Identity struggle through the negotiation of cultural identity in the translation of French cultural references into Javanese

Abstract

Cultural identity negotiations occur not only in cross-cultural communication but also translation acts. The justification that the translation process involved not only two languages but also two different cultural traditions raises awareness of the importance of translation as a means of cross-cultural communication. This study aims to reveal the negotiation of French’s cultural identity in Javanese translation by positioning the Javanese language and culture as ‘self’ and French as ‘others.’ Under descriptive-qualitative research, 433 pairs of French-Javanese narratives from Albert Camus’s 1943 novel L’Étranger and its Javanese translation Wong Njaba’ (2010) translated by Revo Arka Giri Soekatno were used as the objects in this study. Through careful examination, four possibilities emerge as the impact of French cultural identity’s negotiation into Javanese: the target language’s meaning becomes completely equivalent, narrower, broader, or inequivalent to the source culture’s meaning. These possibilities arise from the translator’s consciousness to reduce the level of strangeness that may interfere with the target reader’s concentration and reception. This present study concludes that the translator tends to negotiate semantically two languages within similar semantic vocabularies. Nonetheless, the form is borrowed or negotiated if there is no cultural activity in Javanese similar to French cultural activity. This study contributes to the study of cultural identity by incorporating linguistic and cultural perspectives into translation studies.

Keywords:

• cultural identity
• cultural references
• translation
• negotiation
• equivalence

Public Interest Statement

The present study attempts to examine the forms, reasons, and implications of negotiation in the translation of French’s cultural references into Javanese. By employing textual and contextual analysis, the findings reveal that negotiations took place in different forms, including semantic negotiation, borrowing, perspective and mental sets shift, as well as form negotiation. The negotiation’s impacted to the changes of the meaning of the target text’s cultural references.

1. Introduction

Cultural identity is constantly changing and contested through negotiations. In a globalized world with increasing intercultural encounters, cultural identity is simultaneously enacted, negotiated, maintained, and challenged through communicative practices. Hence, language contact and translation practices facilitate cultural negotiations. Ongoing discussions about translation practice and studies place significant emphasis on the concept of cultural identity (Malinowski, 1961; Hongwei, 1999; Bassnett, 2005; Cronin, 2006; Gill & Constanza Guzmán, 2011; Liu, 2012; House, 2017; Liu, 2019). Through the mode of translation, academics and translators focus on bridging, identifying, providing a problem-solving framework, as well as responding to cross-cultural communication needs from at least two different language and cultural communities in their respective identities.

This research assumes that a language, as a form of cultural reality, reflects a specific identity. Jenkins (2008) asserts that “identifying ‘self’ or ‘others’ is a matter of meaning involving interactions in the form of agreement and disagreement, convention and innovation, as well as communication and negotiation. In Eco’s (2003) perspective, negotiation tends to minimize conflict by finding the most compromise solution to accommodate culture. Cultural identity negotiation occurs when the translator tends to modify and change the cultural references of the source text (both form and meaning) because there is no source culture in the target culture. However, Venuti (2000) reveals that translation is never communicated without problems, as the meaning modification in the target text will potentially obscure the source text’s original meaning and identity.

Some scholars have conducted research on negotiation. Negotiation research can be divided into two main categories: (1) ethnic cultural identity negotiations in Indonesia; and (2) negotiation studies from a translation perspective. The first group, comprised of Schlehe (2017) and De Jong and Twikromo (2017), suggests that religion, ethnicity, local culture, tourism, and the role of actors in maintaining balance exist in Yogyakarta. Anoegrajekti (2010) investigates the Using’s (Banyuwangi (East Java) community) negotiation efforts in addressing and dealing with literature as an expression of self-identity and its interaction with other forces, notably relating to modernization, religion, and state policy in the texts Jinggoan, Gandrung, and Warung Bathokan. Her research shows that Balinese culture is inseparable from the negotiation process. Steele (2013) and Putra (2011) discovered identity negotiation through the study of music and literature. Steele (2013) exhibits that traditional Balinese and world music coexist. Meanwhile, Putra (2011) initiated a historical study that revealed caste system negotiations reflected in Bali’s literary works. Sundanese cultural identity is also being negotiated. Lahpan’s (2015) and Sihombing’s (2022) research on traditional music and inter-ethnic marriage ceremonies reveals that cultural identity is negotiated. In the lyrics of Terebang Sejak, Lahpan (2015) clearly shows a negotiation of Sundanese and Islamic cultural identities. The song’s lyrics play an important role in the traditional rituals of Cikeusal, Tasikmalaya, West Java. Sihombing (2022) uncovers that traditional marriage ceremonies in the film Lamaran encompass negotiations between Batak and Sundanese ethnicities. Research by Adriyani et al. (2019) in Bulukumba Regency, South Sulawesi, shows that cultural identity is also negotiated in the Ammatoa community. With formal education facilities in their village, the indigenous Ammatoa people have to negotiate to ensure the preservation of their customs and traditions.

The second group, comprised of Ma’shumah and Sajarwa (2022), deals with the translation of Javanese and Sundanese cultural identities in the novel. They show that translators tend to preserve the identity of the source text in the target text, using loan words and the application of mixed strategies. Differently, by investigating culture-loaded words and translation equivalence, Zhou and Hua (2021) concluded that absolute equivalence is impossible in translating cultural words, so it needs to be negotiated. Siponkoski (2015), who studied the concept of translation under negotiation, shows that professional translators have more negotiating power than non-professional translators. The decision of a professional translator takes precedence over the publisher’s voice. Ma’shumah et al. (2021) discussed the negotiations carried out by translators in translating foreign cultural words or terms into Indonesian. They found the complexity in closing the cultural gap between the source and target texts. As a side effect, both translators employed different forms of negotiation to accommodate readers’ expectations and create optimal target texts in the target culture. From a different viewpoint, Supardi and Sayogie (2019) focuses on implementing translation ideology as part of negotiations. As a result, translators tend to employ foreignization ideology to preserve and introduce the source culture to the target readers.

