Sense and Reference in Translation of Indonesian Dishes Names
SENSE AND REFERENCE IN TRANSLATION OF INDONESIAN DISHES NAMES
A Thesis
Submitted to Faculty of Adab and Humanities In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree of Strata One
Muhammad Abdul Hakam
1112026000056
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
FACULTY OF ADAB AND HUMANITIES
SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY
2017 ABSTRACT
Muhammad Abdul Hakam, Sense and Reference in Translation of Indonesian dish names. A Thesis: English Language and Literature Department, Faculty of Adab and Humanities, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, 2017.
This thesis focuses on the accuracy of sense and reference of dishes names. The data is taken from hotels around Indonesia. The method in this thesis is descriptive qualitative. The accuracy analyzed by considering the sense and reference in both languages. From the analysis, most of translations are accurate because most reference of translations are correspond to source language dishes as when translating nominal being, the object itself is most important aspect that translators have to look into. This thesis hopefully could give great influence in translation of dishes names translation issue and translation of nominal being. Also could be basic consideration when it comes to translate dishes names.
Keywords: Sense, Reference, Dish names, Translation
i APPROVEMENT
SENSE AND REFERENCE IN TRANSLATION OF INDONESIAN DISHES NAMES
A Thesis
Submitted to Letters and Humanities Faculty In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Strata One (S1)
Muhammad Abdul Hakam NIM:1112026000056
Approved by:
Advisor
Dr. Frans Sayogie. S.H, M.H, .M.Pd. NIP: 19700310 200003 1 002
(Day/Date: / / )
ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE DEPARTMENT
ADAB AND HUMANITIES FACULTY
SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY
JAKARTA
2017
ii LEGALIZATION
Name : Muhammad Abdul Hakam
NIM : 1112026000056
Title : Sense and Reference in Translation of Indonesian Dishes Names
This thesis entitled above has been defended before the Letters and Humanities Faculty’s Examination Committee on March 23rd, 2017. It has already been accepted as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of strata one.
Jakarta, March 23rd, 2017
Examination Committee
iii DECLARATION
I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, no previous published works used as a material in the thesis or the other works for submission of any other diploma or any higher degrees of other universities or any other institution of higher degree except, the works that were cited in the thesis for the theory that already put in the bibliography.
Jakarta, January 30, 2017
Muhammad Abdul Hakam
iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most mercifull
All praises be to Allah, Who gives bless and direction for me to finish this thesis. Peace and blessing of Allah may be upon our prophet Muhammad SAW, his families, his companions and his followers
I would also love to give the utmost appreciation for an important people that hands a huge contribution so that I could finish this thesis. The following people are deserved to give appreciation:
1. Prof. Dr. Dede Rosyada MA., as the Rector of Syarif Hidayatillah State Islamic University
2. Prof. Dr. Sukron Kamil MA., as the Dean of Adab and Humanities Faculty
3. Drs. Saefudin M.Pd., as the Head of English Language and Literature Department and Elve Oktaviani M.Hum as the Secretary
4. Dr. Frans Sayogie S.H. M.H. M.Pd. as the advisor who give a great contribution in making this thesis
5. All lecturers in English Language and Literature Department
Thanks for my parents who always support and pray for me so I could do the best to finish this thesis, Also my brothers and sisters who always give suggestion and direction so that I am always in a good tracks and to all my big family who always encourage me.
v Special gratitude for my friends, Egi, Anhar, Dias who always give a good time, happy time so that all stress gone and also all of friends that could not be mentioned one by one, for the support and help.
Finally, I hope that this thesis would give contribution in the field. I realize that this thesis is far from perfect. I hope that critics and suggestion would make this thesis to be better.
Jakarta, January 2017
Muhammad Abdul Hakam
vi TABLE OF CONTENT
ABSTRACT...... i APPROVEMENT...... ii LEGALIZATION...... iii DECLARATION...... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT...... v TABLE OF CONTENT...... vii
CHAPTER I...... 1 A. Background of the Study...... 1 B. Focus of the Study...... 3 C. Research Question...... 3 D. Significance of the Study...... 3 E. Research Objective...... 4 F. Research Methodology...... 4
CHAPTER II...... 6 A. Previous Research...... 6 B. The Concept of Sense and Reference in Translation...... 9 C. Cultural Categories...... 17 D. Meaning in Translation...... 18 E. Accuracy of Translation...... 19 F. Recent Perspective of Dishes Names Translation...... 24
CHAPTER III...... 27 A. Data Description...... 27
vii B. Data Analysis...... 28 C. Research Finding...... 36
CHAPTER IV...... 37 A. Conclusion...... 37 B. Suggestion...... 38
BIBLIOGRAPHY...... 39
APPENDICES...... 41
viii CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
There are so many dishes in Indonesia. The flavor that well-known to be rich and unique is one of the factor why there are many people in the world like Indonesian dishes. Some of Indonesian dishes even have become very popular like rendang and nasi goreng (fried rice). Those two Indonesian dishes marked as the fifty most delicious food around the world in the survey conducted by CNN in 2011 and submitted in their websites. Not only those two, sate (satay) also on the list. 1
Because of that reason, Indonesian dishes become more famous in international world. This influence many people to create translations of
Indonesian dishes in order to represent the dishes to the world. The problem are
Indonesian culture, cooking tradition and concept which different from another country for example like the concept of pisang goreng and the concept of fried bananas cakes (as written in a website), such translation is inaccurate. If the translators do not aware about that, the translation will lead to less accurate translation or even poor translation. In bigger case, modern market in Bekasi offers a poor translation of Indonesian dish name. They translate otak-otak ikan into “fish brains” which is a very bad translation because the dish in source language is far different compared with the dish reflected from the translation
1 Elin Yunita Kristanti, “Survei CNN: Rendang Terlezat di Dunia”, accessed April 24, 2016, goo.gl/sGkCiV
1 2
version. This translation may even shock some native speakers who do not know what the dish really is. Because of those reasons, the researcher would like to analyze meaning of dishes names and its translation in Indonesia. The researcher will use Gotlobb Frege theory about the meaning of proper noun that further adapted by Paul Moliveanu to put it in translation practice. In the theory, he explained that how one translation transforms is depended on the knowledge of translators about the reference in both languages. It means by analyzing the sense and reference in both languages, the accuracy of a translation can be seen. Also, the researcher uses Chongjun Mu's research finding of dish names translation in
China.
