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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Research Background
History plays an important role in people’s life. Many people learn good and
bad things from history. By learning history they can avoid repeating past
mistakes for better future. People can also know the situation and condition of
their country in the past and will make good situation and condition by learning
experiences in the past. People’s experiences in the past are valuable history in the
present because their experiences will give wise thinking and action. Thus, history
has an important meaning to the people and important role to the country.
Talking about history, a history of country can influence people and the
country itself. A history of country not only influences the people in one country
but also influences the people in other countries, even people in the world. The
most influential country in influencing people and countries in the world is
America. America as a superpower country affects several fields such as;
economic, politic, social and culture. Therefore, many people and countries learn
American histories from historical books. One of historical books is An Outline of
American History as the oldest book which is published by USIA (United States
Information Agency). The distribution of this book is not only to American and
European countries but also to worldwide in which many countries speak non-
English. In overcoming the language barriers for those people who have not use
English as their first language, language transfer is required to facilitate people’s commit to user
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comprehension from source language (SL) of historical book An Outline of
American History to target language (TL). Therefore, it should be translated in
order to that people understand the history in historical book.
An Outline of American History contains many big historical events which
influence the world. Concerning the event names, there must be some of fact
event names. Therefore in translating event names it requires careful
consideration. The understanding of target language history is often a problem for
translators who have different historical and country background. The translator
should be able to bring the historical meaning or historical identity (e.g. World
War I and Black Monday, the names belong to historical event names) and should
understand the U.S.A. historical country background. It does not mean that the
translator should learn American history to translate the source text into target
text.
Event names as types of proper names may be complicated. Translating
proper names may consider some aspects.
Translation is especially complicated since proper names usually have
various allusions indicating sex, age, geographical belonging, history, specific meaning, playfulness of language and cultural connotations.The translator may consider some aspects: the use of special names, the use
of meaningful names, interpretation of names, the contribution to characterization, allusions in proper names, text function or effect they
create, etc. (Jaleniauskienė & Čičelytė, 2009:31)
Regarding those difficulties, translation of event names is interesting to
discuss. It leads the researcher to analyze one type of proper names that is event
names in historical book An Outline of American History. Those event names
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should be translated accurately and acceptably in meaning. Some of them are not
easy to translate, as can be seen in the following example:
Example 1:
ST: They also organized rallies, the largest of which was the March on
Washington in 1963.
TT: Mereka juga melakukan unjuk rasa, yang terbesar adalah Berbaris ke
Washington pada tahun 1963.
The example above shows that there is a big event called March on
Washington where the people organized rallies on Washington. The translator
translated March on Washington into Berbaris ke Washington. March on
Washington is the event where people gathered and walked to Washington for
protesting their right as described in An Outline of American History book.
They also organized rallies, the largest of which was the “March on Washington” in 1963. More than 200,000 people gathered in the nation’s capital to demonstrate their commitment to equality for all. The
high point of a day of songs and speeches came with the address of Martin Luther King Jr., who had emerged as the preeminent spokes-man for civil
rights. “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Geor-gia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down
together at the table of brotherhood,” King proclaimed. Each time he used the refrain “I have a dream,” the crowd roared. (Endsley, et al 1990:277)
The description above is proved with the picture taken from
www.clintonfoundation.org which shows the people gathered and walked to
Washington for fighting their freedom. It is shown from the banner they brought
to Washington.
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Figure 1.1 March on Washington
Figure 1.2 View of Washington Monument during March on Washington
Based on Oxford Learner’s Dictionary (2010: 906) March has several
meaning, first, to walk with stiff regular steps like a soldier, second,to walk
somewhere quickly in a determined way, third, to walk through the streets in a
large group in order to protest about something and last, to force somebody to
walk somewhere with you. Here, it can be concluded that march is an activity of
people walking for something or with certain purpose. The translator translates
march into berbaris, the translation is potentially accurate because berbaris
means walk in Indonesia. As described in KBBI (1988:81) berbaris is membaris
or berjalan berbaris (march).
