10
lesser space than in novel. Therefore, the translators might need to pay attention to the
technical constraint of the translation although it should be noted that this aspect is not
the only thing to consider in translating comics. As the prominent linguist Kaindl (in
Zanettin 2004) proposes a classification related to the translation of comics which consist
of three aspects which the writer believes to be the important aspects in translating
comics. The first aspect is typographical signs which include the modification in font
type and size, layout, and format. Second, pictorial signs include the adjustment of colors,
action lines, vignettes and perspectives. Third, linguistic signs include the change in
titles, inscriptions, dialogues, onomatopoeias and narration.
In translating imported comics, the act is often referred as localization. As
Zanettin (2008, p.201) himself writes that “the publication of a foreign comics, can also
be seen as an instance of localization in that it involves not only linguistic translation but
also the adaptations of visual/cultural information, as well as technical constraints”
Furthermore, he states that localization is a procedure in which the original product is
adjusted properly to the target product with adjustment in linguistic, technical and
cultural aspects of the target language or the local where the comic will be distributed and
sold. Besides localization, there are two more strategies generally used in translating
comics. The first strategy is domestication and the later is foreignizing. In domestication,
considerable changes are made from the graphic, text to the format of the comics to fit
the local context. On the other hand, foreignizing maintains the format of the original
work to show the origin of the comic hence only few changes are made (Rota, 2008). In
11
translate comics, but the procedures might not applicable to translate a specific
translation element like swearing words in comics. Therefore, this study uses different
typology to analyze the translation of swearing words in Tintin comics which will further
discuss in the next sub-heading.
Translation and Translation Procedures
Generally, translation means transferring language from the source language (SL)
into the target language (TL). Bell (1991, p.5) defines translation as “the expression in
another language (or target language) of what has been expressed in another source
language preserving semantic and stylistic equivalences.” In line with Bell, Nida and
Taber (1982, p.12) state that translation is the act of “reproducing in the receptor
language the closest natural equivalent of the source language message, first in terms of
meaning, and secondly in terms of style.” Both of the two previous statements have
similar perception that to translate means to convey the source language to target
language as identical as possible in terms of meaning and style. On the other hand, it is
not an easy job for translators to render the meaning into TL as closely as possible as the
SL. As Mounin (as cited in AISSI, 1987) asserts that languages differ from each other as
each language corresponds to a specific society where the language is used by the people
of the particular society. In addition to that, language is bound with culture therefore
when translating imported literatures, translators need to refer to the TL cultural words to
fit the TL context. Moreover, if there is no TL equivalence of the SL words, the
translators need to look for a way so that the meaning of the SL can be understood by the
12
To analyze the comics, the writer here uses the term translation procedures
instead of translation methods. Newmark (1988) clarifies that “while translation methods
relate to whole texts, translation procedures are used for sentences and the smaller units
of language.” (p.81). Since this study analyzes the swearing words by using the words or
phrases of the swearing words, the term translation procedures is more appropriate to
refer to the strategies used by the translators. In this study, the writer employs the
translation procedures by Newmark (1988) as there are no specific translation procedures
for swearing words yet. Newmark (1988) listed number of procedures as follows:
1. Literal translation
Newmark (1988, p.51) says that in literal translation, the lexical items of the
SL is translated individually to the TL, yet this procedure maintains the
grammar items of the SL to the closest equivalent of the TL grammar items.
Examples of this procedure is the swearing words mountain goat which
translated literally into Indonesian as kambing gunung „mountain goat‟ and
foreign dog which also translated literally as anjing asing„foreign dog‟.
2. Transference
According to Newmark (1988) transference or known as emprunt or
transcription “is the process of transferring a SL word to a TL text as a
translation procedure.” (p.81). Newmark further states that this procedure is
similar to Catford‟s transference and transliteration in which the alphabets
from Russian, Arabic, Chinese, etc are conversed into English alphabet. In
13
other language. For instance the English words coup d‟etat which means a
sudden and decisive change of government illegally or by force is loaned from
the French words coup d‟État with similar meaning. Another example is the
English swearing words “Davy Jones!” which is transferred to Indonesian as
“Davy Jones!”
