EEJ 8 (2) (2018) 272 - 278 
 

English Education Journal 
 

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

 

 

Translation Strategies Used by Donna Widjajanto in Rendering 

Culture – Specific Items in Diterlizzi’s The Spiderwick Chronicles  

 

Kurnia Ari Setiawan1, Djoko Sutopo2 

 
1. SMP N 2 Kejajar, Wonosobo, Indonesia 
2. Universitas Negeri Semarang, Indonesia 

 

Article Info 

________________ 

Article History: 

Accepted 24 March 

2018 

Approved 12 Mei 2018 

Published 20 June2018 

________________ 

Keywords: 

Translation, 

Translation Strategies, 

Culture-Specific Items, 

Equivalence, The 

Spiderwick Chronicles 

____________________ 

Abstract
 

___________________________________________________________________ 

This study aimed to know the implementation of translation strategies used by 

the translator and equivalence achievement. Descriptive qualitative research 

approach is used as research design. The results of the study show that 10 

translation strategies used by the translator in rendering 724 culture-specific 

items data. Translation by repetition or pure borrowing is mostly used the 

translator as translation strategy containing ecology, concepts of belief and 

religion, and anthroponyms. The translator intended to source language-

oriented in the implementation of translation strategies in translating culture-

specific items in The Spiderwick Chronicles because the culture-specific items 

in TL did not have equal meaning in TL culture. Dealing with equivalence of 

translation, the translator tends to avoid re-create the culture-specific items in 

SL. In order to achieve balance, the translator should reduce bringing the 

original words into target language and avoid the unfamiliar cultural 

terminologies.  

© 2018 Universitas Negeri Semarang 

 

Correspondence Address:  

Jl.Dieng Km.26 kejajar Wonosobo, Indonesia 

E-mail: kurnia051887@gmail.com 

 

 
 

p-ISSN 2087-0108 

e-ISSN 2502-4566
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

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273 

INTRODUCTION 

 

Translation is the challenging task 

involving the exchange of meaning from the SL 

text into the TL text in process led by the 

translator engaging the two different cultures. 

Hatim and Munday (2004) define that 

translation as the process of transferring a 

written text from the source language text into 

the target language text conducted by a 

translator in a specific socio-cultural context. It 

engages the SL culture and TL culture. The 

culture gaps of both become the main issue. It is 

to be obstacles for the translator in translating 

culture-specific items. Based on this problem, 

translation strategies are acquired to translate 

culture-specific items. The implementation of 

the translation strategies in rendering culture-

specific items are interesting to analyze. This 

study aimed to explain the translation strategies 

used by the translator, the implementation of the 

translation strategies, and equivalence. 

Several previous studies have become the 

background on this study. Elnaili (2016), 

Bawwaidhan (2016), Yan. M (2016), Ratnasari 

(2016), and Budiana (2017) investigated to the 

translation strategies applied by the translator. 

Whereas, Shekoufeh Daghoughi & Mahmood 

Hashemian (2016) and Fahim & Mazaheri, 

(2013) investigated translating culture-specific 

items in a novel. 

This study brings the elaboration of two 

translation strategies theories proposed by 

Newmark (1988) and Aixela (1996)   as follow: 

transference, orthographic adaptation, 

naturalization, universalization, componential 

analysis, synonymy, through translation, 

linguistic translation, modulation, recognized 

translation, compensation, paraphrase, couplet, 

glosses, addition, and deletion.  

The culture-specific items are classified 

based on the elaboration of Newmark (1988) 

and Espindola (2005) culture-specific items 

classifications. The elaboration of those culture-

specific items classifications are mentioned as 

follow: ecology, material Culture, social culture, 

organization customs (include activities, 

procedures, concepts), gesture and habit, 

anthroponyms, and fictional character. Related 

to the equivalence, I used formal equivalence 

and dynamic equivalence proposed by Nida and 

Taber (1969). 

 

METHODS 

 

This study used descriptive qualitative 

research approach. This study focuses on 

analyzing the translation strategies that are used 

by the translator in rendering culture-specific 

items based on Aixela (1996) and Newmark 

(1988) translation strategies, the implementation 

of those strategies, and equivalence. In 

classifying culture-specific items, I applied 

Newmark (1988) and Espindola (2005). 

