THE EQUIVALENT OF ENGLISH FIGURATIVE LANGUAGES INTO INDONESIAN WITH REFERENCE TO MRS DALLOWAY
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THE EQUIVALENT OF ENGLISH FIGURATIVE LANGUAGES INTO INDONESIAN WITH REFERENCE TO MRS DALLOWAY
By :
Ni Ketut Sudiani
English Department
Faculty of Letters and Culture Udayana University
Abstrak
Penerjemahan sebuah karya sastra, khususnya novel merupakan sebuah tantangan tersendiri bagi seorang penerjemah. Diperlukan sebuah ketelitian serta kedalaman pemahaman akan dua budaya guna menemukan kesepadanan antara kata bahasa sumber dengan bahasa target. Novel Mrs. Dalloway karya penulis Inggris ternama Virgina Woolf merupakan objek penelitian ini karena novel ini dibaca luas di seluruh dunia dan kerap dikenal sebagai karya yang tingkat kesulitannya cukup tinggi sebab menggunakan cukup banyak bahasa kiasan. Dalam penelitian ini dibahas mengenai jenis-jenis bahasa kiasan dan strategi yang digunakan untuk memperoleh kesepadanan kata antara bahasa sumber dan bahasa target. Penelitian ini mengacu pada teori yang diciptakan oleh Larson yaitu tiga pendekatan dalam menemukan kesepadanan kata dalam proses penerjemahan. Adapun hasil dari penelitian ini adalah metonymy, bahasa kiasan yang paling banyak ditemukan dalam novel. Hasil kesepadanan kata dari terjemahan bahasa sumber ke bahasa target terbilang baik. Makna kata dalam bahasa sumber tersampaikan dengan baik ke bahasa target.
Kata kunci : bahasa kiasan, kesepadanan kata, penerjemahan
Figurative language is one of the most important parts in translation, translating novel in particular, as the words or expressions in the source language often have a figurative sense. There are number of novels which were translated from English into Indonesian. One of them is Mrs. Dalloway written by Virginia Woolf. This book was chosen as the data source because it has been a favourite one since it was first published in 1925 and the most misunderstood as well (Molly Hoff 2009: vii). Its author often used words or expressions that have a figurative sense. It is slightly difficult to understand the source language as they are many terms that are unknown to the Indonesian readers. Therefore, it is needed to find the equivalent of figurative language in doing the translation of the source language to the target language.
According to those issues, this study was compiled to analyse the figurative language in Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and the strategies that were applied in finding an appropriate lexical equivalent. This analysis applied the theory of three approaches in choosing adequate lexical equivalent that proposed by Larson.
Concerning the background given above, this study has two problems to discuss, as follows:
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1. What types of figurative languages are found in Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and its translation into Indonesian?
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2. What strategies are applied in finding the adequate lexical equivalent of figurative languages translation in Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway?
These are two aims intended to be discovered in this study:
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1. To identify the types of figurative languages found in Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and its translation into Indonesian.
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2. To analyse the strategies applied in finding the adequate lexical equivalent of figurative languages translation in Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway.
The data of this study were taken from figurative language in the English and Indonesian translation of Mrs. Dalloway written by English writer Virginia Woolf (new edition : 2000), published by Oxford University Press (New York). Its translation into Indonesian entitled Mrs. Dalloway (2006) was translated by Josephine, and was published by Jalasutra (Yogyakarta).
The library research method was used in collecting the data. Some techniques were applied in completing the method. It started by reading the whole part of the novel intensively and accurately, and then focused on the words and
phrases that have figurative senses. That technique was continued by taking a note of those figurative languages and classifying them in a form of comparative chart.
The collected data were analysed descriptively by using qualitative method. The analysis of this study took several steps. The data were numbered into a comparative chart, classified into a specific comparative chart to be the related data to the research subject, then the data were analyzed according to the theory used in this study.
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5. The Analysis of the Equivalent of English Figurative Languages into Indonesian
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5.1. Figurative Language
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5.1.1 Metonymy
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Source Language |
Target Language |
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1. Or in a wood, making the kettle boil-; (Woolf 2000 : 130) |
Atau di hutan, menunggu air mendidih dari ketel,; (Josephine 2006 : 162) |
The word kettle has a figurative sense meaning water. It is used in the sentence to substitute ‘water’. Actually, it is the water in the kettle that is boiled, not the kettle itself. Therefore, to transfer the meaning properly, it is translated into ‘air mendidih dari ketel’. Kettle and water are related because kettle is a form of container for water. It is categorized as metonymy.
