Slang Language Subtitle Strategy in the Movie Entitled “The Social Network”

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.31332/l kw.v5i2.1298 This paper focuses on the analysis of translation strategies of slang language as employed in the movie entitled “The Social Network”. This paper analyzes the translation strategies of the slang language from English into Indonesia from the movie entitled “The Social Network”. Baker’s translation strategies were used in this paper in order to analyze the data of this paper. The study findings reveal that there are 30 slang words used in this movie, and the subtitler adopted five translation strategies by Baker for translating the slang words in this movie. The analysis also reveals that most of the slang words in the movie have related words with the target language. There are no English slang words that were translated into Indonesia slang words in the movie. The subtitler mostly used the strategies for translating the English slang words into Indonesian words that have a similar expressive meaning. It can be interpreted as a result of the different culture of both countries that makes different slang words.


Introduction
Slang word and language studies concerned with comparative, cross-cultural discourse (e.g., Alwasilah, 1989;Aronoff, 1989;Bean, 1988;Dumas and Lighter, 1978;Pei and Gaynor, 2007) have shown that slang is one of the very informal expressions and language styles frequently used in particular speech community or occasion. The use of slang words or slang language in the speech community is widespread. Some relevant studies have been done by many researches in this area, such as Istiqomah et all. and Rohmah. Istiqomah have examined on the subtitling strategies of slang expressions in some movies such as "the kissing booth" (Leksika, 2019) and discursive creation technique in "Harry Potter: The Chamber of Secrets" (Lingual, 2019) whereas Rohmah have focused on types of slang expression in "Hannah Montana Season 4" TV Series (UNY, 2014). Meanwhile, the community members know the meaning of the word without translating it into another language. It happens naturally in daily conversation. However, nowadays, slang word has shifted from a 'communicative' approach into 'textual' and 'structural' approach (Kaharuddin, 2018). The slang words appear in the movie and subtitlers have to translate it for the written subtitle. That is the problem because some countries, even some communities in the same country, have different slang words and different meanings of that slang word. The translator must see the context of the material and context of the situation in order to translate slang words precisely. It is not as simple as can be seen for a movie contains images, rhythm (movement), the combination of casual imagery, oral and written discourse, and artificial or natural sound (Anam, 2017). The gap of this research is if subtitlers translate it word by word, the translation product (what written in the subtitle) will not make sense and become a meaningless word. That will make the viewers of the movie difficult to understand what the goal of the dialogue is. Therefore, the translator should choose the right translation strategies in order to make the viewers more understand the context of the movie. Most of the issues related to slang use are the degree of equivalence from text 1 (source language) to text 2 (target language), technique used by the translator, some strategies and impacts of those strategies to the accuracy and acceptability in translating movie subtitle Rohmah, 2014;Senja, 2015). The objective of this paper is to analyze the translation strategies that are used in the movie entitled "The Social Network". Therefore, the main aim of this research is to explore the translation strategies which are mostly used in this movie. However, this paper focuses on the analysis of translation strategies as employed mostly in this movie.
Slang is a psychosocial and cultural phenomenon. The differences in language systems and cultures become the main problems of slang translation. The translation of slang is influenced by some factors; the role of censorship and the difference in the writing traditions of cultures. Nida (2001) states that the translation might be determined by the linguistic and cultural distance that occurs because of the difference in the way the message is expressed. The translator can face minor problems in translating slang language when the cultures and language are closely related. However, the translation process can be adequately complicated when the cultures are equal, but the languages diverge. Thus, when the differences between cultures and language are incredibly massive, the translator should choose the right translation strategy to convey what the meaning of the text. Nida states that "differences between language cause many more severe complications for the translator than make differences in language structure" (2001,130).
