CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW
A. Previous Research
To support this research, there were some research related to analysis on grammatical errors in translation. Those previous researches show that there are some categories of grammatical errors made by the students‟ in translation.
The areas of grammatical errors analyzed are different from researcher to others.
A research was conducted by Hambali (2011) entitled “Investigating Grammatical Errors in Translation” identified six different types of
grammatical errors made by the students in translation. The types of grammatical errors are: 1). Absence of subject and verb in a clause, 2). Subject missing in a clause, 3). Verb missing in a clause, 4). Subject – verb agreement, 5). Absence of subordinators, and 6). Absence of plural nouns. The finding indicates that the highest number of students making errors is on plural nouns and the lowest one is on the absence of subject and verb. Hambali said that errors are affected by students‟ lack of knowledge of grammar and source
B. Translation
1. Definition of Translation
Translation is a process not only to change a language into another language but also from one state to another. According to Newmark (1987:7) translation is a craft consisting in the attempt to replace a wrtten message and/or statement in one language by the same message and/or statement in another language. He focuses on the maening of a text in translating which should have similarity and equivalence in both of the original text and the target one.
Meanwhile, Munday (2001: 4) in his book states that translation can refer to general subject field, the product (the text has been translated), or the process (the act of producing translation, otherwise known as translating). The process of translation involves the translator changing an original written text or the source text into a written text in the target language. This kind of translation is called “interlingual translation”.
Translation is regarded as a field of research that needs a skill to practice it. A proses of translation is related to the term of source language (SL) and target language (TL). The main skill to practice translation is the ability to process the data or information in source language then transfer them into target language. There are three categories of translation according to Jakobson (in Munday, 2001: 5), they are:
b. Interlingual translation, is an interpretation of verbal signs by means of some other language, this happens in translating a text from one language to other language; and,
c. Intersemiotic translation, this kind of translation would occur if a written text were translated into music, film or painting.
2. Approaches to Translating
To consider something, approach has to be carried out, likewise, in translating a text. Newmark (1988: 21) in his book mentions two approaches to translating, they are:
a. Start translating sentence by sentence, for say the first paragraph or chapter, to get the feel and the feeling tone of the text, and then deliberately sit back review the position, and read the rest of the SL text;
b. Read the whole text three or two times, and find the intention, register, tone, mark the difficult words and passages and start translating only when it has taken one‟s bearings.
3. The Methods of Translation
methods of SL emphasis and TL emphasis in the form of flattened V diagram:
SL emphasis TL emphasis
Word-for-word translation Adaption
Literal translation Free translation
Faithful translation Idiomatic translation
Semantic translation communicative translation
a. SL (Source Language) emphasis 1) Word-for-word translation
This is often demonstrated as interlinear translation, with TL immidiately below SL words. The SL word-order is preserved, and the words translated singly by their most common meanings, out of context. Cultural words are translated literally.
The main use of word-for-word translation is either to understand the mechanics of the source language or to construe a difficult text as a pre-translation process.
2) Literal translation
3) Faithful translation
A faithful translation attempts to reproduce the precise contextual meaning of the original within the constraints of the TL grammatical structures. It „transfers‟ cultural words and preserves the degree of grammatical and lexical „abnormality‟ (deviation from SL
norms) in the translation. It attempts to be completely faithful to the intentions and the text-realization of the SL writer.
4) Semantic translation
Semantic translation differs from „faithful translation‟ only in
as far as it must take more account of the aesthetic value (that is, the beautiful and natural sound) of the SL text, compromissing on „meaning‟ where appropriate so that no assonance, word-play or
repetition jars in the finished version. b. TL (Target Language) emphasis 1) Adaption
This is the „freest‟ form of translation. It is used mainly for
plays (comedies) and poetry; the themes, characters, plots are usually preserved, the SL culture converted to the TL culture and the text rewritten.
2) Free translation
3) Idiomatic translation
Idiomatic translation reproduces the „message‟ of the original
but tends to distort nuances of meaning by preferring colloqualisms and idioms where these do not exist in the original.
4) Communicative translation
Communicative translation attempts to render the exact contextual meaning of the original in such a way that both content and language readily acceptable and comprehensible to the readership.
