CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of Study

Translation plays an important role in human life, because it has made

communication between people with different languages could be done

differently. It’s hard to imagine how the intercultural dialouge is condected to

improve understanding and cooperation among nations. Circulation of ideas,

knowledge, information, and the values from one nation to another nation would

also got hindrance without using translation.

In general, translation is seen a process of transferring meaning or messege

that is similar to the original author of intended source language (SL) into another

language (target language=TL), so a proper translation should has equivelence

with the source text. The equivelence, which is often regarded as the important

aspect of a aquality translation, in essence is a problematic thing because of the

differences in linguistic aspect (morphological, syntactic, semantic) and cultural

between TL and SL.1 Translation is an activity that involves two language and

two culture at the same time, greater differences between TL and SL, in both

aspect, the higher difficulty level of meaning or message transfer between the two

language for example, the prhase “ I lost my money”, which when viewed from

1
M.R. Nababan. “Equivalence in Translation : Some Problem-Solving Strategies”.
(Jakarta:Grasindo, 2008), p.45

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the structure is an active sentence, transleted into Indonesian by passive structure

prhase “uang saya hilang”. Therefore, the SL text and the TL text can’t be realy

equal in all aspect of linguistic and cultural.

Based on those explain above, it can be said that aspect of linguistic and

cultural between TL in SL is the main cause of difficulties or obstacles in

translation. Therefore, to produce a good TL text, the bilingual ability of the

translator is not adequate. The translator also must have bicultural ability or cross

cultural understanding. This is due to the fact that the language and culture are

two inseparable entites. When Communicating through language, including

through language writing, each person must involves culture, which include the

values, skill, individuls and members of the public. Because of translation also

involves the transfer of thoughts from one language and culture into an equivalent

expression in another language and culture.2

Realizing the essence of cross cultural understanding in translation, many

experts have attempted to observe the translation of cultural differences of

language. The text that all aspects of culture expressed through the terminology of

culture (cultural word). Terminology or cultural words can be translated in several

procedures in accordance with their role in the text and translation purposes.

Those words are classified into five catagories and subcatagories. While the way

of translation can be chosen from among the fifteen translation procedures based

2
Alejandra Patricia, Karamanian. “Translation and Culture”. (Yogyakarta:Prismasophie,
2007), p. 32.

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on their role in the text and tranlation purposes, such as naturalism, modulation,

paraphrasing, transposition and other.3

One from of the text with the cultural aspects is the novel. As type of

fiction, it was defined as an imaginative prose, but also makes sense (because it

expresses the reality of life) which dramatizes the changes in human relations. A

novel is written based on experiences and obsevations about the life of a writer

with particular cultural background. The experiences and obsevations are then

selected and expressed again by the author in accordance with his purpose of

entertaining and reflecting life. Because it is written based on reality and to

express life in a particular community, each novel reveals the emotions, ideas,

attitudes, habits, beliefs, lifestyles other cultural aspects of the community.4

Therefore, the writer interested in analysis words culture. For determine

the culture equivalent between two situations that can be accepted or understood

by the reader and the message in the source language and can be instantly

understandable.

B. Focus of the Study

To focus the reseach, the problem in this study was limited to the

translation of cultural words in the novel of “ Angels & Demons” by Dan Brown

and “Malaikat & Iblis” translated by Isma B. Koesalamwardi.

C. Reseach Question

3
Peter Newmark. A text book of Translation. ( New York:Prentice-hall International, 1988), p. 95
4
Lynn Altenbernd and Leslie. Lewis. A Handbook for the Study of Fiction. (New York: The
Macmillan Company. 1966), p. 14

3
 Based on the background of the problems above, the aothor idetifies the

following problems :

1. What are the cultural words found in the Angel and Demon novel and

their translation in Bahasa Indonesia?

2. How does translator translate those cultural words analyzed by

procedure of Peter Newmark

D. The Significance of the Study

Through this research, the writer hopes this reseach can develop our

potential in translating and especialy to make the writer understands about the

cultural words deeply and it will stimulate us in learning translation, and also

make everyone think that translating novels are exciting to analyze.

E. The Objective of Study

The objective of study are to find cultural words in novel “Angel and

Demon” and to find way of translator in translating the cultural words based on

Peter Newmark procedure.

F. Reseach Methodology

1. Method

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 Method of the study is descriptive analysis by applying qualitative

research in which collected data are analyzed using the cultural category

and procedure of Peter Newmark.

