Copyright©2018

P-ISSN: 1978-8118
E-ISSN: 2460-710X

375

Lingua Cultura, 12(4), November 2018, 375-381
DOI: 10.21512/lc.v12i4.4397

TRANSLATION TECHNIQUES AND THEIR IMPACTS
TO THE MODALITY ORIENTATION’S SHIFT

IN THE JUNGLE BOOK MOVIE SUBTITLE

Arifah Tenny Romdhati1; Mangatur Nababan2; Riyadi Santosa3

1,2,3English Literature, Faculty of Cultural Sciencies, Universitas Sebelas Maret
Jl. Ir. Sutami No. 36-A, Kentingan, Surakarta 57126, Indonesia

1tenny10@student.uns.ac.id; 2amantaradja@yahoo.com; 3riyadisantosa@staff.uns.ac.id

Received: 26th March 2018 /Revised: 25th April 2018 /Accepted: 08th May 2018 

How to Cite: Romdhati, A. T., Nababan, M., & Santosa, R. (2018). Translation techniques and their impacts
to the modality orientation’s shift in The Jungle Book movie subtitle. Lingua Cultura, 12(4), 375-381. 

https://doi.org/10.21512/lc.v12i4.4397

ABSTRACT

This research aimed to analyze the translation techniques used by the subtitler to translate modality orientation and the 
impact of the translation techniques on the modality orientation shifts in “The Jungle Book” movie subtitle. This research 
was a descriptive qualitative research. The data in this research were words, phrases, and clauses as the marker of modality 
orientation in the movie, and translation techniques used by the subtitler. Modality orientation was obtained through content 
analysis based on Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) theory as proposed by Halliday and Matthiessen (2014). Then, 
translation techniques were obtained through Focus Group Discussion (FGD) as proposed by Molina and Albir (2002). The 
findings show that the subtitler uses seven techniques to translate modality orientation. They have established equivalence, 
modulation, discursive creation with established equivalence, deletion, transposition, discursive creation, and reduction with 
established equivalence. The subtitler uses established equivalence to translate orientation that produces same category, 
value, form, and orientation. Deletion technique, modulation, and creation discursive with established equivalence cause 
the loss of modality in the target language. Applying modulation, transposition, discursive creation, and reduction with 
established equivalence techniques make a shift on the modality orientation and also produce different meaning in the target 
language. The change of value in modality in the target language is caused by the use of modulation and reduction with 
established equivalence technique by the subtitler.

Keywords: translation techniques, modality orientation, translation shift

INTRODUCTION

In translation, different grammar systems between 
the source and target language become one of the difficulties 
for a translator. One of the grammar systems is modality. 
Baker (2001) has stated that modality can vary widely from 
language to language and has to be handled sensitively and 
carefully in translation. Meanwhile, Evseeva and Kozlova 
(2016) have said that modality is a complicated and 
contradictory interpretation in linguistic. The translation 
itself consists of reproducing in the receptor language the 
closest natural equivalence of the source language message, 
first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style 
(Eugene & Taber, 1982). But, when translating modality, it 
is not the only equivalence in meaning but also in the form 
of the modality.

Moreover, Macali (2000) has said that getting 
equivalent in form between the source language and the 

target language is very difficult to achieve because every 
language has its system to express meaning. Thus, the 
priority should be in meaning rather than the form. However, 
a shift in the form may lead to misinterpretation in modality 
translation. In translating modality, both meaning and 
form must be taken into consideration because if the form 
of modality changes, the orientation of modality will also 
change; it will impact the change of authority (Halliday & 
Matthiessen, 2014).