The history and development of slang itself come from the Encyclopedia of America. According to this Encyclopedia, slang has been known around 1750 and then it is defined as street language. Another definition is from two Norwegian dialect words that are slenge or slenje, which means to speak abusively and O. Ritter -a philologist from German -which defines slang as a combination of blending and shortening (Ningrum, 2009). Bethany K. Dumas and Jonathan Lighter state that slang is lower in prestige than Standard English. It tends to appear among some groups with low status, little power, or responsibility. Meanwhile, another encyclopedia, Microsoft Encarta 97, defines slang as informal, non-standard words or phrases which tend to originate in subcultures within a society. In short, a word can be categorized as a slang word if it should be widely accepted and adopted by members of a group.
The translator should be conscious that his/her translation should be appropriate to specific culture, readership, and conveys the exact meaning. However, the text that has been translated from the source language into the target language may be unacceptable because of the difference of language, culture, and social reality between the source audience and the target audience. "The network of cultural patterns of civilization is indexed in the language which expressed that civilization. Language is a guide to 'social reality'" (Sapir in Asemota, 2015). Thus, a translator should be aware of the cultural values included in the language. Referencing Schaffner, Schjoldager says that all trained translators must be able to apply a conscious reflection of their choices of translation in order to make the TT fulfill its purpose in the TC (Schjoldager 2008: 20). The difference between culture and language makes it is hard for translating slang language into another language, yet the translator should have a good sense of the language in which he/she translate the text and can convey the meaning of the text.
Slang language is a central problem for the translator for translating subtitles in the movie (Senja, 2015). They have to understand the slang word from both language, source language (SL), and target language (TL). Also, the translator must choose, comparing, and matching the best word to translate the SL without change the meaning in both languages. It means that they have to find the meaning and equivalent of each word. A subtitler (person who translates subtitle) must have a more excellent skill than a usual translator (written) because they have to listen to the audio, listen to what the characters say. The subtitler has to listen well and find which one is the slang language or slang word. That is the most challenging problem during subtitling (ibid). The subtitler maybe never heard some slang word that finds in the movie before. So, they have to get the right word without any misspell in order to find the meaning in the TL. After finding the right word of SL, the subtitle should translate it into the TL with the same meaning and sense in both languages, so in this paper, the method that used for research is the translation strategies from Baker (1992), which have been used by professional translators.
Anderson and Trudgil, in their book entitled "Bad Language" provide four (4) kinds of slang theory (Andersson and Trudgill, 1990). The first theory is slang language use below the neutral syntactic level. It means that slang is a relative concept, changes in neutral or formal usage will lead to changes in what is seen as lang. For example, telephone, omnibus, bicycle, and public house. These words have slang versions as phone, bus, bike, and pub. Those four words are now considered as "proper" language. It means that slang changes through time. The second theory is slang as typical of informal situations. The formality of the situation is not fixed once and for all, but it changes through time from one place to another. The relationship between student and teacher is an example of one such situation. The third theory is slang as typical of spoken language. For example, if people go and watch football games, they will hear and hear much slang from the crowd around them. The next morning, they will read through newspapers, magazines, and online portal about those kinds of slang words. It means that the language of mass media contain slang words.
The fourth theory is slang as creative. This creativity is often startling, amusing, or shocking. For example, slang words such as groovy, heavy, and so on, attract attention. However, if these words are heard over and over again, these will be stand out against more ordinary lexical items. Meanwhile, Eric Patridge in Slang Today and Yesterday mentions that the reasons for using slang are as an exercise in humor either in ingenuity or wit. It is also to be different, to be unmistakably arresting even starling, to enrich the language, to be novel, to describe that one belongs to a specific school, trade, profession, or social class (Patridge, Eric in Andersson and Trudgill, 1990:87).