2. Data Analysis

The technique of data analysis is conducted in several steps below:

1. Reading and understanding the theories and compared with many

relevant theories.

2. Reading the unit of analysis of both novel, English and Indonesian

version for comparing the translation process.

3. Compiling and gouping the data according to the SL cultural words.

3. The Instrument

The instrument in this research is the writer himself by reading novel and

analyzing the data collected to find out the connection and other aspects

related to the subject of research.

4. Unit of Analysis

Since the cultural terminology analyzed study identifies the overall TSu

(English novel) and TSa (Indonesian novel), the unit of study in this

research is English novel of Angel and Demon, publisher by Pocket

Books, New York in May 2000. Written in 137 chapters and 480 pages.

The Indonesian verses of Malaikat dan Iblis, publisher by Serambi (Pt

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 Serambi Ilmu Semesta) in 2005 which is translated by Isma B.

Koesalamwardi, 137 chapters, 651 pages.

5. Place and Time

The reseach starts on February 2012, at the Departement of English

Letters, State of Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.

CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

A. Definition of Translation

Translation is not only the transfer of words in source language (SL) into

target language (TL). It cannot ignore from culture, sentence, semantic, syntactic,

and other linguistic component such as the structure or phrase, position of

attributes, clause orders. Elliptical construction there are many translation works,

which are rather difficult to be understood, especially in the form and meaning.

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 Catfords defines translation as replacement text in one language (SL) with

equivalent text in another language (TL). “Tranlation is the replacement of textual

material in one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language

(TL)”.5

Translation is a craft consisting in attempt to replace a written message

and statement in one language by the same message or statement in another

language (TL).6

Nida and Taber argued that translation consist in producing in the receptor

language the closet natural equivalent of the source language message, first in

terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style.7

B. Cultural Words

I define culture as the way of life and it manifetation that are peculiar to a

community that uses a particular language as its means of expression. More

specifically, I distinguish ‘cultural’ from ‘universal’ and ‘personal’ language.

‘Die’, ‘live’, ‘star’, ‘swim’ and event almost virtually ubiquitous artefact like

‘mirror’ and ‘table’ are universals-usually there is no translation problem there.

‘Monsoon’, ‘steppe’, ‘dacha’, ‘tagliatelle’ are cultural words- there will be

5
Catford, J.C. A Linguistic Theory of Translation. (London: Oxford University Press, 1969), p. 20
6
Peter, Newmark. Approaches to translation. (Oxford: pergamon press, 1981), p. 7
7
Eugene A. Nida and Charles R. Taber. The Theory and Practice of Translation. (leiden: E.J.
Brill, 1982), p. 12

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translation problems unless there is cultural overlap between source and target

language (and it readership). Universal words such as ‘breakfast’, ‘embrace’,

‘pile’, often cover the universal funcion, but not cultural description of the

referent. And if I express myself in personal way-‘you’re weaving ( creating

conversation) as usual, ‘his “underlife” (personal qualities and private life) is

evident in the poem’, ‘he’s monologger’ ( never finishes the sentence) I use

personal, not immediately social, language, what is often called idiolect, and there

is normally transslation problem.

All these are broad and fuzzy distinction. You can have several cultures

(and sub-cultures) within ane language: fause (Austria tea), jujendwihe (GDR-

‘coming-out’ caremony for twelve years old), Beamter (Austria, Switzerland,

FRG-but not GDR) are all cultural words which may need translation within

German. However dialect are not cultural words if they designate universal

(e.g.,’loch’, ‘moors’), any more than the notorious pain,vin, Gemutlichkeit,

‘privacy’, insouciance, which are admittedly over laden with cultural connotation.

When a speech community focuses its attention on particular topic (this is

usually called ‘cultural focus’), it spawn a plethora of words to designate its

special language or terminology- the English on sportm notably the crazy cricket

words (‘a maiden over’, ‘silly mio-on’, howzzat’), the Franch on wines and

cheeses, the German on sausage, Spanlards on bull fighting, Arabs on camels,

Eskimos, notoriously, on snow, English and Franch on sex in mutual

recrimination; many cultures have their words for cheap liquor for the poor and

deperate; ‘vodka’, ‘grappa’, ‘silvovitz’, ‘sake’, ‘schnaps’ and ‘gin’. Frequently

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where there is a translation problem due to the cultural ‘gap’ or distance’ between

the source and target language.