Different from the aforementioned research, this study tends to reveal the negotiation of French culture through the translation of French novel into Javanese, with Javanese language and culture as ‘self’ and French as ‘others’. This alignment is based on two reasons. First, the research’s point of view departs from Javanese culture as the target text. Javanese culture is part of Indonesia’s cultural background, which is perceptible in social, political, and cultural life. Second, translating meaning from other cultural references requires negotiating cultural identity both in the source and target texts. In this case, the degree of change in meaning and form in the target text can be used to identify negotiation. This study contains the following research questions: (1) what are the forms of negotiation of Javanese cultural identity in translation?; (2) what are the reasons behind the negotiation of Javanese cultural identity in translation?; and (3) what are the implications of the negotiation of Javanese cultural identity?

This study expanded the argument that identity is closely related to culture. Translation as a cultural transfer indicates that the translation results are grammatically and communicatively acceptable for the target’s readers. Cultural negotiation occurs when there is no cultural equivalent in the target language. Nevertheless, negotiation is pivotal as translators must make numerous decisions to produce a comprehensive translation.

2. Literature review

2.1. Negotiation as a mechanism of mediating cultures

Negotiation is more than just a byproduct in formal or informal situations. The negotiation, which involves bargaining or “back-and-forth” communication (Cambridge Dictionary, 2020), is widely known and practiced as part of communication skills. It holds the key to general tactics or strategies of the information exchange to deal with disagreements, different points of view, and objectives and reach mutually beneficial outcomes. Because of its significance, negotiation has been the subject of hundreds of empirical papers in psychology and social sciences, including in the translation domain.

The justification that the translation process involved more than just two languages but also two different cultural traditions (Catford, 1965; Ukpong, 2017) raises the consciousness of the importance of translation as a means of cross-cultural communication (House, 2009; Torop & Osimo, 2010). Concerned with that paradox, Kastrati and Zaçellari (2022) have observed that culture is constantly attempting to be displayed or negotiated through a process of continuous interaction to shape identity. This supported Swann’s (1987) argument, who proposed that to achieve effectiveness in claiming a particular identity, identity cues must meet at least two basic criteria: (1) they must be under the individual’s control; (2) they must characteristically evoke desired responses from others. The translator can be responsible for the translation process and outcome, along with other patrons (such as publishers, editors, reviewers, marketing and sales teams, literary agents, and readers). Dealing with language, culture, and identity’s interconnectivity, Swann’s (1987) and Kastrati and Zaçellari’s (2022) concepts were pertinent in translation. Despite there was general presumption that negotiation becomes a complex process in translation practice (Redelinghuys, 2019), to minimize the boundaries between cultures, Eco (2003) stridently argues that the translator, as the first authority, must be involved in the process of negotiation through adjustments, changes, agreements, and cultural activities. As translation becomes a form of distinct activity or practice that allows texts to emerge in cultural contexts, in Savchyn’s (2019) point of view, translators then could be regarded as “cultural ambassadors” in the process of cultural negotiation while literary translation is frequently considered as a means of “constructing culture”. Under its circumstance, when Eco (2003) regards negotiations as a form of ‘sacrifice’, Soubrier and Thuderoz (2010), Savchyn (2019), and Kastrati and Zaçellari (2022) have viewed negotiation as a flexible, adaptable, and dynamic process in translation. The decision to negotiate cultural form and meaning then enable the translator to broaden the scope of cultural meaning, preventing the culture in question from being isolated by linguistic and cultural boundaries.

2.2. Beyond cultural identity and representation

The exact relationship between language and culture brings up the issue of identity as a critical concept in recent cultural studies discourses. From the cultural perspective, Burke (2013) assumed that cultural structures and practices are fundamental and essential for individuals to consider identity issues. Meanwhile, from the language perspective, language is integral to cultural identity formation since it can explain all aspects of identity as “a process of continual emerging and becoming”. Language serves as a medium for expressing one’s identity. To control, regulate distribution, and ensure resource availability; language is formally and informally associated with identity as part of certain ethnic and national characteristics (May, 2012). Therefore, individuals cannot understand and explain identity issues unless they bring the notion of language and culture into account.

The symbolic interactionist captures the identity formation principle as the ’looking-glass self,’ asserting that the self reflects an actor’s socialization (Wendt, 1994). However, in Lustig’s (2013) opinion, cultural identity is more than just self-engagement. Cultural identity is a central, dynamic, complex, and multifaceted process by involving ‘others’ into account. Cultural identity is then known as an ever-changing understanding of one’s (self) identity in relation to ‘others’, according to Pande and Jha (2016).

In the study and practice of translation, ongoing discussions about culture and identity produce various instruments and approaches. Many scholars tried to offer taxonomies and classification of culture to establish a framework for assessing cultural translation (Blažytė & Liubinienė, 2016; Diaz-Cintas & Remael, 2014; Espindola & Vasconcellos, 2006; Magu, 2015; Newmark, 1988; Novakov, 2016; Olena, 2015; Ranzato, 2016). Notwithstanding, cultural identity can be exclusively identified in the translation domain by investigating the existence of cultural references in the source text. They refer to objects or concepts that do not exist in a specific target culture (Mailhac, 1996; Olk, 2013). Newmark (1988) proposed cultural references under six main headings: ecology, material cultures, social cultures, religions, political and administrative, gestures, and habits; whereas Espindola and Vasconcellos (2006) added anthroponyms for addressing someone. On that account, successful translation will depend on the translator’s ability and understanding to employ relevant cultural perspectives in translation practices.