4. The Level of Translation
Before starting translating, it is important to know the level of translation, so it will be easy to translate a text with each certain level.Newmark (1988: 22) states that translation work needs four levels more or less consciously in mind. The four levels of translation are:
a. Textual level
This is the level of literal translation of the source language into the target language.
b. Referential level
This level is the level of objects and events, real or imaginative, where the students mentally sort out the text and build up the referential picture in the mind when transforming a text from the SL into the TL.
c. Cohesive level
This level is general and covers both the structure and the moods of the text. The structure here includes some grammatical aspects in a text such as connective words. Meanwhile the moods are about feeling and emotion in the text.
d. The Level of Naturalness
1. That the translation makes sense;
2. That it reads natural, that it is written in ordinary language, the common grammar, idioms and words that meet kind of situation (Newmark, 1988: 24).
5. The Process of Translation
In reproducing a good translation which has the closest meaning of the target language, the process of the translation has to be undergone.In this research, the process of translation used consists of three steps; analysis, transfer and restructuring, as described in the following diagram.
A (source) B (receptor/target)
Analysis Restructuring
X Transfer Y
(Nida and Taber, 1974: 33) Scheme 2.1. Translation Process
a. Analysis step: the surface structure is analyzed in terms of the grammatical meaning, lexical meanings, and combinations of words.
b. Transfer: the analyzed material is transferred in the mind of translator from the SL to the target language.
6. Evaluation of Translation
To evaluate translation result, first thing that has to be known is what aspects should be assessed and then the second is how to evaluate the translation result.
First of all, the aspect should be evaluated in translation according to Nadar (in Alim, 2011: 169) are in the following:
a. Accuracy
Accuracy refers to the semeness level of meaning between the source language text as the input and the target language text as the product or output.
b. Clearness
Clearness means that the translation result is easy to be understood and acceptable either in terms of grammar or meaning.
c. Naturalness
Finally, naturalness refers to the purity of the translation result, and it has to be felt as the original one.
The second thing that is important to be known to evaluate translation result is the way of evaluating translation. Newmark (1988: 186-189) proposed some ways of evaluating translation result, they are text analysis, the translator‟s purpose, comparing the translation
C. Grammatical Error in Translation
Grammatical error are mistakes made by human that can cause problems in the grammatical structure. Based on Baker‟s statement (1992: 86),
differences in the grammatical structure of the source and target languages often cause some changes in the information content of the message during the process of translation, for instance, Indonesian and English languages. Indonesian and English languages have different grammatical characteristic. As the consequence, the translator gets problems of grammatical adaptation when the translator translates English text into Indonesian one or on the contrary. Indeed, this will be worst if one of the languages has a grammatical category which another one lacks. For sure, it tends to be a big problem faced by translator.
1. Translation Problems
Since translation is a process of replacing one language into another language in which they have such differences, of course, during the process the translator must find some problems. Alim (2011: 169) that classifies translation problems fall into the following categories:
a. Accurary or equivalence
b. Ecological terms
Ecological terms related to flora and fauna are sometimes difficult to translate because of geographical difference between those terms in both SL and TL.
c. Technical or material terms
This term includes the translation of the kinds of food, beverages, fashions, transportation, etc.
d. Social terms and custom
Social terms and custom reflects social and political life of a nation such as terms in social organizations, political parties, state bodies, ministry positions, etc. This could be a problem since each nation has different terms to mention those parts.
e. Language problem
Language problem is caused by the difference system between source and target language and the essential confusion is on the grammatical structure difference.
English Education Department lack language competence may lead grammatical errors in translation. Sometimes grammar aspect is unintentionally ignored by the students. They are not aware of that aspect, whereas grammar is an important aspect as the goal in the translation.
2. Some Differences on Grammar between Indonesian and English Language
Differences of grammatical rules may cause problems, even in translating a text in another language. Suryawinata and Sugeng (2003: 77-85) in their book entitled “Translation” present some grammatical
differences between Indonesian and English languages which have potential to be problems in translation.
a. Article
There are two kinds of articles in English, definite and indefinite. Definite article is „the‟ which can be translated into Indonesian as „nya‟,
„itu‟, „ini‟, and „tersebut‟. While, indefinite article is such as „a‟, or „an‟,
which can be translated into Indonesian as „sebuah‟, „sebutir‟, „seekor‟,
„sekuntum‟, „seorang‟, etc. Moreover, an Indonesian sentence that does
not have articles can be translated in English with articles. For example:
Indonesia English
Kendaraanku adalah kuda. My vehicle is a horse.