According to Chongjun Mu’s research about poor translation of Chinese dishes, translation of dishes must not just oriented to the source language names.
Foreigners who travel to the country and want to order a chinese dish would not understand if translators emphasize on literal meaning of the source language dish names. They rather like to see the information about the dish like how it is cooked and the material used in the dish. Still, translators must consider the concept of the food itself, because there are some translation about one concept of food which is not informed about the material or how it is cooked, but they understand the dish, because the concept can be imagined by them: they are familiar with the food.2
From his research, it can be concluded that reference or the dish itself is more important than the sense of the dish name. Direct translation is impossible to do, because it can lead to poor translation: the sense of source language cannot be
2 Chongjun Mu, “English Translation of Chinese Dish Names”, Translation Journal 14(2010), April 24, 2016, goo.gl/ZCEBXX 3
translated directly. Translators have to consider what the reference and which reference in target language that could correspond to source language reference.
The researcher wants to analyze dish names and its translation taken from some hotels around Indonesia. These data are taken randomly from menus found in official websites of the hotels. The researcher believes that the data taken from hotels would be more comprehensive and objective.
B. Focus of the Study
The focus of this study is sense and reference of source language dishes names and its translations. First, the researcher analyzes the sense of the dish and gives short information regarding to reference or the dishes. Then, the researcher compares the source language with target language sense and reference or in the other hand the translations. From there, it could be seen how the accuracy of the translations are.
C. Research Question
This research tries to answer:
How are the accuracy of sense and reference in Indonesian dishes names translation?
D. Significance of the Study
This study hopefully can give contribution in translation study, especially in the field of translation equivalence and translation of proper name. Then, this 4
thesis would also provide more knowledge of dish names translation that is still rarely discussed.
E. Research Objective
Based on the research question, this research reveals the accuracy of dishes names translations in perspective of sense and reference. Moreover, this research could explain about how are transformations between dishes names in source language and target language as it will reflect in the analysis.
F. Research Methodology
1. Method of the research
The method in this research is descriptive qualitative. The researcher will describe the sense and reference of the dish name and the translation. From that, the accuracy would be judged. Moreover, some problems that occur when translating the dish would be clear in the analysis.
2. Unit of analysis
Unit for this study are dishes names collected from the menu of some hotels in Indonesia. The source the dish names taken from, could be seen in the footnote.
3. Research instrument
The researcher uses some journals, books and papers for the theory. Also, the researcher uses internet to collect data and images. The data in this thesis collected from official websites of the hotel. Also, some of definitions and 5
descriptions is gathered from online dictionary and websites CHAPTER II
THE CONCEPT OF SENSE AND REFERENCE IN TRANSLATION
A. Previous Research
The first research is the research conducted in China about translation of dish names. The research title is “English Translation of Chinese Dish Names” held by
Chongjun Mu’s. It is reported that a Chinese dish named “si xi wan zi” (四喜丸
子) is translated as "Four Happy Meatballs" in English. Such a translation may shock foreign guests.
The researcher interviews a native speaker to know her opinion about the translation. The interviewee explained that the translations showed to her were good, but she thought they might be more confusing for people who did not know
Chinese food very well. She suggested that the translation should be direct and clarify what foreigners want to know. With regard to the difference between the translations in mainland China and western countries, she thought that in western countries the translations is more related to what is in the food rather than the translations done in China (e.g dish called “mao xue wang” (毛血旺), translated into Sautéed Eel with Duck Blood Curd). However, some dishes like Kung Pao
Chicken are different. Natives are already familiar with that dish and if they order that dish, the waiters would acknowledge what kind of food they ordered.3
3 ChongJun mu, Loc.cit
6 7
In this thesis, the researcher also analyzes dishes names but the different is that in here, the researcher would like to analyze the accuracy of the translations.
However, the researcher would like to use Chongjun Mu’s findings as consideration. In his research, some of the dishes are translated by using some description if impossible to search for the most corresponds reference in target language. The description was similar like the style of naming a dish in most of western countries which includes the way how the food cooked, or ingredients used (e.g pan seared lamb with salsa sauce or etc)
The second research is “Chinese – English Translation of Dish Names from
Perspective of Cultural Differences” by Kang Qiang. This research is about the cultural different between western and China about dietary culture or food culture as it also describes style of naming there.
The researcher in this paper first summarized the definitions of language, culture, translation, and the interrelation between them. Next, he made a detail comparison between Chinese and Western dietary culture, then classified the
Chinese dish names into descriptive dish names, image-telling dish names and newly-invented dish names according to their naming style. In the research, the culture is a focal point that explained by the researcher.4
The research by Kang Qiang focuses on cultural differences whereas in this thesis, the researcher not gives too much attention in cultural differences between two languages. In this thesis, the aim is to know the accuracy of the translations.
4 Kang Qiang, “Chinese - English Translation of Dish Names from Perspective of Cultural Differences,” Cross – Cultural Communication 9, No. 6 (2013): 121 – 124 8
Also, the researcher thinks that different culture between two languages could not be avoided. Thus, translators have to solve the gap between two to create good translations.
The third research is “Sense and Reference in Translation” by Paul
Moliveanu . The article is inspired from the German scholar Gottlob Frege the idea of linguistic meaning as a combination of sense and reference and attempts to put it to work in the translation of several excerpts from English into Romanian, with the twofold purpose of verifying its usefulness in the practice of translation and its status as a potential point of departure for a semantic model of the translation process.
