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INTRODUCTION  

Novel is one of popular literature in the 

world that can be enjoyed by anyone from any 

countries and ages. Along its popularity, it 

becomes easy to find the English novel in 

Indonesia. However, not a few people prefer the 

translated version of English novel to the original 

one. Translated novel roles as the alternative to 

help the readers understand and enjoy literature 

from around the world. Therefore, the production 

of translated novel is increased along the readers’ 

demand. This phenomenon absolutely challenges 

the productivity of a translator for making a good 

quality of translation in order to deliver the 

message of the original text successfully. 

Translating a novel from source language 

to the target language is quite complicated and 

not as easy as translating text in common. Novel 

represents the culture that is embedded in the 

language of a society. Newmark (1998) remarks 

that “culture is the way of life and its 

manifestations that are peculiar to a community 

that uses a particular language as its means of 

expression" (p. 94). Therefore in translating a 

novel a translator should consider the cultural 

terms found in the novel. Thus, this obliges the 

 

RAINBOW Vol. 9 (2) 2020 

Journal of Literature, Linguistics and  

Cultural Studies 
https://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/rainbow  

The Accuracy of the English-Indonesian Translation of Cultural Terms in 

Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns 

Dinda Anjasmara Puspita * 🖂, Rudi Hartono**  

*, ** English Department, Language and Arts Faculty, Universitas Negeri Semarang, Indonesia 

Article Info Abstract  

Article History: 

Received  

4 April 2020 

Approved  

30 October 2020  

Published  

30 October 2020  

 

This study attempted to analyze the accuracy of cultural terms translation in A Thousand 

Splendid Suns novel. The objectives of the study were to describe types of cultural terms 

found in the novel, to identify translation strategies used, and to analyze their accuracy. 

This study was conducted qualitatively. Text analysis was done by comparing the original 

and the translated novel. The results of the study showed that there were 108 data of 

cultural terms that were classified into cultural categorization (ecology, material culture, 

social culture, organizations, customs, and ideas). The accuracy of cultural terms 

translation was presented in each categorization of cultural terms. The analysis of 

accuracy translation was supported by the accuracy scale given by three expert raters, and 

it later combined the strategies employed by the translator in translating cultural terms 

translation: translation by changing the lexicon, by translation by loan word, translation 

by cultural substitution, translation by paraphrasing using unrelated words, literal 

translation, translation by more general words, translation by less expressive word, and 

last one translation by omission. Four categorizations of cultural terms translation in the 

Indonesian translated novel were classified into accurate translation. 

© 2020 Universitas Negeri Semarang 

Keywords: cultural 

terms, translation, 

accuracy 

🖂 Corresponding author:  

B3 Buliding, Kampus Sekaran Gunungpati Semarang, 50299, Indonesia 

E-mail: dindaanjasmarap512@gmail.com 

 

mailto:dindaanjasmarap512@gmail.com


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translator to consider various limits in the process 

of translating words that contain cultural terms. 

Larson (1984) defines that “culture as a complex 

of beliefs, attitudes, values, and, rules which a 

group of people share” (p.431). It means that the 

translator should be familiar with the beliefs, 

attitude, values and rules of one’s culture so that 

he can adequately understand source language 

text and translate it to people who have different 

set of beliefs, attitudes, values, and rules. 

Cultural term is sensitive matter in 

translation. A translator cannot do only literal 

translation in order to transfer the meaning from 

the source text to the target text. S/he should 

have adequate knowledge of the culture of a 

language so that s/he is able to transfer the 

message without reducing its meaning. Hapsari & 

Setyaningsih (2013) assert that “it is important to 

pay attention to the culture of a language because 

cultural words play a significant role in describing 

the culture of related language. A translator often 

finds difficulties and leaves the original form due 

to no direct equivalent word of SL found in the 

TL” (p. 75). According to Nida & Taber (1945) 

there are ffive obstacles in translating the text: 

language culture, social culture, material culture, 

and linguistic culture. Kuncara (2015) agrues that 

“the translation of cultural terms often raises a 

problem if the concept of culture in SL is hardly 

found in the TL, and it leads to reduce the quality 

on translation product” (p. 2). It can be said that 

a translator should notice the cultural words in 

both language so that the result of translation in 

SL will be understandable to and will not create 

misinterpretation to the readers. Similar to 

Newmark, a translator requires knowledge of 

literary and non-literary textual criticism since 

s/he has to assess the quality of a text before 

deciding how to interpret and then translate it 

(Newmark, 1982, as cited in Ismawati, 2013).  