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Example 2:
TT: The United States suffered an economic setback on October 19, 1987, so
called Black Monday, when the value of stock stumbled 22 percent.
ST: Amerika Serikat menderita kemunduran ekonomi pada tanggal 19 Oktober
1987, yang dikenal sebagai Senin Kelabu, ketika nilai saham jatuh 22
persen.
The example above shows there is an event named Black Monday. Black
Monday is the event when prices on stock exchanges all over the world suddenly
began to fall, as described in An Outline of American History book. The United
States suffered an economic setback on October 19, 1987, so-called "Black
Monday," when the value of stocks tumbled 22 percent -- immediately bringing
back memories of the fabled stock market crash of 1929, which had been followed
by the Great Depression of the 1930s. (Endsley et.al, 1990)
Based on Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2010: 138) black refers to
something without hope; very depressing. Thus, Black in Black Monday refers to
depressing thing. Here, the black in Black Monday has a connotative meaning.
Black in Black Monday shows the depressing event when prices on stock
exchanges began to fall.
The word kelabu is familiar in Indonesia. There are also historical events
which use kelabu to show the undesirable event which makes the people
mourned. One of them is Mei Kelabu. The history noted that the turmoil during
th th 13 – 15 of May 1998 can be categorized as vandalism and anarchism action by
security forces and the society. Then those days were known as Mei Kelabu commit to user
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(Maya Yudayanti, Suara Merdeka Online, May 19, 2006). Here, the meaning
event name Black Monday is transferred properly in meaning by the translator
since black is translated into kelabu which has similar meaning.
Example 3:
ST: Violent wind and dust storms ravaged the southern Great Plains in what
became known as the Dust Bowl, throughout the 1930s, but particularly from
1935 to 1939.
TT: Angin ribut dan topan debu menyerang wilayah selatan Dataran Besar dalam
kejadian yang kemudian dikenal dengan sebutan Mangkuk Debu. Peristiwa
ini terjadi sepanjang tahun 1930-an, namun yang paling hebat antara
tahun1935 hingga 1938.
The example above shows there is a disaster event Dust Bowl. Dust Bowl
was a disaster when the giant dust storms were covering the southern Great Plains.
The Dust Bowl, or the "dirty thirties", was a period of severe dust storms
causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian
prairie lands from 1930 to 1936 (in some areas until 1940). Severe drought
coupled with decades of intensive farming without crop rotation or other
techniques to prevent erosion led to this wide-spread disaster. (Michele
Buonanduci, The Encyclopedia of Earth, April 27, 2009)
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Figure 1.3 The dust storm made it so dark the chicken thougt it was night.
Figure 1.4 The dust storm covered in Elkhart, KS on April, 21st 1937.
The pictures which are taken from www.livinghistoryfarm.org also show the
blowing dust that makes the plains looked more like a desert than a farmland. The
event name Dust Bowl in the source text creates an effect to the people in the
source text. It reminds them of the unforgettable event that is Dust Bowl. It also
makes the people can imagine how big the dust storms was.
Then translator translated it literally into Mangkuk Debu. Therefore the
translation is accurate because the meaning of event name translation in target
language is the same as the meaning of event name in the source text. But, the
problem is the literal translation sounds unfamiliar in target language culture.
The following example also shows the interesting phenomenonrelated to the
translation of event names.
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Example 4:
ST: Many died of disease and privation in what became known as the Trail of
Tears.
TT: Banyak yang meninggal dalam perjalanan tersebut karena penyakit dan
kekurangan makan dalam peristiwa yang kemudian dikenal dengan nama
Trails of Tears (Jejak Air Mata).
In the example above, we can find the event Trail of Tearswhich is
borrowed by the translator from ST in TT by adding the meaning (Jejak Air
Mata). Eventhough a meaning is added in the Trail of Tears in Bahasa Indonesia,
we know that not all of target readers know what it means. Trail of Tears is the
event when Indian, Cherokee nation and other native Americans were being
forced by the U.S. government to move to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) as
described as follow:
In the 1820s, President Monroe's secretary of war, John C. Calhoun,
pursued a policy of removing the remaining tribes from the old Southwest
and resettling them beyond the Mississippi. Jackson continued this policy as
president.
