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Literal Translation from English and Malay in the Written Communication

among Malay Learners of French

Article  in  Asian Social Science · June 2013

DOI: 10.5539/ass.v9n9p197

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 Asian Social Science; Vol. 9, No. 9; 2013
ISSN 1911-2017 E-ISSN 1911-2025
Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education

Literal Translation from English and Malay in the Written

Communication among Malay Learners of French
Abdul Halim Hazlina1, Abdul Aziz Adi Yasran2, Mamat Roslina1 & Abdul Rahim Normaliza2
1
Department of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, Universiti Putra
Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia
2
Department of Malay Language, Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia,
Serdang, Malaysia
Correspondence: Abdul Halim Hazlina, Department of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Modern Languages and
Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia. E-mail: [email protected];
[email protected]

Received: April 4, 2013 Accepted: May 14, 2013 Online Published: June 28, 2013
doi:10.5539/ass.v9n9p197 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ass.v9n9p197

Abstract
This study intended to examine the use of literal translation from English and Malay language in the written
communication. The objectives were to investigate the most present language used in the translation to French,
the use of the literal translation (LT) of Malay and English in the written communication among across gender,
and to determine at which sentence level (words, phrase or syntax) the translation was used by the learners. The
research utilized qualitative and quantitative methods of data analysis. The study was conducted among Malay
non-native speakers of French as a foreign language at Universiti Putra Malaysia. A total of 50 subjects took part
in this study. The task was to complete a writing task of 150-200 words after 100 hours of French learning. The
results indicated that Malay language played a more important part in the translation, where 163 elements of
translation were found as opposed to 76 elements from English language. Among the translations produced by
the learners, 57 items were in the word form, 77 items in the phrase form and 105 items in the sentence form.
The results of this study could help in the teaching of French to Malay learners by making them aware of literal
translation which already in their repertoire and by encouraging them to use the translation effectively.
Keywords: literal translation, Malay learners, French language learning, writing task
1. Introduction and Review of Literature
One of the most important accomplishments for the learners in learning a new language is for them to be able to
communicate their thoughts in the target language orally and in written form (Hazlina Abdul Halim et al., 2009a).
Hence, the ways learners' process new information and the kinds of strategies they employ to understand, learn
or remember the information have been the major concern of the researchers dealing with the area of foreign
language learning (Hismanoglu, 2000).
Past researches have indicated that speakers of foreign languages do not have the absolute mastery of the foreign
language learnt, therefore there are a few strategies identified to be employed by them in their speaking and
writing process. Language learning strategies are therefore used to facilitate learners to improve their awareness
and understanding of a target language. Wenden & Rubin (1987) defined them as any set of operations, steps,
plans, routines used by the learner to facilitate the obtaining, storage, retrieval, and use of information. Since
non-native speakers will then use the communicative strategies to:
"Compensate for breakdown in communication due to limiting conditions in actual communication
(e.g., momentary inability to recall an idea or grammatical form) or to insufficient competence in one
or more of the other areas of communicative competence; and (b) to enhance the effectiveness of
communication…" (Canale, 1983: 11).
Dörnyei (1995) in his study discovered a focused communicative strategy instruction could contribute to the
second language development. Dörnyei & Scott's (1997) taxonomy separated communication strategies into
twelve kinds and three basic categories, which is direct strategies, indirect strategies and interactional strategies.
In one of their taxonomy of communication strategies, underlined the literal translation.

