VOKASI NEWS – The translation of children’s literature is a specialized field that requires a different strategies compared to the translation of adult texts. This research analyzes the translation strategies used in a bilingual children’s storybook titled “Beautiful Flowers: Kiara’s Friends in the Garden”. This book is designed in Indonesian-English for child readers aged 3-7 years. It has the aim of teaching values of friendship, kindness, and appreciation for nature.
Literal Translation Method as the Primary Choices
The analysis shows that the literal translation method became the dominant approach used throughout the book. According to Newmark (1988), literal translation involves translating text word-for-word from the source language to the target language. However, it still need to maintaining the grammatical structure of the target language. This method proved to be highly effective for children’s educational literature. The reason is because it can maintain the simplicity of language that is essential for young learners.
An example of the application of the literal method can be seen in the sentence “Hai teman-teman, perkenalkan namaku Kiara” which was translated as “Hello, Friends! My name is Kiara”. The sentence structure is maintained directly while still ensuring naturalness in English. This approach allows children to understand the content easily without experiencing confusion due to overly complex sentence structures.
Translation Techniques Applied
In addition to the literal method, the research identified five specific translation techniques used strategically. The translation techniques consists of Addition, Modulation, Description, Generalization, and Particularization.
The Addition technique was applied to provide a clearer picture for children. For example, the sentence “Selamat pagi, disini aku punya bunga mawar” was translated as “Good morning! I have red rose”. The addition of the word “red” helps with more vivid visualization even though it is not explicitly mentioned in the source text.
The Modulation technique changes perspective without changing the fundamental meaning. The phrase “Bunga bougenville dengan warna ungu yang indah” was modulated into “This is a purple bougainvillea. It looks lovely”, providing a more engaging visual perspective for children.
The Description technique replaces terms with descriptive explanations. “Ini adalah bunga melati yang memiliki aroma wangi” was translated as “This is a jasmine flower. It smells very nice”, providing sensory descriptions that are easy for children to understand.
Meanwhile, the Generalization technique converts specific terms to more general ones, such as “cantik” becoming “pretty” which is more familiar to children. Conversely, Particularization uses more specific terminology, such as “pink muda” becoming “light pink” to help children learn precise color terminology.
Challenges and Added Value
This research reveals several challenges in translating children’s books. The main challenge is determining the most appropriate translation method between communicative translation and literal translation. Additionally, maintaining consistency in the translation approach while ensuring each page remains engaging for children requires a balance between fidelity to the source text and adaptation for the target audience’s level of understanding.
Through this analysis, the author gained a comprehensive understanding of how literal translation can be effectively applied to children’s literature. This experience demonstrates that literal translation, when executed properly, is capable of maintaining the educational integrity of the source text while ensuring accessibility for young learners.
Conclusion
The combination of the literal translation method with various supporting techniques successfully maintained the educational value of the source text while making it accessible and engaging for English-speaking child readers. The translation successfully preserved moral values about friendship, kindness, and appreciation for nature while adjusting linguistic complexity to the cognitive developmental level of the target audience.
This study demonstrates that translating children’s literature requires special consideration of the target audience’s developmental characteristics, cultural background, and educational needs. Successful children’s book translation involves a balance between fidelity to the source text and adaptation for the level of understanding and cultural context of young readers.
This research makes an important contribution to the field of translation studies, particularly in the translation of bilingual children’s literature. These findings can be used as a reference for translators and publishers in developing quality bilingual children’s books that support multilingual education and cross-cultural understanding among young readers.
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Author: Stefi Putri Amelia
Editor: Puspa Anggun Pertiwi