In 1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, providing funds to
transport the eastern tribes beyond the Mississippi. In 1834 a special Indian
territory was set up in what is now Oklahoma. In all, the tribes signed 94
treaties during Jackson's two terms, ceding millions of hectares to the federal
government and removing dozens of tribes from their ancestral homelands. commit to user
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Perhaps the most egregious chapter in this unfortunate history concerned the
Cherokees, whose lands in western North Carolina and Georgia had been
guaranteed by treaty since 1791. Among the most progressive of the eastern
tribes, the Cherokees' fate was sealed when gold was discovered on their
land in 1829. Even a favorable ruling from the Supreme Court proved little
help. With the acquiescence of the Jackson administration, the Cherokees
were forced to make the long and cruel trek to Oklahoma in 1835. Many died
of disease and privation in what became known as the "Trail of Tears."
(Endsley et.al, 1990)
Based on description above, the Indian people, Cherokee nation was forced
to give up its lands east of the Mississippi River and to migrate to an area in
present-day Oklahoma. In this event, the migrants, Cherokee people faced hunger,
disease and exhaustion. Therefore their journey was called Trail of Tears.
Trails can be interpreted as their journey and Tears can be interpreted as
their pain for suffering disease, hunger and exhaustion in that Indian removal. It
means that the word Trail of Tears has connotative meaning. The translator
translates it using couplet technique, borrowing and amplification by adding the
literal translation of Trail of Tears in TT. Trail of Tears is translated literally
into Jejak Air Mata and it is difficult for the target readers to understand literal
meaning of Trail of Tears. However, the problem is that not all of target readers
can interpret and understand the connotative meaning of Trail of Tears and Jejak
Air Mata.
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The above phenomena show that translating event names is challenging. It
leads the researcher to analyze the translation of event names in a historical book
entitled An Outline of American History and its translation Garis Besar Sejarah
Amerika as an object of this research. An Outline of American History is a
historical book which stories the historical fact of U.S.A. from early period to 21st
century.
B. Problem Statements
Based on the research background stated above, the following research
problems are proposed:
1. What translation techniques are used by the translator to translate event
names in historical book entitled An Outline of American History?
2. What are the impacts of the translation techniques on the quality
assessment in terms of accuracy and acceptability of the event names in
historical book entitled An Outline of American History?
C. Research Limitation
The problem in this research is limited on the translation of event names
found in historical book entitled An Outline of American History and its
translation Garis Besar Sejarah Amerika.The data analyzed are in terms of words
and phrases only. It will focus on translation technique applied by the translator
and the impacts of translation quality in terms of accuracy and acceptability in
translating event names in historical book entitled An Outline of American History
and its translation Garis Besar Sejarah Amerika.
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D. Research Objectives
The objectives of the research are:
1. To find out the techniques used by the translator in translating the event
names in historical book entitled An Outline of American History and its
translation Garis Besar Sejarah Amerika.
2. To describe the impact of translation techniques on the accuracy and
acceptability of event names in historical book entitled Garis Besar
Sejarah Amerika.
E. Research Benefits
This is expected that this study will be beneficial for:
1. Translators
The research is expected to give benefits to translators by giving some
references in translating event names. The translators will be able to have
some considerations in translating event names. They can consider the
techniques applied and strategies in translating event names.
2. Students of English Department
The research is expected to give benefits to students of English
Department by providing some knowledge about translating proper names,
especially event names, translation techniques that can be used, and the
impact of translation techniques used in quality assessment in terms of
accuracy and acceptability.
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3. Other researchers
The research is expected to give benefits to other researchers by providing
information about event names analysis as a type of proper names that will
be able to stimulate them to do further research in similar subject.
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