The finding of the paper is that the process of translating can be decomposed into four stages: ST sense, ST reference, TT reference, TT sense. In here, translators have to read first the sense of the source text to know and realize what the intention or meaning of the text. Then, reality check, in here they have to know what the thing refer while he/she transfer or search for correspond reference that match with source text reference. Last, translators inject the sense so the target language reader understand meaning of the text.5
From this thesis, the researcher takes the theory of sense and reference that proposed by Paul. From the four process, the researcher concludes that the reference between two languages have to correspond each other. The different from the journal and this thesis is that when Paul focused on the process of
5 Paul Moliveanu, “Sense and Reference in Translation,” Perspective: Studies in Translatology 21, No.2(2013):209 – 225 9
translation, the researcher focuses on analyzing the sense and reference in two languages. The accuracy could be seen from the analysis.
B. The Concept of Sense and Reference in Translation
1. The concept of sense
The relation between sign, sense and reference was firstly introduced by the
German philosopher, Gottlob Frege. He stated that there was a relation between the sign (name, noun phrase, proper name), the reference which was the object that the sign refer, and its sense which he called “the mode of representation.6”
Signs that are assumed to have same meaning (because it refer to the same thing) are actually different in its sense. To give an illustration, he made an example of how the phrase “Morning Star” and “Evening Star” have same reference but different in term of their sense.7 For illustration:
“The Morning Star is the Morning Star”
“The Evening Star is the Morning Star”
Above phrases show clearly the difference of sense between them. If they have the same meaning both sentences is true (Venus is Venus). But first sentences obvious and agreed by everybody even though they don’t have enough knowledge in astronomy. Second sentence is not so obvious except for anybody that have a great knowledge of astronomy. They are both refer to the same thing
(which is Venus) but have different meaning because they are different in term of sense. The sense of the “Morning Star” is most likely be “the bright star that
6 Gotlob Frege, On Sense and Reference (n.d), downloaded May, 10, 2016, https://goo.gl/oXDDgb 7 Loc.cit 10
shines in the early morning” while the “Evening Star” is “the bright star that shines in the early evening”.8
Sense could also seen as the amount of information given about the object.
These information arise because people have different interpretation about the object that they have seen. Those two phrases above could also be an example.
They both refer to the object that named “Venus” but people name it different because “one Venus” have been seen in the morning and “other Venus” have been seen in the evening.9
Saeed explained that sense is the factor that make people understand the expression and to use it when referring to a particular individual at any given time.10
In Frege’s article, He explained further more of his though about sense of an expression. He said that the sense of a sign is grasped by everybody who is sufficiently familiar with the language. These sense are illuminate one single aspect of the reference. People with the comprehensive knowledge of reference would understand whether the given sense belong to it or not.11 In modern linguistic, the sense is sometimes called an intention because this meaning is inside the word not outside the word.12
In the book written by Hurford, Heasley and Smith, they defined sense of an expression as its place in the system of semantic relationship with other
8 Alec Julien, “The Morning Star and The Evening Star,” goo.gl/4wpQdj (June 20, 2013) 9 “Linguistic 322”, https://goo.gl/Sp1VWp, (n.d) Accessed on September 14, 2016 10 Antar Solhy Abdellah, Meaning: Sense and Reference, (2003) downloaded September 14, 2016, https://goo.gl/LFGF3d 11 Gotlob Frege, Op.cit 12 Victoria Fromkin & Robert Rodman, An Introduction to Language (Orlando: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1998), 174 11
expression in language. In other words, the sense of an expression has a relationship with other sense.
Example:
“I almost fell over and I nearly fell over”
The underline words have same sense
“He painted the fireplace aquamarine and he painted the fireplace vermilion”
The underline words have different sense.
Not only word, sense also could found in the longer expression.
Example:
“Rupert took off his jacket” and “Rupert took his jacket off” have the same sense
“Hariet wrote the answer down” and “Hariet wrote down the answer” have same sense
Some words or expressions could have more than one sense, like in the sentence below, the word “bank” have at least four different senses.
Example:
“I have an account at the Bank of Scotland”
“We steered the raft to the other bank of river”
“The DC-10 banked sharply to avoid a crash”
“I banked the furnace up with coke last night.13”
From all explanations above, it can be concluded that the sense is the knowledge of people about expressions or signs in language. The sense of an expression could be known by analyzing how the expression representing the
13 James R. Hurford, Brendan Heasley, and Michael B. Smith, Semantics: a Coursebook (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 29 12
reference. This sense is grasp and acknowledge by language user so they would know which sense is particular sign refer to. They also could see the different or sameness of sense when they read some words or expressions.
Moreover, the sense of an expression is meaning inside the language and eventually understood by language user and it is an abstraction.
2. The Concept of Reference
For Frege, the reference is the object that the sign refer.14 In Hurford,
Heasley and Smith book, they wrote the same definition about reference as the thing in the world that the speaker indicates in the expression. They classified the expression with the reference into three:
a. Expression that refers to different things in the world
The same reference in some cases can refer to the same things. For example
in the phrase “your left ears”, there are many possible references as there are
people in the word with left ears. Other example is phrase “this page” as there are
pages in the world. Thus many expressions in language can have variable
reference.
b. Expression that has constant reference or refer only to one thing
There are cases of expression which in everyday conversation never refer to
different things. For example imagine in two situations, there are people talking
about “the moon,” they would talking about “the satellite that orbit around the
earth.” Thus, some expressions in language have constant reference
14 Gotlob Frege, Op.cit. 13
c. Some expressions that have one reference
Some expressions in languages can have same reference. It depend of the
context that these expressions are used. The classic examples are “The Morning
star” and “The Evening Star” which refer to the same thing which is Venus.15
Reference sometimes called extension because this is the phenomena outside the language, the world.16 In the theory of meaning that explained by Ogden and
Richard, it is known as referent.17 It was classified by Ferdinand de Sausure as the extra lingual element.18
Frege then gave more clear clarification about the relation between the sign, sense an its reference. The sign correspond to the definite sense that refers to the definite reference. However, a reference could have more than one sign. Moreover, he said that one sense could possibly have different expressions in different languages or even in the same language.19
In his work, Frege also introduced the term ‘associated idea’, he explained the difference between the sense of a word with associated idea. If the sense is correspond by it reference and objective because it catch a single aspect of the reference. The associated idea is subjective because this terminology is about the experience from a person when it comes to reference. One person must have their own idea about the reference from their own personal background.20
15 James R. Hurford, Brendan Heasley, and Michael B. Smith, Op.cit, 26 – 28 16 Victoria Fromkin & Robert Rodman, Op.cit. 17 Kushartanti, Untung Yuwono & Multamia RMT Lauder, Pesona Bahasa: Langkah Awal Memahami Linguistik, (Jakarta: PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 2009) 114 18 Abdul Chaer, Pengantar Semantik Bahasa Indonesia, (Jakarta: Rineka Cipta, 2013), 29 – 30 19 Gotlob Frege, Op.cit 20 Gotlob Frege, Loc.cit. 14
From explanation above, there are three concept of meaning, sense, reference and associated idea. These three concepts are related to each other. The sense of a sign is corresponds to a reference and common for many people. On the other hand, there is additional sense that Frege called associated ideas which is the subjective view of the reference. In short, the sign of a proper name express a sense that stand for or designate a reference.