2.3. Determining translation equivalence boundaries

Several arguments said that intercultural differences could lead to cultural incompatibility or misinterpretation (Ariyaratne & Gunathilaka, 2019; Baker, 2018; Bassnett, 2002, 2005; Catford, 1965; Wang & Sunihan, 2014). Bassnett (2005), and Ariyaratne and Gunathilaka (2019) used the term ‘cultural untranslatability’ as the translator’s inability to incorporate formally and functionally relevant features and situations of the source culture into the target culture’s contextual meaning and situation. Rabadán (1991) and Nord (1997) used the term ‘cultereme’ or ‘referential vacuum’. Meanwhile, Baker (1992) defined the predicament as a phenomenon of ‘inequivalence at the word and above-word level.’

However, culturally oriented-translation studies never treat the source text (ST) and the target text (TT) only as samples of linguistic material. According to them, the text is never represented in exclusion. Every single text occurs in a specific situation and a specific culture around the world. Since the reader is imaginative, sensitive, and steeped in source language culture (Newmark, 1988), an overview of equivalence and culture could not be seen as dichotomous in translation practice. They should be seen in a continuum by considering the context in which culture was born. Even though each linguistic community perceives reality in different manners (Hussein, 2012; Sapir, 1949; Whorf, 1956), equivalence still becomes an important intuitive principle of translation theory and practice (Barnstone, 1993). The translation addresses the whole readership rather than focusing on individual readers. At least three cultural equivalence levels reflect translation accomplishments to reduce cultural gaps or bias. First, the target culture becomes totally or fully equivalent to the source culture if the meaning of the source cultural reference can be accurately transferred into the target language without meaning distortion. Second, the target culture became nearly or partially equivalent to the source culture if most of the meanings from the source cultural references had been accurately transferred to the target language, but there were no significant meaning distortions or ambiguities in the translation that affected the message’s conveyance. Two possibilities can result from partial equivalence: (1) the meaning of the target language becomes narrower than the meaning of the source culture, or (2) the meaning of the target language becomes broader than the meaning of the source culture. Third, the target culture became inequivalent to the source culture when the translator did not successfully transmit or mediate the concept of the source culture.

4. Methods

Pairs of data for this study were collected from a French novel entitled L’Étranger by Camus (1943), published by Reynal & Hitchcock as the source text (ST), and its Javanese translation entitled Wong Njaba Camus (2011) (translated by Revo Arka Giri Soekatno), published by Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia (KPG) as the target text (TT). Albert Camus L’Étranger became an appropriate work to demonstrate cross-cultural reading by combining French and Algerian cultures, making it heavily influenced by the exclusivity of French-Algerian culture. It also provides a cross-cultural appreciation of several structures, such as the value of tradition, the use of models, the privileged place of deductive reasoning, culture-bound role expectations, action chains, sensory overload, nonviolent signs of aggression, as well as the concepts of honor, family, and ego. This novel has been translated four times into English, as well as into numerous other languages, and has long been regarded as a canon of twentieth-century literature (see https://thegreatestbooks.org/lists/108). Meanwhile, Wong Njaba became the initial effort conducted by a Javanese translator to introduce foreign culture into Javanese something unprecedented except in the translation of English literature. The striking distinctions between the French and Javanese language pairs make L’Étranger and Wong Njaba become intriguing subjects of study.

By positioning researchers as the primary instrument, 433 French and 433 Javanese narrative discourses were taken, observed, and documented manually using purposive-comparative methods by (1) reading comprehensively the French novel and its Javanese translation; (2) identifying cultural references’ data; and (3) recording and coding all French cultural references and their translation’s data. Cultural identity is identified as a certain collective or group identity, which makes a person feel belonging. In French, cultural identity can be identified through cultural references, while in Javanese, negotiating cultural identity can be seen by changes in form and meaning in translation. Meanwhile, the collected data is analyzed by (1) classifying the data based on cultural references categorizations by stepping on Newmark (1988) (for ecology, material cultures, social cultures, religions, political and administrative, gestures and habits) and Espindola and Vasconcellos (2006) (for anthroponyms); (2) identifying the forms of French cultural identity’s negotiation using the descriptive-qualitative approach in Javanese translation based on the emerging data; (3) identifying meaning changes or shifts in the translation version; (4) comparing the lexical, contextual, and situational meanings of the paired data by stepping on Le Robert dictionary for French references and Kamus Basa Jawa: Bausastra Jawa (Tim Balai Bahasa Yogyakarta, 2011) for Javanese references to minimize subjectivity and bias; (5) formulating cultural identity changes in translation; and (6) investigating the rationale behind French cultural identity’s negotiation and its implication on translation.

5. Findings and discussion

As the largest country in Western Europe (with a total area of 543,940 km² (210,020 mi²)) and one of the world's most highly developed social market economies, France remains a European and global powerhouse. For more than a century, the world has been exposed to French culture by exporting French ideas, cuisine, fashion, literature, art, and film. Franchophone’s power and supremacy seem to have impacted the translation industry as well. The practice of translation has created opportunities to bring specific France cultures into the global discourse. By introducing a cultural paradigm, literary texts are seen as constituting language and culture. Thus, as “vehicles for transporting culture”, language interacts with one another in creating literary texts through the negotiation process (Trivedi, 2007).

