Humanitatis: Journal of Language and Literature SK Dirjen DIKTI Nomor 36/E/KPT/2019 Vol.
No.
June 2025, pp.
ISSN (Prin.
: 2338-9362 ISSN (Onlin.
: 2477-2267 Translation Techniques Used by English as a Foreign Language Students in Translating English Text Bq Zuhrotun Nafisah* .
Tri Setianingsih Universitas Pendidikan Mandalika.
Mataram.
Indonesia Received: 4th June 2025 | Revised: 18th June 2025 | Accepted: 19th June 2025 * Corresponding author.
E-mail: baiqzuhrotunnafisah@undikma.
Abstract Due to the disparities between the source and target languages, some techniques are used during the translation process to ensure that the translated works are equivalent.
The study aims to analyze the translation techniques suggested by Molina and Albir used by the fifth-semester English as a Foreign Language students of the English Department of Mandalika University of Education in translating English text into Indonesian text.
It also implies that the students have problems with translation.
This was descriptive qualitative research.
The data are collected through a test by giving them an English text taken from Kompas magazine to be translated into an Indonesian text.
And through a structured interview to investigate the problems they faced in translating.
After collecting the data, it was analyzed using Miles and HubermanAos interactive data analysis model.
The findings indicate that there are six translation techniques.
Among them, borrowing is dominantly used as a technique in translating the SL, with the highest use being 77 of 118 sentences that applied the technique.
The interview results revealed that their main challenge in translating is preserving the intended meaning while adjusting for contextual and cultural variations and the lack of adequate knowledge about it.
Keywords: English Text.
EFL Students.
Translation Technique.
How to Cite:
Nafisah, & T.
Setianingsih.
Translation Techniques Used by English as a Foreign Language Students in Translating English Text.
Humanitatis : Journal of Language and Literature, 11.
, 213-224.
Copyright A2025 The Authors.
This article is published by Universitas Bumigora under the CC BY-SA license.
INTRODUCTION
English as a foreign language is crucial and should be mastered by every student, especially for EFL Therefore, students who learn English are expected to be good translators.
They must become proficient in English because it is an international language that facilitates communication and will be useful for translation.
Unfortunately, translating is not an easy task.
The message that the author wants to convey to the audience, the source language, and the target language are some factors that must be considered when translating.
As in line with Lestiyanawati et al.
stated that it focuses on the source languageAos intended meaning.
Here, the translatorsAo job is to convey the main idea of the source language to the target language.
Thus, the translatorsAo responsibility is to convey the authorAos message to the target language audiences.
The message refers to the topic of the text that a translator wants to translate.
It implies that a competent translator needs to be better knowledgeable about the textAos subject matter.
At the same time, the audience refers to the readersAo target and their level of education.
The terms source language (SL) and target language (TL) describe Online at https://journal.
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php/humanitatis/ DOI: 10.
30812/humanitatis.
Humanitatis: Journal of Language and Literature SK Dirjen DIKTI Nomor 36/E/KPT/2019 Vol.
No.
June 2025, pp.
ISSN (Prin.
: 2338-9362 ISSN (Onlin.
: 2477-2267 the context in which the translation occurs or is received.
According to Widyamartaya, in Sarmila et al.
states that transferring a message from the source language (SL) to the target language (TL) is known as translating.
The process by which the source language (SL) is transformed into the target language (TL) is called According to Setiawan .
, he stated that translation is the process of translating the meaning of one language into another or the target language.
While.
Nabilah and Sujatna .
stated that the process of converting one language, or source language, into another, or target language, is known as translation.
In line with Hatim and Munday .
, said that translation is a significant phenomenon that significantly impacts daily life.
Furthermore.
Catford, in Ramlan .
, defined translation as substituting text in the source language with text in the target language.
Translating is substituting text in the source language with text in the target language.
Since translating is not an easy task, it is not only about changing the meaning from the source language to the target language, but also about conveying the meaning that the author intended to convey to the readers.
line with Jupri et al.
