ANALYSIS OF PROCEDURES IN TRANSLATING SWEARING WORDS

IN THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: PRISONERS OF THE SUN

THESIS

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree of

Sarjana Pendidikan

Zulfa Septyaningrum

112011040

ENGLISH EDUCATION PROGRAM

FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

SALATIGA

2015

ii

ANALYSIS OF PROCEDURES IN TRANSLATING SWEARING WORDS

IN THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: PRISONERS OF THE SUN

THESIS

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree of

Sarjana Pendidikan

Zulfa Septyaningrum

112011040

ENGLISH EDUCATION PROGRAM

FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

SALATIGA

2015

iii

iv

v

vi

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in any course or

accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my

knowledge and my belief, this contains no material previously published or written by any

other person except where due reference is made in the text.

Copyright@ 2015. Zulfa Septyaningrum and Dr. Elisabet Titik Murtisari.

All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the

permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English Department, Faculty of

Language and Literature, Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga.

Zulfa Septyaningrum

vii

viii

TABLE OF CONTENT

................................................................................................................................ i

Cover ...................................................................................................................... ii

Approval Page ......................................................................................................... v

Copyright Statement ............................................................................................... vi

Publication Agreement of Declaration ..................................................................... vii

Table of Content ...................................................................................................... viii

List of Tables ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. x

List of abbreviations ………………………………………………………………………………………………. xi

Abstract .................................................................................................................. 1

Key Words ............................................................................................................... 1

Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1

Theoretical Framework............................................................................................ 5

Definition of Swearing Words........................................................................... 5

Tintin Comics and Its Swearwords .................................................................... 7

Translation of Comics ...................................................................................... 9

Translation and Translation Procedures ........................................................... 11

The Study ................................................................................................................ 21

Finding and Discussion ............................................................................................ 24

Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 42

Acknowledgement................................................................................................... 45

References .............................................................................................................. 46

Appendices…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 48

ix

Appendix A .................................................................................................... 48

Appendix B .................................................................................................... 55

Appendix C .................................................................................................... 63

x

LIST OF TABLE

Table 1 Newmark’s Typology Used in Translating Swearing Words in Tintin

comics…………………………………………………..................... 24

xi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

P: Page

F: Frame

SL: Source Language

TL: Target Language

CQ: Cultural equivalent

FQ: Functional equivalent

ST: Shift or transposition

TR: Transference

LIT: Literal translation

MOD: Modulation

RED: Reduction

EXP: Expansion

MLS: Modulation with little semantic context

MNS: Modulation with no semantic context

1

ANALYSIS OF PROCEDURES IN TRANSLATING SWEARING WORDS IN

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: PRISONERS OF THE SUN

Zulfa Septyaningrum

Abstract

The Indonesian version of the famous comic series The Adventures of Tintin were

formerly translated and published by now-defunct Indira publisher. In 2008, the comic

series were republished in Indonesia by Gramedia publisher. However, due to copyright

issue, the new Indonesian version of Tintin comics were translated differently from the

previous version which results in various responses from Tintin fans. Interested to

analyze how the two publishers translate the swearing words in each Indonesian version,

this study examines the procedures used by Indira and Gramedia in translating the

English swearing words into Indonesian in Tintin comic series entitled Prisoners of the

Sun. This study is aimed to answer this research question, “What are the translation

procedures to render the swearing words from the source text into Indonesian in each

comic version?” In order to answer the research question, a descriptive qualitative

method is used to analyze the data. The data of the research are taken from the English

and the two Indonesian versions of the comics. Newmark‟s typology (1988) is used to

categorize the translation procedures used by the two publishers. The study reveals that

the procedures used by Indira are literal translation, transference, cultural equivalent,

synonymy, modulation, reduction, and couplets. Meanwhile, the procedures used by

Gramedia are literal translation, naturalization, cultural equivalence, functional

equivalent, synonymy, modulation, reduction, and couplets. The finding also reveals that

from the procedures mentioned previously, modulation, couplets and cultural equivalent

are the three procedures which frequently employed by the translators of the two

publishers.

Key words: swearing words, Tintin comics, translation of comics, translation procedures.

INTRODUCTION

The Adventures of Tintin comic series, which used to be published by Indira from

1975, have enjoyed popularity in Indonesia. Due to some unfortunate quality problems

with its 2005 prints, the company lost the right to publish the series, and Gramedia, the

biggest publisher in the country, started printing the comics with a copy right from

Casterman Publisher in 2008. Gramedia has now printed all the series, but regrettably it

2

cannot adopt almost all of the names of the characters used by Indira due to some legal

reasons, which make the Tintin‟s fans in the country seem unhappy1. Apart from this

problem, the new versions have also been criticized for under translating the comic

books. As Kenneth (2014) stated that “Some older fans feel the new translations are

weaker and have lost part of the humor.” As a result, Indira‟s version still seems to be

much preferred and considered to be the “perfect” translation by many of its readers. One

area of translation of special interest relevant to this issue is the translation of the

swearing words of the comic series by the two publishers. One character who contributes

many vibrant swearing words in the comic series is the prominent character Captain

Archibald Haddock, Tintin‟s best companion beside his dog.

The first time Hergé introduced the character of Captain Haddock in his comic, he

needed to find a way to eliminate harsh words and replaced them with unique swearing

words that have equal emotion since his comic series were mainly targeted for children.

Since then, Hergé invented colorful and distinctive swearing words like Blistering

barnacles! which later become the trademark of Captain Haddock‟s swearing. When the

Indonesian version of Tintin comics were republished by Gramedia, the first thing

Tintinologists (appellation of Tintin‟s fans) sought to see is the translation of Captain

Haddock‟s swearing. As one of Tintinologist, Misdianto (2008) said in his blog that “I

have been waiting for the ninth series as I am curious how Gramedia would translate the

well-known Captain Haddock‟s swearing.” Apparently, it shows that the translation of

1 The names Snowy, Thomson and Thompson, Calculus have been changed into Milo, Dupont

and Dupond, and Lakmus in the Gramedia versions of the comic strips.

3

swearing words in the new Indonesian version by Gramedia attract Tintin fans to

compare them with the previous version translated by Indira.

Moreover, swearing words have an important role to help readers to be aware of

the character‟s feeling and attitude in comic. As Jay (in Sanders, 2009) explains that

swearing words connect our language system with our emotional system for instance to

express angry or surprise. Therefore, swearing words might have an important role to

illustrate the feeling and attitude of the characters in Tintin comic series. Considering the

importance of the swearing words to illustrate the manner and emotion of the characters

in Tintin comic series and how the swearing words particularly „Captain Haddock‟s

swearing‟ have a special place for Tintin fans. The writer found it interesting to see the

different procedures employed by the translators in each version, since they seem to have

been responded with different levels of enthusiasm. With the previous reason, the present

research would investigate the procedures of the translation of swearing words in the

comic entitled The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun and the two Indonesian

versions by Indira and Gramedia.

In addition, Zanettin (2004, p.3) reports that comics have been used as the

primary data of some translation studies to examine the translation of puns, proper

names, onomatopoeia, citations, allusions and other features of languages. Unfortunately,

there is one area which seems to remain untouched in the ground of comic‟s translation,

namely the translation of „swearing words‟. As Nørgaard & Grønhøj (2014) said that

swearing words “...have been considered as tabooed area within linguistics, since it has

4

been seen as less prestigious than other areas”. Regardless of this, the writer believes that

the translation of swearing words in comics deserves a special attention.

In relation to the study of the translation of swearing words, some studies have

been conducted such as the studies done by Mujayani (2006) and Kurniawan (2013). The

study done by Mujayani (2013) is entitled An Analysis of Swearing Words Translation in

Sidney Sheldon‟s A Stranger in the Mirror into Indonesian Sosok Asing dalam Cermin by

Hidayat Saleh. The focus of her study were to analyze the strategies used by the

translator in translating the English swearing words into Indonesian in the novel A

Stranger in the Mirror and to identify the accuracy level of the translation. Mujayani

used Mona Baker‟s typology (1992) to examine the strategies used by the translator in

translating the swearing words in the novel. Furthermore, she used questionnaire with

three respondents to rate the level of accuracy of the translation.

Another study is written by Kurniawan (2013) entitled An Analysis of Swearing

Words Translations in the Transformers 3 Movie. In his study, Kurniawan examined the

translation of English swearing words into Indonesian in Transformer 3 movie by using

Newmark‟s typology (1988). The similarity between this study and the two previous

studies is the objective. The three researchers try to look at the strategies or procedures

used by the translators in translating English swearing words into Indonesian. The

typology used in the current study is similar to the typology used in Kurniawan‟s study.

As for the difference of the previous studies and this present study is the source of data of

the research. The data of this research are taken from the swearing words found in comics

while the previous studies used swearing words in novel and movie‟s subtitling. Another

5

difference is Mujayani‟s study also evaluated the accuracy level of the translation while

this study focuses only on the analysis of procedures used by translator in translating the

swearing words in Tintin comics from English to Indonesian.

Based on the research background and the objective of the research, this present

study is expected to give a useful reference for translators who want to provide a better

translation of swearing words in comics to Indonesian readers. Hopefully, this research

will also be a beneficial reference for students of Faculty of Language and Literature or

other researchers who conduct study in the same field related to the analysis of translation

procedures of swearing words.

To limit the scope of the study, the writer would focus mainly on analyzing the

„swearing words‟ in comic The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun and the two

Indonesian translations published by Indira and Gramedia, with the following research

question “What are the translation procedures to render the swearing words from the

source text into Indonesian in each comic version?”

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

This section attempts to discuss all the literatures connected to this study from the

definition of swearing words, Tintin comics and its swearing words, translation of

comics, translation and translation procedures as well as the discussion of the typology

used in this study.

Definition of Swearing Words

Swearing words are not easy to define due to the fact that it is a very complex

area (Ljung, 2011 as cited in Nørgaard & Grønhøj, 2014). However, some linguists have

6

attempted to define swearing words. Adam and Richard (2002) define swearing words as

words which regarded as discourteous and improper form of language, including the

strongest and most unpleasant words. Although swearing words are often referred to as

inconsiderate or bad language, many people still use swearing words in their daily life.

As Svensson (2004) states that in spite of the judgment of swearing as insolent and

impertinent words, some people still use them in their everyday vocabulary. This may

link with Holmes‟s statement (2013) that swearing words may serve various functions in

society as swearing words are not only use by people to convey aggravation, anger and

offense but they are also use to express solidarity and sociability.

In addition of swearing words as a way to express emotion, feeling and to show

solidarity, in comics, movies, novels, and many other entertainment media, swearing

words are often uttered not only to express anger, annoyance, and surprise but are also

often used as the elements of jokes or humor. As proposed by Andersson and Trudgill

(1992, p. 36-37) that there are four classification of swearing words and one of them is

humorous swearing. The others are expletive, abusive and auxiliary swearing. To get

better understanding of the four strategies, here are the further explanations.

The first category, expletive swearing refers to personal feelings or emotions like

anger, annoyance, or surprise and it is not aimed at other people. For instance the

swearing words like Hell! Shit! and God damn it! The second category is abusive

swearing. This swearing is directed to other people and it tends to be offensive. Cursing

and name calling such as You bastard! and Go to hell! are belong to this category. The

7

third type is called humorous swearing. Although humorous swearing is addressed to

other people, this swearing does not intend to abuse or annoy people instead it gives a

sense of humor or playfulness for example Get your ass in gear! The last category is

auxiliary swearing. This type of swearing is not directed to person or circumstances and

it id only used as a way of speaking. This kind of swearing is “often or always non-

emphatic” and usually referred to as lazy swearing. For instance, bloody… or f**king….

