Translation Processes, Practices, and Products of Professional Indonesian Translators

Abstract

TRANSLATION PROCESSES, PRACTICES, AND PRODUCTS OF PROFESSIONAL INDONESIAN TRANSLATORS By Mangatur Nababan This study investigated the translation processes, practices, and products of a sample of professional Indonesian translators using quantitative and qualitative approaches. The purposes of the study were to survey the range of backgrounds of the translators in terms of level of formal education, English skills, translation training obtained, practical experience in translation, and participation in professional development, to explore their knowledge and beliefs about the translation process and approach, to examine to what extent this matched the practice of each translator as observed in an experimental task, and to find out to what extent their backgrounds relate to the quality of their translation in terms readability and accuracy. The study consisted of three phases using three methods of data collection. A questionnaire (Phase 1) was used to obtain data about translators' backgrounds. An interview (Phase 2) was utilized to collect data about their knowledge and beliefs about the translation process and approach, ways they identified target readers, and ways in which they assessed quality of a translation. An experimental task (Phase 3) produced translations of an excerpt of academic text, which were evaluated in terms of readability and accuracy. When performing the translation task, the translators were videotaped. The purpose of videotaping was to observe the translation behavior of the translators. This study had seven major findings. Firstly, the 23 translators responding to the questionnaire had a university education. However, the majority (65.22%) were holders of an undergraduate degree. Secondly, the field of academic preparation of the translators was mainly English (69.57%), and none of the 23 translators had studied translation as their major degree subject although translators with an English major generally had taken some academic translation courses. Meanwhile, there were only five translators (two of whom had a major in English) who had obtained vocational translation training. Thirdly, more than 50% of the translators had an adequate level of English as measured by TOEFL scores, but only 5 out of the 23 translators had near native speaker competence. Fourthly, the translators lacked participation in professional development. Fifthly, their stated theoretical knowledge about translation process and approach was not always applied in practice. Sixthly, only one out of six translations produced for this study achieved a balance between readability and accuracy. The other translations, on the other hand, were generally difficult to comprehend and/or inaccurate in content. Seventhly, the quality of the translations appeared to be closely related to the translators' English and subject knowledge.