Background of the research
The fact that Indonesia seems reluctant to acknowledge the function of Papuan Malay as a lingua franca among West Papuans and as their cultural identity may indeed be indicative of the subtleties of colonial discourse. Although Papuan Malay was the lingua franca during the period of Dutch colonization (1875-1961) and continued to be the lingua franca following the annexation of West Papua as part of Indonesia in 1969, it has actually not been allowed to use in formal occasions, education institutions, government and business activities. During the Indonesian occupation, such a rejection is implicitly embedded in a commanding notice on doors, walls, notice boards found in public places, schools, government and business offices saying “Gunakanlah Bahasa Indonesia yang baik dan benar” (Please use good and correct Indonesian Language). Also, legally, there is no particular clause under Article 58 on Language in the Special Autonomy Law (SAL) for Papua No. 21, 2001 that indicates the existence of Papuan Malay in West Papua. In addition, the West Papuan scholars also tend to write in Standard Indonesian so there has not been any document written in Papuan Malay up to the present time in order to study to describe the nature of Papuan Malay. Unless this reluctance is dramatically reversed, Papuan Malay will never have a form of written which introduces itself as the cultural identity of the West Papuans. Therefore, translating canonical works or literary masterpieces from English or other languages into Papuan Malay could be a crucial attempt to legitimize Papuan Malay by elevating it from its status as a dialect and an oral language. In this respect, could a translation product of Papuan Malay be a document that plays such a role?
Purpose of the research
The purposes of the research are:
To describe appearing of linguistic and cultural components for Papuan Malay in a translation product.
To discover using of translation strategies for translator producing a translation product in Papuan Malay.
Meanwhile, the objectives are (a) to describe the linguistic and cultural characteristics of Papuan Malay which could be different from Standard Indonesian; (b) describe the characteristics of Papuan Malay as a hybrid language; (c) to describe the linguistic and cultural characteristics of Papuan Malay which may affect translation; (d) to explain what translation strategies the translator may choose to use in his translation from English into Papuan Malay.
Significance of the research
Significantly, this research will mark Papuan Malay as a linguistic, social, cultural, political and attitudinal breakthrough. Linguistically, it could potentially be the beginning of a new stream of literature in West Papua. Socio-culturally, the use of Papuan Malay in a written form will bring along with it some features of Papuan culture that have been ignored so far. It will encourage the West Papuan translator to start translating the local folklore stories from their own vernaculars into Papuan Malay. Politically, promotion and production of written Papuan Malay through various channels including translation will encourage the relevant provincial government bodies to support it financially. Such support may lead to a recognition of Papuan Malay as an identity of West Papuans within the provincial constitution. In addition, the translation into Papuan Malay could become a cornerstone for other Papuan scholars, particularly linguists, sociolinguists and anthropologists to do some further comprehensive studies on the existence of Papuan Malay in West Papua. These studies will help policy makers and educators in planning appropriate teaching materials written in Papuan Malay to help students at basic education levels throughout remote rural areas in West Papua. Commercially, the translation project will also open up a business opportunity for local publishing houses in West Papua.
Research questions
The following research questions are:
- What are the appearing linguistic and cultural components for Papuan Malay in a translation product?
- To what extent are they different from Standard Indonesian?
- What language and cultural components in a translation product justify Papuan Malay a hybrid language?
- What are the common types of non-equivalence between English and Papuan Malay which pose difficulties for the translator to produce a Papuan Malay translation?
- What are the attested translation strategies the translator chooses to deal with the problem of non-equivalence?
Literature review
Brisset (1996) argues that translation can change the relation of linguistic forces, at the institutional and symbolic levels, by making it possible for the vernacular language (which is local, spoken spontaneously, less appropriate for communicating than for communing, and the only language that can be considered to be the mother tongue) to take place of the referential language (which is tied to cultural, oral, and written traditions and ensures continuity in values by systemic reference to classic works of the past) (Venuti 2000/2004). In this respect, some studies on translating into a language of everyday life or a lingua franca have focused on the language dimension of user-related varieties. For example, Luther (1960) translated the Bible into his own German dialect, Hochdeutsch, and elevated this dialect to the status of a common German, a lingua franca. His translation of the Bible was widely accepted and he was considered as a writer and as a creator of a language. Another example is about the Quebecois in Canada. Brisset (1996) points out that Canadian translators in the French speaking Province of Quebec have the political motivation to translate foreign texts into Quebecois (the Francophone dialect). And, surprisingly, their works are widely welcomed because readers enjoy the immediate allusions to their affect and experiences when they use Quebecois as Michele Lalonde (in Venuti 2000/2004, p.342) argues:
Thus, even for the most educated people in the country, there is still a wide gap between spoken and written language and a kind of conflict that could cause anguish and terrible feelings of dichotomy when a whole chagrin tries to express itself. And it is true that, in that light, the French language of France is like a second language to us, an almost foreign language because it does not have a strong emotional content and immediate allusions to our affects and experiences.
