EEJ (2018) 8 (4) 2018 523 - 529 
 

English Education Journal 
 

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

 

 

The Choice of Larson’s Translation Strategies and the Resulted 

Quality of Indonesian Translation of Hyperboles in The Shrunken Head 

Novel 

 

Ratih Oktaviani, Yan Mujiyanto, Mursid Saleh  

 

Universitas Negeri Semarang, Indonesia 

Article Info 

________________ 

Article History: 

Recived 08 August 

2018 

Accepted 15 October 

2018 

Published 23 

December 2018 

 

________________ 

Keywords: 

Translation strategies, 

hyperbole, translation 

quality 

____________________ 

Abstract
 

___________________________________________________________________ 

In translating hyperboles, the effect of exaggerating something from the source 

text when translated literally into the target text can cause a strange meaning 

and less acceptable because the terms are not in accordance with the rules of 

the target language. This study aimed to analyze the translation strategies used 

by the translator in translating type of hyperboles and its translation quality in 

The Shrunken Head Novel. The descriptive qualitative research approach is 

used as a research design. The results of the study showed that there are two 

types of hyperboles found in this novel, namely overstatement of numbers and 

quantity and impossible description. Then, there are three strategies that used 

by translator to translated types of hyperbole in this novel, namely the sense of 

the word may be translated non-figuratively, retaining the word in the original 

but to add the sense of the word and substituting a figurative expression from 

SL to TL. The analysis on translation quality showed that 212 data of 

hyperboles (88%) considered as accurate, 207 data (86%) belongs to acceptable 

and 164 data (68%) are considered as high readability. 

 
 

© 2018 Universitas Negeri Semarang 

 
Correspondence Address:  

Kampus Pascasarjana UNNES, Jl Kelud Utara III, Semarang 50237 

E-mail: oktaviani.ratih@yahoo.co.id 

 

 
 

p-ISSN 2087-0108 

e-ISSN 2502-4566
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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INTRODUCTION 

 

 Generally speaking, translation is a 

process of transferring the meaning from the 

source language to another language by 

considering the culture within it. As Kuncoro 

& Sutopo (2015, p. 9) explained translation is 

not just a process of changing words into a 

different language, it has to do with culture 

since language is an integral part of the culture 

and it is a tool for cultural mediation. In 

addition, a translator must be skilled in 

translating the SL into TL without changing 

the purpose or the message in TL.  

Newmark (1988, p. 94) said that culture 

as a way of life that is typical of a community 

by using particular language as a means of 

expression. It can conclude that each language 

group has its own culturally specific features. 

In the process of translating books from the SL 

into the TL, there are some obstacles that will 

always be found by translators, such as 

language and cultural differences. Therefore, a 

good translator must be able to master the 

source language and the target language to 

understand the cultural and linguistic 

backgrounds so that translators can overcome 

the obstacles of language and cultural 

differences in translating certain texts. 

Likewise, in the translation of hyperbole, 

translators often find some difficulties in 

translating into the target language. Hyperbole 

is used by the author to give the effect of 

exaggerating a situation so that it can create 

dramatic literary works, while at the same 

time increasing the beauty of his/her work. 

The effect of exaggerating something from the 

source text when translated literally into the 

target language can lead to oddities and less 

acceptable because the sentences are not in 

accordance with the rules of the target 

language. Therefore, it is necessary to choose 

the equivalent words and special attention to 

translate hyperbole, so the message to be 

conveyed and the effects to highlight by the 

author of the source text can be maintained 

after being translated into the target language.  

 Basically, hyperbole is part of 

figurative language. According to Henkemans 

(2013, p.1), hyperbole is a rhetorical trope by 

means of which statements are made that are 

obviously exaggerated and thus untrue or 

unwarranted. Furthermore, Altikriti (2016, p. 

126) explained that hyperbole is one of the 

most widely used figurative of speech that 

often uses in daily communication or literature 

that reflects over-exaggerates the speaker’s 

meaning through his/her intense feeling and 

sincere attitude towards the listener. 

 Christodoulidou (2011, p. 145) 

describes two types of hyperbole as follows 

overstatements of number and quantity; the 

speaker tends to overstate numbers of times 

and years, such as hundreds, thousand and 

impossible description; the speaker makes a 

hyperbolic description of a situation which 

serves as an impossible description.  

 Larson (1998, p. 124) proposed three 

strategies in translating figurative language, 

they are the sense of the word may be 

translated non-figuratively, retaining the word 

in the original, but to add the sense of the 

word and substituting a figurative expression 

of the target language for the figurative 

expression of the source language. Dealing 

with it, the translation strategies of hyperboles 

used by translator can affect the translation 

quality. According to Larson (1998, p. 529) 

and Nababan, Nuraeni and Sumardiono 

(2012, p. 50-52), the translation quality covers 

accuracy, acceptability and readability.   