Considering significant function of 

translation that helps the process of transferring 

information from one source language to another 

language, this absolutely triggers the translator’s 

awareness of making good translation quality. 

There are three criteria used for translation 

quality assessment: namely accuracy, 

acceptability and readability (Nababan, 2003, as 

cited in Danang, 2009). Therefore, in order to 

avoid creating such miscommunication in 

interpreting the author’s purpose, in the process 

of translation, the accuracy of translation should 

be notable. According to Larson (1984), accuracy 

relates to the precise understanding of the source 

language message and the transfer of the message 

as accurately as possible into the target language. 

During the analysis of a text a translator should 

be able to identify which procedures and 

strategies of translating cultural-specific concept 

seem to be more effective than the others and can 

be useful for particular passage (Bracaj, 2015). By 

choosing proper translation strategies for cultural 

terms, the message of SL can be successfully 

transferred to TL and this will result good quality 

of translation. 

METHODS  

In this research, the researcher used a 

descriptive qualitative method. According to 

Surakhmad (1985) a descriptive research is a 

method in which the researcher collects, arranges 

and interprets the data to solve the problems. So 

in descriptive qualitative method a researcher is 

doing the investigation by analyzing the selected 

data by drawing an interpretation that will finally 

lead the researcher to a conclusion. The object of 

this study is a novel entitled A Thousand Splendid 

Sun written by Khaled Hosseini and its 

Indonesian version with the same title translated 

by Berliani M. Nugrahani. 

There were two types of data the researcher 

used for collecting the data. The first data 

collection gained from both the English and 

Indonesian novel. The researcher read both of the 

novels to understand the novel and then to note 

the words and phrases that were considered as 

cultural terms. After reading and finding out the 

cultural terms, the researcher remarked the words 

and clauses in the Indonesian version then 

comparing them with the original version. After 

that the researcher categorized the cultural terms 

by its type according Newmark’s theory of CSI 

there were ecology, material, social, and 



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organization. Afterwards the researcher analyzed 

and classified which strategies used by the 

translator for translating the cultural terms. The 

second data collection was the accuracy scales 

assessment that was gained from the three expert 

raters. The researcher then analyzed the accuracy 

of cultural terms translation by examine the rate 

of accuracy given by the informants by referring 

to expert rater assessment. 

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 

In this part, the researcher presented the 

result and discussion of the accuracy of the 

English-Indonesian Translation of cultural terms 

in A Thousand Splendid Suns. Before making the 

conclusion for the translation accuracy, the 

researcher needed the data of cultural terms and 

the strategy of translation to support the research. 

 
Cultural Terms Categorization 

Adapting Nida, Newmark (1988) 

categorizes the cultural term into different 

groups; ecology, material culture/artifacts, social 

culture, organizations, customs, ideas (political, 

social, religious, artistic), and gesture and habit 

(p. 95). The researcher found 180 data of cultural 

terms in A Thousand Splendid Suns. Those terms 

were divided into four categories; there are 

ecology, material culture, social culture, and 

organization, custom, ideas. 

Table 1. Cultural terms categorization 

Types of Cultural Terms Frequency Percentage 

Material 

culture/artifacts 74 69.2% 

Ecology 18 16.8% 

Social culture 11 10.3% 

Organizations, custom, 

ideas, (political, social, 

religious, artistic) 

4 3.7% 

The table of culture-specific items 

categorization above showed that the highest 

number of culture-specific items in A Thousand 

Splendid Suns novel was material culture with 74 

of 180 items (69.2%). It followed by ecology with 

frequency 18 data, social culture 11 data, and 

organizations, customs, ideas 4 data. Here are 

some explanation and example of each cultural 

term categorization.  

 
Material Culture 

In this research, the material culture was 

divided into some sub-categories: clothes, food, 

houses, transport and material culture itself for 

items that are not classified into sub-category. 

