JOLLT Journal of Languages and Language Teaching https://e-journal.undikma.ac.id/index.php/jollt Email: jollt@ikipmataram.ac.id & jollt@undikma.ac.id DOI: https://doi.org/10.33394/jollt.v%vi%i.5189 July 2022. Vol. 10, No.3 p-ISSN: 2338-0810 e-ISSN: 2621-1378 pp. 453-460 JOLLT Journal of Languages and Language Teaching, July 2022. Vol. 10, No.3 | 453 THE INFLUENCE OF BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE ON STUDENTS’ TRANSLATION RESULTS: AN INTERLINGUAL TRANSLATION 1Abdurrahman Hi. Usman, 2*Suratman Dahlan, 2Abdulhalim Daud, 3Adi F. Mahmud 1English Lecturer, Faculty of Tarbiyah, Institut Agama Islam Negeri Ternate, Indonesia 2English Lecturer, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas Khairun Ternate, Indonesia 3English Lecturer, Faculty of Science Education, Universitas Muhammadiyah Maluku Utara, Indonesia *Corresponding Author Email: suratmandahlan@unkhair.ac.id. Article Info Abstract Article History Received: May 2022 Revised: June 2022 Published: July 2022 This research aims to identify whether students’ background knowledge influenced the translated texts from the source language (SL) into the target language (TL). This research employs descriptive qualitative method design throught the use of semi-structured interviews and observation in one of the state universities in east Indonesia. The participants in this research included 30 students. The documents as students' target texts were used as primary data and the transcripts of semi-structured interviews were used as supporting data. To Analyse the data, the researchers used qualitative ways. Data condensation, data display, and conclusion drawing or verification were used to reveal students’ background knowledge of translation. The data showed that most of the students need background knowledge in the translation of source language into the target language. These reasons confirm that there is a close relationship between background knowledge and translation. It means that in an interlingual translation, even if translators are bilinguals and master the grammar of a language, background knowledge of a text should also be dominated. Moreover, background knowledge is not a single problem for translators, there are also other problems that were found in students’ translation namely new words, complex sentences, reading comprehension, and expression in the target language. Keywords Interlingual tanslation; Translation; Background knowledge; How to cite: Usman, A.H., Dahlan, S., Daud, A., & Mahmud, A. F. (2022). The influence of background knowledge on students’ translation results: an interlingual translation, JOLLT Journal of Languages and Language Teaching, 10(3), pp. 453-460. DOI: https://doi.org/10.33394/jollt.v%vi%i.5189 INTRODUCTION The translation is a transfer process that aims to transform a written source language (SL) text into an optimally equivalent target language (TL) text. While a translator needs to have a flair and a feel for his/her knowledge and own language. In translating text from English into Bahasa Indonesia, translators, in this case, students must have the competence to be translators, especially in English into Indonesia, and vice versa. Nowdays, the professional requirements for a translator in terms of interlingual translation are increasing significantly due to the steady development of various fields of science, technology, business, sports, etc. To transfer these various types of information from developed countries to developing countries, such as Indonesia, will be difficult without the presence of translation. The role of translation, therefore, is quite important in bridging this communication gap (Adam, Emzir & Ridwan, 2019). The translation itself is the general term referring to the transfer of thoughts and ideas from a language to another, whether the languages are written or spoken. In the translation field, there is an important requirement to be translators. The translators have to master two https://e-journal.undikma.ac.id/index.php/jollt mailto:jollt@ikipmataram.ac.id http://issn.pdii.lipi.go.id/issn.cgi?daftar&1366476729&1&& http://issn.pdii.lipi.go.id/issn.cgi?daftar&1524725326&1&& mailto:suratmandahlan@unkhair.ac.id Usman et al. The Influence of Background Knowledge… … JOLLT Journal of Languages and Language Teaching, July 2022. Vol. 10, No.3 | 454 languages, which means that to be bilinguals in order to have competencies to find an equivalence of source language in a target language text. Regarding translation, Larson (1998) defined translation as a process to transfer the meaning of a source language into meaning in a target language. Moreover, Farrokh (2011) stated that translation is written for new situations, purposes, recipients, and cultures. Translation as defined by Newmark (1988) cited in (Kardimin, 2013) is a craft that attempt to replace a written message and/or statement in one language by the same message and/or statement in another language. Furthemore, Ridha (2014) cited in (Wahid, Sofyan, & Karim, 2022) defined that translation is a process of transferring a message from SL into TL. SL is an original language that is translated, while TL or Target Language is a final language used to express the result of translation. Furthemore, according to Catford (1965), translation is the replacement of textual material in one language by equivalent textual material in other languages. Principally, translation is rendering a written text into another