The indefinite article is used before a singular countable noun when it is mentioned for the first time and represent no particular person or thing (e.g. a horse, an hour); with a noun complement (e.g. a dozen, a couple). On the other hand, definite article used before nouns of which there is only one (e.g. the earth); before a noun which is mentioned a second time; representing only one particular thing (e.g. Ann is in the garden – the garden of Ann‟s house). As a result, the students have to be careful when translating Indonesian text into English one because of lack of articles in Indonesian.
b. Plural Noun
Plural is not needed to be translated in Indonesian. English has nominal concord and agreement but Indonesian does not. The rule forces a plural noun should be in the form of plural.
For example:
English Indonesian
Two people Dua orang (not dua orang-orang)
Many cars Banyak mobil (not banyak mobil-mobil)
c. Pronoun
we, our, and ours. As a result, the students can translate „she‟ or „he‟ as „dia‟ in Indonesian without mentioning the sex.
For example:
English Indonesian
She is a student. Dia adalah seorang siswa. (not Dia perempuan adalah seorang siswa)
He is a good doctor Dia adalah seorang dokter yang baik. (not Dia laki-laki adalah dokter yang baik)
In addition, the use of „it‟, „its‟ and „they‟ and „them‟ for inanimate
things is unusual in Indonesian d. Noun Phrase
Noun phrase consists of „article + adjective + noun‟ in English‟. It
is different from Indonesian which consists of „(article) + noun +
adjective‟ and it has to begin by a noun.
For example:
English Indonesian
a patient man (seorang) lelaki yang sabar
an intelligent young girl (seorang) gadis muda yang cerdas a tall water tower (sebuah) menara air yang tinggi
For example:
English Indonesian
Something interesting Sesuatu yang menarik
A girl in red (seorang) gadis berpakaian merah
e. Gerund
Gerund is the form of Verb 1 + ing in English and its function is as a noun. It can be placed as subject, object, after preposition and certain verbs. Because Indonesian does not have gerund, it can be translated into verb or noun in the form of gerund.
f. Participle
Participle is an adjective derived from verbal phrase. There are two kinds of participle. The first is present participle which is derived from verb 1 + ing and the second is past participle that is formed by verb 3. In addition, present participle is translated as an active sentence, while past participle is translated as a passive in Indonesian.
For example:
English Indonesian
The topic is boring Topiknya membosankan
She is bored of the topic Dia bosan dengan topik tersebut
g. Tenses
form of tenses are translated to be „sudah/telah‟ for the past, „sedang‟ for the present, and „nanti/akan‟ for future.
h. Question Tag
Question tag is a question added to at the end of a declarative sentence which is used to engage the listener and verify that something has been understood, or confirm that an action has occured. It can be translated as „bukan‟, „kan‟, or „ayolah‟ in Indonesian.
For example:
English Indonesian
You are not serious, are you? Anda tidak serius, bukan? He came to your house last
night, didn‟t he? Dia datang ke rumahmu tadi malam, bukan?
i. Conditional Sentence
There are three types of conditional sentences. Conditional type 1 refers to the future. An action in the future will only happen if a certain condition is fulfilled by that time. Type 2 refers to the situations in the present time. Type 3 refers to the situations in the past. The following formula is to translate conditional sentences.
English Indonesian
For example:
Indonesian English
I Jika saya punya cukup waktu, saya akan menonton TV sampai larut malam.
If I have enough time, I will watch TV later on tonight.
II Jika saya tidak punya teman, saya akan kesepian.
If I did not have any friends, i would be lonely.
III Seandainya mereka belajar, mereka akan lulus ujian.