3. Naturalization
In this procedure, Newmark (1988, p.82) says the SL words that already go
through the transference process are then adjusted to the TL‟s normal
articulation and morphology. In other words, the words are originally loaned
from other language but then it is accepted and used by people in their daily
life. The sample of naturalization is the English word attractive that comes
from the Middle French word attractif. In Indonesia, we have the word
komunikasi that is taken from the English word communication and the word
Ektoplasma from the English word Ectoplasm.
4. Cultural equivalent
Newmark (1988, p.82-83) states that when translator transfers SL word into a
TL cultural word, it means he uses cultural equivalent procedure. He further
adds that this type of translation procedure is not accurate but has greater
pragmatic impact compare to functional equivalent. Examples for this
procedure are the words “Good heavens!” and “For heaven‟s sake!” which
uttered to express surprise, are translated into similar cultural words in
14 5. Functional equivalent
Actually functional equivalent is related to cultural words however Newmark
(1988) adds that this procedure requires the use of cultural-neutral words. In
other words, words are translated from SL to TL‟s words which are
commonly used in general. (p.83). For example the word budgerigar which
refers to a bird specimen parakeet or love bird is translated into Indonesian
simply as burung „bird‟. The example shows that word budgerigar is
translated into more common term as burung „bird‟ instead of burung parkit
„parakeet‟. Even though the translation is not completely accurate, but both
words refer to the same thing „bird‟. This procedure is also used when there is
no equivalent word of the SL into TL, for instance the word cot death is
translated in French as mort subite d‟un nourrisson (sudden death of an
infant). Although the translation is not fully specific in transferring the
meaning of cot death but both words render the same functional meaning.
6. Descriptive equivalent
Newmark (1988) claims that “Description and function are essential elements
in explanation and therefore in translation.” (p.84). Basically, Newmark is
saying that in this procedure, word is translated using longer explanation. To
take a case in point, the word m‟achète is translated as a large heavy knife
used in Central and South America as a weapon or for cutting vegetation. In
this procedure, both description and function are combined to translate the
15 7. Synonymy
In this procedure, SL word is translated in close proximity to TL words
because there is no specific translation of the SL words in TL words. As
Newmark explains (1988) that “a synonymy is only appropriate where literal
translation is not possible and because the word is not important enough for
componential analysis” (p.84). Adjectives and Adverbs are common word
classes that usually translated using synonymy. For example, the literal
translation of the adjective stupid is bodoh, but in Indonesian language the
similar term bodoh „stupid‟ can be expressed using synonyms like dogol,
tolol, bebal, bego, dungu, idiot and many more. Usually this procedure is used
to avoid repetition for instance if the translation bodoh has been used before
then the translator would use the synonym like dogol or bego to translate the
word stupid.
8. Through-translation
Through-translation is often referred to as calque or loan translation.
According to Newmark (1998, p.84) translation of common collocations,
names of organizations, component of compounds and phrases belong to
through-translation procedure. Furthermore, he emphasizes that only
acknowledged terms are allowed to translate using this procedure.
Organizations that known world-wide by their acronyms like UNESCO,
16
Indonesian or Japanese, FAO is still stand for Food and Agriculture
Organization.
9. Shifts or transpositions
According to Vinay and Darbelnet (1985, p.16) transposition is “procédé par
lequel un signifié change de catégorie grammatical”, which means one part of
speech is replaced by another part of speech. In other words, when
transferring SL words into TL, the translator also alters the grammar of the SL
words to TL. Newmark (1988, p.85) states that the changing of the grammar
from SL to TL involves the change from singular to plural, change the
position of adjective, change of an SL verb into TL word, change of an SL
group to a TL noun and many more. In addition to the definition by Vinay &
Darbelnet and Newmark, Catford (1965) proposes the term class shift which
occurs when “the translation equivalent of an SL item is a member of a
different class from the original item” (p.76). For instance a SL noun is
translated into a TL verb and etc. One example from Newmark is the shift of
singular word furniture which translated into French plural word des meubles.
Another example is the shift from SL verb into TL adverb of the French words
La situation reste critique (The situation is still critical) translated into English
as The situation remains critical.
10. Modulation
Newmark (1988) has adopted this strategy from Vinay and Darbelnet (1985).
17
in semantic level and through many different perspectives or point of view.
