Name: Evelyn Patricia

Student ID: 15190025

Translation Strategies and Equivalence Analysis of Indonesian Idioms

from the Subtitle of Si Doel: The Movie (2018)

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Language undeniably plays a huge role in our daily life. As a human, we all communicate our
thoughts through a language, whether it is verbal or non-verbal. One of the most used verbal
language around the world is English. However, not everyone can speak the language, and that’s
where translation plays a role in our life. From literary work (movies like subs or dubs, books,
etc.) or even advertisements we see on television, games, apps, and so many other things. The
term translation, first attested in around 1340,2 derives either from Old French translation or
more directly from the Latin translatio (‘transporting’), itself coming from the participle of the
verb transferre (‘to carry over’) (Munday, 2016). Movies have become one of the most popular
and consumed entertainments globally every single day. This is due to the fact that advance
modern technology provides easy access to browse and watch any kinds of movies of numerous
different genres from various streaming platforms without having to leave the comfort of home.
C.-Y. Weng, W.-T. Chu, and J.–L. Wu (2009) stated that the movie industries produce more than
4500 movies every year. This research will focus on translation, particularly a subtitle of idioms
from Si Doel: The Movie (2018), as well as study how translation equivalence works in relation
to the original text.
1.2 Statement of Problem and Research Questions
1.2.1 Statement of Problem

The researcher conducts this research in hopes that the result will assist and enlighten future
researchers in carrying out a study of subtitle translation strategies and equivalence analysis,
especially regarding idiomatic expressions. It is necessary to combine both variables, translation
and equivalences, because they are closely related with one another. Thus, this research will
provide a coherent explanation of translation, equivalence, and idiom.

1.2.2 Research Questions

This research is conducted in hopes to answer the questions, such as:

(1) What are the translation strategies used to translate the idioms from the movie?
(2) What are the equivalences of the idiomatic expressions used in the movie?

1.3 Research Objectives and Significance

1.3.1 Research Objectives

In order to answer the research questions, this research aims:

(1) To identify the translation strategies used to translate the idioms from the movie.
(2) To analyze the equivalences of the idiomatic expressions used in the movie.

1.3.2 Research Significance

It is necessary to conduct this research, so future readers can expand their knowledge and
understanding of idioms, equivalences, and translation methods, especially from Indonesian to
English translation. Hopefully, this research will be useful and beneficial as an additional
reference for future researchers who will conduct a similar study and/or readers who are
interested in translating subtitles.
1.4 Scope and Limitation

The scope and limitation of this research is the subtitles, both English and Indonesian of the
idioms found in the movie Si Doel: The Movie (2018) which will be retrieved from Netflix.

LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, the researcher will describe the theories and the understanding about translation,
equivalence, and idioms as well as discuss some previous studies on the similar topic.

2.1 Theoretical Framework

2.1.1 Definition of Translation

Different experts have different take on what defines a translation. According to Catford (1965)
in “A Linguistic Theory of Translation (Vol. 31)”, a translation is the replacement of textual
material in one language (source language) by equivalent textual material in another language
(target language).

Meanwhile, Newmark (1998) in “A Textbook of Translation” defines translation as a technique

for learning foreign languages. Whereas, translation is a two-edged instrument: it has the special
purpose of demonstrating the learner's knowledge of the foreign language, either as a form of
control or to exercise his intelligence in order to develop his competence.

Munday (2016) explained that translation today has several meanings in the field of languages,
which are:

(1) the general subject field or phenomenon

(2) the product – that is, the text that has been translated
(3) the process of producing the translation, otherwise known as translating

There are three kinds of translation as stated by Jakobson (1959), which are: (1) intralingual
(rewording or paraphrasing within one language), (2) interlingual (rewording or paraphrasing
between two languages), and (3) intersemiotic (rewording or paraphrasing between sign
systems). In addition, Jakobson argued that the focus of translation studies have been on
interlingual translation.
2.1.2 Process of Translation

In order to do translation, there are several process that must be followed. In the process of
translation, the translator performs a series of actions to devote their knowledge, skills, abilities,
and their habit of redirecting a message from the source language to the target language through
several stages using the procedure of translation, translation methods and techniques of
translation (Sayogie, 2014). According to Nida and Taber (1969), there are three steps of
translation process which must be followed, namely: (1) analysis (a translator explores the
meaning and grammatical relationship of source language), (2) transfer (the transfer of the
meaning of which is in the mind of the translator from the source language into the target
language), (3) restructuring (the meaning that has been transferred is restructured in order to
make the final message fully acceptable in target language).

2.1.3 Definition of Equivalence

Equivalence was meant to indicate that source text and target text share some kind of "sameness"
and such a translation is a reported speech; the translator recodes and transmits a message
received from another source. Thus, translation involves two equivalent messages in two
different codes. (Panou, 2013; Jakobson, 2013). According to Munday (2016), for the message to
be ‘equivalent’ in source text and target text, the code-units will necessarily be different since
they belong to two different sign systems (languages) which partition reality differently.