, stated that translating entails changing the delivered textAos or utterancesAo meaning into another that should be consistent with the authorAos intended meaning.
There are several things in translating that are crucial for effective translation, including language structure and grammar, as well as understanding various techniques or strategies in translating a text (Al-maamari, 2.
Therefore, students need to understand the translation process and its strategies or techniques.
English teachers occasionally discover that students have difficulties translating English text into Indonesian.
Sipahutar et al.
in their research stated that students encountered numerous challenges when translating various texts.
Some of the challenges they encounter are their inability to comprehend the meaning of the texts and their inability to translate new vocabulary unfamiliar for them.
Students must be able to interpret every sentence or piece of content from a variety of English-language text types to comprehend the text content.
Other problems that the students may face are stated in Hidayanti et al.
that students sometimes fail to understand the significance of the content because they translate it literally.
Narrative writings often contain idioms, which make it difficult for students to retain the unspoken meaning.
Students find it difficult to transfer meaning from the source to the target language (Ariyani et al.
, 2.
From the previous paragraph, it can be concluded that students find translation challenging if they lack the skills to translate foreign texts and decide which technique to use when converting source text to target text.
Many students use many techniques in translation in one object translation.
This case was found in students of the fifth semester at Mandalika University of Education.
As a result, the studentsAo translation into the target language is inaccurate.
The researchers were motivated to research the studentsAo translation technique based on the above-mentioned gap phenomenon.
Apart from the research objective, the significance of this work is to validate or assess the accuracy of different existing knowledge.
Another reason is that translation serves as a communication tool, and translation techniques help one become more proficient at translating a text.
Theories of the types of translation techniques is based on Molina and Albir .
to find out the type of translation technique the college students used most in translating a text from English into Indonesian based on the types of translation theories.
The researchers selected Molina and AlbirAos (Molina and Hurtado Albir, 2.
theory of translation types because it offers a clear picture of the translated result and is readily comprehensible.
Furthermore, translation quality has been measured using Molina and AlbirAos (Molina and Hurtado Albir, 2.
translation technique theory, which comprises .
adaptation, .
amplification, .
borrowing, .
calque, .
compensation, .
established equivalent, .
generalization, .
linguistic amplification, .
linguistic compression, .
literal translation, which categorized to the direct technique.
And then there are .
description, .
discursive creation, .
modulation, .
particularization, .
reduction, .
substitution, .
transposition, and .
variation, which are categorized into indirect techniques.
The research takes place in Mandalika University of Education (UNDIKMA).
The participants of this study are students who translated a text from English into Indonesian, and by that the purpose of the study are to find out .
the most common translation technique used by EFL students when translating English text into Indonesian, and .
challenges that the EFL students face in translating the material.
Online at https://journal.
id/index.
php/humanitatis/ DOI: 10.
30812/humanitatis.
Humanitatis: Journal of Language and Literature SK Dirjen DIKTI Nomor 36/E/KPT/2019 Vol.
No.
June 2025, pp.
ISSN (Prin.
: 2338-9362 ISSN (Onlin.
: 2477-2267 Several researchers have conducted the previous research on translation.
The first one is Sipahutar et al.
conducted research on kinds of translation method in eight grade students at SMP Yayasan Perguruan Karya Bhakti.
They used the descriptive qualitative method for the research.
Their studyAos findings are that the translation method category that the students used includes only four methods based on NewmarkAos theory of translation.
The second one is Darma and Nuravianti .
researched to analyze the translation technique used by the female Babakan State Highschool students in translating Edgar AlbertAos poetry entitled AuEquipmentAy.
The result of the study found that the translation techniques they used are six translation techniques, where the amplification techniques are in the highest position.
The next research is carried out by Febryanto et al.
