Microsoft Word - Frans_E-journal


 1

TRANSLATION OF RELIGIOUS-CULTURAL TERMS OF ADDRESS 
IN THE LUKE’S BIBLE 

 
Frans I Made Brata1, I. B. Putra Yadnya2,  
I Gusti Made Sutjaja2, Aron Meko Mbete2 

 
1Postgraduate Program, Udayana University 

2Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Letters, Udayana University  
Email: fbrata@gmail.com 

 
 
 
 

ABSTRACT 
 

 This study analyses words and phrases used for addressing in the translation of 
religious-cultural terms of address in the Luke’s Bible. Their profiles and attitudes, 
techniques, methods, and ideologies applied as well as factors leading to and their 
impacts towards the degree of accuracy, readability, and acceptability were qualitatively 
described.  
 The data were taken from the Luke’s English Bible and their translations into 
Balinese. First, the terms of address found in the source text were compared with those 
found in the target text with reference to the appraisal theoretical framework  to identify 
the social stratifications to which the addressee belongs to, which was then applied to 
identify what translation techniques were applied. The formal and dynamic equivalence 
(de Ward and Nida, 1986: 36), and V diagram  of the translation method (New Mark, 
1988: 45) were employed to show the translation orientations closely related to the 
translation ideology itself.  
 The findings show that: (1) the choice of the linguistic variants in the target 
language  was influenced by the dimensions of attitude: affect, judgment, and 
appreciation, either (positive [+], or negative [-]) among the participants; (2) there were 
12 translation techniques applied, two of which were the technique of calque and literal 
(0.06%) which were oriented towards the source language, 0.02% was ‘gray’, and the 
rest, that is, 99.2% was oriented towards the target language. The dominance of the 
translation techniques which were oriented towards the target language shows that there 
was a great cultural difference between the source text and the target text; (3) the 
dominance of the translation communicative method and the domestication ideology 
shows that, when the translation process took place, the translator’s orientation was 
towards the target reader; (4) the linguistic factor, the religious-cultural difference, and 
the translator’s preference led to the translation techniques, methods and ideologies 
applied to translating the terms of address in the Luke’s Bible; (5) the translation 
techniques, methods, and ideologies employed, positively contributed to the quality of the 
translation, causing the translation product to be highly accurate, intelligible, and 
culturally acceptable to the target reader. 
 
Key words: attitude, translation techniques, methods, ideology 



 2

1. Introduction  
 
 Theoretically, it could be difficult to translate the English Bible into Balinese, as a 

consequence of the two differences in linguistic and religious-cultural systems. However, 

the fact that parts of the Bible have been translated into 822 out of 3000 local languages, 

including Balinese language, empirically shows that it has been possible to translate the 

Bible. The problem which has been frequently encountered by the Bible’s translator has 

been that it has been difficult for him/her to translate the basic meanings in the source 

language (hereon abbreviated to SL) into the target language (hereon abbreviated to TL) 

so accurately that the translation equivalent can be easily understood and highly 

acceptable to the norms and cultural values of the TL. 

 Five basic problems are discussed in this research. They are: 

(1) What were the profile and attitude of the English terms of address in the Luke’s 

Bible and their translation equivalents in Balinese language? 

(2) What techniques were applied to translate the terms of address found in the 

Luke’s Bible? 

(3) What methods and ideologies were employed to translate the terms of address in 

the Luke’s Bible? 

(4) What factors leading to the application of such techniques, methods and 

ideologies to the translation of the terms of address in the Luke’s Bible? 

(5) What were the impacts of the application of such techniques, methods and 

ideologies on the degree of accuracy, the degree of intelligibility, and the degree 

of acceptability of the translation of the terms of address found in the Luke’s 

Bible? 

 

2. Concepts and Theoretical Framework 

2.1 Concepts  

2.1.1 Terms of Address 

 Terms of address are words and phrases used for addressing (Braun, 1988: 5). The 

choice of words or phrases used by the addresser for addressing the addressee in a 

successive communicative event reflects the cultural norms and values applicable to the 

language used. Being patterned in a system, the forms and profile of the terms of address 



 3

can be explored for comparison. The expressive and proportional meanings have caused 

the linguistic variants in the TL to vary. 

The profile system of the personal pronouns in the SL and TL 
 

Personal 
pronouns 

Source 
language 

Target language 
Non honorific Honorific 

Rude Middle Depreciating Refined 
The first  
person pronoun 

I icang tiang titiang - 

The second 
person pronoun 

you cai ragane - iratu 

The third 
person pronoun 

he/she ia dane ipun ida 

 
 
2.2 Theoretical Framework 
 
 The theory of T-V introduced by Brown-Gilman (1960) and Braun (1988), its 

extension as the theory of Tn-Vn: Xn, which has been further developed and combined 

with the theory of Appraisal (Hope and Read: 2004) and Qian Hong (2007) were used to 

analyze the data obtained. The formal and dynamic or functional approach introduced by 

Nida (1964: 159) and de Waard and Nida (1986: 36) were employed to analyze the 

translation equivalents of the English terms of address in Balinese language. Such an 

approach was used on the basis that the theory of translation is basically related to two 

contradictory philosophies. They are formal equivalence and dynamic or functional 

equivalence.  

