This thesis investigates some key translation issues arising from the translation of Islamic terms in the academic abstract of an Islamic text from Indonesian into English. Using the frameworks of translation as intercultural communication across languages and cultures as well as systemic functional linguistics, this project focuses on four topics such as translation quality, translation strategies and techniques, linguistic, and cultural considerations. A mixed-methods research design was used in the project, and 90 respondents participated. Quantitative data analysis showed that the translation quality was determined by the experiential meaning of the Islamic terms and that the quality of Islamic term translations did not differ significantly among the three translator groups. The study discovered that the translation quality of the Islamic term groups was considered as moderate. This indicates that the lexical choices of Islamic phrases more frequently reflect their proper experiential meanings, even though certain words are difficult to understand. This also suggested that, despite a few ungrammatical structural patterns, Islamic word groupings were appropriately expressed in appropriate experiential structures. Furthermore, lexical choices in transliterations, as dominated by STs, may result in a more dense and complicated text. STs and TTs' inclusion of more lengthy terms' explanations may also impair the abstract layout and thus distract the readers. In terms of structural patterns, CTs were more likely to retain the original text structure than STs and TTs. Qualitative data showed that foreignisation was the most preferred translation strategy, while pure borrowing and correspondence were the common techniques used in translating Islamic terms. The reasons why particular strategy and technique were used referred to general practice, reader orientation, text categories, and personal reasons. Thing to Deictic Thing became the most common Islamic term experiential construction used in the target text. In addition, of 80 target experiential constructions identified in this study, it was revealed that STs dominated the initial 20 suggested constructions while the new 60 versions were regulated by TTs. While most translators shifted the experiential structures appropriately, a few functional roles were discovered to have shifted improperly, which caused changes in their experiential meanings. The translated Islamic terms were culture-specific to Islamic religion but with Indonesian transliteration style. As a result, the translation rarely found their cultural equivalents where a few irrelevant cultural replacements were also infrequently identified. Being aware of the importance of culture helped Indonesian translators recognise these terms from socio-cultural information.
Investigating the translation of Islamic terms into English in an Indonesian context
Aminudim, M. (Author). 2022
Western Sydney University thesis: Doctoral thesis