The English-Indonesian Translation of Idiomatic Expression in Veronica Roth's "Divergent"

Abstract

Fixed expression is a common element in literary works, such as novels. Their existence may enrich and beautify the literary work. One of the common fixed expressions is an idiomatic expression. An idiom is a fixed-term or particular phrase whose meaning cannot be deduced from its parts’ meanings. It cannot be translated as what it is, which implies it cannot be translated literally. Idiomatic expression is a problem that commonly appears in translation that translators confront. In terms of translation and literary works, this study focuses on the translation strategies and the equivalence of idiomatic expressions in Divergent, a coming-of-age story authored by American author, Veronica Roth, and the first in the Divergent trilogy, which was published in 2011. There are two research questions addressed in the research: (1) What are the idioms found in Veronica Roth’s Divergent and its Indonesian translation? (2) According to Mona Baker's translation theory, what strategies are used by the translator to translate the idioms found in Veronica Roth's Divergent into its Indonesian version? To answer these two research problems, this study applies qualitative research methods by employing content analysis and using categories Comparison of Translations and Their Source Text. The research data are the idiomatic expressions in the English version, Divergent and its Indonesian version, Divergent. To answer the first research question, the researcher identifies the idiomatic expressions by using the theory proposed by Susan Bassnet (2002), Nida (1982), and Mona Baker (2018). For answering the second research question, the researcher classifies and analyzes the translation strategies to translate the idiomatic expression by applying Mona Baker’s theory of translating idiomatic expressions (2018), which contain six strategies which are using an idiom of similar meaning and form, using an idiom of similar meaning but dissimilar form, borrowing the source language idiom, translation by paraphrase, translation by omission of a play on idiom and translation by omission of entire idiom. The research results show that the researcher took 22 data to be analyzed from the original text based on the analysis. The researcher found that the translator used three out of six translation strategies proposed by Mona Baker: using an idiom of similar meaning but dissimilar form with 2 data, translation by omission of a play on idiom with 2 data, and translation by paraphrase with 18 data. It appears that the strategy which the translator mostly used is translation by paraphrase. This study can provide more references on deepening the knowledge of the idiomatic expressions in literary works and how to properly analyze the idiom using Mona Baker’s strategies of translating idioms.