Tintin Comics and Its Swearing Words

According to Eisner (1985, p. 5) comic or sequential art is “a means of creative

expression, a distinct discipline, an art and literary form that deals with the arrangement

of pictures or images and words to narrate a story or dramatize and idea.” Eisner‟s point

is that comic is a story or narration which employs pictures and texts to render meaning

to the readers. There are many types of comics including comic strips, comic books,

graphic novel and many more. As for Tintin comic, which is used as the basis data of this

study, belongs to comic series in which the comic is connected one to another through the

main character, Tintin. Each edition of the comic is published individually in series. For

this study, the 14th series of The Adventures of Tintin entitled Prisoners of the Sun and the

two Indonesian versions are used as the source data of the study.

The famous character Tintin was created in 1929 by a Belgian artist named

Georges Rémi, well-known by his pen name as Hergé (created from the French

pronunciation of R.G, his reversed initials). Hergé was born in 1907 in Brussels,

Belgium. He had written 23 comic series of The Adventures of Tintin from the first title

Tintin in the Land of Soviets until Tintin and Picaros. Hergé passed away in 1983 before

8

he finished the 24th series of Tintin comics entitled Tintin and the Aplha Art. Tintin comic

series were first publicized as the children‟s supplement section Le Petit Vingtieme in

Belgian newspaper Le Vingtieme Siecle (Tjokro, 2010). Then the comics become

prominent around the world and have been translated in many languages including

Indonesian.

The Adventures of Tintin or well-known in Indonesia as Kisah Petualangan Tintin

is popular comic series in Indonesia read by all ages of people, from children, teenagers

to adults. Indonesian people adore the story of the voyage of the smart and brave young

Belgian reporter and his loyal dog around the world to solve mysterious cases. Tintin

comics were first published in Indonesia in 1975 by now-defunct Indira Publisher and

were translated from the English-language version of the comics. Therefore, Indonesian

readers are more familiar with the characters‟ name of the comic that came from the

English version of the comics2. After Indira printing company was closed down,

Gramedia, gained the permission to republish Tintin comics in 2008. Due to authenticity

agreement, Gramedia translated the Tintin comics from its original French editions. As a

result, there are some changes of the characters‟ names of the Tintin comic series3.

Another difference between Tintin comics published by Indira and Gramedia is the title

of the comic series. Indira‟s version is entitled Kisah Petualangan Tintin: Tawanan Dewa

Matahari while Gramedia is titled as Kisah Petualangan Tintin: Di Kuil Matahari.

2 Tintin’s dog names Milou was known as snowy and Professor Tryphon Tournesol as Curthbert

Calculus 3 The names Snowy, Thomson and Thompson, Calculus have been changed into Milo, Dupont

and Dupond, and Lakmus.

9

In Indonesia and other countries, Tintin comic series is loved for the accurate

details of Hergé‟s illustration for places which Hergé himself might have never been

there before like Kemayoran Airport which appeared in The Adventures of Tintin: Flight

714. Another iconic characteristic of Tintin comic series which liked by many

Tintinologists and always become a topic in many Tintin‟s forum is the unique swearing

words in Tintin. The swearing words are very distinctive compared to the swearing words

which used in others media such as novel or movie‟s subtitling and dubbing like hell!

damn! or shit! The unparalleled swearing words are originated from the making of the

character Captain Haddock, whose vocabularies are vibrant and colorful since he is a

sailor. However as Tintin comics are also enjoyed by children, Hergé had to find a way to

replace the harsh swearing words into unique swearing words. Witnessing a market trader

using the word “four-power pact” „agreement of insuring international security signed by

Britain, France, Italy and Germany in 1993‟ to swear, Hergé found a solution for

replacing the swearing words in Tintin with ones which essentially were not „real‟

swearing words but can function as swearing words to express the emotion of the

characters in his comic. Later, he did many researches to invent plentiful unique swearing

words such as Blistering barnacles! Thundering typhoons! and many more which after

their first appearance in the comic became the trademark of Captain Haddock‟s swearing.

Translation of comics

When translators translating novels and comics, they might use similar typology

but they might have different consideration regarding the aspects of the translation, for

instance the texts in comics are put in speech balloons and boxes thus the texts have

10

lesser space than in novel. Therefore, the translators might need to pay attention to the

technical constraint of the translation although it should be noted that this aspect is not

the only thing to consider in translating comics. As the prominent linguist Kaindl (in

Zanettin 2004) proposes a classification related to the translation of comics which consist

of three aspects which the writer believes to be the important aspects in translating

comics. The first aspect is typographical signs which include the modification in font

type and size, layout, and format. Second, pictorial signs include the adjustment of colors,

action lines, vignettes and perspectives. Third, linguistic signs include the change in

titles, inscriptions, dialogues, onomatopoeias and narration.

In translating imported comics, the act is often referred as localization. As

Zanettin (2008, p.201) himself writes that “the publication of a foreign comics, can also

be seen as an instance of localization in that it involves not only linguistic translation but

also the adaptations of visual/cultural information, as well as technical constraints”

Furthermore, he states that localization is a procedure in which the original product is

adjusted properly to the target product with adjustment in linguistic, technical and

cultural aspects of the target language or the local where the comic will be distributed and

sold. Besides localization, there are two more strategies generally used in translating

comics. The first strategy is domestication and the later is foreignizing. In domestication,

considerable changes are made from the graphic, text to the format of the comics to fit

the local context. On the other hand, foreignizing maintains the format of the original

work to show the origin of the comic hence only few changes are made (Rota, 2008). In

addition, although the three procedures mentioned previously are commonly used to

11

translate comics, but the procedures might not applicable to translate a specific

translation element like swearing words in comics. Therefore, this study uses different

typology to analyze the translation of swearing words in Tintin comics which will further

discuss in the next sub-heading.

Translation and Translation Procedures

Generally, translation means transferring language from the source language (SL)

into the target language (TL). Bell (1991, p.5) defines translation as “the expression in

another language (or target language) of what has been expressed in another source

language preserving semantic and stylistic equivalences.” In line with Bell, Nida and

Taber (1982, p.12) state that translation is the act of “reproducing in the receptor

language the closest natural equivalent of the source language message, first in terms of

meaning, and secondly in terms of style.” Both of the two previous statements have

similar perception that to translate means to convey the source language to target

language as identical as possible in terms of meaning and style. On the other hand, it is

not an easy job for translators to render the meaning into TL as closely as possible as the

SL. As Mounin (as cited in AISSI, 1987) asserts that languages differ from each other as

each language corresponds to a specific society where the language is used by the people

of the particular society. In addition to that, language is bound with culture therefore

when translating imported literatures, translators need to refer to the TL cultural words to

fit the TL context. Moreover, if there is no TL equivalence of the SL words, the

translators need to look for a way so that the meaning of the SL can be understood by the

TL readers without losing the intended meaning of the SL words.

12

To analyze the comics, the writer here uses the term translation procedures

instead of translation methods. Newmark (1988) clarifies that “while translation methods

relate to whole texts, translation procedures are used for sentences and the smaller units

of language.” (p.81). Since this study analyzes the swearing words by using the words or

phrases of the swearing words, the term translation procedures is more appropriate to

refer to the strategies used by the translators. In this study, the writer employs the

translation procedures by Newmark (1988) as there are no specific translation procedures

for swearing words yet. Newmark (1988) listed number of procedures as follows:

1. Literal translation

Newmark (1988, p.51) says that in literal translation, the lexical items of the

SL is translated individually to the TL, yet this procedure maintains the

grammar items of the SL to the closest equivalent of the TL grammar items.

Examples of this procedure is the swearing words mountain goat which

translated literally into Indonesian as kambing gunung „mountain goat‟ and

foreign dog which also translated literally as anjing asing „foreign dog‟.

2. Transference

According to Newmark (1988) transference or known as emprunt or

transcription “is the process of transferring a SL word to a TL text as a

translation procedure.” (p.81). Newmark further states that this procedure is

similar to Catford‟s transference and transliteration in which the alphabets

from Russian, Arabic, Chinese, etc are conversed into English alphabet. In

addition, transference often refers as loan words as the words are loaned from

13

other language. For instance the English words coup d‟etat which means a

sudden and decisive change of government illegally or by force is loaned from

the French words coup d‟État with similar meaning. Another example is the

English swearing words “Davy Jones!” which is transferred to Indonesian as

“Davy Jones!”

3. Naturalization

In this procedure, Newmark (1988, p.82) says the SL words that already go

through the transference process are then adjusted to the TL‟s normal

articulation and morphology. In other words, the words are originally loaned

from other language but then it is accepted and used by people in their daily

life. The sample of naturalization is the English word attractive that comes

from the Middle French word attractif. In Indonesia, we have the word

komunikasi that is taken from the English word communication and the word

Ektoplasma from the English word Ectoplasm.

4. Cultural equivalent

Newmark (1988, p.82-83) states that when translator transfers SL word into a

TL cultural word, it means he uses cultural equivalent procedure. He further

adds that this type of translation procedure is not accurate but has greater

pragmatic impact compare to functional equivalent. Examples for this

procedure are the words “Good heavens!” and “For heaven‟s sake!” which

uttered to express surprise, are translated into similar cultural words in

Indonesian like “Astaga!” and “Demi Tuhan!”.

14

5. Functional equivalent

Actually functional equivalent is related to cultural words however Newmark

(1988) adds that this procedure requires the use of cultural-neutral words. In

other words, words are translated from SL to TL‟s words which are

commonly used in general. (p.83). For example the word budgerigar which

refers to a bird specimen parakeet or love bird is translated into Indonesian

simply as burung „bird‟. The example shows that word budgerigar is

translated into more common term as burung „bird‟ instead of burung parkit

„parakeet‟. Even though the translation is not completely accurate, but both

words refer to the same thing „bird‟. This procedure is also used when there is

no equivalent word of the SL into TL, for instance the word cot death is

translated in French as mort subite d‟un nourrisson (sudden death of an

infant). Although the translation is not fully specific in transferring the

meaning of cot death but both words render the same functional meaning.

6. Descriptive equivalent

Newmark (1988) claims that “Description and function are essential elements

in explanation and therefore in translation.” (p.84). Basically, Newmark is

saying that in this procedure, word is translated using longer explanation. To

take a case in point, the word m‟achète is translated as a large heavy knife

used in Central and South America as a weapon or for cutting vegetation. In

this procedure, both description and function are combined to translate the

word.

15

7. Synonymy

In this procedure, SL word is translated in close proximity to TL words

because there is no specific translation of the SL words in TL words. As

Newmark explains (1988) that “a synonymy is only appropriate where literal

translation is not possible and because the word is not important enough for

componential analysis” (p.84). Adjectives and Adverbs are common word

classes that usually translated using synonymy. For example, the literal

translation of the adjective stupid is bodoh, but in Indonesian language the

similar term bodoh „stupid‟ can be expressed using synonyms like dogol,

tolol, bebal, bego, dungu, idiot and many more. Usually this procedure is used

to avoid repetition for instance if the translation bodoh has been used before

then the translator would use the synonym like dogol or bego to translate the

word stupid.

8. Through-translation

Through-translation is often referred to as calque or loan translation.

According to Newmark (1998, p.84) translation of common collocations,

names of organizations, component of compounds and phrases belong to

through-translation procedure. Furthermore, he emphasizes that only

acknowledged terms are allowed to translate using this procedure.

