CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents: (1) the concept of vocabulary, (2) the concept of

translation, (3) the correlation between vocabulary and translation, and (4) another

previous related study.

2.1 Concept of Vocabulary

Vocabulary is one of the language components in English.

Guralnik (1988: 149) cited in Andrian (1997: 6) states that vocabulary is a list of

words and often phrases, abbreviations, inflectional forms, etc, usually arranged

alphabetically and defined or translated, as in dictionary or glossary. According to

Hornby (1995: 1331), vocabulary is the total number of words which (with the rules

for combining them) make up a language. Al-Kufaishi (1988: 42) defines vocabulary

as a vehicle of thought, self-expression, interpretation and communication.

Webster (1988: 840) defines vocabulary as the sum of words in a language employed

by a group of people in relation to a subject.

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Cheek et al (1989: 113) cited in Ismalinda (2002: 7) state that there are three

kinds of vocabulary:

(1) General Vocabulary : refers to the words that comprise the major part of one’s

vocabulary usage in everyday communication, such as “animal”, “house” and

“family”.

(2) Specialized Vocabulary : refers to the words with multiple meanings that change

from one content area to another, such as “mass”, “root” and “raise”.

(3) Technical Vocabulary : refers to the words that are essential to the understanding

of a specific content area, such as “gene” (science), “embargo” (social studies)

and “exponent” (mathematic).

There are several aspects of words:

(1) Pronunciation : the way in which a word is pronounced (Hornby; 1995: 928).

For example : analyze [’ænəlaız], accuracy [’ækjərəsị]

(2) Spelling : the action or process of forming words correctly from individual letters

or the way a word is spelt (Hornby; 1995: 1143).

For example : i-n-t-e-l-l-e-c-t-u-a-l, e-x-p-e-n-s-i-v-e, e-n-g-l-i-s-h

(3) Meaning : what is referred to or indicated by e.g. sounds, words or signals

(Hornby; 1995: 726).

For example : ‘girl’ means a female child, ‘shoe’ means an outer covering for a

person’s foot usually made of leather or plastic.

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(4) Word Class : part of speech that has its own character and function in the

sentences which is described in English grammar (Gleason, 1961: 93).

For example : noun (book, apple, pen), verb (write, read, teach),

adjective (angry, sad, happy), adverb (absolutely, exactly,

honestly), etc.

(5) Syllabification : the process of dividing a word into syllable, usually consisting of

a vowel sound with a consonant before or after it (Hornby, 1995: 1210).

For example : hap-py, beau-ti-ful, ma-ga-zine.

(6) Subcategorization : additional specification of words in the lexicon that are

subcategorized for certain contexts to make grammatical distinctions (Fromkin

and Rodman, 1998: 134).

For example:

• put, V, ______ NP PP
John put the milk in the refrigerator
V NP PP

• afraid, Adj, ______________ PP

She is afraid of the dog
Adj PP

• belief, N, ________ (PP), ________ (S)

The belief in freedom of speech is a basic right
N PP

The belief that freedom of speech is a basic right is important

N S
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(7) Etymology : the origin and history of the words and their meaning, whether the

word is nonstandard (such as ain’t) or slang, etc (Fromkin and Rodman, 1998:

66).

For example : diction from the word ‘dicere’, morpheme from the Greek word

‘morphe’, curriculum from the Greek word ‘curir’.

In this study, the writer focused on general vocabulary and technical

vocabulary because according to the Competence-Based Curriculum, the eleventh

grade students should master a number of vocabulary items in the following themes:

environment, art and culture, science and technology, family life, education, and

international relations.

2.2 Concept of Translation

Rachmadie; Suryawinata and Effendi (1988: 2) state that translation refers to

transferring a text in a source language into an equivalent text in a target language.

Newmark (1981) states that translation is a craft consisting of the attempt to replace a

written message or statement in one language by the same message or statement in

another language. According to Pinchuck (1977), translation is a process of finding a

TL equivalent for an SL utterance.

Bathgate cited in Widyamartaya (1989: 40) states that a translator should be

able to understand the content of the text he translates because attention to both form

and content is essential. In other words, before a translator actually does the
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translation, he/she has to understand fully the content of the text and also find out the

equivalent words from the source language into the target language. The process can

be presented in the following diagram (Rachmadie; Suryawinata and Effendi, 1988) :

Source Language Target Language

(Receptor Language)

Text to be Translation
translated

discover re-express
the meaning the meaning

Meaning

Figure 1 : Process of Translation

The process of translation includes: (1) understanding the meaning or message of the

text in the source language; (2) looking for an equivalent meaning or message in the

target language; and (3) re-expressing this equivalent meaning or message into an

accepted form of the target language. In order to be able to discover the meaning of

the text in the source language and to re-express the meaning into an accepted form of

the target language, a translator should know the lexicons and the grammatical

structures of both languages and should consider the communication situations and

the cultural contexts.

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Larson (1984: 7-15) states that there are two main kinds of translation :

(1) Form-based Translation

Form-based translation attempts to follow the form of the source language. It is

known as literal translation.

(2) Meaning-based Translation

Meaning-based translation makes every effort to communicate the meaning of

the source language text in the natural forms of the receptor language.

