CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

English is the most widely used language in the world. That fact makes

English is considered as international language. Since English is an international

language, it is very important for everyone to learn it. People can communicate with

other people in the world with English. Also, to obtain information, people need to

learn English because the information is often written in English. That is why

learning English is very important.

In learning English, there are four skills that must be learned. Those skills are

listening, speaking, reading, and writing. To master those skills, the process of

translation is needed. Thats why the translation skill is important. The translation

skill is needed to understand what people say or write and to make people understand

what we say or write.

Learning foreign language cant be separated from the process of translating

from the source language to the target language. Translation is the replacement of

textual material in one language by equivalent textual material in another language

(Catford). Translating one kind of text can be different to translating another text.

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When we translate a text, we are not only replacing the words to the target language

but also have to pay attention to the text.

One kind of text that is quite difficult to be translated and often causes

problems for the translator is idiom. It is as mentioned by Machali in his book

Pedoman Bagi Penerjemah, translating the idiom requires an understanding of the

translator about the target language. The translator must understand the context and

culture of the target language.

Idiom itself according to Newmark, is a group of words whose meaning

cannot be predicted from the meanings of the constituent words. It is linguistic and

grammatical usage that is natural to native speakers of a language. Idiom cannot be

translated literally because even the result of the translation grammatically

acceptable, but in terms of contextual meaning it is not. Referencing to the context is

important so the translation could be appropriate.

The ability to translate the text from the source language into the target

language is important, including the ability to translate the idiom. This ability is not

only important for people who work as translators, but also for people who want to

become teachers of foreign languages. Because this ability is important to for people

who want to become language teacher, the translation subject is tought for one

semester in English Department of Lambung Mangkurat University. The researcher is

interested to find out the ability of the students of English Department batch 2014

who have taken the translation course in translating English idiom.

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1.2 Statement of the Problem

How is the ability of the students of English Department of Lambung

Mangkurat University batch 2014 in translating English idiom?

1.3 Objective of the Study

The objective of the study is to find out the ability of the students of English

Department of Lambung Mangkurat University batch 2014 in translating English

idiom.

1.4 Significance of the Study

The significances of this study are:

1. It is hoped the result of this study will help the students to know their ability

in translating English idiom. By knowing it, it is expected that they will be

motivated to improve their ability.

2. It is hoped that teachers/lecturers pay more attention in teaching and apply

some techniques to improve their students ability in translating English

idiom. Also, it is expected that they can help their students to overcome their

problems in translating English idiom.

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3. It is hoped that the result of this study will give contribution to educational

field. It is expected that the result of this study will help other researchers in

finding references or resources for further research about translation.

1.5 Scope and Limitation

1. The subject of this research is the students of English Department of Lambung

Mangkurat University batch 2014.

2. The objective of this research is only to find out the ability of the students of

English Department of Lambung Mangkurat University batch 2014 in translating

English idiom.

1.6 Definition of Key Terms

1. Ability

According to Lohman (1997:2), Ability is defined as level of performance on

a particular task or class of tasks.

2. Translation

According to Catford (1965:20), translation is the replacement of textual

material in one language by equivalent textual material in another language.

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3. Idiom

According to Machali (2009:86), idiom is a group of words whose meaning

cannot be predicted from meanings of the constituent words.