CREATIVE PATH ON RETRANSLATING THE GUIDE BOOK OF KRATON SURAKARTA HADININGRAT

Transcription

1 TransCon Proceedings, 2011, No. 1 Copyright 2011, ISBN: CREATIVE PATH ON RETRANSLATING THE GUIDE BOOK OF KRATON SURAKARTA HADININGRAT Rahmanti Asmarani and Raden Arief Nugroho Universitas Dian Nuswantoro rahmanti.asmarani@gmail.com Abstract Translation has grown up rapidly. It is a kind of process of transferring writer s idea to target readers. In addition, translation is a challenging activity which produces some unique and artistic motions (since it contains the cultural concept, either abstract or tangible concept). The guide book of Kraton Surakarta Hadiningrat (The palace of Surakarta Hadiningrat) assists tourist guides to provide information about Kraton s activity and its historical background. Kraton Surakarta, as one of exotic buildings in Central Java, is the island's cultural, geographic, and historic heartland which depicts enormous symbols of local genius that can get distorted. In performing the process of retranslating the guide book of Kraton Surakarta Hadiningrat, a creative path of translation appears to deal with the problems of cultural untranslatability. In addition, the creative path of translation is a technique of retranslating the English guide book of Kraton Surakarta Hadiningrat (which has some untranslatable cultural words) through some engaging activities; as applied through: back translation, site observation, snap shooting, on the site interview, and focus group discussion. Site observation, snap shooting, and site interview are conducted to get the best equivalence of tangible cultural concept. Whilst, focus group discussion is used as the member checking addressed for non-native English speaking students. Thus, by using the creative path of translation, translation activity is not only challenging but it can be an interesting task for students. Key words: creative path, cultural concept, Javanese cultural heritage, historical background, untranslatable cultural words Translation has become a part of our life recently since a lot of translated books have been sold successfully. It also means that translation has started to make a move for a good prospect in the market. Translation, in other words, tries to transfer the author s idea of the source language into readers of target language. In the process of transferring the idea, a translator should pass some stages/ steps in producing the translation work. Thus, he/she will face some difficulties/ problem in grabbing the idea in transferring or even in restructuring. Although some people have passed the translation process, they sometimes don t realize about the theory or strategies in translating. They think that those don t need to be learnt, since they can do the translation work by using some dictionaries, or any kind translation tools. Here, Newmark (1988:5) adds that Translation theory derives from comparative linguistics, and within linguistics, it is mainly an aspect of semantics; all questions of semantic relate to translation theory. Sociolinguistics, which investigates the social register of language and the problems of languages in contact in the same or neighboring countries, has a continuous bearing on translation theory Semantic is often presented as a cognitive subject without connotation, rather than as an exercise in communication-is an essential factor in translation theory.

2 Rahmanti Asmarani and Raden Arief Nugroho From the quotation above, that is why a translator needs to learn translation theory to get a well-done work of translation. To become a good translator, students (who are considered rookie or amateur translators) should learn the theory then overcome the difficulties or problems in a translation process. Here, the translation process consists of analysis, transferring, restructuring, and evaluation (Suryawinata and Hariyanto (2003:19). These items were adopted from Nida and Taber, and then the items are polished and improved. Thus, it can be seen in the diagram below: Figure 1. Translation Process Evaluation/revision Source Analysis/comprehension Concept, meaning, internal process External process transferring Target text Restructuring Concept, meaning, In doing the translation process, a student who learns translation will surely face some difficulties and problems to relate to a point of black spot, known as culture. Some cultural untranslatable words confuse students to render the idea of the source text. That is why, translation needs more practices. To be a good translator, students need to be encouraged to translate many kinds of text. They also need to learn more information of Indonesian culture, so when they perform the work of translation they will try to adjust to the value of Indonesian culture. In conclusion, a good work of translation should contain the fidelity, plausibility, acceptability and naturalness. A translator has big responsibility in doing translation because in a process of translating, Method To obtain the data, students (in this case Dian Nuswantoro Students) took the guide book of Kraton Surakarta Hadiningrat as the source target. The students worked in group. Then they did the back translation by translating it into Indonesian first then to English. In fact there were some cultural untranslatable words which were difficult to describe into target text or to be described by a brief definition. It happens since the book tells about cultural concepts that they have never seen before. As a result the students did some activities such as snap shooting, site observation and site interview. The students went to Kraton Surakarta to take some pictures which had some relations to the cultural concept that were hard to be figured out. Then, focus group discussion was also conducted. 176

