LEXICAL COMPARISON OF MALAY-FRENCH CULTURES IN THE TRANSLATION OF ‘RIMBA HARAPAN’ NOVEL

Abstract

This paper discusses the analysis of vocabulary differences involving culture in the translation of the novel Rimba Harapan. This novel was written by Keris Mas. Data related to human cultural vocabulary were collected from the novel Rimba Harapan and translated into the French, La Jungle de l’espoir, which became the subject of research. The theoretical framework for data analysis included the cultural classification put forward by Newmark (1988) and the meaning component analysis performed by Kempson (1991). Text comparison methods were used to identify similarities and differences in meaning between the source text and the target text. The results of the analysis show that there are lexical differences in the translation process of Rimba Harapan. The results showed differences between the Malay culture in the French-language novel can be described as a lack in the lexical semantics of cultural identity. The results of this study can be of practical guidance in relation to the specific cultural aspects when using the strategy of translation when matching between English and French language.