There are two types of modulation. First is fixed or traditional modulation in
which the word either can be found in dictionary or is proposed by translator
in the past and become every-day language in the TL. Second is free
modulation in which there is no equivalent of the SL word to the TL word
therefore the translator needs to propose new term. Besides the two types of
modulation mentioned before, there are other modulation procedures such as
abstract for concrete, cause for effect, one part for another, reversal of terms,
active for passive, space for time, intervals and limits, and the last one is
change of symbols (Newmark, 1988, p.89). Although Newmark (1988)
mentions the sub-categories suggested by Vinay and Darbelnet, he himself
elucidates that they were “unconvincing” (1988, p.89) Therefore, since
Newmark does not give his own types of modulation, this present study will
only use this category to classify strategies which focus on transferring the
pragmatic aspect of the source text but use an expression with has little or no
semantic content of the source text. Here are the examples:
1. SL: tin-hatted tyrant! TL: raja brengsek!
The first example shows a swearing words which translated using
modulation with little semantic context. The little semantic context here
means that the TL words still has semantic sense of the original swearing
18
English swearing words tin-hatted tyrant into raja brengsek „evil king‟, the
word tyrant here refers to the same thing in Indonesian as raja or penguasa
„king‟. Moreover, although the meaning of tin-hatted is different from
brengsek, but both words serve equal pragmatic meaning that is referring to
the King whose personality is evil or heartless as he gave Tintin and Captain
Haddock a death sentence for entering the sacred temple of the Incas.
2. SL: the gangsters! TL: belalang liar!
As for the second example, the translators translated it into completely
unrelated words from the SL. As a result, the SL swearing and the TL shares
no semantic context. Although both of them still considered as swearing,
however the result of the translated swearing from the gangsters into
belalang liar„wild locust‟ give a sense of humor to the translation rather than
showing the emotion of the intended swearing which refers to the bad guys
„gangsters‟.
11. Recognized translation
According to Newmark (1988, p.89) translation that has been officially and
widely accepted as institutional terminology is included in this type of
translation. For instance the German term Mitbestimmung „participation‟ is
generally translated as co-determination though it might be more accurate and
natural if the word Mitbestimmung is translated into worker‟s participation.
19
translation, if the translators use different term to translate it in official text,
then it may lead to a misinterpretation or confusion for the reader or receiver.
12. Compensation
According to Newmark (1988) compensation occurs when “loss of meaning,
sound-effect, metaphor or pragmatic effect in one part of a sentence is
compensated in another part, or in a contiguous sentence.” (p.90) for example
the sentences “We were a few kilometers west of Mahipar Falls when Karim
pulled to the side of the road. Mahipar –which means “Flying Fish” – was a
high summit with a precipitous drop overlooking the hydro plant the Germans
had built for Afghanistan back in 1967.” (Kite Runner, p. 111) Here the word
Mahipar is explained in the next part of the text.
13. Reduction and expansion
Reduction is also known as omission while expansion is known as addition.
Originally these strategies are included in shift procedure but now they stand
alone. Newmark says (1988, p.90) that although these procedures are not
accurate, some translators may use it. One example of reduction is the French
translation of science linguistique which translated in English as linguistics.
Here the word science is omitted. An example of expansion is the word
thundering typhoons which translated into Indonesian as seribu juta topan
badai „billions of thunderstorms‟. Here the translators use expansion by
20 14. Paraphrase
According to Newmark (1988, p.90) in this procedure, the translator
rearranges the order of the words or phrases or sentences into different
segments that still convey the similar meaning to the SL words. Or in simpler
way, the translator rewrites the idea of the SL text into different wording and
different style of writing of the TL by still maintaining the same meaning of
the SL. For instance the phase I don‟t think he would make it is translated into
dia tidak akan berhasil.