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Thus, these studies suggest that the goal of translation is to replace foreign forms of expressions in one language with acceptable forms in another. “The task of translation is thus to replace the language of the Other by a native language. Not surprisingly, the native language chosen is usually the vernacular, the linguistic birthright, the indelible mark of belonging” (Brisset in Venuti 2000/2004, p.340). In this regard, Brisset claims further that “translation becomes an act of reclaiming, of recentering of the identity, a re-territorializing operation. It does not create a new language, but it elevates a dialect to the status of a national and cultural language” (Brisset in Venuti 2000/2004, p.340).
In Indonesia, on the contrary, the use-related variety is focused on therefore translation of literary and non-literary texts into Standard Indonesian is strongly recommended and guided by the national language policy. In practice, the tendency of the Indonesian translator to support the national language policy has tended to confine the translator to a narrow focus on Standard Indonesian. Such a trend has so far contributed to the rejection of the translation by readers (see for example, Kompas 2003; 2005; Tempo, 2005; Kompas, 2007; Antara News, 2007; Wartapi, 2008). In short, English language texts translated into Standard Indonesian do not appeal very readily to Indonesian readers. The texts still appear too foreign and the readers are alienated by the ‘untranslated’ cultural context, and by the lack of language they experience as everyday. There has not been very much tradition of translating from English into Indonesian dialects or regional languages such as Bahasa Sunda, Bahasa Bali, Bahasa Bugis, or Bahasa Melayu Papua (Papuan Malay). Translators that do attempt such translations for political reasons often try to translate the whole literary work into the ‘pure’ form of the dialect, but in practice, very few educated Indonesians across the archipelogo use either the pure form of the dialect, or standard Indonesian. Instead they use both the dialect and Standard Indonesian together, switching codes frequently according to affective or cultural domains, and mixing the lexicons and the grammar.
In principle, good literary translation always makes the translated text sound natural because the two language dimensions: user-related varieties (dialects) and use-related varieties (especially formal registers) are appropriately applied. However, this does not happen if the attention of the translator is on policy, status or egotistical motivations. Translators often feel under pressure to use only the standardised language in translating literary works, which risks unpopularity with the mass of readers. On the other hand, translations that use the language of everyday life sometimes have a great effect.
Thus, there has not been any study on translation regarding the user-related varieties including Papuan Malay in Indonesia because the scholars have paid more attention on the use-related varieties (Standard Indonesian) that affect translation. Therefore, a need exists to study linguistic and cultural components of Papuan Malay as a user-related variety appearing in a translation product in order to build conceptual models for future study as well as to identify translation strategies for translator producing a translation product in Papuan Malay.
Theoretical and methodological approach
Theoretical approach
Four main theories to adopt will be translation theory, skopos theory, polysystem theory and post-colonial theory. First, the translation theory introduces how the source text (ST) should be translated into the target text (TT). This will guide the researcher to study why particular linguistic and cultural elements in the source text may remain appearing in the target text and why they may be adapted, modified or replaced to conform to the expectations of readers. Such an analysis at the same time will also identify linguistic and cultural differences between the source language (SL) and the target language (TL). Second, the Skopos theory proposes two general rules: coherence and fidelity for translation production. This will lead the researcher to investigate the appropriateness of the target text for the readers and the relationship between the ST and the TT. Third, the polysystem theory allows the researcher to study the translated text if it is an emerging system within the current national literary system. Lastly, the post-colonial theory assists the researcher to study the translated text whether or not it is a post-colonial literature in terms of language, culture and content.
Research methodology
- Published material.
- Observation.
- Discourse analysis
Data collection
- Selecting some Australian English award-winning bestseller novels authored by the Australian novelists. Searching for and providing the synopsis of each novel. Then, they will be reviewed in order to decide why only one particular novel is chosen to translate. The whole novel or some passages will be translated into Papuan Malay. This translation product will be certified by any relevant agent before it will be used in this research.
- Collecting any published material in the form of hard copies and electronic versions regarding Papuan Malay, culture, history and politics.
- Collecting any published material regarding Standard Indonesian and language policy in Indonesia.
- Writing a personal observation on the role of Papuan Malay and Standard Indonesian in a variety of domains in West Papua.
Methods of analysis
1. Translated texts will be studied to describe any linguistic and cultural component of Papuan Malay appearing in translation. Each identified component will be listed for further analysis.
2. Translated texts will also be studied to identify if there are any common features of a hybrid language occurring in translation. This analysis will also suggest if Papuan Malay translation is a product of post-colonial literature.
3. Translated texts will be analysed to describe any linguistic and cultural aspects of both Australian English and Papuan Malay which may affect translation. This analysis will also describe how translator may apply different translation strategies in his translation.
4. The published material of West Papua containing language including Papuan Malay, history, culture, social and politics will be studied to describe the nature of Papuan Malay.
5. The published material of Standard Indonesian will be studied to compare its differences with Papuan Malay. The Indonesian language policy will also be studied to describe the status of Standard Indonesian and regional languages in the national literary system.
