THE EQUIVALENCE IN THE ENGLISH

TRANSLATION OF INDONESIAN NOUN PHRASES

(A Study of the Novel Entitled Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk and its English
Translation The Dancer)

by
Agnes Arum Budiana
2003512065

ENGLISH EDUCATION
POST GRADUATE PROGRAM
SEMARANG STATE UNIVERSITY
2013

The Equivalence in the English Translation of Indonesian Noun Phrases

Agnes Arum Budiana
College of English Education, Post Graduate Program of Semarang State University, Indonesia
Email: agnesarumb@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
The problems of this research are; how are Indonesian Noun Phrases translated into English?
What are the types of equivalence in the English translation of Indonesian Noun phrases? The
aims of the research are to compare the translation of Indonesian Noun Phrases into English then
to describe the types of equivalence in the English translation of Indonesian Noun phrases. This
research uses a qualitative descriptive method. The Indonesian novel as Source Language (SL)
Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk by Ahmad Tohari and its English translation (TL) The Dancer that
was translated by Rene T. A. Lysloff, as source of the data. The equivalence is subcategorized
into Textual equivalence: SL subject-NP is translated into TL subject-NP; SL predicate-NP is
translated into TL predicate-NP; SL object-NP is translated into TL object-NP, Linguistic
equivalence: SL plural-NP is translated into TL plural-NP; SL singular-NP is translated into TL
singular-NP, and Dynamic equivalence. The result of this research shows that the equivalence
occurs with the percentage of 42 %.
Key Word: translation, equivalence, noun phrase.
INTRODUCTION
The subject of the research is the equivalence in the English translation of Indonesian
noun phrases. This research tries to find out the equivalence in form and meaning in the English
translation of Indonesian noun phrases. This is because the core of equivalence is in the form and
meaning. In equivalence, the meaning is more important than the form. Besides that, equivalence
focuses to case where languages describe the same situation by different structure. Therefore, the
writer would like to compare the translation of Indonesian noun phrases into English in order to
find the equivalence in form and meaning.

The reason why this topic is interesting to be discussed because in reading a book, novel
or other sources of data, we can find noun phrases, but many students are confused in
differentiating the word order in head words of the Indonesian and the English noun phrases.
This is because Indonesian and English head words are not the same; it means that in Indonesian
noun phrases, the head word is head-initial position, while in English the head word is head-final
position. Therefore, the core of the phrase is head word, which is used to determine the meaning
in the word class.
This research is important to be carried out because it is difficult for Indonesian students
to translate the Indonesian noun phrase into English, since the position of head word in word
order of both languages are different. Therefore, they often make mistakes because they translate
word by word or literal translation. In translation, they use Indonesian word order if they
translate in English. By means of that reason, this research may help students to understand the
sentences by identifying word order and its marker in noun phrases.
THEORETICAL REVIEW
Translation
Hatim and Munday (2004, p.3) said that translation is a phenomenon that has a huge
effect on everyday life. The first of these two senses relates to translation as a process, the
second to the product. The first sense focuses on the role of the translator in taking the original or
source text (ST) and turning it into a text in another language (the target text, TT). The second
sense centers on the concrete translation the product produced by the translator. Machali (2000,
p. 60) noted that translation as an operation performed on languages: a process of substituting a
text in one language for a text in another. Larson (1998, p. 3) stated that translation is basically
a change of form. In translation, the form of the source language is replaced by the form of
receptor (target) language. It can be concluded that translation is a process of transferring the
meaning of the source language into the target language.
Kinds of Translation
Larson (1998, p. 15) divided translation into two types, they are:
1. Literal translation is a form-based translation attempting to follow the form of the source
language.