3. Sense and Reference in Translation
The theory of sense and reference was taken by Paul Movileanu to analyze the process of translation. Even though his theory is based on Frege theory, he revised and changed the theory so that it can fit in to the translation practice. In his work, he introduced new concept of sense and reference in translation.21
a. Sense in translation
Sense of linguistic expression is a subjective manipulation of a reference.
Being subjective the sense is always intentional and meant to fulfill certain need
or function. Even though subjective, the sense is conform to linguistic, social and
cultural norm. Sense then divided into two which is the denotation, the referential
core of the sense which conforms to most or all linguistic, social or cultural
norms, in other word the literal or dictionary meaning, and connotation which is
called associated idea on his paper. This sense is fringe of the sense, more
subjective and less regularized. They are mobile in that they can be absorb into
the denotation or they can even disappear.
21 Paul Moliveanu, Op.cit. 15
b. Reference in translation
The reference of linguistic expression is conceptual representation of a piece
of reality into the language-culture which this linguistic expression belong. It is
objective and same for all users of respective language. The reference of the
nominal phrases is concrete being, it is also known as referent for some linguists.
In his work, he illustrated it into translation practice of noun phrases, predicate and sentences. When it comes to translating noun phrases, he explained that the reference of noun phrase is concrete entity. It is an object or non-object, an abstract entity that always expressible in an illustration. The sense is the reference used by rational subject in a specific situation in specific purpose. In other words it is the reference with context which conform to most linguistic, social and cultural norms. This sense is denotation. Moreover, there are sense used in more particular way. He imprint his own subjectivity to the reference which known as connotation.22
He then gave demonstration in case of translating several noun phrases. First noun phrases that he used for the demonstration is “the Morning Star” taken from
Frege. Reference of the phrase is “the celestial body that shines last in the morning” and to know sense the phrase, the translators have to assume context. In his paper, he illustrated the condition when the translator did not know much about the context of the text. In this situation, the translator have to know word by word meaning and try to connect them by meaning so this phrase will be more meaningful. After that, the translator will come out with idea about which the
22 Paul Moliveanu, Loc.cit 16
expression refers. If the translators know that “the morning star” refer to
Venus. He will come out with the correspond expression of Venus in target language which is “luceafarul de dimineata23”. If he knows the noun phrase often refer to the name of devil he would come out with “luceafarul24”.If the translators did not know about it, the translators will come with an expression that could correspond to the sense of the noun phrase. The most natural would be “steaua de dimineata25”. Now, the translator would be satisfied with the translation or he realizes that “steaua de dimineata” resembles the meaning of “luceafarul de dimineata” and changes the translation accordingly.26
Second phrase that used by him is “Conservation Tillage Agriculture”. In this case, the situation is the translator know nothing about agriculture and he has to translate it into Romanian. The step would be like before, the translator have to search the meaning word by word. Conservation and agriculture will be familiar for him but “tillage” will not (in this case, it assumed that the translator do not know the meaning). In order for it to make sense, the word have to fit with the other two words. He may know the “conservation” and “agriculture” by sense and reference. To know what is the meaning of “tillage,” the translator would see in
Bilingual and Monolingual dictionary to get the most equivalent word which are
“aratura”, “cultura”, “cultivare”. Then, he would like to put one of these into the phrase in order to make sense of it. The translator would come out with
“agricultura de conservare a culturilor”. In fact, he stated that there are no
23 The popular nickname of Venus in Romanian, In Indonesian, it would be “Bintang Kejora” 24 One of the name of Satan, the devil in the Cristian belief. In English it would be “Lucifer” 25 Literally mean “the star of the morning” that have the closest meaning to “the morning star” 26 Paul Moliveanu, Op,cit 17
specialized Romanian term that have the exact sense with the phrase
“Conservation Tillage Agriculture” but there is a term that has same reference which is “sisteme de conservare a solului” that would be the best translation for the phrase.27
C. Cultural Categories
Newmark categorized cultural words into five:
a. Ecology; flora, fauna, winds, plain
b. Material culture; food, clothes, houses and towns, transport
c. Social culture; work and leisure
d. Organization, customs, activities, procedures, concepts; Political and
administrative, religious, artistic
e. Gestures and habits;
Especially in this paper topic, Newmark explained a little of how to translate food name into target language, he suggested that translators should use one-to one equivalence and transference then use some neutral term for the rest of the dish. By this it would be understandable for the general readership.
Example:
“The pasta dish – Cannelloni”
Furthermore, most of the food terms should be transferred (e.g Maccaroni,
Pizza, Ravioli).28
In his book, most of the example taken are well-known foods. It would be different with Indonesian (e.g Gado-Gado) which not as famous as Italian (e.g
27 Paul Moliveanu, Op.cit. 28 Petr Newmark, A Text Book of Translation (London: Prentice Hall, 1988), 95-97 18
Spagetti) or French (e.g Choux) dish. This is why the translation have to be done fluently and try to transform all aspect of the dish as the native speaker understand. Even if it impossible to transfer all of the aspect, the translator could try to search of the most correspond concept/reference so that the gap between the reference of source language and target language will be close enough as when they order the dish, they would not confuse with their expectation of what have been ordered from the menu.
