The Translation Process of Machine Translation for Cultural Terms on Balinese Folktales

Abstract

Abstract—The goal of this study is to determine the capability of Google Translate in term of translating cultural terms. This study is conducted to analyze the translation performed by one of the well-known machine translation, Google Translate. The data is collected from the translation of seven traditional Balinese folktales chosen in random via online, namely Manik Angkeran, Kebo Iwa, Lubdaka, Tampaksiring, Origin of Bali, Origin of Singaraja, and Pan Balang Tamak. The data of the study is the translation on cultural terms translated by Google Translate. The cultural terms are classified with Cultural Term Classification Theory by Newmark. The analysis is conducted by comparing the translatied text and the original text to identify the translation method utilized by Google Translate in translating cultural term into English. The Translation Method Theory and Classification by Newmark is used to identify the method of translation utilized by Google Translate. The methods then is used in order to determine the tendency of Google Translate in the translation toward cultural terms.

 Keywords: cultural term; machine translation; traditional folktales; translation method; translation tendency