15. Couplets
According to Newmark (1988, p.91) couplets combine two translation
procedures to translate text, words, phrases or sentence in translation. For
instance the word ungrateful brute is translated into Indonesian as tak tahu
diuntung using two procedures. The first procedure is cultural equivalent,
ungrateful means tak berterima kasih, but here the translator refers the word
into a more cultural word as tak tahu diuntung which both has similar
meaning; the act of showing no gratitude. The second procedure used is
reduction in which the word brute in ungrateful brute is not translated in the
TL, only the word ungrateful is translated into Indonesian. So the SL
ungrateful brute is translated into TL using couplets, combination of two
21 16. Notes
A note is additional information given by translators for difficult terms to help
the readers grasp the meaning of certain words. As Newmark (1988, p.91)
explains that a translator might need to add some notes for three main reasons
that is related to cultural, technical and linguistic. First, SL cultural words
need to be given explanation in TL as the local reader may not familiar to the
SL‟s cultural words. Second, technical note which accounts for words related
to the topic and the last is linguistic note related to the explanation of language
use of certain words. Furthermore, Newmark adds (1988) that there are four
ways in which notes are placed, notes within the text, at bottom of page, at
end of chapter and notes on glossary at end of book (p.92). The example can
be seen from the note at the bottom of page explaining about a *samurai, a
Japanese warrior who was a member of the feudal military aristocracy.
THE STUDY
Research Methodology
This study attempts to analyze the translation procedures used by two publishers
Indira and Gramedia in translating the English swearing words in Tintin comic series The
Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun into Indonesian. In order to fulfill the objective
of this study, this study used a descriptive qualitative research to examine the translation
procedures applied by the two publishers in translating the English swearing words into
22
investigator who collects, analyzes the data, makes interpretation of the data then draws a
conclusion based on the interpretation of the recent issue or problem discussed in the
study. As stated by Wiersma (in Mujayani, 2006, p.86) that “qualitative research has its
original analysis, and essentially in inductive process, reasoning from the specific
situation to a general conclusion.” This study is also considered as descriptive qualitative
study because the interpretation of the data is put in a descriptive manner.
The data of this study were taken from the English swearing words in Tintin
comic series Prisoners of the Sun and the Indonesian translations of the swearing words
by Indira and Gramedia. The researcher picked the comic as the data source of this study
based on the following considerations. First, the comic is popular reading worldwide and
also in Indonesia. Second, the comic is popular reading for all ages from children,
teenagers to adults. Third, the comic contains many swearing words. Among the three
considerations, the last criteria must be fulfilled in selecting the data source to ensure that
the writer could analyze the procedures used by translators in translating the swearing
words in Tintin comic series from English to Indonesian.
The researcher applied library research to accumulate the data of this study. The
data sources in this study were divided into primary and secondary sources. The primar y
sources of this study were taken from the English and the two Indonesian versions of the
14th series of Tintin comic series titled Prisoners of the Sun. The writer also used
secondary data which taken from suitable and relevant materials to this study such as
books of translation procedures and theories, journal or academic research about
23
The data collection was later done in the following steps. First, the researcher
selected the comics for this study in both the English version and the Indonesian versions.
Second, the researcher read the comics to find the swearing words in the comics. Third,
the researcher listed all the swearing words found in the comics. Next, the researcher
encoded the swearing words found in the comics. Each item of the swearing words was
coded using initial P which refers to Page and F refers to Frame. For instance code P30F1
means the swearing word is found on page thirty frame one. The number of the frame is
counted from the top left of the frame or the first picture on the page. For examples, if the
data is coded as F1 then the data is on the first frame of the picture, if it coded as F5 then
the data is on the fifth frame. Moreover, page and frame are used to code the data because
in comic every page has more than one frame of pictures, therefore by giving code for
each swearing words, it helped the writer to check the data. After each swearing word
was coded, the following step was to put all the data in form of table.
In analyzing the data, the writer used these steps. First, the writer analyzed the
procedures used by the translators from the two publishers in translating the English
swearing words into Indonesian using Newmark (1988) typology. Then the writer
classified each data of the swearing words according to their translation procedures. The
following step was to describe and discuss the findings related to the objective of the
24 FINDING AND DISCUSSION
From the data collection, the writer found 138 occurrences of English swearing
words, 133 occurrences of Indonesian swearing words in Indira and 135 swearing words
in Gramedia. Based on the data analysis, the result showed that from the total 16
procedures proposed by Newmark (1988), Indira used 7 procedures to translate the
English swearing words in Tintin comic into Indonesian and Gramedia used 8
procedures. The procedures used by Indira are literal translation, transference, cultural
equivalent, synonymy, modulation, reduction, and couplets. As for Gramedia, the
procedures used are literal translation, naturalization, cultural equivalence, functional
equivalent, synonymy, modulation, reduction, and couplets.
