THE DEFINITION OF TRANSLATION AND

INTERPRETATION

Submitted as a Partial Fulfillment of

Legal Document Translation
Of Education in English Department

By:

Achmad Dzaky Mubaroq

A320170073

Department of English Education

Teacher Training and Education Faculty

Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta

2020
Introduction

On human life there is a language which can be interpreted the way people to express
meaning to other people, language also known as the instrument to deliver information, or ideas.
Therefore, people used language to communicate in society. The communication can be
occurring between two people or more that commonly divided into two major roles. First, the
sender people who give or send the message. The receiver people that as listener or reader.
Moreover each country in this world has their own language that makes people difficult to
communicate to other countries. If someone who speaks in English around people who don’t
understand it, so the communication will be ineffective. Therefore the translation has a huge role
in this case, translation as the media to people to communicate.
The terms translating can be defined as the communication of meaning from one
language (the source) to another language (the target). Translation generally performs on the text
or written form. The similar terms to the translation is an interpreting, that can be defined as
transfer of meaning from one language to another in orally, that on the communication between
people who don’t share the same language.
The terms interpreting can be defined as the form of oral translation in which a first and
final rendering a language to another language that produced on the real time presentation at the
same time of the language sources spoken. Therefore to be able interpret the text (orally), the
interpreter have to be able to receive and comprehension the incoming message then utter to the
target language.
An interpreter must be able to translating in both directions on the spot, without using
dictionary or the other reference resources. It such as when you can’t explain to someone a
thought if you did not fully understand it, can you translate or interpret something without master
the object matter being communicated. To be successful, the interpreter should decide the best
deliver both the meaning of the words and the context in which those words were used. That
required the high level of expertise in the subject area, current knowledge of difference cultures,
and great deal of experience.
Translation and interpreting are closely related linguistics disciplines. That sometime
people confused about. The between translation and interpreting is performed by the same people
with the difference in skills, training, aptitude, moreover the knowledge that significant. Only
few people that can do both effectively.
 The difference between translation and interpreting is only on the medium: the translator
interprets the written text, while the interpreter translates orally. Both translation and interpreting
assumes a certain love of language and deep knowledge of more than one language.

Translation and Interpreting

A. Translation

The first definition of translation took from website namely Language scientific. In this
website translation defined as a rendering text from a source language into a target language
while preserving meaning. Translation is written.

While linguistic and cultural skills are critical, the most important quality a good translator
must have is the ability to write well in the target language. Skilled translators must have the
ability to understand the source language and the culture of the country where the text originated,
then using a good library of dictionaries and reference materials, to render that material clearly
and accurately into the target language.

Even bilingual individuals can rarely express themselves in a given subject equally well in
both languages, and many excellent translators are not fully bilingual to begin with. Knowing
this limitation, a good translator will only translate documents into his or her native language.

Second definition of translation took from International Journal entitled “On Similarities and
Differences between Translation and Interpretation” written by Xiaofeng Li Changchun
University of Science and Technology.

The writers define the terms of translation as an art of transforming one language to another
that requires the equivalence and coherence of the two languages both in meaning and in style.

The third definition of translation took from English Teaching Journal, entitled Translation
analysis of subtitle from English into Indonesian in The Raid 2 Movie written by Rianto Duta
Wicaksono and Yuli Kuswardani,
 The writers defined the terms of translation as a series of operations of which the starting
point and the end product are significations and function within a given culture.” It means that
translation as the process to transfer idea in first language to others based on main significance.

Fourth definition of translation took from ELS Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies on

Humanities, entitled Translation Technique of English to Indonesian Subtitle in “Crazy Rich
Asian” Movie written by Tira Nur Fitria.

The writers defined the terms of translation as the act of transferring the linguistic entities
from one language into their equivalents in another language. Translation is the communication
of meaning from one language (the source) to another language (the target). Translation refers to
written information, whereas interpretation refers to the spoken information. The purpose of
translation is to convey the original tone and intent of a message, taking into account cultural and
regional differences between the source and target languages.

B. Interpreting

The first definition of interpretation took from website namely Language scientific. The
terms interpreting defined as an oral form of translation, enabling real-time cross-linguistic
communication either face-to-face, in a conference setting or over the phone. It can also be
called oral translation, real-time translation or personal translation. This is the process where a
person repeats what is said out loud in a different language.