 There are some previous studies 

related to this study. Amelia & Firdaus (2016) 

and Qomariah & Thahara (2015) focused on 

personification and metaphors translation. 

Their studies revealed that literal technique of 

translation is one of the most frequently used 

techniques used by the translator of the novel. 

Yolanda & Yuliasri (2016) and Cahyaningrum 

(2009) found that good characteristics of 

translation were achieved due to accuracy, 

acceptability and readability of the target 

language. 

 This study is different from previous 

studies because the researcher offered a new 



Ratih Oktaviani, Yan Mujiyanto, Mursid Saleh
 
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525 

 

topic that focuses on the translation of 

hyperbole and choose the different source. The 

researcher also used translation strategies that 

focus on translating figurative language from 

Larson (1998, p. 124). Therefore, this study 

aimed to analyze the translation strategies 

used by the translator in translating type of 

hyperboles and its translation quality in terms 

of accuracy, acceptability and readability in 

The Shrunken Head Novel.  

  

METHODS 

 

This study used descriptive qualitative 

research approach. The sources of data used in 

this study are original novel Curiosity House 

series entitled “The Shrunken Head” by 

bestselling author Lauren Oliver and H.C. 

Chester and Indonesian translation translated 

by Lulu Fitri Rahman, published in 2016 and 

the respondents. The respondents are divided 

into two, they are expert raters and target 

readers. 

In collecting data, the researcher used 

document and questionnaire. The document 

was used to collect the data of hyperboles. 

Meanwhile, the questionnaire was used to 

assess the translation quality. The researcher 

used accuracy, acceptability and readability 

rating instruments to determine the degree of 

hyperbole translation quality. In this study, the 

data collected are analyzed by classifying type 

of hyperbole as well as translation strategies 

applied in translating hyperbole in The 

Shrunken Head novel, reducing the data which 

is not suitable. Interpreting the data is also a 

part of data analysis, drawing an inference 

from the results of the analysis based on 

statement of the problems and provide the 

suggestion. 

 
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 

 

In this section, we present the results 

and discussion of the strategies in translating 

types of hyperbole and the quality of 

hyperboles translation. 

Strategies in Translating Types of 

Hyperboles 

Based on the types of hyperbole from 

Christodoulidou (2011, p. 145), there are two 

types of hyperboles, namely overstatement of 

numbers and quantity and impossible 

description. The table below shows the 

distribution of each kind.  

 

Table 1. Types of Hyperbole 

Types of Hyperbole 
Frequency of 

Usage 

Percentage 

(%) 

Overstatement of 

numbers and quantity 
29 data 12.03 

Impossible description 212 data 87.97 

Total 241 data 100 

 

From Table 1, it can be seen that 

impossible description dominates in 87.97 % 

with 212 data. Then, it is followed by 

overstatement of numbers and quantity 

12.03% with 29 data.  

Meanwhile, in analyzing the translation 

strategy of hyperbole, the researcher used 

translation strategy proposed by Larson (1998, 

p. 124). The detail about the use of translator 

strategies is pointed in the table below: 

 

Table 2. Strategies for Translating Hyperbole 

No. Translation Strategies 
Frequency of 

Usage 

Percentage 

(%) 

1 The sense of the word 

may be translated non-

figuratively. 

31 12.86 

2 Retaining the word in 

the original, but to add 

the sense of the word. 

191 79.25 

3 Substituting a figurative 

expression from SL to 

TL. 

19 7.89 

Total 241 100 

From Table 2, it showed that 191 times 

(79.25%) retaining the word in the original, 

but to add the sense of the word become the 



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most strategies that used by the translator in 

translating hyperbole. The second rank is the 

sense of the word may be translated non-

figuratively used 31 times (12.86%).  Last, the 

researcher found that substituting a figurative 

expression from SL to TL was used 19 times 

(7.89%). 

 

The sense of the word may be translated non-

figuratively. 

Example 1  

ST:  He sat up, his heart rocketing into his 

throat. 

TT:  Dia langsung duduk, jantungnya berdebar 

kencang. (Datum 030) 

According to Christodoulidou (2011, p. 

145), there are two types of hyperbole, namely 

overstatement of numbers and quantity and 

impossible description. The above datum 

shows that the author used impossible 

description. Impossible description can be seen 

from the following sentence “his heart 

rocketing into his throat”. The word “he” 

refers to Thomas. Thomas was awakened on 

Tuesday morning. He was very surprised 

when he heard shouts from outside the 

museum. The author tried to explain this 

condition of the character’s feeling by 

exaggerating it. Then, the translator used 

strategy in translating this type of hyperbole 

using strategy proposed by Larson (1998, p. 