language in the way that the author intended the text. While translators are concerned with the written word by constructing meaning and message in the target language. Muhammad & Dahlan (2019) mention that translation is challenging for students since the intended meaning of the source language that should be considered before translating it into a target language. The following definition, Pinchuck cited in Kardimin (2013:4) stated that translation is a process of finding a target language equivalent to a source language utterance. In the definition of translation, translators in an interlingual translation need background knowledge because if the translators do not have enough background knowledge, misleading will happen. Related to the discussion, (Hatim & Mason; Rubrecht, 2005) suggested that a competent translator should have an inquisitive mind constantly searching for encyclopedic knowledge, so that he/she can acquire appropriate background knowledge to interpret the source language. It is not possible to expect to simply use the language ability one possesses to conduct translation/interpreting. It becomes a matter of adding and refining knowledge. Moreover, in this research, what the authors do was to identify whether students need background knowledge to translate texts from SL into TL. Based on the problems, the main theory is what was mentioned by Suksaeresup, et al (2009) that relates to a case of how a translator’s background knowledge can affect the translation, such as history happened in the 1970s.”When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the movies nominated for awards, they sent in the movie titles to newspapers around the world. Many years later probably in the early 1980s, a hilarious anecdote appeared in a Thai newspaper recounting the translation of two movie titles: Kramer vs Kramer (1979) and The Deer Hunter (1978). The translator translated “the deer” was miscued “as dear”, a term of endearment often used by American GIs to Thai lovers during their furloughs during the Vietnam War. The problems happened because the translator assumed that the movie was about an American soldier in the Vietnam War hunting for a girlfriend, or someone termed as a dear. The movie was made in 1978, shortly after the end of the Vietnam War (1965-1975)”. In this case, the translator may have been influenced by the war events in his/her translation in TL text. From some research and histories narrated above, it is concluded that background knowledge plays a very important role in interlingual translation in the translation of SL into TL. Therefore, this research was conducted identify the students’ target language text regarding the influence of backgrond knowledge in English as SL into Indonesia as the target language. Usman et al. The Influence of Background Knowledge… … JOLLT Journal of Languages and Language Teaching, July 2022. Vol. 10, No.3 | 455 Process of translation The translation process means here is a model that explains the internal thinking process of humans when translating. Nida and Taber (1974) describe a translation process called dynamic translation. The diagram of the translation process is proposed as follows: Diagram: process of translation, Nida & Taber (cited in Kardimin, 2013) RESEARCH METHOD Research Design This research employs a descriptive qualitative method through the use of semi- structured interviews and observation in one of the state universities in east Indonesia. Regarding data collection in this research, the authors did observation to collect the documents, source, and target language from students. The interviews were done to get information about the students' perception on the influence of background knowledge in translating text from English into Bahasa Indonesia. After gathering the data, they were analyzed through condensation, data display, and conclusion drawing or verification (Miles, Huberman, & Saldana, 2014). The research subjects consisted of 30 students as participants to translate the English texts into the target language. The authors did interviews with 10 participants on how affects background knowledge for translators. Data Analysis To Analyse the data, the researchers used qualitative ways. Data condensation, data display, and conclusion drawing or verification are used to reveal qualitative data (Miles, Huberman, & Saldana, 2014). In the step of data condensation, researchers collected students’ target text, and transform information in the target language into the form of sentences and paragraphs until the messages contain research points. In the phase of data condensation, researchers select the data related to research aspects. Then, the selected data are abstracted and focused on answering the research questions. These results are displayed in the next sessions. Finally, researchers take a conclusion of the data. RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Research Findings Affect of Background Knowledge in Translation In interlingual translation, a translator needs to find an accurate meaning in the target language. The translation can be word for word and or sentence by sentence. If the translator cannot produce an accurate meaning, the reader will misunderstand its meaning in the target- language text. Those happened because translators lacked knowledge in transferring ideas. The ideas transfers can be: Usman et al. The Influence of Background Knowledge… … JOLLT Journal of Languages and Language