 

2.2.1 The Theory of Appraisal 
 
 Based on what is stated by Braun (1988:64) that the address system affects a 

speaker’s perception of social relationship and is directed at the addressee (Braun, 1988: 

294), the attitude and the theory of appraisal can be further developed and combined with 

his T-V theory when indicating and positioning the participants in an interactional event. 

The form, function and meaning of such extended theory can be presented in the 

following table.  

 
 



 4

The model of the theory of T-V and attitude in the theory of appraisal 
  
 Theory of T-V in the SL Attitude in the appraisal theory 

in the TL 
Form Linguistic variant of T -V Linguistic variant of Tn – Vn : Xn 
Function Symmetrical/Asymmetrical, and reciprocal/nonreciprocal; 

Indicating and positioning 
Meaning Power semantic and solidarity 

semantic 
Attitude: Affect, judgment, and 
Apreciation  

 

2.2.2 The Theory of Dynamic Equivalence 
 
 Nida (in Venuty, 2004: 129) differentiates the basic orientations into two. The 

first orientation is the formal equivalence and the second is the dynamic equivalence. The 

formal equivalence,  which only highlights the accuracy of the lexical meanings  between 

the SL and TL texts, has  long been opposed with Nida’s scheme of dynamic equivalence 

(1982: 22-24). The dynamic equivalence evaluates translation not only from the criteria 

of the formal correspondence between the two texts, but also from the reader’s point of 

view so that the result will be textually and contextually meaningful, as can be seen from 

the following model:   

 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Scheme of dynamic equivalence process 
 

 In the dynamic equivalence, the evaluator of the quality of the translation 

equivalence focuses not only on the formal equivalent of T2 text of T1 text but also on 

the translation effect that the receiver of R1 (the native speaker of the SL) and the 

receiver of R2 (the native speaker of TL) would give the same response, that is, the 

translation effect (compared to the arrows of R3 and S3 which extend to R1 and R2). 

Certainly, the matters of equivalence can be explained through the questionnaire 

distributed to the native speaker of the SL and the native speaker of the TL.  

S T1 

R 

R1 

T2 R2

R3 

S

S3



 5

3. Discussion 
 
 The English terms of address appear 1895 times and 12 translation techniques 

were used to translate them. The translating techniques were dominantly oriented towards 

the TL, as can be seen from the following model. This shows that the cultural gap 

between the SL and TL with regard to their terms of address is so great, and indicates that 

the translation process is oriented towards the target reader. This orientation indicates that 

the communicative translation method and the domestication ideology have been applied 

to the translation of the terms of address in the Luke’s Bible into Balinese language. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 The linguistic and cultural differences and the translator’s preference have led to 

the application of particular technique, method and ideology to the translation of the 

terms of address in the Luke’s Bible. Out of the 1895 appearances of the English terms of 

address, 14 have not been accurately translated and have been less acceptable to the 

target reader, and one can be stated not to be intelligible. 

 

4. New Findings  
Five new findings have been found in the translation of the religious-cultural              

terms of address in Luke’s Bible. They are: 
 

C 
a 
l 
q 
u 
e 
 

Source language 
0,06% 

Taget Language 
99,92% (+ 0,02%) 

Traslating 
technique 

V 
a 
r 
i 
a 
n 
t 
i 
n 

d
e
l
i
t
i
o
n 
 

T 
r 
a 
n 
s 
p 
o 
s 
i 
t 
i
o
n 

A 
d 
a 
p 
t 
a 
t 
i 
o
n

M 
o 
d 
u 
l 
a 
t 
i 
o
n

A 
m 
p 
l 
i 
f 
i 
k 
a 
t 
i 
o
n

D 
e 
s 
k 
r 
i 
p 
t 
i 
o
n

B
o
r 
r
o
w
i 
n
g 
 

G 
e 
n 
e 
r 
a 
l 
i 
s 
a 
t 
i 
o
n 

Traslating 
technique 

Translation 
Method 

LITERAL COMUNNICATIVE Translation 
Method 

Translation 
Ideology 

FOREIGNIZATION DOMESTICATION Translation 
Ideology 

L 
i 
t 
e 
r 
a 
l 
 

  30    70                       815  243  237  243  110   99    54    31  30    16

A
d
d
i
t
i
o
n 
 



 6

 

(1) Pronouns: the theory of Tn – Vn introduced by Braun (1988) can be further 

developed and extended to the theory of appraisal Tn – Vn : Xn. Xn refers to the 

third person.  

