IMPROVING THE COMPREHENSION OF ENGLISH-INDONESIAN TRANSLATION THROUGH TRANSLATION PROCEDURES ON TWITTER WEB PAGES: A CASE ON TRANSLATION

Herman Herman^1*, Rohdearni Wati Sipayung², Magdalena Ngongo³, Indah Sari⁴, Endang Fatmawati⁵, Rahmawati Rahmawati⁶, Heni Novita Sari⁷ and Rapika Yohanna Silalahi^8
*Correspondence: Herman Herman, Universitas HKBP Nommensen Pematangsiantar, Indonesia, Email:

Keywords

Analysis. Translation procedures. Twitter. English. Indonesia

Introduction

Good communication effectively conveys valuable information. However, in this region, not everyone effectively uses English for communication. Most Indonesians rely on Indonesian for both spoken and written communication in their daily lives. Although information in English can be found on social media, text books, journals, news, and films (Herman et al., 2024), some Indonesians face challenges in understanding this information because of their limited English proficiency. Consequently, translations are necessary to help Indonesian use English as a foreign language.

Translation involves the transfer of meaning from one language to another. According to Catford (1965:20), translation involves replacing textual material in one language with an equivalent material in another language. Setiawan (2017) echoed this definition, stating that translation is the process of transferring the meaning of a text from the source language to the target language (Purba et al. 2023a). Therefore, translators must accurately convey the meaning of the source text in the target language.

Translation is essential, because it allows individuals to access information and knowledge from various sources. Unfortunately, there are limited resources available in Indonesian, such as educational books, novels, short stories, fairy tales, movies, comics, and other media information. Consequently, translation is necessary to understand the messages conveyed in the source text (Herman & Rajagukguk, 2019).

Translation is a challenging task. This involves transferring messages from one language to another (Andayani et al. 2023). Simply replacing text in one language with another is insufficient. There are several important factors to consider in translation, such as the choice of words, which helps avoid ambiguity and confusion in the translation results. Translation on social media is also necessary because social media is a computer-based technology that facilitates the sharing of ideas, thoughts, and information through virtual networks and communities (Yates and Paquette, 2011). Translators must consider the cultural aspects of the target language (Munday, 2006; Batubara et al., 2023) when translating texts. This was done to gain an understanding of the structure of foreign languages. Translation procedures involve technical devices used to transform the meaning of a text in one language into a text in another language. Translation procedures are employed when translators establish equivalence when moving messages from the source language to the target language. This task is performed by translators to comprehend the structure of foreign languages. As a result, translators often employ several procedures to ensure accurate translation of a given text. Translation procedures are categorized into two types: technical and organizational (Vinay and Darbelnet, 2000). Newmark (1988) highlighted the distinction between translation and translation methods. He stated that while translation methods apply to entire texts, translation procedures are used for sentences and smaller language units. There are seven types of translation procedures outlined by Vinay and Darbelnet in Venuti (2000:84-93), including borrowing, calque, literal translation, transposition, modulation, equivalence, and adaptation.

Relevant studies related to this research were conducted by Pramono (2014). This research is a study of the translation procedure of the negotiator novel. In his research, he focuses on the translation procedure used in the novel. In the translation process, the translator translates the novel from the source language (English) to the target language (Indonesian) to provide information and knowledge to the reader and help the reader gain an understanding of the book’s contents. This study uses descriptive analysis, and the author explains and outlines their opinions to analyze the object of research. The selected data were analyzed using the Newmark concept and other relevant theories. The authors found several procedures to translate the source language (English) into the target language (Indonesian). The translation procedures include cultural equivalence, naturalization, modulation, transposition, transfer, and adaptation. They found that the source language was translated accurately, acceptably, and was readable into the target language. This study focuses on analyzing the translation procedures and dominant translation procedures on Twitter pages. Although there are similarities between this study and previous research, which analyzes the translation procedure, the difference is that this study examines the pages on Twitter, while previous research examines the translation procedures for the novel entitled Negotiator.

To ensure that basic learners can easily access translations, it is crucial to learn the translation procedures. By studying these procedures, we can understand how messages or ideas are conveyed from the source language to the target language. In this study, researchers are interested in examining English-Indonesian translation procedures on Twitter pages. As Twitter has numerous pages, improper translation can lead to misunderstanding. In such cases, the translator must apply the appropriate translation procedures to produce a good translation.