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According to Richards & Schmidth (2002), literal translation (LT) strategies involve translating by taking
"word-to-word" from the original phrase or sentence. For Dörnyei (1995), literal translation is the strategy in
which learners translate a lexical item, an idiom, or a structure from their mother tongue to the second language.
Larson (1984) defined LT as a translation that follows closely the form of the source language. Palumbo (2009)
further explained by stating that "LT is a form of translation which gives priority to lexical correspondences and
results in ungrammatical sentences". Palumbo (2009) added that LT could equally mean "a translation that is as
close as possible to the original while still ensuring not the naturalness, but the third language grammatically."
Dörnyei (1995:57) further explained that literal translation is one of achievement or compensatory strategies, as
the strategy itself offers alternative plans for the learners to convey their original communicative thoughts by
manipulating the available language they know.
Hence, this study examined the literal translation from Malay and English in the written communication among
Malay learners of French. The LT in this research was identified as any French word, phrase or sentence in the
respondents' writing which was not similar nor used in the normal French word, phrase, sentence or sentence
structure in French.
2. Research Objectives
The present study attempts to investigate the most present language used in the translation to French by Malay
learners across gender. The study also tries to determine at which sentence level (words, phrase or syntax) the
translation was formulated by the learners. Therefore, this study aimed to answer the following question:
1) Which language is the most dominantly used as a literal translation strategy among the Malay
learners of French?
2) Is there any difference between the use of strategies among the male and female Malay learners
of French?
3) In which level of the sentences literal translation strategies were used by Malay learners of
French?
3. Methodology
This study utilized both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection. The subjects were intermediate
French language proficiency students at Universiti Putra Malaysia. A total of 50 Malays participated in this study.
Subjects were 25 males and 25 females. The instrument used in the study was the questionnaire (demographic
section) and the administration of the writing task by the subjects.
The writing task consisted of a short essay of 10 to 15 sentences in French on their normal routine festive
seasons, namely Aidilfitri and Christmas. The subjects were not introduced to the essay prompt, but they were
assumed to have sufficient vocabulary and grammar to develop the essay after their 100 hours of French lessons.
The subjects were not allowed to erase their writings hence they would have to bar them and rewrite the correct
answer on top of the mistakes. The objective was for the researcher to be able to identify any self correction
strategies the subjects used in their writing. The analysis of the literal translation strategies for the writing task
was adapted from Dörnyei (1995) definition in his communicative strategies taxonomy.
4. Overall Findings
In this study, the researcher found 239 element of LT. The repartition is as shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Overall use of literal translation strategies

Male students Female students
LT from English 33 43
LT from Malay 87 76

It was found that the male students were prone to use the LT from Malay (36%) compared to female students. This
was explained in the demographic section where the male students admitted to utilise Malay language more often
in their formal and informal writings than female students. This figure was futher analysed and the results
indicated the LT could be traced in word, phrase and sentence form. The results were indicated as below (Table 2).

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Table 2. Level of the LT utilized by the students

Male students Female students
Malay English Malay English
LT from words 22 (25.3%) 10 (30.3%) 14 (18.4%) 11 (25.6%)
Lt from phrases 24 (27.6%) 7 (21.2%) 29 (38.2%) 17 (39.5%)
LT from sentences 41 (47.1%) 16 (48.5%) 33 (43.4%) 15 (34.9%)
TOTAL 87 33 76 43

It was found from Table 2 that Malay was a dominant language in the LT for both genders. Most of the LT was in
the sentence form. Both genders utilised LT from Malay sentences the most, which accounted to 47.1% from the
overall LT for male students and 43.4% for female students. The LT from Malay and English phrases were shown
in the Table 3.

Table 3. LT from Malay and English phrases

LT from English and Malay phrases Male Female
LT from Malay expression 18 14
LT from English expression 5 7
LT from Malay prepositions and name of places 2 5
LT from English prepositions and name of places 0 3
LT from Malay adjectives 1 3
LT from English adjectives 4 2
LT from Malay possessive forms 3 3
LT from Malay possessive forms 0 3
LT from subject pronouns 0 2
Total 33 42

Table 3 above showed the LT from phrases, which in majority involved expression from Malay and English
languages (69.7% for male students and 50% for female students). From this total, 54.5% involved LT from Malay
language expressions by male students and 33.3% by female students. Again, the high percentage indicated that
Malay was a dominant language for LT by Malay students. LT from Malay and English words includes word
categories as follows:

Table 4. LT from Malay and English words

LT from words Male Female Total
LT from Malay verbs 10 4
20
LT from English Verbs 3 3
LT from Malay nouns 3 6
16
LT from English nouns 4 3
LT from Malay subject pronouns 2
3
LT from English subject pronouns 1
LT from Malay prepositions 1 1
2
LT from English prepositions
LT from Malay adjectives 2 1 5
LT from English adjectives 2

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LT from Malay possessive

2
LT from English possessive 2
LT from Malay adverb 6
6
LT from English adverb
LT from Malay numeral form
1
LT from English numeral form 1
LT from Malay question form 1
1
LT from English question form
LT from Malay conjunction
1
LT from English conjunction 1
TOTAL 35 22 57

Table 4 indicated that the male students utilised the LT from Malay and English words (61.4%) more frequently
than female students (38.6%). Out of the 57 words that were found to be literally translated, 37 words (64.5%)
were originated from Malay language. This figure was mainly contributed by Malay and English verbs (35% from
overall translated words) and Malay and English nouns (28.1%).
Based on the results above, it can be concluded that Malay language played a more important role in the literal
translation to French as compared to English language for Malay students learning French.
4.1 LT from English
4.1.1 LT from Words in English
The LT from English words resulted different meaning in French. In the example from Table 5, the verb visite was
used in French for buildings, not for human beings. The verb habiller was actually a verb to express the action of
dressing up someone and the word usure was used to say a worn or old clothes.