, entitled AuAnalysis of Translation Techniques and Quality of Translated Terms of Mechanical Engineering in Accredited National JoulnalsAy The result shows that adaptation techniques, common equivalent techniques, literal translation techniques, calque techniques, and pure borrowing techniques are used in translating mechanical engineering terms.
The average value of the quality of the translation results is good.
Then there is research by Indarti .
, entitled AuTranslation Techniques Analysis of English-Indonesian in Samsung Manual BookAy.
Their study shows the types of translation found in the Samsung manual book, and the most frequent types of translation techniques found in the Samsung manual book.
And to solve the problem, they employed the descriptive qualitative method.
The data for each English sentence or phrase was translated into Indonesian.
In the end, the researcher discovered seven methods in the Samsung manual book.
Furthermore, literal translation accounts for the largest amount at 76.
The last research was conducted by Hidayati .
, entitled AuAnalysis of Translation Techniques.
Methods, and Ideology on ChildrenAos Bilingual Story Books.
Ay The result shows that the bilingual booksAo authors mostly used literal translation as the technique.
Then, in terms of the techniques, a literal and word-for-word translation was most common.
Because the author of the bilingual works tended to preserve the words of the source language, it indicated that foreignization was the authorAos ideology.
From the previous research that has been elaborated above, the similarities of those researches with this one are in the method used to analyze the data, that is, a descriptive qualitative method.
And what makes this research different from all the previous research is that the participants were English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Students of Mandalika University of Education, where the translation subject is one of the subjects programmed here.
Then, the researchers analyze the translation techniques used by the EFL students to translate an English text or a news article into the Indonesian language.
RESEARCH METHOD
The researchers used a qualitative method with a descriptive qualitative approach.
According to Creswell .
, he stated that qualitative research may be used to investigate and understand the meaning that individuals or groups ascribe to a social or human issue.
Raising questions and processes, as well as data acquired from the participants.
According to Sugiyono .
, qualitative research method is called a new method due to its recent popularity, because it is based on the post-positivist ideology, and is called post-positivist since it is founded on the post-positivist philosophy.
In line with Ary et al.
, they state that qualitative research concentrates on the big pictures rather than dissecting it into individual factors.
Information regarding the type of translation method utilized by the students and the reasons behind the usage of this method was disclosed through a qualitative Students in the fifth semester of the English education program at Mandala University of Education (UNDIKMA) in academic year 2024/2025 served as the object of the study.
This includes a single class of twenty-five .
In UNDIKMA, particularly Students in the English education department, spend two semesters studying translation: the fourth semester covers an introduction to translation, and the fifth semester covers translation practice.
Therefore, because they studied introduction to translation, the researchers chose to focus on the fifth semester.
The researchers selected ten students as a sample, using the criteria that they had taken Online at https://journal.
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php/humanitatis/ DOI: 10.
30812/humanitatis.
Humanitatis: Journal of Language and Literature SK Dirjen DIKTI Nomor 36/E/KPT/2019 Vol.
No.
June 2025, pp.
ISSN (Prin.
: 2338-9362 ISSN (Onlin.
: 2477-2267 the introduction to translation in the previous semester, obtained the highest score, and were recommended by the lecturer herself.
So, the researchers employed a purposive sampling technique.
According to Sugiono, cited in Sari and Zamzani .
, he stated that purposive sampling is one of the more popular sampling techniques in qualitative research.
The researchers employed this sampling technique to obtain the data from EFL students who had fulfilled the requirements.
The data source is a news article taken from Kompas.
id titled AuPhotographing the Fundamental Problems of Indonesian EducationAy.
The research data will be provided in writing, outlining the findings of the analysis about the types of translation techniques used by the students in translating an English text to an Indonesian text.
According to Abdussamad .
, a method used to examine the condition of a natural object is qualitative research, where the key instrument is the researcher.
The researchers used two tests to collect the data.
The first test is an English test that should be translated into Bahasa Indonesia, and the second is an interview.
The researchers utilized the test to support observational data and strengthen their argument, where the researchers gave a text to be translated by the students.