5.1. The manifestation of French cultural identity’s negotiation in Javanese translation

In any situation and condition, translation practices will always confront with two options: resisting by retaining as much of the source language and culture as possible based on exclusivity, exoticism, and originality (translation in praesentia); or negotiating by diverting as many terms or cultural references as possible from global sources or references to target cultures by prioritizing the principles of acceptability and readability (translation in absentia; Eco, 2003). Through the emergence of cultural references in both the original and translation versions, the analysis of this study revealed the pattern of cultural negotiation from French to Javanese. Cultural practices associated with local history by distinguishing between ‘insiders’ (self) and ‘outsiders’ (others) in the translation of L’Étranger from French to Javanese. As a result, the translation practice cannot be separated from culture’s (in a minor way) and cultural identity’s (in a major way) transformation. The following tables summarize the outcomes of the translator’s negotiation in translating French cultural references into Javanese.

Material culture is fundamental to cultural identity formation. Humans tend to modify and use material culture as a facet of social reality to strengthen the (Hebding & Glick, 1992; Newmark, 1988; Ogburn, 1992; Tylor, 1871; Velo, 1983). The data presented below depict various types of material culture which are constituted of physical (tangible) manifestations, resources, and spaces, such as building constructions, foods and beverages, furniture, and transportation. On table 1, a building in the form of cabanon which is usually translated into shed or cabana (in English) is translated as ‘gubug’ or ‘hut’ (1) in the Javanese version based on the semantic field’s proximities, baraques foraines or fairground stand is translated as ‘warung’ (2) to achieve cultural equivalent effects’ consideration, chambre or room is translated as ‘senthong’ (3) based on its function as an unwind’s place, vérandas is translated as ‘pendhapa’ (4), furniture in a form of fauteuil or armchair is generally translated as ‘kursi’ or ‘chair’ (5) by using superordinate or a more general word, paillasse or straw mattress is translated into ‘kasur’ (6), foods in forms of viande or meat is translated into ‘bistik,’ or ‘beefsteak’ (7) and sandwiches are globalized into ‘roti’ or ‘bread’ (8), transportation in the form of tramway or tram is translated into ‘trem’(9), whereas l’autobus or bus is simply translated into ‘bis’ (10).

Table 1. The form of negotiation carried out by translators in translating material culture

No.	Source Text (ST)	Target Text (TT)
1	L’ami de Raymond habitait un petit cabanon de bois à l’extrémité de la plage.	Kancane Raymond manggon ing sawijining gubug kayu cilik ing pucuking pasisir. (Raymond’s friend lived in a little wooden hut at the far end of the beach.)
2	Il y avait du monde, autour des baraques foraines.	Teng ngriku kathah tiyang saindhenging warung. (There were lots of people around the booths at the fair.)
3	Le jour de mon arrestation, on m’a d’abord enfermé dans une chambre où il y avait déjà plusieurs détenus, […]	Nalika aku ditahan, aku didodok sajroning senthong sing wis ana isine sasarara tahanan liyane […] (The day of my arrest I was first put in a room where there were already several other prisoners […])
4	[…] quelques-unes enfouies avec leurs vérandas sous les tamaris, […].	Sawetara vila pendhapane ana sangisoring wit-wit tamarix*, […]. ([…], some with their verandas hidden under the tamarisks, […])
5	[…] il avait sur son bureau une seule lampe qui éclairait le fauteuil où il m’a fait s’asseoir […]	[…] ing mejane ana lampu siji sing madhangi kursi ing ngendi aku kudu lungguh […] ([…] there was a single lamp on his desk which was shining on a chair where he had me sit […])
6	Entre ma paillasse et la planche du lit, […]	Antarane kasur lan ambenku, […] (Between my straw mattress and the bed planks, […])
7	Il y avait ensuite de la viande et des pommes de terre frites.	Sawise iku kene disuguhi bistik lan kenthang goreng. (Then, there was some beefsteak and fried potatoes.)
8	[…] des marchands de sandwichs […]	[…] bakul roti […] ([…] the baker […])
9	[…] j’étais devant une banquette de tramway et tous ces voyageurs […]	Aku malah rumangsa kaya lagi wae mlebu trem lan wong-wong iku […] ([…] I was sitting across from a row of seats on a tram and all these anonymous passengers […])
10	Je prendrai l’autobus à deux heures […].	Aku arep numpak bis jam loro […]. (I’ll take the two o’clock bus […])

In terms of social culture, addressing terms as part of relational function becomes an important tool in the French community’s communication. Apart from the use of tu (for casually addressing a single person and a known acquaintance or younger person) and vous (for formally addressing a group of people, as well as strangers or non-acquaintances), nicknames, pronouns, pejoratives, and terms of endearment are qualified to be used for designating or greeting a person or interlocutor in both formal and informal communication in French culture. The designation or appellation of Mademoiselle (Mlle), which equals Miss or “My Young Lady” (11), as a traditional way of addressing a very young girl or unmarried woman, in table 2, is translated into ‘mbakyu’ which was similar to the older sister. In contrast, petite which equals with little or small is translated into ‘ndhuk’ (12).

Table 2. The form of negotiation carried out by translators in translating antroponyms

No.	Source Text (ST)	Target Text (TT)
11	Il m’a dit: “Salut, vieux”, et il a appelé Marie “Mademoiselle”.	Dheweke ngarani aku ‘Bocah tuwa’ lan Marie diarani ‘mbakyu’ (He called me “the old man” and called Marie “Miss.”)
12	Attends, petite, on se retrouvera	Tunggua, ‘Ndhuk, besuk kita bakal ketemu maneh. (Wait for me, baby, we’ll meet again!)