Example 1: 

SL Like the accordion on which Tariq's father 

sometimes played old Pashto songs, time 

stretched and contracted depending on 

Tariq's absence or presence 

TL Bagaikan akordeon yang kadang-kadang 

digunakan oleh ayah Tariq untuk mengalunkan 

lagu-lagu Pashto tua, waktu dapat meregang dan 

menyusut, bergantung pada kehadiran dan 

ketidakhadiran Tariq. 

The researcher found out most of material 

culture identified was not classified into sub-

category of cultural specific items since. This 

material culture properly refers to any concrete 

substance that cannot be grouped into food, 

clothes, house, and transport. For example: 

cigarette, hydraulic pump, and accordion. It can be 

seen from the data number 83 that accordion was 

classified as material culture. In the time of 

American invasion in Afghanistan, the 

instrument was played by the American soldiers. 

It is a portable keyboard wind instrument in 

which forced past free reeds by means of a hand 

operated below.   

Example 2: 

SL On the way there, Mariam saw herb shops, 

and open fronted cubbyholes where shoppers 

bought oranges and pears, books, shawls, 

even falcons 

TL Dalam perjalanan menuju rumah Jalil, Mariam 

melihat toko-toko obat, los-los terbuka tempat 

orang orang membeli jeruk dan pir, buku, 

kerudung, bahkan burung elang. 

The example of clothes material culture 

sub-category can be seen in the data number 33. 

Shawl is a simple item of clothing, loosely worn 

over the shoulders, upper body and arms, and 

sometimes also over the head. It is used by the 

Afghanistan women to cover their head. It is 

translated to Indonesian into kerudung, a garment 



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usually used by Muslim women to cover upper 

body usually from head to chest.  

 
Ecology 

Ecology has five sub-categories divided by 

Newmark (1988). There are fauna, flora, 

geography, geology, and plain. The researcher 

got 18 items (16.8%) that were categorized as 

ecology from 107 cultural-specific items. In this 

research, the researcher found fauna and flora 

sub-category.  

Example 1: 

SL Mariam walked along noisy, crowded, 

cypress lined boulevards, amid a steady 

stream of pedestrians, bicycle riders, and 

mule drawn garis, and no one threw a rock 

at her. 

TL Mariam berjalan menyusuri bulevar yang ribut 

dan sesak yang diapit oleh deretan pohon cypress, 

di tengah-tengah para pejalan kaki, pengendara 

sepeda, gari yang ditarik oleh bagal, dan tidak 

seorang pun melemparinya dengan batu.  

The highest number of ecology items 

found was the flora sub-category. The researcher 

found out 15 items that were included in flora 

sub-category, for example cypress, pokeroot, 

mugwort, lilies, and petunias. The number 21 

showed that cypress is included as flora sub-

category since cypress is a kind of tree and it is 

translated to Indonesian into pohon cypress 

Example 2: 

SL On the way there, Mariam saw herb shops, 

and open fronted cubbyholes where 

shoppers bought oranges and pears, books, 

shawls, even falcons. 

TL Dalam perjalanan menuju rumah Jalil, Mariam 

melihat toko-toko obat, los-los terbuka tempat 

orang orang membeli jeruk dan pir, buku, 

kerudung, bahkan burung elang. 

The researcher also found some items 

included as fauna sub-categorization. There were 

falcons, finches, and cobwebs. The data number 22 

showed that falcon, which was translated to 

Indonesian into burung elang, was classified as a 

kind of animal. It was included into fauna sub-

category as it means to be a bird of prey with long 

pointed wings.  

 
Social Culture 

According to Newrmark (1998) social 

culture is divided into games, health, work and 

social culture itself for items that are not classified 

into sub-category from). The researcher got 11 

items (10.3%) of 180 items of cultural-specific 

items in A Thousand Splendid Suns.  From 11 

items, researcher only found the sub-category of 

health, work, and social culture itself.  

Example 1: 

SL From a street vendor, Rasheed bought her 

ice cream. 

TL Dari seorang pedagang kaki lima, Rasheed 

membelikan es krim untuk Mariam. 