124), namely the sense of the word translated 

non-figuratively. The change of meaning of 

English language is the sentence “his heart 

rocketing into his throat” which is translated 

into “jantungnya berdebar kencang” (LT: his 

heart is beating fast) in Indonesian language. 

In here, the translator changed the hyperbole 

in English language into non-figurative in 

Indonesian language. The translator may find 

difficulty in finding equivalent meaning for the 

target language. The meaning of source text 

cannot be understood by the target readers. 

Additionally, if the translator translated the 

sentence literally it does not give the same 

effects as the original text. That is why the 

translator chose to transfer hyperbole to non-

figurative by using daily language.  

 

Retain the word in the original, but to add 

the sense of the word. 

Example 2  

ST: Thomas stood and turned the radio up a 

few notches, even though he’d heard the 

ad a million times at least. 

TT: Thomas berdiri dan hanya supaya Philippa 

jengkel, mengeraskan volume suara radio 

meskipun sudah ribuan kali dia mendengar 

iklan itu. (Datum 004) 

From the datum, we can conclude that 

the author used type of hyperbole, namely, 

overstatement of numbers and quantity. The 

author used “a million times” to overstate 

numbers of times. From that sentence, 

Thomas has listened to the advertisement on 

the radio repeatedly and the author tried to 

exaggerate it. In translating this type of 

hyperbole, the translator tends to retain the 

word in the original language. Retaining the 

word in the original text can be seen from the 

following phrase “a million times” was 

translated into “ribuan kali” (LT: a thousand 

times). Translator changed it to "a thousand 

times" because this is often used by 

Indonesian people instead of "a million 

times". Although there is the difference in 

number, the hyperbole shows the same 

meaning in the Indonesian hyperbole. 

Translator tried to maintain hyperbole in the 

English language when translating it into the 

Indonesian language. It means the translator 

in translating hyperbole from the source 

language into target language without 

changing the purpose or the message in 

the source language. The translator tried 

to give a dramatic impression of a 

sentence and also aims to attract the 

attention of readers. 

 



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Substitute a figurative expression from SL to 

TL. 

Example 3 

ST: Thomas’s heart dove into his shoes. 

TT: Jantung Thomas seketika memerosot. 

(Datum 062) 

 From the datum above, from the 

sentence “Thomas’s heart dove into his 

shoes”, the author tried to put impossible 

description as types of hyperbole. Thomas was 

outside even before the sun broke free of the 

horizon, his mind was turning over everything 

that had happened in the museum lately. He 

was very worried about Mr. Dumfrey. The 

author tried to explain Thomas’s feeling about 

the fear of something going on against Mr. 

Dumfrey. Then, the translator used the 

strategy in translating this type of hyperbole 

using the last strategy proposed by Larson 

(1998, p. 124), namely substituting a figurative 

expression from SL to TL. Translator used this 

strategy when they do not find an equivalent 

meaning in Indonesian language. The 

sentence “Thomas’s heart dove into his 

shoes” translated into “Jantung Thomas 

seketika memerosot” (LT: Thomas's heart 

immediately slumped). The meaning of 

“memerosot” in Indonesia is slide down. The 

effect of exaggerating something from the 

English text when translated literally into the 

Indonesian text can cause a strange meaning 

and less acceptable because the terms are not 

in accordance with the rules of the Indonesian 

language. That is why the translator 

substitutes the hyperbole expression in the 

English language into the hyperbole in 

Indonesian language. 

 

Translation Quality 

Accuracy 

Accuracy is related to how the text of 

the source language can be conveyed correctly 

into the target language by the translator 

without any addition or reduction. The 

percentage of accuracy in hyperboles data can 

be seen in the table below: 

Table 3. Percentage of Accuracy 

Category 
Frequency of 

Data 
Percentage (%) 

Accurate 212 88 

Less Accurate 27 11 

Inaccurate 2 1 

Total 241 100 

 

As seen from Table 3, there are 212 data 

of hyperboles (88%) which are categorized 

into accurate translation, 27 data (11%) that 

classified into less accurate translation and 2 

data (1%) belongs in inaccurate translation 

 

Acceptability 

Acceptability refers to a translation in 

accordance with the rules, norms and cultures 

prevailing in the target language. A translation 

of hyperbole is said to be acceptable if the 

hyperbole translation sounds natural and 

familiar. The percentage of acceptability in 

hyperboles data can be seen in the table below:  

 

Table 4. Percentage of Acceptability 

Category 
Frequency of 

Data 

Percentage 

(%) 

Acceptable 207 86 

Less Acceptable 29 12 

Inacceptable 5 2 

Total 241 100 

 

Based on the translation quality 

analysis, the translator noticed that 207 

hyperboles translation (86%) are categorized 

as acceptable. 29 data (12%) are categorized as 

less acceptable and 5 data (2%) categorized as 

inacceptable.            