Table 3 illustrates the negotiation or transformation of political and administrative references by translating the names of ministries and public bodies, such as d’office or bureau or ex officio as a member of a body or by virtue of the office (see https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/ex_officio)n.d., into ‘pamarentah’ (13) and commissariat, which provides policing services in French is translated into ‘kantor pulisi’ or ‘police station’ (14). The translator also negotiated some institutional terms in the target text. The word directeur or director is translated into ‘Pak Kepala’ (15), patron or employer is translated into ‘atasan’ (16), whereas banlieue or ‘periphery’ for mentioning a low-income or outlying district of a city is translated into ‘kutha satelit’ or ‘satellite city’ (17).

Table 3. The form of negotiation carried out by translators in translating political and administrative

No.	Source Text (ST)	Target Text (TT)
13	Si vous ne choisissez pas d’avocat, nous en désignerons un d’office.	menawi panjenengan dereng gadhah pengacara, mangke saged angsal saking pamarentah. (If you do not already have a lawyer, you are entitled to an ex officio.)
14	La première fois au commissariat, […]	Nalika interogasi kapisan, sing mapan ing kantor pulisi.[…] (The first time of the interrogation, at the police station, […])
15	Le directeur m’a encore parlé	Pak kepala isih celathu marang aku. (The director spoke to me again.)
16	J’ai demandé deux jours de congé à mon patron […].	Aku ngajokake cuti, dening atasan diwenehi rong dina. (I asked for off from work and my boss gave me two days off.)
17	Nous sommes descendus dans la banlieue d’Alger.	Ing sawijining kutha satelit Aljir, awake dhewe medhun. (We got off on the outskirts of Algiers.)

Table 4 clearly indicates that the source’s religious perspectives have been shifted in the target text. In contrast to French (in which Catholicism largely dominates) Javanese culture is heavily influenced by Abangan culture (the name given to a group of Javanese Muslims who practice Islam in various sects, including Hinduism, Buddhism, and Animism). As the impact, the proselyting activities of Abangan are reflected in the translation result. The language of French religion tends to be transferred when it becomes of target language interest. In excerpt (18), the reference Dieu or God is translated into ‘Gusti Allah’, se retournaient or to go back or turn is translated into ‘sujud lan nyuwun pitulung’ (19), whereas athée or atheist is transformed into ‘ora percaya’ or ‘skeptic’ (20) for the sake of clarity and acceptability.

Table 4. The form of negotiation carried out by translators in translating religion

No.	Source Text (ST)	Target Text (TT)
18	[…] que je l’intéressais et qu’avec l’aide de Dieu, il ferait quelque chose pour moi.	[…] menawa aku ketarik lan mawa kersaning Gusti Allah, dheweke arep nulungi aku mawa masalahku ([…] if I interested to him, and that, with God’s help, he would do something for me.)
19	Tous ceux que j’ai connus dans votre cas se retournaient vers lui.	Sedaya tiyang ing kawontenan kados panjenangan, mesthi sujud lan nyuwun pitulung sang Pangeran (Every man I have known in your position has kneel down and asked for help to Him.)
20	Mama, sans être athée, n’avait jamais pensé de son vivant à la religion.	Banjur dheweke takaturi, yen ibuku, nalika sugenge ora tau mikirake agama. Senadyan iku ora ateges yen ora percaya. (I then told him that my Mama had never thought about religion in her life. Although it didn’t mean that she didn’t believe in God.)

Translating gestures and habits as part of nonlinguistic bodily movements is very complex. As a side effect, there is a distinction between description and function which can be made in special cases (Newmark, 1988). Based on the table 5, in excerpt (21), s’étendre au soleil or to lie down under the sun is translated into ‘nglemah slonjoran sangisoring srengenge’, sieste or rest is translated into ‘turu’ or ‘nap’ (22), whereas tricotait or knitting is translated into ‘nyulam’ or ‘embroidering’ (23).

Table 5. The form of negotiation carried out by translators in translating gestures and habits

No.	Source Text (ST)	Target Text (TT)
21	Nous avons vu que Masson regagnait la plage pour s’étendre au soleil.	Kene waruh Masson sing bali menyang pasisir kanggo nglemah slonjoran sangisoring srengenge. (We saw Masson making his way back to the beach to stretch his body out under the sunrise.)
22	Ma femme fait toujours la sieste après le déjeuner.	Bojoku mesthi turu sawise mangan awan. (My wife always takes a nap after lunch.)
23	Mais au mouvement de ses bras, je pouvais croire qu’elle tricotait.	Nanging yen ndeleng obahe tangane, takkira dheweke lagi nyulam. (But how her arms moved made me think she was embroidering.)

Since social culture is strongly bound by its connotative and denotative meanings, several terms have been chosen to be relevant to the target culture. l’homme or man on table 6 is translated into ‘priyayi’ or nobles (24), tutoyait for addressing somebody using the familiar form is transformed into ‘basane ora krama’ (25) by applying discursive creation strategy to give a strong emphasis to the impression of closeness or familiarity, plus élevée or to have good manner is translated into ‘adiluhung’ (26), visite tout amical or visiting somebody is translated into ‘silaturahmi’(27), whereas doux or mild is translated into ‘grapyak’ or friendly (28).

Table 6. The form of negotiation carried out by translators in translating social culture

No.	Source Text (ST)	Target Text (TT)
24	L’homme en robe rouge s’est assis sur […]	Priyayi sing klambine abang lungguh ing […] (A nobility in the red gown sat on […])
25	J’ai bien remarqué qu’il me tutoyait […]	Aku dadi nggatekake yen basane ora krama maneh, […] (I noticed that his language had become less formal)
26	[…] la vertu toute négative de la tolérance doit se muer en celle, moins facile, mais plus élevée, de la justice.	[…] toleransi ingkang babar pindhah negatif kedah sumingkir kangge kasaenan kaadilan ingkang kirang gampil nanging langkung adiluhung watakipun. ([…] the wholly negative virtue of tolerance must give way to the sterner but loftier virtue of justice.)
27	Il m’a répondu que c’était une visite tout amicale […]	Dheweke mangsuli menawa tekane iki namung kanggo silaturahmi wae […] (He replied that it was just a friendly visit […])
28	Je lui trouvais tout de même un air très doux.	[…] menawa dheweke praupae semu grapyak. (I found him very friendly with me.)

