




































1 

 ELT FORUM 5 (1) (2016) 

 

Journal of English Language Teaching 
 

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

 

 

WORD LEVEL  EQUIVALENCE IN THE INDONESIAN TRANSLATION OF 

THE DIALOGUES IN “THE LIGHTNING THIEF” 

(A Descriptive Qualitative Study in the Novel “THE LIGHTNING THIEF”) 

 

Dewi Maulud Diati 

 

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

 

Aticle Info 

________________ 
Article History: 

Received in February 

2016 

Approved in March 2016 

Published in April 2016 

________________ 
Keywords: 

Word level equivalence, 

Dialogues, Utterances, The 

Lightning Thief. 

____________________ 

Abstract 
___________________________________________________________________ 
This descriptive qualitative study mainly describes the word level equivalence found in the translated dialogues 

in The Lightning Thief. The final project mainly aims at identifying the word level equivalence strategy in 

translating the dialogues of The Lightning Thief from English into Indonesian and identifying its word level 

equivalence meaning. The study focuses on the classification of word level equivalence offered by Mona Baker in 

her book In Other Words. The data obtained were analyzed by comparing both English and Indonesian versions. 

Words or phrases which contained any word level non-equivalence were analyzed further to find out the context 

in which it occured. Then the data analyzed were evaluated its word level equivalent meaning. The evaluation 

involved some raters who are expert in their field.The finding show that: the strategies used by the translator to 

overcome the problems in translating the dialogue are translation by paraphrase using related word (24.11%), 

translation by a more specific word (18.43%), translation by paraphrase using unrelated word (14.89%), 

translation by a more general word (14.19%), translation by omission (13.48%),translation by more expressive 

or less neutral word (8.51%) and translation by using loan word or loan word plus explanation (6.39%). Word 

level equivalence meaning in the strategies: translation by using loan word  (92.59%) was the strategy whose 

data were got higher result of score 3 (meaning is sufficiently renderred) by three raters, translation by a more 

general word  (36.67%) was the strategy whose data were got higher result of score 2 (meaning is insufficiently), 

and translation by omission was the strategy whose data were got higher result of score 1 (59.65%). Suggestion 

drawn from this study is that to transfer meaning of the source text into the target text accurately, the translator 

should decide to make choices in each word or phrases, and choose the most suitable strategies that can overcome 

problems and difficulties of translation, especially problems of non-equivalence at word level. 

 

© 2016 Universitas Negeri Semarang 

 
 Correspondent Address:  

   B3 Building  FBS Unnes  

   Sekaran, Gunungpati, Semarang, 50229 

   E-mail: mauludiadewi@ymail.com 

 

 

 

ISSN 2252-6706 



 

Dewi Maulud Diati / Journal of English Language Teaching 5 (1) (2016) 

 

2 

INTRODUCTION 

Reading is one of interesting activity 

for some people, indeed some of them 

assume that reading is a need and hobby. 

Many kinds of reading we can find in our 

daily life through several media, such as 

news paper, magazine, television, internet, 

and the book itself. People read something 

to get information. For some people who 

has a hobby of reading, they will read 

something because they are interested in 

reading. 

From various kind of reading, novel 

is one of the media of reading which has 

fascination for some people. Novel is a long 

prose narrative that is normally in prose, 

which describes frictional characters and 

events, usually in the form of a sequential 

story. Many of story in novel have been 

filmed and watched by people. Besides the 

plot of the story or the content of the story, 

one of the interesting thing is the dialogue 

in the novel. Some of best popular novel are 

originally available in English, and to adapt 

it, the novel were translated into different 

languages, such as Bahasa Indonesia. 

Translating the novel especially the 

dialogue of the novel from source language 

(English) into the target language 

(Indonesian) is not an easy task. The 

translator must consider not only the word 

selection but also the message delivery. In 

this point, a question come up: does the 

target language (Indonesian) novel, 

especially dialogues of the novel, deliver 

the same message as the source language  

(English) dialogue of the novel? Therefore, 

it is interesting to find out whether the 

target language dialogues of the novel have 

delivered the same message as the source 

language dialogues of the novel or not. 

Ultimately, the message transfers from 

source language to target language can be 

accomplished by several strategies and 

making sure of the word level equivalence 

between the two languages. From this 

reason, I conducted the research of 

translation equivalence in the dialogues of 

the novel entitled “The Lightning Thief” 

particularly in terms of word level 

equivalence. In this research, I use word 

level equivalence classification by Baker 

(1992). 

 

DISCUSSION 

Translation has various definitions 

which can be a broad or narrow one. The 

broad definition of translation is a change 

from one form to another, for 

exampletransforming a feeling into a poem 

or lyrics. 