Nida and Taber (1969) stated that there are two different types of equivalence, which are formal
correspondence and dynamic equivalence.

2.1.3.1 Formal Correspondence

Formal correspondence is quality of a translation that keeps the form of the source text in the
target language. It focuses attention on the message itself, in both form and content. In such a
translation one is concerned with such correspondences as poetry to poetry, sentence to sentence,
and concept to concept. This means that the message in the receptor culture is constantly
compared with the message in the source culture to determine the standards of accuracy and
correctness.
2.1.3.2 Dynamic Equivalence

Dynamic equivalence is quality of a translation in which the message of the original text has
been transported into the target language that the response of the target receptors is essentially
like that of the original receptors. “Dynamic equivalence is 'the principle of equivalent effect',
where the relationship between receptor and message should be substantially the same as which
existed between the original receptors and the message.” The aim of dynamical equivalence is to
take the effect on the recipient's response as the first priority.

2.1.4 Translation Equivalence

Baker (1992) has offered a detailed definitions of the concept of equivalence which are important
to discuss. Regarding the translation process, there are five different levels including all different
aspects of translation which can be distinguished as word equivalence, above word, grammatical
equivalence, textual equivalence, and pragmatic equivalence.

2.1.4.1 Word Equivalence

The term ‘word’ was defined because it should be remembered that a single word can sometimes
be assigned different meanings in different languages and might be regarded as being a more
complex unit or morpheme. In other words, translators should pay attention to several factors
when considering a single word, such as number, gender, and tense.

2.1.4.2 Above Word

Translation problems almost always occur in the company of other words to construct meaning,
such as phrases for instance. Translators usually find difficulties in dealing with collocation and
idiom and fix expression, as well as the differences between the lexical patterning of the source
language and target language.

2.1.4.3 Grammatical Equivalence

There may be different grammatical structures in source language and target language, and this
may affect how information or message is carried across which could result in remarkable
changes. These changes may induce translators to either add or omit information in the target
text because of the lack of particular grammatical devices in the target language itself. Amongst
these grammatical devices which might cause problems in translation, Baker focuses particularly
on number, tense and aspects, voice, person, and gender.

2.1.4.4 Textual Equivalence

Texture is a very important feature in translation since it provides useful guidelines for the
comprehension and analysis of the source text which can help translators in their attempt to
produce a cohesive and coherent text for the target audience in a specific context. It is up to the
translator to decide whether or not to maintain the cohesive ties as well as the coherence of the
source language text. Their decision will be guided by three main factors, that is, the target
audience, the purpose of the translation, and the text type.

2.1.4.5 Pragmatic Equivalence

Translators need to work out implied meanings in translation to get the source text message
across. The role of the translator is to recreate the author's intention in another culture in such a
way that enables the target reader to understand it clearly (Baker, 1992).

2.1.5 Definition of Idiom

An idiom can be defined as two or more words together that, as a unit, which, when taken
together, have a special meaning that is different from the literal meaning of the individual words
separately (Seidl & McMordie, 1988; Brenner, 2003). Meanwhile, Baker (1992) defines idioms
as frozen patterns of language which allow little or no variation in form and often carry meanings
which cannot be deduced from their individual components.

2.1.6 Categorization of Idioms

According to Berman (2000), “we cannot normally change the words, their order, or the
grammatical forms in the same way as changing non-idiomatic expression”. Simply put, idioms
are basically fixed expressions and we cannot change the structure or translate it per words, as
idioms are tied to each other; meaning we cannot eliminate or add words.

However, Fernando (1996) has a different take on idioms. He categorized idioms into three sub-
classes, namely pure idioms, semi-idioms and literal idioms.

2.1.6.1 Pure Idioms

A pure idiom a type of conventionalized, non-literal multiword expression whose meaning

cannot be understood by adding up the meanings of the words that make up the phrase.

2.1.6.2 Semi-Idioms

A semi-pure, on the other hand, has at least one literal element and one with a non-literal
meaning.

2.1.6.3 Literal Idioms

Literal idioms are semantically less complex than the other two, and therefore easier to
understand even if one is not familiar with these expressions.

2.1.7 Idiom Translation Strategies

Baker (2007) summarized the difficulties involved in translating idioms, such as: an idiom or
fixed expression may have no equivalent in the target language, an idiom or fixed expression
may have a similar counterpart in the target language, but its context of use may be different;
they may have different connotations or not be pragmatically transferable, an idiom may be used
in the source language in both its literal and idiomatic senses at the same time and this play on
idiom may not be successfully reproduced in the target language, and the convention regarding
idioms in written discourse, the contexts in which they can be used and their frequency of use
may be different in the source language and target language. Translators might be mistaken in
losing the tone or meaning of idioms in translating them as they think of the idioms as ordinary
expressions. Therefore, in order to transfer the messages of idioms to be translated accurately
and efficiently, the translator must choose the most appropriate strategy (Machali, 2009).
Baker (2007) in “In Other Words: A Course Book on Translation” has proposed four idiom
translation strategies. The idiom translation strategies are using an idiom of similar meaning and
form, using an idiom of similar meaning but dissimilar form, translation by paraphrase, and
translation by omission.