There were three items are classified into 

work sub-category. There were street vendor, 

midwife, and servant. The data number 66 showed 

that that street vendor was classified as a kind of 

job. Street vendor is a person who sells something 

in the street, either from a stall or van or with their 

goods laid out on the sidewalk.  

Example 2: 

SL Every rash was either chicken pox or 

measles. 

TL Setiap ruam di kulit bayinya dia curiganya 

sebagai penyakit cacar air atau campak.  

The items are included as health sub-

category is referred to any matter or 

circumstances that relate to health. For example, 

bluish,chicken pox, and measles. The data number 

95 described that measles or chicken pox was the 

one which caused skin rash. It was classified as 

health sub-category since it is included as disease 

that is caused by skin disorder.  

 
Organization, Customs, Ideas 

Newmark (1988) divides organization into 

some sub-categories of culture-specific items. 

There are artistics, concepts, customs, and 

religious. In this research, organization was the 

lowest number of culture-specific items 

categorization. The researcher found 4 items 

(3.7%) of 108 items of cultural-specific items in A 

Thousand Splendid Suns novel.  

Example 1: 

SL The lake had snatched him from Rasheed, 

swallowed him up, just as a whale had 



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swallowed the boy’s namesake prophet in 

Koran 

TL Danau telah merenggut anak itu dari Rasheed, 

menelannya, tepat seperti kisah dalam Al-Quran, 

ketika paus menelan seorang nabi dengan nama 

yang sama.  

Organizations, customs, ideas category is 

divided into sub-category: artistic, concepts, 

customs, religious. The researcher found some 

terms. There were, tattoo, contract, prophet and 

idolatry. The data number 79 showed religious 

sub-category of organization. Prophet commonly 

relates to religious matter. Prophet means 

someone who speaks by divine inspiration; 

someone who is an interpreter of the will of God. 

 
Cultural Terms Translation and Accuracy 

In this research, the researcher also found 

out eight translation strategies applied by the 

translator in translating cultural terms in A 

Thousand Splendid Suns novel. There were 

changing the lexicon with its equivalence in target 

language, translation by loan word, translation by 

cultural substitution, translation by paraphrasing 

using unrelated word, literal translation, 

translation by more general word, translation by 

less expressive word, translation by omission. 

This part of analysis enclosed the description of 

each translation strategy used for translating 

cultural terms and its accuracy.  

Table 2. Translation Accuracy 

No. 
Translation 

Strategies 
F 

Accuracy Score 

3 2 1 

1. 

Changing 

the Lexicon 

with its 

Equivalence 

in Target 

Language 

58 52 6 0 

2. 

Translation 

by Loan 

Word 

21 18 1 2 

3. 

Translation 

by Cultural 

Substitution 

20 16 2 2 

4. 

Translation 

by 

Paraphrasing 

3 1 2 0 

Using 

Unrelated 

Word 

5. 
Literal 

Translation 
3 3 0 0 

6. 

Translation 

by More 

General 

Word 

1 1 0 0 

7. 

Translation 

by Less 

Expressive 

Word 

1 1 0 0 

.8. 
Translation 

by Omission 
1 0 0 1 

Total 108 92 11 5 

Percentage 100% 85.19% 10.18% 4.63% 

Based on the table accuracy in above  from 

108 data, 92 data or 85.19 % were categorized in 

classification A or accurate, 11 data or 10.18% 

were categorized in classification B or less 

accurate, and 5 data or 4.63% were categorized in 

classification C or inaccurate. The description of 

classification translation is as follow: 

 
Changing the Lexicon with its Equivalence in Target 

Language 

There are alternatives in translating those 

problems, namely (1) translating the idea of 

source language lexicon, (2) changing the lexicon 

with its equivalents in the target language, (3) 

using the lexicon in source language and adding 

a note (Soemarmo, 1988, as cited in Danang, 

2009). Changing the lexicon with its equivalence 

in target language replaces the term in source 

language with its equivalent in target language 

which has closest meaning. There were 52 from 

58 data translated accurately by this strategy and 

6 data were translated inaccurately.  

Example 1: 

SL Bibi jo too always brought Mariam 

something, a box of dishlemeh candy, a 

basket of quinces. 