 It is also revealed by Larson 

(1984:3) that translation consist of 

transferring meaning of Source Language 

into the Receptor Language. It means that 

the act of translation involves the change of 

form from the first language to the form of 

the second language; but the meaning is 

still constant. The form from which the 

translation is made will be called Source 

Language (SL) and the form into it is to be 

changed will be called the Receptor 

Language or Target Language (TL). 

 Translation contains a large 

number of values such as, culture, 

language, and so on. Further, translation 

has a large of experts who reveal, research, 

and define all it one. Catford (1965:1) 

explains that, ‘Translation is the 

replacement of textual material in one 

language (SL) by equivalent textual in 

another language (TL)”. Next, Nida 

(1969:12) defines that, translation consists 

in 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”. According 

to Newmark (1988:7), on the other hand, 

“Translation is a craft consisting in the 

attempt to replace a written message 

and/or statement in one language by the 

same message and/or statement in another 



 

Dewi Maulud Diati / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 

 

3 

language”. It is also revealed by Bell 

(1991:1) that, ‘Translation is an art or craft 

and therefore not amenable to objective, 

scientific description, ex[lanation. As 

quoted by Hewson and Martin (1991:38) 

Steiner states that, “The role of the 

ranslation is determining in this process 

cultural cross-determination, since in 

translating the dialectic of unison and 

plurality is dramatically at work. 

 From those definitions I can 

conclude that: (a) translation involves two 

languages, the source language (SL) and 

the target or recptor language (TL); (b) to 

translate means to reproduce or to replace 

the message of the SL text into that of the 

TL text; (c) every translator must find the 

equivalent of the TL; (d) translation is an 

art process of replacing the SL into another 

language (TL), involving cultural values. 

 

Types of Translation 

Catford (1965:21-26) divides 

translation based on three criteria: the 

extent of translation (full translation vs. 

Partial translation), the levels of language 

involved in translation (total translation vs. 

Restricted translation), and the 

grammatical rankat which the translation 

equivalence is established (rank-bounded 

translation vs. Unbounded translation). In 

a full translation, every part of the source 

language text is replaced by the target 

language text material, whereas in a partial 

translation, some part of parts of the 

source-language text are, left untranslated. 

In a total translation, the grammar, lexis, 

phonology or graphology of the SL are 

replaced by their equivalence in the TL. In 

contrast, a restricted translation only 

replaces limited textual materials of the SL 

with its equivalence in the TL, e.g. 

grammar and lexis. Rank-bounded 

translation is normal total translation in 

which the selection of the target language 

equivalence is bounded or limited to a low 

rank or only a few ranks in the hierarchy of 

grammatical units, e.g. words or 

morphemes. In contrast, unbounded 

translation is normal total translation in 

which equivalence shift-freely up and down 

the rank scale  

 The experts of translation mention 

the types of translation differently based on 

some points of view. Generally, it is 

divided into literal translation and non-

literal translation. 

Larson as quoted by Simatupang 

(1999:6) divides the kinds of translation 

into two categories. One is meaning – 

based translation and yhe other is form – 

based translation. Form – based translation 

attempts to folloe the form of the source 

language and is known as literal 

translation. On the other hand, meaning -  

based translation is translation that 

emphasizes on meaning. 

 Nida and Taber as cited by 

Simatupang (1999) support this type of 

translation by dividing translation into 

literal translation and dynamic translation. 

Basically, dynamic translation has the 

same characters with the meaning – based 

translation, taht is emphasis on the 

meaning rather than on the form. 

 Litearal translation is translation 

that emphasizes on the form. For example, 

‘You must study alone here’ ‘Anda harus 

belajar sendirian disini’. In the example, we 

can see that English and Indonesian are 

related, which means that the general 

grammatical form may similar, so the 

literal translation can be understood. 

However, in some cases, we can find that 

literal translation will produce an 

unnatural, because the Indonesian 

language uses different expression. 

 

Equivalence in Translation 

It discusses about the definition of 

equivalence by some professionals and 

experts. 



 

Dewi Maulud Diati / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 

 

4 

Definitions of Equivalence 

Catford (1965:21) notes that “the 

central problem of translation practice is 

that finding TL translation equivalence. A 

central task of translation theory is taht of 

defining the nature and condition of 

translation equivalence”. Equivalence is 

the most appropriate meaning of source 

language in the target langauge. Bell 

(1991:70) defines the term equivalence as 

the replacement of stretch of a source 

langauge  (particularly idioms, cliches, 

provrb, greetings, etc,) and the like by its 

functional equivalent. 