Table 5. LT from English verbs

Example of French words used by the students LT to French Meaning tried toThe actual word to
convey be used
Moi et ma famille aussi visite des familles in à deMoi et ma familleMy family and IMa famille et moi
Kelantan. aussi visite also visit rendons visite
(Me and my family also visite families in Kelantan)
Ils ont habillé un pantalon gris et chemise verte. Ils ont habillé They wore Ils se sont habillés
(They were worn a pair of grey trousers and a green
shirt)
Oui, j'ai usure baju kurung J'ai usure I wore Je me suis habillé
(Yes,I wore until worn the baju kurung)

4.1.2 LT from Phrases in English

The LT from English phrases by the students on the other hand, contributed to the grammatical errors and
incomprehensible phrases in French. Some of the examples are illustrated in Table 6.

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Table 6. LT from English phrases

Phrases used by the students Meaning tried to convey The actual phrase in French
1. Il est magnificent à ma. It is magnifiscent to me. Pour moi, c'est magnifique
(It is magnificent to my)
2. Alors, sur que jour en general, on So on that day we wear «Baju Ce jour-là, on porte du "Baju
s'habille «Baju kurung» pour la femme kurung» for the women Kurung" pour les femmes et du
et «Baju Melayu» pour le homme. and «Baju Melayu» for "Baju Melayu" pour les
(So (), we wear «Baju kurung» for the the men hommes.
women and «Baju Melayu» for the
men).
3. Nous ne voulons pas parle quelque
unfortune words. Mon père donne moi
une rouge paquet. We don't want to speak about Nous ne voulons pas parler du
bad things. My father gives mal. Mon père me donne un
(We don't want speak some me a red packet. paquet rouge.
unfortunate words. My father gives
me a red packet.)
(): No equivalent translation

4.1.3 LT from Sentences in English

The LT from English language by the students were merely comprehensible (Sentence 1 and 2 from Table 7). The
sentences were grammatically incorrect and not a sentence of French were correct. On the other hand, Sentence 3
and 4 were completely incomprehensible in French.

Table 7. LT from English sentences

Sentences by the students Meaning tried to convey The actual sentence in French
They are all delicious. They are Ils sont tous délicieux. Ils sont
Ce sont tous délicieux. Ce sont chauds spicy épicés.
In which area your family
Quelles places ton famillé habite? Ta famille habite où?
lives?
Nous sommes eu tout à Singapore We were all in Singapore Nous étions tous à Singapour
Tel le chouette! What a surprise! Quelle surprise!

4.2 LT from Malay

4.2.1 LT from Words in Malay
LT from Malay words in majority involved Malay verbs, nouns and adverbs (29 words out of 37 found). For the
LT from Malay verbs, it was found that there were two types of LT done by the subjects: LT from Malay to
English to French and LT from Malay to French. The first type (Malay　English　French) involved the words
mengunjungi and memakai in the past tense.

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Table 8. LT from verbs Malay - English - French

Example of French sentences LT to French Meaning tried The actual word to
constructed by the students to convey be used
Moi et ma famille aussi visite des familles Moi et ma famille My family and I Ma famille et moi
in à de Kelantan. aussi visite also visit rendons visite
(Me and my family also visite families in
Kelantan)
Ils ont habillé un pantalon gris et chemise Ils ont habillé They wore Ils se sont habillés
verte.
(They were worn a pair of grey trousers
and a green shirt)
Oui, j'ai usure baju kurung J'ai usure I wore Je me suis habillé
(Yes,I wore until worn the baju kurung)
The rest of the LT from verbs were from the second type. Some of the examples were as follows:

