What Translation Skills Should Be Developed in Translation

Course?

Rizky Lutviana

, Siti Mafulah

, Sugeng Hariyanto

, Faisal Rahutomo

Universitas Kanjuruhan Malang, Faculty of Language and Literature, Universitas Kanjuruhan Malang

Universitas Kanjuruhan Malang

Politeknik Negeri Malang

Politeknik Negeri Malang, Faculty of Language and Literature, Universitas Kanjuruhan Malang

Keywords: Translation, Translation Skill, Need Analysis

Abstract: The core of the material development on translation course was students’ need, yet most of the instructors

seemed to neglect students’ need in developing the materials. The purpose of this study was to identify

translation skills need by students in order to purpose the prototype syllabus for teaching translation to

university students who take translation course. This study employed survey research to the 70 university

students who took translation course for 1 semester. Questionnaire was used to collect the data on students’

opinion which translation skills were important for them. Based on the findings, it could be concluded that

translation course material should be directed to develop students’ reading skill, dictionary use skill, skill to

translate text from English into Indonesian, and vice versa, skill to translate idiom and tenses, skill to use

learning resources, and skill to apply translation’s theory, strategy, and method to translate text.

1 INTRODUCTION

Translation studies is recently growing faster, yet the

developments of its curriculum remain unexplored.

The investigation on Indonesian curriculum on

translation studies served varied learning objectives

although it is introduced to the same level of

students. There have been some debates on the focus

of teaching translation, whether it should be

theoretical based, practical based or genre based.

The objective of this study is to identify translation

skills need by undergraduate students majoring in

English in order to propose learning objective based

on students’ need.

Several studies have been done to investigate

translation skills from different angles, such as

Calvo (2011), Kavaliauskienė & Kaminskienė

(2009), Belencova & Davtyan (2016), and Teleiba

(2004). Calvo (2011) investigated the translation

curriculum, whether it should be seen as a product

(theory based) or as a process (practice based). He

noticed the problem in developing translation

curriculum laid on “the deficient understanding of

curriculum processes and the random application of

translation skills maps” (ibid. page. 8). Theory-based

curricula put emphasize on the quality of the product

(the result) of translation rather than the practical.

He noted that theory based curricula characterized

by material organization that was usually presented

in the modules, that was broken down into several

learning objectives.

Different from Calvo (2011), Kavaliauskienė &

Kaminskienė (2009) investigated translation skill

based on students’ opinion which one was more

important, to translate into their mother tongue, or

into English. To come to the conclusion, they

gathered the data from two instruments; interview

and questionnaire. There were 60 students

participated, most of their English level were

intermediate. It is found that 90% students thought

that translating into English was more important

than translating into their mother tongue. Besides,

students also thought that, reading and writing skills

were also important in translating.

Belencova & Davtyan (2016) Conducted survey

study to discover students’ opinion on translation

skills that should be mastered by university students.

The subject of the research were 150 Russian

students who studied on Law Institute of Peoples`

Friendship University of Russia. They also got the

second profession as translators of a special setting

and have some experience of translation (less than 5

596

Lutviana, R., Mafulah, S., Hariyanto, S. and Rahutomo, F.

What Translation Skills Should Be Developed in Translation Course?.

DOI: 10.5220/0009912605960601

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Recent Innovations (ICRI 2018), pages 596-601

ISBN: 978-989-758-458-9

years). It is found that 75-77% participants agreed

that interpreting is important skill in translation.

Besides, students also thought that writing skill was

important (90%) and knowledge of foreign language

(65%) was also important.

Teleiba (2004) conducted translation training to

develop students’ translation skills at Universitas

South Valley, Egypt. Another purpose of his study

was also to identify students’ response to the

training program. The translation skills included:

reading comprehension skill, dictionary use, and the

skill to render the text. During training students

learned to comprehend the text by answering several

questions about the content of the text, identify and

find the difficult word of the text, use dictionary to

find the meaning of word based on the context, try to

understand the culture, and rewrite the content of the

text in target language. After the training, students

did test and answered questionnaire about the

training. It is found that most students agreed the

training could improve their translation skill.

Besides, based on the result of the test, there was

positive and significant correlation between

students’ score and students’ attitude toward

translation.

In short, the review of the previous studies above

gave insight that to develop syllabus for translation

course should consider students’ needs in certain

conditions (level of students, students’ background,

and challenge to do translation job such as market

demand). To formulate translation skills that will be

developed, the researcher considered those factors.

2 METHOD

This study employed survey research in which the

purpose was to identify translation skills need by

students. The subject was 70 university students

majoring English Education who took translation

class for 1 semester. Questionnaire was used to

collect the data on students’ opinion which

translation skills were important for them. The

questionnaire consisted of 23 items covering the

question about reading comprehension skill,

dictionary use skill, translation skill, and teaching

learning process. During class, students were given

chance to translate several informative texts from

different major; law, medicine, culinary, and history.

After that, they were given some questions related to

the skills in translation such as reading

comprehension skill, dictionary use skill, translation

skill, and teaching learning process. Next, the data

were gathered and presented in table for the analysis.

