Analyzing Translation Techniques Used for Culture Specific Items in the Indonesian Version of R. F. Kuang's The Poppy War

Abstract

Translating literary texts that contain many Culture-Specific Items (CSIs) involves more than simply transferring meaning. It also requires preserving the cultural elements embedded in the text. This becomes particularly challenging because CSIs carry cultural references that often do not have direct equivalents in the target language. For this reason, this study aims to analyze the distribution of CSIs based on Newmark’s (1988) CSIs categories, identify the translation techniques used in translating CSIs using Molina & Albir’s (2002) framework, and examine the patterns of technique used in a novel. The data are retrieved from a historical-fantasy novel The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang and its Indonesian translation. Results show that the most frequent CSIs are the Organizations, Customs, and Institutions (OCI) category related to the literary text’s theme, and the most used technique is Borrowing to preserve the original meaning of the CSIs. Nevertheless, although it was used less frequently, Literal Translation was applied evenly across all categories.