According to Larson (1984), translation falls on a continuum from very literal,

literal, modified literal, inconsistent mixture, near idiomatic, to idiomatic, and may

even move on to unduly free.

very modified inconsistent near unduly

literal literal literal mixture idiomatic idiomatic free

TRANSLATOR’S
GOAL

(a) Very literal or literal translation

It is an interlinear or word-for-word translation. For some purposes, it is

desirable to reproduce the linguistic features of the source text, as for example,

in a linguistic study of that language. Although literal translation may be very

useful for purposes related to the study of the source language, it is of little help

to speakers of the receptor language who are interested in the meaning of the
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source language text. Literal translation sounds like nonsense and has little

communication value.

(b) Modified literal translation

It modifies the order and grammar enough to use acceptable sentence structure

in the receptor language, but lexical items are translated literally. Occasionally,

these changes would avoid complete nonsense or improve the communication.

However, the result still does not sound natural.

(c) Inconsistent mixture or near idiomatic translation

It mixes a literal transfer of the grammatical units along with some idiomatic

translation of the meaning of the text. A translator may express some parts of his

translation in very natural forms and then in other parts fall back into literal

form.

(d) Idiomatic translation

It uses the natural forms of the receptor language, both in the grammatical

constructions and in the choice of lexical items. A truly idiomatic translation

does not sound like a translation. It sounds like it was written originally in the

receptor language. Therefore, a good translator should try to translate

idiomatically. This is his goal.

(e) Unduly free translation

It adds extraneous information not in the source text, changes the meaning of

the source language, or distorts the facts of the historical and cultural settings of

the source language text. Sometimes, unduly free translation is made for
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purposes of humor or to bring a special response from the receptor language

speakers. However, it is not acceptable as a normal translation. The emphasis is

on the reaction of those reading or hearing it and the meaning is not necessary

the same as that of the source language.

According to Larson (1984), the best translation : (a) uses the natural

grammatical and lexical choices of the target language, (b) communicates, as much as

possible, to the target language speakers the same meaning that was understood by

the source language speakers, and (c) maintains the dynamics of the original source

language text, meaning that the translation is presented in such a way that it will

hopefully evoke the same response as the source language text attempted to evoke.

In this study, the writer focused on idiomatic translation because eleventh

grade students in accordance with the Competence-Based Curriculum should be able

to communicate in written and spoken language by using appropriate language

variety fluently and accurately, especially in the form of descriptive, narrative,

anecdote, exposition analyst and exposition hortatory that emphasize on the variety of

interpersonal meaning.
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2.3 Correlation between Vocabulary and Translation

Vocabulary mastery is very important in translation. The more words one

knows, the better he/she understands a text. Vocabulary helps the translator to

understand the message of the source language and then re-express the whole

message to the target language. The richness of vocabulary has very conspicuous

effects on the translator’s work. A translator must be able to choose appropriate words

that represent the meaning of the source language in the target language, so that the

message, thoughts or ideas that he/she translated will be understood by the readers.

The translators who have a better knowledge of vocabulary or who know many

vocabulary items and its appropriate usage tend to express their ideas more

effectively than those who have a limited mastery of vocabulary. By knowing many

vocabulary items, a translator can also vary the use of words in his/her work to avoid

repetition of words that can make the results of his/her translation sound monotonous.

Ediger (1991) cited in Brynilsen (2000: 3) states that “variety in selecting words to

convey accurate meaning is necessary in speaking, writing and the outgoes of the

language arts”.

The correlation between vocabulary mastery and translation skill has been

suggested by the following linguists. Groot (1994) states that for an adequate

understanding of academic text, a vocabulary of at least 7,000 words is required.

Hazenberg & Hulstijn (1996) mention even higher number, 10,000 words. Nation

(1993) and Laufer (1997) suggest a target vocabulary of 5,000 words as the minimum

lexical requirement for understanding general text. Those various studies above have
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demonstrated that translators must be familiar with more than 90% of the words used.

With such a dense lexical coverage of a text, the percentage of unknown words is so

low that they will either not be essential for an understanding of the text or their

meaning may be deduced from the context.

Sukur (2005) states that one of the aspects that someone must take into

account when translating is language proficiency. Language proficiency relates to

grammar and vocabulary mastery. For example, a person who has limited grammar

mastery would find it difficult to understand the source language text and to transfer

the ideas from the source language into grammatical sentences in the target language.

Limited mastery of vocabulary is also a disturbance because it would take too much

time for a translator to open a dictionary to look up difficult words. Therefore,

mastering grammar and having a lot of stocks of vocabulary really help someone to

translate well and quickly.

2.4 Another Previous Related Study

There is one previous study which is related to the writer’s present study at

the library of the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Sriwijaya University.

The thesis is entitled “The Correlation between the Seventh Semester Students’

Reading Comprehension and Their Translating Ability” written by Adya in 1996. The

objective of the study was to find out whether or not there was a significant

correlation between reading comprehension and translating ability of the seventh

semester students of English Education Study Program Sriwijaya University. The

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result of the study showed that there was a significant correlation between the

students’ reading comprehension and their translating ability. The correlation

coefficient was 0.80.

There are one similarity and two differences between Adya’s study and the

writer’s present study. The similarity is that both are correlational studies. The

differences are on the correlated variables and the populations of the study. Adya’s

correlated the students’ reading comprehension and their translation ability, while this

present study correlated the students’ vocabulary mastery and their translation ability.

The population of Adya’s study was the seventh semester students of English

Education Study Program, Sriwijaya University in 1996, while the population of this

present study was the eleventh-grade students of SMA Negeri 11 Palembang in 2007.