Organizations that known world-wide by their acronyms like UNESCO,

UNICEF, FAO, and many more are usually not translated, so whether in

16

Indonesian or Japanese, FAO is still stand for Food and Agriculture

Organization.

9. Shifts or transpositions

According to Vinay and Darbelnet (1985, p.16) transposition is “procédé par

lequel un signifié change de catégorie grammatical”, which means one part of

speech is replaced by another part of speech. In other words, when

transferring SL words into TL, the translator also alters the grammar of the SL

words to TL. Newmark (1988, p.85) states that the changing of the grammar

from SL to TL involves the change from singular to plural, change the

position of adjective, change of an SL verb into TL word, change of an SL

group to a TL noun and many more. In addition to the definition by Vinay &

Darbelnet and Newmark, Catford (1965) proposes the term class shift which

occurs when “the translation equivalent of an SL item is a member of a

different class from the original item” (p.76). For instance a SL noun is

translated into a TL verb and etc. One example from Newmark is the shift of

singular word furniture which translated into French plural word des meubles.

Another example is the shift from SL verb into TL adverb of the French words

La situation reste critique (The situation is still critical) translated into English

as The situation remains critical.

10. Modulation

Newmark (1988) has adopted this strategy from Vinay and Darbelnet (1985).

According to Vinay and Darbelnet in AISSI (1987, p.152) modulation occurs

17

in semantic level and through many different perspectives or point of view.

There are two types of modulation. First is fixed or traditional modulation in

which the word either can be found in dictionary or is proposed by translator

in the past and become every-day language in the TL. Second is free

modulation in which there is no equivalent of the SL word to the TL word

therefore the translator needs to propose new term. Besides the two types of

modulation mentioned before, there are other modulation procedures such as

abstract for concrete, cause for effect, one part for another, reversal of terms,

active for passive, space for time, intervals and limits, and the last one is

change of symbols (Newmark, 1988, p.89). Although Newmark (1988)

mentions the sub-categories suggested by Vinay and Darbelnet, he himself

elucidates that they were “unconvincing” (1988, p.89) Therefore, since

Newmark does not give his own types of modulation, this present study will

only use this category to classify strategies which focus on transferring the

pragmatic aspect of the source text but use an expression with has little or no

semantic content of the source text. Here are the examples:

1. SL: tin-hatted tyrant!

TL: raja brengsek!

The first example shows a swearing words which translated using

modulation with little semantic context. The little semantic context here

means that the TL words still has semantic sense of the original swearing

though it is not completely transferred. Here the translator translates the

18

English swearing words tin-hatted tyrant into raja brengsek „evil king‟, the

word tyrant here refers to the same thing in Indonesian as raja or penguasa

„king‟. Moreover, although the meaning of tin-hatted is different from

brengsek, but both words serve equal pragmatic meaning that is referring to

the King whose personality is evil or heartless as he gave Tintin and Captain

Haddock a death sentence for entering the sacred temple of the Incas.

2. SL: the gangsters!

TL: belalang liar!

As for the second example, the translators translated it into completely

unrelated words from the SL. As a result, the SL swearing and the TL shares

no semantic context. Although both of them still considered as swearing,

however the result of the translated swearing from the gangsters into

belalang liar „wild locust‟ give a sense of humor to the translation rather than

showing the emotion of the intended swearing which refers to the bad guys

„gangsters‟.

11. Recognized translation

According to Newmark (1988, p.89) translation that has been officially and

widely accepted as institutional terminology is included in this type of

translation. For instance the German term Mitbestimmung „participation‟ is

generally translated as co-determination though it might be more accurate and

natural if the word Mitbestimmung is translated into worker‟s participation.

As the term co-determination has already been used as the standard of the

19

translation, if the translators use different term to translate it in official text,

then it may lead to a misinterpretation or confusion for the reader or receiver.

12. Compensation

According to Newmark (1988) compensation occurs when “loss of meaning,

sound-effect, metaphor or pragmatic effect in one part of a sentence is

compensated in another part, or in a contiguous sentence.” (p.90) for example

the sentences “We were a few kilometers west of Mahipar Falls when Karim

pulled to the side of the road. Mahipar – which means “Flying Fish” – was a

high summit with a precipitous drop overlooking the hydro plant the Germans

had built for Afghanistan back in 1967.” (Kite Runner, p. 111) Here the word

Mahipar is explained in the next part of the text.

13. Reduction and expansion

Reduction is also known as omission while expansion is known as addition.

Originally these strategies are included in shift procedure but now they stand

alone. Newmark says (1988, p.90) that although these procedures are not

accurate, some translators may use it. One example of reduction is the French

translation of science linguistique which translated in English as linguistics.

Here the word science is omitted. An example of expansion is the word

thundering typhoons which translated into Indonesian as seribu juta topan

badai „billions of thunderstorms‟. Here the translators use expansion by

adding the word seribu juta in the TL words.

20

14. Paraphrase

According to Newmark (1988, p.90) in this procedure, the translator

rearranges the order of the words or phrases or sentences into different

segments that still convey the similar meaning to the SL words. Or in simpler

way, the translator rewrites the idea of the SL text into different wording and

different style of writing of the TL by still maintaining the same meaning of

the SL. For instance the phase I don‟t think he would make it is translated into

dia tidak akan berhasil.

15. Couplets

According to Newmark (1988, p.91) couplets combine two translation

procedures to translate text, words, phrases or sentence in translation. For

instance the word ungrateful brute is translated into Indonesian as tak tahu

diuntung using two procedures. The first procedure is cultural equivalent,

ungrateful means tak berterima kasih, but here the translator refers the word

into a more cultural word as tak tahu diuntung which both has similar

meaning; the act of showing no gratitude. The second procedure used is

reduction in which the word brute in ungrateful brute is not translated in the

TL, only the word ungrateful is translated into Indonesian. So the SL

ungrateful brute is translated into TL using couplets, combination of two

procedures; cultural equivalent and reduction.

21

16. Notes

A note is additional information given by translators for difficult terms to help

the readers grasp the meaning of certain words. As Newmark (1988, p.91)

explains that a translator might need to add some notes for three main reasons

that is related to cultural, technical and linguistic. First, SL cultural words

need to be given explanation in TL as the local reader may not familiar to the

SL‟s cultural words. Second, technical note which accounts for words related

to the topic and the last is linguistic note related to the explanation of language

use of certain words. Furthermore, Newmark adds (1988) that there are four

ways in which notes are placed, notes within the text, at bottom of page, at

end of chapter and notes on glossary at end of book (p.92). The example can

be seen from the note at the bottom of page explaining about a *samurai, a

Japanese warrior who was a member of the feudal military aristocracy.

THE STUDY

Research Methodology

This study attempts to analyze the translation procedures used by two publishers

Indira and Gramedia in translating the English swearing words in Tintin comic series The

Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun into Indonesian. In order to fulfill the objective

of this study, this study used a descriptive qualitative research to examine the translation

procedures applied by the two publishers in translating the English swearing words into

Indonesian language. In descriptive qualitative research, the researcher acted as the

22

investigator who collects, analyzes the data, makes interpretation of the data then draws a

conclusion based on the interpretation of the recent issue or problem discussed in the

study. As stated by Wiersma (in Mujayani, 2006, p.86) that “qualitative research has its

original analysis, and essentially in inductive process, reasoning from the specific

situation to a general conclusion.” This study is also considered as descriptive qualitative

study because the interpretation of the data is put in a descriptive manner.

The data of this study were taken from the English swearing words in Tintin

comic series Prisoners of the Sun and the Indonesian translations of the swearing words

by Indira and Gramedia. The researcher picked the comic as the data source of this study

based on the following considerations. First, the comic is popular reading worldwide and

also in Indonesia. Second, the comic is popular reading for all ages from children,

teenagers to adults. Third, the comic contains many swearing words. Among the three

considerations, the last criteria must be fulfilled in selecting the data source to ensure that

the writer could analyze the procedures used by translators in translating the swearing

words in Tintin comic series from English to Indonesian.

The researcher applied library research to accumulate the data of this study. The

data sources in this study were divided into primary and secondary sources. The primary

sources of this study were taken from the English and the two Indonesian versions of the

14th series of Tintin comic series titled Prisoners of the Sun. The writer also used

secondary data which taken from suitable and relevant materials to this study such as

books of translation procedures and theories, journal or academic research about

translation of comics, swearing words and etc.

23

The data collection was later done in the following steps. First, the researcher

selected the comics for this study in both the English version and the Indonesian versions.

Second, the researcher read the comics to find the swearing words in the comics. Third,

the researcher listed all the swearing words found in the comics. Next, the researcher

encoded the swearing words found in the comics. Each item of the swearing words was

coded using initial P which refers to Page and F refers to Frame. For instance code P30F1

means the swearing word is found on page thirty frame one. The number of the frame is

counted from the top left of the frame or the first picture on the page. For examples, if the

data is coded as F1 then the data is on the first frame of the picture, if it coded as F5 then

the data is on the fifth frame. Moreover, page and frame are used to code the data because

in comic every page has more than one frame of pictures, therefore by giving code for

each swearing words, it helped the writer to check the data. After each swearing word

was coded, the following step was to put all the data in form of table.

In analyzing the data, the writer used these steps. First, the writer analyzed the

procedures used by the translators from the two publishers in translating the English

swearing words into Indonesian using Newmark (1988) typology. Then the writer

classified each data of the swearing words according to their translation procedures. The

following step was to describe and discuss the findings related to the objective of the

study. Finally, the researcher drew a general conclusion based on the findings.

24

FINDING AND DISCUSSION

From the data collection, the writer found 138 occurrences of English swearing

words, 133 occurrences of Indonesian swearing words in Indira and 135 swearing words

in Gramedia. Based on the data analysis, the result showed that from the total 16

procedures proposed by Newmark (1988), Indira used 7 procedures to translate the

English swearing words in Tintin comic into Indonesian and Gramedia used 8

procedures. The procedures used by Indira are literal translation, transference, cultural

equivalent, synonymy, modulation, reduction, and couplets. As for Gramedia, the

procedures used are literal translation, naturalization, cultural equivalence, functional

equivalent, synonymy, modulation, reduction, and couplets.

Table 1 Newmark‟s Typology Used in Translating Swearing Words in Tintin

comics

Procedure Indira Gramedia Total

Literal translation 11 13 24

Transference 1 0 1

Naturalization 0 3 3

Cultural Equivalent 27 21 48

Functional Equivalent 0 2 2

Synonymy 4 2 6

Modulation type 1 (MLS) 6 6 12

Modulation type 2 (MNS) 41 34 75

Reduction 8 20 28

Couplets 29 30 59

Total 127 131 258

Table 1 shows the total of the swearing words translated using Newmark‟s

typology (1988). As for the further discussion of the findings are as follows:

25

Modulation

The largest procedure used by the two publishers in translating the swearing

words in Tintin is modulation with total of 87 items translated using this procedure. As

discussed in the theoretical framework, the writer has divided this category into two sub-

groups to make the classification of the procedure easier. From the data analysis, the

writer found 41 items of SL swearing words translated into Indonesian using MNS4 sub-

group in Indira and 34 items in Gramedia. Still under modulation procedure, the MLS5

sub-group is used to translate 6 items both in Gramedia and Indira. Here are the two

examples of modulation procedure used by Indira and Gramedia translators:

(1) SL: Blistering barnacles

TL: Setan laut

(2) SL: Blistering barnacles

TL: Kepiting kurus

The first example is taken from Indira and the later from Gramedia. Both

examples have similar English swearing words however each publisher provides different

Indonesian translation of the swearing words. Indira translated blistering barnacles as

setan laut „sea devil‟ while Gramedia translated it as kepiting kurus „scrawny crab‟. The

English swearing word Blistering barnacles in Indonesian literally means kerang or

teritip yang melepuh atau bernanah. Here both translators used modulation to translate

the English swearing words. As has been discussed in literature review, one of the

characteristics of modulation is the change of symbol. Both of the translators in Indira

4 MNS: Modulation with no semantic content

5 MLS: Modulation with little semantic content

26

and Gramedia used the change of symbol in transferring the SL swearing words although

the symbol has no semantic connection from the original words or belong to MNS sub-

group. From the point of view of the writer, the selection of the modulation procedure to

translate the swearing words Blistering barnacles is probably because there is no

equivalent of the English swearing word Blistering barnacles in Indonesian language.

