Transposition Technique in English-Indonesian Translation of Mechanical Engineering Terms

Abstract

The English language has different grammatical structures from the Indonesian language. Translation often solves the lack of English proficiency in the academic community. To faithfully convey the author's meaning in the target text, translators provide equivalence in the target language that sometimes is expressed in different linguistic forms. This research analyzed the English to Indonesian translations of mechanical engineering terms using a qualitative descriptive approach. The research collected 492 terms in English and 492 in Indonesian translations. The research found 43 terms translated using the transposition technique, categorized into structural, unit, and category shifts. The analysis found that the transposition technique is frequently applied in translations for mechanical engineering because it produces a more accurate and natural translation. This technique allows the translator to rearrange words or phrases in a sentence such that it conforms to the grammatical rules of the target language. By so doing, unnatural translation because of grammatical mistakes can be prevented.