 
RESULS AND DISCUSSIONS 

 

After analyzing, I found out the total of 

the data found is 724 culture-specific items in 

The Spiderwick Chronicles novel. The samples of 

analysis are presented in both source languages, 

English and in the target language, Indonesian. 

The general description about the occurrences of 

culture-specific items in each of the five series 

books is shown in Table 1. 

 

Table 1. Occurrences of culture-specific items 

found in the novel 

 

After identifying the occurrences of 

culture-specific items, I found 166 culture-

specific items related to ecology that the 

percentage is 22.93%. 109 culture-specific items 

No Book Number of 

occurrence 

Percentage (%) 

1 Book 1 69 9.53 

2 Book 2 122 16.85 

3 Book 3 158 21.82 

4 Book 4 99 13.67 

5 Book 5 276 38.12 

Total 724  



 

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are found related to anthroponyms that the 

percentage is 15.06%. 75 culture-specific items 

are found related to material culture that the 

percentage is 10.36%. 1 culture-specific word is 

related to gesture and habit that percentage is 

0.14%. 25 culture-specific items are found 

related to social culture that the percentage is 

3.45%. 344 culture-specific items are found 

related to organizations, customs, activities, 

procedures; concepts that the percentage is 

47.51% and 4 culture-specific items are found 

related to fictional character that the percentage 

is 0.55%. 

Translation strategies applied by the 

translator are used as a tool to analyze the 

translation of culture-specific items in the source 

language into target language. I found 10 

translation strategies used by the translator in 

rendering 724 totals of culture-specific items. 

First, repetition is applied 508 times that the 

percentage is 70.17%. Second, naturalization is 

applied 56 times that percentage is 7.74%. Third, 

universalization is applied 26 times that the 

percentage is 3.59%. Fourth, synonymy is 

applied 2 times that percentage is 0.28%. Fifth, 

through translation is implemented 95 times that 

the percentage is 13.12%. Sixth, linguistic 

translation is implemented 12 times that the 

percentage is 1.66%. Seventh, compensation is 

applied 6 times that the percentage is 0.83%. 

Eighth, couplet is 11 time that the percentage is 

1.97%. Ninth, gloss, note, and addition are 

applied 7 times that the percentage is 0.97%. the 

last, deletion is applied 1 times that percentage is 

0.14%. Based on this finding, the most 

translation strategy used by the translator is 

repetition that occurred 508 times. The 

percentage of it is 19.00 %. While the least 

translation strategies used by him is deletion that 

occurred 1 time. The percentage of it is 1.00%. 

For example, the results of the analysis can be 

seen as follow: 

 

Repetition 

Translation by repeating keeps as much as 

he can of the original reference. 

SL:“Troll” he gasped. (book: 2, page: 54) 

TL:“Troll” katanya dengan napas tertahan. (p. 

71) 

The translator repeated the word “troll” 

from the original word. It means that he used 

repetition as translation strategy to repeat the 

word from the source language in rendering 

“troll”. Here, they are categorized as the ecology 

in culture-specific items classification. 

 

Naturalization 

Naturalization brings the culture-specific 

items into the inter-textual corpus felt as specific 

by the target language culture. 

SL: The book was full of information about 
faeries. (book: 1, page: 57) 

TL: Buku itu penuh informasi tentang makhluk-
mahkluk seperti peri. (p. 74) 

The translator naturalized the word 

“faeries” into “peri” in rendering the cultural 

word categorized to concepts of belief and 

religion in culture-specific items classification. 

 

Universalization 

Universalization is translation strategy by 

replacing the original word with a term that also 

belongs to the source culture but is closer to the 

target culture reader another cultural terms but 

less specific or chooses a neutral reference. 

SL: "Here you must prove yourself or get 

nothing from this elf." (book 2, p. 23) 

TL: “Sekarang kau harus membuktikan diri 

atau tidak mendapatkan apa-apa dari si peri.” 