Furthermore, if the English swearing word is translated literally it may not sound natural

for Indonesian readers. Referring to the problems previously mentioned, the writer

assumes that the translators from the two publishers use modulation procedure because

they cannot use literal translation and unable to provide TL equivalent to render the

original swearing words. Therefore, they use their own perspectives to translate the

English swearing words into Indonesian.

In the first example, Indira changed the symbol from kerang „barnacle‟ into setan

laut „sea devil‟ and in the example number 2 Gramedia changed it into kepiting kurus

„scrawny crab‟. Referring to the original swearing words, the writer imagines that kerang

yang melepuh atau bernanah „blistering barnacles‟ as sea creatures which are completely

horrible. Therefore, the writer assumes that the symbol setan laut „sea devil‟ is more

appropriate and expressive for the translation of blistering barnales in Indonesia than

kepiting kurus „scrawny crab‟. The reason is because setan laut „sea devil‟ has closer

pragmatic equivalent to the swearing words Blistering barnacles especially in expressing

Captain Haddock‟s anger and annoyance. Meanwhile, kepiting kurus „scrawny crab‟ has

less expressive meaning than the SL swearing since it sounds humorous like a joke. As a

result, when the swearing word is linked with Captain Haddock‟s furious expression, the

27

translated swearing words kepiring kurus „scrawny crab‟ seems less suitable. The writer

can conclude it that way because in comics either picture and speech balloons are linked

to each other to transfer meaning of the story. Therefore, in angry and annoyed situation,

the swearing words setan laut „sea devil‟ could describe the emotion of the character

better than kepiting kurus „scrawny crab‟.

In addition, as shown in Table 1 both publishers mostly transferring the English

swearing words into Indonesian using this procedure. The reason is perhaps due to the

uniqueness of the swearing words in Tintin comics which are uncommon in Indonesian

language. Therefore, the translators used their point of view to render the SL swearing

words into Indonesian to provide natural translation which common to Indonesian

readers. Of course, not all the translation are perfect, in example 1 Indira‟s translators are

able to provide equal pragmatic meaning from SL to TL. However in example 2,

Gramedia‟s translators may not as successful as Indira‟s translators in rendering the

pragmatic meaning of the swearing words. Nevertheless, at least the second example with

the humorous swearing may bring laughter for Indonesian readers.

Couplets

The second largest procedure used to translate the swearing words in Tintin by

Indira and Gramedia is couplets. Indira and Gramedia translate 59 data using this

procedure. From the total 59 data, Indira translates 29 items with this procedure while

Gramedia translates 30 items. As discussed in the theoretical framework, this strategy

occurred when translators employ two different strategies to transfer the meaning of the

28

SL words into the target language. Here are examples of couplets procedure used in the

translation:

(3) SL: Thundering typhoons

TL: Topan Geledek

Thundering typhoons is another swearing words which often uttered by Captain

Haddock in Tintin comics beside the swearing words „Blistering barnacles!‟. Here the

swearing words thundering typhoons is translated using two procedures; shift and literal

translation. First procedure is shift or transposition. In shift procedure, the adjective

thundering was shifted into noun geledek „thunder or lightning‟. Then the translators used

literal translation to translate the typhoons into topan „typhoon‟. Therefore, the translation

became topan geledek. Based on result of the data analysis, the writer notices that shift is

often used with combination of others procedures to save the space of the speech balloons

since the original swearing usually longer than the TL swearing words such as in form of

noun group. Therefore the noun groups were usually shifted into noun in Indonesian such

as the swearing words young swine in form of noun group which translated simply as a

noun brengsek „damn!‟

(4) SL: raggle-taggle ruminants!

TL: pemamah biak!

The data sample number 4 also shows the example of couplets translation

procedure by combining two procedures; literal translation and reduction. In the example

number 4, the word raggle-taggle „kacau; semrwaut‟ is omitted and not translated in the

TL, as for the word ruminants is translated literally as pemamah biak. As a result, the

29

swearing words raggle-taggle ruminants is translated in Indonesian simply as pemamah

biak „ruminants‟.

Cultural equivalent

The third largest procedure used by Indira and Gramedia is cultural equivalent.

Cultural equivalent refers to the TL swearing words which has similar cultural value from

the original swearing. Indira used this strategy more often than Gramedia as can be seen

in Table 1 that 27 items were translated by Indira using this procedure and 21 items were

translated by Gramedia using this procedure. Here are the examples of the data:

(5) SL: thundering typhoons!

TL: topan badai!

(6) SL: Crumbs!

TL: Sial!

From the total of 27 items in Indira, 10 of them were the swearing words

Thundering typhoons. In Indonesia, people rarely use this swearing word to swear,

however this swearing word is often uttered by Captain Haddock, a sailor friend of

Tintin. When people swear, people often use some bad or offensive words. In Captain

Haddock‟s case, thundering typhoons is considered something bad for a sailor, hence he

used those words to curse or swear. Therefore, in example 5, it seems that Indira

translators are attempted to preserve the SL cultural words into the TL, so the translators

decided to translate it as closely as possible to the SL. As Newmark (1988) states that

cultural equivalent occurred when the translator transfer SL cultural words into TL

cultural words. Thundering typhoons in Indonesian literally means topan atau badai yang

30

bergemuruh „hurricane or thundering typhoon‟. However, since the literal translation did

not sound natural, the translators translated it into topan badai „stormy typhoon;

thunderstorm‟. Although the translation of the swearing words seems different, both of

them shared equal meaning which illustrate an extremely bad weather in form of

hurricane or typhoon.

The example number six illustrates the example of cultural equivalent used in

translating English swearing words into Indonesian language by Gramedia. The example

is chosen because the swearing word is occurred more than three times in the translation.

The English swearing word crumbs literally means remah-remah ‟small piece of e.g.

bread or cake‟. As the translation might sound odd if it translated literally, the translators

decided to translate it with TL cultural equivalence as sial „unluky; unfortunate; darn it‟.

The word sial in Indonesia is usually uttered to express annoyance, surprise and anger.

Similar with the word sial, crumbs is an utterance used to express surprise. Therefore the

translators translated the swearing words crumbs with the TL equivalent word sial.

Reduction

After modulation, couplets and cultural equivalent, reduction is one of the

procedure which often used by translators in Gramedia. There were total of 20 items were

translated using this procedure in Gramedia. On the other hand, Indira‟s translators only

omitted 8 items in their translation. Here are examples of the data using reduction

procedure:

(7) SL: But thundering typhoons, the doctor definitely said …

TL: Tapi dokter itu mengatakan…

31

(8) SL: Tonight? …. You? .... What about the yellow fever, stupid?

TL: Nanti malam? Bagaimana dengan demam kuning itu?

The two examples taken from Indira and Gramedia show that the swearing words

thundering typhoons and stupid were omitted and not translated in the target language. In

the comic, the two examples of the swearing words thundering typhoons and stupid

illustrated Captain Haddock‟s annoyance toward Tintin as Tintin insisted to go to check

Calculus on Pachacamac ship despite the warning indicating that there was infectious

disease in the ship and no one allowed going near that ship. As the swearing words are

not translated, the expressive meanings of the swearing words are not transferred too.

In contrast to the previous statement in which reduction effecting the

expressiveness of the output of the translation, in translating comic, sometimes there is a

case in which the translators have no choice but to omit the swearing words because there

is no enough space for the translation. For instance, there are many swearing words

uttered in one speech balloon thus the translators need to omit one or two swearing words

to fit the space of the speech balloon. The writer found two items in this study which

translated using successive reduction, here are the examples:

(9) SL: “Tramps! … Zapotecs! … Pockmarks! … Pithecanthropuses! …

Bashi- baӡouks! … Let me go, you savages!”

TL: “Biang panu! … Bajak kudisan! … Babon! … Monyet bulukan! …

Lepaskan saya, kampret!”

In example 9, the translators used successive omission procedure by only

translating four out of five swearing words in Indira comic. The translators might apply

this strategy for this following reason:

32

Picture 1 English version, Egmont Picture 2 Indonesian version, Indira

As seen in Picture 1 and 2 taken from the English version of Tintin and the

Indonesian version published by Indira, the sizes of the font used are different. The size

of the font used in Indonesian version is bigger than those in English version. Since

comic uses balloon to show the dialogue between characters, the translators may reduce

the swearing words because the space of the balloon is full. As can be seen in Picture 2,

there is no more space for the translation. Therefore, the translators decided to omit one

swearing word so the translation would fit the dialogue box. Furthermore, this strategy is

perhaps applied by the translators as they think reducing one swearing word in a group of

swearing words might not really effecting the expressiveness of the translation.

(10) SL: “Our guns?....The gangsters! …. Bandits!....Filibusters!....Pirates!....”

TL: “Senapan kita? Bandit! Bajak laut! Rampok!”

In addition, translators might omit the swearing words because it has no

equivalence in the target language or because it is difficult to paraphrase the meaning. As

can be seen from example 10, only three out of four swearing words are translated and

though the swearing words are not translated in order, it can be inferred from the meaning

that the swearing word which omitted in the translation is the swearing word filibuster.

According to an English-Indonesian dictionary, filibuster in Indonesian has meaning as

33

kb. usaha menggagalkan penetapan undang-undang dengan pidato-pidato yang amat

panjang dan tak habis-habis „a tactic for delaying or obstructing legislation by making

long speeches‟. Since the Indonesian meaning of filibuster is lengthy and uncommon in

Indonesia, it is difficult for the translator to paraphrase the meaning of the swearing word

thus the swearing word filibuster is omitted. This procedure is in line with Mona Baker

(1992) who suggests that translator may omit the translation if the meaning of the word is

not affecting the whole text and if the translation is too long. Similar to Mona Baker‟s

argument, example 9 shows that one swearing words can be omitted if it is not really

affecting the whole sentences. Reduction or omission is also used when the translation is

too lengthy and difficult to paraphrase as shown in example 10.

Literal translation

The next procedure which occasionally used by Indira and Gramedia is literal

translation. In this procedure, Indira translated 11 items while Gramedia translated 13

items. Here are the examples of the data:

(11) SL: foreign dog

TL: anjing asing

(12) SL: little rat

TL: tikus kecil

As discussed in the theoretical framework, Newmark (1988, p.51) says that each

word in SL is translated literally as an individual item in TL. In examples 11 and 12, the

English swearing words are translated word-to-word in Indonesian. In example 11, the

word foreign is translated literally as asing and dog as anjing. As for example 12, little is

translated literally as kecil and rat as tikus. After that, the SL swearing words are then

34

translated to the closest equivalent to the TL grammar (Newmark, 1988, p.51). In

Indonesian language, noun is put after the adjective. Therefore the SL swearing word

foreign dog is translated in Indonesian as anjing asing not asing anjing. The same case

goes to the other example little rat which translated as tikus kecil not kecil tikus.

