Translating Malay Incantation Texts of Sea Offerings into English: An Analysis of Translation Techniques and Translation Accuracy

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating the techniques employed in translating sea incantation texts from Malay into English as well as describing the translation quality in view of its accuracy. To this end, four Malay incantation texts were gathered from informants in one village, Deli Serdang Regency, North Sumatera Province. Five translators from different ethnics were involved in this research to translate the four sea incantation texts. In order to measure the quality of their translation, five native English speakers took part in assessing the accuracy level of each translated text. The accuracy of translation is classified into three, namely: very accurate translation, accurate translation and inaccurate translation. Two findings were revealed in this study: 1). that the most dominant technique applied by the translators is literal technique 2) the accuracy of translation is affected by translator’s cultural background. It was discovered that translators with Malay descendant understood the source text easily, and to some extent translated the target text accurately. As for other translators whose culture is not Malay, failed to translate the text accurately and the translators have no sufficient cultural knowledge of the source text. Thus, the translated versions are not readable and accepted.

Keywords

• Translation Techniques
• Malay Literary Text
• Cultural Translation
• Translation Accuracy