Aside from material and social culture, ecology cannot be separated from culture. Ecology is a holistic concept that exists on the earth in renewable and permanent interactive forms, structures, and functions; it serves as a forming element of culture and is an integral part of the culture itself. It contains geographical features that are exclusively or exotically distinguishable from other cultures (Newmark, 1988). To stimulate the target reader’s knowledge and decrease the level of foreignness or strangeness, in the existing data on the table 7, iris de roche or rock iris is transmitted into ‘kembang iris karang’ (29), asphodèles or asphodel is transferred into ‘kembang-kembang afodil’ (30), géraniums is transferred into ‘geranium’ (31) by using borrowing or naturalization strategy, whereas tamaris is transferred into ‘tamarix’ (32) followed by metalinguistic commentary or translator’s additional information within the text (*sajinising uwit sing akeh thukul ing tlatah Segara Tengah).

Table 7. The form of negotiation carried out by translators in translating ecology

No.	Source Text (ST)	Target Text (TT)
29	Marie a cueilli quelques iris de roche.	Marie methiki kembang iris karang saiket. (Marie gathered a bunch of rock irises.)
30	Il était couvert de pierres jaunâtres et d’asphodèles tout blancs sur le bleu déjà dur du ciel.	Lemah rata iki katutupan watu-watu sing semu kuning warnane karo kembang-kembang afodil warna putih yen menawa dideleng kosok balen karo langit sing wis biru tuwa warnane. (It was covered with yellowish rocks and the whitest asphodels set against the already hard blue of the sky.)
31	[…] les géraniums rouges sur les tombes du cimetière, l’évanouissement de Perez (on eût dit un pantin disloqué).	[…] tandhuran geranium abang ing cedhak kijing-kijing ing pasareyan, ilange Perez (jare uwong bonekah rusak sing ancur). ([…] the red geraniums on the graves in the cemetery, Perez fainting (people said, he was like a rag doll))
32	[…] quelques-unes enfouies avec leurs vérandas sous les tamaris, […].	Sawetara vila pendhapane ana sangisoring wit-wittamarix*, […]. *Sajinising uwit sing akeh thukul ing tlatah Segara Tengah. (Some with their verandas hidden under the tamarisk, […] *a type of shrub that grows in the Mediterranean.)

5.2. The rationale behind French cultural identity’s negotiation and its implications on translation

The concept of culture as the sum of knowledge, skills, and perceptions is paramount for highlighting the importance of negotiation decisions. Since no culture remains the same, cultural references must be adjusted in translation (Soubrier & Thuderoz, 2010). However, negotiations have impacted the transformation of meaning in the target text version. Based on the entire analysis, four possibilities emerge as the impact of French cultural identity’s negotiation into Javanese: (1) the meaning of the target language becomes totally equivalent to the meaning of the source culture; (2) the meaning of the target language becomes narrower than the meaning of the source culture; (3) the meaning of the target language becomes broader than the meaning of the source culture; and (4) the meaning of the target language becomes inequivalent since it alters the source cultures’ point of view. This possibility arises from the translator’s consciousness to reduce the level of strangeness, which may interfere with the target reader’s concentration and reception. Totally equivalence could be achieved when the change of the cultural content did not result in the change in the context of the original meaning. Expansion of meaning occurs in the ‘untranslatability’ situation. It indicates that no target culture can replace the existence of the source culture. Conversely, the reduction of meaning occurs when the target language contains cultural concepts that are similar or almost similar to the source culture. Meanwhile, inequivalent occurs when the concept of source culture is not successfully transmitted or mediated by translators due to differences in points of view or undergoes significant meaning distortion due to translation errors or mismatch between the target language and the source cultural context (Soltani et al., 2020). Four negotiation possibilities could be said as mutually exclusive. Whenever equivalent culture or a reference with a more general (global) meaning is unavailable in the TL, the translator tends to rely on borrowing or cultural transplantation (in the form of localization and transformation).

The availability of equivalent cultural references leads the source culture to be optimally conveyed in the target language. The ultimate goal of any translation project or practice is to find the closest equivalent meaning (Catford, 1965; Nida & Taber, 1974). Under this circumstance, some cultural terms are trying to be maintained through borrowing strategy (such as the translation of tramway into ‘trem’ (9), l’autobus or bus into ‘bis’ (10), (20), iris de roche into ‘kembang iris karang’ (29), asphodèles into ‘afodil’ (30), géraniums into ‘geranium’ (31), and tamaris which is translated into ‘tamarix’ followed by metalinguistic commentary (32) and by negotiating its form. In the construction of this research, borrowing is then seen as part of the solution offered or chosen by the translator to bring readers as part of the ‘others’ to assimilate and associate with the source culture by allowing the source culture to maintain its identity. As an integral part or actor in creating the reader’s understanding, the translator emphasizes originality by outlining differences between the source and target cultures. Thus, translation practice contributes to creating access to communication and intercultural exchange Negotiations on transportation occurred due to the similarity of pronunciation. Meanwhile, negotiations on ecology occurred due to the geographical differences between France and Indonesia. Several French plants were unknown in Indonesia, especially in Java. Therefore, the translator must explain the meaning or context separately.

