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Definition of Translation
By admin | December 5, 2008
The Webster’s New International Dictionary (2002: 1428) informs that to translate means to render into another language; to express on their term; to explain by using another word. The word translation comes from Latin; trans, across and latum, to carry. Meanwhile, The Oxford Companion to the English Language (2005: 1329) defines translation as “the restatement of the form of one language to another”. Some experts also put the point; restatement of the forms of languages forward.
Larson (1984: 51) states; in translation, the form of the source language is replaced by the form of the target language. Larson further explains that the language forms refer to the actual word, phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph, etc which are spoken or written. Nida and Taber (in Widyamartaya, 1989:11), similarly states that translating consists of reproducing the receptor language to the closest natural equivalent of the source language message, first in the term of meaning and secondly in the term of style. Bassnett (1991: 2) says that what is generally understood as translation involves the rendering of a source language (SL) text into the target language (TL). Catford (1965) quoted in Machali (2000: 5) mentions that translations is the replacement of textual material in one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL). According to Damono in Kompas (21st June 2003), translation is transferring ideas by using several languages as medium.
Widyamartaya (1989: 13) states that a good translation should not be read as a translation, the translation should be read like a piece of original composition and must express the whole meaning of the original. Larson (1984: 6) mentions the characteristics of a good translation as follows:
1. Use the normal language forms of the receptor language
2. Communicate to the receptor language speakers the same meaning that was understood by the speaker of the source language.
3. Maintain the dynamics of the original source language text.
Based on those statements and characteristics, I conclude that translation produces the meaning of SL (that is meaning intended by the original communicator) in the natural form of the receptor language.
Barnwell in Edy (2000: 15) emphasizes that a best translation could be judged on aspects of accuracy, clarity, and naturalness. The definitions are as follows:
1. Accuracy means the content of the translation must be identical with that of the original text.
2. Clarity means the translation must convey the information clearly.
3. Maintain the dynamics of the original source language text.
Newmark (1982:7) also believes that it becomes a craft and an art to make a creative translation. He states that translations is a craft consisting in attempts to replace a written message and/or statement in one language by the same message and/or statement in one language by the same message and/or statement in other language.
Thus, a translator may face a problem of not finding a translation equivalent. In addition to this, Larson (1984:56) mentions:
There will be the words in the source language and receptor language that are very similar in context (contain the same meaning components), but not all will match by any means. Not all language communities have the same ideas.
From the statement above, Larson believes that language combines meanings differently and a translator has to accept its consequences that there will be many words which do not have an exact word equivalent in the receptor language. Considering the fact that a single word may be translated by one word or by a number of words in the receptor language, and that the lexical structures of the two languages are different, then the way the concepts are expressed will be different.
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