Mona Baker (1992: 26-42) lists eight strategies, which have been used by professional translators, to cope with the problematic issues while doing translation tasks: a. Translation by a more general word. This is one of the most common strategies to deal with many types of nonequivalence. As Baker believes, it works appropriately in most, if not all, languages, because in the semantic field, the meaning is not language-dependent. b. Translation by more neutral/ less expressive word. This is another strategy in the semantic field or structure. c. Translation by cultural substitution. This strategy involves replacing a culturespecific item or expression with a target language item considering its impact on the target reader. This strategy makes the translated text more natural, more understandable, and more familiar to the target reader. d. Translation using a loan word or loan word plus an explanation. This strategy is usually used in dealing with culture-specific items, modern concepts, and buzz words. Using the loan word with an explanation is very useful when a word is repeated several times in the text. For the first time, the word is mentioned by the explanation, and in the next times, the word can be used on its own. e. Translation by paraphrase using a related word. This strategy is used when the source item in lexicalized in the target language but a different form, and when the frequency with which a specific form is used in the source text is higher than it would be natural in the target language. f. Translation by paraphrase using unrelated words. The paraphrasing strategy can be used when the concept in the source item is not lexicalized in the target language. When the meaning of the source item is complicated in the target language, the paraphrase strategy may be used instead of using related words; it may be based on modifying a super-ordinate or on merely making clear the meaning of the source item. g. Translation by omission. This may be a drastic kind of strategy, but it may be even useful to omit to translate a word or expression in some contexts. If the meaning conveyed by a particular item or expression is not necessary to mention in the understanding of the translation, translators use this strategy to avoid lengthy explanations. h. Translation by illustration (using an equivalent target-language expression. This strategy can be useful when the equivalent target item does not cover some aspects of the source item and the similar item refers to a physical entity that can be illustrated, particularly in order to avoid over-explanation and to be concise and to the point.

Method
In researching data from this study, researchers used qualitative methods. Qualitative research, according to Creswell (1994), is "descriptive in that the researcher is interested in the process, meaning and understanding gained through words or pictures." It means that the problem of the research is tackled through collecting, classifying, analyzing, and interpreting data. The film entitled THE SOCIAL NETWORK produced by Columbia Pictures in 2010 and directed by becomes the source of data for this research, and the data in this research were dialogues containing slang expressions delivered by the characters in that film. In this research, the researchers only analyze translation on dialogues in which contain slang expression that found in the movie "The Social Network." This research focused on the strategies of the slang expression translation.
One of the most important things from a foreign language movie that is watched by Indonesians that subtitle. With subtitles, people who do not know the meaning, sense, and message of the movie can understand the meaning of the movie well. However, in the subtitles, the translation process is also very important, because the translation process requires good quality translation results, which include accuracy, acceptability, and readability. Besides that, the translator must also pay attention to the rules of writing subtitles; that is, there should not be more than 35 characters or two lines of sentences in one frame. Therefore, a good subtitler must be able to convey meaning in the film without breaking the general rules of the subtitle. Another problem that can occur is when a subtitler translates slang, which is also slang because the majority of these languages cannot be found in the translation dictionary into the target language. In order to overcome this, the subtitler must be able to find the correct language of the target language that can convey the same meaning, sense, and message from the source language because cultural differences can make slang languages that are used is also different. Because of the problem finds, the writers use descriptive qualitative methods to explain in detail about the quality of the translation results, whether the translation results are following the criteria.

Findings and Discussion
From "The Social Network" movie, the writer found that there are 30 slang words and phrases translated by the subtitler. Related to the analysis, the result showed that the subtitler used five translation strategies from Baker. The total of the data in each strategy is presented in Table 1. Table 1 shows that the subtitler rarely used the translation by illustration (using an equivalent target-language expression), it was only used in 2 translation data (6.67 %), whereas translation by paraphrase using a related word has the most data, which is 15 data (50 %). Translation by cultural substitution and by omission has the same number of data, which is 5 data (16.67 %). Further explanations of these statistics will be discussed in the discussion chapter. Translation by paraphrase using a related word 15 3.
Translation by paraphrase using an unrelated word or phrase with a similar expressive meaning 3 5. Translation by illustration (using an equivalent target language expression) 2 30 The followings are the further discussions of the findings according to the strategies: a. Translation by cultural substitution In this movie, the writer found 5 data (16.67%) of slang words translated by cultural substitution.