The study of modality has long been a focus of interest 
in translation. Many researchers identify the equivalence 
and translation shift in terms of meaning (Kranich, 2009; 
Nurfitri, Risagarniwa, & Kadir, 2014) and form;  i.e., semi-
modal (Hasanah, 2012; Knežević & Brdar, 2011), modal 
auxiliary verb (Zhang, 2015), modal adverb (Ramón, 2009) 
and modal verb (Jalis & Rahim, 2014). Then, Setiarini 
(2011), Wang and Chen (2014) and Soelistiyowati (2016) 
specify their research only on modal would, shall, can, and 



376 LINGUA CULTURA, Vol. 12 No. 4, November 2018, 375-381   

could. Besides, another researcher examines the translation 
of meaning and value of modality using Systemic Functional 
Linguistic (Lian & Jiang, 2014). Putri (2014) has analyzed 
the modality shift in movie subtitle. However, that research 
does not analyze how translator transfers modality in the 
target language as Arvianti (2016) and Moindjie (2015) do 
in their research. Most of the research use novel, newspaper, 
and legal texts as their data source. From the result of the 
previous research review, the researcher has not found any 
research on the translation of modality orientation which is a 
representation of authority (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014). 
Besides, previous research does not analyze the impact of 
the translation techniques to the translation shift of modality 
orientation.

Modality is a speaker judgment (Halliday & 
Matthiessen, 2014) or speaker attitude (Baker, 2001) of what 
is being said. Modality lies between the areas of meaning 
‘yes’ and ‘no’ and also between positive and negative 
polarity. Halliday and Matthiessen (2014) have stated that 
modality orientation is related to the authority in context. 
Halliday differentiates between subjective and objective 
orientation based on its function in the language (subjective 
– interpersonal and objective – ideational) and its relation to 
the utterance (Verstraete, 2001). The orientation of modality 
can be expressed through the use of the finite modal 
operator, modalization verb, modulated verb, and mood 
adjunct (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014). Orientation can be 
said as implicit if the modality uses finite modal operator, 
mood adjunct, and modulated verb (usually, possibly, must, 
be going to), or explicit if the modality uses modalization 
verb and relational clause with modal complement (I think 
that ……, its likely that …..), and subjective orientation 
if the modality uses (I think that …, I know that …..) or 
objective if the modality uses (it is likely that ….., it is usual 
that …).

Orientation shows the source of modality and shows 
how the speaker is responsible for the judgment that he/she 
expresses through linguistic forms (Thompson, 1996). The 
orientation is subjective when the speaker shows that he/she 
is the source of modality. Then, the orientation is objective 
when the speaker gives suggestion or judgment about the 
possibility of something in an objective way (Yang, Zheng, 
& Ge, 2015).

In this research, the researchers use movie subtitle as 
a source of data. The researchers choose subtitling because 
in subtitling, the subtitler must obey subtitling rules such 
as the subtitle length that is no more than two lines (35-
40 characters of the line) and not more than four seconds 
of duration (Fois, 2012). Therefore, the subtitler sometimes 
presents a dialogue of the target language in a simpler form, 
and this may cause a shift in term of form and meaning. It 
is because not all messages and information from the source 
language are transferred into the target language subtitle due 
to the limited time and space.

The aims of the research are to find out the translation 
techniques applied by subtitler to adjust to the limited 
time and space rules, and to find out the translation shift 
on modality orientation in movie subtitle. This research 
will give insight to the subtitler about how to handle 
the orientation modality in subtitling. Moreover, in this 
research, the researchers use The Jungle Book movie that 
is released in 2016. This movie is directed by Favreau that 
is popular not only for kids but also for adults. It is proved 
that this movie has 7,5 rating from 10 rating (m.imdb.com). 
Besides, this movie is released twice, that is in 1967 with 
cartoon version and 2016 with animation version. 

METHODS

The objectives of the research are to find out the 
translation techniques used by the subtitler and the translation 
shift on modality orientation in The Jungle Book movie 
subtitle. This research is a descriptive qualitative research. 
The data of this research are primary and secondary data. 
The primary data are divided into two data; (a) linguistic 
data (words, phrases, clauses which mark of modality 
orientation); (b) translation data (translation techniques 
used by the subtitler to translate modality orientation in the 
movie subtitle). Then, the secondary data are additional data 
including information, results, or previous research findings 
about modalities, especially orientation of modality. The 
object of the research is Indonesian subtitle of The Jungle 
Book movie released in 2016 with 106 minutes duration. The 
data are obtained through content analysis and Focus Group 
Discussion (FGD). The linguistic data are examined based 
on Systemic Functional Linguistics as proposed by Halliday 
and Matthiessen (2014) and the translation techniques are 
analyzed based on Molina and Albir (2002).