TL Bibi jo selalu membawa oleh-oleh untuk 

Mariam, sekotak permen dishlemeh, sekeranjang 

buah kesemek. 

Quinces was translated successfully to 

Indoneisan into buah kesemek. Quinces are Middle 

East fruit similar to apples and pears which have 



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smooth flesh. This term hardly finds its 

equivalence in Indonesian since there is no kind 

of fruit found in Indonesia. Therefore, to make 

the readers familiar with the fruit, the translator 

renders the English term into buah kesemek. The 

translator thought that buah kesemek has the 

closest meaning with quinces despite different 

genus of fruit. Most of the raters gave score 3 for 

this translation. Therefore, this translation was 

classified into accurate translation.  

Example 2: 

SL Mariam saw herb shops, and open fronted 

cubbyholes where shoppers bought oranges 

and pears, books, shawls, even falcons. 

TL Mariam melihat toko-toko obat, los-los terbuka 

tempat orang-orang membeli jeruk dan pir, buku, 

kerudung, bahkan elang.  

The translator translated the term herb shop 

into toko-toko obat. By changing the lexicon with 

its equivalent in the target language, the 

translation for this term resulted to be less 

accurate translation, for there are some rewriting 

and changing are needed. From 15 respondents, 

8 gave score 3 as they considered it was accurate 

translation, 6 gave score 2 as they considered that 

herb was supposed to be translated into herbal 

instead of obat, and 1 gave score 1 as he believed 

that this translation was inaccurate. 

 

Translation by Loan Word 

This strategy commonly deals with 

cultural specific items translation. Baker (1992) 

states, “This strategy is particularly common in 

dealing with culture-specific items, modern 

concepts, and buzz word” (p. 34). This strategy is 

used when the terms in the source language do 

not find their equivalences in the target language. 

The translator adopts or keeps the words from the 

source language and incorporates it into the target 

language without translation. This translation 

does not change the structure of source text a 

change, but this may sound foreign for the 

adopted words that are unfamiliar to the readers. 

There were 18 from 21 data were translated 

successfully by this strategy, 1 data was translated 

less accurately, and 2 data were translated 

inaccurately.  

Example 1:  

SL Mariam saw herb shops, and open fronted 

cubbyholes where shoppers bought oranges 

and pears, books, shawls, even falcons. 

TL Mariam melihat toko-toko obat, los-los terbuka 

tempat orang-orang membeli jeruk dan pir, buku, 

kerudung, bahkan elang.  

The English term pear is successfully 

translated to Indonesian into pir. The translator 

gave proper translation by using loan word 

strategy as it is successfully transferred the 

message of cultural term in the source language 

without making any distortion of meaning. Thus, 

this translation was classified into accurate 

translation. All of the 15 respondents gave score 

4 for this translation. Therefore, this translation 

was classified into accurate translation.  

Example 2: 

SL Nana cherished each blue-and-white 

porcelain piece, the graceful curve of the 

pot's spout, the hand-painted finches and 

chrysanthemums, the dragon on the sugar 

bowl, meant to ward off evil. 

TL Nana sangat melindungi setiap cangkir porselen 

berwarna biru dan putih itu, lekukan anggut 

mulut tekonya, burung-burung pipit dan bunga-

bunga krisan yang digambar tangan di 

permukaannya, gambar naga penolak bala di 

mangkuk gulanya. 

Porcelain is a hard white shinny substance 

made by baking clay and used for making delicate 

cups, plates and decorative objects. The translator 

adopts the porcelain for porselen, for this term is 

equivalent to the source language and also existed 

and familiarly used in Indonesian. The average of 

accuracy assessment showed that this translation 

was classified into less accurate translation since 

the term porcelain was translated less accurately 

into TL.   

Example 3: 

SL Mariam walked along noisy, crowded, 

cypress lined boulevards, amid a steady 

stream of pedestrians, bicycle riders, and 

mule drawn garis, and no one threw a rock 

at her. 

TL Mariam berjalan menyusuri bulevar yang ribut 

dan sesak yang diapit oleh deretan pohon cypress, 

di tengah-tengah para pejalan kaki, pengendara 

sepeda, gari yang ditarik oleh bagal, dan tidak 

seorang pun melemparinya dengan batu.  



