ELT FORUM 5 (2) (2016)

Journal of English Language Teaching

http://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/elt

SYNTACTIC SHIFTS IN ENGLISH-INDONESIAN TRANSLATION

(A Case Study of the Fifth Semester Students of the English Department of State

University of Semarang)

Eman Risqi Noviyanti Drs. Laurentius Elyas Nugraha, MA.

English Department. Faculty of Languages and Arts. State University of Semarang.

Aticle Info

________________
Article History:

Received in April 2016

Approved in April 2016

Published in May 2016

________________
Keywords:

Syntactic shift, English-

Indonesian translation, case

study.

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Abstract
___________________________________________________________________
This final project is about syntactic shift used in English-Indonesian translation by the fifth semester students of

the English Department of State University of Semarang in the academic year of 2013/2014. The objectives of

the study are to describe what types of syntactic shifts are commonly used and less used by the fifth semester

students, and to explain how the fifth semester students do syntactic shift in English-Indonesian translation. The

study uses descriptive qualitative approach and it belongs to a case study. The subject of the study is the fifth

semester students of the English Department of State University of Semarang in the academic year of 2013/2014.

The source of data is the students’ translation tests which have been done in the fifth semester entitled Advantages

of Translation. It was a task given by Dr. Rudi Hartono, S.S. M.Pd. as the lecturer in English-Indonesian

Translation class in fifth semester. From five sub-categories of syntactic shift, there are three sub-categories of

them which were used by the fifth semester students. Translation by using word-into-phrase shift reaches a total

of 86.4%. About 10.2% is the translation by using phrase-into-clause shift. The other 3.4% is the translation by

using clause-into-sentence shift. Both phrase-into-sentence and sentence-into-paragraph shifts are not found in

the students’ assignments of English-Indonesian translation.

 Correspondent Address:

B3 Building FBS Unnes

Sekaran, Gunungpati, Semarang, 50229

E-mail: risqibluefresh@gmail.com

ISSN 2252-6706

Eman Risqi Noviyanti / Journal of English Language Teaching 5 (2) (2016)

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Basically, difficulties in communication

will infrequently be found if all of the people in

the world use the same language, like English as

the global one. In fact, not all nations use English

as the first or second language. Even most of

development countries regard English as a

foreign language. In this case, translation will be

a very useful branch of linguistics.

Back to the importance of translation in

development countries such as Indonesia and

based on the position of English as a global

language, English will be the source language of

the study and Indonesian as the target language.

Each language in the world has its own rules or

structure in expressing meaning. The rules of one

language cannot be applied into another. The

same as the rules of English cannot be thoroughly

applied in Indonesian. Therefore, in translation,

there will be what so called shifting.

Syntactic shifts are needed to improve the

quality in English-Indonesian translation so that

the students can achieve the goal as good

translators who can deliver translated version

which is authentically understood and enjoyed by

the receptor without deviating the meaning and

style or tone of the source language.

In this study, I would like to describe what

types syntactic shifts are commonly used and less

used by the fifth semester students of the English

Department of State University of Semarang in

the academic year of 2013/2014 in English-

Indonesian translation, and to explain how the

fifth semester students of the English Department

of State University of Semarang in the academic

year of 2013/2014 do syntactic shifts in English-

Indonesian translation.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

The Notion of Translation

Catford has defined the meaning of

translation in general as cited by Eppert

(1982:193) that “translation is the replacement of

textual material in one language (SL) by

equivalent material in another language,” but

does it mean translation is an activity in which the

translator literally changes the word by word and

then arrange them? In a very broad sense the

answer is yes.

However, it cannot be the answer in a

narrow sense. According to the significance of

translation as stated by Engle in Gentzler

(1993:9) in Khasanah (2010), that “the lives of

every creature on earth may one depend on the

instant and accurate translation of one word.”

The statement really makes translation be a very

important activity that can be the key of human

life. It declares that translation is not only an

activity in which the subject literally changes the

word by word and then arranges them. The

subject must have more than dictionary and skill

to arrange the words. Bassnett (2005:52) awares

of the importance of translation as translation is

not an easy thing so that she stated that

translation needs a great deal of skill, preparation,

knowledge, and intuitive feeling for the texts

more than just dictionary. “The good translator,

therefore, presupposed the reader’s acquintance

with the SL text and was bound by that

knowledge, for any assessment of his skill as

translator would be based on the creative use he

was able to make of his model.”

Otherwise, translation needs to deliver the

intended meaning of the SL as stated by Larson

(1984:3) in Hartono (2013:5) “Translation is

transferring the meaning of the source language

into the receptor language. This is done by going

from the form of the first language to the form of

the second language by way of semantic

structure. It is the meaning which is being

transferred and must be held constantly.”

From the definitions above, translation is

not a merely the replacement of word by word

from Source Language to Target Language, but it

is rather an important activity in which every

creature depends on it to transfer meaning and it

needs skill to synchronize both Source Language

and Target Language.

Syntactic shifts

Syntactic shift is divided into five types;

they are categorized in the following table:

Eman Risqi Noviyanti / Journal of English Language Teaching 5 (2) (2016)

Table 2.1 Types of Syntactic Shifts

No. TYPE ENGLISH INDONESIAN

1. Word into phrase Stallion kuda jantan

Puppy anak anjing

2. Phrase into clause Not knowing what to say, (he

just kept quiet)

(Karena) dia tidak tahu apa

yang hendak dikatakannya,

(...)

After reading the letter, (...) Setelah dia membaca surat itu,

(...)

3. Phrase into sentence His misinterpretation of the

situation (caused his

downfall.)

Dia salah menafsirkan situasi

(dan itulah yang

menyebabkan

kejatuhannya.)

4. Clause into sentence Her unusual voice and

singing style thrilled her fans,

who reacted by screaming,

crying, and clapping

Suaranya yang luar biasa dan

gayanya bernyanyi memikat

para penggemarnya. Mereka

memberikan reaksi dengan

berteriak-teriak dan bertepuk

tangan.

5. Sentence into

paragraph

Standing in a muddy jungle

clearing strewn with recently

felled trees, the Baliness

village headmaster looked at

his tiny house at the end of a

line of identical buildings and

said he felt strange.

Kepala kampung orang Bali itu

berdiri di sebuah lahan yang

baru dibuka di tengah hutan.

Batang-batang pohon yang

baru ditebang masih

berserakan di sana-sini. Dia

memandang rumahnya yang

kecil yang berdiri di ujung

deretan rumah yang sama

bentuknya dan berkata

bahwa dia merasa aneh.

METHODS

The study uses descriptive qualitative

approach since the objectives of the study are to

gain and explain the description of how the

students in the fifth semester do syntactic shifts

and the description of syntactic shift that are

commonly used and less used by the subject of the

study. The study belongs to a case study. Case

study research is a qualitative approach in which

the researcher explores a bounded system (a case)

and in the data collection may involve many

sources of information (Creswell, 2007).

Therefore, Creswell bravely states that an issue to

study may involve one or more cases, yet Stake

(2005) in Creswell states what to study, one or

more cases, is a choice of the researcher. In this

research, the case to study is the students’

syntactic shift in translation. There are some steps

in conducting the study. The first step is collecting

one of each subject’s assignments which they do

in English-Indonesian Translation class. Next, I

analyse the syntactic shift that the subject use in

their translation.

Eman Risqi Noviyanti / Journal of English Language Teaching 5 (2) (2016)

RESULT

The table below shows each sub-category

used:

Table 4.1 Results of the Study

No.

The Syntactic

Shift and its Sub-