2. Idiomatic translation is a meaning-based translation that makes every effort to communicate

the meaning of the source language text in the natural form of the receptor language.
Newmark (1991, p. 39) wrote types of translation:
1. Communicative translation, attempts to produce on its readers an effect as close as possible to
that obtained on the readers of the original.
2. Semantic translation attempts to render, as closely as the semantic and syntactic structures of
the second language allow, the exact contextual meaning of the original.
Equivalence
The comparison of texts in different languages inevitably involves a theory of
equivalence. Equivalence can be said to be the central issue in translation although its definition,
relevance, and applicability within the field of translation theory have caused heated controversy,
and many different theories of the concept of equivalence have been elaborated within this field.
Nida and Taber (1982:14) suggest that translating consists in reproducing the receptor
language the closest natural equivalent of the source language message, first in terms of meaning
and secondly in terms of style. The closest natural equivalent is explained by Nida (1969:166) as
follows: (a) equivalent, which points toward the source language message, (b) natural, which
points toward the receptor language, and (c) closest, which binds the two orientations together on
the basis of the highest degree of approximation.
Vinay and Darbelnet (as cited in Munday, 2001, p. 58) stated that equivalence refers to
cases where languages describe the same situation by different stylistic or structural means.
Catford (as cited in Hatim and Munday, 2004, p. 40) wrote texts in different languages can be
equivalent in different degrees (fully or partially equivalent), in respect of different levels of
presentation (equivalent in respect of context, of semantics, of grammar, of lexis, etc), and at
different ranks (word-for-word, phrase-for-phrase, sentence-for-sentence). Baker (1998, p. 77)
used the notion of equivalence for the sake of convenience because most translators use it rather
than because it has any theoretical statements. Thus equivalence is variously regarded as a
necessary condition for translations, an obstacle to a progress in translation studies, or a useful
category for describing translation. She also added that proponent of equivalence as the
relationship between a source text (ST) and a target text (TT). Thats allowed the TT to be
considered as a translation of the ST in the first place.

Types of Equivalence
Catfords model of equivalence (as cited in Munday, 2001, p. 60) said:
1. Formal correspondence is any TL category (unit, class, element of structure, etc) which can be
said to occupy as nearly as possible the same place in the economy of the TL as the given SL
category occupies in the SL. For example: translating an adjective by an adjective.
2. Textual Equivalence is any TL text or portion of text which is observed on a particular
occasion to be the equivalent of a given SL text or portion of text. For example: translating
adjective by an adverbial phrase.
Popovic (as cited in Susan Basnett, 1998, p. 32) distinguishes four types:
1). Linguistic equivalence, where there is homogeneity on the linguistic level of both SL and TL
texts, i.e. word for word translation.
2). Paradigmatic equivalence, where there is equivalence of the elements of a paradigmatic
expressive axis, i.e. elements of grammar, which Popovic sees as being a higher category than
lexical equivalence.
3). Stylistic (translational) equivalence, where there is functional equivalence of elements in
both original and translation aiming at an expressive identity with an invariant of identical
meaning.
4). Textual (syntagmatic) equivalence, where there is equivalence of the syntagmatic structuring
of a text, i.e. equivalence of form and shape.
Types of equivalence according to Nida which are stated in (Munday, 2001, p. 41) which
are: (1) formal equivalence and (2) Dynamic equivalence. Nida defined these as follows:
1. Formal equivalence focuses attention on the message itself, in both form and content one is
concerned that the message in the receptor language should match as closely as possible the
different elements in the source language.
2. Dynamic equivalence is based on what Nida calls the principle of equivalent effect, where
the relation between receptor and message should be substantially the same as that which
existed between the original receptors and the message.
Phrase
A phrase is a group of words which has no subject (Tallerman, 1998, p. 90). It means that
every group of words or combination of words, which are grammatically similar to word and do

