IDIOM-TRANSLATING STRATEGIES IN “PERAHU KERTAS” NOVEL BY DEE LESTRARI TRANSLATED BY TIFFANY TSAO

The rapid development of novel translations causes shifts in the word structure such as idioms where the meaning cannot be translated literally; thus, some strategies are needed in translating these idioms from the source language to the target language. This study aimed at identifying and analyzing the strategies used in idiom translating and the most dominant strategy used in “Perahu Kertas” novel by Dee Lestari to the English translated version translated by Tiffany Tsao. The method used in this research was descriptive qualitative where the collected data later be analyzed according to Baker’s idiom translation. The results showed that 9 translations using similar meaning and form strategy, 8 translations using similar meaning and dissimilar form, 23 translations by paraphrasing, and 8 translations by omission. The paraphrasing was the most used strategy in this translation with a percentage of 48%.


INTRODUCTION
Translating idioms is troublesome and challenging for translators since it requires knowledge of the cultural aspects of the source and target language. Idioms consist of fixed combinations of words whose meaning is often difficult to guess from the meaning of each individual word (McCarthy and Dell, 2010). Idioms are frozen patterns of language that allow little or no variation in form, such as deleting a word form it (e.g. 'spill beans') or adding a word to it (e.g. 'the very long and short of it') (Baker, 1993), which cause the naturalness of the idioms. Thus, in translating idioms, a thorough knowledge of the source and target language is required along with the creativity and the skill, willingness, and perseverance to search for the best equivalent of the idioms (Kovács, 2016).
Recent studies have revealed that most translators struggle with translating idioms due to a variety of factors, including a lack of understanding of the grammatical structure of the target language (Utami, 2017), inability to find a target language equivalent (Mulyani and Ardiansyah, 2020), lack of knowledge of idiomatic expression, cultural differences between English and Indonesian, the difficulty in interpreting idiomatic expressions (Idami, Wati, and Balqis 2022), poor linguistic and pragmatic level of the target language, and the absence of strategy knowledge among the students in translating idioms (Al Mubarak, 2017). Lack of equivalent between the source and the target language leads to the problem in interpreting the meaning of the idioms such as the idiom "berkecil hati" in Indonesian cannot be found in the equivalent idiom in English rather than by translating with a similar meaning "scared" (Isodarus, 2018). In this regard, idiom-translation strategies are required to avoid these issues and obtain the correct meaning of the idioms.
To accurately and efficiently transfer idiomatic messages, the translator must select the most appropriate strategy to overcome the unpredictable meaning of the idiomatic expressions. Even though some idioms may still be understandable when translated, many idioms may not recognize the meaning behind them. (Baker, 2011) proposes four strategies for translating idioms, which are as follows:

Idiom of similar meaning and form
This means that when translating an idiom, both SL and TL use the same words in the same structure with the same meaning. This strategy requires high knowledge of both SL and TL backgrounds. Baker using idioms of similar meaning and form involves the use of idioms in the TL which have roughly the same meaning as the idiom in the SL and consist of lexical equivalents. In most cases, idiom translations with this strategy could be translated literally as both languages have equivalent terms for similar meanings.

Idiom of similar meaning but dissimilar form
When both SL and TL have an idiom with the same meaning but different words, this strategy is used. An idiom translation with this strategy can be found when the idiom from the source language and the target language have the same meaning but different lexical items. This strategy can be seen as both languages have the same idiom with the same meaning, but each is based on their culture.

Idiom translation by paraphrase
This strategy requires the translator to explain the meaning of the idioms in a simple, understandable sentence from the SL to the TL. Idiom translation strategy by paraphrase is used when the idiom of the source language doesn't have any equivalent idioms in the target language. In this manner, the translator then briefly explains the meaning of the idiom from the SL based on the situation. When a match in TL cannot be found due to differences in SL and TL style preferences, this strategy is considered the most common method of translating idioms.

Idiom translation by omission
In this strategy, the omission is permitted only in the following circumstances: first, when there is no close equivalent in the target language; second, when paraphrasing is difficult; and finally, an idiom may be omitted for stylistic reasons. When a translator cannot find an equivalent translation in the target language, he may use a paraphrase or omit the translation entirely, as paraphrasing is not always necessary.
The idiom translation strategies listed above were used in this study to determine the idiom translation strategies found in Tiffany Tsao's novel "Perahu Kertas" and the most dominant strategy used in translating the idioms based on Baker's idiom translation theory. This novel was chosen because of its success both nationally and internationally, with high ratings and numerous quotes in the form of idioms.

