The particular dialect or language that a person chooses to use on any occasion is called a code 6322 Copyright © 2025 The Author IDEAS is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0 License Issued by English study program of IAIN Palopo IDEAS Journal on Language Teaching and Learning, Linguistics and Literature ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) Volume 13, Number 2, December 2025 pp. 6322 - 6332 Evaluation for Error in Translation: A Study of Academic Translations of Prospective Undergraduate Students Dewi Kesuma Nasution1, Khairun Niswa2 1,2English Education Program, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education Universitas Muhammadiyah Sumatera Utara Corresponding E-Mail: dewikesuma@umsu.ac.id Received: 2025-09-18 Accepted: 2025-11-07 DOI: 10.24256/ideas. v13i2.8019 Abstract This study scrutinizes the quality of translation for students who use translation assistance. A new text translated by students is then studied to see how successful students are at translating the text. First, the quality of the translation was analyzed using a scoring rubric in the form of the first, which deals with the perception of the source text message related to the accuracy of the translation, including the translation which has an inaccurate effect on understanding the source text and classified into eight categories: faux sens, nonsense, additions, omissions, unresolved extralinguistic references, loss of meaning, inappropriate linguistic variations (registers, styles, dialects). Second, nonconforming renderings that affect target language (TL) expressions are divided into five categories: spelling, grammar, lexical items, text, and style. Finally, preliminary presentation affects the delivery of the source text's primary or secondary function. The research uses content analysis design and descriptive qualitative methods as the umbrella. The study's results found that there were few grammatical omissions because the target language had absorption from the source language. In table 1, the translator does not make mistakes regarding style and text because, in principle, the language in the news is the standard language. Linguistic problems include grammatical differences, lexical ambiguity, and meaning ambiguity. At the same time, cultural issues refer to different situational features. This classification coincides with, for example, regional languages such as Sundanese, Malay, or Arabic Keywords: Evaluation in translation, Error in translation, Academic translation of prospective undergraduate students. http://u.lipi.go.id/1457703302 mailto:dewikesuma@umsu.ac.id IDEAS, Vol. 13, No. 2, December 2025 ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) 6323 Introduction Implicitly, matching in the context of translation always begins with analysis, which is included in the scope of structural linguistics. A translator needs to know why a text is translated and what its function is because every text produced must have a specific purpose. In addition, translated works also provide bilingual information in a global language format (Crystal, 2003). Assessment of translation is critical because it includes two things: first, creating a dialectical relationship between translation theory and practice, and second, for criteria and standards in assessing the competence of translators. This becomes very important if we encounter several versions of the target text from the source text. Judging the translation also assesses the level of understanding, which means there are and are not two expressions. Expressions can lead to misunderstandings and expressions that make it very difficult for the reader to understand the message they contain due to grammar and vocabulary factors. A translator is expected not only to have good skills in understanding the source language and target language, but the translator must understand the cultural differences between both languages. One of the obstacles for translators in translating messages is the need to find unknown lexical equivalents or events in the target language. This happens due to a unique system in each culture. This peculiarity is found in the language used in society. In translation, problems can arise if a word/phrase/sentence in the source language does not have an equivalent in the target language. In the most fundamental understanding, the text translation process consists of at least three activities: analysis, transfer, and restructuring. All of these activities are known as the most fundamental ideal translation activities (Bassnet, 2002). Translation activities begin with the analysis stage, where the translator identifies and studies the text to be translated. At this stage, a translator usually knows the linguistic parts of a text that have potential translation difficulties. This stage is realized by reading the target text several times until the translator understands the message to be conveyed in the text. Then, the second stage transfers after being identified from the start of translation activities. At this stage, a translator carries out the translation process assisted by translation tools, such as dictionaries, translation machines, and CAT tools. The process is described in figure 1 below. Dewi Kesuma Nasution, Khairun Niswa Evaluation for Error in Translation: A Study of Academic Translations of Prospective Undergraduate Students 6324 Figure 1. Translation Process (Bassnet, 2002) There are many types of dictionaries commonly used by translators, such as online dictionaries or printed dictionaries such as the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Oxford Dictionary, or English-Indonesian dictionaries such as those of John M. Echols & Hassan Sadily. In addition, translators often use the translation machine itself to translate text. One