not have its own subject is called phrase. There are some phrases, which are Noun Phrase (NP)
for example, very bright sunflowers is headed by a noun; Verb Phrase (VP) for example,
overflowed quite quickly is headed by a verb; very bright is an Adjective Phrase (AP); quite
quickly is an Adverb Phrase (AdvP); and inside the house is a Preposition Phrase (PP) headed by
the preposition inside. But in this research, the writer focuses on the noun phrase. A noun phrase
can act as a subject in a sentence function (e.g. The child read the book), as the object of a verb
(e.g. The child read the book), as the object complement of a verb (e.g. John buy a cake), or as
the object of a preposition (e.g. Jill is swimming in the pool).
The Comparison between the Indonesian and the English Noun Phrases
The similarity between the Indonesian and English noun phrases is they have their
markers. For example in Indonesian and English noun phrase, they have the markers to identify
the noun phrase. Both morphological and syntactic categories are the markers of the noun phrase.
The difference between the Indonesian and English noun phrases is the position of head word in
the word order. In fact, the position of head word in Indonesian noun phrase is head-initial.
While, the position of head word in English noun phrase is head-final. Tata Bahasa Baku Bahasa
Indonesia (1998, p. 203) stated that the Indonesian noun phrase is a group of words with a noun
or pronoun as the main part or the head, whereas the English noun phrase is a group of words
which ends with a noun. It can contain determiners (the, a, this, etc.), adjective, adverbs, and
nouns. It cannot begin with a preposition. Both subjects and complements are generally noun
phrases (Pyle and Munoz, 1995, p. 42). For example: The diamond gave off a bluish light, the
diamond as a subject in a sentence function. Then, One day, Sakarya placed a stone; a stone is
the object of a verb or object complement. Tallerman (1998, p. 92) stated that In many
languages, certain heads require their Noun Phrase dependents to occur in a particular
grammatical case. Within the English noun phrase (NP), nouns often co-occur with a closed class
of words known as DETERMINERS (Tallerman, 1998, p. 37). For instance, a transitive verb has
two arguments, therefore two dependent NPs: the subject and the object are the markers of the
English noun phrases. For example: The child reads the book.
Subject-NP

object-NP (object of a verb)

RESEARCH METHOD
This research uses a descriptive qualitative method. It means that all the data in this
research are in the form of sentences and words, not in the form of numbers. As Wilkinson
(2000, p. 7) stated that the resulting data is presented in the form of descriptions. So, the data in
this research is in the form of descriptions. According to Wilkinson (2000, p.79), qualitative data
is usually analyzed by subjecting it to some form of coding process.
Source of the Data
The source of the data in this research is a novel written by Ahmad Tohari (third edition:
2007) entitled Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk, and its English translation The Dancer that was
translated by Rene T. A. Lysloff (2003). The Source Language (SL) is Indonesian and the Target
Language (TL) is English.
Technique of Collecting Data
In collecting data, the following procedures are taken:
1). Identify the SL data which consists of Indonesian noun phrases (SL) related to their markers
then underline them.
2). Identify the TL data which consists of English translated noun phrases from Indonesian (TL)
related to their markers then underline them.
3) The data of the Source language (SL) and the target language (TL) are put together side by
side in a list then give the number of page and line to each data.
Technique of Analyzing Data
1) Editing or selecting
The data are edited, because there might be some mistakes when they are transferred
from SL into TL, then put them into the corpus.
2) Classifying the Data
Those data are classified into three main categories:
2.1) Textual equivalence;
2.1.1 SL subject-NP in a sentence is translated into TL subject-NP
2.1.2 SL predicate-NP in a sentence is translated into TL predicate-NP

2.1.3 SL object-NP in a sentence is translated into TL object-NP.

2.2) Linguistic equivalence;
2.2.1 SL plural in NP is translated into TL plural in NP
2.2.2 SL singular in NP is translated into TL singular in NP
2.3) Dynamic equivalence
Presenting Data
1. The data will be presented by using flow chart and table.
2. The flow chart covers the main and the sub-categories of the equivalence in the English
translation of Indonesian noun phrases, with the percentage (%).
3. The table consists of the sub-categories of the equivalence in the English translation of
Indonesian noun phrases, the number of data, and the percentage (%).
Interpreting Data
The data are interpreted as follows:
1. The data in flow chart and table are discussed according to the classification of the
equivalence in the noun phrases.
2. Some of the data from each category are interpreted.
3. The data for analysis are taken by means of representing the other remaining data in the
corpus.
RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The equivalence is categorized into:
1) Textual equivalence which is divided into three sub-categories which are SL subjectNP in a sentence is translated into TL subject-NP, SL predicate-NP in a sentence is translated into
TL predicate-NP, SL object-NP in a sentence is translated into TL object-NP.
2) Linguistic equivalence which is divided into two sub-categories which are; SL pluralNP is translated into TL plural-NP, SL singular-NP is translated into TL singular-NP.
3) Dynamic equivalence with the percentage.