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By applying translation by loan word, the 

message of cultural term for boulevards was not 

successfully transferred to target language. From 

15 respondents, there were 10 who gave score 1 

for this translation, and the other 5 gave score 2 

and 3. The translator tried to find out the 

equivalence for this term in Indonesian by 

borrowing the English term, and as the result she 

translated the term boulevard into bulevar. This 

translation is not familiar, because bulevar in 

Indonesian term is not commonly used. 

Therefore, it can be concluded that this 

translation is classified into inaccurate translation 

since it gains only 1.6 for the translation accuracy.  

 

Translation by Cultural Substitution 

There are some strategies to be used 

dealing with various types of non-equivalence. 

One of them is translating by cultural substitution 

(Baker, 1992). In this strategy, translator replaces 

cultural specific item of source language or 

expression with target language item. Although 

this does not result in the same propositional 

meaning translation, this helps make the term is 

more understandable for the target language 

readers, so they can identify the term better. 

There were 16 data from 20 data were translated 

accurately by this strategy, 2 data were less 

accurately translated, and 2 data were 

inaccurately translated.  

Example 1: 

SL Then the rugs were folded  

TL Lalu, sajadah kembali dilipat 

The term rug was successfully translated 

into sajadah. Rug is a kind of carpet, and in the 

novel context the rug is used for layer while 

praying. In Indonesian, this term is equivalent to 

sajadah. The message of cultural term rug was well 

transferred to the target language by cultural 

substitution strategy used by the translator. Most 

of the raters gave score 3 for this datum, therefore 

this translation was classified into accurate 

translation.  

Example 2:  

SL The padded headpiece felt tight and heavy 

on her skull, and it was strange seeing the 

world through a mesh screen. 

TL Kerudung yang berlapis tebal terasa ketat dan 

berat duatas tempurung kepalanya, dan sangat 

aneh rasanya melihat dunia dari balik lubang-

lubang kasa. 

The message of the term headpiece was 

successfully transferred to the target language. It 

was translated into kerudung because the 

translator used cultural substitution for 

translating this term. However, there was some 

rewriting needed for this translation. In the novel 

context, the term headpiece means to be a head 

cover for muslim women called burqa. In 

Indonesian, it is translated into kerudung. There 

were 5 respondents who gave score 1 because 

they considered that it was inaccurate translation, 

while there were 7 respondents who gave score 2 

as they considered it was less accurate translation 

since kerudung was supposed to be translated into 

veil. Therefore, it could be concluded that this 

translation for this term was classified into less 

accurate translation.  

Example 3: 

SL She devoured the entire bowl, the crushed 

pistachio topping, the tiny rice noodles at 

the bottom. She marveled at the bewitching 

texture, the lapping sweetness of it. 

TL Dia menghabiskan seluruh isi mangkuknya, dari 

pistachio cincang di atasnya, hingga bola-bola 

tepung beras kecil di dasar mangkuknya. 

The term rice noodle was translated into 

bola-bola tepung beras. Most of the respondents 

gave score 1. The translator used cultural 

substitution for translating the term. However, 

the cultural term in the source language was not 

successfully transferred to the target language, for 

it made distortion of meaning. Rice noodle is kind 

of food (noodle). The translation substituted the 

term into bola-bola tepung beras. In Indonesian 

term, rice noodle is more familiar to bihun. It could 

be concluded that this translation was classified 

into inaccurate translation as its level accuracy is 

only 1.6. 

 

Translation by Paraphrasing Using Unrelated Word 

Another translation strategies proposed by 

Baker (1992) is translating by paraphrasing using 

unrelated word. Translator can render it by 

making a phrase with unrelated word if the 



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cultural concept of the source language can be 

lexicalized in the target language, the. This 

strategy will make the readers of target language 

a concept of understanding. In this research, there 

were 3 data were translated by using this strategy. 

1 data was translated accurately, while 2 data 

were less accurately translated into Indonesian.  

Example 1: 

SL On the wall beside the window stood a dark 

wooden cabinet. 

TL Bersandar pada dinding di dekat jendela adalah 

sebuah lemari kayu berpintu kaca.  