Teaching, July 2022. Vol. 10, No.3 | 456 Translator 1: Source text: (....has sent senior officials to Malaysia to urge the Government to delay enforcing the amended Immigration laws...). Students translation: (....telah mengirim perwakilah senior ke Malaysia untuk meminta pemerintah untuk menunda penekanan perubahan undang-undang imigrasi...). Translator 2: Source text : (....Minister of Manpower said many workers were unaware of the new law....) Students translation: (....laki-laki kuat untuk sedikit pekerjaan untuk hukum baru....) The students as translators did mistakes when translating the phrases because they lacked of background knowledge on how the terms should be translated. The sentence: (....has sent senior officials to Malaysia to urge the Government to delay enforcing the amended Immigration laws...) The translator 1 should translate the sentence into bahasa Indonesia: (telah mengirim pejabat senior ke malaysia untuk mendesak Pemerintah menunda perberkaluan undang-undang Imigrasi yang diamandemen). Moreover, translator 2 should translate the sentence (....Minister of Manpower said many workers were unaware of the new law....) into (Menteri Tenaga Kerja dan Transmigrasi mengatakan banyak pekerja yang tidak mengetahui undang-undang baru tersebut) as target language text in Bahasa Indonesia. The importance of background knowledge Regarding the importance of background knowledge in translation, the students firmly and straightforwardly stated the following. ” .... ya, termasuk yang paling penting itu latar belakang pengetahuan saya/ Saya kekurangan informasi dalam teks itu. Jadi saya susah mau mencari padanan kata dalam bahasa Indonesianya....” “.... saya tidak tahu apakah butu pengetahuan dalam menerjemah atau tidak. Tapi teks yang diberi jika tidak ada informasi tentang itu saya sulit mengartikannya.” “.... banyak saya tidak artikan pada saat UTS yang diberikan. Teksnya baru saya lihat, kosakata saya paham tapi agak tidak nyambung jika saya sesuikan pengethuan saya tentang kata itu, manpower misalnya saya artikan kekuatan laki-laki. Tidak tahu benar atau tidak....” Moreover, the authors conducted interviews with students and they gave some informations as follows: “....saya terkendala pada struktur bahasa, tapi paling pentig menurut saya adalah latar belakang pengetahuan dalam bahasa target maupun sebaliknya. Kemarin ketikan saya diberi teks apada UTS, dan saya mulai menerjemah saya sangat kekurangan pengetahuan dan informasi terkait itu”. ” .... ya, termasuk yang paling penting itu latar belakang pengetahuan saya/ Saya kekurangan informasi dalam teks itu. Jadi saya susah mau mencari padanan kata dalam bahasa Indonesianya....” “.... saya tidak tahu apakah butu pengetahuan dalam menerjemah atau tidak. Tapi teks yang diberi jika tidak ada informasi tentang itu saya sulit mengartikannya.” “.... banyak saya tidak artikan pada saat UTS yang diberikan. Teksnya baru saya lihat, kosakata saya paham tapi agak tidak nyambung jika saya sesuaikan pengetahuan saya tentang kata itu, manpower misalnya saya artikan kekuatan laki-laki. Tidak tahu benar atau tidak....” Usman et al. The Influence of Background Knowledge… … JOLLT Journal of Languages and Language Teaching, July 2022. Vol. 10, No.3 | 457 The interviews showed that students as translators confidently confirmed, they need knowledge in this case, the information related to the text they were translating. From this information, it can be concluded that the background knowledge of the translator cannot be underestimated, let alone translating texts such as science, technology, economics, and others. The leading position in the comparison of students' translation was taken by doing interviews with students. The results showed that the background knowledge really affects and benefits students as translators, most of them stated that: (1) Students really need background knowledge in translating English as a source language into Bahasa Indonesia as the target language, and vice versa. (2) Students got difficult to begin the transfer of ideas in translation. That is why, the students prefer learning various fields of science, technology, business, sports, etc. Most of students admitted that they could not translate without having enough knowledge and information in source text. Difficulties confronting students on translation process Besides the importance of background knowledge, there are also other problems that were found on students’ translation namely new words, complex sentence, reading comprehenssion, and expression in target language. Doing the tests done by 30 students as translators, and interviews with 10 students, it was found that there are other problems besides background knowledge in students' translation namely new words (48.71%), complex sentence (23.04%), reading comprehension (19.23%), and expression in the target language (8.97%). Naturally, students made mistakes in the problems mentioned. Thus, it could obtain conclusions in what students did when demonstrating their ideas in the target-language text. Discussion The first part of this research discussed the influence of background knowledge on translation, in the analysis of interlingual translation. The importance of background knowledge in translation can be found when students translate a text to find the equivalent message. Some translators, in this case, students translated the sentences in the text based on their guesses. Naturally, they lack knowledge of what