The novel entitled Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk by Ahmad Tohari is the source language (SL)
and its English translation The Dancer by Rene T. A. Lysloff is the target language (TL) as
source of the data.

SS

ELT D
L
qLie
y
uspnx
n
uispogt r
a
belb i
vdmu j
nuj
eai i
i
gcre
lsuac
E
ta
e-tlt lt
q
ena-i
u
cr ev
a
n

i
l

e
e

c
FIGURE 1

The Main Categories and Sub-categories of Equivalence in the English Translation of

Indonesian Noun Phrases

The Analysis of Equivalence

No
1.

2.
3.

The Equivalence and Its Categories

Number

Textual Equivalence
1.1 SL subject NP is translated into TL subject NP
1.2 SL predicate NP is translated into TL predicate NP
1.3 SL object NP is translated into TL object NP
Linguistic Equivalence
2.1 SL plural NP is translated into TL plural NP
2.2 SL singular NP is translated into TL singular NP
Dynamic Equivalence
Total

of Data
17
7
6
4
20
9
11
5
42

(%)
17 %

20 %
5%
42%

FIGURE 2
The Equivalence in the English Translation of
Indonesian Noun Phrases and its Sub-Categories
Based on figure 1 above, there are 17 or 17% data of Textual Equivalence which is
divided into three sub-categories which are SL subject-NP in a sentence is translated into TL
subject-NP, SL predicate-NP in a sentence is translated into TL predicate-NP, SL object-NP in a
sentence is translated into TL object-NP, there are 20 or 20% data of Linguistic Equivalence
which is divided into two sub-categories which are; SL plural-NP is translated into TL plural-NP,
SL singular-NP is translated into TL singular-NP, and 5 or 5% data of Dynamic Equivalence.
Textual Equivalence
SL subject-NP in a sentence is translated into TL subject-NP
No
1.

SL
TL
Sebutir berlian memancarkan cahaya kebiru- The diamond gave off a bluish light
biruan (p. 147, l. 24)

(p. 157, l. 17)

Sentence (1), SL noun phrase sebutir berlian is translated into TL noun phrase the
diamond. Here, the word sebutir is the marker of the Indonesian noun because prefix se- is
one and the word butir (numeral) is a noun to classify small things. It can be seen that SL
sebutir berlian and TL the diamond are noun phrases have the function as a subject in the
sentence because the position of the noun phrases in the sentence above. Therefore, it can be

concluded that this is Textual equivalence, because they have the same function as a subject in a
sentence above. There is equivalence in a subject of the sentence, i.e. equivalence of form and
shape.
SL predicate-NP in a sentence is translated into TL predicate-NP
No
2.

SL
Aku bukan anak kecil. (p. 316, l. 39)

TL
Im not a child. (p. 354, l.25)

Sentence (2), SL noun phrase anak kecil is translated into TL noun phrase a child.
Actually, one of the syntactic categories in Indonesian nominal markers is the negative sign of
noun like the word bukan or Indonesian called pengingkar. It can be used in the Indonesian
noun marker, because the negative marker of a noun bukan is always followed by Indonesian
noun for example bukan anak kecil based on the text above. It can be seen that they have the
same function as the predicate of the noun phrase in the sentence. Based on the analysis of the
text above, it can be concluded that this is Textual Equivalence, because there is equivalence of
the structuring of the text in a predicate.
SL object of a verb - NP in a sentence is translated into TL object of a verb NP
No
3.

SL
TL
Suatu hari Sakarya meletakkan sebuah One day, Sakarya placed a stone
batu (p. 283, l. 17)

(p. 318, l. 1)

Sentence (3), SL noun phrase sebuah batu is translated into TL noun phrase a stone.
Here, prefix se- as one of the markers of the Indonesian singular noun and the word buah is a
noun as classifier a fruit or another thing outside the human being. Based on the text above, they
have the function as the object complement of a verb in the sentence because the position of the
noun phrases in the sentence above. It can be seen that this is Textual equivalence, because there
is equivalence of the structuring of a text which is there is the same function as the object
complement of a verb in the sentence, i.e. equivalence of form and shape.
Linguistic Equivalence
SL plural-NP is translated into TL plural-NP
No

SL

TL

4.