  Baker (1992) acknowledges that 

equivalence can usually be obtained to 

some extent, but it is influenced by variety 

of linguistics and cultural factors and is 

therefore always relative. She outlines five 

types of translation equivalence; they are 

equivalence at word level, equivalence 

above word level, grammatical 

equivalence, textual equivalence and 

pragmatic equivalence.  

 

Problems of Non-Equivalence at Word 

Level 

 Based on types of lexical meaning 

above, there are some of the more common 

types of non-equivalence which often pose 

difficulties for the translator. Non-

equivalence at word level means that the 

target language has no direct equivalent for 

a word which occurs in the sourrce  

a) Culture-specific concept 

In culture specific concepts, the 

problems emerges as a result of source-

language that expresses a concept of word 

which is totally unknown in the target 

language culture. The concept may be 

abstract or concrete, for example: an 

English concept is the word privacy, which 

is understood by people from other culture. 

b) The source-language concepts is 

not lexicalized in the target 

language 

In this type of non-equivalence, the 

source-language expresses a word which 

easily understood by people from other 

culture but it is not lexicalized. For 

example, the word savoury has no 

equivalent in many languages, although its 

meaning is easy to understand. 

c) The source-language word is 

semantically complex 

In this type of non-equivalence, the 

source-language word is semantically 

complex, as quoted by Bolinger and Sears, 

Baker (1992:22) stated that words do not 

have to be morphologically complex to be 

semantically complex. A single word 

which consists of a single morpheme can 

sometimes express a more complex set of 

meanings than a whole sentence. For 

example, a word arruacao, a Brazilian 

word which means ‘clearing the ground 

under coffee trees and piling it in the 

middle of the row in order to aid  in the 

recovery of beans dropped during 

harvesting’. 

d) The source and the target 

languages make different 

distinctions in meaning. 

In this type of non-equivalence, the 

target language may make more or fewer 

different distinctions in meaning than the 

source language. For example, the word 

going out in the rain makes two meaning in 

mIndonesia (kehujanan dan hujan-hujanan), 

which are different in terms of going out in 

the rain without knowledge (kehujanan) 

and going out in the rain with the 

knowledge (hujan-hujanan) while English 

does not make this distinction. 

e) The target langauge lacks a 

superordinate 

In this type of non-equivalent, the 

target langauge may have specific words 

(hyponym) but no the general word. For 

example, Russian has no equivalent for 

facilities, but it has several words which can 

be thought as types of facilities. 



 

Dewi Maulud Diati / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 

 

5 

f) The target language lacks a 

specific term (hyphonym) 

Usually, langauges tend to have 

general words (superordinate), but lack the 

specific ones (hyphonyms). Engalish has a 

variety of hyphonyms which have 

equivalent in other languages. For 

example, English has many hyphonyms 

under the word house, such as cottage, hut 

villa, lodge, bungalow,etc. 

g) Differences in physical or 

interpersonal perspective 

In this type of non-equivalence, 

physical or interpersonal perspective that 

has to do with where things or people are 

in relation to another or to a place may be 

more important in one language than in 

another. For example, Japanese has six 

equivalence for give, depending on who 

gives to whom: yaru, ageru, morau, kureru, 

itadaku, and kudasaru (Mc Creary , 1986). 

h) Differences in expressive meaning 

Baker (1992:24) said that differences 

in expressive meaning are usually more 

difficult to handle when the target-language 

equivalent is more emotionally loaded than 

the source-langauge item. For example, the 

English word batter (as in child/wife 

battering) was rendered by the more neutral 

Japanese word tataku, means ‘to beat’, plus 

an equivalent modifier such as ‘savagely’ or 

‘ruthlessly’. 

i) Differences in form 

In this type of non-equivalence, 

there is often no equivalent in the target-

language for a particular form in the source 

text. English has many couplets consist of 

such noun and suffixes or prefixes such as 

imployer/employee, trainer/trainee, 

steward/stewardess. Arabic, has no ready 

mechanism for producing such forms and 

so they are often replaced by an appropriate 

paraphrase, depending on the meaning 

they convey. 

j) Differences in frequency and 

purpose of using specific forms 

In this type of non-equivalence, 

English, for example, uses the continuous 

–ing form for binding clauses much more 

frequently than other languages. As a 

result, rendering every –ing from English to 

target langauge would make unnatural 

style. 

k) The use of loan words in ghe 

source text 

Once a word is loaned into a 

particular langauge, we cannot control its 

development or its additional meaning. For 

example, average Japanese translator is not 

likely to confuse an English feminist with a 

Japanese feminist (feminist in Japanese 

means a man who excessively soft with 

woman). 