of the best-known is Google Translate. However, in the end, a translator still does restructure to revise and improve the quality of the translation. Translation lecturers or instructors must consider their students adequate to apply newly acquired concepts in unfamiliar situations even though the text exposure is brief. Departing from this overly exaggerated assumption, university lecturers or translation instructors provide students with an understanding of the various kinds of texts that must be translated. Moreover, evaluation of translation is much more difficult in an academic context because a translator instructor is needed to help students improve their performance. Hence, translation evaluation is of central concern and significance in the context of translator education (Arango-Keth & Koby, 2003). Therefore, this research is motivated by students' translating abilities that have yet to be maximized. Translation Assessment In translation assessment, the translation product is assessed, not the translation process. Therefore, translation is the most important means, not the most essential assessment. Nevertheless, for example, how the results were produced and at what stage the error occurred. Hence, the evaluation of translation here is more of a remedial-pedagogic interest. This includes checking our translations as well as other people's translations, for example, translations obtained from translators of books or student translations. According to Nababan & Nuaraeni (2012); Nababan (1997), evaluating the quality of translation focuses on three things, namely the accuracy of transferring messages, the accuracy of disclosing messages in the source language, and the naturalness of the translation language. In his statement, Nababan (2012) the three focuses of the translation follow the translation of scientific works. IDEAS, Vol. 13, No. 2, December 2025 ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) 6325 De Vries et al. (2018) suggested that automated text analysis allows researchers to analyze large amounts of text. Some analysts recommend using Google Translate to convert all text into the source language (Lucas et al., 2015). However, products originating from Google Translate must be verified by users, so they stay aware of machine translation products. Moreover, we found much overlap in the feature sets resulting from the human and machine-translated text. Errors play an essential role in the learning process, and it is shown that students actively experiment with linguistic structures that they learn in the source language and target language (Cuc, 2018). The relevance of this study lies in demonstrating translation errors referring to TQA in translating generated by sixth-semester students of the English program in translating familiar cultural items in a procedural context. Related to the TQA system, the question arises: Is the translation presentation sufficient to influence the delivery of the primary or secondary function of the source text? This question arose when studying translation practices in translation classes organized by the English Language Education Study Program. This understanding will enable university lecturers or translation instructors to evaluate and improve translation study materials and other pedagogical implications. Error in translation Albir et al. (1995) in Waddington (2001) identified that analyzing errors in students' translations has become an effective tool for assessing their translation products. The more mistakes’ students make in translating, the worse their translation results will be (Na Pham, 2005). The translation results can also show the quality of the translation learning process. Waddington (2001) recommends another method of evaluating translation quality based on Hurtado's (1995) model. Waddington's "Method A" enumerates three groups of errors that may be present in translation. The first group that deals with the perception of the source text message related to the accuracy of the translation include translation that imprecisely influences the understanding of the source text and is classified into eight categories: faux sens, gibberish, addition, omission, unresolved extralinguistic reference, loss of meaning, distorted linguistic variation, inaccurate (register, style, dialect). The concept of 'translation accuracy' relates to the translator's perception of the message of the source text and how accurate the translator is in translating the text from one language to another. Then in "Method A," Waddington (2001) mentions inappropriate rendering, which affects target language (TL) expressions divided into five categories: spelling, grammar, lexical items, text, and style. In addition, the inadequate presentation affects the delivery of the source text's primary or secondary function. Dewi Kesuma Nasution, Khairun Niswa Evaluation for Error in Translation: A Study of Academic Translations of Prospective Undergraduate Students 6326 Faux sense (Dussart, 2005) is an ambiguity that is reflected in an essential difference between actual and correct: translators can transmit correct text but lack precision, especially in terms of terminology. The lack of differentiation due to the polysemy of accurate adjectives is not particularly awkward. However, the definition raises a considerable objection. Since a misinterpretation is also incorrect, it is almost impossible to distinguish it in this way from an incorrect meaning. According to Molina & Albir (2002), addition is commonly used in translation to add information, not in the source sentence. Therefore, additional information in the target text is intended to clarify further the concept that the original author wanted to convey to the reader (Røvik, 2016). Translation of omission is a technique used when a specific word