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Source Language |
Target Language |
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1 The feet of those people busy about their activities. (Woolf 2000 : 116) |
Kaki-kaki orang yang sibuk dengan segala kegiatan mereka (Josephine 2006 : 144) |
The word feet has a figurative sense based on part-whole relationship. In the novel, it is described that the feet of those people busy about their activities. In this case, one specific member, the feet, of the class body, is substituted for body. Logically, the feet are inseparable to the other part of the body. It is right that someone used her/his feet to move from one place to another place. Therefore, the
author used ‘the feet’ in specific to depict the activities of the busy people. Indeed, the author is really talking about ‘the person’ who is busy, not merely ‘the feet’.
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5.1.3 Idiom
Source Language
Target Language
1 ..the most dejected of miseries sitting on doorsteps (drink their downfall) do the same; (Woolf 2000 : 4)
..pengemis-pengemis paling terhina yang duduk di tangga (terus minum-minuman sampai makin tenggelam dalam kemiskinan) juga melakukan hal yang sama; (Josephine 2006 : 4)
Drink their downfall is an expression that cannot be understood literally. Drink is defined as the action of taking liquid into your mount and swallows it (Hornby 1998 : 468), while downfall means the loss of a person’s money, power, social position, etc (Hornby 1998 : 460). It would not make sense if someone renders the meaning by combining those two dictionary definitions. Actually drink their downfall has an idiomatic meaning, which is drinking rapidly until it drops, until the drinker lose that she/she has.
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5.1.4 Hyperbole
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Source Language |
Target Language |
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1 She felt very young, at the same time unspeakably aged. (Woolf 2000 : 7) |
Ia merasa sangat muda, dan di waktu yang bersamaan merasa sangat tua. (Josephine 2006 : 9) |
The expression unspeakable aged is used to exaggerate the age of someone, as if that there is no exact word to describe how old someone is. It is beyond description, inexpressible. In the story, it was told that Clarissa felt very young and at the same time, she felt very old. It happened when she walked through the St James’s Park, wondered about her decision not to marry Peter.
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5.1.5 Euphemism
Source Language
Target Language
1 But there could be no doubt that greatness was seated within. (Woolf 2000 : 14)
Tetapi tidak diragukan lagi seseorang yang agung duduk di dalam mobil itu. (Josephine 2006 : 17)
The author used the word “greatness” to show that it was an important person seated inside a car who passed the street once Clarissa went to buy flowers for her party. In the story, it was told that actually The Queen of England sat inside the car. It did not commonly happened there, which made people suddenly leave their work and stood in crowd to see The Queen. The greatness is a polite word to refer to The Queen.
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5. 2 The strategies in choosing adequate lexical equivalent
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5.2.1 Lexical Equivalents when Concepts are Shared
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5.2.1.1 Nonliteral Lexical Equivalent
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Source Language |
Target Language |
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1 She pursued her lips when she looked in the glass. (Woolf 2000 : 31) |
Ia selalu mengunci bibirnya saat berkaca. (Josephine 2006 : 38) |
The number of words “looked in the glass” (consisting of four words) in the source language was translated into a word “berkaca” in the receptor language. It was translated using a non-figurative expression equivalent, when the concept is found in the target language. Indeed, the word “berkaca” does not have a figurative sense any longer, but the meaning is remained.
5.2.1.2 Descriptive Phrase
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Source Language |
Target Language |
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1 ...seven stone six comes out weighing twelve. (Woolf 2000 : 84) |
..berat badan empat puluh lima kilogram akan keluar dengan berat badan tujuh puluh tujuh kilogram. (Josephine 2006 : 104) |
Stone indeed has several meaning. One of them is showing the measurement of weigh, it is equal to 6,35 kg or 14 ponds (Hornby 1998: 943). If the expression is translated literally, it would be “tujuh batu”, but that translation does not transfer the main meaning to the target language. Therefore, “empat puluh lima kilogram” was used to reach the lexical equivalent. It was needed to add description to transfer the proper meaning from the source language into the receptor language.
5.2.1.3 Using Related Words as Equivalent
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Source Language |
Target Language |
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1 However, there could be no doubt that greatness was seated within. (Woolf 2000 : 14) |
Tetapi tidak diragukan lagi seseorang yang agung duduk di dalam mobil itu. (Josephine 2006 : 17) |
Actually, there are some words in TL that also have a close meaning to “greatness”, such as, “mulia”, ”penting”, “terhormat”, “teristimewa”, “utama”, and “tertinggi”. All of those translation words are equivalent to the SL. However, the closest one is “yang Agung”, the exact word to name the Queen of England. This figurative language was translated using related words as equivalent, where the concept is shared.