Although the translators seem to try to transfer the SL swearing words into TL, the

writer perceives that literal translation of the swearing words mentioned before do not

sound natural. In Indonesia, when people swear with name calling using animal as the

object of swearing like anjing „dog‟, kambing „goat‟, babi or celeng „swine‟, they

directly said the names of the animal without addition like kecil in tikus kecil „little rat‟.

From the writer‟s point of view, the swearing words would sound more natural if the

word kecil „little‟ is omitted. In addition, the writer observes that literal translation might

not be good typology used in translating swearing words in comics, as many of the

English swearing words have lengthy translation in Indonesian. For example the

swearing word gobbledygook which in Indonesian means uraian yang berbelit-belit dan

sulit untuk dipahami „complicated language that is difficult to understand‟.

Consequently, the space of the balloon and the font size of the dialogue might need to be

adjusted. Therefore, the writer concludes that this procedure seems impractical to be

used in translating swearing words in comics.

Apart from the five procedures discussed previously, there are more procedures

used by Indira and Gramedia in translating the English swearing words into Indonesian.

Whereas the previous procedures discussed before are the procedures which used

frequently by Indira and Gramedia translators, the following procedures are procedures

35

which only used to translate one to less than ten items of swearing words in Tintin

comics. They are synonymy, transference, naturalization, and functional equivalent.

Here are the further discussions:

Synonymy

Indira translated 4 items using synonymy and 2 items also translated with this

procedure in Gramedia. As mentioned in the theoretical framework, word classes like

adjectives and adverbs are often translated into TL using synonymy. In line with the

previous statement, from the data analysis, the writer found SL adjectives which

translated using synonymy into TL. The examples are as follows:

(13) SL: nitwits

TL: dogol-dogol

(14) SL: Savages

TL: barbar

Examples 13 and 14 demonstrate translation procedure using synonymy. The two

swearing words in adjective form nitwits and savages were translated into Indonesian

using synonymy. Nitwits in Indonesian not only means orang bodoh „stupid‟, but it also

have synonyms like pandir, tolol and dogol. Here the translators used the synonym

dogol-dogol to translate the SL swearing words. Similar to the previous case, the word

savages in Indonesia has more than one meaning like brutal, ganas, liar, beringas, and

barbar. Here the translator also picked the synonym of the word savages „brutal‟ that is

barbar to be used as the translation. The reason for selecting the synonymy of the

swearing word is probably for stylistic reason or to avoid repetition. As an illustration,

36

the words nitwits, morons and stupid share the similar semantic meaning as dull or idiot,

therefore the translator translated the words into dogol or tolol to avoid repetition.

Transference

This procedure is only used by Indira and it is applied to translate one swearing

word only. Here is the data:

(15) SL: Davy Jones

TL: Davy Jones

According to Newmark (1988) transference procedure is a procedure in which the

translator simply transfers the SL word into the TL. Therefore the swearing words Davy

Jones was translated into Indonesian as Davy Jones. The translators did not translate the

swearing word but simply transfer the SL swearing word to the TL. In addition, the

swearing word is uttered by the famous sailor character, Captain Haddock. Therefore,

perhaps the translators simply transfer the SL swearing into TL, to show the readers the

swearing word which is commonly uttered by sailor to swear or curse the evil spirit deep

down the sea.

Naturalization

There is no data translated with naturalization procedure in Indira but the writer

found 3 swearing words were translated using naturalization procedure in Gramedia.

Here are the examples of the data:

(16) SL: Ectoplasms

TL: Ektoplasma

(17) SL: Terrorists

TL: Teroris

37

According to Newmark (1988) basically naturalization is transference of SL

words into TL words with adjustment of TL‟s morphology and pronunciation. The

translators in Gramedia translated the SL words Ectoplasms into Ektoplasma and

Terorrists as Teroris. Here the translations of Ektoplasma and Teroris were taken from

the English words but the words have been adjusted to the normal Indonesian‟s

articulation and morphology. In addition, Gramedia might use naturalization procedure to

keep the similar swearing words from the original source while Indira might not use this

procedure like Gramedia to avoid using loan words.

Functional equivalent

Only Gramedia translators used this typology to translate the swearing words in

Tintin comic. Here are the examples of the data:

(18) SL: Bald-headed budgerigar

TL: burung botak

(19) SL: Patagonians

TL: orang liar

According to Newmark (1988) functional equivalent refers to a translation in

which cultural-neutral words are used to translate the SL into TL. From the example 18,

the swearing word bald-headed budgerigar literally means in Indonesian as burung

parkit botak, however the translators simply translated it into general words burung botak

„bald-headed bird‟. Although the SL is translated differently in TL but both burung parkit

and burung are referred to the same thing, the bird or the budgerigar. As for example 19,

Patagonians refers to people who lived in southern South America between Andes and

the South Atlantic. The translators did not translate Patagonians as orang-orang

38

Patagonia but instead they translated it as orang liar „hobo; tramps‟. The decision is

made perhaps to avoid confusion of the word Patagonia, because if the translators

translated it as orang-orang Patagonia „Patagonians‟, then the translators need to explain

what is Patagonia. Therefore, the translators decided to translate Patagonians into more

general word orang liar to help the readers to understand that Patagonians refers to

people who lived in a wilderness. By translating it into orang liar „hobo‟ than orang-

orang Patagonian „Patagonians‟, the translators also saving the space of the speech

balloon in the comic since words orang-orang Patagonian are longer than orang liar.

Having discussed the procedures used by Indira and Gramedia translators in

translating the English swearing words into Indonesian. Now, the writer turns the

attention to the procedures which are not used or used only in combination with other

procedures in couplets typology. The procedures like notes, paraphrase, through-

translation, compensation, recognized translation, and descriptive equivalent are not

used in translating the swearing words in Tintin comics. The procedures mentioned in the

previous sentence are not used in translating swearing words perhaps because the

procedures are commonly used to translate terminology, name of association, and so on.

As for the two procedures shifts and transposition along with expansion which are rarely

used alone by Indira and Gramedia‟s translators, are used as the combination with the

others procedures in couplets. For example the swearing word pirate that is translated as

bajak kudisan „pirate who has a flaky skin disease‟. Here the word bajak „pirate‟ is

translated literally and then expanded or added with the word kudisan „skin rash; scab‟.

Another example is the swearing word Thundering typhoons which is translated using

39

modulation and shift into Jangkrik „cricket; grasshopper‟. The swearing word thundering

typhoons is shifted from noun groups into noun then translated using modulation with no

semantic context (MNS) into an animal jangkrik „grasshopper‟ by the translators.

Outside the typology proposed by Newmark, Indira translators translated two data

of the swearing words encoded P5F2 and P36F2 (see Appendix C) using double

translation. The double here does not refer to the number of the procedures used but refer

to the single swearing word which translated into two swearing words. Here is the

example of the data:

(20) SL: Billions of blue bubonic barnacles

TL: Sompret! Seribu Sial!

The swearing word Billions of blue bubonic barnacles! is translated into double

swearing words Sompret! Seribu Sial! „Damn it! Bad luck!‟ The writer assumes that the

translators might transfer the single swearing word into double swearing words to put

emphasis on the swearing words. Moreover, although the swearing words semantically

unrelated to each other, but both share pragmatic meaning that is to express surprise and

frustration, as in this context Captain Haddock uttered it when he was frustrated to

discover that his friend Calculus or Lakmus was kidnapped by the Indians. However he

was unable to save him because the ship he suspected as the place where Calculus was

kept had a yellow flag which indicate that there was infectious disease on the ship and no

one was permitted to go near the ship.

Similar to Indira, Gramedia also translate one data of swearing word using

unrelated word outside Newmark‟s typology. The data is as follow:

40

(21) SL: Billions of blue blistering barnacles!

TL: Coba saja!

The swearing word Billions of blue blistering barnacles! is uncommon in

Indonesian. Some identical swearing words like Blistering barnacles! Blue blistering

barnacles! are translated by Gramedia as Kepiting kurus! Kepiting kurus kering!

„skeletal crab‟. Therefore if the translators translate it in the same way as the identical

swearing words then the translation would be seribu juta kepiting kurus kering „billions

of skeletal crab‟. Consequently, the translation is too long and may not fit to the speech

balloon in the comic. Besides, the translation also sounds unnatural. Hence, the

translators decided to translate it not as a swearing word but more like a threat since Coba

saja! In English has equal meaning with „Bring it on!‟ or „Show me what you got!‟ This

strategy is probably used by the translators to match the context of the story since the

swearing word was uttered by Captain Haddock to threaten the Indians who try to harm

Tintin.

To summarize all the findings discussed before, the writer came into a conclusion

that among all the procedures used by Indira and Gramedia, modulation and couplets are

perhaps the most appropriate and practical procedures to translate the unique swearing

words in Tintin comics. There are 2 reasons underlying the writer‟s statement. First, the

swearing words in Tintin comics are unique and uncommon in Indonesia thus the

translators need to use their perspective to render the SL swearing words into Indonesia

using modulation or modulation combined with other procedures (couplets). Second, the

swearing words in Tintin comics are not only unique but quite lengthy especially if they

41

are translated literally in Indonesian thus literal translation is not practical for translating

swearing words in Tintin comics. To put it bluntly, the practicality here refers to the

speech balloon in the comics. Unlike novel, comic translation is limited to the space of

the speech balloon therefore practicality has to be considered in transferring the English

swearing words into Indonesian. Therefore, by using couplets such as modulation

combined with shift to alter the swearing words in form of noun groups into noun can

save the space of the speech balloon. Another benefit is this procedure can also provide

natural sounding translation by depending on the translators‟ knowledge on swearing

words commonly use in the country.

Furthermore, the writer proposes that in general, cultural equivalent can be a

potential option to translate swearing words from English imto Indonesian. However, this

procedure might be a little tricky as each language has its own rules and codes.

Moreover, language also connects closely to the culture where the language belongs. As a

result, different languages might not have identical cultural value and equivalent. In

addition to the summation of the finding and discussion, the writer reported that in terms

of expressiveness of the translation, Indira exceed Gramedia as some of the translation in

Indira could transfer the pragmatic meaning of the swearing words better than Gramedia.

Furthermore, Gramedia omitted many swearing words which make the translation in

Gramedia sounds milder and less expressive. Some of the swearing words also tend to

sound humorous in the TL translation compared to the original swearing. The writer did

not say that the Gramedia‟s translation is unsatisfactory. In fact the mild and humorous

translation might be more appropriate for young readers like children. However, taking

42

into consideration that swearing words may have link to portray the identities of the

characters in the comic, then by deleting many of the swearing words might result in

modifying the attitude and personality of the characters in the comic. For that reason, the

writer suggested that Gramedia translators should try to maintain the characteristics of the

characters in Tintin comic by not deleting the swearing words too often. The writer

believes that translation of swearing words with modulation typology with less or no

semantic content is almost certainly better than too much reduction.

CONCLUSION

This study attempted to analyze the translation procedures used by two different

publishers, Indira and Gramedia in translating the English swearing words into

Indonesian in the comic The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun. The study

revealed that Indira used 7 procedures from Newmark‟s typology (1988). They were

literal translation, transference, cultural equivalent, synonymy, modulation, reduction

and couplets. Moreover, 5 data of English swearing words were translated using

successive procedure with reduction. In successive omission procedure, from 5 swearing

words only 4 were translated. In addition there were 2 English swearing words in Indira

which translated into double swearing words in Indonesian.

