Analyzing Translation of Metaphor: A Case Study

Metaphor translation is often considered as one of the general problems of “untranslatability”. This is due to the fact that metaphors are generally associated with indirectness; therefore, it is hard to translate. It is also often influenced by the culture. Thus, the translator has to carefully consider how to translate metaphor. This paper analyzes metaphor translation in Lauren Kate’s novel entitled Fallen using a framework proposed by Peter Newmark (1988). It is revealed that there are five procedures applied to translate the metaphors namely reproducing the same image in the TL, replacing SL image with a standard TL image, translating metaphor by simile, converting the metaphor into sense, and deleting the metaphor. The possible reasons to use the particular procedures are because the SL images are universal images, the SL images have broad definition or quality, the SL images are confusing, the SL images are offensive, and the SL images are religious terms.


Introduction
Translation is not only a process of translating each word into a different language but also understanding the meaning and finding the equivalence. According to Newmark (1988, p. 5), translation is "rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the way that the author intended the text". Meanwhile, Catford (1965, p. 20) states that translation is "the replacement of textual material in one language by equivalent textual material in another language". In translating a text, a translator has an important role since the product of translation will depend on his consideration in translating the text. Consequently, the translator has to possess high competency in order to produce a good translation. He has to master both linguistics skill and cultural awareness about both the Source Language (SL) and the Target Language (TL). He has to understand the text he translates and has good www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/sll Studies in Linguistics and Literature Vol. 2, No. 1, 2018 2 Published by SCHOLINK INC. skill in writing in order to transfer the original meaning into TL well. In addition, he has to understand the culture in both SL and TL because sometimes ideas and concepts are only acceptable in a particular culture.
However, having a list of high competency skills cannot guarantee no problem arising. Problems in translating a text will always occur, even to an experienced translator (Kardimin, 2013, p. 36). Since translation"s point is to transfer the equivalent message, numerous obstacles will always come across.
The differences in language structure and culture nature will make it difficult to transfer the intended message.
One of general problems in translation is translating metaphor (Newmark, 1988, p. 104). Metaphor itself is defined by Knowles and Moon (2005, p. 2) as "the use of language to refer to something other than what it was originally applied to, or what it "literally" means, in order to suggest some resemblance or make a connection between the two things". Moreover, Newmark states that metaphor is any figurative language which demonstrates resemblance (1988, p. 104). Thus, metaphor means language that is used to show resemblance between two things other than using literal word.
Metaphor is used to "describe an entity, event, or quality more comprehensively and concisely in a more complex way than is possible by using literal language" (Newmark, 1988, p. 84). It conveys the meaning of an object by comparing it with another object, but they must have similarity. It shows that metaphor has an important role to communicate, explain, and convey message in a more creative and interesting way (Knowles & Moon, 2005, p. 3). However, metaphor is usually culturally bound; the word which is used is influenced by the culture. Newmark explains that universal metaphor is easier to translate but cultural metaphor is more difficult (1988, p. 106). In accordance with Newmark, Larson (1998, p. 275) asserts that not all metaphor can be understood easily. If it is translated literally, it tends to cause misinterpretation. Larson (1988, pp. 276-277)  The story tells about Lucy who fell in love and adored Daniel who is surprisingly an angel. Her feeling to Daniel and her thought about any other characters are frequently expressed in metaphor.
Based on the background of the study, the following research questions are formulated: (1) What kinds of procedure are applied in translating the metaphors in Lauren Kate's novel entitled Fallen? and (2) What are the possible reasons in using particular procedure in translating the metaphors in Fallen novel?
There are some reviews of related literature provided as the following:

1) Metaphors
Metaphors are common figures of speech found in many languages (Larson, 1984, p. 271). Knowles & Moon (2005, p. 5) define metaphor as a non-literal language that uses comparison thus it cannot be interpreted literally otherwise the meaning would be irrational. It is usually used to compare two things which are similar in quality, image, or physic. Thus, metaphor is a comparison of two different objects which possess similarity indirectly. For example, in the sentence she is a fox, it does not mean that the girl is an animal but it compares the quality of she with a fox which means that she is cunning or sly.
There are three terms related to metaphors, which define its various related concepts (Newmark, 1988, p. 85). These three terms will help to analyze metaphor to find the equivalent effect. First, object is the item described or qualified by the metaphor. Second, image is the item in terms of which the object is described or the picture conjured up by the metaphor. Third, sense is the point of similarity between object and image. For instance, in rooting out the faults, the object is faults, the image is rooting up weeds, and the sense is eliminating with tremendous power.