Here the examples and the explanation of the data which are translated using this strategy: Data 003/ TSN/ 2018 SL: Get the hell out of here! TL: Pergi dari sini! The first example is "Get the hell out of here!" which translated into "Pergi dari sini!". Get the hell out of here! in TL means Pergilah kamu ke neraka! but the translator chooses the translation Pergi dari sini!. It is the right choice because of the meaning Pergilah kamu ke neraka! in TL means the character wants the other person dead. However, in the movie, the situation of the character is extremely mad, so she uses the word 'hell' to express her mood, but that is the only connotation.
Data 008/TSN/2018 SL: "Be right back." TL: "Permisi, teman." The next example is "Be right back." which translated into "Permisi, teman." The situation of the movie also has the same meaning. The character leaves his friend for a while because there are some of his friends in a different place call him.

b. Translation by paraphrase using a related word
In this movie, the writer found 15 data (50%) of slang words translated by paraphrase using a related word.
Here the examples and the explanation of the data which are translated using this strategy: Data 001/TSN/2018 SL: "Because you're a nerd." TL: "Karena kamu orang aneh." The first example is "Because you're a nerd." which translated into "Karena kamu orang aneh.". Both of the word nerd and orang aneh has the same sense, dictionary meaning, and also familiar in the SL and TL. The second example is "It'll be because you're an asshole." which translated into "Alasannya adalah karena kamu brengsek.". Both of the word asshole and brengsek has the same sense, dictionary meaning, and also familiar in the SL and TL.
Data 002/TSN/2018 SL: "It'll be because you're an asshole." TL: "Alasannya adalah karena kamu brengsek." The next example is "Erica Albright's a bitch." which translated into "Erica Albright adalah wanita jalang.". Both of the word bitch and wanita jalang has the same sense, dictionary meaning, and also familiar in the SL and TL. Another example is "Oh, shit." which translated into "Sial.". Both of the word shit and sial has the same sense, dictionary meaning, and also familiar in the SL and TL. c. Translation by omission In this movie, the writer found 5 data (16.67%) of slang words translated by omission.
Here the examples and the explanation of the data which are translated using this strategy: Data 010/ TSN/ 2018 SL: You stole our whole goddamn idea. TL: Dia mencuri ide-ide kami. The first example is "You stole our whole goddamn idea." which translated into "Dia mencuri ide-ide kami.". The subtitler does not translate the word Goddamn because the word Goddamn is in one unity with an idea. The translation result in the TL is only ide (idea in the SL). However, it still makes sense if the subtitler translates the word Goddamn into luar biasa (extraordinary in the SL).
Data 019/ TSN/ 2018 SL: Congratulations, dude. TL: Selamat. The next example is "Congratulations, dude." which translated into "Selamat.". The subtitle has not translated the word dude, because that word is enough to explain what the characters say. If the subtitler translates the word, it will be better because the word dude is slang language, and the meaning of that word is teman, or in the TL, it sounds like bro so that the translation can convey the aim of the sentence. d. Translation by paraphrase using an unrelated word or phrase with a similar expressive meaning In this movie, the writer found 3 data (10%) of slang words translated by paraphrase using an unrelated word or phrase with similar expressive meaning.
Here the examples and the explanation of the data which are translated using this strategy: Data 012/ TSN/ 2018 SL: He's a good guy. TL: Dia adalah orang baik. The first example is "He's a good guy." which translated into "Dia adalah orang baik.". The real meaning of guy is male person, but the subtitler chooses to translate guy into orang (which means person) in the TL. It is the right choice because the male word person in the TL sounds not natural. So, the subtitler chooses the general word that is person or orang in the TL but still has a similar expressive meaning.
Data 017/ TSN/ 2018 SL: Hey, man, sorry. TL: Hey, teman, maaf. The next example is "Hey, man, sorry." which translated into "Hey, teman, maaf.". The real meaning of man is male person, but the subtitler chooses to translate man into teman (which means friend) in the TL. That is the right choice because the male word person in the TL sounds not natural. So, the subtitler chooses the general word that is friend or teman in the TL but still has a similar expressive meaning.