According to Esterberg, cited in Priya .
, that through questions and answers, an interview allows two people to exchange ideas and information, fostering communication and collaborative meaning-making on a given According to Esterberg, cited in Sugiyono .
, outlined the three categories of interviews: semistructured, unstructured, and structured.
In this study, the researchers employed a structured interviewing technique, in which the researcher refers to a list of pre-formulated questions.
The purpose of a structured interview is to find issues more openly, where the participants invited to be interviewed were asked for their opinions.
In this case, the goal is to find out the translation technique used by the students in translation and why they use it.
The researchers employed the Miles and Huberman interactive model to analyze the data.
According to Miles and Huberman, in Darma and Nuravianti .
, suggested that the qualitative data analysis process be conducted interactively and constantly until it is finished to ensure that the data is saturated.
There are three steps in data analysis using Miles and HubermanAos.
The first one is called data reduction.
There is a lot of data collected in the field.
therefore, it must be thoroughly examined.
Therefore, it is imperative to perform data reduction and analysis right away.
Reducing data means summarizing and focusing on the things that are needed and crucial.
a result, the reduced data will give a clearer image and facilitate data collection for researchers about the types of translation techniques the students use.
The second step is data display, or presenting the data to have clearer It is arranged and made more comprehensible through its presentation.
The third step is drawing a conclusion, which displays the conclusion from the data that has been collected.
The researchers interpreted the data display analysis.
The findings demonstrate that the researchers can draw conclusions and validate the translation technique employed by the students during the translation process by verifying the data.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Translation techniques are the methods translators use to convert a language from the source to the target Molina and Hurtado Albir .
state that the context, readersAo expectations, and translation goals all influence the legitimacy of the translation technique, which is the outcome of the translatorAos judgment.
The translation technique is essential to translation processes because it enables translators to identify and categorize their methods.
Consequently, the researchers used the 18 Molina and Albir translation techniques.
Here, the researchers presented the data about the types of translation techniques used by the students based on Molina and AlbirAos .
theory in translating an English text to Indonesian.
On the left column is the list of students .
ritten in their initial nam.
, and the right column is the types of translation techniques used by each student in translating the English text.
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php/humanitatis/ DOI: 10.
30812/humanitatis.
Humanitatis: Journal of Language and Literature SK Dirjen DIKTI Nomor 36/E/KPT/2019 Vol.
No.
June 2025, pp.
ISSN (Prin.
: 2338-9362 ISSN (Onlin.
: 2477-2267 Table 1.
Translation Techniques Used by Each Student in Translating English Text
Students RSG
IRN
SIC
MRA
QKA
Types of Translation Technique Used by Students Adaptation.
Borrowing.
Generalization Adaptation.
Borrowing Adaptation.
Borrowing Adaptation.
Amplification.
Borrowing.
Calque.
Generalization Adaptation.
Amplification.
Borrowing.
Generalization Borrowing.
Calque.
Generalization Adaptation.
Amplification.
Borrowing.
Calque.
Generalization Adaptation.
Amplification.
Borrowing Adaptation.
Amplification.
Borrowing.
Generalization Adaptation.
Borrowing.
Calque According to Molina and Albir, in Wicaksono and Wahyuni .
, there eighteen translation techniques proposed by them.
After analyzing the data for the types of translation techniques used by the EFL students of UNDIKMA in translating the EnglishAeIndonesian text, it shows that five translation techniques were found based on Molina and AlbirAos theory of translation techniques they are adaptation, amplification, borrowing, calque, and The table above shows that the borrowing technique is the most frequently employed by all students when translating English texts into Indonesian.
And then the adaptation technique is used by nine students (BL.
RSG.
RJ.
IRN.
SIC.
RH.
MRA.
AM, and QKA), and then followed by amplification with five students who used this (IRN.
SIC.
RH.
MRA, and AM).
And the last two techniques are generalization used by five students (BL.