2) Translation of Metaphor
As previously stated, translating a metaphor can be problematic for the translator. Newmark (1988) proposes strategies which can be used as technical guide in translating metaphor to achieve the equivalent meaning in the TL. Newmark's theory emphasizes that metaphor must be given special "treatment" to achieve its approximate meaning in the TL.
Here are the seven procedures proposed by Newmark in order of preference (1988b, p. 88-91). He arranged the procedures based on the most preferred procedure to the least preferred procedure. It means he suggested the translator to choose the first procedure to translate metaphors but opt down for the second to the last procedure only if there are cultural differences.

1) Reproducing the same image in the TL
This procedure is used to translate the SL metaphor into TL metaphor which has similar meaning and image. It is applied because the SL metaphor is universal thus the TL reader can completely understand the metaphor as the SL reader does. One-word metaphors are more commonly rendered by this method.
For example, you are a devil from the hell is translated into kau iblis dari neraka (Hartono, 2010) and ray of hope which is translated into sinar harap (Hariyanto, 2003). While translation of complex metaphors or idioms is rare and depends on cultural overlap. However, reproducing one-word metaphors representing sense of an event or quality instead of an entity is more difficult since an entity is more universal than an event, e.g., elbow one's way. Lastly, animal abuse can have cultural or subjective connotations but can be quite universal as well, e.g., pig is symbol of filth and dirt everywhere.

2) Replacing SL image with a standard TL image
It is used if the metaphor is culturally compatible in TL or does not clash with its culture. Newmark states that stereotyped metaphors should be converted to sense whether they exist in TL or not because it usually is culturally bounded. Euphemisms are also metaphors and often have to be replaced by cultural equivalent, unless the translator tries to inform the reader rather than to affect him/her. For example, son of a bitch is translated into bangsat or brengsek. Another example is provided by Hariyanto (2003), my life hangs on a thread is translated into hidupku di ujung tanduk.

3) Translating metaphor by simile
This procedure translates metaphor into simile form but still retaining the image. However, this modifies the shock of metaphor since simile is more restrained and explicit. This procedure can be used to modify any type of word, as well as original complex metaphor. Hariyanto (2003) gives an example: my life hangs on a thread which is translated into hidupku bagai tergantung pada sehelai benang.

4) Translating metaphor as simile along with its sense
This is a compromise procedure and combines communicative and semantic translations together which address both layman and expert reader. The main focus here is the gloss rather than equivalent effect. It is noteworthy that some metaphors may be incomplete in TL without the addition of a sense component. Thus, this procedure is used to avoid misunderstanding if the simple transfer is confusing to most readers. For example, a tide of panic is translated into seperti air pasang, rasa panik meninggi (Madsar, 2010).

5) Converting the metaphor into sense
This procedure can be applied in any type of text, and preferred when SL to TL image replacement is extra broad in terms of sense. However, the emotive aspect may be lost. To perform this procedure, the sense of metaphor should be analyzed componentially or the use of literal language must be used. For example, he is a bookworm is translated into dia sangat menyukai buku (Hartono, 2010, p. 136 (Fithri, 2011).
Into the sky is omitted since the point of the text is translating the word jump.

7) Combining the same metaphors along with its sense
Sometimes a translator wants to make sure that image will be understood properly so he adds a gloss as well. Thus, he transfers same metaphor along with its sense. For instance, "the tongue is a fire' is added with "a fire ruins things; what we say also ruin things'. Another example is the yam leaves began to nod which is translated into daun-daun umbi rambat mulai terangguk-angguk seolah tanda setuju (Madsar, 2010). This may imply lack of confidence in metaphor's power and clarity, but it can be useful if metaphor is repeated. The repetition will retain the image that the reader will not need any further explanation.

Previous Studies
Two researches are used as previous studies; the first is The Analysis of the Translation of Metaphorical

Expression in the Novel The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy into Yang Maha Kecil by A.
Rahartati Bambang Haryo (Madsar, 2010). In her study, the researcher attempted to find out the types of metaphor and strategies applied to translate metaphor, and examine the accuracy of the translation.  (Maula, 2011). She attempted to examine type of metaphor and strategy applied in the selected verses from Holy Qur'an into English version by four different translators. In her study, she used the theory composed by Dickins (2005), which is a theory specifically proposed for Arabic translation. She found one type of lexicalized metaphor which is stock metaphor, and all types of non-lexicalized ones. She also revealed that there were five techniques used in translating the Holy Qur'an. However, each translator used different technique for the same verse.