3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Based on the result of survey on students’ need

through questionnaire, the researcher divided the

discussion on findings into four sections, reading

skill, dictionary use skill, translating skill, and

teaching and learning process.

Reading skill

Result of the survey showed that most of the

students relayed on the comprehending the text

before translating it to the target language. Without

comprehending the text, the students will get

problem when translating the text. The students

responses can be seen in table 1.

Table 1. Students’ responses of reading comprehension

skill

Statement

Students' responses

(%)

SA A D SD

I should

comprehend

the text before

translating the

text

74.3 25.7 0 0

I always

understand the

content and the

main idea

60 38.6 1.4 0

of the text

before

translating

them to the

target language

In translating

the text, I

always try to

understand the

vocabulary

61.4 37.1 1.5 0

based on the

context

Based on the table 1, it can be said that almost

all the students strongly agree to comprehend the

text first before they translate the text into target

text. For the finding the main idea and understand

the context is considered as important thing to do

before translating the text. It can be seen from the

second statement which says I always understand the

content and the main idea of the text before

translating to the target text got 60% strongly agree.

While for vocabulary aspect, it cannot be separated

thing in translation. Vocabulary is also important

thing to be considered to make the translation find

its equivalence and translation also give effect on

vocabulary acquisition (Emirmustafaoğlu &

Gökmen, 2015; Maghsoudi, Talebi, & Mirkamali,

2014).

What Translation Skills Should Be Developed in Translation Course?

597

Students’ responses of dictionary skill use.

Doing translation without dictionary is as a

farmer works without hoe. Dictionary is a tool in

assisting someone to translate text. The skill of how

to use dictionary is really important to be delivered

to the students before they do translation task. The

students’ responses toward the use of dictionary can

be seen in table 2.

Table 2. Students’ responses of dictionary skill use

No Statement

Students' responses

(%)

SA A D SD

1 I always use bilingual

dictionary (English-

Indonesian/Indonesian-

English)

35.7 58.6 4.7 1

2 I always use

monolingual dictionary

10 61.4 27.1 1.5

3 I always use online

dictionary

18.6 64.3 14.3 2.8

4 I think using dictionary

is useful in translation

process

68.6 31.4 0 0

5 I have difficulties in

using dictionary

5.7 11.4 60 22.9

6 I think the use of

dictionary is important

to be taught in

translation class

27.1 57.1 11.4 4.4

From the result of questionnaire above, it can be

seen that the habit of the students is good enough in

using dictionary when they translating the task. The

use of bilingual and monolingual dictionary is

always done by students when they are doing the

translation task. Furthermore, they also use online

dictionary. They think that using dictionary is

important to help them in translating text. It can be

seen from the percentage of the fourth question

which got 68.6% from the total amount of the

students who said strongly agree that dictionary is

useful in translation process.

Students’ responses of translation skill

Translation skill itself cannot be considered as

easy thing to be mastered. There are some

difficulties faced by students when translating text.

The detail result of the survey can be seen in table 3.

Table 3. Students’ responses of translation skill

No Statement Students' responses (%)

SA A D SD

1 I think translating

text from English to

Bahasa Indonesia is

easier than

translating text from

Bahasa Indonesia to

English

14.9 52.9 22.9 9.3

No Statement Students' responses (%)

2 I have difficulties in

using tenses when I

translate the text

from English to

Bahasa and vice

versa

14.3 60 21.4 4.3

3 I have difficulties in

translating idiom

12.9 77.1 10 0

4 I have difficulties in

translating text that

is not education text

10 52.9 32.9 4.2

5 I am confused in

deciding the

translation strategy

when translating a

text

10 64.3 25.7 0

6 I like translating

text literally

14.3 50 34.3 1.4

7 I like to use free

translation when

translating the text

22.9 54.3 12.9 9.9

From table 3 we can find that students have

difficulties in translating text. First, translating text

from Bahasa to English (14.9% said strongly agree

and 52.9% said agree). Second, time context or

tenses, 60% students said agree that they have

difficulties in using tenses when translating the text.

Moreover 14.3% said strongly agree for this

statement. Third, difficulties in translating idiom, it

can be seen from the third question that 77.1% from

the total students said agree that translating idiom is

difficult. Kind of text is also considered as the next

problem. They prefer to translate text which content

is about education. 10% of the students said strongly

agree and 52.9% said agree for this case. Other

problems faced by the students are the use of

translation strategy and how to decide translation

style. Sometimes they like to translate literally, but

sometimes they prefer to use free style.

Translation teaching learning process

The following is the result of students’ answer of

some questions about translation teaching learning

process. Detail information can be seen in table 4.