5.2.1.4 Generic – Specific Words
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Source Language |
Target Language |
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1 The doors would be taken off their hinges, (Woolf 2000 : 3) |
Daun-daun pintu akan dilepas dari engselnya; (Josephine 2006 : 3) |
In the sentence above, it can be seen that, the translation specifies the words “the doors” into “daun-daun pintu”. The words ‘the doors’ is more generic, while the words ‘daun-daun pintu’ is more specific. In this case, the concept was shared. By specifying the translation of the words “the doors” by “daun-daun pintu” in the target language, it would sound more natural, without leaving the meaning and the equivalency.
5.2.1.5 Secondary and Figurative Sense
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Source Language |
Target Language |
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1 ..who took it all as a matter, (Woolf 2000 : 67) |
...yang menelan semuanya bulat-bulat..(Josephine 2006 : 83) |
In this case, the figurative language of the TL has the same meaning to the SL is “menelan semuanya bulat-bulat”. Although the structure of the SL is written differently from the TL, the meaning was transferred properly. “Menelan semuanya bulat-bulat” means take all the things without filtering them.
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Source Language |
Target Language |
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1 .. were standing in the bow window of White’s, (Woolf 2000 : 15-16) |
.. berdiri di depan jendela – jendela di Gedung White, (Josephine 2006 : 19) |
By translating White’s into “Gedung White” in TL, it would be easier for the reader to understand. When doing the translation to the target language, the generic words is modified by adding the word ‘gedung’ that means building. Thus, people would understand what exactly the word White’s refers.
5.2.2.2 Equivalence by Modifying a Loan Word
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Source Language |
Target Language |
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1 The mothers of Pimlico gave suck to their young. (Woolf 2000 : 6) |
Induk-induk burung Pimlico memberi makan anak-anaknya. (Josephine 2006 : 7) |
In the sentence above, the word Pimlico in the Source Language was translated into the same form in the Target Language, but with a little modification. The word Pimlico is unknown to most of the speakers or the readers of the receptor language. Therefore, to get the adequate lexical equivalent, it was translated into burung Pimlico. The strategy of modifying a loan word is applied.
5.2.2.3 Equivalent by Cultural Substitute
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Source Language |
Target Language |
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1 .. the smoke from a cottage chimney, (Woolf 2000 : 70) |
.. asap dari cerobong pondokan di desa, (Josephine 2006 : 87) |
Cottage chimney in the SL was translated by “cerobong pondokan di desa” in the TL. In a tropical country like Indonesia, almost none Indonesian has a chimney in their house, unless those who lived in a village. Thus, to transfer the proper meaning, it is necessary to find the equivalent of the figurative language by doing culture substitution.
There are several key words found in the novel. They were used repeatedly through the story. Those key words are party, war, and knife.
Metonymy is the most figurative language that was found in the novel, than hyperbola, idiom, synecdoche, and euphemism. As noted, there are more than 250 figurative languages written in that novel. By using figurative languages, the author is successful to give the soul and emotion to the words, to the expression that were used to describe the personalities of each characters, the environment, etc. Therefore, whoever read the novel, they will not put it down before finish it.
According to the theory of three approaches in finding the lexical equivalents, nonliteral lexical equivalent, descriptive phrases, related words as equivalent, generic – specific words, secondary and figurative senses, equivalence by modifying a generic word, equivalence by modifying a loan word, and equivalence by cultural substitutes and key terms are used. Among those ways, the nonliteral lexical equivalent is the most strategy applied in finding the adequate lexical equivalent.
Hornby, AS. 1998. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. New York: Oxford University Press.
Larson, Mildred. L. 1998. Meaning Based Translation ‘A Guide to CrossLanguage Equivalence’. New York: Oxford University Press of America.
Sugono, Dendy et all. 2009. Tesaurus Alfabetis Bahasa Indonesia. Bandung: PT Mizan Pustaka.
Hoff, Molly. 2009. Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway Invisible Presence. South Carolina: Clemson University Digital Press.
Stevens, Alan M et Telling, Schmidgall. 2008. Kamus Lengkap Indonesia-Inggris. Bandung: PT Mizan Pustaka.
Woolf, Virginia. 2006. Mrs.Dalloway. Yogyakarta: Jalasutra.
Woolf, Virginia. 2000. Mrs.Dalloway. New York: Oxford University Press.
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