METHODOLOGY
There were two kinds of data namely quantitative data and qualitative data (Karnedi, Zaim, and Mukhaiyar 2021). This study used the qualitative descriptive research method to find out and describe the strategy used in idiom translation in the novel Paper Boats by Dee Lestari, translated by Tiffany Tsao. The goal of descriptive study is to describe a phenomenon and its characteristics whereas this research is more concerned with what rather than how or why something has happened. In this descriptive study, the data may be collected qualitatively, but it is frequently analyzed quantitatively, using frequencies, percentages, averages, or other statistical analyses to determine relationships (Nassaji, 2015). As a result, the data in this study was presented as a percentage and described the strategy for translating idioms found in the novel.
Regarding to this study, the objects were "Perahu Kertas" novel by Dee Lestari, which was the first novel to be published digitally in Indonesia back in 2008 and printed out by Bentang Pustaka in 2009, and the English translation of this novel entitled the literal translation of the original title Paper Boats. This novel was translated by Tiffany Tsao and published by Amazon Publishing in 2017. The researcher used the printed version of the original novel "Perahu Kertas" as well as the English-translated version.
The data for this study was collected by scanning and identifying the Indonesian idioms in the "Perahu Kertas" novel and then figuring out the translated idioms in the Paper Boat novel. (Chaer, 1993) Indonesian idiom dictionary was used to determine the meaning of the idioms. Next, the data is listed in the table to analyze the idiom translation strategies used in the novel "Paper Boat" using Baker's theory. The result was then graphed based on the frequency of the strategies used to determine the dominant idiom translation strategy in the novel.

FINDING AND DISCUSSION
The finding of this study revealed that there were four idiom translation strategy found which were using an idiom of similar meaning and form, using an idiom of similar meaning but dissimilar form, translation by paraphrase, and translation by omission. There were 48 idioms used in the "Perahu Kertas" novel. To further discuss the findings, the following subsection were displayed the idiom translation strategy in the novel.

Similar meaning and form
One of the strategies used in translating the idioms in the novel Paper Boat was the similar meaning and form strategy. The writer mostly used literal translation when translating Indonesian idioms into English. Some of the idioms are shown in the table below. As shown in Table 1, the idioms were translated using a similar meaning and form translation strategy. The phrase "patah hati" literally translates to "broken heart" and has JOLADU: Journal of Language and Education E-ISSN 2963-2773, Vol.2 No. 1, August 2023 lexical forms with the meanings of disappointment caused by loved ones. Then, the idiom "keringat dingin" also literally translates to "cold sweet," which means nervous or concerned. The idiom "penyejuk hati" translates word for word with "refreshed" and "heart," both of which have the lexical form and meaning of relieved or peaceful. The word "remuk," which means crushed or crumbled, translates to "broken", which means damaged, and the word "hati," which means "heart." The lexical form and meaning of that idiom are similar.
Following that, the idiom "cold war" used a literal translation strategy with the same form as the source language "perang dingin," with the meaning a war that occurred from a conflict that did not involve weapons but only threats, a war that occurred as a result of arguments and disagreements. Lastly, the idiom "napas tertahan" translates to "hold one's breath," which means to be in a state of suspense or anticipation, feeling anxious and nervous. This translation was translated without any changes in the lexical forms, they even contained the same meaning. The only difference was in the sentence form, with the original being in indirect speech and the translation being in direct speech. Following the table above, the idioms "tertangkap basah" and "caught red-handed" both meant "caught doing something." The idiom "tertangkap basah" literally means "caught wet," but in English, it means "caught red-handed." This translation had the same meaning as the source language; however, the word "basah" was translated in a different lexical form, "red-handed." As a result, this translation was classified as having a similar meaning but a dissimilar form strategy.

Similar meaning but dissimilar form
Then, for the idiom "tersenyum masam, t the translator used the phrase forced smile to explain the situation. In Indonesian, "tersenyum" meant smile, and "masam" meant sour (related to unpleasant taste or smell), as it referred to a forced smile. This idiom equivalent to "tersenyum kecut" that had the same lexical and meaning. The word "masam" was translated with a different lexical form "forced". The idiom "hati menciut" means "lack of courage to face someone." "shriveling heart" had a similar meaning but in a different lexical form in this translation. "Menciut" meant to shrink, whereas "shriveling" meant to wrinkle. These two words were not lexically identical, but they had similar meanings. As a result, this translation employed a similar meaning but a dissimilar form.
The phrase "jatuh hati" means "falling in love." The translator translated it into "fallen head over heels", which means madly in love with something or someone. The word "hati" was translated as "head over heels" using a different lexical form. The word "tahu" was translated into "know," while the word "diri," which means yourself, was translated into a different form, "place".Lastly, the word "mengguncang" was translated as "shaken," and the word "hati" was translated as "to the core," both of which have a similar meaning of being extremely shocked or shaken. These two idioms had distinct lexical forms. In this translation, the translator used a similar meaning and dissimilar form strategy. As mentioned in the table above, the idiom "pilihan hati" refers to a decision made with one's heart, a decision made by following one's heart. The translator used the phrase "set his heart" in the translation, which explains the situation. As a result, this translation was created using the paraphrase strategy. According to (Chaer 1993), the idiom "langkah seribu" means "quick retreat" and was translated as "hasty retreat," which means "rapid in action or movement." In this case, the translator provided more information about the situation, resulting in this translation using the paraphrase strategy.