Table 4.Students’ responses of teaching learning process

No Statement Students' responses (%)

SA A D SD

1 I like to

translate

individually

12.9 47.1 40 0

2 I like to

translate in

group

21.7 58 20.3 0

3 I think knowing

the theory is

important

before

translating text

35.7 54.3 6.8 1.4

4 I like directly

translating the

text than

knowing the

31.4 40 27.1 1.5

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No Statement Students' responses (%)

SA A D SD

theory

5 I like Learning

resource that is

written in

Bahasa

8.2 47.5 44.3 0

6 I think English

translation book

is easier to be

comprehended

7.1 54.3 38.6 0

7 To widen my

knowledge in

doing thesis, I

need to know

the translation

research

material

52.9 45.7 0 1.4

From table 4, we can get information that most

of the students prefer to work in group when they do

translation task. 21.7% said strongly agree to work

in group and 58% said agree. Theory of translation

and translation research is also important to be

taught at translation class.

This part discusses the findings above. Four

aspects which are delivered to the students will

make translation handbook suitable with the

students’ need.

First, in term of reading comprehension

skill, Students responses showed that 74.3% from

the total students said strongly agree that they have

to read the text first before translating the text.

Comprehending text in reading is also important for

the students to be understood well before translate it

to the target text. Reading comprehension is difficult

because of lack of vocabulary (Akın, Koray, &

Tavukçu, 2015). Students usually think in their

language while they are reading text which written

in English or other languages. Moreover they always

find the vocabulary meaning on the dictionary based

on the context given (Calis & Dikilitas, 2012;

Maghsoudi et al., 2014; La Torre, 1999). The

recognition of vocabulary is a crucial component of

second language knowledge. One of the well-known

vocabulary instruction strategies involves

presenting the novel L2 vocabulary items with their

L1 translations (Emirmustafaoğlu & Gökmen,

2015).

Second, in term of dictionary skill use, it is

such as question about how the students’ ability in

using dictionary and what kind of dictionary they

used when they translate text. 68.9% of the total

amount of the students said that dictionary can be

their assistant in doing translation. It means that they

always use dictionary when they translate L1 text to

L2 text. They ever use monolingual and bilingual

dictionary, they use monolingual dictionary when

they try to find the definition of word and do not

know the exactly meaning then they try to look at

the monolingual dictionary. The use of monolingual

dictionary got better results in retention of the words

(Maghsoudi et al., 2014). Furthermore, more than

half of the students said that they usually use online

dictionary. It means that dictionary is important for

them to get the equivalence meaning of L1 word. So

that students suggest giving the dictionary use in

translation class.

Third, translation skill aspect, this aspect

considers students’ preference in doing translation

task. Based on the result of the questionnaire, 52.9%

of the students said that they have difficulties in

translating from Indonesian to English. Different

culture raises different translation product such as

inter-semiotic translation (Leontovich, 2015),

metaphor (Rahimi & Katal, 2012) and

collocation(Cigankova, 2016). Concept of time is

also another difficulty faced by the students. Other

aspect of translation skills is strategy used and

translation style. The decision of the use of strategy

is one of the considerations in doing translation.

Translation is a very complicated process, as it

should transmit something more but the message.

Even though some translators appear to have a great

gift to create a new text, they have to perform

different operations using different rhetorical

devices and convey adequate meanings to express

thoughts, emotions or ideas in the target language.

Different to the use of translation in teaching

learning process as medium to make the explanation

easier to be understood, strategy used in translation

is how to transfer the message from the L1 to L2

text. Borrowings, calquing, descriptive equivalents,

neologisms and others are applied when translating

text. Such as in translating legal text(Stepanova,

2016).

Teaching and learning process aspect, language

learning is not merely a translation from the foreign

to the native language, translation is widely used by

language learners as a learning strategy to grasp the

meaning of a word or grammatical construct during

the foreign language learning process (Pekkanli,

2012; Lafeber, 2012). In this aspect students prefer

to work in group than individually. It can be seen

from the percentage of the students who said agree

to work in team (79.7%). Meaning that they need

consideration from their friends in doing translation

and they are not confident with their translation

work (Mafulah, 2016). However, students need

translation theory including method, strategy in

translation to make them confident to do the task

given in classroom. Through theory they can make

decision to translate any kinds of text although some

of them said that they are not ready or having

difficulties in translating non-education text.

Furthermore, students need to learn material book

What Translation Skills Should Be Developed in Translation Course?

599

that written in English and make good habit in

thinking as translator (Vilceanu, 2013) and all the

need should be included in curriculum design

(Popescu, 2013)

4 CONCLUSIONS

To sum up, there were several points to be noted,

first, in the reading skill aspect, students expected to

master reading skill such as understanding main

idea, understanding the content of the text, and

discovering the meaning of a word based on the

context. Second, students mostly preferred to use

bilingual dictionary but they also needed to master

to use more than one types of dictionaries such as

monolingual dictionary and online dictionary. Third,

related to the translation skill, students needed to

learn the skill to translate text from English to

Indonesian, and vice versa, they also needed to learn

to translate idiom and tenses. Besides, other

materials were also important for the students, such

as subject matter knowledge, translation strategy,

and translation method. Fourth, in the teaching

learning process of translation, students needed to

learn skill to work both individually and with group,

skill to use the theory of translation in the analysis,

skill to use learning resources such as textbook, and

understanding research on translation studies.

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