D. Meaning in Translation
Nida and Taber classified meaning into three in translations:
a. Grammatical meaning
Grammatical meaning means that some grammatical form of language (e.g
phrase, clause, sentence) allowing reader to understand meaning.29 It is also
called organizational meaning in Larson’s book. Which he explained as
referential meaning that packaged and expressed by a variety of combination.30
Example: She walk through the door.
From above example, it is clear what the agent do to the affected: door. (The
girl would go to a room behind the door). It is also same in any other grammatical
form of language
29 Eugene A. Nida and Charles R. Taber, The Theory and Practice of Translation (Leiden: E.J Brill, 1982), 34 30 Mildred L. Larson, Meaning Based – Translation (New York: University Press of America, 1998), 41 19
b. Referential meaning
Larson explained that referential meaning refer to a certain thing, event, attribution or relation which a person can perceive or imagine.31
Example: the word “chicken” refer to the chicken in the world
c. Connotative meaning
Connotative meaning refer to how the users of the language react, whether
positively or negatively, to words and their combination.32
Example: the phrase “innards soup” would create negative reactions among
westerner
d. Situational meaning
Situational meaning means that to understand or get the information in
communication situation. All aspect is important like, the situation, the place, the
times, the relationship between speaker and the addressee etc.33
Example: “What time is it?”
In above sentence, depending on the situation, the meaning of the sentence
might change. If it is the boss who speaks to his subordinate, it could be an insult.
But, if it is a friend who speaks to each other, it is an interrogative sentence.
E. Accuracy of Translation
In Larson’s book, there are three aspects that translators have to check before they publish their translation:
a. Accuracy
31 Mildred L. Larson, Op.cit, 42 32 Eugene A. Nida and Charles R. Taber, Loc.cit 33 Mildred L. Larson, Loc.cit 20
Accuracy check is important because translators could add or omit some piece of information that is not needed or important. Sometimes, the process in 21
making the translation effected translators to create different kind of meaning.
These kind of mistakes could lead to inaccuracy translation.
Example:
Source text:
“During the first night after the tragedy, Banda Aceh was a dead city; dark,
silent and creepy. At that time, I had come to the conclusion that Banda Aceh
had become history. Who would be able to clear the city of towering piles of
debris? Who would be able to collect the thousands of dead bodies?”
Translation (accurate, clear and natural):
“Disaat malam setelah musibah itu, Banda Aceh menjadi kota mati; gelap,
sunyi dan menyeramkan. Waktu itu, aku sudah mengambil kesimpulan bahwa
Banda Aceh sudah tinggal sejarah. Siapa yang akan membersihkan
setumpukan puing-puing banguanan itu? Siapa yang akan mengumpulkan
ribuan jenazah itu.”
Translation (innacurate):
“Malam setelah kejadian itu. Banda Aceh jadi kota mati. Saat itu, aku berfikir
bahwa Banda Aceh sudah tinggal sejarah. Siapa yang akan membersihkan
puing-puing itu? Siapa yang akan mengumpulkan mayat-mayat itu.” b. Clarity
The translation may be accurate but still not communicate to the people who are to use it. The form of the language used should be those which make the message of the source text easy to understand as the source text itself. The only 22
way to check for clarity is to test it with persons who are not familiar with
the source text and ask questions which will show what they understand.
Example:
Translation (unclear):
“Disaat malam itu, Banda Aceh adalah kota mati; gelap, diam dan mengerikan.
Waktu itu, aku sudah mengambil kesimpulan bahwa Banda Aceh sudah tinggal
sejarah. Yang akan membersihkan setumpukan puing-puing itu siapa? Yang
akan mengumpulkan mayat-mayat itu siapa.”
c. Natural
The translation may be accurate in that the translator understand correctly the
source text and is attempting to communicate that information, and it may even
understandable, and yet the forms may not be the natural idiomatic forms of the
receptor language. The translation must be tested to see if the grammatical forms
used are those normally used. The translator does not want his translation to
sound “strange” or “foreign.” He wants it to sound natural as if it is not even a
translation, but an original composition in the receptor language.34
Example
Translation (unnatural):
“Disaat malam itu, Banda Aceh kota mati; gelap, diam dan mengerikan. Waktu
itu, aku kesimpulan bahwa Banda Aceh sudah sejarah. Yang membersihkan
setumpukan puing-puing siapa? Yang mengumpulkan mayat-mayat siapa.”
34 Mildred L. Larson, Meaning Based – Translation, Op.cit, 529 – 533 23
Base on what Larson proposed, Khomeyjani stated that the process of evaluating the accuracy of translation can be done in two possible ways: one way is recognizing the key words of the source text and their equivalences in the target text and comparing how close they are in term of meaning. Another way is using back translation to see if the translation is reasonably close enough to source language text.35
From above explanation, how to determine accuracy is to analyze the meaning in source language and target language. In this paper, the meaning that are analyze is the sense and reference in source language and target language. If the translation reference and sense is close enough with source language text, the translation is accurate. If it is not close or different, the translation is inaccurate.
F. Recent Perspective of Dishes Names Translation
According to the Chongjun Mu research, dish names translations that preferable are the translation that provides the information of the food: the taste, the ingredients or colors aside of being understandable. In other word the translation of dish name have to focus on the dish itself rather than on the name of the food. The name of the foods actually doesn’t have a meaning that could translate literally. Even though it have the meaning that understand by most people, sometimes it have different appearance in the translation which could cause inaccurate translation and would confuse the reader. It have been proved in the research when the investigator asked the interviewee about the translation of dish named “毛血旺 (mao xue wang)” which is one of the food that originated
35 Leila Amanati, “The Translator’s Gender and its Impact on Translation Accuracy of Narrative Style,” The Social Science 11, No. 9 (2016): 2144 - 2150 24
from Sichuan, one of the province in Southwest China. The translation showed by the investigator is “Sichuan style” and “Sautéed Eel with Duck Blood
Curd”. The interviewee prefers the latter translation that he assumed to have more adequate information rather than the first translation.36
From the Chongjun Mu's research, It is impossible to do literal rendering, because translating dish names meaning literally would create weird translation.
