AN ANALYSIS OF THE FIFTH SEMESTER STUDENTS' ABILITY IN TRANSLATING A POEM ENTITLED “DREAMS” AT THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT OF BUNG HATTA UNIVERSITY

Abstrak

INTRODUCTION English is known as one of the languages that is used as a communication tool which also is being learned worldwide as a second language in almost every level of education. As a complex language form of communication that needed to be learned, there are some skills that can endorse the said language to students who will learn the language as a second language, which are, listening, speaking, reading and writing. Another skill that is required when it comes to intermediate and advanced English learning is translation. Translation is an action that is performed on languages, which is comparable to the procedure of changing a text from one language to another. Translation requires the application of broad linguistic theory as well as a theory of the language [1]. Translation is one of proficiencies that is taught in English Language and also a tool to help bridging communication for people with differences in their cultural background. As a form of communication, it is also important when it comes to translating text, whether it is an educational 2 text, or a literature text. Without translation, the communication will not be achieved fully because of those differences [2]. Translation, when it comes to studying it, will be able to aid students get ahold of many information which almost all of them available in English. That is why translation can also be categorized as a form of communication that can connect people all over the world and it involves more than one language. However, it takes a lot of effort and concentration on the part of the translator to express the meaning of the sentences in the source language, making translation a challenging task. By keeping in mind how challenging translation is, translators should be aware of every facet of the language that needs to be mastered. Poem translation can be categorized as literary translation which has generally been seen to be more difficult than translating other writings, such as business papers, books, and novels. Poem translation has always been seen as much more challenging, and there has always been major debate regarding the methods that may be utilized and the type of outcome that is expected from such translation effort [3]. The translation of poetry and 4 figurative language must consequently include not just an analysis of the author's intended meaning and the formal devices utilized in the source language, but also an assessment of the poetic forms and figurative devices relevant in the receptor language, if they exist. [4]. Lastly, in translating a poem it is possible to face some problems such as linguistic, literary and aesthetic, and socio-cultural problems. The problems mentioned above are also impact the students’ ability in translating a poem. Majority of the students still use literal translation when it comes to translating a poem, whereas, translating a poem should not be just by using literal translation. Based on evidence gathered by the researcher through interviews with third year students at Bung Hatta University's English Department, she discovered that many students still struggled to translate words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs. They had difficulty translating words and phrases because they still lacked when it comes to vocabulary, and they had difficulty translating sentences and texts because they were still confused about the grammatical structure of the sentences and texts. As a result, their translation is not dependent on their own concept. However, when given poem translation assignment, they found it difficult to transfer the meaning of the poem into Bahasa because poem has certain characteristics that might be difficult when translated into another language. Based on the statements above, the researcher is interested in piloting a research about the fifth semester students' ability in translating a poem titled “Dreams” at the English Department of Bung Hatta University. METHOD The method used in this study is descriptive. The descriptive technique is a research method that entails gathering data in order to test hypotheses or answer questions about the current state of the subject of investigation [5]. Descriptive research involves collecting data in order to test hypotheses or to answer questions regarding the current status of the subject of the study. The research population was the fifth semester students in English Department of Bung Hatta University which consist of 26 students. The sample used in this research is total 26 sampling meaning, it is a sampling in which the number of the samples is the same as the population member The instrument used in this research is translation test of the poem titled “Dreams”. To maintain the test’s reliability, the researcher used interrater reliability method and the Pearson Product Moment Formula. . After analyzing the data, the reliability index found was 0.69 which had high correlation. Thus, the test was reliable. To collect the data, the researcher administered the translation test for the students to do in 40 minutes. After, the tests were collected and counted the score. Next, after the scores were counted and converted, the researcher categorized each of the students’ score into their abilities and counted the number of students who got excellent, good, moderate, or low ability. Finally, the researcher calculated the results based on the students’ ability. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Based on the result of data analysis, the researcher presents the students’ ability generally in translating a poem from English into Indonesia. The result of the data showed that 100% students got excellent ability, 0% students got good ability , 0% student got moderate ability and 0% student got low ability. It means that the ability of the fifth year students in translating a poem was excellent. To be clear, see the table below. Table 1 The Ability of the Fifth Year Students in Translating a Poem from English into Indonesian Grade Number of students The Percentage of Students Excellent 26 100% Good 0 0% Moderate 0 0% Low 0 0% Total 26 100% Second, the students’ ability in translating a poem from English into Indonesian in making lexical equivalence. The result of the data showed that 73% students got excellent ability, 27% students got good ability, 0% student got moderate ability and 0% student got low ability. It means that the ability of the fifth year students in making lexical equivalence in translating a poem was excellent. Although, there are still the 27% of the students that only categorized as good, the mistakes that were made is common among the students because of the figurative language used in the poem. Here is the example of the mistake which are coming from the 2nd and 7th line of the poem: For it dreams die Life is a barren field Students’ common mistakes in translating those said lines comes from the incorrect making of lexical equivalence on the word “for” and “is”. The common error on the word “for” is because the students mistaken it as a preposition while in the poem, the word “for” is used as a conjunction that tell the reason and connect the previous line “Hold fast to dreams”, and the next line after which is “Life is a broken-winged bird”. Table 2 The Ability of the Fifth Year Students in the Translating a Poem From English into Indonesian in Making Lexical Equivalence Grade Number of students The Percentage of Students Excellent 19 73% Good 7 27% Moderate 0 0% Low 0 0% Total 26 100% Third, the students’ ability generally in translating a poem from English into Indonesian using grammatical equivalent. The result of the data showed that 92% students got excellent ability, 8% students got good ability, 0% student got moderate ability and 0% student got low ability. Table 3 The Ability of the Fifth Year Students in Translating a Poem from English into Indonesian in Making Grammatical Adjustment Grade Number of students The Percentage of Students Excellent 24 92% Good 2 8% Moderate 0 0% Low 0 0% Total 26 100% CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION In general, the ability of the fifth semester students in translating a poem from English into Indonesian was excellent or excellent. There were 20 students (77%) who could translate a poem from English into Indonesian. The ability of the fifth semester students in translating a poem from English into Indonesian in making lexical equivalence was also excellent. It was proved by the fact that 19 students (73%) can translate a poem from English into Indonesian in making lexical equivalence. The ability of the fifth semester students in translating a poem from English into Indonesian in making grammatical was excellent. It was proved by the fact that 24 students (92%) can translate a poem from English into Indonesian in making grammatical adjustment. Based on the conclusions of this research, Students should maintain their ability in translation in terms of lexical equivalence and improve their ability in terms of grammatical adjustment by practicing grammar-related translation exercises, and they should pay close attention to the grammatical rules based on the source and targeted language that they will be using in the translating process. As for the lecturers, it might be helpful to do some translation exercise that also require for the students to explain the meaning of a poem. For the next researcher, the next study could be done by using a different instrument that also has some linguistics features just like poem has. Perhaps, if the instrument is also a poem, it might be helpful to choose a more or less advanced poem depending on the research sample’s level. Also, it might be great to add another aspect of the poem’s language features such as translating a figurative language or metaphors that come from a poem.