In this research, the researchers analyze the 
modality in terms of type (probability, usuality, obligation, 
inclination, and ability), form (finite modal operator, mood 
adjunct, modalization verb, and modulated verb), value 
(high, median, low) and orientation (subjective, objective, 
implicit, and explicit) in the English utterances of the movie. 
The results are then compared with modality in the target 
language subtitle. After that, the researchers conduct a focus 
group discussion with two informants (raters) to identify the 
translation techniques used by the subtitler. The discussion 
is then followed by another discussion examining the impact 
of translation techniques to the modality’s translation shift.

 

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

There are 200 and 38 modality orientations found 
in the movie. Those modality orientations are subjective 
implicit, subjective explicit, objective implicit, and objective 
explicit orientation. After analyzing the modality orientation 
in English utterances, those modality orientations are then 
compared with the modality orientations in Indonesian 
subtitle to find out the translation techniques. From 18 
translation techniques proposed by Molina and Albir (2002), 
there are only seven translation techniques used by the 
subtitler to translate modality orientation. Those translation 
techniques are established equivalence, modulation, 
deletion, transposition, and discursive creation. Besides, 
there are also some data that use two techniques such as 
reduction with established equivalence and discursive 
creation with established equivalence. Then, the researcher 
analyzes the translation shift as the impact of translation 
techniques used by the subtitler. 

For the modality orientation which has same type, 
form, and value in target subtitle can use the established 
equivalence (Table 1) and discursive creation with 
established equivalence (Table 2) technique. The examples 
of translation techniques used by the subtitler which do not 
produce the shift in Indonesian subtitle can be seen in Table 
1. 

In Table 1, the subtitler uses established equivalence 
to translate ‘would’ve’. In English utterance, ‘would’ve’ 
expresses probability with high value. The orientation 
of modality is subjective implicit orientation which is 
realized by the use of the finite modal operator. Modality 



377Translation Techniques and... (Arifah Tenny Romdhati et al.)      

has subjective orientation if the speaker is a source of the 
modality. In this case, Mowgli is the source of modality. His 
judgment of the probability of his success is coming from 
himself. He is sure about this success, so he uses modality 
with high value.

Table 1 Example of Established Equivalence

002/00:01:36,436/TJB
Mowgli is hunting with Wolves and Bagheraa. 

English Utterance Indonesian Subtitle
Mowgli: Yeah, but if the 
branch didn't break, I 
would've made it.

Mowgli: Ya, jika dahan 
itu tidak patah, aku pasti 
berhasil.

The orientation ‘would’ve’ is translated into ‘pasti’ 
which has same modality type, form, value, and orientation. 
The subtitler uses established equivalence to translate the 
modality orientation. This technique means that the subtitler 
uses the correct translation that is equivalent in Indonesian 
dictionary and grammar system (Molina & Albir, 2002). 
The orientation also has been adapted to the context of the 
situation, so it does not cause shifts in the target language. 
This finding is in accordance with Arvianti (2016) previous 
research that this technique produces equivalency, both 
meaning and forms, in the target language if the translation 
has already adapted to the context of the text. So, this 
technique produces a natural translation in the target 
language.

Table 2 shows the example of discursive creation 
with established equivalence.

Table 2 Example of Discursive Creation with
Established Equivalence

076/ 00:30:27,500/TJB
Mowgli was caught by the snake, and Mowgli told Tza 

that Bagheraa should be here soon. 
English Utterance Indonesian Subtitle

Tza: We should never be 
alone.

Tza: Kita seharusnya tidak 
boleh sendiri.

In the English utterance in Table 2, ‘should never’ 
expresses obligation with medium value. That modality has 
subjective implicit orientation realized by the use of the 
finite modal operator. Then, the subtitler translates ‘should 
never’ into ‘seharusnya tidak boleh’ in Indonesian subtitle. 
The subtitler uses discursive creation with establishing 
equivalence to translate ‘should never’. Established 
equivalence is used to translate ‘should’ into ‘seharusnya’, 
and discursive creation is used to translate ‘never’ into ‘tidak 
boleh’. Established equivalence and discursive creation 
techniques used by the subtitler do not produce the shift in 
the target language. The type of modality (obligation), the 
form and the orientation (subjective implicit) are equivalent 
in Indonesian subtitle.