Moreover, when some one uses a Twitter application, they sometimes fail to comprehend the meaning of the Twitter page because it has not been translated according to the translation procedures. This can confuse them when using Twitter, and they may only use the application without understanding the content on the page. For instance, consider the following Twitter page (Figure 1).

The passage above presents an example where several pages on Twitter were translated into Indonesian without any changes, such as "Monetization and Proxy," which caused confusion among Twitter users. The researchers aimed to provide a better understanding of these terms on Twitter pages to improve the translation accept ability. Monetization refers to the process of converting something into a legal tender, whereas proxy is a system that acts as an intermediary in a network. The phenomenon of Monetization and Proxy being used on Twitter pages has piqued the interest of researchers who want to study translation procedures on social media platforms. They wish to analyze the prevalent translation procedures used on Twitter pages and how they are employed to translate content. Researchers chose Twitter because it is a popular communication tool in Indonesia, particularly among young people, and many users rely on translation to understand a standard language.

Method

This study used qualitative research as its research design, as stated by Creswell (2014). Qualitative research, as defined by Purba et al. (2023b), involves data collection in the form of words or pictures. This method does not require numerical calculations or treatment and involves the analysis of the translation procedure on the Twitter page. Analysis, as a research design, is an analytical method based on contextual text (Purba et al., 2024; Herman et al., 2024). This method involves the systematic analysis of text content, such as words, phrases, statements, communications, and documents. The researchers collected and analyzed data by writing from the information sources determined by them to complete the data in this study (Herman et al., 2023; Setiawati et al., 2024).

The subject of this research is "Twitter web pages," while the object of this research is all types of translation procedures contained on the Twitter page. The data analyzed is the page on twitter (<https://mobile-twitter-com>). The research instrument, which is a tool for collecting valid and reliable data, played an important role in this study (Creswell, 2014). The instruments used in this research included the Internet, Twitter accounts, laptops/mobile phones, and notes.

The data collected in this study consisted of Twitter pages. Data can be retrieved from the main page of the website, email, text messages, and social media texts (Creswell, 2014).

To collect data, the researchers followed the following steps

1. Searching

For searching theory that relevant from textbook, status or internet sources

to obtain good results and to support the study.

2. Reading and comparing

Reading refers to reading the status of Twitter webpages on the Internet and comparing the meaning of Twitter pages based on the analysis results for both English and Indonesian.

3. Juxtapose the English and Indonesian versions of the Twitter Website pages in English (source language) and Indonesian (target language).
4. The data were identified based on 12 translation procedure theories proposed (Vinay and Darbert, 2000).
5. Classifying and listing the text based on its translation in both English and Indonesian According to Stake (2010), researchers can classify each datum using a categorical scheme.
6. The percentage for each procedure was calculated using the following formula:

P = x 100%

P = Percentage

F = Frequency of translation procedure

N = Total number of samples

7. Discussing the data based on each translation procedure theories by Vinay and Dalbernet (2000)
8. Assessing and discussing translation procedures based on theory and classifying them into two parts (qualified and unqualified).
9. Making conclusions.

The researchers employed an inductive approach to analyze the data, which entails first presenting the information and then delving into the analysis. The analysis was conducted by clarifying the explanations. Several methods were used to examine the data. The following steps were established to conduct this research.

1. Observing: This is the first step in collecting all data from observations by opening a Twitter page.
2. Transcript: The observed data are collected and transcribed according to the data found in the data category, which is related to the translation procedure from the Twitter page.
3. Tabulation: Data were tabulated after copying the data from the source language (SL) to the target language (TL).
4. Classification: the data has been classified based on the type of translation procedure proposed by Vinay and Darbelnet in Venuti (2000:84-93).
5. Percentage: the data have been entered in percentages based on the translation procedure, which is dominantly used on the Twitter page.
6. Figurating: The data were converted into an image.
7. Concluding: This is the last step in which the researchers present the findings and conclude the research findings related to the research objectives.