(2) Nouns: five have been found out of the nine proposed by Braun (1988). No noun 

referring to degree has been found. The different setting between the source 

culture and target culture has been responsible for this. Any noun which refers to 

the abstract noun of Your Excellency has not been found either. The reason is that 

the term of address of Your Excellency is not in existent in the TL; therefore, the 

technique of deletion was applied by the translator. In addition, neither term of 

address for noun of relation has been found. The reason is that the interactions of 

address are dominated by the vertical ones (up and down and vice versa) between 

Jesus and his followers. And the reason why no term of address in the form of any 

noun of expression has been found is that in the Luke’s Bible the participants 

always use direct terms of address in the form of proper names. As far as the data 

obtained were concerned, terms of address in the form foreign proper nouns have 

been found. 

(3) Inversion: the translation in the form of shifts from pronouns to nouns, both 

indicating blood-kin and non blood-kin, was made not only to express the role of 

the speaker (P1), as proposed by Braun (1988: 12), but also to express the social 

meaning of the P2’s role (addressee’s role). 

(4) Shifts: the linguistic and cultural differences between the two languages have 

been responsible for the application of the technique of shifts; transposition and 

modulation cannot be avoided. 

(5) Reciprocal/non reciprocal: not all terms of address using the forms of address in 

dyad are called both reciprocal and non reciprocal; in contrast, those using 

different forms of address are called non reciprocal and asymmetrical; as stated by 

Brown & Gilman in Braun (1988: 12). 

 

 

 



 7

5. Conclusions and Recommendations 

5.1 Conclusions 

 Progression of interaction among the SL speakers shows that there is no influence 

of class distribution on the choice of terms of address in the form of personal pronouns. 

In contrast, in the TL the choice of terms of address in the form of words or phrases are 

highly influenced by the class distribution of the participants and by the nature of 

relationship which is influenced by the dimension of attitude: affect, judgment, and 

appreciation, either positive ( [+], or [-] ) of the addresser in indicating and positioning 

the addressee or someone they are talking about. 

 The dominance of the technique oriented towards the TL (99.94%) indicates that 

there is a cultural gap between the source text and the target text as far as terms of 

address are concerned.  

 The translation method and translation ideology which are dominantly used are 

the communicative translation and the domestication ideology. This indicates that in the 

translating process, the translation is oriented toward the target reader. 

 Three factors which are identified to lead to the translating technique, translation 

method and ideology applied to this translation are (1) the differences in linguistic system 

between the SL and TL; (2) the cultural difference between the SL and TL; and (3) the 

translator’s preference. 

 The translating technique, the translation method and ideology applied to the 

translation of the Luke’s Bible contributed highly positively to the quality of the 

translation with regard to its accuracy, acceptability and readability. 

 

5.2 Recommendations 
 
 Attitude, which is part of the appraisal theory, is highly helpful to the researcher 

in determining the distribution and stratification of the classes the participants belong to. 

This has allowed the researcher to explore the translation process through the translation 

product. It will be good if further researches on the relationship of the choice of terms of 

address to verbs or adjectives in other texts with the extended theory of appraisal such as 

engagement and graduation in LFS are conducted.  

 



 8

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS  
   
 Many parties have actively participated in the completion of this dissertation. In 

other words, this dissertation would never be completed without their active roles. In this 

opportunity, therefore, the writer would like to thank and highly appreciate Prof. Dr. Ida 

Bagus Putra Yadnya, M.A.; Prof. Dr. I Gusti Made Sutjaja, M.A.; Prof. Dr. Aron Meko 

Mbete as the Supervisor, Co-supervisor I and Co-supervisor II; Prof. Drs. I Ketut Artawa, 

M.A.,Ph.D. for their supervision and guidance during the completion of this dissertation. 

 My indebtedness is also extended to all the teaching staff and the Board of the 

Examiners of the Doctorate Program in Linguistics of the School of Postgraduate Studies 

of Udayana Univesity such as Prof. Dr. Ni Luh Sutjiati Beratha, M.A., Prof. Dr. I Wayan 

Jendra, S.U., Prof. Drs. I Made Suastra, Ph.D., Prof. Dr. I Wayan Pastika, M.S., Prof. Dr. 

I Wayan Cika, M.S., and Prof. Dr. I Ketut Darma Laksana, M.Hum., Prof. Drs. M.R. 

Nababan, M.Ed., M.A., Ph.D., Prof. Dr. I Made Suastika, S.U. who have given the 

criticism and input for the improvement of this dissertation. 

 Finally, the writer would also like to thank the administrative staff and all the 

parties who have helped the completion of his study at the Doctorate Program in 

Linguistics, School of Postgraduate Studies of Udayana University, Denpasar.