Analysis of Strategies Used in the Translation of Figurative Language in the English Version of Ngo Pa (The Romance of the Sakai)

Abstract

This study seeks to identify figurative language and analyze the strategies applied in translating it in the Southern Thai literary work “Ngo Pa” (The Romance of the Sakai). Ngo Pa is a play originally written by King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) in Thai while the English version was translated by Malithat Promathatavedi. The twelve scenes of “Kanang’s journey to the forest” to “Lumhap escapes with Sompla” as parts of the play written in Thai and the English translated version were selected as data for this study. The Knickerbocker and Renninger’s (1963) classification of figurative language and Mona Baker’s (1992) grouping of translation strategies were employed in data analysis. The findings revealed that figurative language appeared in 22 instances consisting of five types: simile 10 (45.45%), hyperbole 5 (22.73%), personification 3 (13.64%), symbolism 2 (9.09%), metaphor 2 (9.09%), while paradox and synecdoche were absent. Interestingly, it was also found that the top three translation strategies used in translating figurative language were: using a more general word 5 (33.33%), cultural substitution 4 (26.67%), and paraphrasing using related words 3 (20.00%), in descending order. Moreover, it was found that the translation of this literary work also employed strategies beyond Baker’s framework, particularly literal translation.