Grammatical equivalence of the translation of the novel “Laskar Pelangi” by Andrea Hirata into English through Google Translate

Abstract

Translation is important in understanding foreign cultures, including the ones exposed in novels. This study aims at investigating the grammatical equivalence of the translation of an Indonesian novel “Laskar Pelangi” by Andrea Hirata into English through Google Translate, from which the data collected. The method was qualitative with content analysis that covered five grammatical categories of number, gender, person, tense and aspect, and voice. The findings indicated the following points; Since Indonesian language has no category of number, most of nouns are translated as singular nouns in English. The third singular persons in Indonesian language, ‘dia’ and ‘-nya” show no sex, the translation depends on the context, otherwise it is translated as a male person. Indonesian words “kami” and “kita” are translated with “we/us”, and the translation indicates no dimensions of familiarity and formality for the first and second singular persons “saya, aku” translated by the word “I/me”, and “kau, kamu, anda” by “you.” Indonesian language has no tense and aspect, where the verbs do not conjugate to express temporal or aspectual distinctions. It has the equivalence when the text source is written with time. When the source text is passive, the English verbs are written in a passive voice. The translation distortion is related to semantics and grammar. As the conclusion, the grammatical equivalence of the translation of the novel is low.