 

Readability 

The readability of hyperbole translation 

deals with how easily the translation can be 

read and understood by the target readers. 



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Moreover, the following table shows the 

percentage of hyperbole translation for 

readability level: 

 

Table 5. Percentage of Readability 

Category 
Frequency of 

Data 

Percentage 

(%) 

High Readability 164 68 

Sufficient 

Readability 

51 21 

Low Readability 27 11 

Total 241 100 

 

From 241 data, the researcher found 

164 hyperboles are considered as high 

readability (68%), 51 data (21%) of hyperboles 

are considered as sufficient readability and 27 

data (11%) are considered as low readability. 

Although the researcher still found 

some hyperboles translation that is not 

appropriate, the researcher concluded that the 

translation of hyperbole in The Shrunken 

Head Novel is accurate, acceptable and high 

readability. The translation hyperboles in The 

Shrunken Head Novel have good quality. The 

translator uses the appropriate strategies to 

translate hyperboles, so it can produce good 

translation. 

 Based on the findings, the appropriate 

strategies to translate language can produce 

good translation. The result supports the 

findings of another research done by Muchtar 

& Kembaren (2018), they found that the 

quality of text translation is pretty good, but 

there were some cultural terms that have no 

equivalence in the target text, and they caused 

the target readers confused and influenced the 

translation quality of the text. Yolanda & 

Yuliasri (2016) found that Pun to Non Pun 

technique dominates in 46.2%. The analysis 

on translation quality shows 18 (77%) 

translation are considered as less accurate, 127 

(52.3%) translations are belong to less 

acceptable and readability level shows that 133 

(54.7%) translation are categorized as high 

readability. 

 

CONCLUSION  

 

From the research findings and 

discussion, the researcher is able to draw the 

conclusion.  First, the analysis of strategies in 

translating types of hyperboles in The Shrunken 

Head Novel shows that the translator used two 

types of hyperbole in this study. They are 

impossible description and overstatement of 

numbers and quantity. The researcher has 

found that impossible description appeared 

very often that overstatement of numbers and 

quantity. Impossible description dominates in 

87.97 % with 212 data. Then, it is followed by 

overstatement of numbers and quantity 

12.03% with 29 data. Then, there are three 

strategies that used by translator to translated 

types of hyperbole in this novel, namely the 

sense of the word may be translated non-

figuratively, retaining the word in the original 

but to add the sense of the word and 

substituting a figurative expression from SL to 

TL. Retaining the word in the original, but to 

add the sense of the word become the most 

strategies that used by the translator in 

translating hyperboles in this novel. In this 

research, the researcher found this strategy 

was used 191 times (79.25%) by the translator. 

The translator applied this strategy much more 

than the other strategies. The second rank is 

the sense of the word may be translated non-

figuratively. This strategy was used 31 times 

(12.86%).  The last strategy is substituting a 

figurative expression from SL to TL. In this 

research, this strategy was used 19 times 

(7.89%).  

 The second, the analysis of the level 

of accuracy in translating hyperbole in The 

Shrunken Head Novel showed that 212 data of 

hyperboles (88%) which are categorized into 

accurate translation. It means the message of 

hyperboles of the source language is 

successfully conveyed to the target language. 

Then, there are 27 data (11%) that classified 

into less accurate translation. It means that not 



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529 

 

the whole of hyperboles from the source 

language is transferred to the target language. 

The last, only 2 data (1%) belongs in 

inaccurate translation. It means that messages 

from source text are not delivered successfully 

into the target text.  

 The third, the analysis of the level of 

acceptability in translating hyperbole in The 

Shrunken Head Novel showed that 207 

hyperboles translation (86%) are categorized 

as acceptable. It means the translated 

hyperbole is natural, familiar to the target 

reader and it does not sound strange. It is 

followed by less acceptable, there are 29 data 

(12%). The translation of hyperboles are the 

translation feels less natural, it sounds strange 

and the aesthetic point cannot be felt as well in 

the target language. The last category is 

inacceptable that has 5 data (2%). It means 

translation of hyperbole is unnatural, not 

familiar to the reader and it sounds very 

strange.  

 The fourth, the analysis of the level of 

readability in translating hyperbole in The 

Shrunken Head Novel showed that 164 data 

(68%) are considered as high readability. It is 

because the translation is easy to read and 

understand by target readers. Next, the 

researcher found 51 data (21%) of hyperboles 

are considered sufficient readability. The data 

of hyperbole are categorized as sufficient 

readability if the translation of hyperbole can 

be understood but there is a certain part that 

should be read more than once to understand. 

The last category is low readability which has 

27 data (11%) of hyperboles. Translated 

hyperbole has low readability because the 

translation is difficult to understand or it 

cannot be understood at all by the target 

readers.  

 

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