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4 Rahmanti Asmarani and Raden Arief Nugroho Discussion Creative path was offered to students to make a fun alternative way on retranslating the guide book of Kraton Surakarta Hadiningrat. The students conducted some steps of the creative path. They worked in group, planned the translation scheme and organized it well. Those steps will be described as follow: Students Translated it into Indonesian The source text was given to the students, and then they discussed the writer s idea and marked some difficult words. In a process of transferring the idea into the target text (Indonesian) some students read and comprehended the text carefully. Newmark (1988:11) states that the understanding of the text requires both general and close reading. In general, the students got the gist, and read encyclopedia, textbooks or some scientific papers related to the culture of Kraton Surakarta Hadiningrat to understand the subject and the concept. This step was conducted by the students because students found some untranslatable words that were not being described or explained by the author of the book. In this point, students were trained to be cautious with some difficult words and they ought to have preliminary alternative before they conducted the next steps and here the students tried to seek the acceptability of the word by translating it into Indonesian. By translating the words into Indonesian, students could sense the acceptability of the text. Within various alternatives of translation, students browsed the target words and chose the best term. At this occasion students found the phrase Serat Nitik Keprajan which was difficult to be understood, since most of students had never heard it before. The students tried to browse it then the confusion faded away. From the browsing result, it may be described that: Serat Nitik Keprajan is a letter which was written on the periods of development of Java since earliest times, names of Javanese kings, prime ministers (Patih), holy men (brahmana), persecutors (jaksa) and authors (pujangga), from the governance of Prabu Dewatacengkar of Medhang Kamulan to the governance of Paku Buwana IX. The names of the Dutch resident and assistant resident in Surakarta and the duties of court officials are also mentioned. There is also writing on Javanese kingdoms and events, tells about the first settlement in Java, continued with the migration of the Ngerum people to Java, and ended with a description of the governance of Paku Buwana IX, his marriage to the daughter of Prince Hadiwijaya, her appointment as Kanjeng Ratu Pakubuwana and her bearing of Gusti Sayidin Malikul Husna. 178

5 TransCon Proceedings, 2011 Based on the explanation above the students chose the best term to be applied in the text: ST - According to an old writing, the Serat Nitik Keprajan, the location of the Kraton of Surakarta Hadiningrat was decided by a divine revelation, also the way fixing the site of the Sitinggil. TT - Menurut sebuah surat kuno, Serat Nitik Keprajan, lokasi Kraton Surakarta Hadinigrat terbagi menurut wahyu dari Tuhan dan juga cara menetapkan letak Sitinggil. It can be seen that after knowing that Serat Nitik Keprajan is a kind of letter, the students translated the word old writing into surat kuno. Moreover, in this point students were taught to establish cooperation among others. Hence, the process of choosing the suitable terms was carried out by students in a bonded atmosphere, like when they did a vote lock to choose the suitable terms to replace the untranslatable and unidentifiable words from the book. Site Observation In this step, the students went to Kraton Surakarta and observed the location. They looked up the concepts which they found in the source text and they have never known it before, such as ribbons, Sitinggil, and respectfully thrown. This step and snap shooting step were actually inspired by field trip experienced by students of elementary to senior high school. In addition, scholars say that in translating a text, a translator should not feel any stress. The authors know that it is difficult to separate translation and stress, but as an alternative in teaching translation, this step aims to train students to manage their feelings or mood in the process of translation. Sample 1. Students Photograph Site observation here means as clear as its literal meaning. The students went to Kraton Surakarta to dig much information as they could get there. The students were asked to take a note as they found an interesting object and they were told to describe the object in some descriptive sentences. They were asked to do so in order to compile information and the information was being restored in their data bank so they could use it when it was needed. 179

6 Rahmanti Asmarani and Raden Arief Nugroho Snap Shooting Evidences need to be kept. In translating some cultural terms, there are items that cannot be browsed anywhere but its original location. This step is the continuation of the previous step, i.e. site observation. Here, students were asked to collect pictures of the questioned items. The idea of capturing pictures aims to restore the concept of the message depicted from untranslatable words. The students made snap shooting in order to support their understanding of some concepts. The example is as follow: ST - The red-gold-red-ribbons over their shoulders show instantly that they re on duty, bringing sesaji to doors and corners, to wells, to Kyai Rajamala or Nyai Setomi the sacred canon. TT - Dengan memakai samir yang berwarna merah-emas-merah, menunjukkan bahwa mereka sedang melaksanakan tugas membawa sesaji ke pintu-pintu dan setiap sudut, serta sumur untuk Kyai Rajamala atau Nyai Setomi yang dalihnya dikeramatkan. Sample 2. Photograph of Ribbon The word ribbon has a literal meaning pita. But when the students met the ladies in Kraton Surakarta they saw that ribbon was not really a ribbon. But it was a kind of fabric which was long, narrow and they put it on their shoulders. The student took some pictures of it, so they understood what the word ribbon really means. Site Interview Site interview was held to take the response from the native speaker of English. Thus, this step has multiple functions. First, it aims to check the acceptability of the cultural words and second, to train their English speaking as well. Some English native speakers were needed to give response to the text on the guide book and to translation alternatives given by students. In this point, students were asked to prepare some steps. Firstly, students were asked to prepare the tools to interview native speakers. Secondly, students prepared the difficult words and the 180