IRN.
SIC.
RH, and AM) and calque used by four students (IRN.
BS.
RH, and QKA).
The data findings are presented Adaptation This technique substitutes the target textAos cultural element for the one found in the source text.
Table 2.
Data of Adaptation Technique Source Text The national budget for education should not be solely allocated to 20 percent.
Target Text Anggaran Pendidikan seharusnya tidak hanya dialokasikan sebanyak 20% There are more graduates from elementary schools than the capacity of junior high schools.
Lulusan SD lebih banyak daripada kapasitas SMP Simply put, this program or problem should be resolved Sederhananya, program atau masalah ini harus segera diselesaikan.
Based on the data in Table 2 above, it is included in the category of adaptation techniques.
Most students translated Authe national budgetAy into Auanggaran pendidikanAy.
Meanwhile.
Auelementary schoolsAy and Aujunior high schoolsAy were translated into AuSDAy and AuSMPAy because Indonesian people are not familiar with the equivalent translation for this source language.
So does the phrase Ausimply putAy, which is translated into AusederhananyaAy.
These were considered adaptations since the source language words were swapped out for target words with comparable cultural connotations.
Amplification This technique is used when no details are found in the source text.
In line with Darma and Nuravianti .
, in their research amplification is a technique for elucidating information that is not presented in the source Online at https://journal.
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Humanitatis: Journal of Language and Literature SK Dirjen DIKTI Nomor 36/E/KPT/2019 Vol.
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June 2025, pp.
ISSN (Prin.
: 2338-9362 ISSN (Onlin.
: 2477-2267 Table 3.
Data of Amplification Technique Source Text There are more graduates from elementary schools than the capacity of junior high schools.
Target Text Lulusan sekolah dasar yang lebih banyak dari kapasitas .
ombongan belaja.
sekolah menengah pertama.
Many children in the country still struggle to find schools.
Banyak anak masih kesulitan menemukan sekolah yang memadai di negara Indonesia Even the compulsory nine-year education program.
Bahkan program wajib belajar 9 tahun.
SD .
dan SMP .
In Table 3, the data above, it can be shown that the students used the amplification technique to translate the source language.
Molina and Hurtado Albir .
stated that the amplification technique is a technique that helps the readers understand the target text, translators include annotations that illustrate the wordAos contextual meaning.
It can be seen in the word AucapacityAy, where it is translated by adding a note to this word, becoming Aukapasitas .
ombongan belaja.
Ay.
Meanwhile, the sentence AuMany children in the country still struggle to find schoolsAy also translated by adding the additional information become AuBanyak anak masih kesulitan menemukan sekolah yang memadai di negara IndonesiaAy.
And the last is the word Aunine-year education program,Ay which is translated to Auprogram Pendidikan 9 tahunAy and added by the detailed information about this education.
AuSD .
dan SMP .
Ay Borrowing The borrowing technique takes a word straight from the source text.
According to Molina and Hurtado Albir .
, borrowing categorized into pure borrowing and naturalized borrowing.
Table 4.
Data of Borrowing Technique Source Text It is not significant enough to show that the quality of education in Indonesia.
Target Text Hal itu tidak cukup signifikan untuk menunjukkan bahwa kualitas pendidikan di Indonesia.
aturalized borrowin.
There is still a wide disparity in the infrastructure and superstructure of learning in various regions.
Masih terdapat ketimpangan yang luas dalam hal infrastruktur dan suprastruktur pembelajaran di berbagai daerah.
aturalized borrowin.
the results of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) place Indonesia in the bottom-ranked hasil Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) menempatkan Indonesia di kelompok terbawah.
ure borrowin.
The translator will take a word straight from the source language using the borrowing technique.
In Table 4, the data above the borrowing technique category were divided into two types, pure borrowing and naturalization The data for pure borrowing is AuProgramme for International Students Assessment (PISAAy, which is translated like the source text.
there is no change in the target text.
