A CASE STUDY OF TRANSLATION DIFFICULTIES AND STRATEGIES AMONG EIGHTH-GRADE STUDENTS IN TRANSLATING NARRATIVE TEXT

Abstrak

Translation is an important skill in English learning. However, EFL learners experience difficulties when transferring meaning from English into Indonesian. This study analysed the difficulties encountered by eighth-grade students at SMP Panca Budi Medan in translating The Golden Cucumber (Timun Mas), a Central Javanese folktale, and identified the strategies they used to address these difficulties. The study employed a qualitative-dominant mixed-methods design involving 18 eighth-grade students and two English teachers. Data were collected through a translation test, a 15-item questionnaire, and teacher interviews. The qualitative part analysed students’ translations, open-ended questionnaire responses, and teachers’ interviews. The quantitative part was complemented with Likert scale items measuring perceived difficulty and close-ended questions highlighting frequently utilized techniques. The results showed lexical, grammatical, and cultural problems, with lexical difficulties being the most important, mainly due to unknown vocabulary and improper word choice. Students used strategies such as dictionary use, simplification, changing word order, copying, omission, contextual guessing, substitution, and asking for help. Dictionary use was the most frequently reported strategy. The teachers found the independent use of strategies useful, although the students still required assistance when handling complex vocabulary, grammatical structures, and cultural expressions. The study’s conclusion is that students are partially independent in solving translation problems. Nevertheless, a balance of self-regulated strategy use and structured teacher scaffolding is still necessary for successful translation learning.