Negotiating Cultural References in Folktale Translation: A Student Translator's Decision-Making Process
(1) Universitas Sebelas Maret
(2) Universitas Sebelas Maret
(3) Universitas Sebelas Maret
(*) Corresponding Author
Abstract
Culture-specific references often become one of the most challenging aspects of translating Indonesian folktales into English. Translators are expected to preserve cultural meanings embedded in the source text while at the same time producing a translation that can be understood by target readers. This paper examines how a student translator dealt with this challenge when translating Asal Usul Sompil Gripis di Umbul Pengging, a Javanese folktale rich in local cultural references and wayang-related terminology. This study employed a qualitative case study design within the framework of Translation Process Research. Data were collected from the translator’s draft, translation quality assessment, and retrospective interview. The analysis focused on culture-related items, including personal names, social titles, forms of address, and local cultural terms. Several interesting patterns emerged from the data. Although the translator repeatedly stated that preserving meaning was more important than readability, many translation decisions were influenced by assumptions about international readers. For example, Dewi Sembadra was rendered as Princess Subhadra, while names such as Kresna, Karno, and Sengkuni were replaced with the forms Krishna, Karna, and Shakuni after the translator consulted English-language sources. Terms without close English equivalents, such as sendang, were retained and explained through footnotes. Paraphrase was also frequently used to avoid what the translator perceived as awkward or overly literal expressions. These strategies generally improved readability, yet some of them reduced cultural specificity and affected translation accuracy. The findings suggest that translation decisions are shaped not only by linguistic considerations but also by the translator’s perception of who the target readers are and what they are expected to understand.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Abdel Latif, M. M. M. (2025). Researching and modelling the translation process. Cambridge University Press.
Aixelá, J. F. (1996). Culture-specific items in translation. In Translation, power, subversion (pp. 52–78). Multilingual Matters.
Alangari, E. (2022). Cultural mediation in tourism translation: Saudi Arabia as a case study. Arab World English Journal For Translation and Literary Studies, 6(3), 67–80.
Alves, F., & Gonçalves, J. L. (2019). Translation process research and translation competence. In The Routledge handbook of translation and cognition (pp. 317–335). Routledge.
An, G., & Tan, D. A. L. (2024). Translating Culture-Specific Items (CSIs) in Water Margin: Balancing domestication and foreignization. International Journal of English Linguistics, 14(5), 52–61.
Baker, M. (2018). In other words: A coursebook on translation (3rd ed.). Routledge.
Bassnett, S. (2013). Translation studies (4th ed.). Routledge.
Berman, A. (1992). The experience of the foreign: Culture and translation in romantic Germany. State University of New York Press.
Carl, M., & Schaeffer, M. (2017). Why translation is difficult: A corpus-based study of non-literality in post-editing and from-scratch translation. Machine Translation, 31(1–2), 29–57.
Catford, J. C. (1965). A linguistic theory of translation. Oxford University Press.
Chesterman, A. (1997). Memes of translation: The spread of ideas in translation theory. John Benjamins Publishing.
Davies, E. E. (2003). A goblin or a dirty nose? The treatment of culture-specific references in translations of the Harry Potter books. The Translator, 9(1), 65–100.
Dong, Y., & Li, Y. (2020). Translation process research. Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
Dragsted, B. (2004). Segmentation in translation and translation memory systems: An empirical investigation of cognitive segmentation. Samfundslitteratur.
Englund Dimitrova, B. (2005). Expertise and explicitation in the translation process. John Benjamins Publishing.
Even-Zohar, I. (1990). Polysystem theory. Poetics Today, 11(1), 9–26.
Gile, D. (2009). Basic concepts and models for interpreter and translator training. John Benjamins Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.8
Gouadec, D. (2007). Translation as a profession. John Benjamins Publishing.
Gutt, E.-A. (2000). Translation and relevance: Cognition and context (2nd ed.). St. Jerome Publishing.
Hatim, B., & Mason, I. (1990). Discourse and the translator. Longman.
He, Y., & Su, X. (2022). Translation of tourism websites based on the CCT model. Advances in Applied Sociology, 12, 508–530.