Then the naturalized borrowing are the words AusignificantAy.
AuqualityAy.
AuinfrastructureAy, and AusuperstructureAy, where they were translated into AusignifikanAy.
AukualitasAy.
AuinfrastrukturAy, and AusuperstrukturAy.
These words were adapted from the source text to fit the target languageAos spelling and pronunciation rules.
Calque This technique is a literal translation of a foreign phrase lexically or structurally.
It converts a languageAos morphemes into equivalents in other languages.
Online at https://journal.
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php/humanitatis/ DOI: 10.
30812/humanitatis.
Humanitatis: Journal of Language and Literature SK Dirjen DIKTI Nomor 36/E/KPT/2019 Vol.
No.
June 2025, pp.
ISSN (Prin.
: 2338-9362 ISSN (Onlin.
: 2477-2267 Table 5.
Data of the Calque Technique Source Text that requires all children to receive basic education cannot yet be said to be 100 percent successful.
Target Text yang mengharuskan semua anak untuk menerima pendidikan dasar belum bisa dikatakan 100 persen berhasil.
to achieve equality is the governmentAos policy on budget prioritization for education.
dalam upaya mencapai pemerataan adalah kebijakan pemerintah mengenai prioritas anggaran untuk Pendidikan.
This is caused by the limited financial ability of the region and also the access of the region to obtain good educational Hal ini disebabkan oleh keterbatasan kemampuan finansial daerah dan juga akses daerah untuk mendapatkan fasilitas pendidikan yang baik.
Based on Table 5, the students used the calque technique to translate the source text.
It can be seen that the sentences translated from the source text into the target text follow the definition of the calque technique.
For instance, in Aubasic education,Ay which is translated into Aupendidikan dasarAy.
AuGovernmentAos policyAy, which is translated into Aukebijakan pemerintahAy.
AuFinancial abilityAy and Augood educational facilitiesAy are translated into Aukemampuan finansialAy and Aufasilitas pendidikan yang baikAy.
Generalization This technique uses a more general terminology.
Table 6.
Data of Generalization Technique Source Text and changes in the curriculum 2013 that require significant costs.
Target Text hingga perubahan kurikulum yang memerlukan biaya Transportation problems should not be an excuse as they can be sorted out by using both cars, motorcylces, and Permasalahan transportasi tidak boleh dijadikan alasan karena dapat diselesaikan melalui transportasi darat dan The data in Table 6 above are translated using a generalization technique.
This technique conveys the meaning of a more specialized or specific term in the source text using a more neutral or generic term in the target For instance.
Aucurriculum 2013Ay is translated into a more general term.
AukurikulumAy, and Aucars, motorcycles, and airplanesAy are translated into Autransportasi darat dan udaraAy, which is more general.
Discussion The Most Dominant Technique Used by the EFL Students Following the data findings, the researchers concluded that from the 18 types of translation techniques proposed by Molina and Hurtado Albir .
, the researchers found that the EFL students employ six different techniques while translating the English text to Indonesian text.
Some translation techniques that do not occur in the findings are only applied to spoken language, which is usually used in interpreting.
The researchers display the data of the six translation technique types below in terms of their percentage to see which technique the students used the most in translating.
Figure 1.
Frequency Usage of Translation Technique Online at https://journal.
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Humanitatis: Journal of Language and Literature SK Dirjen DIKTI Nomor 36/E/KPT/2019 Vol.
No.
June 2025, pp.
ISSN (Prin.
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: 2477-2267 The above Figure 1 shows that the translation technique that is used the most is the borrowing technique.
indicates that the borrowing technique is 65.
25%, meaning that 77 pharse or sentences among 118 total sentences of the source text use such technique.
In the second place, it is followed by the adaptation technique, with 17.
with 21 senteces among 118 sentences translated using this technique.
In third place is the calque technique, with 63% and 9 data points found in total.