As for Gramedia, 8 procedures proposed by Newmark (1988) were used to

translate the swearing words from English to Indonesian. They are literal translation,

naturalization, cultural equivalent, functional equivalent, synonymy, modulation,

reduction and couplets. Furthermore, 4 swearing words were translated using successive

43

procedure with omission like in Indira. From 4 swearing words, only three were

translated into Indonesian. Moreover, there was one swearing words which translated

with unrelated words.

From the result of the data analysis, both Indira and Gramedia mostly employed

three translation procedures by Newmark (1988). They are modulation, cultural

equivalent and couplets. From the three procedures on the previous statement, the most

used procedure was the sub-group of modulation procedure, MNS (Modulation with No

Semantic content). As most of the swearing words in the comic were uncommon in

Indonesia, therefore modulation procedure is used frequently by the translators to

translate the English swearing words into Indonesian. Some of the swearing words were

translated using the perspective of the translators and some were changed using symbols

which are more common in Indonesia context although the semantic meanings might not

relevant to each other.

Besides the three most used procedures mentioned in the previous paragraph,

reduction procedure also used frequently by Gramedia. As a result, the translation in

Gramedia sound milder than Indira‟s version which only omits a few swearing words. In

spite of that, the writer acknowledges that the translators from both publishers done a

great job to translate the English swearing words in Tintin comic into Indonesian as

translating swearing words from different languages is not an easy job. As Soler (2001,

p.74) states that “global cultures develop diverse swearing words taken from different

sources, which can result in divergence in the way people swear between communities”

44

In addition, considering that the translators in Gramedia had to translated differently from

Indira‟s version due to the copyright issues, the translators might have difficulty to render

the swearing words in Tintin especially since the Indira‟s version had already well-known

among Tintinologists (Tintin fans) in Indonesia. However, the writer observed that in

term of the expressiveness of the translation, Indira offerred more communicative and

expressive translations than Gramedia.

In addition, the writer admits that this study is still far from „perfect‟ and has

limitation. This study only used comics as the instrument of data collection, thus the

findings might not as elaborate if the writer also used questionnaire as the instrument of

the data collection. This study could have been better if the researcher uses questionnaire

to analyze the opinions and attitudes of Tintin‟s old fans and new fans regarding the

different translation in the two Indonesian versions of the comic. Therefore, the writer

suggests other researchers who interested in conducting the similar study to use more

than one data instruments to enrich their data. Despite the fact that there are many flaws

in this study, the writer hopes that this study could be a useful reference for translators to

provide better translation in their work and for students who interested in conducting

relevant study.

45

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Foremost, I would like to send my greatest gratitude to Allah SWT for all the

blessings and ease given to me for finishing my study in FLL and completing my thesis.

This thesis is dedicated for my beloved parents Sri Heri Ambarwati and Sasminto and my

brother. I am really grateful for their endless prayer and support to finish my study and

my thesis. I also would like to send my gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Elisabet Titik

Murtisari for the guidance, encouragement, patient, support and feedbacks. My gratitude

also goes to my thesis examiner Maria Christina Eko S., M. Hum for all the feedbacks

and patient. My thesis is impossible to be done without my two mentors, I am really

thankful for everything they told me. My gratitude also goes for my one and only brother,

also my role model, Yusuf Heri Prasetyo. Although I could never be as great as you but

you are the reason why I always give my best for everything that I do because I want to

make our parents proud, thank you for everything brother. I also would like to thank

Tina, Della and Risha for helping me to check my grammar. Last but not least, I would

also like to thank my dear friends Yaya, Winda, Brigitta, Puput, Iis, Mpak, Ambar, Freda,

Tria, Ima, and for all ELEVENERS for the wonderful four years in FLL. I hope we all

can graduate together, but even we could not make it together, I would be there on your

graduation day guys. Good luck to all my friends who already finished their thesis and to

all who still completing their thesis, “Be strong and do your best!”

46

REFERENCES

Adam King, R.F. (2002). Glossary. Using English. Retrieved April 23, 2015.

Andersson, L. G. & Trudgill, P. (1992). Bad Language. London: Penguin

AISSI, Layachi (1987). An Analytical Study of the Process of Translation. The

University of Salford

Baker, Mona. (1992). In Other Words: A Coursebook of Translation. London: Routledge

Bell, R.T. (1991). Translation and Translating: Theory and Practice. London and New

York: Longman.

Catford, J.C. (1965). A Linguistic Theory of Translation. London: Oxford University

Press

Eisner, Will. (1985) Comics and Sequential Art (expanded edition). Florida: Poorhouse

Press

Hergé (1975). Kisah Petualangan Tintin Tawanan Dewa Matahari. Indonesia: Indira.

Hergé (2002). The Adventures of Tintin Prisoners of The Sun. UK: Egmont UK Limited.

Hergé (2014). Di Kuil Matahari. Jakarta: PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama.

Holmes, J. (2013). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics (4th

ed). London: Pearson

Hornby, A. S. (2010). Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary (8th ed.).UK: Oxford

University Press.

Hosseini, K. (2004). The Kite Runner. New York: Riverhead Books

Echols, M.J. & Shadily, Hassan (2010). Kamus Inggris Indonesia [An English-

Indonesian Dictionary]. Indonesia: PT Gramedia Jakarta.

Misdianto, M. “Blistering Barnacles! = “Kepiting Busuk” = “Kodok Buduk!” ???.

Retrieved Mei 25, 2015, from http://mmisdianto.blogspot.com/2008/06/selamat-

tinggal-seribu-topan-badai.html?m=1

Mujayani, Marya (2006). An analysis of swearing words translation in Sidney Sheldon‟s

a Stranger in the Mirror into Indonesian Sosok Asing dalam Cermin by Hidayat

Saleh. Retrieved September 23, 2014, from

http://eprints.uns.ac.id/2986/1/64441606200904191.pdf

Newmark, Peter (1988). A Textbook of Translation. Republic of China: Shanghai Foreign

Language Education Press.

Nida, Eugene A. & Taber, Charles. (1982). The Theory and Practice of Translation (Vol.

III). Leiden: E.J. Brill

Nørgaard, Helle Bigum & Helena Grønhøj (2014). Translating swearing words in the

Danish Comedy Flickering Lights. Retrieved November 1, 2014, from

http://pure.au.dk/portal/files/75285037/BA_final_Helle_Helena.pdf

47

Rota, V. (2008). “Aspects of Adaptation. The Translation of Comics Formats.” In Comics

in Translation. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing.

Sanders, L. (2009). Body & brain: „%&*#$!‟ makes you feel better: New study finds

swearing like a sailor may alleviate pain. Science News, 176: 9.

doi: 10.1002/scin.5591760310

Soler, B. (2001). Swearing and Translation: A study of the Insults in the Film of Quentin

Tarantino. Universitat de València. Senci de Publicacions

Svensson, A. (2004). Gender Differences in Swearing Who the **** Cares? A Study of

Men and Women‟s Use of Swearwords in Informal and Formal Situation. English

Linguistics, Department of Humanities, Mid Sweden University. Retrieved May 20,

2015 from scotsyett.com/anent/dissertation.pdf

Tjokro, Susanna (2010). Fun Facts on Tintin. Retrieved September 24, 2014, from

http://m.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/05/09/fun-facts-tintin.html

Vinay, J. P. & Darbelnet, J. (1958) Stylistique comparée du Français et de L‟Anglais

[Comparative Stylistics of French and English: Methodology for Translation] (2nd

ed.). Paris: Didier.

Yeung, Kenneth (2013). Tintin in Indonesia. Retrieved September 24, 2014, from

http://indonesiaexpat.biz/featured/tintin-in-indonesia/

Zanettin, Frederico (2004). Comics in Translation Studies: An Overview and Suggestions

for Research. Retrieved September 10, 2014, from

https://www.academia.edu/3225523/Comics_in_Translation_Studies._An_Overview

_and_Suggestions_for_Research

Zanettin, Frederico (2008). “The Translation of Comics as Localization. On Three Italian

Translations of La piste des Navajos.” In Comics in Translation. Manchester: St.

Jerome Publishing

48

APPENDIX A

Table 1 Literal translation procedure used in translating swearing words by Indira

No. English swearing words Literal meaning Translation of

swearing words Code

1. the baboons babon; babun; yakis babon-babon P10F6

2. Bandits Bandit; penjahat Bandit P24F13

3. little rat tikus kecil tikus kecil P19F6

4. mountain goat kambing gunung kambing gunung P25F4

5. Man-eating mosquitoes Nyamuk pemakan

manusia

Nyamuk pemakan

manusia P35F11

6. blood sucker pengisap darah pengisap darah P35F12

7. Blood suckers Pengisap darah Pengisap darah P38F4

8. imitation Incas Inca palsu Inca palsu P47F3

9. foreign dog (a) anjing asing anjing asing P49F12

10. foreign dog (b) anjing asing anjing asing P58F8

11. Bunch of savages gerombolan liar Gerombolan liar P50F11

Table 2 Transference procedure used in translating swearing words by Indira

No. English swearing word Literal meaning Translation of

swearing words Code

1. Davy Jones Sebutan para pelaut

untuk roh jahat di

laut

Davy Jones P43F8

Table 3 Cultural Equivalent translation procedure used in translating swearing words by Indira

No. English swearing words Literal meaning Translation of

swearing words Code

1. Thundering typhoons (a) Topan yang bergemuruh Topan badai P6F4

2. Thundering typhoons (b) Topan yang bergemuruh Topan badai P9F1

3. Thundering typhoons (c) Topan yang bergemuruh Topan badai P21F5

4. Thundering typhoons (d) Topan yang bergemuruh Topan badai P24F14

5. Thundering typhoons (e) Topan yang bergemuruh Topan badai P29F5

49

6. Thundering typhoons (f) Topan yang bergemuruh Topan badai P35F5

7. Thundering typhoons (g) Topan yang bergemuruh Topan badai P54F3

8. Thundering typhoons (h) Topan yang bergemuruh Topan badai P55F2

9. Thundering typhoons (i) Topan yang bergemuruh Topan badai P55F12

10. Thundering typhoons (j) Topan yang bergemuruh Topan badai P61F8

11. Crumbs! (a) Remah-remah; repih Sialan! P7F3

12. Crumbs! (b) Remah-remah; repih Sialan! P14F11

13. Great snakes! ular besar; ular raksasa Aduh P8F11

14. Great snakes! (a) ular besar; ular raksasa Astaga! P10F4

15. Great snakes! (b) ular besar; ular raksasa Astaga! P14F8

16. Great snakes! (c) ular besar; ular raksasa Astaga! P23F9

17. Great snakes! (d) ular besar; ular raksasa Astaga! P33F8

18. Great snakes! (e) ular besar; ular raksasa Astaga! P49F7

19. The gangsters Penjahat; bandit Kampret P24F13

20. By thunder Demi geledek/Guntur Jangkrik P29F13

21. Blistering barnacles! Kerang bernanah Astaga-naga! P43F10

22. Great snakes! ular besar; ular raksasa Sialan! P45F7

23. Crumbs (a) Remah-remah; repih Astaga! P45F9

24. Crumbs (b) Remah-remah; repih Astaga! P46F6

25. Savages! Orang biadab; liar;

ganas Kampret!