they are translating. The results of the research show that background knowledge becomes problems when translating a text. For example when the students wanted to translate (Minister of Manpower), miscued to (laki-laki kuat), students’ translations refer to the process to translate a source text. In this case, students need to read the source text to understand the information and the specific terminology, in order to find the accurate meaning in the target language. As mentioned by Hatim and Mason cited in (Suksaeresup & Ackrapong, 2009) that translators should have the appropriate background knowledge to interpret the source language text without incurring embarrassing errors and or mistakes. Moreover, Heizmann cited (Akalin, 2013) argues that these translation problems arise if the translator has no necessary information in his/her work. Otherwise, they will mislead by not clearly stating the meaning intended by the authors in the source language. The students to be translators need background knowledge in the order they did not miss information in texts to be translated. Some researchers support this idea (Rubrecht, New Mark, Ashword).– According to Rubrecht (2005), when a translator/ an interpreter reads/listens to a source text, he/ she has to ask himself/ herself two basic questions “what does it mean?” and “How should it be said in target language?”. The first question should be answered before the translator take the second question into consideration, which means that understanding the meaning of the text is the basis for translating it. This two-step process has already been mentioned by Ashword (1994) when he stated that translators should work with the text for quite sometime to get its content and meaning and then render it into version of a target language text. Usman et al. The Influence of Background Knowledge… … JOLLT Journal of Languages and Language Teaching, July 2022. Vol. 10, No.3 | 458 Finally, Akalin (2013) with the research entitled “The Role of Content Background Knowledge on Translation”. The research was participated by 65 subjects who study English Language Teaching Department shows that 69 percent of the subjects could not interpret the text before they acquired content background knowledge. However, they were successful at the second parts of the text in which the subjects try to translate the same text after having been given content background knowledge. This percentage confirms that translators should have enough background knowledge. Moreover, background knowledge is not a single problem for translators, there are also other problems that were found on students’ translation namely new words, complex sentence, reading comprehenssion, and expression in target language. For example: the students as translators did mistakes when translating new words, complex sentence, reading comprehenssion, and expression in target language. Complex sentence: Minister of Manpower said that many workers were unaware of the new law....= (.....laki-laki kuat untuk sedikit pekerjaan untuk hukum baru....) In fact, if they understand the meaning of the words, expressions, and complex sentences, they will easily transfer the meaning into the target language. The other problems; words, expressions, and complex sentences in English that was translated into Bahasa Indonesia above, should be translate into an equivalent TL as follows: Complex sentence : Minister of Manpower said many workers were unaware of the new law....= ..... Menteri Tenaga Kerja dan Transmigrasi mengatakan banyak pekerja yang tidak mengetahui undang-undang baru tersebut.... A translator really needs to understand a text so that he will find the meaning in the target-language text. Rubrecht (2005) says that the understanding of the original text depends upon what the translator/ interpreter brings to the reading of the text. Hence, it is really important for translators to have background knowledge because, with background knowledge, the translator can understand a lot of new information and make conclusions from the message received. On the other hand, if the translator has no background knowledge, he or she will need more time to get to know the subject, and sometimes he or may even fail to understand the ideas. CONCLUSION The substance of this research is to present the fundamental points of how background knowledge affects translators, dealing with matters related to translation and its acquisition. Based on the findings, the highlight of the importance to be a professional translator is to have competencies being designed such as having up-to-date information. The data showed that in an interlingual translation, even translators are bilinguals and master the grammar of a language, but background knowledge should be dominated as well. Moreover, the results have revealed that competencies are needed for translation. Training is also required in order to get competencies that makeup translation competence. With that in mind, the authors have put forward guidelines for undertaking such translations that need background knowledge of a source text. It is hoped this research contributes to progress in translation teaching that places students in the center of the translation so that they can understand its dynamics in interlingual translation. In concluding this, the problem of translation should not prevent us as translators from translating a challenging text. 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