Design
Qualitative approach was applied in this study under the reason that the data were written text in the form of metaphors, as stated by Moleong (2004) that qualitative study aims to comprehend a phenomenon by describing it in words.

Data Source
The data sources of this research were the English and Indonesian versions of the novel entitled Fallen.
The Indonesian version of the novel was translated by Fanny Yuanita and it was published by PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama in July 2011.

Data Collection
The data was gathered by reading and comparing both versions of the novel.

Data Analysis
After the data had been collected, the following steps of data analysis were taken: (1)

Result
After analyzing the data, it was found that the first procedure used in the metaphor translation in Fallen novel is reproducing the same image in the TL. This can be seen in the following excerpts. In this analysis, the Source Language (SL) is English and the Target Language (TL) is bahasa Indonesia.
( here can make the TL readers unable to imagine the story since they are not very familiar with honeysuckle. (2) SL: Under an iron bicep TL: Di bawah lengan berotot besi The metaphor in the SL is "iron bicep" where the image is "iron" and the object is "bicep". It is used to show how the tomboyish attendant looks like. The Indonesian translation of "iron bicep" is lengan berotot besi where the image is besi and the object is lengan berotot. "Iron" or besi means a very hard metal used to make steel. The meaning of these two corresponding image is similar; therefore the metaphor translation above is included into reproducing the same image in the TL. In addition, since the image does not change, the reader of TL will have similar metaphor interpretation with the SL reader.
The second procedure used in translating Fallen novel is replacing SL image with a standard TL image, which is reflected in the following excerpts.

TL: Petugas berdada bidang
The image of metaphor above is "barrel" while the object is "chest". Barrel means a container made of wooden or metal hoops. However, the image is translated as bidang in TL. "Barrel chested" here means that the attendant has strong muscular chest since "barrel" is made of metal. However, in Indonesia, there is a particular metaphor to show that someone has muscular chest, which is berdada bidang. This metaphor is used to describe a tomboyish attendant.
(4) SL: Not everyone at Sword & Cross is a whore TL: Tidak semua orang disini brengsek The context of this excerpt is Penn's answer to Luce who asked why she acts really nice. The image here is "whore" while the object is everyone which refers to students of Sword & Cross. "Whore" literally means a prostitute who is sexually unfaithful with one man and in bahasa Indonesia it is called pelacur. However, in the above excerpt, the word "whore" is translated into brengsek since pelacur is a strong offensive word to use in Indonesian culture.
Translating metaphor by simile is the next procedure used in the translation of this novel. The following excerpts represent this procedure.

TL: Cantik seperti bintang iklan Neutrogena
In this excerpt, the image is "Neutrogena-commercial" while the object is "Gabbe". It is the first impression Luce has when seeing Gabbe for the first time. In the TL, there is a word seperti that signals the metaphor has been changed into simile. and it is also hard to find in magazine. Consequently, the TL reader will be rather difficult to imagine what kind of beauty Gabbe has.