P47F5

26. Great snakes! ular besar; ular raksasa Ya, ampun! P48F10

27. Blistering barnacles Kerang bernanah Jangkrik P51F10

Table 4 Synonymy procedure used in translating swearing words by Indira

No. English swearing words Literal meaning Translation of swearing

words Code

1. Nitwits Orang bodoh/tolol dogol-dogol P3F7

2. Stupid Bodoh Tolol P5F10

3. Brute Kejam; garang Jahanam P18F14

4. Morons Orang bodoh Dogol P32F14

50

Table 5.1. Modulation procedure with little semantic content used in translating swearing words

by Indira

No. English swearing words Literal meaning Translation of

swearing words Code

1. Young rascal Anak muda bangsat Setan kecil P12F4

2. young swine Anak babi/celeng bangsat kecil P19F5

3. by thunder Demi geledek Sompret P29F8

4. gibbering anthropoids Antropoid/ kera

besar mirip manusia

yang bicara meracau

babon sialan P36F5

5. tin-hatted tyrant Tiran bertopi timah/

kaleng

raja brengsek P49F1

6. billions of blistering barnacles Seribu juta kerang

melepuh/bernanah

seribu juta topan

badai

P55F3

Table 5.2. Modulation procedure with no semantic content used in translating swearing words by

Indira

No. English swearing words Literal meaning Translation of

swearing words Code

1. Blistering barnacles (a) Kerang bernanah Setan laut P4F1

2. Blistering barnacles (b) Kerang bernanah Setan laut P9F5

3. Blistering barnacles (c) Kerang bernanah Setan laut P20F13

4. Blistering barnacles (d) Kerang bernanah Setan laut P22F1

5. Blistering barnacles (e) Kerang bernanah Setan laut P34F12

6. Blistering barnacles (f) Kerang bernanah Setan laut P51F3

7. Blistering barnacles (g) Kerang bernanah Setan laut P54F6

8. Blistering barnacles (h) Kerang bernanah Setan laut P55F8

9. Blistering barnacles (i) Kerang bernanah Setan laut P58F9

10. Blistering barnacles (j) Kerang bernanah Setan laut P61F5

11. blistering bathtub Bak mandi melepuh kapal berengsek P5F8

12. Pirates Bajak laut Monyet P9F2

13. guanogatherers Pengumpul kotoran

burung

bandit-bandit P9F5

51

14. blue blistering barnacles Kerang biru bernanah setan laut P10F8

15. the gangsters Penjahat; bandit belalang liar P12F8

16. Thundering typhoons (a) Topan yang bergemuruh Setan laut P28F2

17. Thundering typhoons (b) Topan yang bergemuruh Setan laut P40F12

18. Thundering typhoons (c) Topan yang bergemuruh Setan laut P50F14

19. Blistering barnacles (a) Topan yang bergemuruh topan badai P28F4

20. Blistering barnacles (b) Topan yang bergemuruh topan badai P46F9

21. gobbledygook Uraian yang berbelit-belit

dan sulit untuk dipahami

Babon P30F2

22. Blistering barnacles Kerang bernanah setan alas P30F5

23. Filibusters Usaha menggagalkan

penetapan undang-

undang dengan pidato-

pidato yang amat panjang

dan tidak habis-habis

babon-babon P33F1

24. Weevils Kumbang biang panu P33F1

25. slubberdegullions Orang dekil, pemabuk,

tidak berguna

belalang liar P33F2

26. patagonians Orang-orang Patagonia setan laut P33F3

27. bashi-baӡouks Prajurit kekaisaran

Osman zaman Dinasti

Turki

Sompret P33F3

28. carpet-sellers Penjual karpet kutu busuk P33F3

29. kleptomaniacs Orang yang suka

mencuri; orang yang

berpenyakit panjang-

tangan

bajak kudisan P33F3

30. four-legged cyrano Trenggiling berkaki

empat

kerbau liar P38F1

31. blistering barnacles Kerang bernanah Sompret P44F4

32. Blistering barnacles! Kerang bernanah Topan badai! P28F4

33. Blistering barnacles! Kerang bernanah Topan badai! P46F9

34. anachronisms Sesuatu yang ketinggalan

zaman

belalang liar P47F3

52

35. sea-gherkins Teripang; binatang laut

mirip mentimun

setan laut P48F1

36. ectoplasms Ektoplasma; bagian luar

dari bagian dalam sel

yang berbentuk seperti

jeli

orang utan P48F1

37. Poltroons Pengecut; penakut Sompret P48F1

38. Politicians Politisi; politikus; orang

yang berkecimpung di

dunia politik

Kampret P48F1

39. doryphores Pengkritik yang gigih dan

menyebalkan

Monyet P48F1

40. Terrorists Teroris; peneror; perusuh kutu busuk P48F1

41. billions of blue blistering

barnacles

Seribu juta kerang biru

bernanah

sejuta kerbau dan

kutu busuk

P49F7

Table 6 Reduction procedure used in translating swearing words by Indira

No. English swearing word Literal meaning Translation of

swearing words Code

1. Thundering typhoons (a) Topan yang bergemuruh - P5F12

2. Thundering typhoons (b) Topan yang bergemuruh - P12F8

3. Thundering typhoons (c) Topan yang bergemuruh - P49F4

4. Filibusters Usaha menggagalkan

penetapan undang-

undang dengan pidato-

pidato yang amat

panjang dan tidak habis-

habis

- P24F13

5. Thugs Orang jahat; preman - P26F8

6. Bald-headed budgerigar Burung parkit berkepala

botak

- P30F2

7. Crumbs Remah-remah; repih - P31F9

8. Confounded bars Jeruji terkutuk - P55F8

53

Table 7 Couplets procedure used in translating swearing words by Indira

No. English swearing word Literal meaning Translation of

swearing words Strategies Code

1. Ungrateful brute Orang kasar yang tidak

tahu berterima kasih

tak tahu diuntung (CQ + RED) P2F10

2. Thundering typhoons Topan yang

bergemuruh

Seribu juta topan badai (EXP + CQ) P3F13

3. Thundering typhoons Topan yang

bergemuruh

Kampret (ST + CQ) P5F8

4. Sealion Singa laut monyet kecil (MNS + EXP) P9F6

5. Thundering typhoons Topan yang

bergemuruh

Jangkrik (ST + CQ) P9F16

6. Thundering typhoons Topan yang

bergemuruh

Jangkrik (ST + CQ) P54F8

7. The blistering

blundering bird-brain

Otak burung yang

melepuh dan ceroboh

Sompret (ST + CQ) P9F18

8. Great Scotland Yard! Departemen kepolisian

London yang agung

Demi Scotland Yard! (CQ + TR) P11F

9. Billions of blistering

barnacles (a)

Seribu juta kerang

melepuh/bernanah

Seribu juta topan badai (LIT + MNS) P14F9

10. Billions of blistering

barnacles (b)

Seribu juta kerang

melepuh/bernanah

Seribu juta topan badai (LIT + MNS) P55F3

11. The stubborn South

American centipedes

Orang Amerika Selatan

yang keras kepala

seperti lipan

Kampret-kampret

Amerika Selatan tolol

(MNS + LIT) P18F4

12. miserable reptile Reptil/binatang melata

yang menyedihkan

binatang keparat (FQ + MNS) P24F6

13. pirates! Bajak laut bajak kudisan! (ST + EXP) P24F13

14. Blistering barnacles (a) Kerang bernanah Kampret (ST + MNS) P29F13

15. Blistering barnacles (b) Kerang bernanah Kampret (ST + MNS) P36F2

16. Pirate Bajak laut Bajak kudisan (LIT + EXP) P30F2

54

17. raggle-taggle ruminants Pemamah biak yang

kacau/semrawut

pemamah biak (RED + LIT) P32F12

18. cushioned-footed

quadrupeds

Binatang berkaki empat

yang kakinya seperti

bantal

Binatang berkaki bantal (LIT + FQ) P32F13

19. Thundering country Negara menggelegar Negeri keparat (ST + MLS) P35F11

20. blue blistering

barnacles

Kerang biru bernanah sejuta topan badai (MOD + EXP) P35F12

21. Howling monkeys Monyet-monyet yang

melolong

Monyet bulukan (ST + MLS) P36F2

22. Billions of blue

blistering barnacles

Seribu juta kerang biru

yang melepuh/bernanah

Seribu juta topan badai (LIT + MNS) P36F5

23. To blaӡes with them Persetan dengan

mereka

Sompret (ST + MNS) P36F5

24. Beastly mosquitoes Nyamuk-nyamuk buas Nyamuk parasit (ST + MLS) P37F5

25. Loathsome brutes! Orang kejam yang

memuakkan

Setan! (ST + MNS) P39F11

26. Beastly steaming jungle Hutan liar yang panas Hutan bulukan (ST + MLS) P39F12

27. Blue blistering

barnacles

Kerang biru bernanah Seribu juta topan badai (EXP + MNS) P40F13

28. Blistering barnacles Kerang bernanah Seribu juta topan badai (EXP + MNS) P49F4

29. Little viper Ular beracun kecil Ular kecil (FQ + LIT) P49F10

Note:

CQ: Cultural equivalent MOD: Modulation

FQ: Functional equivalent LIT: Literal

ST: Shift or transposition RED: Reduction

TR: Transference EXP: Expansion

MLS: Modulation with little semantic context MNS: Modulation with no semantic context

55

APPENDIX B

Translation procedures used in Gramedia to translate the swearing words in Tintin comic:

Table 1 Literal translation procedure used in translating swearing words by Gramedia

No. English swearing word Literal meaning Translation of

swearing words Code

1. Pirates (a) Bajak laut bajak laut P9F2

2. Pirates (b) Bajak laut bajak laut P30F2

3. Sealion Singa laut singa laut P9F6

4. mountain goat Kambing gunung kambing gunung P25F4

5. Morons Orang bodoh Bodoh P32F14

6. man-eating mosquitoes Nyamuk pemakan

manusia

nyamuk pemakan

manusia P35F11

7. Bloodsuckers Pengisap darah pengisap darah P38F4

8. imitation Incas Inca palsu Inca palsu P47F3

9. Tramps! Gelandangan; gembel Gelandangan! P47F5

10. Poltroons Pengecut; penakut Pengecut P48F1

11. foreign dog (a) Anjing asing anjing asing P49F12

12. foreign dog (b) Anjing asing anjing asing P58F8

13. Bunch of savages Gerombolan liar Gerombolan liar P50F11

Table 2 Naturalization procedure used in translating swearing words by Gramedia

No. English swearing word Literal meaning Translation of

swearing words Code

1. Ectoplasms Ektoplasma; bagian luar

dari bagian dalam sel yang

berbentuk seperti jeli

Ektoplasma P48F1

2. Politicians Politisi; politikus; orang

yang berkecimpung di

dunia politik

Politikus P48F1

3. Terrorists Teroris; peneror; perusuh Teroris P48F1

56

Table 3 Cultural equivalent procedure used in translating swearing words by Gramedia

No. English swearing word Literal meaning Translation of

swearing words Code

1. Crumbs! (a) Remah-remah; repih Sial! P7F3

2. Great snakes ular besar; ular raksasa Sial! P8F11

3. Little devil Setan kecil Brengsek P8F14

4. Great snakes ular besar; ular raksasa Ya Tuhan P10F4

5. The baboons babon; babun; yakis Dasar babon P10F6

6. Great Scotland Yard! Departemen kepolisian

London yang agung Ya ampun! P11F9

7. The gangsters! Penjahat; bandit Dasar bandit! P12F8

8. Great snakes! ular besar; ular raksasa Sialan! P14F8

9. Crumbs! (b) Remah-remah; repih Sial! P14F11

10. Little rat Tikus kecil Dasar tikus P19F6

11. Great snakes ular besar; ular raksasa Ya tuhan P23F9

12. Crumbs Remah-remah; repih Wah! P31F9

13. slubberdegullions Orang dekil, pemabuk,

tidak berguna Brengsek P33F2

14. Great snakes! Remah-remah; repih Ya Tuhan! P33F8

15. to blaӡes with them Persetan dengan

mereka Terkutuklah mereka P36F5

16. Alas Aduh Sial P42F4

17. Davy Jones Sebutan para pelaut

untuk roh jahat di laut Demi Tuhan P43F8

18. Great snakes ular besar; ular raksasa Ya ampun P45F7

19. Crumbs! (c) Remah-remah; repih Sial! P45F9

20. Crumbs! (d) Remah-remah; repih Sial! P46F6

21. Great snakes ular besar; ular raksasa Ya Tuhan! P48F10

57

Table 4 Functional equivalent procedure used in translating swearing words by Gramedia