does not have an exact equivalent in the target language, and the word has an insignificant role in conveying the meaning of the source text (Baker, 1992; Dimitriu, 2004). However, this technique only sometimes runs smoothly. The text sometimes needs to be more precise by omitting some words, making it difficult for the reader to get the original meaning (Davies, 2007). In the case of 'incompletion or omission' (Agrifoglio, 2004), it occurs several times in the texts produced by students. In addition, students omit some substantives (e.g., 'warmed,' 'dried'). In contrast, Stansfield et al. (1992) define a variable: translation ability, one of which is 'accuracy,' which is the degree to which the translator transfers the source text content accurately. The other is 'expression,' which is the expressive quality of the content. Previous researchers, namely Martinez & Albir (2001), recommended an assessment instrument for teaching translation and provided targets for research to assess more severe translator training (Martinez & Albir, 2001). Concretely, House (2014) argues that the assessment of translation quality can benefit from studies of contrastive pragmatic discourse involving many different linguistic cultures, corpus- linguistic approaches to validate translation evaluations by relating them to comparable corpora and references, psycho-linguistic approaches and socio- psychological to complete the corpus. Method When referring to the problem formulation, the research design is descriptive and qualitative, using content analysis as an analytical tool (Krippendorf, 2014; Cresswell). Activities in cindering qualitative data analysis consist of text analysis. Then the interpretation is in the form of a statement of the meanings of the findings. The data source is the assignment of the translation course obtained from the assignment of the Final Semester Examination of students of the English education study program. Students are instructed to translate news texts from English (ST) into Indonesian (TT). The text source is taken from BBC/Science and Environment. El Nin o is likely to boost CO2 in 2016 by Jonathan Amos. Then the researcher classified the translation results according to the theory of translation errors according to Albir IDEAS, Vol. 13, No. 2, December 2025 ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) 6327 et al. (1995) in Waddington (2001). The following is the Frequency Error Categorization Albir et al. (1995) in Waddington (2001). Table 1. Frequency Error Categorization Inappropriate rendering on understanding ST Omission Addition Nonsense Faux sense Inappropriate rendering on TL Style Text Lexicon Grammar Spelling Inadequate rendering Main function of ST Secondary function of ST Data Analysis The original text and its translation are presented in the data analysis. The three categories of errors mentioned above are investigated separately. The following paragraphs and their translations are displayed sequentially to clarify the previous points. Source Text Title: El Niño likely to boost CO2 in 2016 Twenty-sixteen will very likely mark the first time the concentration of CO2, as measured atop Hawaii’s famous Mauna Loa volcano, has been above 400 parts per million for the entire year. It says carbon dioxide levels have seen a surge in recent months as a result of the El Nin o climate phenomenon, which has warmed and dried the tropics. These conditions not only limit the ability of forests to draw down CO2 from the atmosphere but also trigger huge fires around the globe that inject extra carbon into the air. This means the instruments at Mauna Loa, which maintain the benchmark record of CO2, are unlikely to see any month in 2016 where the concentration dips below 400ppm (that is, 400 molecules of CO2 for every one million molecules in the atmosphere). Source: BBC/Science and Environment. El Nin o likely to boost CO2 in 2016 by Jonathan Amos Target Text Title: El Niño cenderung meningkatkan karbon dioksida tahun 2016 Tahun 2016 nampaknya menjadi tahun pertama naiknya tingkat konsentrasi CO2, seperti yang diukur pada puncak terkenal di Hawaii, gunung api Mauna Loa, lebih dari 400 ppm dalam kurun waktu setahun. Dikatakan bahwa tingkat karbon dioksida meningkat drastis dalam beberapa bulan sebagai fenomena dampak cuaca El Niño Dewi Kesuma Nasution, Khairun Niswa Evaluation for Error in Translation: A Study of Academic Translations of Prospective Undergraduate Students 6328 kemarau di daerah tropis. Kondisi ini tidak hanya berdampak pada kebakaran hutan akibat udara terkontaminasi dengan karbon dioksida yang berlebihan dari atmosfir bumi. Ini artinya alat yang berada di Mauna Loa memelihara standar yang digunakan untuk mengukur karbon dioksida, tidak seperti bulan lainnya pada 2016 dimana tingkat konsentrasi karbon dioksida jauh dibawah 400 ppm (sama halnya dengan, 400 molekul kandungan karbon dioksida untuk setiap jutaan molekul di atmosfir). Result Assessment of student translation products utilizes technology such as university e-learning. In the first half of lectures, it is intended that students are able to reconstruct their knowledge of translation theory. Then, during lectures, students are given knowledge of skills with various learning media. Finally, in the Final Semester Examination, determine the extent to which the quality of student translations is. Table 1 summarizes the suggestions for the assessment matrix used in the translation evaluation. Table 1. Suggestion Matrix for Assessment of Student Translation Works Criteria Score 85-100 75-84 65-74 55-64 Promptness Assignments are collected on time. - - - Neatness The translated text is structured to be easy to read and has pleasing aesthetics. The translated text is arranged so that it is easy to read, but there is a missing aesthetic element. The composition