Paraphrase strategy
The idiom "berpindah tangan" literally meant to move from one hand to another. In this translation, the translator paraphrased the translation by explaining the meaning without changing the intention behind the idiom. "Berpindah tangan" then was substituted by the word given as it had a similar meaning as the idiom, "given to anyone". The idioms "mati gaya" and "mati langkah" had similar meanings which was there is nothing could be done. In this translation, the translator paraphrased the translation into "didn't know what to say or do". Furthermore, the idiom "air muka" was made up of two words: "air" (water) and "muka" (face). This idiom refers to one's facial expression. Even though the term face expression would be a better option in this translation, the translator used the paraphrase strategy to explain the meaning. Last, "buang" means "to throw away," and "muka" means "face." This idiom refers to turning one's face away from someone else's gaze. Because there was no equivalent translation in the target language with a similar meaning, the translator translated the idiom by explaining the situation directly. To explain the idiom, the phrase "turn away to look at something else" is used.  Table 4 showed that the idiom "mati kutu" was omitted in the English novel. This idiom implies that hopeless and cannot do anything. The idiom "mati kutu" was not included in the translation from the table above. The idiom "panjang lebar" in conversation is used to describe the action of talking a lot in a short period. "Panjang" means long, and "lebar" means wide, so it would be long and wide when translated. In this translation, the idiom was omitted and changed into "ranted" to describe the situation. Ranted means to speak or shout in the wild, which already told the situation.

Omission strategy
The idiom "hilir mudik" lacked an equivalent translation. This idiom refers to the act of going back and forth. However, the translator removed the idiom from the translation, although it can be paraphrased into the meaning going back and forth. The phrase "setengah mati" means many struggles when doing something. "Setengah" means "half" in Indonesian, and "mati" means "dead." This idiom refers to putting in much effort and giving almost everything. This idiom, however, was omitted and replaced with "was trying not to cry" in this translation. It also happened to the idiom "pikir panjang," which means "reconsider a thought or decision," which was removed from the Paper Boat novel. This idiom can be replaced by "second thoughts" as a noun or "think twice" as a verb phrase. In contrast, the translator omitted the idiom by not including them in the novel and instead translated it directly without the idiom. On the other hand, it did not affect the situation's intention.
Finally, the idiom "suara hati" refers to one's true feelings. The word "suara" was removed from the translation and replaced with "follow your heart," which refers to one's true desire or what they thought they should do. Even though not every component of the idiom translation was omitted, this translation was still considered an omission because a component was still missing.
After analyzing the idiom-translating strategies used in the novel Paper Boat, this study found that out of the 48 idioms found in this research, 9 idiom translations were using the similar meaning and form strategy, 8 used similar meaning and dissimilar form strategy, 23 used paraphrase strategy and 8 by omission. Translating idioms by using paraphrase strategy was the most dominant strategy used in the Paper Boat novel. The percentage of each strategy can be seen as follows: Figure 1: The idiom translation strategies found in "Perahu Kertas" Novel by Dee Lestari translated by Tiffany Tsao Figure 1 depicted the paraphrase strategy as the dominant strategy in idiom translation, followed by a similar meaning and form strategy as the second. The last two strategies with the same percentage were similar meanings and dissimilar forms and omissions. This findings in line with (Kovács 2016;Theda, Krisandini, and Sutrisno 2022; Wisudawanto and Al-Haris 2020) who found paraphrase strategy was the most strategy used in translating literary works and it also supported by (Baker 2011). Omission strategy was rarely used in translating the idioms. Different cultural and semantic relationship between Indonesian and English was most likely the translator's consideration when employing the idiom translation strategy.

CONCLUSION
The difficulties in translating idioms involve more consideration in selecting a translation strategy to ensure that the meaning transferred corresponds to the source language. Baker's idiom translation strategy is a popular method for translating idioms, particularly in literary works such as novels. Four strategies were used in translating idioms from the Indonesian novel "Perahu Kertas" into the English novel "Paper Boat" for this study. The findings showed that the most commonly used strategy was paraphrase, followed by similar meaning and form strategy, similar meaning and dissimilar form strategy, and omission strategy. Finding appropriate equivalence from the source language can be considered an impediment to translating idioms, as the findings show that some idioms are translated by explaining the situation with the same meaning.
Future research should look into other approaches to translating idioms from Indonesian to English or vice versa. Other literary works, such as comic books or short stories, can be studied as well. The factor that made idiom translation challenging in Indonesian to other languages could also be a study topic. Therefore, idiom translation can be thoroughly discussed and yield positive results to improve idiom translation comprehension.