AN ANALYSIS OF IDIOMS IN NABOKOV’S LOLITA AND THEIR TRANSLATION IN KURNIA’S LOLITA

Abstract

Abstract

This research focuses on the idioms in Nabokov’s Lolita and their translation. The purposes of this research are (1) to describe the types of English idioms, (2) to identify the translation strategies used by the translator in translating the idioms, and (3) to describe the degree of meaning equivalence.

This research uses a descriptive-qualitative research method. The data of this research are the idioms found in the source text and their translation in the target text. The collected data are in the form of phrases. The instruments of this research are the researcher and the data sheets. To achieve trustworthiness of the data, this research applies triangulation.

The findings of the research show that all the three types of English idioms are found in the source text, they are literal idioms, semi idioms, and pure idioms. Semi idioms are the most dominant type of idioms found in this research. This indicates that semi idioms are more likely to be used due to their transparency and flexibility. There are five translation strategies used by the translator, they are translation by using an idiom of similar meaning and form, translation by using an idiom of similar meaning but different form, translation by paraphrase, translation by omission, and literal translation. Most of the idioms are translated using paraphrase strategy. It happens when there is no exact match in the target text or to make it more understandable to the readers. This also indicates that most of the idiomatic expressions in the source text are translated into non-idiomatic expressions in the target text. Most of the idioms in the source text are translated into equivalent meaning. This is because most of the idioms are translated by paraphrase and as the result, the meanings of idioms can be successfully transferred into target language.

Keywords: idioms, types of idioms, translation strategy, meaning equivalence