Tiger man analysis

CULTURAL (UN)TRANSLATABILITY
IN EKA KURNIAWAN’S MAN
TIGER
—
Translating literary works from
one language to another is never
easy—especially when the two
languages have huge different
paradigms. Incommensurate
modes of thinking and
understanding under different
paradigms would make it
impossible to translate certain
terms or phrases, that finally they
are kept within the text without
being linguistically transferred.
This phenomenon in a context of
broad translation is called as
cultural untranslatability.
I encountered untranslatability
when I read the English version of
Eka Kurniawan’s Lelaki Harimau
(Man Tiger) . The English
translation was done by Labodalih
Sembiring, and I gotta be honest:
it is one of the best translated
Indonesian books that I have ever
read. The book is beautifully
transferred without dismissing the
figurative and poetical aspects.
However, despite of the splendid
translation, I notice that there are
certain Indonesian terms which
are kept as they are. They are not
translated; and stand with the
English language equally and, of
course, proudly. Right after I read
the first page, I directly found
three Indonesian terms
namely kangkong, mujair , and nila.
The decision to leave these words
without being translated is
interesting to observe, because, as
a matter of fact, they all can be
translated to English. Kangkong,
for instance, is linguistically called
as kale in English. Mujair (mujjair)
and Nila (parrot fish) are the
names of fish that are universally
known and certainly have English
translations. Renouncing them in
Indonesian, when in a context of
literal translation, might be
considered as a daring act as
readers who do not speak
Indonesian would have difficulties
in understanding the text.
Therefore, it can be understood
that in this specific page,
untranslatability is done
deliberately. I would argue that
cultural barrier and
incommensurate paradigms are
not the case. Instead, it is all a
matter of preserving cultural
values to maintain Indonesian
unique characteristics.
Leaving the words kangkong ,
mujair , and nila reinforces the
ideas that this translated version
brings along the words’ cultural
values. The word kangkong , for
example, when translated directly,
means kale. However, kale as
understood by the community that
speaks and understands English is
not the same with kangkong as
known by people in Indonesia.
They are of different kind of
plants, yet shares the same literal
translation. Therefore, it can be
agreed-upon that what is
understood as kale in a universal
context is not the same with the
one in Indonesian context. It is
better, then, to leave the word
kangkong as it is—because it bears
a nation’s understanding towards
the word’s meaning. This
understanding, then, can be
classified as a cultural value.
Interestingly, this deliberate
untranslatability adds to the
beauty of the translated version of
Man Tiger . By preserving the
Indonesian words, there are values
that bring along cultural and
Indonesian unique characteristics.
This preservation is important,
especially if applied to Eka
Kurniawan’s work, as he
represents picturesque Indonesia
in his narration.
Annisa
A lifelong learner who adores the earth, the
sky, and everything in between. All writings
on this blog are the fruits of her never-
resting mind — all rights kindly reserved.
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