2.1.7.1 Using an Idioms of Similar Meaning and Form

This strategy is to translate idioms by using an idiom very similar in its form and meaning to the
source language idiom. It must express roughly the same meaning and be of equivalent lexical
items.

2.1.7.2 Using an Idioms of Similar Meaning but Dissimilar Form

Idiom or fixed expression in the target language which has a meaning similar to that of the
source idiom or expression, but which consists of different lexical items.

2.1.7.3 Translation by Paraphrase

According to Baker, this is the most common way of translating idioms when a match cannot be
found in the target language or when it seems inappropriate to use idiomatic language in the
target text because of differences in stylistic preferences of the source and target languages.

2.1.7.4 Translation by Omission

According to Baker (2007, p.77) omission is allowed only in some cases: first, when there is no
close equivalent in the target language; secondly, when it is difficult to paraphrase; finally, an
idiom may be omitted for stylistic reasons.

2.2 Previous Studies

Wicaksono (2018) conducted a study entitled “An Analysis of the Strategies Used in Translating
Idioms in Indonesia into English Found in Indonesian Legends” which aims to find out; (1) the
idiomatic expressions which are found in Indonesian Legends, (2) the meaning of the idiomatic
expressions found in Indonesian Legends, and (3) the various strategies which are used in
translating idioms in Indonesia into English found in Indonesian Legends. The method of this
study is descriptive qualitative research design, in the form of document analysis. This study
revealed that idiomatic expression translation strategy by paraphrasing was the most dominant
strategy used by the translator in translating the idiomatic expressions found in five Indonesian
Legends (eleven out of eighteen cases). Meanwhile, the second most common strategy was
translating by omission (six out of eighteen cases). The last was the strategy of using an idiom of
similar meaning and form which only one out of eighteen cases. Thus, it can be concluded that
the translator only applied three strategies out of the main five strategies of translating idiomatic
expression suggested by Baker.

Fitri, et al. (2019) conducted a study entitled “Strategies Used in Translating English Idioms into
Indonesian in Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan” which aims to describe the types of idioms
found in Crazy Rich Asians novel and to analyze the strategies used in translating the idioms by
applying Baker’s translation strategy using qualitative research method. The result shows that
opaque phrases dominated of all idiom types, followed by semi-transparent phrase, semi-opaque
phrase and transparent expression. There were five strategies employed in translating idioms,
they were using an idiom of similar meaning and form, using an idiom of similar meaning but
dissimilar form, translation by paraphrase, translation by omission and literal translation.
Translation by paraphrase is the most frequent strategies used to translate idioms because the
equivalent idioms in Bahasa Indonesia are not available. Even though in Baker’s strategy does
not include literal translation, this strategy is applicable to translate transparent expression, but it
is not appropriate in translating opaque phrases.

Ahdillah (2020) conducted a study entitled “English - Indonesian Translation of Idiomatic

Expressions Found in the Adventure of Tom Sawyer: Strategies Used and Resulted Equivalence”
which aims to analyze the idiomatic expressions translated from English into Bahasa Indonesia
from novel “The Adventure of Tom Sawyer” by using qualitative research method. The results
showed that (1) Free translation strategy was the frequent strategy used by the translator. It led to
the conclusion that rendering idiomatic expression in the children literary book was mostly done
by re-creating the idiomatic expressions in the target language. (2) The translator tended to re-
create the words and phrases in the target language neglecting the words and grammatical units
of source language in order to get the similar meaning and essence of the source language. (3)
The use of translation strategies in the translation of idiomatic expression had close relationship
with the resulted equivalence of idiomatic expression in Indonesian.
KOVÁCS (2016) conducted a study entitled "About the Definition, Classification, and
Translation Strategies of Idioms" which aims to explore those characteristics of idioms which
might cause difficulties when translating them and some of the various classifications of idioms
and to decide whether the novel can be an appropriate source for authentic teaching material. The
method of this study is descriptive qualitative research design, in the form of document analysis.
Regarding the most frequently chosen strategy by the literary translator was translation by
paraphrase. This confirms Baker’s opinion, who also concluded that this is the most commonly
used strategy. The strategy of paraphrasing was followed in frequency by the attempt of using an
idiom of similar meaning but dissimilar form. Pétersz used translation by paraphrase in 55%, an
idiom of similar meaning but dissimilar form in 30%, and an idiom of approximately similar
meaning and form in 15%.

Based on the previous studies, the researcher concludes that the previous studies mentioned were
conducted to analyze idiomatic expressions from different media; three out of four were
analyzing novels. Each researcher came up with different results accordingly to the object they
examined. The similarity between these previous studies and this research is the focus on
idiomatic expressions. Meanwhile, the differences are: (1) the media (the previous studies
analyzed novels), (2) the source language is English, and (3) the main focus (the previous studies
only focused on idiom translation strategies and not the equivalence).