Then the fourth technique, which is mostly used, is generalization, with 08% with 6 data points found in total, and the last one, which shares 4.
24%, is the amplification technique, with 5 data points found among 118 sentences.
In summary, the highest technique the students use to translate the English text to Indonesian text is the borrowing technique, which is frequently used in almost all source sentences.
Using words or phrases from the source language in the target language is known as borrowing, and it is a popular translation technique.
It is frequently employed when the target language lacks an equivalent word or when the borrowed word expresses the concept better.
Two types of techniques are found in the data, that is, pure borrowing and naturalized borrowing.
Pure borrowing is taking a word from the source language directly into the target language without any adjustment.
This happened because the translator could not find any possible equivalence in the target language.
For instance.
AuProgramme for International Student Assessment (PISA)Ay is being translated without any changes.
In line with Simarmata et al.
, when a word is borrowed, its entire meaning from the source language is retained, with no changes to its pronunciation or spelling.
The second type is naturalized borrowing, which transfers the source text to the target language by adapting the phonetic and morphological norms of the target language.
As in Setiawan .
, stated that naturalized borrowing is translating the source language words into target language words through naturalizing.
The examples found in the data are the words AusignificantAy.
AuqualityAy.
AuinfrastructureAy, where the translations for these words to the target language become signifikan, kualitas, infrastruktur.
The second technique that the students use is adaptation.
This technique enhances functionality, boosts survivability, and adapts to current situations.
By employing an alternative method to swap out a cultural aspect from the source text with one from the target culture, adaptation is a change in the cultural context to convey the message (Nurcholis, 2.
As the findings show, the adaptation technique translates words like Auelementary schoolsAy and Aujunior high schoolsAy.
Some of the students translated those words into AuSDAy and AuSMPAy because that is the term that the Indonesian people understand and are familiar with.
It will sound unnatural if it translates using other techniques.
Then the lowest technique used by them is the generalization technique.
Ngawul et al.
in their research stated that generalization is a technique that known to the wider community and employs more general terms over the specific ones.
This technique is used when a word or phrase in the source language refers to a particular portion, and its counterpart in the target language does not have the same specific equivalent.
Generalization can also help convey the meaning of a source text while allowing for some variation in the words used.
This statement supports the findings in generalization data where the words AucarsAy.
AumotorcyclesAy, and AuairplanesAy are translated into Autransportasi daratAy and Autransportasi udaraAy.
Those words are generalized because it is not clear what kind of cars, motorcycles, or airplanes they refer to, since there are many brands of these vehicles, so it is preferable to generalize them.
Problems the EFL Students Faced in Translating EnglishAeIndonesian Text The following describes the translation-related issues that students encounter.
The information is derived from the research subjectAos interview.
The following is a general description of translation problem they faced:
The first question of the interview is about the main challenges they faced when they tried to translate the English text to Indonesian text, and they shared various responses from them.
The biggest obstacle is preserving the intended meaning while adjusting for contextual and cultural variations.
Frequently, culturally particular phrases or expressions in English may not have exact translations in Indonesian.
This could be why the adaptation technique is the second highest used by the students, finding that the cultural equivalent from the source text differs from the target language, made them apply the adaptation technique.
The other response from the student was about Online at https://journal.
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php/humanitatis/ DOI: 10.
30812/humanitatis.
Humanitatis: Journal of Language and Literature SK Dirjen DIKTI Nomor 36/E/KPT/2019 Vol.
No.
June 2025, pp.
ISSN (Prin.
: 2338-9362 ISSN (Onlin.
: 2477-2267 In line with Lestiyanawati et al.
, in their research, the students found it difficult to translate sentences with a complex structure, which impacts the target text with an inaccurate translation.
The second question is how they handle texts with specific vocabulary, such as a scientific word.
According to them, when dealing with specific vocabulary, they use references, like dictionaries or glossaries specialized in certain field.
If this could not help, they provide a descriptive explanation or adopt the original term.