Result and Discussion

Results

As previously mentioned, the primary goals of this research are to detail the translation methods employed in Twitter webpages by translators and to identify the translation techniques commonly utilized when translating Twitter webpages. Consequently, the findings of this study, which are discussed in this paper, focus on two aspects. The data collected through the survey provided the following insights:

1. Type of Translation Procedures

In examining various types of transcription, researchers discovered distinct translation methods employed in Twitter webpages. The study's results identified 111 translation methods on Twitter web pages. Among these, the literal translation was the most frequently used, accounting for 41% of all cases. This was followed by adaptation (18%), calque (15%), borrowing (10%), equivalence (10%), transposition (4%) and modulation (2%). These findings reveal that literal translation is the predominant method used in Twitter webpages, making the translations more natural, concise, and clear, thus improving user comprehension. The following table illustrates the various translation procedures employed to translate Twitter webpages.

Table 1 and Figure 2 depict the results of the translation procedures employed on the Twitter page, which primarily utilized literal translations, accounting for approximately 41% of the translations. This indicates that the Target Language (Bahasa Indonesia) used on the Twitter page was translated literally. This finding suggests that translation from the Source Language (English) to the Target Language (Indonesian) focused on form without any additions, reductions, or grammatical modifications in the target language. The second most dominant translation procedure was adaptation, accounting for 20 data points (18%), indicating that the Target Language in Indonesian was translated in a way that was appropriate for other languages and cultures. Calque was identified with 17 data points (15%), which involved transferring the Target Language (Indonesian) by borrowing expressions from another language and then translating each element literally. This approach preserves the syntactic structure of the Source Language, while introducing a new mode of expression in the Target Language. Borrowing and equivalence were found to be equally prevalent, accounting for 10% of the translations, and borrowing words from the Source Language (English) into the Target Language (Indonesian) when no equivalent words were available. Finally, transposition and Modulation are the least commonly used translation methods.

Discussion

This section discusses the research findings based on the research question. The discussion focuses on the results of the research questions, particularly the types of Twitter webpage translation when translating from English to Indonesian. According to the theory of Vinaj and Darbelnet, the researchers used a translation procedure, and the results showed that literal translation of Twitter webpages had the highest score among all types of translation. Based on the data from Twitter web pages, which consisted of 111 sources, the researchers found that literal translation was the most appropriate type of translation for conveying the meaning and cultural nuances of the source language while maintaining the quality of the target language. Additionally, the researchers discovered that the translation types of Twitter webpages primarily consisted of literal translations and adaptation, with fewer instance of calques, borrowings, equivalences, transpositions, and modulations. Overall, the findings of this study align with theories proposed by experts in the field.

Based on the results of this study, the researchers discovered disparities between this study and past research, such as that conducted by Chandra, Suhartono, and Rosnita (2016). The objective of this study was to assess the translation process employed by sixth-semester students of the English Education Study Program at the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Tanjungpura University, during the academic year 2014/2015 when translating idiomatic expressions in narrative form. Although both this study and previous research have focused on analyzing the translation process, there are distinctions between the two in terms of data sources, reference materials, and the types of translation procedures identified. In this study, the researchers discovered seven distinct translation procedures: literal translation, adaptation, calque, borrowing, equivalence, transposition, and modulation. Conversely, Chandra's study analyzed the procedure for translating student idioms into narrative texts. The object of this research is the "Twitter web pages," while Chandra's study focuses on a different topic.

The researchers found that apart from finding the literal translation to be the most suitable type of translation, they also discovered some inappropriate translations in the Target Language (TL). For instance, the word 'e-mail' in the Source Language (SL) was translated as 'email' in the TL (Indonesia), which the researchers believed should be translated as 'surat electronic.’ Although this finding is limited to a specific website page and only applies to words, phrases, or short sentences, it can serve as a reference for future researchers, who may conduct more comprehensive analyses of the entire Twitter website, including longer sentences.

Conclusion

This section summarizes the research findings. Data were collected and analyzed to achieve the research objectives, and the following conclusions were drawn: out of the 111 datasets of Twitter web pages analyzed in terms of literal translation, 45% involved direct translation, 20% involved adaptation, 17% involved loan translation, 11% involved equivalence, 11% involved transposition, and 2% involved modulation. Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that the translation procedure of a Twitter page should be considered because it plays a crucial role in conveying messages from the page to its users. The data revealed that the translator used a specific translation procedure to transfer messages from the source language to the target language. Additionally, this study aims to serve as a reference for readers who wish to gain a better understanding of translation procedures when analyzing and translating various types of webpages.

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