(p. 39) 

The translator used universalization 

technique in rendering the word “elf” related to 

concept of religion and belief that is categorized 

into organization, customs, activities, 

procedures, concepts in culture-specific items 

classification. He translated “elf” into “peri” 

rather than “peri berbentuk seukuran manusia” 

because it would be too long description for the 

target reader. 

 



 

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Synonymy 

Synonymy is translation strategy by using 

substitution the culture-specific words from 

source language to another word in the target 

language, which has equal meaning. 

SL: He whirled around to see a small nutbrown 

man dressed in a doll-size shirt and pants made 

from a dress sock. (book: 2, page: 9) 

TL: Dia berbalik dan melihat pria kecil berkulit  

cokelat kacang, kaus seukuran boneka, dan 

celana yang terbuat dari kantong gaun. (p. 25) 

The word “dress sock” is culture-specific 

terms related to cloth that is categorized into 

material culture in culture-specific items 

classification. “dress” is translated into “gaun” 

using synonymy by the translator. He translated 

the word “dress” into “gaun” rather than the 

word “pakaian” because “gaun” is more formal 

rather than “pakaian”. 

 

Through translation 

Through translation is the process of 

translation by finding the literal translation of 

common collocations, names of organizations 

and components of compounds. In this 

translation strategy, the translator is demanded 

to translate the culture-specific words by word 

for word from source language to target 

language. 

SL: He would have said that his brother, Simon, 

would be either be a veterinarian or a lion tamer. 

(book: 1, page: 1) 

TL: Dia akan mengatakan saudara laki-lakinya, 

Simon, akan menjadi dokter hewan atau 
penjinak singa. (p. 17) 

The word “lion tamer” is culture-specific 

term related to work that is categorized to social 

culture in culture-specific items classification. 

“lion tamer” is translated into “penjinak singa” 

using through translation technique by the 

translator. He literally translated it into “penjinak 

singa” rather than “pawang” because the word 

“pawang” would be unfamiliar term for the 

children reader. 

Linguistic translation 

Linguistic translation is translation 

strategy used by the translator that is a support 

of pre-established translation within the inter-

textual corpus of the target language. The use of 

linguistic transparency of the culture-specific 

items, the translator chooses a denotatively very 

close reference to the original text by offering a 

target language version, which still belongs to 

the cultural system of the source text. 

SL: “You’re going to tell us everything you 

know, or we’re going to spread ketchup on you 

and put you right back up on the roof,” said 

Jared. (book 5, p. 24) 

TL: “Kau harus menceritakan semua yang kau 

ketahui kepada kami, kalau tidak kami akan 
mengecapi kepalamu dan mengeluarkanmu 

keatap” kata Jared.  (p. 40) 

“ketchup” is translated into “mengecapi” 

using linguistic translation by the translator. He 

rendered linguistically the word “ketchup” as a 

noun in the original word to be “mengecapi” as a 

verb in the target language considering the 

grammatical structure differences. 

 

Deletion 

Deletion is a translation strategy when the 

translator considers the CSI unacceptable 

ideologically or stylistically, or it is so irrelevant 

that the reader have difficulty to comprehend it 

or when it is too obscure and the translator do 

not want to use other procedures, he then 

decides to omit it in the target text. 

ST: "A book in the attic. It's about faeries, real 

faeries. Look, they're ugly." (book 1, p. 61) 

TT: “Buku di loteng. Tentang makhluk-

makhluk seperti peri, yang sungguhan. Lihat 
mereka jelek.” (p. 79) 

The word “faeries” is culture-specific terms 

related to concept of religion and belief that is 

categorized to organization, customs, activities, 

procedures, concepts in culture-specific items 

classification. The translator did not translate the 

underlined, bold, and italic word “faeries”. He 



 

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276 

omitted the word “faeries” to avoid the repeated 

word in one sentence. 

 

Compensation 

Compensation is a translation strategy 

occurs when loss of meaning in one part of a 

sentence is compensated in another part. In this 

translation strategy, the translator takes another 

part of sentence if he or she cannot find 

definition or meaning of source language words 

or terminology in the target language. 