Table 1 Newmark‟s Typology Used in Translating Swearing Words in Tintin comics
Procedure Indira Gramedia Total
Literal translation 11 13 24
Transference 1 0 1
Naturalization 0 3 3
Cultural Equivalent 27 21 48
Functional Equivalent 0 2 2
Synonymy 4 2 6
Modulation type 1 (MLS) 6 6 12
Modulation type 2 (MNS) 41 34 75
Reduction 8 20 28
Couplets 29 30 59
Total 127 131 258
Table 1 shows the total of the swearing words translated using Newmark‟s
25
Modulation
The largest procedure used by the two publishers in translating the swearing
words in Tintin is modulation with total of 87 items translated using this procedure. As
discussed in the theoretical framework, the writer has divided this category into two
sub-groups to make the classification of the procedure easier. From the data analysis, the
writer found 41 items of SL swearing words translated into Indonesian using MNS4
sub-group in Indira and 34 items in Gramedia. Still under modulation procedure, the MLS5
sub-group is used to translate 6 items both in Gramedia and Indira. Here are the two
examples of modulation procedure used by Indira and Gramedia translators:
(1) SL: Blistering barnacles TL: Setan laut
(2) SL: Blistering barnacles
TL: Kepiting kurus
The first example is taken from Indira and the later from Gramedia. Both
examples have similar English swearing words however each publisher provides different
Indonesian translation of the swearing words. Indira translated blistering barnacles as
setan laut „sea devil‟ while Gramedia translated it as kepiting kurus „scrawny crab‟. The
English swearing word Blistering barnacles in Indonesian literally means kerang or
teritip yang melepuh atau bernanah. Here both translators used modulation to translate
the English swearing words. As has been discussed in literature review, one of the
characteristics of modulation is the change of symbol. Both of the translators in Indira
4
MNS: Modulation with no semantic content 5
26
and Gramedia used the change of symbol in transferring the SL swearing words although
the symbol has no semantic connection from the original words or belong to MNS
sub-group. From the point of view of the writer, the selection of the modulation procedure to
translate the swearing words Blistering barnacles is probably because there is no
equivalent of the English swearing word Blistering barnacles in Indonesian language.
Furthermore, if the English swearing word is translated literally it may not sound natural
for Indonesian readers. Referring to the problems previously mentioned, the writer
assumes that the translators from the two publishers use modulation procedure because
they cannot use literal translation and unable to provide TL equivalent to render the
original swearing words. Therefore, they use their own perspectives to translate the
English swearing words into Indonesian.
In the first example, Indira changed the symbol from kerang„barnacle‟ into setan
laut „sea devil‟ and in the example number 2 Gramedia changed it into kepiting kurus
„scrawny crab‟. Referring to the original swearing words, the writer imagines that kerang
yang melepuh atau bernanah„blistering barnacles‟ as sea creatures which are completely
horrible. Therefore, the writer assumes that the symbol setan laut „sea devil‟ is more
appropriate and expressive for the translation of blistering barnales in Indonesia than
kepiting kurus „scrawny crab‟. The reason is because setan laut „sea devil‟ has closer
pragmatic equivalent to the swearing words Blistering barnacles especially in expressing
Captain Haddock‟s anger and annoyance. Meanwhile, kepiting kurus „scrawny crab‟ has
less expressive meaning than the SL swearing since it sounds humorous like a joke. As a
27
translated swearing words kepiring kurus „scrawny crab‟ seems less suitable. The writer
can conclude it that way because in comics either picture and speech balloons are linked
to each other to transfer meaning of the story. Therefore, in angry and annoyed situation,
the swearing words setan laut „sea devil‟ could describe the emotion of the character
better than kepiting kurus „scrawny crab‟.
In addition, as shown in Table 1 both publishers mostly transferring the English
swearing words into Indonesian using this procedure. The reason is perhaps due to the
uniqueness of the swearing words in Tintin comics which are uncommon in Indonesian
language. Therefore, the translators used their point of view to render the SL swearing
words into Indonesian to provide natural translation which common to Indonesian
readers. Of course, not all the translation are perfect, in example 1 Indira‟s translators are
able to provide equal pragmatic meaning from SL to TL. However in example 2,
Gramedia‟s translators may not as successful as Indira‟s translators in rendering the
pragmatic meaning of the swearing words. Nevertheless, at least the second example with
the humorous swearing may bring laughter for Indonesian readers.