of the translated text is relatively easy to read, but it pays little attention to aesthetic elements. The arrangement of the translated text is challenging to read and ignores aesthetic elements. Information delivery The subtitles fully convey essential information and various details from the original text Critical information from the original text is fully conveyed in the subtitles, but details are omitted. Most of the critical information from the original text is conveyed in the translated text. There is much critical information that is not conveyed in the subtitles Translated text innovation There are innovations in translated There are innovations in subtitles that There are innovations in translated There are innovations in translated IDEAS, Vol. 13, No. 2, December 2025 ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) 6329 texts that make translated texts easier to understand and better in terms of aesthetics. make translated texts easier to understand texts whose function is less significant in helping to make texts easier to understand. texts that make translated texts even more challenging to understand. The four criteria in table 1 have different significances, enduring in mind that the focus of evaluating translation work is the conveyance of information in the source text to the target text. The translation results are categorized according to the frequency of translation errors according to "Method A" Waddington (2001), presented in table 2. Tabel 2. Frequency Error Categorization Error Number of Occurrence Frequency in Percentage Inappropriate rendering on understanding ST Omission 31 19,7 Addition 48 30,5 Nonsense 2 1,2 Faux sense 38 26,1 Inappropriate rendering on TL Style 0 0 Text 0 0 Lexicon 5 3,1 Grammar 15 9,5 Spelling 1 0,6 Inadequate rendering Main function of ST 3 1,9 Secondary function of ST 3 1,9 Good Solutions Plus 1 points 3 Plus 2 points 2,5 146 100 The results of translation errors are presented in table 2, dominated by addition with the highest number, followed by faux sense and omission with a frequency percentage of 94%. There are few grammatical omissions because the target language has absorption from the source language. In table 1, the translator does not make mistakes regarding style and text because, in principle, the language in the news is the standard language. It means focusing on the events and using a heralding verb containing information notification sentences. Dewi Kesuma Nasution, Khairun Niswa Evaluation for Error in Translation: A Study of Academic Translations of Prospective Undergraduate Students 6330 Discussion This study investigates translation errors adopted from Albir et al. (1995) in Waddington (2001). So that in translation courses, each student can get recommendations to see how far students or translators find the level of translation errors. In previous research, Nasution (2022), the Google Translate (GT) translation machine failed to make two things: language adaptation in translation and stylistic effects. In principle, in localization, an adaptation strategy that is by culturally transferring the meaning of website content is recommended to meet the expectations of local users (Esselink, 2000). In addition, stylistic effects in the translation are needed in website localization. Stylistic effects refer to sound, word order, metaphor, and text tone. (Akbari, 2014). Then, after translating with GT, the post-editing stage is critical to conveying the closest essence of the source language. For translation activities like this, human assistance is an indispensable part of Machine Translation to transfer and interpret the source language text accurately. Since website localization is a company marketing strategy, post-editing should be done using a persuasive and compelling translation approach. Therefore, language editing is carried out by verifying ST to TT using a dictionary. Waddington (2001) also recommends that the model contributes in an academic context and is not easily distributed to general translation evaluations. Many models can be used to investigate the accuracy of the translation. However, the results of the translation are very subjective. Translation products can be accepted if the meaning and meaning of a source language has been transferred to the target language; in this case, of course, the context and culture. Conclusion Translation activities at the undergraduate level should be designed with the spirit of cultivating analytical-critical thinking in students. Therefore, even though the technical skills of translation are taught in these courses, the targeted competencies may not be the same as the education for professional translators. To judge a translation work is a very subjective task, as is marking a translation. Therefore, translation is a science, an art, and a skill. Therefore, the translator's knowledge and skills about the two languages' structure and composition must be reasonable. Translation works are said to be art because they require artistic talent to reconstruct the original text as a product that can be presented to readers who are not supposed to know the original. Students experience while translating news texts is the most challenging task; finding the right words and creating repetitions in the text, synonyms of particular words can be somewhat ambiguous and more suitable for literary works. According to the researcher, some problems in translation can be divided into linguistic problems and cultural problems. Linguistic problems include grammatical differences, lexical ambiguity, and meaning ambiguity. In contrast, cultural issues refer to different IDEAS, Vol. 13, No. 2, December 2025 ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) 6331 situational features. 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