Even if the translator could translate literally, sometimes the dish is not in the same understanding as in native speaker acknowledge. The translators have to try to create a perfect solution of how he/she present the dish in how native speakers used to understand the dish.
From all explanation above, the dish name translations have to be done by more appropriate manner in how the native understand the dish names. Most of them would tend to choose the translation that inform the dish so when they order the dish they don’t get hard time by pointing another peoples food they interested in or asking the waiter/waitress of the dish they think as signature dish in that restaurant. Petr Newmark ideas of how the dish translation still not clear and not mostly suitable for our country dish. To do transference to translate our dish is the same as the dish names not translated at all. In European countries, it is still applicable because their culture of seeing the dish is not far each other. In other hand, Indonesian food is still not well known by them because beside of the dietary culture is different between European and Asian, the dish here mostly unique.
36 Congjun Mu, Op.cit. 25
However by using Chongjun Mu research outcome, the translator have their guide of how to deliver the translation of the dish. Most of hotels in Indonesia aware of the costumer needs and simplify the menus. They create translations comprehensive enough for them to understand what the dish really are. For Paul
Moliveanu’s research, because it deals with proper noun, it is important to create the translations that are equivalence in reference. The reference must not change.
If it changes the translation would not accurate and in reality, the native will be disappointed if they found something different on the table. The translator have to analyze sense and reference of source language to find the suitable reference in target language so then to create the sense they might understand in target language. CHAPTER III
ANALYSIS OF SENSE AND REFERENCE IN INDONESIA – ENGLISH DISHES NAMES TRANSLATION
A. Data Description
The data in this paper are Indonesian dishes names taken from various hotels around Indonesian. The image of the menu is put in the appendix. There are ten data used in this thesis:
1. Bubur Ayam
This dish is commonly eaten as breakfast in Indonesia. It is made from rice and shredded chicken is added in the dish.
2. Gado - Gado
Vegetable types dish that are favorite among people in Indonesia especially in
Jakarta because it is a signature dish of Jakarta’s.
3. Ayam Pelalah
Signature dish from Bali which consisted of shredded chicken that are saute in spices.
4. Asem - Asem Daging
Soup based dish. It is signature dish from java which contained sour soup with sliced beef and some vegetables.
5. Woku
Minahasa dish that contain protein (fish, chicken etc) which braised in particular spices from the area.
26 27
6. Pisang Goreng
Commonly found in some food stand in Indonesia, this dish are favorite snack for Indonesian people because it is easy to find or easy to make.
7. Sate
This dish base ingredient is meat. The meat can be any meat but commonly is goat or chicken. This meat is skewered on bamboo stick and grilled above charcoal.
8. Iga Bakar Balado
Dish consists of short ribs grilled above charcoal. After that sambal is added to the grilled short ribs
9. Sop Buntut
Dish consists of cattle tails cooked and served in soup. It is commonly served with any addition of vegetables.
10. Rendang
Signature dish of Minang which is name taken from the technique of cooking of the dish which mean “stirring until it dry.
B. Data Analysis
The sense and reference of the data are analyzed to know the accuracy. The transformation between source text reference and target text reference is the vocal point here because if the target language reference does not correspond to the source text, the translation is inaccurate. From the analysis, most of the dish translated accurately, as shown below: 28
1. Bubur Ayam
SL : “Bubur ayam”
TL 1 : “Indonesian rice porridge served with a turmeric broth & large variety of
Indonesian condiments.”37
TL 2 : “Chicken or fish rice congee with spring onion and crispy shallot.”38
Congee is the most accurate term for this dish because they are identical, or could be said, the same entity (they both cooked basically from rice). There are some difference between them in term of any additional ingredients, even in
Indonesia there are many various kinds of topping that could be added to the dish.
For the first translation, porridge is still too general because porridge can be made by anything (grains, legume). Because, there is already a specific term that could use to translate the dish, it would be better to use the term (congee), rather than to use porridge term.
2. Gado - Gado
SL : “Gado – gado”
TL 1: “Traditional Indonesian salad with bean sprout, potato, egg, tofu and spicy
peanut sauce.”39
TL 2: “Indonesian salad of slightly boiled vegetables and hard-boiled eggs served
with peanut sauce dressing.”40
There are two translation above, but both translated the dish as salad.
“Gado - gado” and salad are actually identical, both dish are vegetable base dish.
37 Hotel Indonesia Kempinski Jakarta. Signatures Restaurant A La Carte Menu. Downloaded November 1, 2016. https://goo.gl/NLmdyO 38 Rafles Hotel. Arts Cafe menu. Downloaded November 1, 2016. https://goo.gl/BwqGwn 39 Hotel Indonesia Kempinski Jakarta, Op.cit 40 W Bali – Seminyak. Star fish bloo menu. Downloaded November 1, 2016. https://goo.gl/9frAKH 29
Salad is also not a name of a dish, but it is kinda a name for type of a dish that basically made with vegetable. There are many kinds of salad in western country
(caesar salad, fish salad etc) with different way of cooking process, even in the world. Thing that different between two is that “gado - gado” dish has condiment called sauce, and the salad called dressing. There are many kind of terminology used to describe some kinds of sauce in western countries (e.g glaze), and in this case, the different between sauce and dressing are just in its usage (sauce is use to different kinds of food rather than dressing that used just in dealing with salad).
Thus, “gado-gado” in Indonesian could be said as one of salad in the world and by this the translation is accurate. Strange though they used term sauce in their translations.
3. Ayam Pelalah
SL: “Ayam pelalah”
TL: “Balinese shredded chicken with kaffir lime sambal.”41
In here, because word “pelalah” does not have any sense, the translation in this case have to be delivered by considering the reference. Reference of “ayam pelalah” is shredded chicken sauteed in some spices. So, the translation above is accurate in term of reference. The sense of the translation also understandable for target language readership because the style of translation made by considerate the manner of how most of dishes named there. By this, the translation will be comprehensive for them because in this case, not about using particular
41 W Bali – Seminyak, Op.cit 30
terminology to fit in target language but rather to create translation that is comprehensive for readership.