Couplets
The second largest procedure used to translate the swearing words in Tintin by
Indira and Gramedia is couplets. Indira and Gramedia translate 59 data using this
procedure. From the total 59 data, Indira translates 29 items with this procedure while
Gramedia translates 30 items. As discussed in the theoretical framework, this strategy
28
SL words into the target language. Here are examples of couplets procedure used in the
translation:
(3) SL: Thundering typhoons TL: Topan Geledek
Thundering typhoons is another swearing words which often uttered by Captain
Haddock in Tintin comics beside the swearing words „Blistering barnacles!‟. Here the
swearing words thundering typhoons is translated using two procedures; shift and literal
translation. First procedure is shift or transposition. In shift procedure, the adjective
thundering was shifted into noun geledek„thunder or lightning‟. Then the translators used
literal translation to translate the typhoons into topan „typhoon‟. Therefore, the translation
became topan geledek. Based on result of the data analysis, the writer notices that shift is
often used with combination of others procedures to save the space of the speech balloons
since the original swearing usually longer than the TL swearing words such as in form of
noun group. Therefore the noun groups were usually shifted into noun in Indonesian such
as the swearing words young swine in form of noun group which translated simply as a
noun brengsek„damn!‟
(4) SL: raggle-taggle ruminants! TL: pemamah biak!
The data sample number 4 also shows the example of couplets translation
procedure by combining two procedures; literal translation and reduction. In the example
number 4, the word raggle-taggle „kacau; semrwaut‟ is omitted and not translated in the
29
swearing words raggle-taggle ruminants is translated in Indonesian simply as pemamah
biak„ruminants‟.
Cultural equivalent
The third largest procedure used by Indira and Gramedia is cultural equivalent.
Cultural equivalent refers to the TL swearing words which has similar cultural value from
the original swearing. Indira used this strategy more often than Gramedia as can be seen
in Table 1 that 27 items were translated by Indira using this procedure and 21 items were
translated by Gramedia using this procedure. Here are the examples of the data:
(5) SL: thundering typhoons! TL: topan badai!
(6) SL: Crumbs! TL: Sial!
From the total of 27 items in Indira, 10 of them were the swearing words
Thundering typhoons. In Indonesia, people rarely use this swearing word to swear,
however this swearing word is often uttered by Captain Haddock, a sailor friend of
Tintin. When people swear, people often use some bad or offensive words. In Captain
Haddock‟s case, thundering typhoons is considered something bad for a sailor, hence he
used those words to curse or swear. Therefore, in example 5, it seems that Indira
translators are attempted to preserve the SL cultural words into the TL, so the translators
decided to translate it as closely as possible to the SL. As Newmark (1988) states that
cultural equivalent occurred when the translator transfer SL cultural words into TL
30
bergemuruh „hurricane or thundering typhoon‟. However, since the literal translation did
not sound natural, the translators translated it into topan badai „stormy typhoon;
thunderstorm‟. Although the translation of the swearing words seems different, both of
them shared equal meaning which illustrate an extremely bad weather in form of
hurricane or typhoon.
The example number six illustrates the example of cultural equivalent used in
translating English swearing words into Indonesian language by Gramedia. The example
is chosen because the swearing word is occurred more than three times in the translation.
The English swearing word crumbs literally means remah-remah ‟small piece of e.g.
bread or cake‟. As the translation might sound odd if it translated literally, the translators
decided to translate it with TL cultural equivalence as sial „unluky; unfortunate; darn it‟.
The word sial in Indonesia is usually uttered to express annoyance, surprise and anger.
Similar with the word sial, crumbs is an utterance used to express surprise. Therefore the
translators translated the swearing words crumbs with the TL equivalent word sial.
Reduction
After modulation, couplets and cultural equivalent, reduction is one of the
procedure which often used by translators in Gramedia. There were total of 20 items were
translated using this procedure in Gramedia. On the other hand, Indira‟s translators only
omitted 8 items in their translation. Here are examples of the data using reduction
procedure:
(7) SL: But thundering typhoons, the doctor definitely said …
31
(8) SL: Tonight? …. You? .... What about the yellow fever, stupid? TL: Nanti malam? Bagaimana dengan demam kuning itu?