This translation was classified into 

accurate translaion, for the accuracy level of its 

translation is more than 2.5. The term wooden 

cabinet is translated into lemari berpintu kaca. The 

translator used translation by using unrelated 

word so that the message of cultural term will be 

more understandable for the readers. Thus, 8 

respondents gave score 3 for this translation.   

Example 2: 

SL There was a table, two cane seat chairs, two 

folding chairs, and, in the corner, a black, 

cast iron stove. 

TL Selain sebuah sofa, disana juga terdapat sebuah 

meja, dua kursi kayu, dua kursi lipat, dan, di 

sudut ruangan, sebuah tungku pemanas dari 

besi tempa hitam. 

Black cast-iron stove is a stove which is made 

by black iron formed by a mold. It means that hot 

liquid metal is poured into a mold or cast. While 

the Indonesian translation of this term uses the 

word besi tempa which means wrought iron. The 

translation showed that the translator expresses 

the meaning of the English term into Indonesian 

by changing the lexicon paraphrase using 

unrelated word. However, this translation 

resulted less accurate translation since there was 

distortion of meaning for this translation. Most of 

the respondents gave score 2 for this translation. 

The term black cast iron stove should have been 

simply translated into tungku pemanas besi.  

 

Literal Translation 

Literal translation is the other strategy can 

be used by the translator to translate cultural 

terms. It is a term used to describe word-for-word 

translation that sticks too close to the source text. 

In this research, there were 3 data translated by 

using this strategy. All of them were classified 

into accurate translation. 

Example 1:  

SL She walked on a maroon carpet with a 

repeating blue and yellow octagonal pattern, 

saw out of the corner of her eye the marble 

bases of statues, the lower halves of vases, 

the frayed ends of richly colored tapestries 

hanging from walls. 

TL Dia berjalan di atas permadani merah marun 

berpola segi-delapan biru dan kuning, dari sudut 

matanya melihat dudukan-dudukan patung 

pualam, bagian bawah vas-vas bunga, rumbai-

rumbai dari hiasan kain warna-warni yang 

tergantung di dinding. 

The translator applies literal translation for 

this term. She translates the term marble bases of 

statues word by word, and arranges it into 

Indonesian become dudukan-dudukan patung 

pualam. From 15 respondents, there were 12 

respondents who gave score 3 for this translation. 

Therefore, it could be concluded that the term 

dudukan-dudukan batu pualam was classified into 

accurate translation.  

Example 2: 

SL Mariam saw an outhouse on the right, in a 

side yard, and, on the left, a well with a hand 

pump, a row of dying saplings. 

TL Mariam melihat sebuah bangunan tambahan di 

sebelah kanan, di halaman samoing, dan, di 

sebelah kir, terdapat sebuah sumur dengan pompa 

air tangan serta sederet tanaman yang telah 

mongering 

The translator translated the term dying 

sapling into tanaman yang telah mongering. The 

translator changed the term by literal translation 

in Indonesian in order to make it understandable 

for the readers. The back translation of it is dying 

tree showed that there was no exact term in 

Indonesian for rendering young tree. The average 

of accuracy assessment showed that this was 

accurate translation. 

 

Translation by More General Word 

Translating by more general words is 

commonest strategy for dealing with many types 

of non equivalence, particularly in the area of 

propositional meaning (Baker, 1992). In this 



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strategy, the translator translates a specific word 

in the source language into a general word in the 

target language. It is because there is no specific 

word for that word in the target language. There 

was only one datum translated by using this 

strategy. 

Example 1: 

SL There was a table, two cane seat chairs, two 

folding chairs, and, in the corner, a black, 

cast iron  

TL Selain sebuah sofa, disana juga terdapat sebuah 

meja, dua kursi kayu, dua kursi lipat, dan, di 

sudut ruangan, sebuah tungku pemanas dari besi 

tempa hitam. 

In the example above cane was replaced by 

kayu (wood). However, cane is a strong slender 

often flexible stem as of bamboos, reeds, rattans, 

or sugar cane. In Indonesia, people call it as rotan, 

a kind of special wood which so flexible. So, cane 

is considered as the hyponym of kayu (wood). 