Among 10 students, 6 of them gave answers that led to the use of the borrowing technique, as it can be seen in the results that the borrowing technique is the technique that is frequently used by the students, with 65.
25% of usage.
This result is in line with Simarmata et al.
, as they stated in their research that the borrowing technique is a commonly used technique.
In essence, it shows that the translator consciously decided to use the same word from the source text in the target text.
This usually happens when there is no equivalent term in the target language.
The third question of the interview is about words or expressions in English that are difficult to translate into Indonesian.
Most of them said that idioms or types of figurative expression are the most difficult to translate, because it is hard for them to find the equivalent words or expressions in the target language.
In line with Baker, in Wicaksono and Wahyuni .
, claims that the most difficult thing to do in translation is to translate idiomatic expressions because sometimes idiomatic expressions have a similar physical appearance but differ entirely or partially in meaning.
The fourth question is about what kind of text often confuses you when translating.
Some students find it challenging enough to translate the source text in this study accurately, while others perform admirably.
The other students said poetry is a text that confuses them, because it consists of many idiomatic expressions.
The last question of the interview is about the difference in sentence structure between English and Indonesian, which affects how they translate and how they overcome this problem.
They all agreed that the sentence structureAos differences affect how they translate the source text, especially in the case of the word order difference in both English and Indonesian sentences.
To overcome this, they focus on the meaning first, then reconstruct the sentence to align with Indonesian grammar while preserving clarity and fluency.
The other way to overcome this is to restructure or paraphrase the entire sentences to make them sound natural in Indonesian.
May need to restructure entire sentences to make them sound natural in Indonesian, ensuring that the subject, verb, and object are placed correctly according to the flow of the language.
Regarding the results, since they get translation materials, it can be inferred that, in general, their application of the technique is impacted by the knowledge they have learned in class.
It is also brought on by students practicing translation less, which gives them less experience with context-based meaning.
Not every studentAos selections on the translation test match their selections on the test itself.
According to the translation test findings, most students did not alter sentences or use new vocabulary.
Still, they knew the rationale behind their choice of translation technique for English texts.
According to Situmorang .
, this is supported because it simplifies their job.
prefer borrowing when translating.
This technique will be used by students familiar with the source language since it is believed to facilitate reading and preserve the target languageAos context.
Sari Sibuea et al.
also state that translating an English text proved challenging for the students to translate into the target language since they had trouble grasping the meaning of the source language.
A limited understanding of translation brings on this language barrier.
CONCLUSION
Certain conclusions can be made upon the completion of the research.
The translation technique was used to translate the English text to Indonesian by the fifth-semester EFL students of the English department at UNDIKMA.
First, a final test text was used in the translation technique from English to Indonesian, done by the 4th semester students of translation, and a few techniques were discovered and examined.
The EFL students apply five techniques.
The finding indicates that the borrowing technique is the most used by the students, with 25% occurrences.
This technique is mostly used because it is commonly used when there is no equivalent in the destination language, and can help preserve the cultural context of the source text.
Followed by the adaptation Online at https://journal.
id/index.
php/humanitatis/ DOI: 10.
30812/humanitatis.
Humanitatis: Journal of Language and Literature SK Dirjen DIKTI Nomor 36/E/KPT/2019 Vol.
No.
June 2025, pp.
ISSN (Prin.
: 2338-9362 ISSN (Onlin.
: 2477-2267 technique with 17.
80%, then the calque technique is in the third place with 7.
63%, the generalization technique 08%, and the lowest technique used by the students is the amplification technique with 4.
24% occurrences.
Then, according to the findings of a brief interview, the main challenge they faced was making adjustments for contextual and cultural variations in the source text to the target language, which is why they frequently apply the borrowing technique.
Consequently, the target sentence is out of order in the grammatical construction from the source language, or beyond the intended meaning, which becomes a problem for them, as it can affect the way they translate the source text and their insufficient understanding of it, which makes it difficult for them to use the right
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