Translation Procedures of Cultural Elements in the Poem Takkan Hilang
Abstract
This study examines the translation procedures of cultural elements in the Malay poetry collection Takkan Hilang by Abdul Ghafar Ibrahim and its English translation by Harry Aveling. The main focus of the study is to identify the categories of cultural elements present in the source text and to analyse the translation procedures employed in transferring these cultural elements from Malay as the source language into English as the target language. This study is guided by the theoretical framework proposed by Peter Newmark (1988), particularly his categorisation of cultural elements and translation procedures. A qualitative approach is employed using text analysis of 61 poems in the source language and their corresponding 61 translated poems. The data are analysed systematically by identifying cultural elements based on the categories of ecology, material culture and artefacts, social culture, as well as organisations, customs, activities, and concepts. The findings indicate that Takkan Hilang is rich in Malay cultural elements and that various translation procedures are employed to preserve the meaning and cultural values of the source text. Among the procedures identified are cultural equivalence, functional equivalence, modulation, synonymy, couplet, literal translation, as well as reduction and expansion. In conclusion, the appropriate selection of translation procedures plays a crucial role in preserving cultural elements and ensuring that the poetic message can be effectively understood by target readers without compromising the originality of the source meaning.