4. Asem - Asem Daging
SL: “Asem – asem daging”
TL: Sour beef soup with cucumber tree42
This dish name forms a phrase that could represent the dish in its taste. To know the sense of it, the translator would read the name first and try to find out the meaning of each word. Asam in Indonesia would mean “masam seperti rasa cuka (buah mangga muda dan sebagainya).43 Daging is “bagian tubuh binatang sembelihan yang dijadikan makanan.44” The definition from KBBI is selected to fit in this discussion. If Those two words combine to construct phrasal meaning, it might mean “bagian tubuh binatang sembelihan yang dijadikan makanan yang memilik rasa masam seperti rasa cuka.” In reference, this name refer to a soup dish. There is no explanation however in the name that inform it as a soup dish.
In this case, the theory proposed by Paul Moliveanu is realize in the reality that the translator in this matter could not just considering the sense of the name and translate it according to the sense of source language. Because, sometimes the sense just explaining in simple about the dish or things (e.g es campur, es teler which does not explain of ingredients or what types of dish they belong to). It is important to aware about both sense and reference of a dish name to create more accurate translation. For example, like in this case, if the translator ignore the fact that this dish is a soup dish and just rely on its sense. The translation would
42 Hotel Indonesia Kempinski Jakarta, Op.cit 43 KBBI Daring, s.v “asam,” accessed April 26, 2017, https://goo.gl/zHwS87 44 KBBI Daring, s.v “daging,” accessed April 26, 2017, https://goo.gl/P1G2OT 31
probably like “Sour meat” which literal rendering of asem-asem daging that lead to inaccurate translation. Thus, the translation above is accurate in transferring the dish into target language.
5. Woku dish
SL 1: “Ayam woku”
TL1: “Slow braised country chicken with chili, tomatoes and lemon basil.”45
SL 2: “Woku kakap merah”
TL 2: “Braised red snapper with basil Manado style.”46
The translation above is emphasizing in the cooking process of woku because it is hard to find correspond reference in term of the dish. Woku is specialize term that used to describe dish in particular area in Indonesia that would refer it to the dish in term of ingredients it used. It would be very hard if translator have to search the dish that exactly looks like the source language signature dish. The translator come out with solution that because most of the dish names in western countries commonly named by methods used to cooked the dish (Fried chicken,
Boiled egg etc), the translator adapt the way and put a slight of information used in the dish. By this, the translation is accurate because it is already understandable and the reference is still not reducing in target language.
6. Pisang Goreng
SL : “Pisang goreng.”
TL 1: Banana fritters served with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.47
45 Hotel Indonesia Kempinski Jakarta, Op.cit. 46 Hotel Aryaduta Jakarta JP Bistro Menu, Downloaded November 1, 2016. https://goo.gl/wD7P3R 47 Hotel Indonesia Kempinski Jakarta, Op.cit. 32
TL 2: Banana fritter, vanilla ice cream, valrhona chocolate sauce.48
This dish is commonly found in some food stand on the side of the street in
Indonesia. This dish is very common in Indonesia and being a favorite snack among Indonesian people. Because of the sweet taste, this dish is commonly found in the dessert menu in the hotel and serve with another additional side dish such as ice cream or chocolate sauce.
In it sense, it could mean as a banana that were fried with no addition of procedure. But unfortunately, if look at the reference, the banana in this case, is dip into batter before it fried. But in Indonesian name, there are no reflection of this procedure. That is why pisang goreng have been changed into concept fritters in target language so that the translation will be accurate because pisang goreng in
Indonesia is a fritter dish in western countries. Outside of the translation that hotels around Indonesia made, there are so many people still translate it as a fried dish.
7. Sate
SL : “Sate.”
TL 1: “Beef satay.49”
TL 2: “Assorted Indonesian satay.50”
Translations above are accurate. There are no big problem in the process of translation because there is exactly the right term that refer to the same thing in target language. The thing that have to be the translator concern is to give the explanation of the base ingredient in the dish so that the reader of target language
48 Hotel Rafles Jakarta, Op.cit. 49 Hotel Ciputra Jakarta The Gallery Menu, Downloaded November 1, 2016. https://goo.gl/E6HFmD 50 Hotel Indonesia Kempinski Jakarta, Op.cit 33
would understand what meat used in the dish. The second translation though, is no need to mention about the ingredient because the dish consisted of various kind of satay that were made by various of meat.
8. Iga Bakar Balado
SL: “Iga bakar balado.”
TL: Grilled beef short ribs served with steamed rice and balado sambal.51
Similar with woku, balado is also special term to refer to a food that were marinated in sambal when it cooked. The different betwen woku dish and this dish is that there are two different steps in completing this dish, first is grilled, second is stir in sambal. Translation above is accurate. The translator tend to separate grilled beef short ribs with sambal because there are no exact correspond concept in target language.
9. Sop Buntut
SL: “Sop buntut.”
TL: Clear Indonesian oxtail soup with vegetable and braised imported oxtail
served with steam rice, cracker and condiments.52
Sop or Sup in Indonesia means “masakan berkuah dari kaldu yang diberi bumbu pala, lada, dan sebagainya,53” and buntut means “(bagian) dari belakang sekali; ekor.54” So, sop buntut would mean “masakan berkuah dari kaldu yang diberi bumbu pala, lada dan sebagainya dan juga di berikan bagian belakang atau ekor ternak untuk dagingnya.”
51 Hotel Ciputra Jakarta, Op.cit. 52 Hotel Aryaduta Jakarta. JP bisro menu. Downloaded November 1, 2016. https://goo.gl/PjvHLh 53 KBBI Daring, s.v “sup,” accessed April 26, 2017, https://goo.gl/1K07LK 54 KBBI Daring, s.v “buntut,” accessed April 26, 2017, https://goo.gl/HbO7Kf 34
This dish is translated as oxtail soup. This dish is not really familiar for western people because this kind of dish is not common in there. There are some place or restaurant that serve this dish but not so many and in different way. Thus the translation above is accurate because oxtail soup is correspond reference of sop buntut
10. Rendang
SL : “Rendang.”
