Thematic Progression Shifts in the Translation of Student Translators

Abstract

Thematic progression is one of the tools that can be used to confirm the unity of a text, including a translated text. However, some translated texts do not pay attention to how their clauses related one another as a coherent text. This paper aims at finding out how thematic progression is used in the translation done by student translators. This study used a content analysis as the method. The data were the source text (ST) and the target text (TT) produced by 10 student translators who were asked to translate the text from English into bahasa Indonesia. The data were collected using Translog for more accurate data. Based on the data analysis, it was found that the thematic progression shifts done by the student translators in their TTs are mainly due to their efforts to produce the TT reflecting its independent characteristics. It is concluded that, in terms of thematic progression, the student translators’ TTs are dominated by the use of hypertheme and constant continuous theme progressions. This is due to the social function of history text that tells the past historical events involving people and places. The choice of certain types of thematic progression is particularly helpful in building the unity of the text.