An Analysis of Idiomatic Expression Translation Strategies in the Novel "Themis Files: Sleeping Giants" by Sylvain Neuvel

Abstract

This study focuses on idiomatic translation strategies in the novel Themis Files: Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel with the aims of discovering and defining the strategy of idiom translation from English into Bahasa Indonesia while using a descriptive qualitative approach. Idioms can not be taken literally and may be culture bound that may cause a problem for the translator to translate the idioms. The study has been conducted using idiom translation strategies provided by Mona Baker. The result shows 37 idioms in the whole novel, of which 26 of them are translated using translation by paraphrase strategy (70.27%). Followed by using idioms of similar meaning but dissimilar form which accounts for 7 idiom translations (18.92%), and 4 by using idioms of similar meaning and form (10.81%). The translator of the novel does not use the translation by omission strategy which might suggest that the translator prioritize conveying the original meaning of the idioms.