For the modality orientation which has different type 
in target subtitle, it has modulation (Table 3), reduction with 
established equivalence (Table 4 and 5), and discursive 
creation (Table 6) technique. There are some examples of 
translation techniques used by the subtitler which produce 
different type in the target language. Table 3 shows the 
example of modulation.

Table 3 Example of Modulation

097/ 00:38:49,000/TJB
Baloo asks Mowgli to help her to take honey in the cliff. 

English Utterance Indonesian Subtitle
Baloo: You can do it! Baloo: Kau pasti bisa!

In English utterance in Table 3, Baloo convinces 
Mowgli that he can climb the cliff. ‘Can’ has a meaning of 
obligation with low value. ‘Can’ in Table 3 has a meaning 
that “the speaker commands the addressee that he can climb 
the cliff. Because the modality has low value, the addressee 
does not have obligation to do what the speaker says”. But, 
the command is told implicitly rather than explicitly. ‘Can’ 
is the finite modal operator. It indicates that the modality 
orientation is subjective implicit orientation.

In Indonesian subtitle, ‘can’ is translated into ‘pasti’. 
Based on the context, ‘pasti’ expresses Baloo’s certainty 
about the probability that Mowgli can climb the cliff. The 
meaning and the type of modality change in target subtitle. 
The subtitler uses modulation to translate that orientation of 
modality.

Table 4 shows the reduction with established 
equivalence.

Table 4 Example of Reduction with
Established Equivalence

005/00:01:47,336/TJB
Mowgli fails when he is practicing hunting with the 

wolves and Bagheraa.
English Utterance Indonesian Subtitle

Wolves: He's never gonna 
make the council.

Wolves: Dia takkan masuk 
dewan.

In Table 4, ‘never gonna’ has a meaning of 
probability. The speaker has high commitment about the 
possibility that “Mowgli is impossible to join the council”. 
‘Never gonna’ has objectively implicit orientation. It is 
translated using reduction with established equivalence 
technique. ‘Never’ refers to ‘not’ and ‘ever’. ‘Never’ means 
‘tidak pernah’ in Indonesia, but the subtitler only translates 
‘not’ into ‘tak’ and reduces ‘ever’ which means ‘pernah’. 
‘Tak’ in Indonesia indicates negative polarity like ‘not’. 
Then, established equivalence is used to translate ‘gonna’ 
into ‘akan’. So, the meaning changes into willingness in the 
target language. Because the meaning of the modality is not 
translated in the target language, the accuracy decreases.

Table 5 Example of Reduction with
Established Equivalence

218/ 01:15:48,900/TJB
Mowgli runs off from Loise temple. Bagheraa and Baloo 

protect Mowgli from Loise.
English Utterance Indonesian Subtitle

Bagheraa: If anything hap-
pens to that kid, I'll never 
forgive myself.

Bagheraa: Jika sesuatu 
terjadi pada anak itu, aku 
tidak akan memaafkan 
diriku.



378 LINGUA CULTURA, Vol. 12 No. 4, November 2018, 375-381   

In Table 5, ‘will never’ expresses a meaning of 
probability. The form of that modality is the finite modal 
operator. Based on the context of the situation, ‘will’ does 
not stand alone but ‘will’ and ‘never’ are a unit which 
expresses the speaker’s judgment about the probability. In 
that case, Bagheraa ‘will never’ forgive herself if something 
bad happens to Mowgli. It can be defined as a Bagheraa’s 
promise. Bagheraa tells subjectively because that judgment 
comes from himself. That modality is told implicitly in that 
proposition which is realized by the use of the finite modal 
operator. ‘Never’ modifies the word ‘will’. ‘Will never’ 
in Indonesia means ‘tidak akan pernah’. The subtitler 
translates ‘will never’ into ‘tidak akan’.