The two examples taken from Indira and Gramedia show that the swearing words
thundering typhoons and stupid were omitted and not translated in the target language. In
the comic, the two examples of the swearing words thundering typhoons and stupid
illustrated Captain Haddock‟s annoyance toward Tintin as Tintin insisted to go to check
Calculus on Pachacamac ship despite the warning indicating that there was infectious
disease in the ship and no one allowed going near that ship. As the swearing words are
not translated, the expressive meanings of the swearing words are not transferred too.
In contrast to the previous statement in which reduction effecting the
expressiveness of the output of the translation, in translating comic, sometimes there is a
case in which the translators have no choice but to omit the swearing words because there
is no enough space for the translation. For instance, there are many swearing words
uttered in one speech balloon thus the translators need to omit one or two swearing words
to fit the space of the speech balloon. The writer found two items in this study which
translated using successive reduction, here are the examples:
(9) SL: “Tramps! … Zapotecs! … Pockmarks! … Pithecanthropuses! … Bashi- baӡouks! … Let me go, you savages!”
TL: “Biang panu! … Bajak kudisan! … Babon! … Monyet bulukan! …
Lepaskan saya, kampret!”
In example 9, the translators used successive omission procedure by only
translating four out of five swearing words in Indira comic. The translators might apply
32
Picture 1 English version, Egmont Picture 2 Indonesian version, Indira
As seen in Picture 1 and 2 taken from the English version of Tintin and the
Indonesian version published by Indira, the sizes of the font used are different. The size
of the font used in Indonesian version is bigger than those in English version. Since
comic uses balloon to show the dialogue between characters, the translators may reduce
the swearing words because the space of the balloon is full. As can be seen in Picture 2,
there is no more space for the translation. Therefore, the translators decided to omit one
swearing word so the translation would fit the dialogue box. Furthermore, this strategy is
perhaps applied by the translators as they think reducing one swearing word in a group of
swearing words might not really effecting the expressiveness of the translation.
(10) SL: “Our guns?....The gangsters! …. Bandits!....Filibusters!....Pirates!....”
TL: “Senapan kita? Bandit! Bajak laut! Rampok!”
In addition, translators might omit the swearing words because it has no
equivalence in the target language or because it is difficult to paraphrase the meaning. As
can be seen from example 10, only three out of four swearing words are translated and
though the swearing words are not translated in order, it can be inferred from the meaning
that the swearing word which omitted in the translation is the swearing word filibuster.
33
kb. usaha menggagalkan penetapan undang-undang dengan pidato-pidato yang amat
panjang dan tak habis-habis „a tactic for delaying or obstructing legislation by making
long speeches‟. Since the Indonesian meaning of filibuster is lengthy and uncommon in
Indonesia, it is difficult for the translator to paraphrase the meaning of the swearing word
thus the swearing word filibuster is omitted. This procedure is in line with Mona Baker
(1992) who suggests that translator may omit the translation if the meaning of the word is
not affecting the whole text and if the translation is too long. Similar to Mona Baker‟s
argument, example 9 shows that one swearing words can be omitted if it is not really
affecting the whole sentences. Reduction or omission is also used when the translation is
too lengthy and difficult to paraphrase as shown in example 10.
Literal translation
The next procedure which occasionally used by Indira and Gramedia is literal
translation. In this procedure, Indira translated 11 items while Gramedia translated 13
items. Here are the examples of the data:
(11) SL: foreign dog
TL: anjing asing
(12) SL: little rat TL: tikus kecil
As discussed in the theoretical framework, Newmark (1988, p.51) says that each
word in SL is translated literally as an individual item in TL. In examples 11 and 12, the
English swearing words are translated word-to-word in Indonesian. In example 11, the
word foreign is translated literally as asing and dog as anjing. As for example 12, little is
34
translated to the closest equivalent to the TL grammar (Newmark, 1988, p.51). In
Indonesian language, noun is put after the adjective. Therefore the SL swearing word
foreign dog is translated in Indonesian as anjing asing not asing anjing. The same case
goes to the other example little rat which translated as tikus kecil not kecil tikus.
Although the translators seem to try to transfer the SL swearing words into TL, the
writer perceives that literal translation of the swearing words mentioned before do not
sound natural. In Indonesia, when people swear with name calling using animal as the
object of swearing like anjing „dog‟, kambing „goat‟, babi or celeng „swine‟, they
directly said the names of the animal without addition like kecil in tikus kecil „little rat‟.
