Differing Semantic Elements as Agents of Change in Malay -English Translation

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate the translation of Bahasa Malaysia headlines into English semantically. The objectives of this study are : (i) to identify the procedure / strategies used in the translation of BM headlines into Eng-lish. (ii) to find out if the message of the Source Language (SL) is retained in the Target Language (TL).Towards that end, a componential methodology of the ST and TT will be adopted by paying attention to examine the differences and similari-ties of the content of the messages in the ST and their corresponding messages in the TT. In the evaluation of the messages of the texts (both ST and TT), Newmark’s(1981) approaches in translation shall be used, in particular the employment of his terminologies such as overtranslation, undertranslation, and ambiguous translation. In addition, our observation of any difference in the messages of the ST and the TT (both the linguistic meaning and the extra linguistic meaning) shall be stated using the semantic notation of the componential analysis of Katz and Fodor (1963) and as extended in Jackson (1988). In some places in addition to the notation, a simple supplemental narration shall be employed especially in dealing with cultural messages and other nuances in the realm of pragmatics. It is found that the message have merely been diffused, or being put in a time frame (tenses) to suit the culture, political make up, the Malay grammar and sociolinguistic idiosyncracies of Malay target reader.