To minimize the loss of the effect of the source culture in the editorial text/target language, the translator chooses to bring the source culture closer and restore it by immersing the work (creating illusions) in the target culture’s reality or scenario. Local readers are targeted through form and meaning negotiation or localization strategy, which allows the translator to go deeper by translating more linguistically, culturally, and functionally relevant. Content in the source’s language and culture is changed into the target’s nuance to give the impression that the translation seems identical to the original work (such as the translation of vérandas into ‘pendhapa’ (4), commissariat into ‘kantor pulisi’ (14), athée into ‘ora percaya’, s’étendre au soleil into ‘nglemah slonjoran sangisoring srengenge’ (21), tutoyait into ‘basane ora krama’ (25), and plus elevee into ‘adiluhung’ (26)). Hence, localization strategies were used to reduce constraints, minimize bias or cultural gaps caused by various types of cultural terms/references considered too foreign in the target language, and foster interaction or mutual attitudes towards translated text literacy.

French distinguishes between two levels of speech: tutoyer and vouvoyer. Tutoyer designated the use of the second person singular to address someone, as opposed to using the usual or informal way. Vouvoyer is used to address someone using the second person plural (Le Robert, 2011). Meanwhile, Javanese is divided into three dialects: krama inggil, krama madya, and ngoko. The use of the three dialects is highly contextual and situational (Koentjaraningrat, 1984). Based on Javanese standards, those in lower positions in the social stratification system must communicate with those in higher positions in high Javanese. In contrast, those in higher positions will speak in low Javanese to those in lower positions (Faruk, 2007).

The use of a more general word or lexical expansion in the target language resulted in the expansion of meaning or over lexicality. It occurs in the translation of fauteuil ‘armchair’ into kursi ‘chair’ (5), paillasse ‘straw mattress’ into kasur ‘mattress’ (6), sandwiches into roti ‘bread’ (8), d’office into ‘pamarentah’ (13), directeur into ‘Pak Kepala’ (15), and patron into atasan (16). In contrast to French society which distinguishes chairs based on their shape and function, such as sièges (furniture or any other object made for sitting (Le Robert, 2011), fauteuil (one-person chair with a back and arms (Le Robert, 2011), chaises (seat with backrest, without arms (Le Robert, 2011), chilienne (folding lounge chair), and bancs (benches) or tabourets (chair with legs, without arms or backrest (Le Robert, 2011); Javanese does not have specific references for an armchair. Javanese society distinguishes chairs based on their material and size, such as dhingklik or jengkok referring to a short bench with two short legs for sitting on or for placing one’s feet on (Tim Balai Bahasa Yogyakarta, 2011), lincak referring to a long bamboo bench (Tim Balai Bahasa Yogyakarta, 2011), risban referring to a long wooden chair for relaxing on the terrace or in the living room (Tim Balai Bahasa Yogyakarta, 2011), and dhampar referring to the king’s throne (Tim Balai Bahasa Yogyakarta, 2011). In the same case, Javanese society is ignorant of various types of mattresses. Nonetheless, French culture recognizes matelas (foam mattresses or spring beds (Le Robert, 2011) and paillasse (straw mattresses (Le Robert, 2011).

In terms of cuisine, different from Javanese culture which positions rice as the staple food, pastries and bread actually become integral parts of French culinary culture. Pastries and bread are regarded as a source of pride and a cultural exception in French culture. For the French, bread is regarded as a reassuring staple food, although their consumption habits are changing time by time. Various kinds of pastries and bread, such as pain (a kind of baguette), viennoiserie (including croissant, pain au raisin, and pain au choco), sandwiches (two or more slices of bread with cheese, ham, and vegetables in the middle), and pâtisseries (various types of cake); must be present in the French dining tradition. In addition, more than half of France’s arable land is used for cereals, such as wheat, barley, and corn. Thus, references to pastries and bread are pervasive in French cuisine. Relating to political and administrative’s references, the term patron is broadened into atasan ‘boss’ as someone who serves in a supervisory role (Tim Balai Bahasa Yogyakarta, 2011).

In French administration, d’office refers to ex officio refers to a member of a body or by virtue of the office (https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/ex_officio). During the trial process, a judge has ex officio powers of a conservator of the peace. In short, Ex officio is positioned as a nonvoting member of the commission (Le Robert, 2011). Meanwhile, ‘pamarentah’ in Javanese political culture refers to government officers or the group of people who officially control a nation, state, or community (Le Robert, 2011). In a similar situation, French society uses the term directeur which refers to the head or manager of an organized group or administrative unit (Le Robert, 2011) as a head who only exists in large companies. Contrarily, the greeting pak kepala is used for calling official leaders in general. Pertaining the use of patron, patron refers to a person who directs an industrial or commercial enterprise (Le Robert, 2011). In Javanese nuance, the word atasan is generally used to refer to someone in a higher position in the office (Tim Balai Bahasa Yogyakarta, 2011).

The use of a more specific word in the target language resulted in the reduction of meaning or under lexicality. It occurs in the translation of viande into ‘bistik’ (7), Dieu into ‘Gusti Allah’ (18), and l’homme into ‘priyayi’ (24). Viande refers to meat dishes (Le Robert, 2011). However, it does not specifically refer to beef steak (as mentioned in the Javanese translation). The translation of religious culture in L’Étranger tends to adapt to Javanese religion. Dieu which refers to the ‘God’ (Le Robert, 2011) is transformed into ‘Gusti Allah’, following the target culture’s religious contexts. Meanwhile, l’homme, which generally refers to ‘human’ or ‘man’ is translated into ‘priyayi’ as a person with a high social rank (Tim Balai Bahasa Yogyakarta, 2011).