If they had studied, they would have passed the exam.
j. Passive Voice
Passive voice is the opposite of active one. The passive of an active tense is formed by putting the verb to be into the same tense as the active verb and adding the past participle (V3) of the active verb. In other words, the object of an active verb becomes the subject of the passive verb. The passive voice is used in English when it is more convinent or interesting to stress the thing done or when the doer is unknown. In a passive sentence the agent, or doer of the action, is rarely mentioned. When the agent is mentioned it is preceded by „by‟
For example:
Indonesian English
Jam tanganku telah dicuri. My watch was stolen. Dia makan apel. An apple is eaten (by her).
Grammatical Errors in Translating”. The categories are (Hambali,
2011: 4):
a. Subject and verb missing in a clause
In both Indonesian and English language, every sentence must have a subject and a predicate. In English a predicate must consists of at least a verb, but in Indonesian, beside a verb, a predicate can be an adjective, a noun or even a prepositional phrase such as the following examples.
English Indonesian
That house is expensive. Rumah itu mahal. The floating house is a
traditional house.
Rumah terapung adalah rumah adat.
The words „expensive‟ and „mahal‟ are adjectives. Adjectives
near word „is‟ and „are‟ in the sentences above as verbs (linking
verbs). Meanwhile, in the sentences “Rumah itu mahal”, “Rumah
terapung adalah rumah adat”, and “Layang-layang itu di atas rumah rakit”, they do not require verbs.
b. Subject-verb agreement
clause separates a subject from its verb, but it does not affect basic agreement, 5). A gerund used as the subject of the sentence requires a singular verb. Hambali (2011: 4) tells generally subject-verb agreement describes how the simple verb or be verb is formed when the subject is singular or plural. Those rules do not exist in the simple present tense in Indonesian so that this grammatical difference leads problems in translating Indonesian text into English one.
D. Error Analysis 1. Definition
Error is different from mistake. Error exists when the learners do not master target language very well. They have lack of knowledge and competence of the target language.
The explanation previously mentioned is supported by Tarigan‟s
statement (1995: 75) that error can happen because the learners do not yet understand linguistic system of target language. He adds that error always occurs consistently and continuously if it is ignored by the teacher. That‟s
why an error analysis should be taken in order to fix learners‟ errors.
It is similiar with the definition from Ellis & Barkhuize (in Taher, 2011: 7) that error analysis is described as “a set of procedures for identifying, describing and explaining learners‟ errors”.
In summary, error analysis is a set of procedures for collecting sample of error, identifying, explaining, and evaluating learners‟ errors.
2. Procedures of Error Analysis
To conduct an error analysis, we need to carry our some steps that are included in the process. Tarigan (1995: 71) in his book modifies the steps of error analysis. They are:
a. Collecting sample of learners‟ work
In the first step, data or sample is collected from student‟ work. When collecting the data we have to consider what the purpose of the research so that the data taken are revelant to the research problem. b. Identifying errors
Next step, errors should be identified and classified based on certain category, for example, when identifying grammatical errors in learners‟ texts, they have to be compared to what is grammatically
correct in English grammar books. c. Ranking the errors
d. Explaining the errors
This step is to describe the errors, the causes of errors and give the correct example.
e. Error evaluation
The last step in error analysis is to evaluate errors and draw a conclusion on the results. In this step, the different errors are being weighed in order to distinguish which error should get more attention and be taught in class.
3. Types of Error
Error can happen because one lacks of competence of the language when he is learning one language or more. According to Tarigan (1995:85) Error is divided into two general types, they are:
a. Intralingual error, this error is caused by the students‟ difficulties in learning the language itself.
b. Interlanguage error, this error occurs because of interference of mother tongue to target language being learned.
Interlanguage error can be divided into some sub-types, they are omission, addition, misinformation, and misordering.
1) Omission
example “My sister happy”, the auxiliary verb “is”is omitted in that
sentence. It should be “My sister is happy”.
2) Addition
Addition is on the contrary of omission. This is marked when a word appears in the sentence, meanwhile it should not be there. Addition can be separated into three types, namely (a) double markings exists if there are two words which have the same characteristic; (b) regularization, this type happens when one applies rules of regular words (verb and plural noun) to the irregular or one has added a word or an ending to another word which is grammatically incorrect; (c) simple addition is caused by the use of incorrect grammatical rules.
3) Misformation/Substituation
Misformation is caused by the use of wrong form of a morpheme or structure. It can be distinguished into three types.
4) Misordering