TL: Gabbe yang seperti boneka
In this excerpt, the metaphor is changed into simile in the TL because there is the word seperti that shows direct comparison between the image and object. However, the translator does not translate the image with an exact same image in the TL but into standard image. The image here is "fembot" which means beautiful female robot. "Fembot" is usually used to describe women who have unrealistic degree of beauty but have low intelligence. In the TL, "fembot" is translated into boneka. In Indonesia, robot is not as popular as in US. However, boneka or "doll" has similar characteristics with "fembot". Boneka is usually made resembling human figure especially woman. Generally, boneka has a beautiful face; big eyes, smooth hair, and pointed nose; it has proportional body figure and bright skin tone. Thus, by replacing "fembot" with boneka, the readers will find it easy to imagine how Gabbe looks like.
The fourth procedure found in the translation of Fallen novel is converting the metaphor into sense.
Take a look at the following instance.
(7) SL: There was the fire, rising in her cheeks TL: Ada semburat merah, menyebar pada kedua pipi sang gadis The metaphor here compares the color of "Luce's cheek" with "fire". Fire is a process of burning that produces light and heat and often smokes and flames. In the TL, the image is not maintained but translated as its equivalent meaning which is semburat merah. Since "fire" is often associated with red, it will be clearer and more understandable for the TL readers when the translation uses semburat merah instead of the similar image, which is api. This line is taken from Luce's expression when looking at Daniel.
(8) SL: Away from the heart of the party TL: Jauh dari kerumunan tamu pesta The excerpt (8) compares a particular spot in the room where the party is held (it is implicitly stated) with "heart". Heart is the most important organ and the center of man's life. So, heart of the party means one particular spot which is the centre of the party. Seeing the TL, it can be concluded that the translator rendered the metaphor into sense since kerumunan tamu pesta (throngs of guests) usually cluster around the centre of party. Moreover, translating metaphor into sense means changing the metaphor into non-metaphorical form and kerumunan tamu pesta is the literal translation that does not keep its metaphorical form.
The last procedure is deleting the metaphor. The following instance reflects this particular procedure.
(9) SL: Blinking her big doe eyes TL: Mengerjapkan matanya yang besar Excerpt (9) describes Gabbe in which since her first appearance in the story, she is always pictured as an incredibly beautiful girl. This time, her eyes are compared with doe. Doe refers to a female deer, reindeer, rabbit, or hare. However, in the TL, there is no translation of doe which means that the translator deleted the metaphor. Metaphor deletion can also be seen in the following.
(10) SL: The blond halo of his hair TL: Pirang rambut cowok ituIn the context of this instance, Luce takes a peek at Daniel and all she can see is only the blond "halo" of his hair. "Halo" literally means a circle of light above the head of sacred figure, usually an angel. However, it is deleted in the TL since "halo" in this case means the back part of Daniel's head; it is round and his hair is blonde that it looks like "halo".
For answering the second research problem regarding the possible reasons of using particular procedures in metaphor translation, the explanation is as follows.
The first procedure used by the translator is reproducing the same image in the TL. The researcher found that there are twenty metaphors which are translated using this procedure. This procedure attempts to produce similar TL image with the SL image usually by rendering it word-for-word. The translator frequently uses this procedure both to render universal object which exists in SL and TL, and to translate object which only exists in SL. Translating universal objects by using this procedure is recommended since they have already had their corresponding translation in TL, so the text will not lose its aesthetic aspect. On the other hand, translating object which only exists in SL culture by using this procedure can lead reader into confusion since they are not very familiar with the object. However, reproducing the same image in the TL will keep its original meaning and quality of the metaphor. For example, it is very useful to translate characters in tales and specific terms in religious story.
The second procedure used by the translator is replacing SL image with a standard TL image. There are six metaphors which are translated by using this procedure. This procedure attempts to replace the image in SL into familiar image in TL. The translator regularly uses this procedure to translate SL image into TL image which is more suitable and common in TL culture, such as to soften offensive or rude image, to generalize color to a more familiar one, and to translate specific terms in religious book, in this case a Bible, in accordance with its Indonesian version. This procedure makes readers to totally hook in the story since the TL readers' culture is considered which will make the metaphor sounds natural.
The third procedure used by the translator is translating metaphor by simile. There are eleven metaphors that are translated using this procedure. This procedure attempts to translate the metaphor by transforming its form into simile form. The translator uses the words seperti, bagai, or seakan between the image and the object when using this procedure. This procedure helps readers a lot since simile is a direct comparison but it causes the emotive or aesthetic aspect lost. It will make the translation clearer and more understandable.
The fourth procedure used by the translator is converting the metaphor into sense. It was found that there are thirteen metaphors which are translated using this procedure. The translator will translate the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/sll Studies in Linguistics and Literature Vol. 2, No. 1, 2018 10 Published by SCHOLINK INC. metaphor using literal word or in other words, translate the metaphor into non-metaphorical form.
Habitually, the translator will translate the metaphor by seeing the point of similarity between the object and the image. She translates it generally because the image has a broad definition or quality that it cannot be translated into a simple word/image. Thus, by rendering it into sense, the text will be much more informative and understandable.
The fifth procedure used by the translator is deleting the metaphor. There are two metaphors which are translated using this procedure. The use of this procedure is to translate metaphor whose image translation has big chance to make the reader confused. The deletion of the metaphor will result in a clearer text.