From 15 respondets, there were 11 respondents 

gave score 3 for this translation. Therefore, this 

translation was classified into accurate 

translation.  

 
Translation by Less Expressive Word 

This strategy is related with expressive 

meaning at word level. The translator renders a 

word in the source language into a word in the 

target language which has the propositional 

meaning but they have different expressive 

meaning. There was only one datum translated 

by using this strategy. 

Example 1: 

SL If not for the Mujahideen, we’d still be the 

Soviets’ servants, remember?  

TL Jika bukan karena mujahidin, kita masih akan 

tetap menjadi Soviet, ingat? 

Servant is a person who works in another 

person’s house, cook, clean, etc. Kacung in 

Indonesia has the same meaning with servant. But 

servant and kacung have different expressive 

meaning. Servant has more expressive meaning 

than kacung in Indonesian, which is usually 

considered as a servant who does a rough job. 

From 15 respondents, 10 respondents gave score 

3, 4 respondents gave score 2, and 1 respondent 

gave score 1. It could be concluded that this 

translation was classified into accurate 

translation. 

 
Translation by Omission 

According to Baker’s (1992) omission in 

translation is allowed for some contexts. In this 

strategy, the translator omits the some words due 

to paraphrase or stylistic reason. It allows the 

translator as long as it is not the vital word and 

the translated words still brings the true message 

if source text. 

Example 1: 

SL and so she knew that the facade was made 

of blue-and-tan terra-cotta tiles, that it had 

private balcony seats and a trellised ceiling. 

TL dan karena itulah Mariam mengetahui genting 

tembikar cokelatnya, balkon-balkon pribadinya, 

dan langit-langitnya yang terbuat dari jalinan 

kayu.  

 

In the example above, it can be seen that 

the term façade was omitted. The translator 

considered that this term does not have vital role. 

However, the deletion of the word in translation 

can distract whole meaning in a unit of sentence, 

and this will result in ambiguity. Most of the 

respondents agreed that this translation is 

classified into inaccurate translation since it does 

not convey the message of cultural term of the 

source language. 

CONCLUSION  

After analyzing the original novel A 

Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hoseini and 

the translated version by Berliani Nugrahani, the 

researcher comes to some conclusions that also 

answer the research question in this study. 

According to the result and finding, there 

were 108 data of cultural terms found in the 

novel. The data were divided based on cultural 

specific item classification proposed by 

Newmark. There were material culture (62.2%), 

ecology (16.8%), social culture (10.3%), 

organization, custom, ideas (3.7%). This research 

found out eight translation strategies were 

applied in translating the cultural term in the 

novel. Translation by changing the lexicon with 



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its equivalence in TL was the most frequent 

translation strategy used with the percentage of 

53.7% followed by translation by loan word 

(19.5%), translation by cultural substitution 

(18.5%), translation by paraphrasing using 

unrelated word (2.8%), literal translation (2.8%), 

translation by more general word (0.9%), 

translation by less expressive word (0.9%), and 

translation by omission (0.9%). The analysis of 

each translation strategy showed that 85.19% of 

the data were accurately translated into 

Indonesian. 10.18% of the data were less 

accurately translated, and 4.63% were 

inaccurately translated. Therefore, it can be 

concluded that the translation of cultural term in 

A Thousand Splendid Suns is accurate. 

REFERENCES  

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translation. Routledge. 

Bracaj, M. (2015). Procedures of translating culture-

specific concepts. Mediterranean Journal of Social 

Sciences, 6(1). 

https://doi:10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n1s1p476  

Hapsari, N. & Setyaningsih, R. (2013). Cultural words 

and the translation in Twillight. Jurnal 

Universitas Airlangga, 2(2), 76-89.  

Ismawati S. (2013). The translation procedures in 

translating the tultural words in the Young 

Adult Novel. Passage. 1(2), 55-62.  

Kuncara, S. (2015). Cultural terms translation in 

hirata’s laskar pelangi and the impact on the 

translation quality. Journal of Culture, Arts, 

Literature, and Linguistics. 

1(1).https://dx.doi.org/10.30872/calls.v1i1.7

05 

Larson, Mildred L. (1984). Meaning-based translation: a 

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