The subtitler uses established equivalence to translate 
‘will’ into ‘akan’. ‘Never’ refers to ‘not’ and ‘ever’. But, 
the subtitler reduces the word ‘ever’ and only translates 
‘not’ into ‘tak’. However, the form of modality changes 
into finite modal operator in target subtitle. The change of 
modality form will impact to the orientation of modality. In 
Indonesian subtitle, the orientation changes into implicitly 
subjective orientation.

Table 6 shows the example of discursive creation.

Table 6 Example of Discursive Creation

077/ 00:30:27,500/TJB
Mowgli is caught by the snake. Mowgli tells Tza that 

Bagheraa will pick him up.
English Utterance Indonesian Subtitle

Mowgli: He should be here 
soon.

Mowgli: dia akan segera 
kesini.

‘Should’ in Table 6 does not express the meaning 
of obligation but it expresses the meaning of possibility. It 
has medium value. ‘Should’ has the implicitly subjective 
orientation which is indicated by the use of the finite 
modal operator. Based on the context, ‘should’ means that 
something is likely or will probably happen. Mowgli only 
gives information to Tza that Bagheraa should come to 
pick her up. But, the subtitler translates ‘should’ into ‘akan’ 
which expresses a meaning of willingness.

Although that translation has the same orientation 
between the source language and target language, that 
translation produces different meaning in the target 
language. In source language, the modality has a meaning 
of probability, but in the target language, the modality has 
a meaning of inclination. The subtitler uses discursive 
creation to translate ‘should’. This technique establishes 
a temporary equivalence that is out of context (Molina & 
Albir, 2002) and it is not appropriate with the meaning of 
that modality.

For the modality orientation which has different 
modality orientation in target subtitle, there are some 
examples of translation techniques used by the subtitler, 
such as transposition (Table 7) and modulation (Table 8). 
These techniques cause the modality orientation in English 
utterances are different with modality orientation in target 
subtitle. Table 7 shows the example of transposition.

‘Maybe’ in the example of Table 7 expresses 
Bagheera’s certainty about preposition that he speaks. 
Bagheraa shows his judgment toward the possibility about 
Mowgli’s knowledge of Baloo’s trick. Because the judgment 
comes from Bagheraa (speaker), the orientation of modality 
is subjective. Then, the implicit or explicit orientation itself 

refers to the form of modality. So, this modality has implicit 
orientation because it is realized by the use of mood adjunct. 

Table 7 Example of Transposition

156/ 00:52:33,300/TJB
Bagheraa wants to help Mowgli.

English Utterance Indonesian Subtitle
Bagheraa: Maybe I can be 
of help.

Bagheraa: Mungkin aku 
bisa menolong.

Then, the subtitler uses transposition technique to 
translate ‘maybe’ into ‘mungkin’ in the target language. 
In English utterance, ‘maybe’ is mood adjunct, whereas 
‘mungkin’ in the target language is finite modal. The shift 
in the form of modality is caused by the difference of the 
grammatical system between the source and target language. 
Transposition technique means that the subtitler changes 
the grammatical category in the target language (Molina & 
Albir, 2002).

Therefore, in modality translation, transposition 
technique is obligatory technique (Moindjie, 2015). On the 
other hand, the limitations of time and space on subtitling 
can also be the reason why the transposition technique is 
an obligation technique. Furthermore, that shift in modality 
translation occurs when the grammatical structure in the 
source language is not available in the target language 
(Arvianti, 2016). Although the form of modality is different 
between the source language and target language, it does not 
impact the accuracy of the translation quality because the 
meaning of modality is the same.

Another technique is modulation. Table 8 shows the 
example of modulation.

Table 8 Example of Modulation

159/00:55:29,200/TJB
Bagheraa and Baloo see Mowgli who helps elephants in 

the jungle.
English Utterance Indonesian Subtitle

Baloo: You know I'd never 
teach him to mess around 
with elephants.

Baloo: Kau tahu, aku 
takkan mengajarinya 
macam-macam dengan 
gajah.