Aku menyediakan dua pilihan.

would

like

to

(p. 200, l. 24)

alternatives. (p. 218, l. 3)

propose

two

Sentence (4), SL noun phrase dua pilihan is translated into TL noun phrase two
alternatives. Here, SL dua pilihan and TL two alternatives are noun phrases. It can be seen
that the noun phrase dua pilihan is plural because dua is the Indonesian numerical in
nominal markers. Also two alternatives is plural noun because two is determiner of number
and alternatives has suffix -s plural are the markers of the English nouns. Therefore, this is
Linguistic equivalence, because there is homogeneity on the linguistic level of both SL and TL
texts. It can be concluded that they have same linguistic level which is plurality in countable
words, so that SL plural noun phrase is translated into TL plural noun phrase.
SL singular-NP is translated into TL singular-NP
No
5.

SL
Seekor codot melintas di atas

TL
A bat passing over the top of a banana

pohon pisang. (p. 111, l. 10)

tree. (p. 117, l. 7)

Sentence (5), SL noun phrase Seekor codot is translated into TL noun phrase A bat.
Here, SL seekor codot and TL a bat are noun phrases. Based on the analysis of the text above,
the Indonesian noun phrase seekor codot like seekor in prefix se- is one as singular and
codot is a noun, and then English noun phrase a bat like a in determiner of articles is
singular, so they are the markers of singular nouns. It can be seen that this is Linguistic
equivalence, because there is homogeneity on the linguistic level of both SL and TL texts. They
are the same linguistic level which is singular in countable words. So, SL singular noun phrase is
translated into TL singular noun phrase.
Dynamic Equivalence
No
6.

SL
Ingat, sebuah ringgit emas! (p. 77, l. 33)

TL
Just think, a gold piece! (p. 79, l. 15)

Sentence (6), SL noun phrase sebuah ringgit emas is translated into TL noun phrase a
gold piece. It can be seen that they are dynamic equivalence, because the word ringgit can be
omitted into gold by the translator, if in TL is translated into ringgit it would be more
confused, it would be better if ringgit is not translated, but it can be changed into the word

gold based on the text above. Therefore, there is dynamic equivalence, although the form of SL
is changed but the meaning in TL is the same.
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
The problems in this research are: How are Indonesian Noun Phrases translated into
English? What are the types of equivalence in the English translation of Indonesian Noun
phrases? This research answers the questions by analyzing and describing equivalence in form
and meaning which are found in the novels. The writer concludes that the equivalence is not
similar. Form and meaning are frequently not fully equivalent, but one should notice that forms
may change but meaning must not change. In dynamic equivalence, although the form is
different, but one thing is important, which is the meaning is the same. In this research, the
relation between translation and the noun phrases is every text in the translation consists of the
sentence and in sentence there are clause and phrase, both Indonesian and English translation.
From some sentences, we can know the noun phrase. Therefore, the writer makes the
equivalence in the English translation of Indonesian noun phrases in order to help students to
understand the sentences in the translation by identifying word order and its marker in noun
phrases. The writer also concludes that there are three main categories of equivalence, they are:
1) Textual equivalence which is divided into three sub-categories which are SL subject-NP in a
sentence is translated into TL subject-NP, SL predicate-NP in a sentence is translated into TL
predicate-NP, SL object-NP in a sentence is translated into TL object-NP, 2) Linguistic
Equivalence which is divided into two sub-categories which are; SL plural-NP is translated into
TL plural-NP, SL singular-NP is translated into TL singular-NP, and 3) Dynamic Equivalence.
There are 42 % data of equivalence in the novel entitled Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk, and its
English translation The Dancer that was translated by Rene T. A. Lysloff. The writer suggests
for the next researcher to discuss the equivalence in the English translation of the other
Indonesian phrases or vice versa.

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