Data 018/ TSN/ 2018 SL: and then rated women based on their hotness. TL: dan lalu memberi rating para perempuan berdasar keseksiannya. Another example is "…and then rated women based on their hotness." which translated into "…dan lalu memberi rating para perempuan berdasar keseksiannya.". The word hotness in the TL means the real hot (dictionary meaning). This word does not make sense in the TL. The subtitler chooses to translate into keseksiannya (sexy in the SL) because of considering the previous word, perempuan (a woman, female, lady). Sexy woman in the TL is familiar, so it is an excellent choice to translate by paraphrase using an unrelated word or phrase with similar expressive meaning. e. Translation by illustration (using an equivalent target-language expression) In this movie, the writer found 2 data (6.67%) of slang words translated by illustration or in other words, translated using an equivalent target-language expression).
Here the examples and the explanation of the data which are translated using this strategy: Data 013/ TSN/ 2018 SL: Honey, you should put your laptop away. TL: Sayang, hendaknya kamu simpan laptopmu. The first example is "Honey, you should put your laptop away." which translated into "Sayang, hendaknya kamu simpan laptopmu.". The word Honey in a relationship means darling, not honey from the bee. The subtitler translates Honey into Sayang in the TL because both of the words have the same meaning in a relationship. Researchers can conclude that Honey and Sayang hs the equivalent meaning, so the subtitler translates the word using this strategy.
Data 027/ TSN/ 2018 SL: Screw it. TL: Persetan. The next example is "Screw it." which translated into "Persetan.". The word Screw in slang language does not mean a kind of tool. The subtitle translates into Persetan because they have the same meaning as Screw in the SL. The word Persetan is also familiar in the TL. Those are some example of the SL that was translated using the TL that has equivalent meaning. The translator considered to translate those words in order to make the subtitle product is more natural and more common used by the TL.   "Holy shit" idea -This is a one-in-a-generation, "holy shit" idea. 028 Friggin' -Let's gut the friggin' nerd   Translation by paraphrase using an unrelated word or phrase with a similar expressive meaning n=3 10% From the table above, it shows that the subtitler mostly used the translation by paraphrase using a related word strategy for translating 50% of slang language in the movie. There are many words in this movie that the actual meaning has the same meaning in the target language, so that the subtitler chooses this strategy for translating most of the slang language in this movie. In the other hand, the subtitler used the translation by illustration (using an equivalent target-language expression) strategy just for 6.7% of slang word in the movie, the subtitler used this strategy because those words have meaning in the dictionary but that is not appropriate with the expression of the movie, so the subtitler choose another word that has the similar expression with the source language. From the data, researchers can know that most of the slang languages in this movie have a similar expression with the target language so that the subtitler mostly used the translation by paraphrase using a related word strategy.
Most of the translation strategy used by subtitlers is paraphrase related words that are 50 percent. Meanwhile, comparing to the previous research, some research reveals that subtitler use common words or phrase of similar meaning both referential and expressive meaning 89 percent (Ningrum, 2009), 22 percent of dysphemism category (Istiqomah et all, 2019), and around 58 percent subtitler translate slang words in equivalent way (Senja, 2015).

Conclusion
This paper is a contribution to the analysis of the translation strategies that occur in the movie entitled "The Social Network". The data shows that the subtitler just used five strategies according to Baker (1992); translation by cultural substitution, translation by paraphrase using a related word, translation by omission, translation by paraphrase using an unrelated word or phrase with a similar expressive meaning, and translation by illustration (using an equivalent target-language expression). The subtitler mostly used the translation by paraphrase using a related word strategy for translating the movie, and there are many words in this movie that the actual meaning has the same meaning in the target language so that the subtitler chooses this strategy for translating most of the slang words in this movie. The subtitler less used translation by illustration (using an equivalent target-language expression) strategy in the subtitle in this movie. The subtitler chooses words in the target language that have unrelated meaning with the source language but have the same expressive meaning. From the result of this study, a good translation should use a good strategy for translating text or movie. For the next research, it can be focused on the quality of slang translation in terms of accuracy, readability, and naturalness so that the equivalences of the slang expression can be measured.