Discussion
From the result of analysis, it was found that the translator of Fallen novel used five out of seven metaphor translation procedures based on Newmark's theory (1988). They are reproducing the same image in the TL (38.5%), replacing SL image with a standard TL image (11.5%), translating metaphor by simile (21.2%), converting the metaphor into sense (25%), and deleting the metaphor (3.8%).
The most dominant procedure of metaphor translation is reproducing the same image in the TL which is applied to twenty metaphors with the percentage of 38.5%. In line with Newmark's theory that suggests prioritizing this procedure to translate metaphor since it will deliver the meaning, style, and aesthetic aspect of the metaphor well, the translator also does it. Moreover, the images used are almost universal images where both SL and TL readers know mutually. However, there are cases where the images are unknown in the TL but they are still maintained by the translator. Although Newmark suggests using another procedure if there is a cultural gap, the translator still employs it. This shows that the translator wants to preserve the foreign culture in the novel. In this case, to preserve the foreign culture is a good decision since from the start of the story, the setting and characterization is not changed into Indonesian culture. Thus, keeping the unknown images can emphasize the setting of the story. Nonetheless, it seems that the translator does not consider the TL readers well enough since there is no further explanation about those unfamiliar images. In short, to keep the metaphor translated appropriately and aesthetically, it is better to use this procedure as well as giving footnotes in order to get aesthetic and understandable metaphor translation.
The least dominant procedure of metaphor translation here is deleting metaphor that applied only into two metaphors with the percentage of 3.8%. In Newmark's theory, it ranks sixth and in this study, it also ranks the last. In this study, it only applies to two data in which the image meaning has always repeatedly stated. Thus, the deletion does not affect the text since too much-repeated metaphor will bring the readers into boredom. It shows that deleting metaphor is not recommended unless there is a repetition of metaphor that can turn the text into an unexpressive text.
Based on the findings, it can also be seen that from 52 data, there are 26 data (50%) which are This suggests that translating metaphor into metaphor is still difficult to do, whereas it is in the two most priority metaphor translation procedure that Newmark suggested. It is already known that metaphor aims to express or convey meaning in a creative way. The fact that half of all the metaphors are modified into another form, such as simile and sense (literal translation) suggests that the translation is less aesthetic and poetic than the original version.
In this study, there are two Newmark's procedures which are not used by the translator namely translating metaphor as simile along with its sense and combining same metaphors along with its sense.
Although these two procedures maintain its figurative form, explanation is added. The translator does not use them probably because the metaphor will lose its power and it sounds redundant. Looking at the findings, the translator prefers not to combine the figurative form with the literal translation, but to render the metaphor into metaphor, simile, or sense (literal translation) alone.
There are also two metaphors whose translation is not very much understandable for Indonesian readers, namely "she's a pillar of salt" and "Our Lady of Fitness". Those two data are terms in a Christian religion, which implied that most of the non-Christian readers might find it difficult to understand the meaning. Although the translator probably wants to maintain Christian setting but she should consider more about the target readers' culture. Badly chosen metaphor translation can make the metaphor lose its meaning because it is not understandable.
Since Lauren Kate is an American author, her uses of language and the metaphors she displayed in the novel are from her socio-cultural and economical background. This leads to a difficulty in the Bahasa Indonesia version due to the fact that some metaphors have no equivalence in Bahasa Indonesia. The Indonesian translator has presented the metaphors in a way that is understandable for Indonesian readers while maintaining the aesthetic aspects of them.
The result of this present study is different from the previous studies conducted by Madsar (2010) and Maula (2011). Madsar used Larson's (1984) theory to find metaphor strategies in a novel. Finally, she only found that there were only two strategies used namely translating metaphor into metaphor and translating metaphor into simile while this study discovers that there are five procedures to translate metaphor. She also found out that most of the accurate data are resulted from the strategy of translating metaphor into metaphor. While Maula used Dickins' (2005) theory and she found out that generally there are five strategies used. Three of the strategies are similar with this study, but the rest are different.
Those two different strategies Maula found are transliteration with explanation in parentheses and reproducing the same vehicle with explanation in parentheses. in the TL, is the most recommended and applicable procedure to use in translating metaphors.
In summary, this paper tries to figure out the kinds of metaphor translation procedures used and the possible reasons in choosing particular procedure by the translator in rendering Fallen novel using Newmark's theory (1988). Based on the findings, only five procedures are found out of seven procedures proposed by Newmark. The results show that there are fifty-two metaphors found. The most dominant procedure is reproducing similar image in the TL (38.5%), followed by converting metaphor into sense (25%), then translating metaphor into simile (21.2%), following that is replacing SL image into standard TL image (11.5%), and the least dominant is deleting metaphor (3.8%). There are also various possible reasons that lead the translator to choose particular procedure, those are because the SL images are universal images, the SL images have broad definition or quality, the SL images are confusing, the SL images are offensive, and the SL images are religious terms. In short, translating metaphor is not a simple job. It is hardly possible to translate all the SL metaphor into TL metaphor meanwhile it is important to maintain its aesthetic aspect.