Interpreting, just like translation, is basically paraphrasing—the interpreter listens to a

speaker in one language, grasps the content of what is being said, and then paraphrases his or her
understanding of the meaning using the tools of the target language. An interpreter changes
words into meaning, and then changes meaning back into words—of a different language.

An interpreter must be able to translate in both directions on the spot, without using
dictionaries or other reference materials. Just as you cannot explain to someone a thought if you
did not fully understand it, neither can you translate or interpret something without mastery of
the subject matter being relayed. To be effective, the interpreter decides how to best convey both
the meaning of the words and the context in which those words were used. This requires a high
level of expertise in a subject area, current knowledge of different cultures, and a great deal of
experience.

Second definition of interpretation took from International Journal entitled “On Similarities
and Differences between Translation and Interpretation” written by Xiaofeng Li Changchun
University of Science and Technology.

The writers define the terms of interpretation as the tool to render the meaning by the
integrated tasks such as listening, speaking, reading, writing, digesting and synthesizing and the
information. Interpreter plays the role of negotiator or coordinator in the communication act to
achieve mutual understanding. Thus task of the interpreter includes not only transfer between the
two languages but the removal the cultural differences and obstacles for a more efficient and
satisfactory communication.

C. The similarities and difference between translation and interpretation

1. The similarities between translation and interpretation
a. When doing translation and interpretation

The translator first analyzes the content the source language through reading or
resorting to dictionaries, reference books, or consulting the experts in the related field.
With no strict limitation of time, he can not only make the preparation work but the
rendering work adequately: revising and restructuring the organization of the text,
polishing the choice of words, expressions, correcting the grammatical mistakes etc.

Meanwhile the process of interpretation involves the three stages: listening

comprehension, deverbalization, and delivery. When receiving the source language
message, the interpreter should concentrate on the information, make an evaluation of the
text, memorize the message by taking notes or just brain memory, understand the
connotations of the information by analyzing the meaning and visualizing it nonverbally
and then reformulate it into the target language.

b. The translator and the interpreter

 The first of all they both work with a source language (from which they work)
and a target language and take the message from the source language and convey it in the
target language. Both the translator and interpreter work solely into their mother tongue.
They are both linguists and they both need professional qualifications.

2. Major differences between interpretation and translation

a. Format

Interpretation handles spoken language in real-time or orally, while translation

services are text-based or written.

b. Delivery

Interpretation takes place on the spot. The process can occur in person, over the
phone, or via video. Translation, on the other hand, can happen long after the source text
is created. This gives translators ample time to utilize technologies and reference
materials to generate accurate, high-quality translations.

c. Accuracy

Interpretation requires a somewhat lower level of accuracy to translation. Interpreters

aim for perfection, but it’s challenging to achieve in a live setting–some of the original
speech may be left out of the target language, for example. Again, time is on translators’
side when reviewing and editing written text for accuracy.

d. Direction

Interpreters must be fluent in both the source and target language, as they’re required
to translate in both directions instantaneously without the aid of reference materials.
Professional translators typically work in one direction: into their own mother tongue.
 e. Intangibles

Making metaphors, analogies, and idioms resonate with the target audience is a
challenge that both interpreters and translators face. On top of this, interpreters must
capture tone, inflections, voice quality, and other unique elements of the spoken word and
then convey these verbal cues to the audience.

Conclusion

Based on the explanation above the terms of translation can be defined as a process of
transferring one language to another language or the target language, on the form of text or
written. The terms interpreting can be defined as the process of transferring on language to the
target language orally, on the real-time communication either face to face, in a conference or
over on the phone. That can be called as the oral translation. In interpreting people repeats that
people said in a different language.

The similarities between translation and interpreting show on the process of transferring the
language to the target language that requires skill to do. The different between translation and
interpreting, translation done on the written forms and interpreting on the oral forms.

Bibliography
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Interpretation-Similarities: http://languageseveryday.blogspot.com/2013/09/translation-and-
interpretation.html

Fitria, T. N. (2020). Translation Technique of English to Indonesian Subtitle in “Crazy Rich Asian” Movie.
ELS Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies on Humanities , 51-65.

Li, X. (2015). On Similarities and Differences between Translation and Interpretation . nternational
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Scientific, L. (2020, March ). Language Service Comparison. Retrieved May 4, 2020, from Language
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interpreting/

Suryasa, I. W. (2015). The Comparison between Interpreting and Translation Process . International
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Wicaksono, R. D., & Kuswardani, Y. (2019). Translation analysis of subtitle from English into Indonesian
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