Representing Onomatopoeias in the Britain Comic and their Translations in Indonesia

Abstract

Onomatopoeia can be assumed as one of the most unique lingual forms in human communication. The translation of its form into another language as from English into Indonesian, for example, always tends to be a very interesting issue or topic of analysis. This paper tries to reveal the issue of onomatopoeias found in the Asterix: Asterix in Britain comic and their translations in Indonesian through these following three basic formulations: (1) What types of onomatopoeias are found in the Asterix: Asterix in Britain comic?(2) How are they translated into Indonesian as found in its translated Indonesian version? Lastly, (3) How do their natural features and arbitrariness impact the techniques of translation applied? The method used in this analysis is a descriptive-qualitative method. 103 words are identified as onomatopoeic words categorized into (1) miscellaneous sounds (74, 8%), (2) human sounds (19, 4%), (3) animal sounds (3, 9%), and (4) nature sounds (1, 9%)—all of which are based on Rozmej and Drabikowska’s classification (2015). In term of their translation techniques, the most applied technique in translating them is adaptation, amounting for 72, 8%, and the least applied is compensation that amounts for only 0, 9%. The other techniques found are naturalized borrowing, pure borrowing, and amplification. These techniques make impact on the results of translation whether the forms of onomatopoeia translated are constantly maintained, changed, or removed.