The utterance in Table 8, Baloo expresses his 
frequency about an event that he never does. ‘Never’ 
in Table 8 expresses a meaning of usuality. ‘Never’ has 
implicitly objective orientation which is indicated by the use 
of mood adjunct. According to Halliday and  Matthiessen 
(2014), the modality has implicit objective orientation if the 
form of modality is mood adjunct or modulated verb. The 
subtitler uses modulation to translate ‘never’. In Indonesia, 
the meaning of ‘never’ is ‘tidak pernah’, but ‘never’ is 
translated into ‘tidak akan’ in Indonesian subtitle. The 
form of modality changes into the finite modal operator. 
Modulation technique causes the orientation of modality 
changes from implicitly objective into implicitly subjective 
orientation.

For the modality orientation which has different 
value in target subtitle, there are some examples of the 
techniques, such as modulation (Table 9) and reduction 



379Translation Techniques and... (Arifah Tenny Romdhati et al.)      

with established equivalence (Table 10). Table 9 shows the 
example of modulation.

Table 9 Example of Modulation

141/00:46:14,100/TJB
At a night, Shera Khan meets the wolf’s children without 

their mother permission.
English Utterance Indonesian Subtitle

Shera Khan: But, the one 
you have to watch out for 
is the cuckoo bird.

Shera Khan: tapi yang 
perlu kau waspadai ialah 
burung kukuk.

The example in Table 9, the speaker (Shera Khan) 
has high power in the jungle, so it has the authority to ask 
or command other animals. It can be seen from the use of 
modal finite ‘have to’ which has high value. That modality 
expresses a meaning of obligation. ‘Have to’ has a meaning 
that the addressee is obligated to do what the speaker 
asks. The orientation of modality is subjective implicit 
orientation. But, the subtitler translates the modal ‘have to’ 
into ‘perlu’ in Indonesia that has medium value. Thus, the 
value of modality in the target language is reduced. In that 
case, the subtitler uses modulation to translate that modality.

Table 10 shows the reduction with established 
equivalence.

Table 10 Example of Reduction with
Established Equivalence

173/ 00:58:51,400/TJB
Baloo pretends that Mowgli is not his friend. It aims to 
make Mowgli angry and be ready to go to the man vil-

lage. 
English Utterance Indonesian Subtitle

Baloo: I certainly never 
thought of you as my friend.

Baloo: aku tak pernah 
menganggapmu teman.

‘Certainly never’ expresses the speaker’s judgment 
about usuality. The orientation of modality is implicitly 
objective which is indicated by the use of mood adjunct. 
That modality has high value. ‘Never’ has low value, 
but the use of ‘certainly’ in Table 10 makes the value of 
modality increases from low to high. The subtitler uses 
reduction and established equivalence to translate ‘certainly 
never’. Established equivalence is used to translate ‘never’ 
into ‘tidak pernah’. This meaning is equivalent to target 
subtitle because it has been adapted to Indonesia dictionary 
and grammar system. Then, the subtitler uses reduction to 
translate ‘certainly’ in target subtitle. As a result, the value 
of modality decreases.

For the modality orientation which is loss in target 
subtitle use some techniques, such as deletion (Table 
11), reduction with established equivalence (Table 12), 
modulation (Table 13), discursive creation (Table 14). Table 
11 shows the example of deletion.

In Table 11, Bagheraa expresses his judgment about 
probability which is realized by a high degree of the finite 
modal operator ‘must’. ‘Must’ in Table 11 does not tell about 
obligation but it tells about the probability of something. 
The use of finite modal operator indicates that the modality 
has subjective implicit orientation. ‘Must’ is not translated 
into Indonesian. The subtitler uses deletion techniques to 

translate that modality. It causes speaker’s judgment and 
authority toward Mowgli that is realized by the high finite 
modal operator to be lost. Deletion technique which is 
used by the subtitler to translate modality orientation will 
impact to the translation quality in terms of accuracy and 
acceptability.

Table 11 Example of Deletion

001/00:01:33,301/TJB
Mowgli is practicing hunting with Wolves and Bagheraa. 

But, Mowgli fails.
English Utterance Indonesian Subtitle

Bagheraa: You must be 
the very worst wolf I’ve 
seen.

Bagheraa: Kau Srigala 
terburuk yang pernah ku-
lihat.

The next technique for the modality orientation which 
is loss in target subtitle is the reduction with established 
equivalence that can be seen in Table 12.