7 TransCon Proceedings, 2011 translations (checklist). Thirdly, students made some guided questions that would be asked to English native speakers. Sample 3. Photograph of Site Interview In the application, students knew that most English native speakers did not understand the guide book well. In this case, students conducted the site interview to dig some information about anything they had never heard before, such as Kyai Rajamala, Nyai Setomi, Rajaweda, and Kiblat Papat. These words were chosen because these were not explained by the author of the book. By making some alternatives, student knew what went wrong and what the acceptable terms in the translation were. Focus Group Discussion Focus Group Discussion was made to discuss the findings in the site observation, snap shooting, and site interview. When students finished conducting some steps above, then they did Focus Group Discussion which functioned as the member checking addressed for non-native English speaking students. This step showed students that sometimes rivalry in the class was needed and sometimes students should help others. And, in this step, students still used Indonesian draft, in order to ensure that their concepts about cultural things were right. Here, the translation ideology that they used was commonly domestication (with explanation). Sample 4. Photograph of FGD 181

8 Rahmanti Asmarani and Raden Arief Nugroho Sometimes, students are not very confident with the job they have made and they need to discuss it with friends or sometimes lecturers. In this point, all participants were offered to present the findings when they had their site observation site interview steps. Every possibility was discussed there. It was needed because sometimes students felt difficulties in finding the correct translation since in the site interview nearly all native speakers that they had interviewed gave positive response (which actually puzzled students). Thus, the aim of this step was to prepare Indonesian final draft before it was ready to be back translated. Retranslation (Back Translation) At last, the students retranslated the text into English. This was happened to be the end of creative paths. Here, students made their final draft in English. There were some alternatives: 1) all students in one class made one final draft, or 2) there were some final drafts from different groups in a class. The final draft was made after students dealt with explanation from English native speakers explanation, group discussion, and real world report. Conclusion and Suggestion The students should be encouraged to express their own idea even to explore their skill especially skill of translation. By doing the site interview, snap shooting, and site observation as creative path, the students will realize that translation is an activity of not only changing the language but also transferring the idea which it includes the cultural concept; abstract and concrete, then they should be able to describe it clearly. These paths are offered as an alternative to teach translation in a fun atmosphere. Students might have experience of different nuance when they become a professional translator someday. Things like deadline or job pressure cannot be separated from the nuance of professional work. In addition, these creative paths are inspired by the field trip program which the authors usually see in elementary to senior high school, and usually, students make a report after that. So, teaching translation could either be fun or be critical. Bibliography Bassnett, Susan Mc. Guire Translation Studies. London and New York: Routledge Bell, Roger T Translation and Translating : Theory and Practice. London: CN Candlin Brislin, Richard Translation : Application and Research. New York : Garder Press. Inc Catford, J.C Linguistic Theory of Translation. Oxford : Oxford University Press Chitra Fernando Idioms and Idiomaticity. Oxford : Oxford University Press. Gile, Daniel Basic Concepts and Models for Interpreter and Translator Training. Philadelphia, USA : John Benjamins Publishing Company House, Juliane A Model for Translation Quality Assessment. TBL Veriag Gunter Narr. Tubingen Kempson, Ruth Semantic Theory. London : Cambridge University Press. 182

9 TransCon Proceedings, 2011 LaPlante, Thomas From Manga to Comic: Visual Language in Translation. (A Senior Honors Thesis). The Ohio States University. Larson, Mildred. L Penerjemahan Berdasar Makna : Pedoman untuk Pemadanan Antar Bahasa. Jakarta : Penerbit Arcan. Lyons, John Semantics. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. Nababan, M. Rudolf Aspek Teori Penerjemahan dan Pengalihbahasaan. Surakarta. Newmark, Peter Approaches to Translation. UK : Prentice Hall A textbook of Translation. UK : Prentice Hall Nida, EA Componential Analysis of Meaning: An Introduction to Semantic Structures. Hague: The Netherlands Mouton & CO. NV Publishers Language Structure and Translation. California: Stanford University Press. Nord C Text Analysis in Translation: Theory, Methodology and Didactic Application of A Mode for Translation-Oriented Text Analysis. Amsterdam and Atlanta: Rodopi 183