Table 9. LT from verbs Malay - French

Example of French sentences LT to Meaning tried Category The actual verb to
constructed by the students French to convey be used
Pourquoi tu sens tu es bruyant ? sens think Verb 　 verb Pense que
(Why you sense you are noisy?)
A morning, nous prier et alors prier pray Verb 　 verb Faisons la prière
manger.
(In the morning, we pray and eat )
Je grâce à mon parents aussi grâce Ask for pardon Verb 　 noun Demande pardon
(I grace my parents too)
Ensuite, on feu le lemang cinq feu cook Verb 　 noun cuit
heures
(Then, we fire the lemang five
hours)

The use of the LT on the nouns from Malay to French was resulted from the fact that the Malay vocabulary was a
specific vocabulary that has an equivalent in French, or it was a symbolic name to Malaysian community which
contains Malaysian culture.
Table 10. LT from nouns Malay- French
Example of nouns used in the French LT to French Meaning tried to The actual noun
sentence convey
Et dodol est les fruits cuit avec sucre rouge. Sucre rouge Palm sugar Du sucre de palme
Maksud ayat: Dan dodol adalah buah yang
dimasak dengan gula warna merah
Moi, on a un grand poulet Turquie, des Poulet Turquie Turkey La dinde
gâteaux et des desserts doux.
Maksud ayat: Kami ada satu ayam dari
Turki, kuih-muih dan manisan
Je porte chemise Malais pour Hari raya. Chemise malais Baju Melayu Vêtement traditionnel, le
Maksud ayat: Saya pakai baju orang Baju Melayu
Melayu untuk Hari Raya

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4.2.2 LT from Malay Phrases

The LT from Malay phrases was a part of the language phenomena called transitional competence or
interlanguage, by Corder (1981). It was in fact a transitional situation in the acquisition of the targeted language,
in this case French, where the students referred to their mother tongue to express an idea in the targeted language.
In this research, such translation involved expression using French prepositions, adjectives and possessives.

Table 11. LT from Malay phrases

Phrases used by the respondents Meaning tried to convey The actual phrase in French
1. Je suis allé mon campagne pour I went to my hometown to Je suis allé chez des familles
menyambut mon Hari Raya avec ma celebrate Hari Raya with my pour célébrer l'Hari Raya avec
famille. family. ma famille.
(I went to the outskirt to celebrate my
Hari Raya with my family)
2. Pendant Hari Raya, on va venir à la During Hari Raya, we went Pendant Hari Raya, on est allé
village. back to our hometown. à notre ville natale..
(During Hari Raya, we will come to
village).

Some of the expressions were totally incomprehensible in French:

Table 12. LT from Malay phrases

Phrases used by the respondents Meaning tried to convey The actual phrase in French
1. Le songkok, on porte en haut de la tête Songkok, we wear on top of Le Songkok, on porte comme un
our head chapeau.

2. Il est vers quatre heures et demie à It is around 4 ½ hours from Il est environ quatre heures et
partir d'ici. here demie d'ici.

4.2.3 LT from Sentences in Malay

The LT from Malay sentences was mainly based on the oral discourse translated to French. The translation was
detected in the sentences to indicate a place, sentences on one's costumes, habits, food and drinks, and
exclamation. Table 13 showed some the translations by the students:

Table 13. LT from Malay sentences

The actual sentence in
Sentences by the students Meaning tried to convey French
Nous allons à beaucoup
Nous allons beaucoup endroit We go to lots of places d'endroits.
Les cuisines traditionnelles
Cuisines traditionnelles fameux ici est The traditional famous food
fameuses ici sont le Nasi lemak
satay et nasi lemak. here is satay and nasi lemak
et le satay
Je vais mourir s'il n'y a pas
Je suis mort si ne l'eau pas. I am dead if I don't have water
d'eau

5. Conclusion
From the analysis, it was found that Malay language played an important role in the LT to French by the student,
in the use of words, phrases and sentences. The use of the LT though ease the communication in French,

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rendered the sentence incomprehensible and grammatically incorrect. The results of this study were similar to the
study by Hazlina Abdul Halim et al. (2009b), who investigated LT to French among Chinese and Indians.
This study implicates that though LT is one of the achievement strategies (Kongsom, 2009), the learners still
have to be careful in using the strategy in order to turn it to their advantage. Thus, the instructors or the language
teachers have a very important role in coaching and ensuring the implementation of the strategy in their foreign
language teaching.
Acknowledgement
This research is funded by Universiti Putra Malaysia through the Research University Grant Scheme (RUGS)
2012.
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