Exploring Students’ Translation Strategies in Translating English Phrasal Verbs In Song Lyrics: A Case Study

Abstract

This study analyzed the translation strategies used by 4th-semester students in translating English phrasal verbs found in song lyrics into Indonesian. A qualitative method was applied to analyse students' translations using Baker's (2018) idiom translation strategies as the primary theoretical framework. In addition to Baker's framework, the study identified other strategies in students' translation, including direct equivalent, translation by a more general word, and mistranslation. The data of the study were gathered from 50 phrasal verbs in English song lines chosen by the students for their translation practice. Students' translation was categorized as accurate translation, partially accurate translation, and mistranslation based on its semantic accuracy and contextual appropriateness. The findings show that the most common used of translation strategies were miss Mistranslation (32%), direct equivalent (26%), translation by a more general word (18%), using an idiom of similar meaning and form (8%), using idiom of similar meaning but different form (8%), translation by paraphrasing (4%) and translation by omission of the entire idiom (4%). In translation accuracy, 50% of the translations were accurate, 18% partially accurate, and 32% were mistranslated. It has been demonstrated that a large number of students translate texts literally and frequently misinterpret the phrasal verbs' figurative meaning. The difficulties students encounter when translating idiomatic expressions are highlighted in this study. It highlights how important it is to understand how to translate idiomatic or figurative language in literary or creative texts, especially phrasal verbs.