Module Transfer and Semantic Adjustment

Deverbalisasi (Transfer) “Melepaskan diri dari ikatan – ikatan teks sumber untuk menangkap isi pesannya secara lebih terperinci (kalimat demi kalimat, paragraf demi paragraf, atau pasal demi pasal, tergantung pada pertimbangan kita masing- masing). Langkah ini disebut “transfer”. Dimana kita mencari pemecahan permasalahan dari luar teks seperti dalam langkah pertama.

In transferring from English into Indonesian several semantic adjustments should be made. They lie in the essential distinction between the two languages, cultural and linguistic equivalence and connotative meaning of words.

The form, on the other hand, is the external shape which the message takes to effect its passage from the source’s mind to the receptor’s mind. And it is almost invariably true that in any given content, a language makes available numerous forms which could equally well convey the message.

In the principle of closest, natural equivalent, meaning or content should some first, and the style or from of the language second. The content is the conceptual intent of the message, together with the connotative values, which the source wishes to communicate; it is what the message is about.

One common problem of content is metaphorical expressions, including idioms, figurative meanings, proverbs, etc. It will be so much the better if we can convey the same content in Indonesian in a form which is similar to that in English. It is in the same case with some instances of metaphorical expressions when we transfer from proverbs to proverbs. “Still waters run deep” can be rendered into ‘Air tenang beriak dalam’.

In the process of transfer, the translator becomes the reader of the original text and at the same time the one who turns the text into the receptor language. He becomes the person who first reacts emotionally to the original text before he transfers it into the receptor language. He should therefore be careful not to colour the work or transfer its connotations as he likes, but should give in the receptor language the connotations the author of the original text intended.

Example of Transfer and Semantic Adjustment “The burning sun of Syria had not yet attained its highest point in the horizon, when a knight of the Red Cross, who had left his distant northern home, and joined the host of the Crusaders in Palestine, was pacing slowly along the sandy deserts which lie in the vicinity of the Dead Sea, or, as it is called, the Lake Asphaltites, where the waves of the Jordan pour themselves into an inland sea, from which there is no discharge of waters”.

Waktu itu matahari di Suriah yang terasa membakar belumlah mencapai titik tertinggi di cakrawala, ketika seorang ksatria Palang Merah yang telah meninggalkan rumahnya jauh di Utara dan menggabungkan diri dengan Pasukan Perang Salib di Palestina, sedang melangkahkan kudanya perlahan-lahan di sepanjang gurun pasir. Gurun itu letaknya di dekat Laut Mati, atau yang juga disebut Danau Aspal, dimana Sungai Jordan menuangkan airnya kedalam laut buntu tersebut, yang tiada saluran keluarnya ke laut bebas’.

Since the paragraph consists of long and complex sentences, the translator will perhaps delete some parts of the text to make it shorter and turn it into some simple sentences as follows: Pada suatu pagi yang terik di Suriah, seorang ksatria menggabungkan diri dengan pasukan Perang Salib di Palestina. Ia telah meninggalkan rumahnya jauh di Utara. Ketika itu ia sedang melangkahkan kudanya perlahan-lahan di sepanjang gurun pasir dekat Laut Mati dimana aliran Sungai Jordan berakhir’.

In the process of transfer, the translator becomes the reader of the original text and at the same time the one who turns the text into the receptor language. He becomes the person who first reacts emotionally to the original text before he transfers it into the receptor language. He should therefore be careful no to colour the work or transfer its connotations as he likes, but should give in the receptor language the connotations the author of the original text intended.

Sometimes, in the process of transfer, we must make certain shift in the central meaning of word to get the exact more than one meaning. The shift can be done from generic to specific, e.g. “we” as ‘kita’ or ‘kami’; “brother” as ‘kakak laki laki’ or ‘adik laki laki’, “sister” as ‘kakak perempuan’ or ‘adik perempuan’.

When there are distinct differences between the cultural forms or functions of English referents and the corresponding Indonesian parallels, it may be necessary to add some cultural conditioning in the form of classifiers to the unknown terms, e.g. to give a classifier to the word “Bermuda” as ‘Kepulauan Bermuda’; “Pluto” as ‘Dewa Pluto’, ‘Planet Pluto’, etc, to avoid any misunderstanding.

In the actual process of translating the translator will constantly swing back and forth between the analytical and the restructuring process. He will even anticipate what he knows he must confront in the next process.

For example, the sentences “I have read the letter “ will be unnatural if it is translated into ‘ Saya telah membaca surat itu’. In the process of analysis the translator should know that in some cases he may not retain the active construction but change it into the passive one with the agent added, or else it will be obscure in the receptor language. And so in the transfer the rendering becomes ‘Surat itu telah kubaca’, which is more natural and explicit.