Table 12 Example of Reduction with
Established Equivalence

073/ 00:22:41,000/TJB
Mowgli was caught by monkey (Loise). Loise asked 

Mowgli where he came from.
English Utterance Indonesian Subtitle

Loise: I never been there 
myself.

Loise: aku belum lihat.

In the English utterance in Table 12, ‘never been’ 
has a meaning of usuality. The form of that modality 
is mood adjunct, so it indicates that the orientation of 
modality is implicitly objective orientation. The subtitler 
uses reduction with established equivalence to translate 
‘never been’. Established equivalence is used to translate 
‘been’ into ‘belum’, and the subtitler reduces ‘never’ which 
has a meaning of ‘tidak pernah’ in Indonesian. However, 
the modality is a loss in target subtitle. Besides, Loise’s 
judgment about what is being said is lost in the target 
language.

The next technique for the modality orientation 
which is loss in target subtitle is modulation. It can be seen 
in Table 13.

Table 13 Example of Modulation

235/ 01:31:50,500/TJB
Bagheraa asks Baloo to tell Mowgli that he has to leave 

this jungle.
English Utterance Indonesian Subtitle

Baloo: No. We were never 
friends.

Baloo: No, kita bukan 
teman.

Based on the context of the situation in Table 13, 
Baloo pretends that he and Mowgli are never friends. It is 
because Baloo wants Mowgli to leave the jungle and go 
to the man village. ‘Never’ in that utterance in Table 13 
has the meaning of usuality. That modality has implicitly 



380 LINGUA CULTURA, Vol. 12 No. 4, November 2018, 375-381   

objective orientation and has low value. The subtitler uses 
a modulation technique to translate ‘never’ into ‘bukan’. It 
causes the modality loss in the target language. According 
to Molina and Albir (2002), modulation means that the 
subtitler changes his/her point of view, focus or cognitive 
category in relation to the source text.

The next technique is discursive creation. It can be 
seen in Table 14.

Table 14 Example of Discursive Creation

003/ 00:01:39,644/TJB
Mowgli is hunting with Bagheraa but he fails.

English Utterance Indonesian Subtitle
Bagheraa: Crossing up-
wind, breaking from your 
numbers. If you can't learn 
to run with the pack…

Bagheraa: Melawan 
arah angin, terpisah dari 
kawanan. Jika tidak berlari 
dalam kawanan 

In the example in Table 14, the subtitler uses 
discursive creation to translate ‘can’t’. ‘Can’t’ in English 
utterance expresses the meaning of ability. ‘Can’t’ in 
Table 14 has implicitly subjective orientation because it is 
indicated by the use of the finite modal operator. ‘Can’t’ is 
translated into ‘tidak’ in Indonesian subtitle. It causes the 
modality in the target language to lose. As a result, the 
authority (orientation) of the context is lost.

Table 15 shows the distribution of translation 
techniques and translation shift of modality orientation in 
The Jungle Book movie subtitle.

Table 15 The distribution of translation techniques and 
translation shift of modality orientation in

The Jungle Book movie subtitle

TT
Translation Shift

∑
Eq type form value loss

EE 137 137
Tr 22 22
Mod 1 3 1 20 3 28
Del 30 30
DC 2 1 3
DC+EE 1 2 3
Red+EE 5 8 2 15
∑ 139 10 23 30 36 238

EE: Establish Equivalence; Tr: Transposition; Mod: Modulation; 
Del: Deletion; DC: Discursive Creation; DC+EE: Discursive 
Creation+ Establish Equivalence; Red+EE: Reduction+ Establish 
Equivalence; Eq: Equivalence; Type: Different type; Form: 
Different form; value: difference value; loss: loss in target 
language).

The table 15 shows that the translation which is 
equivalent between the source and target language is 
dominant in this research. The subtitler uses established 
equivalence to translate modality marker. In this research, 
this technique does not produce a shift in target language 
because the translation has already adapted with the context 
of the situation when the utterances happen, grammatical 
structure, and Indonesian dictionary (Arvianti, 2015). Then, 
the shift in term of form is caused by the use of transposition 

and modulation techniques. The subtitler has to change the 
grammatical category because the grammatical structure 
between the source and target language is different.