 

Strategies in Non-Equivalence Problems 

of Translation 

 Baker (1992:26) suggests some 

strategies to overcome the problems arising 

in the process of translation related to 

various types of non-equivalence. As this 

study is focused on word level equivalence, 

the strategies discussed are limited on that 

level of equivalence: 

a) Translation by a more general 

word (superordinate) 

This strategy means that the 

translator may go up one level in a given 

semantic field to find a more general word 

that covers the core proportional meaning 

of the missing hyphonym in the receptor 

language.  

b) Translation by a more neutral / 

less expressive word 

In this strategy, the translators may 

use the more / less expressive word if the 

source langauge has diffrences in 

expressive meaning which is more difficult 

to handle because the target language 

equivalent is more emotionally or less 

emotionally than the source-language item. 

c) Translation by cultural subtitution 



 

Dewi Maulud Diati / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 

 

6 

This strategy involves replacing a 

culture-specific item or expression with the 

target langauge item which does not have 

the same prportiona meaning but is likely 

to have a similar impact on the target 

reader. The advantages is the readers can 

identify a concept which familiar to the 

readers. 

d) Translation using a loan word or 

loan word plus explanation 

This strategy is particularly common 

in dealing with non-equivalent on culture 

specific concepts. One item may be not 

exist in the particular langauge because it 

depends on the environment culture. Once 

explained, the loan word continually can 

be used on its own, the reader can 

undertsand without further lengthy 

explanation, because it is explained 

formerly. 

e) Translation by paraphrase using a 

related word 

This strategy tends to be used when 

the concept expressed by the source item is 

lexicalized in the target lanaguge but in 

different form, and when the frequency 

which a certain form is used, the source text 

is significantly higher than would be 

natural in the target langauge (Baker 1992: 

37). 

f) Translation by paraphrase using 

unrelated words 

In this strategy, the translators still 

can use the paraphrase strategy although 

the source text word is not lexicalized at all 

in the target langauge and it is semantically 

complex. The step is by modifying a 

superordinate or simply unpacking the 

meaning of the source item. The 

disadvantage of using this strategy is that it 

is awkward to use because it involves filling 

a one-item slot with an explanation 

consisting of several items. 

g) Translation by omission 

In this strategy, the translators 

sometimes can simply omit translating the 

word from the source text because it is not 

vital enough to the development of the text. 

it does no harm compared to distract the 

reader with a lengthy insignificant 

explanation. 

h) Translation by illustration 

This strategy offers an easy choice 

and it can be a useful option if the word 

which has no equivalent in the receptor 

langauge refers to a physical item which 

can be illustrated. 

i) Translation by a more specific 

word (hyphonym) 

In addition, a strategy that is not 

mentioned by Baker that is translation by a 

more specific word (hyphonym). In this 

strategy, the translator may go down one 

level in a given semantic field to find a 

more specific word that covers the core 

proportional meaning of the word in the 

source language. In other words, this 

strategy may be used to overcome a relative 

lack of superordinate in the target 

language. 

 From the description above, the 

writer can conclude that there are many 

problems that may arise when one 

translates one word from one language to 

another language. The scholars found that 

the lack of non-equivalence words across 

languages may ignite the problems in 

translating one word across languages. 

Therefore; the one who does translating 

must know the strategies to solve the 

problems. Baker (1992) offers strategies to 

deal some problems of word level 

equivalence. In this study, the writer 

observes that the translator’s problem of 

non-equivalence at word level is a 

challenging problem to be solved. The 

writer decided to do the same research 

about word level equivalence in the 

Indonesian translation dialogue in The 

Lightning Thief novel by using Baker’s 

strategies. 



 

Dewi Maulud Diati / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 

 

7 

 From the explanation above, the 

problems of translating emerge because of 

some factors, such as: the culture specific 

concepts, the source language is not 

lexicalized in the target language, the 

source language word is semantically 

complex, the source and target languages 

make different distinction in meaning, the 

target language lacks a super ordinate, the 

target language lacks specific term 

(hyponym), teh differences in physical or 

interpersonal perspective, differences in 

expressive meaning, differences in 

frequency and purpose of using specific  

forms, and the use of loan words in 

thhe source text. Most of them also become 

a real obstacle in translating the dialogue, 

especially at word level. 

 As well as the problem of non-

equivalence, the translators also have to 

give attention to the strategies to gain them. 

In dealing with this, Baker (1992) proposed 

some strategies, such as: translation by a 

more general word, translation by a 

more/less expressive word, translation by 

cultural subtitution, translation using a 

loan word or loan word plus explanation, 

translation by paraphrase using related 

word, translation by paraphrase using 

unrelated word translation by omission, 

and translation by illustration. 