Note that opranationally I do not regard language as a component or

feature of culture. If it were so, translation would be impossible. Language does

however contain all kinds of cultural deposits, in the grammar (genders of

inanimate nouns), forms of address (like Sie, usted) as well as the lexis (‘the sun

sets’) which are not taken account of in universal either in consciousness or

translation. Further, the more specific a language becomes for natural phenomena

(e.g. flora and fauna) the more it becomes embedded cultural features and

therefore creates translation problem. Which is worrying, since it is notorious that

the translation of the most general words (particularly of morals and feelings, as

Tytler noted in 1790)-love, temperance, temper, right, wrong-is usually harder

than that of specific words.

Most cultural words are easy to detect, since they are associated with a

particular language and cannot be literally translated, but many cultural customs

are described in ordinary language (‘topping out a building’, ‘time’, ‘gentleman’,

‘please’, ‘mud in your eye’), where literal translation would distort the meaning

and a translation may include an appropriate descriptive-functional equivalent.

Cultural objects may be referred to by a relativly culture-free generic term or

classifer (e.g., ‘tea’) plus the various addition in different cultures, and you have

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to account for these addition (‘rum’, ‘lemon’, ‘milk’, ‘biscuits’, ‘cake’, other

course, various times of day) which may appear in the course of the SL text.8

C. Cultural Strategies

Peter Newmark also catagorized the cultural words as follows:

1. Ecology: Flora, Fauna, Plains, and Hills

This type of term includes geographical features that can be normally

distinguish from other cultural terms which connected to social and material

culture. Nevertheless, their diffusion depands on the importance of their country

of origin a well as their degree of specificity. The species of Flora and Fauna are

local and cultural, and are not translated unless they appear in the SL and TL

environment (‘red admiral’, Admiral). For technical texts, the latin botanical and

zoological classification can be used as an international language, e.g, ‘snail’. For

winds like ‘down’. Many countries have ‘local’ words for plains like ‘savannahs’

and ‘bush’ and these word exist with strong elements of local color. For hills like

‘dune’.

2. Material Culture: Food, Clothes, House, Town, and Transport.

Material culture includes the terms that used in daily life as a trend. Food

is for many the most sensitive and important expression of national culture; food

term are subject to the widest varirty of translation procedure. Various setting:

menus-straight, multilingual, glossed, cookbooks, food guides; tourist brochures;

jurnalism increasingly contain forgein food terms.

8
Peter, Newmark. A Text book of Translation. (New york:Prentice-Hall International, 1988), p. 94

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 For English, other food terms are in different catagory. Macaroni came

over in 1600, spagetti in 1880, ravioli and pizza are current: many other Italian

and Greek terms may have to be explained. Food term have normally been

transferred, only the french making continous effort to naturalize them.

Traditionally, upper class men’s clothes are English and women’s French (note

‘slip’, ‘bra’) but national costumes when distinctive are not translated, e.g. sari,

kimono, ‘jeans’(which is an internationalism and an American symbol like ‘coke’)

Clothes are cultural term may be sufficiently explained for TL general readers if

the generic noun or classified is added: e.g., ‘shintigin trouser’ or ‘basque skirt’,

or again, if the particular is no interest, the generic word caan simply replace it.

However, it has to be borne in mind that the function of the generic clothes term is

approximately constant, indacating the part of the body that is covered, but the

description varies depending on climate and material used.

Many language communities have a typical house which for general

purpose remains untranslated such as: palazzo (large house); bungalow pension.

French shows cultural focus on towns (being until 50 years ago a country of small

town) by having ville, bourg and bourgade which have no corresponding

translation into English.

Transport is dominated by American and the car, a female pet in English, a

‘bus’, a ‘crate’, a sacred symbol in many countries of sacred private property.

American English has 26 words for the car. The system has spawned new

features with their neologism: ‘lay bay’, ‘roundbout (traffic circle), fly over,

interchange. There are many vogue words produced not only by innovations but

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by the salesman’s talk, and many Anglicism. In fiction, the names of various

carriages (caleche, cabriolet, tilbury, landau, coupe, phateon) are often used to

provide local colour and to the transferred and to connote prestige; in text book of

transport, an accurate description has to be appended to the transferred word.

Now, the names of planes and cars are often near-internationalism for educated

readership such as: jumbo jet;ford, BMW and Volvo, etc.

Notoriously the species of flora and

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