The Use of Strategies in the Translation of Metaphor into English by University Students: The Case of ‘The Bamboo Stalk’

Abstract

This study aims to identify the strategies used by university students compared to a professional translator in translating metaphors found in "The Bamboo Stalk" novel. The researcher gathered 52 translation tasks from male and female students who are about to graduate with high and low GPAs, whether its above or less than 2.75, to compare the metaphor translating strategies used by students to that of the professional translator. The data were analyzed following the metaphor classifications proposed by Richard (1936) and Pateda in (Nasution, 2007), in addition to the metaphor translation strategies proposed by both Larson (1984) and Newmark (1988). Results show that all of the university students used more metaphor translation strategies than the professional translator. Moreover, the most used strategy by university students and the professional translator is “Maintain the metaphor” with significantly high percentages. Additionally, female students applied more strategies than male students, and high achievers tend to use fewer strategies than low achievers. The outcomes of this study would contribute to developing both the students’ usage of metaphor translation strategies and instructors’ assessments of student performance.