SL: One of the faeries, clad only in a spiky, 

green seedpod, flew close and dropped a piece 

of fruit on the blanket near Simon. (book 3, p. 
39) 

TL: Salah satu sprite, yang hanya mengenakan 

daun hijau bergerigi, terbang mendekat dan 

menjatuhkan sepotong buah di selimut dekat 
Simon. (p. 55) 

The word “faeries” is culture-specific terms 

related to concept in culture-specific items 

classification. “faeries” is translated into “sprite” 

using compensation technique by the translator. 

He rendered the word “faeries” into “sprite” 

considering the equal meaning in the target 

language. The term is compensated to TL word 

because it is the same type of spirit of nature. 

 

Couplet 

Couplet is a translation strategy used by 

the translator that combines two translation 

procedures in order to deal a single problem. A 

combination of two translation procedures is 

particularly common for culture-specific 

terminologies. 

SL: But they still had the book and the eyepiece, 

Simon was carrying a kitten the color of 
butterscotch toffee, and all of them were still 

alive. (book: 2, page: 104) 

TL: Tapi mereka masih memiliki buku itu dan 

kacamatanya, Simon masih menggendong anak 
kucing yang warnanya seperti permen 

butterscotch toffee, dan mereka semua masih 

hidup. (p. 119) 

The word “butterscotch toffee” is culture-

specific terms related to food that is categorized 

to material culture in culture-specific items 

classification. The word “Butterscotch toffee” is 

translated into “permen butterscotch” by using 

couplet. The translator rendered the word 

“butterscotch toffee” into “permen butterscotch” 

using naturalization to translate “ toffee” into 

“permen” and borrowing “butterscotch”. 

 

Glosses 

Glosses are the translation strategy used 

by the translator that is the process of translation 

by giving additional information in the target 

language. In additional information, a translator 

may have to add to his version. 

SL: "This Arthur guy says it's a boggart. See, 

brownies are these helpful guys, but then if you 

make them mad, they go crazy. They start doing 

all these bad things and you can't stop them. 

Then they become boggarts. That's what I think 
we have." (book: 1, p. 66) 

TL: “Sir Arthur ini bilang ini boggart – kurcaci 

yang jahat. Lihat, brownie sangat suka 

menolong, tapi kalau kau membuat mereka 

marah, mereka bisa gila. Mereka mulai 

melakukan berbagai kejahatan dan kau tidak 

bisa menghentikan mereka. Mereka menjadi 

boggart kurasa itulah yang ada dirumah ini 
sekarang. (p. 84)” 

The word “Boggart” is translated by using 

glosses in the translation. The translator put the 

description after the word “boggart”. He gave the 

additional information to the target text in the 

process of translation in order to help in 

understanding for the target reader. 

 The realization of repetition, 

naturalization, and universalization translation 

strategies that frequently applied by the 

translator to translate 590 culture-specific items 

data. Meanwhile 133 culture-specific items data 

were dynamic by using through translation, 

linguistic translation compensation, couplet, and 

glosses. It can be said that the translator tends to 

avoid re-create the word in SL and conserving it 

into a sentence in the TL that conveys the 

similar meaning. It always uses the exact phrase 



 

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or word of original because the culture-specific 

items of the source language do not have equal 

meaning in the target language culture. This 

might be more alien because the sentence or 

word translated literally. This conservation 

procedures that deal with formal equivalence 

give the strangeness for the target readers 

because of cultural differences. 

 

CONCLUSION  

 

I concluded that 10 translation strategies 

used by the translator. I found that repetition is 

applied 508 times (70.17%). Translation by using 

repetition or pure borrowing is mostly used by 

the translator as translation strategy containing 

ecology, concepts of belief and religion, and 

anthroponyms. it is implemented while the 

culture-specific items in SL did not have equal 

meaning in TL. Dealing with equivalence of 

translation, this study found out 590 culture-

specific items data were adopted formal by the 

translator in rendering culture-specific items into 

Indonesian. 

In order to give contribution to research 

development in the translation field, I 

mentioned the weakness of my study. The 

culture-specific items data were only taken in the 

form of words and phrases. The other data 

should necessarily had been taken in the form of 

sentences. The sentence level data were taken to 

complete the words, phrases, and sentences 

levels of data analysis and get the context. 

 

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