 As have been stated above, several 

strategies have been suggested by Baker 

(1992) to gain the word level equivalence 

problems; translators sould be able to 

produce an acceptable translation. From 

this point, the writer intends to find out the 

strategies used by the translators of the 

dialogue to overcome non-lequivalence at 

word level and the equivalence meaning of 

the dialogue. 

 

FINDINGS 

There are two result of the studies 

according to the objective of the studies; 

results of the strategies used by the 

translator deal with the problems of non-

equivalence at word level in the Indonesian 

translation of the dialogues in Rick 

Riordan’s The Lightning Thief viewed from 

Baker’s word level equivalence 

classification and result of the rating of 

word level equivalence meaning in the 

translated dialogues. 

 

STRATEGIES FOR WORD LEVEL 

EQUIVALENCE 

Table 4.1.1 Strategies for Word 

Level Equivalence 

 

 

As shown in the result above, there 

are seven Baker’s (1992) translation 

strategies being applied in the Indonesian 

translation of dialogues in the Rick 

Riordan’s The Lightning Thief. The most 

frequently used strategy was translation by 

paraphrase using related word and the least 

used strategies was translation using a loan  

N

o

. 

Translation Strategies Freq

uenc

y 

Perc

enta

ge 

1

. 

2

. 

3

. 

4

. 

5

. 

6

. 

7

. 

8

. 

9

. 

Translation by paraphrase using a 

related word 

Translation by a more specific 

word (subordinate) 

Translation by paraphrase using 

unrelated word 

Translation by a more general 

word (super ordinate) 

Translation by omission 

Translation by a more neutral/less 

expressive word 

Translation by using a loan word 

or loan word plus explanation 

Translation by illustration 

Translation by cultural subtitution 

34 

26 

21 

20 

19 

12 

9 

- 

- 

 

24.1

1 % 

18.4

3  % 

14.8

9 % 

14.1

9 % 

13.4

8 % 

8.51 

% 

6.39 

% 

- 

 - 

 Total 141 100

% 



 

Dewi Maulud Diati / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 

 

8 

word or loan word plus explanation. 

The strategy of translation by illustration 

and cultural substitution were not found in 

this study. 

Word Level Equivalence in the 

Translated Dialogues 

The further result is the rating of 

word level equivalence meaning of 

translated dialogues as shown in table 

below: 

Table  4.1.2  Recapitulation 

of Word Level Equivalence Rating of 

Translated Dialogues 

 

 

  



 

Dewi Maulud Diati / Journal of English Language Teaching 5 (1) (2016) 

 

9 

 

Note: 

No Strategy Total 

Data 

Score 3  

Percenta

ge 

Score 2  

Percenta

ge 

Score1  

Percenta

ge 

1st 

rater 

2nd 

rater 

3rd 

rater 

1st 

rater 

2nd 

rater 

3rd 

rater 

1st 

rater 

2nd 

rater 

3rd 

rater 

1 Translation by paraphrase 

using related word 

 

34 14 30 29 71.57 % 10 4 5 18.63 % 10 - - 9.80 % 

2 Translation by a more 

speficic word 

 

26 14 17 15 58.98 % 5 7 8 25.64 % 7 2 3 15.38 % 

3 Translation by paraphrase 

using unrelated word 

 

21 13 16 15 69.84 % 6 3 4 20.64 % 2 2 2 9.52 % 

4 Translation by a more general 

word  

 

20 10 12 9 51.68 % 8 6 8 36.67 % 2 2 3 11.67% 

5 Translation by omission 

 

 

19 14 3 2 33.33 % 4 - - 7.02 % 1 16 17 59.65 % 

6 Translation by less neutral or 

more expressive word 

 

12 1 7 8 44.45 % 4 4 3 30.56 % 7 1 1 24.99 % 

7 Translation using loan word 

or loan word plus explanation 

9 7 9 9 92.59 % 2 - - 7.41 % - - - - 

Total 141  

 

 



 

Dewi Maulud Diati / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 

 

10 

Score  (3): meaning is sufficiently rendered (equivalent) 

Score  (2): meaning is insufficiently rendered (some loss of meaning) 

Score  (1): meaning is distorted (non-equivalent) 

 



 

Dewi Maulud Diati / Journal of English Language Teaching 5 (1) (2016) 

 

26 

 