No. English swearing word Literal meaning Translation of

swearing words Code

1. Bald-headed budgerigar Burung parkit

berkepala botak

Burung botak P30F2

2. Patagonians Orang-orang

Patagonia

orang liar P33F3

Table 5 synonymy procedure used in translating swearing words by Gramedia

No. English swearing word Literal meaning Translation of

swearing words Code

1. Brute Kejam; kasar Jahat P18F14

2. Savages Orang biadab; liar; ganas Barbar P47F5

Table 6.1. Modulation procedure with little semantic content used in translating swearing words

by Gramedia

No. English swearing word Literal meaning Translation of swearing words

Code

1. Blistering bathtub! Bak mandi melepuh Bak mandi mengapung P5F8

2. Carpet-sellers Penjual karpet Tukang karpet P33F3

3. Thundering country Negara menggelegar Negara brengsek P35F11

4. Four-legged cyrano Trenggiling berkaki

empat

Monster kaki empat P38F1

5. Pockmarks Burik; bopeng; bekas

cacar

Cacar air P47F5

6. tin-hatted tyrant Tiran bertopi timah/

kaleng dasar tiran kejam

P49F1

58

Table 6.2. Modulation procedure with no semantic content used in translating swearing words by

Gramedia

No. English swearing word Literal meaning Translation of

swearing words Code

1. Ungrateful brute Orang kasar yang tidak

tahu berterima kasih

Binatang liar P2F10

2. guanogatherers Pengumpul kotoran

burung para bandit

P9F1

3. Blistering barnacles (a) Kerang bernanah Kepiting kurus P9F5

4. Blistering barnacles (b) Kerang bernanah Kepiting kurus P20F13

5. Blistering barnacles (c) Kerang bernanah Kepiting kurus P22F1

6. Blistering barnacles (d) Kerang bernanah Kepiting kurus P29F13

7. Blistering barnacles (e) Kerang bernanah Kepiting kurus P34F12

8. Blistering barnacles (f) Kerang bernanah Kepiting kurus P36F2

9. Blistering barnacles (g) Kerang bernanah Kepiting kurus P43F10

10. Blistering barnacles (h) Kerang bernanah Kepiting kurus P44F4

11. Blistering barnacles (i) Kerang bernanah Kepiting kurus P46F9

12. Blistering barnacles (j) Kerang bernanah Kepiting kurus P49F4

13. Blistering barnacles (k) Kerang bernanah Kepiting kurus P51F3

14. Blistering barnacles (l) Kerang bernanah Kepiting kurus P54F6

15. Blistering barnacles (m) Kerang bernanah Kepiting kurus P55F8

16. Blistering barnacles (n) Kerang bernanah Kepiting kurus P58F9

17. Blistering barnacles (o) Kerang bernanah Kepiting kurus P61F5

18. blue blistering barnacles

(a)

Kerang biru bernanah kepiting kurus kering P10F8

19. blue blistering barnacles

(b)

Kerang biru bernanah kepiting kurus kering P35F12

20. blue blistering barnacles

(c)

Kerang biru bernanah kepiting kurus kering P40F13

21. billions of blistering

barnacles

Seribu juta kerang

bernanah sejuta kepiting kurus

P14F9

22. Miserable iconoclast Orang menyedihkan

yang menentang

Dasar unta palsu P21F11

59

pemujaan patung

berhala

23. Doryphore Pengkritik yang gigih

dan menyebalkan

Sosis lembek P30F2

24. Gobbledygook Uraian yang berbelit-

belit dan sulit untuk

dipahami

bolu bantat P30F2

25. Filibusters Usaha menggagalkan

penetapan undang-

undang dengan pidato-

pidato yang amat

panjang dan tidak

habis-habis

bajak laut P33F1

26. Weevil Kumbang Bangsat P33F1

27. bashi-baӡouks (a) Prajurit kekaisaran

Osman zaman Dinasti

Turki

susu basi P33F3

28. Kleptomaniacs Orang yang suka

mencuri; orang yang

berpenyakit panjang-

tangan

kacang melempem P33F3

29. Blue blistering barnacles Kerang biru bernanah Kepiting kurus kering P35F12

30. Gibbering anthropoids Antropoid/ kera besar

mirip manusia yang

bicara meracau

Serangga brengsek P36F5

31. anachronisms Sesuatu yang

ketinggalan zaman

Orang liar P47F3

32. bashi-baӡouks (b) Prajurit kekaisaran

Osman zaman Dinasti

Turki

susu basi

P47F5

33. Sea-gherkins! Teripang; binatang laut

mirip mentimun

Ubur-ubur! P48F1

34. Doryphore Pengkritik yang gigih

dan menyebalkan

sosis busuk P48F1

60

Table 7 Reduction procedure used in translating swearing words by Gramedia

No. English swearing word Literal meaning Translation of swearing words

Code

1. Nitwits Orang bodoh/tolol - P3F7

2. Blistering barnacles (a) Kerang bernanah - P4F1

3. Blistering barnacles (b) Kerang bernanah - P28F4

4. Blistering barnacles (c) Kerang bernanah - P30F5

5. Blistering barnacles (d) Kerang bernanah - P51F10

6. Stupid Bodoh - P5F10

7. Iconoclasts Orang yang menentang

pemujaan patung berhala

- P9F2

8. Young rascal Anak muda bangsat - P12F4

9. Thundering typhoons (a) Topan yang bergemuruh - P12F8

10. Thundering typhoons (b) Topan yang bergemuruh - P54F8

11. Miserable reptile Reptil/binatang melata

yang menyedihkan

- P24F6

12. Thugs Orang jahat; preman - P26F8

13. By thunder (a) Demi geledek/guntur - P29F8

14. By thunder (b) Demi geledek/guntur - P29F13

15. Blood sucker Pengisap darah - P35F12

16. Billions of blue blistering

barnacles

Seribu juta kerang biru

bernanah -

P36F5

17. Zapotecs Orang-orang zapotec - P47F5

18. Great snakes ular besar; ular raksasa - P49F7

19. Billions of blistering

barnacles

Seribu juta kerang

melepuh/bernanah

- P55F3

20. Confounded bars Jeruji terkutuk - P55F8

61

Table 8 Couplets procedure used in translating swearing words by Gramedia

No. English swearing word Literal meaning Translation of

swearing words Strategies Code

1. Thundering typhoons (a) Topan yang bergemuruh Topan geledek (ST + LIT) P3F13

2. Thundering typhoons (b) Topan yang bergemuruh Topan geledek (ST + LIT) P5F8

3. Thundering typhoons (c) Topan yang bergemuruh Topan geledek (ST + LIT) P5F12

4. Thundering typhoons (d) Topan yang bergemuruh Topan geledek (ST + LIT) P6F4

5. Thundering typhoons (e) Topan yang bergemuruh Topan geledek (ST + LIT) P9F1

6. Thundering typhoons (f) Topan yang bergemuruh Topan geledek (ST + LIT) P9F16

7. Thundering typhoons (g) Topan yang bergemuruh Topan geledek (ST + LIT) P21F5

8. Thundering typhoons (h) Topan yang bergemuruh Topan geledek (ST + LIT) P24F14

9. Thundering typhoons (i) Topan yang bergemuruh Topan geledek (ST + LIT) P28F2

10. Thundering typhoons (j) Topan yang bergemuruh Topan geledek (ST + LIT) P29F5

11. Thundering typhoons (k) Topan yang bergemuruh Topan geledek (ST + LIT) P35F5

12. Thundering typhoons (k) Topan yang bergemuruh Topan geledek (ST + LIT) P40F12

13. Thundering typhoons (l) Topan yang bergemuruh Topan geledek (ST + LIT) P49F4

14. Thundering typhoons (m) Topan yang bergemuruh Topan geledek (ST + LIT) P54F3

15. Thundering typhoons (n) Topan yang bergemuruh Topan geledek (ST + LIT) P55F2

16. Thundering typhoons (o) Topan yang bergemuruh Topan geledek (ST + LIT) P55F12

17. Thundering typhoons (p) Topan yang bergemuruh Topan geledek (ST + LIT) P61F8

18. The blistering blundering

bird-brain

Otak burung yang

melepuh dan ceroboh

Dasar otak unggas (RED + FQ) P9F18

19. Billions of blue bubonic

barnacles

Seribu juta tiram biru

bernanah dan berpenyakit

pes

Seribu juta kepiting

kurus kering (LIT + MNS) P5F2

20. the stubborn South

American centipedes

Orang Amerika Selatan

yang keras kepala seperti

lipan

Dasar Amerika Selatan

keras kepala (LIT + RED) P18F4

62

21. Young swine Anak babi/celeng Brengsek (ST + CQ) P19F5

22. Miserable reptile Reptil/binatang melata

yang menyedihkan

Reptil (RED + LIT) P24F6

23. raggle-taggle ruminants Pemamah biak yang

kacau/semrawut

pemakan rumput (RED + FQ) P32F12

24. cushioned-footed

quadrupeds

Binatang berkaki empat

yang kakinya seperti

bantal

Dasar kaki empat

berbulu (FQ + MNS) P32F13

25. Howling monkeys Monyet-monyet yang

melolong

Monyet (RED + ST) P36F2

26. Pithecanthropic

mountebanks

Manusia purba

palsu/penipu Monster gua (RED + MNS) P36F2

27. Beastly steaming jungle Hutan liar yang panas Hutan terkutuk (ST + MNS) P39F12

28. Loathsome brutes Orang kejam yang

memuakkan

Brengsek (ST + CQ) P39F1

29. Little viper Ular berbisa kecil Ular (RED + FQ) P49F10

30. Thundering typhoons Topan yang bergemuruh Demi topan geledek (ST + FQ) P50F14

Note:

CQ: Cultural equivalent MOD: Modulation

FQ: Functional equivalent LIT: Literal

ST: Shift or transposition RED: Reduction

TR: Transference EXP: Expansion

MLS: Modulation with little semantic context MNS: Modulation with no semantic contex

63

APPENDIX C

List of other translation procedures used by Indira. Here the translators translate

the single swearing words into two different swearing words:

Table 1 Double translation used by Indira

No. English swearing word Literal meaning Translation of

swearing words Code

1. Billions of blue bubonic

barnacles

Seribu juta tiram biru

bernanah dan

berpenyakit pes

Sompret! Seribu Sial! P5F2

2. Pithecanthropic

mountebanks

Manusia purba

palsu/penipu

Babon kudisan!

Jangkrik parasit! P36F2

As for Gramedia, one swearing word is translated using unrelated words.

Table 2 Unrelated translation used by Gramedia

No. English swearing word Literal meaning Translation of

swearing words Code

1. Billions of blue blistering

barnacles!

Seribu juta kerang biru

bernanah

Coba saja! P49F7