From the writer‟s point of view, the swearing words would sound more natural if the
word kecil„little‟ is omitted. In addition, the writer observes that literal translation might
not be good typology used in translating swearing words in comics, as many of the
English swearing words have lengthy translation in Indonesian. For example the
swearing word gobbledygook which in Indonesian means uraian yang berbelit-belit dan
sulit untuk dipahami „complicated language that is difficult to understand‟.
Consequently, the space of the balloon and the font size of the dialogue might need to be
adjusted. Therefore, the writer concludes that this procedure seems impractical to be
used in translating swearing words in comics.
Apart from the five procedures discussed previously, there are more procedures
used by Indira and Gramedia in translating the English swearing words into Indonesian.
Whereas the previous procedures discussed before are the procedures which used
35
which only used to translate one to less than ten items of swearing words in Tintin
comics. They are synonymy, transference, naturalization, and functional equivalent.
Here are the further discussions:
Synonymy
Indira translated 4 items using synonymy and 2 items also translated with this
procedure in Gramedia. As mentioned in the theoretical framework, word classes like
adjectives and adverbs are often translated into TL using synonymy. In line with the
previous statement, from the data analysis, the writer found SL adjectives which
translated using synonymy into TL. The examples are as follows:
(13) SL: nitwits TL: dogol-dogol
(14) SL: Savages TL: barbar
Examples 13 and 14 demonstrate translation procedure using synonymy. The two
swearing words in adjective form nitwits and savages were translated into Indonesian
using synonymy. Nitwits in Indonesian not only means orang bodoh „stupid‟, but it also
have synonyms like pandir, tolol and dogol. Here the translators used the synonym
dogol-dogol to translate the SL swearing words. Similar to the previous case, the word
savages in Indonesia has more than one meaning like brutal, ganas, liar, beringas, and
barbar. Here the translator also picked the synonym of the word savages „brutal‟ that is
barbar to be used as the translation. The reason for selecting the synonymy of the
36
the words nitwits, morons and stupid share the similar semantic meaning as dull or idiot,
therefore the translator translated the words into dogol or tolol to avoid repetition.
Transference
This procedure is only used by Indira and it is applied to translate one swearing
word only. Here is the data:
(15) SL: Davy Jones TL: Davy Jones
According to Newmark (1988) transference procedure is a procedure in which the
translator simply transfers the SL word into the TL. Therefore the swearing words Davy
Jones was translated into Indonesian as Davy Jones. The translators did not translate the
swearing word but simply transfer the SL swearing word to the TL. In addition, the
swearing word is uttered by the famous sailor character, Captain Haddock. Therefore,
perhaps the translators simply transfer the SL swearing into TL, to show the readers the
swearing word which is commonly uttered by sailor to swear or curse the evil spirit deep
down the sea.
Naturalization
There is no data translated with naturalization procedure in Indira but the writer
found 3 swearing words were translated using naturalization procedure in Gramedia.
Here are the examples of the data:
(16) SL: Ectoplasms TL: Ektoplasma
37
According to Newmark (1988) basically naturalization is transference of SL
words into TL words with adjustment of TL‟s morphology and pronunciation. The
translators in Gramedia translated the SL words Ectoplasms into Ektoplasma and
Terorrists as Teroris. Here the translations of Ektoplasma and Teroris were taken from
the English words but the words have been adjusted to the normal Indonesian‟s
articulation and morphology. In addition, Gramedia might use naturalization procedure to
keep the similar swearing words from the original source while Indira might not use this
procedure like Gramedia to avoid using loan words.
Functional equivalent
Only Gramedia translators used this typology to translate the swearing words in
Tintin comic. Here are the examples of the data:
(18) SL: Bald-headed budgerigar
TL: burung botak
(19) SL: Patagonians TL: orang liar
According to Newmark (1988) functional equivalent refers to a translation in
which cultural-neutral words are used to translate the SL into TL. From the example 18,
the swearing word bald-headed budgerigar literally means in Indonesian as burung
parkit botak, however the translators simply translated it into general words burung botak
„bald-headed bird‟. Although the SL is translated differently in TL but both burung parkit
and burung are referred to the same thing, the bird or the budgerigar. As for example 19,
Patagonians refers to people who lived in southern South America between Andes and