In this research, the subtitler has to change the word 
class in the target language. It is because Indonesian does not 
have the finite modal operator. This is one of the subtitler’s 
translation strategies in order to express the same meaning 
in both languages (Soelistiyowati, 2016). Furthermore, the 
loss of orientation modality marker is dominantly caused 
by the deletion of modality marker in the target language. 
This finding adds the previous research’s finding by 
Arvianti (2015) that only discursive creation and reduction 
techniques will impact the loss of modality marker in the 
target language.

There are no bad or good translation techniques 
in translation. It is based on the appropriateness of the 
translation technique chosen by the subtitler when he/
she translates the modality. There are many factors why 
the subtitler uses those techniques; the first is a different 
grammar system. Indonesian does not have a finite modal 
operator, so the subtitler cannot avoid the shift in term of 
form in the target language. Not all modality markers in 
the source language are translated with the same form in 
the target language (Setiarini, 2011). The second is the 
subtitler competence. It refers to the strategies chosen by the 
subtitler in the translation process. The subtitler can choose 
translation techniques based on the problem that he/she 
faces. The decision that the subtitler takes which is related 
to the translation techniques will impact to the accuracy, 
acceptability, and readability of the translation result. 

CONCLUSIONS

The examination on translation techniques and 
translation shift toward modality orientation reveals that the 
translation techniques used by the subtitler to translate 300 
and 38 orientation modalities are established equivalence, 
modulation, transposition, discursive creation, deletion 
reduction with established equivalence, and discursive 
creation with established equivalence. The impacts of 
translation techniques used by the subtitler to the translation 
shift are the orientation modality is equivalent to target 
subtitle, orientation modality has a different type in target 
subtitle, modality orientation is different in target subtitle, 
modality orientation has a different value in target subtitle, 
and modality (orientation modality) is lost in target subtitle. 

Established equivalence does not produce a shift 
in the target language. The subtitler already adapts the 
orientation with the context of the situation and also adapts 
to the grammatical system in the target language. Besides 
that, modulation and discursive creation with established 
equivalence also do not produce a shift in the target 
language. Moreover, the modality orientation that has a 
different meaning (type) in target subtitle is caused by the 
subtitle used modulation, discursive creation, and reduction 
with established equivalence.

Modulation and transposition produce different 
modality orientation in target subtitle.  Modality orientation 
that has a different value in target subtitle is caused by the 
subtitler who uses modulation, reduction with established 
equivalence, and discursive creation with established 
equivalence. Then, the loss of modality and orientation 
modality caused by the use of deletion, modulation, 
discursive creation, and reduction with established 
equivalence.



381Translation Techniques and... (Arifah Tenny Romdhati et al.)      

From the research, all aspects of meaning, form, and 
value must be taken into consideration when translating 
modality. It is because any changes in modality form will 
impact the speaker authority (orientation) and any changes 
of modality value will impact the speaker commitment and 
degree of certainty. Thus, when translating modality, the 
translator must take account of these aspects of the modality 
to produce a good quality of the translation.

The researchers limit the research only on the 
modality orientation markers (words, phrases, or clauses) 
and their translation in The Jungle Book movie subtitle 
based on Halliday and Matthiessen (2014) and Molina and 
Albir (2002).

Due to the limitations of the researchers’ ability and 
time, there are research gaps that can be continued by the 
further researchers. Because of this research only focuses 
on translation techniques and how these techniques impact 
to the modality orientation shift in The Jungle Book movie 
subtitle, further researchers can continue examine how 
translation techniques can impact to translation quality 
of modality systems. So, the researchers can know the 
accuracy of the modality translation in the target subtitle and 
also the subtitler can find out which translation techniques 
that produce good translation quality in target subtitle. 
Furthermore, because of the modality is a speaker judgment 
of the possibility or necessity, the further researchers can 
analyze the translation modality in every character in the 
film or novel. So, the researchers can see the tendency of 
the characters when using modality. Moreover, further 
researcher can add other approaches such as discourse 
analysis or pragmatic to support the further research.

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