The Equivalence of Translated Figurative Language in “The Fate of Ophelia” Song

Abstract

Figurative language is a literary genre used in song lyrics to convey thoughts and feelings. Lyrics are particularly difficult to translate when there are no direct translations of the metaphorical language in the target language. The research method used in this study was a descriptive qualitative study that identified the types of figurative language in the lyrics of “The Fate of Ophelia” based on Perrine’s classification and examined their translation equivalence in the translated lines that contained figurative language, based on Nida and Taber’s theory of equivalence. The data were collected Mixmatch.com for the English song lyric and Genius.com for the Indonesian translated song lyric. The findings identify six types of figurative language in the song, which are metaphor (36%), symbol (32%), allusion (18%), paradox (5%), simile (5%), and personification (5%), with metaphors as the dominant figurative language found in the song lyrics. The analysis of translation equivalence shows that the most figurative expressions are translated using formal equivalence. Out of 22 identified lines with figurative language, 16 are translated using formal equivalence, while 6 are translated using dynamic equivalence. The results show that the translator predominantly prioritizes maintaining the original imagery, language structure, and figurative expression form of the source text, especially metaphors, symbols, allusions, simile, and personification. Dynamic equivalence in this study is selectively applied when idiomatic expressions or culturally specific meanings require adaptation to ensure clarity and naturalness for Indonesian readers. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that maintaining figurative language in song lyric translation is important for keeping the literary meaning, emotional nuance, and poetic quality, especially in the loss of an official Indonesian translation. The findings highlight the importance of balancing the faithfulness of the original song lyric while still sounding natural, readable, and easy to understand for the target readers, allowing the poetic quality to be experienced by readers.