TL 1: “Stewed beef in chili, coconut milk and special rendang spices, served with
steamed rice, young jack fruit and crackers.”55
TL 2: A rich South-East Asian curry made with coconut milk and melting tender
beef.56
TL 3: Braised beef with Indonesian spices, coconut milk.57
The three translation proposed by hotels is not good enough to represent the dish as this dish have unique characteristic and have strong cultural value.
Moreover, The second translation is actually the closest in accuracy of the concept of source language because Rendang could be said as one kind of curry dish in the world. Though, Rendang is a dish that already acknowledge by UNESCO as one of the cultural heritage. Its registration number is 776. If the translators think that it is needed to translate this dish. The translation can use annotation to illustrate the dish or even if they think it is necessary, the translator can use Petr Newmark method: Beef Rendang – The curry dish.
55 Hotel Indonesia Kempinski Jakarta, Op.cit 56 W Bali – Seminyak, Op.cit 57 W Bali – Seminyak. Fire dinner menu. Downloaded November 1. 2016. https://goo.gl/RZbKQo 35
C. Research Finding
All above dish names translated by considering more on the reference of source language (e.g bubur that was translated into porridge and congee). Because to translate object or conceptual being, not only the definition or sense of the name that transfer, but also, the concept in source language have to suit with the concept of target language. Sometimes even though in meaning, it could translate literally, the concept between source language and target language would be different (e.g pisang goreng, fried banana and banana fritter). Thus, translations above are accurate in term of meaning except the translation of rendang. It is because the dish is signature dish of Indonesia and have some characteristic that no dish can present in target language. CHAPTER IV
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
A. Conclusion
It can be concluded that translating dish names must have broad knowledge of the culinary world between two languages because to translate dish names, not only the name that are translated, but the translators also have to put the dish in their consideration.
Translators cannot translate it recklessly just to consider the name, because some dishes names just describe the dish in very simple point of view (e.g pisang goreng). Because of this, the translation will lead to different reference in target language. So, the translators have to know one reference that could correspond in target language, because not only sense but also the reference or the object itself, as the focus in translating dishes names to make the translation accurate and perceivable for target language reader.
The translation done by five hotels in Indonesia (Hotel Indonesia Kempinski,
Hotel Rafles, W-Retreat Bali Seminyak Star Fish Bloo Restaurant and Fire
Restaurant, Hotel Aryaduta JP Bistro Restaurant, Hotel Ciputra The Gallery
Restaurant) are mostly accurate. The reference are transferred in target language by changing it to the reference that acknowledged by target language reader.
The dish translated inaccurately is rendang which is unique dish that are only in Indonesia. The three translations proposed by hotels cannot recreate the
36 37
reference that could correspond to source text. Moreover, the dishes are already acknowledged as a cultural heritage by UNESCO.
B. Suggestion
The translation of dish names is not about language but it rather about concept or the dish itself. The familiarity of the culinary word (method of cooking, ingredients, taste, cooking process etc) is an important thing to know for people wanted to translate the food. The literal rendering is not always applicable in translating dish name because in some cases, the outcome of it would refer to different things in target language
The author suggests that people who want to translate dish name have to learn about culinary word first and have to familiar with it. Translating the dish name has to pay attention to the whole compliment of the dish. Also, the translators have to compromise with the knowledge of western people to create the translation that they could imagine and in their understanding. The knowledge of culinary world in two languages could play a big role for the outcome of the translation
The theory of dish name translation is not yet concern many people to discuss.
Even though many people stated that it is not a big matter, this also have to considerate as one of a problem in cross-language communication. At last, this paper is not yet perfect, the author hope that the evaluation and correction from the reader would give more contribution in this matter. Moreover, this paper could be one of the basis considerations in discussion of dish names translation BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
Abdul Chaer. Pengantar Semantik Bahasa Indonesia. Jakarta, Indonesia: Rineka Cipta, 2013
Eugine A. Nida and Taber, Charles R. The Theory and Practice of Translation. Netherland: E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1974
James R Hurford, Brendan Heasley, and Michael B. Smith. Semantics: a Coursebook. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Kushartanti, Untung Yuwono & Multamia RMT Lauder. Pesona Bahasa: Langkah Awal Memahami Linguistik. Jakarta, Indonesia: PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 2009.
Mildred L. Larson, Meaning Based – Translation. New York: University Press of America, 1998.
Victoria Fromkin and Robert Rodman. An Introduction to Language. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1998.
Journal
Chongjun Mu. "English Translation of Chinese Dish Names." Translation Journal 14 (October 2010). October 2010. Accessed May 10, 2016. http://translationjournal.net/journal/54dishes.htm.
Kang Qiang. "Chinese-English Translation of Chinese Dish Names From the Perspective of Cultural Differences." Cross-Cultural Communication 9 (2013): 121-24. doi:10.3968/j.ccc.1923670020130906.2970.
Leila Amanati. “The Translator’s Gender and its Impact on Translation Accuracy of Narrative Style.” The Social Science 11 (2016): 2144 – 2150. ISSN: 1818-5800
Paul Moliveanu. "Sense and Reference in Translation." Perspective: Study in Translatology 21 (2013): 209-25. Accessed September 1, 2015. 10.1080/0907676X.2011.641983.
38 Websites
Alec Julien “The Morning Star and The Evening Star.” We Love Philosophy. June 20, 2013. Accessed April 24, 2016, https://welovephilosophy.com/tag/evening-star/
Antar Solhy Abdellah. Meaning:Sense and Reference. google. Accessed May 10, 2016
Gottlob Frege. On Sense and Reference. PDF. Google. Accessed May 10, 2016
Richard DeArmond. "Linguistic 322." SFU.ca. Accessed September 14, 2016. http://www.sfu.ca/person/dearmond/322/322.sense_and_reference.htm.
39 APPENDICES
Appendix A: Kempinski Menu
40 41 Appendix B: Rafles Arts Cafe Menu
42 43 Appendix C: Star Fish Bloo Menu
44 Appendix D: JP Bistro Menu
45 46 APPENDIX E: Begawan Menu
47 APPENDIX F: Fire Menu
48 49 50
APPENDIX G: The Gallery Menu
50 51
51 52
52 53
53 54
54 55
55 56
56