The table above shows the percentages of 

the results of the averages of rating of each scores 

by each raters. Translation by paraphrase using 

related word is the highest strategy whose data 

reached 34 of 141 data, with percentage of 

average of the reslut of score 3 is 71.57 %, 

percentage of average of score 2 is 18.63 %, and 

score 1 is 9.80 %. The second highest strategy  is 

translation by a more specific word which has 26 

of 141 data with 58.98 % of the average of result 

of score 3, then, 25.64 % of score 2, and 15.38 % 

of score 1. There are 21 data were found in the 

translation by paraphrase using unrelated word 

which percentage of the average of score 3 

reached 69.84%, 20.64 % of score 2, and 9.52 % 

of score 1. Translation by a more general word 

has 20 of 141 data whose average of score 3 

reached51.68 %, score 2 reached 36.67 %, and 

11.67 % of score 1. Translation by omisson is in 

the forth position which has 19 of total data with 

33.33 % of the average of score 3, 7.02 % of score 

2, and 59.65 % of score 1. Translation by less 

neutral or more expressive word is under the 

translation by omission strategy with 12 of total 

data and 44.45 % of average of score 3, 30.56 % 

of score 2, and score 1 reached 24.99%. The last 

lowest strategy is translation by using Loan word 

or Loan word plus explanation which total data 

reached 9 of 141 data with 92.59 % of the average 

of score 3, 7.41% of score 2, and 0 % of score 1. 

 

Translation by Paraphrase Using Related Word 

This strategy tends to be used when the 

concept expressed by the source item is 

lexicalized in the target language but in different 

form, and when the frequency with certain form 

is used in the source text is significantly higher 

than would be natural in the target language. 

Datum 1 

 

ST: "Not a scratch on this car, brain 

boy," 

TT: “Jangan sampai tergores 

sedikitpun, anak jenius,” 

BT: “Not a scratch on this car, genius 

boy," 

 

From the datum above, the word brain was 

translated to jenius. Brain means the organ inside 

the head that controls thought, memory, feelings 

and activity (Cambridge Dictionary). If the 

translator used the phrase anak otak, it will be 

correct but the translation work would be very 

ordinary and flat. Therefore, translation by 

paraphrase using related word was used in this 

case. 

 

Translation by a More Specific Word 

In this strategy, the translator may go down 

one level in a given semantic field to find a more 

specific word that covers the core propositional 

meaning of the word in the source language. 

Datum 2 

ST: "Your dad, actually. Don't you 

remember? Medusa was Poseidon's girlfriend. 

They decided to meet in my mother's temple. 

That's why Athena turned her into a monster. 

Medusa and her two sisters who had helped her 

get into the temple, they became the three 

gorgons. That's why Medusa wanted to slice me 

up, but she wanted to preserve you as a nice 

statue. She's still sweet on your dad. You probably 

reminded her of him." 

TT: “Sebenernya, berkat ayahmu. 

Kau lupa ya?Medusa itu pacar Poseidon. Mereka 

memutuskan untuk bertemu di kuil ibuku. Itu 

sebabnya Athena mengubahnya menjadi 

monster. Medusa dan kedua saudarinya yang 

membantunya masuk ke kuil, mereka menjadi 

ketiga gorgon. Itu sebabnya Medusa ingin 

mencincangku, tetapi dia ingin mengabadikanmu 

sebagai patung yang bagus. Dia masih naksir 

ayahmu. Kau mungkin mengingatkan dia pada 

ayahmu.” 

BT: "Your dad, actually. Don't you 

remember? Medusa was Poseidon's girlfriend. 

They decided to meet in my mother's temple. 

That's why Athena turned her into a monster. 

Medusa and her two sisters who had helped her 

get into the temple, they became the three 

gorgons. That's why Medusa wanted to slice me 

up, but she wanted to preserve you as a nice 



 

Dewi Maulud Diati / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 

 

27 

statue. She's still like your dad. You probably 

reminded her of him." 

 

From the datum above, the word sweet was 

translated to naksir (Back Translation: like). If an 

emotion or event is sweet, it is very pleasant and 

satisfying (Cambridge Dictionary) that is the 

word sweet is described as. In this sample, the 

translator used the word naksir instead of manis 

since it sounds more natural. Therefore, the 

translator try to specify the word manis to naksir. 

 

Translation by Paraphrase Using Unrelated 

Word 

The paraphrase may based on modifying a 

super ordinate or simply on unpacking the 

meaning of the source item, particularly if the 

particular item or expression is not vital enough 

to the development of the text to justify distracting 

the reader with lenghty explanation, translators 

can and often do simply omit translating  in 

question. 

Datum 3 

ST: "He will drive you into the city, 

and, er, well, keep an eye on things." 

TT: “Dia akan mengantarmu ke 

kota dan, eh, yah, pasang mata dengan keadaan 

sekitar.” 