Hermans, T. (1999). Translation in systems: Descriptive and systemic approaches explained. St. Jerome Publishing.
Holmes, J. S. (1988). The name and nature of translation studies. In Translated! Papers on literary translation and translation studies (pp. 67–80). Rodopi.
House, J. (2018). Translation: The basics. Routledge.
Hurtado Albir, A. (2015). The acquisition of translation competence. Multilingual Matters.
Hvelplund, K. T. (2016). Cognitive efficiency in translation. Translation Spaces, 5(1), 149–171.
Jakobsen, A. L. (2011). Tracking translators’ keystrokes and eye movements with Translog. In Methods and strategies of process research (pp. 37–55). John Benjamins Publishing.
Kussmaul, P. (1995). Training the translator. John Benjamins Publishing.
Lefevere, A. (1992). Translation, rewriting, and the manipulation of literary fame. Routledge.
Massey, G. (2017). Translation competence development and process-oriented pedagogy. In The handbook of translation and cognition (pp. 496–518). Wiley-Blackwell.
Munday, J. (2016). Introducing translation studies: Theories and applications (4th ed.). Routledge.
Muñoz Martín, R. (2016). Reembedding translation process research: An introduction. In Reembedding translation process research (pp. 1–19). John Benjamins Publishing.
Nababan, M., Nuraeni, A., & Sumardiono, S. (2012). Pengembangan model penilaian kualitas terjemahan. Kajian Linguistik Dan Sastra, 24(1), 39–57.
Nida, E. A. (1964). Toward a science of translating. Brill.
Nitzke, J. (2019). Problem solving in translation and post-editing. Language Science Press.
PACTE. (2003). Building a translation competence model. In Triangulating translation (pp. 43–66). John Benjamins Publishing.
Pym, A., & Ayvazyan, N. (2017). Linguistics, translation and interpreting in foreign-language teaching contexts. In The Routledge handbook of translation and linguistics (pp. 393–407). Routledge.
Rojo López, A. M., Vicente López, M. I., & Hvelplund, K. T. (2024). Measuring cognitive effort in post-editing: an eye-tracking study comparing professional and student translators. Revista Tradumàtica, 22, 112–135.
Rustandi, A. (2023). Cognitive behaviors in Indonesian-English translation: Exploring translation processes. JALL (Journal of Applied Linguistics and Literacy), 7(1), 101–114.
Shuttleworth, M., & Cowie, M. (1997). Dictionary of translation studies. St. Jerome Publishing.
Silaban, C. B., Sofyan, R., & Putri, D. M. (2022). Using Translog to analyze self-corrections in translating advertisement texts by professional translators. Ability: Journal of Education and Social Analysis, 3(2), 1–10.
Sun, S. (2016). Measuring translation difficulty: An empirical study. Target, 28(1), 74–112.
Sycz-Opoń, J. (2019). Information-seeking behaviour of translation students at the workplace. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer, 13(3), 252–276.
Toury, G. (2012). Descriptive translation studies and beyond (Revised). John Benjamins Publishing.
Venuti, L. (1995). The translator’s invisibility: A history of translation. Routledge.
Vinay, J.-P., & Darbelnet, J. (1995). Comparative stylistics of French and English. John Benjamins Publishing.
Yin, R. K. (2014). Case study research: Design and methods (5th ed.). Sage Publications.
Zheng, B., & Xiang, X. (2018). The impact of cultural background knowledge on the translation process and product. Translation and Interpreting Studies, 13(2), 274–293.
Zuo, Y., Abdullah, S. N. S., & Toh, F. H. C. (2023). Strategies for translating culture-specific items from Chinese into English. World Journal of English Language, 13(7), 1–27.
Article Metrics
Abstract view : 0 timesPDF - 0 times
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2026 English Language and Literature International Conference (ELLiC) Proceedings
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Electronic ISSN: 2579-7263
CD-ROM ISSN: 2579-7549
Published by
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
UNIVERSITAS MUHAMMADIYAH SEMARANG
Jl. Kedungmundu Raya No.18 Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia
Phone: +622476740295, email: ellic@unimus.ac.id