BT: "He will drive you into the city, 

and, er, well, keep an eye on the condition around 

 

From the datum above, the word things was 

translated to keadaan sekitar (Back Translation: the 

condition around). Thing is used to refer in an 

approximate way to an object or to avoid naming 

it (Cambridge Dictionary). The translator used 

the phrase keadaan sekitar since it is more suitable 

than the proper language. 

 

Translation by a More General Word 

In translation by a more general word, the 

translator may go up one level in a given semantic 

to find a more general word that covers the core 

propositional meaning of the missing hyponym in 

the receptor language. 

Datum 4 

ST: “And gave Kronos a rock to eat 

instead.” 

TT: Dan menggantinya dengan batu 

untuk dimakan kronos.” 

BT: “And change Kronos a rock to 

eat instead.” 

 

From datum above, the word gave was 

translated to menggantinya. The word gave is past 

form of the word give. Cambridge Dictionary 

defines this word as offering something to 

someone, or to provide them with it. The 

translator used the word menggantinya which is a 

more general according to the context of the 

dialogue.  

 

Translation by Omission 

If the meaning conveyed by particular item 

or expression is not vital enough to the 

development of the text to justify distracting the 

reader with lengthy explanation, translators can 

and often do simply omit translating the word or 

expression in question. 

Datum 5 

ST: "Like we're going to use this in 

real life.” 

TT: “Memangnya pelajaran ini 

bakal kita pakai.” 

BT: “Memangnya pelajaran ini 

bakal kita pakai dalam kehidupan nyata.” 

 

In the datum above, there are some words 

omitted in the target-language. In real life (Back 

Translation: dalam kehidupan nyata) was omitted 

by the translator. 

 

Translation by Less Neutral/More Expressive 

Word 

Translation by a more neutral/less 

expressive word means that the translator may 

use the more neutral/less expressive word if the 

source language has differences in expressive 

meaning, which is more difficult to handle 

because the target language equivalence is more 

emotionally or less emotionally than the source 

language item. 

Datum 6 



 

Dewi Maulud Diati / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 

 

28 

 

ST: "I should have seen her for what 

she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy 

alive until next fall-" 

TT: “Semestinya saya menyadari 

apa sebenarnya bu Dods itu. Sekarang, kita      

berkosentrasi saja soal menjaga Percy tetap hidup 

hingga musim gugur depan.” 

BT: "I should have seen her for what 

she was. Now let's just concentrate about keeping 

Percy alive until next fall-" 

 

From the datum above, the word worry was 

translated to berkosentrasi. Worry means to think 

about problems or unpleasant things that might 

happen in a way that makes you feel unhappy and 

afraid (Cambridge Dictionary). It is possible to 

explain that the translator used the word 

berkosentrasi in the target language because it is 

most suitable. The proper translation of the word 

worry will be weird; therefore, the translator used 

a more neutral and communicable word. 

 

Translation Using a Loan Word or Loan Word 

plus Explanation 

In translation using Loan word plus 

explanation, one item may not be exist in the 

particular language because it depends on the 

environment culture. Once explained, the loan 

word continually can be used on its own; the 

reader can understand without further 

explanation. 

Datum 7 

ST: "Your dad, actually. Don't you 

remember? Medusa was Poseidon's girlfriend. 

They decided to meet in my mother's temple. 

That's why Athena turned her into a monster. 

Medusa and her two sisters who had helped her 

get into the temple, they became the three gorgons. 

That's why Medusa wanted to slice me up, but she 

wanted to preserve you as a nice statue. She's still 

sweet on your dad. You probably reminded her of 

him." 

TT: “Sebenernya, berkat ayahmu. 

Kau lupa ya?Medusa itu pacar Poseidon. Mereka 

memutuskan untuk bertemu di kuil ibuku. Itu 

sebabnya Athena mengubahnya menjadi 

monster. Medusa dan kedua saudarinya yang 

membantunya masuk ke kuil, mereka menjadi 

ketiga gorgon. Itu sebabnya Medusa ingin 

mencincangku, tetapi dia ingin mengabadikanmu 

sebagai patung yang bagus. Dia masih naksir 

ayahmu. Kau mungkin mengingatkan dia pada 

ayahmu.” 

BT: Your dad, actually. Don't you 

remember? Medusa was Poseidon's girlfriend. 

They decided to meet in my mother's temple. 

That's why Athena turned her into a monster. 

Medusa and her two sisters who had helped her 

get into the temple, they became the three gorgons. 

That's why Medusa wanted to slice me up, but she 

wanted to preserve you as a nice statue. She's still 

sweet on your dad. You probably reminded her of 

him." 

From the datum above, the word gorgon 

was translated to the same word. According to 

Cambridge Dictionary, gorgon means a woman 

whose appearance and behavior causes fear. The 

translator used the same word as its target text 

since that word does not exist in the target-

language. Therefore the translator used this 

strategy. 

 

CONCLUSION 

Out of the nine strategies proposed by 

Baker , seven strategies were uesd. The most 

dominant was translation by paraphrase using 

related word which has 34 data (24.11%). This 

strategy got 71.57% of score 3, 18.63% of score 2, 

and 9.80% of score 1. The second dominant was 

translation by a more specific word which has 26 

data (18.43%). This strategy got 58.98% of score 

3, 25.64% of score 2, and 15.38% of score 1. 

Translation by paraphrase using unrelated word 

which has 21 data (14.89%) was in third position 

with 69.84% of score 3, 20.64% of score 2, and 

9.52% of score 1. The fourth position was 

translation by a more general word which has 20 

data (14.19%) with the average of the result of 

score 3 was 51.68%, 36.67% of score 2, and 

11.67% of score 1. Translation by omission which 

has 19 data (13.48%) was in fifth position with 

33.33% of score 3, 7.02% of score 2, and 59.65% 

of score 1. The next followed by translation by less 



 

Dewi Maulud Diati / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 

 

29 

neutral or more expressive word which has 12 

data (8.51%). This strategy got 44.45% of score 3, 

30.56% of score 2, and 24.99% of score 1. The 

least strategy was translation using loan word or 

loan word plus explanation which has 9 data 

(6.39%). This strategy got 92.59% of score 3, 

7.41% of score 2, and 0% of score 1. Regarding 

the result of each strategy above, word level 

equivalence meaning of the data in the strategies: 

translation by using loan word  (92.59%) was the 

strategy whose data were got higher result of score 

3 (meaning is sufficiently renderred) by three 

raters, translation by a more general word  

(36.67%) was the strategy whose data were got 

higher result of score 2 (meaning is insufficiently), 

and translation by omission was the strategy 

whose data were got higher result of score 1 

(59.65%). 

 

SUGGESTIONS 

Translating work is not an easy task. The 

product of translation must be able to render the 

meaning sufficiently to the reader. Therefore, 

good and natural translation must be made. The 

analysis of the study shows that there were 

problems related to meaning equivalence. There 

were some data in some strategies which meaning 

equivalence is insufficiently renderred even 

distorted or non-equivalence. It is important for 

the translator to know the strategies to overcome 

the problems of non-equivalence especially at 

word level equivalence; therefore, the messages 

and the meanings of the source language can be 

transferred proportionally and appropriately into 

the target langauge. 

Regarding the points above, it is suggested 

that to transfer meaning of the source text into the 

target text accurately, the translator should decide 

to make choices in each word or phrases, and 

choose the most suitable strategies that can 

overcome problems and difficulties of translation, 

especially problems of non-equivalence at word 

level. 

It is also offered a suggestion for the 

students, translating work needs an accuracy and 

carefulness, by reading source text and target text 

intensively, it will enrich vocabulary and 

understanding about translation, so it will helps 

students to find suitable translation strategy to 

solve the problems of word level equivalence. 

 

REFERENCES 

 

Baker, Mona. 1992. In Other Words: A Coursebook on 

Translation. New York: 

 Routledge. 

 

Bassnett, Susan. 1991. Translation Studies. London 

and New York:Routledge. 

 

Bell, R.T. 1991. Translation and Translating: Theory 

and Practice. New York: 

 Longman. 

 

Catford, J.C. 1965. A Linguistic Theory of Translation. 

London: Oxford, university Press. 

 

Hewson, L. Dan J.Martin. 1991. Redefining 

Translation : The Variational Approach. 

 London:Routledge 

 

Larson, L.M 1984. Meaning-Based Translation. A 

Guide to Cross Language 

 Equivalence. Lanham: Uniersity Press of 

America. 

 

Machali, R. 1998. Redefining Textual Equivalence in 

Translation with Special Reference 

 to Indonesian-English. Jakarta: The 

Translation Center. 

 

_________. 2000. Pedoman bagi Penerjemah. Jakarta: 

PT Grasindo. 

 

Newmark, P 1998. A Text Book of Translation. New 

York: Prentice Hall International 

 English Language Teaching. 

 

Nida, Eugene. A. dan Charles .R. Taber. 1982. The 

Theory and Practice of Translation. 

 Leiden: E.J. Brill. 

 

Simatupang, M.D.S. 1999. Pengantar Teori 

Terjemahan. Jakarta: Direktorat Jenderal 

 Pendidikan Tinggi Departemen Pendidikan 

Nasional



 

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