Negotiation also resulted in cultural perspectives and mental sets differences. It occurs in the translation of cabanon into ‘gubug’ (1), baraques foraines into ‘warung’ (2), chambre into ‘senthong’ (3), panggilan Mademoiselle into ‘mbakyu’ (11) dan petite into ‘ndhuk’ (12), banlieue into ‘kutha satelit’ (17), se retournaient into ‘sujud lan nyuwun pitulung’ (19), sieste into ‘turu’ (22), tricotait into ‘nyulam’ (23), visite tout amical into ‘silaturahmi’(27), and doux into ‘grapyak’ (28). Cabanon as a type of cabin or shelter, similar in size and appearance to a gazebo, commonly found on or near beaches and swimming pools (Le Robert, 2011); is transformed into gubug as “a small, simple, single-story house or shelter (Tim Balai Bahasa Yogyakarta, 2011). Different from cabanon which has a strong connection to leisure, ‘gubug’ is frequently associated with poverty or a form of humility to replace the reference to a house (as a permanent building) in the Javanese social sphere. Baraques foraines as adjustable outdoor trading place or booth (Le Robert, 2011) is transformed into warung as small family-owned businesses in the form of taverns, kiosks, small shops, or simple restaurants (Tim Balai Bahasa Yogyakarta, 2011). Different from baraques foraines that are set as adjustable and seasonal, warung is semi-permanent and commonly found in villages, residential areas, and roadside. Chambre, literally described as ‘room’, is transformed into senthong which is very philosophical for the Javanese. The Javanese call a place to live as omah, somah, semah, or dalem, which consists of a series of clusters. Each cluster has different levels in the Javanese perspective. They divided the level into: gubug cekel or pendopo, dalem agung, sentong, gandok, gadri, pawon, dan pakiwan (Musman, 2019). Senthong is the most private and central part of the Javanese house. Traditionally, senthong is divided into three rooms. The right (senthong tengen) and the left (senthong kiwa) room are used for the father, mother, and young children, whereas the middle (senthong tengah) is used for meditation as well as storing family assets, crops, and heirlooms, such as a kris and agate (Frick, 1997; Musman, 2019).

There are significant differences in calling ethics between French and Javanese cultures. A form of address associated with marital status and profession in French culture, Mademoiselle (for unmarried women) is transformed into an address associated with family relations and age, mbakyu (older sister, whether married or unmarried). In Javanese culture, women are expected to be housewives, so that their profession does not interfere with their calling. Therefore, in this anthroponymic translation, the translator also attempts to adapt the vocation to Javanese kinship culture. In another case, the translator presents affectionate greetings in the target text by replacing petite relating to a woman who is short and has a small or trim figure (Le Robert, 2011) with ndhuk (girls’ affectionate nickname, frequently used by older families to their daughter, wife, niece, or granddaughter (Tim Balai Bahasa Yogyakarta, 2011).

In France, the term banlieue or ‘periphery’ refers to administratively autonomous localities surrounding an urban center (Le Robert, 2011). Nonetheless, by the early 1970s, banlieue had become a popular term for economically deprived suburbs with low-income housing projects and a large immigrant population. Meanwhile, they referred to high-income areas as banlieue aisée. Kutha satelit ‘satellite city’ is linked to a small urban area that is located close to a large metropolitan area. It was the traditional downtown which is surrounded by inner-city neighborhoods with lower costs of living.

Discussing about gestures, habits, and religious activities; se retournaient refers to ‘to go back’ or repent (Le Robert, 2011). However, there are differences in the concept and mental set of repentance in source and target cultures. Repentance is a stage in Christian salvation in which the believer recognizes and repents sin. Repentance is fundamental to forgiveness in Roman Catholic theology. It is derived from the Hebrew word group which means “turn away from” (Mitchell, 1996). In Javanese beliefs, prostration and worship are used to express repentance or mratobat and regret (Tim Balai Bahasa Yogyakarta, 2011). Sieste, in French, is described as resting after lunch (Le Robert, 2011). It was different with the context of turu, which generally means ‘sleep .’Sieste comes from the Spanish word hora sexta (sixth hour or midday break). This habit is inextricably linked to climate change and the amount of food consumed by the French. When the sun is directly in the middle of the hot climate, people stop working for a while and rest at home to escape from the scorching heat, so after lunch is the best time for a nap.

Tricotait refers to knitting activity (a process that basically involves continuously interlinking or knotting a series of loops of yarn using needles (Le Robert, 2011). However, nyulam refers to embroidery activity (a technique that consists of using a needle and thread to decorate fabric). Crucially, both activities are distinct in terms of technique and outcome. When embroidery is purposively used to embellish clothing, accessories, or garments; knitting is used to create garments, especially warm clothing, and blankets.

Visite tout amical, which is simply described as a ‘friendly visit’, is discursively translated into silaturahmi which means a visit to strengthen familial or kinship bonds. In context, silaturahmi contains a deeper emotional bond rather than an ordinary visit based on Javanese context. Last, the adjective doux which means ‘mild, gentle and kind-hearted’ is transformed into grapyak or ‘friendly’. It demonstrates that both doux and grapyak are extremely dissimilar.

In terms of implications, this study proves that: first, the existence of numerous references related to French culture (for instance, there are six references related to ‘chair’, such as sièges, fauteuil, chaises, chilienne, bancs, and tabourets, whereas only one reference, ‘kursi,’ is used in Javanese) reveals that French is very dense and rich in mental features. This actively encourages target readers to reinforce their cultural diversity awareness. Second, when it comes to translation discourse, the negotiation of material culture, anthroponyms, political and administrative, religion, gestures and habits, as well as social culture denotes the translator’s tendency to domesticate French’s local color to be part of Javanese or target reader’s culture. This is done to generate a ‘refraction’ of the source text in the translated text. Thereby, the reader reads the translated version as if it were the original. Third, apart from domestication, this study also revealed the translator’s tendency to foreignize ecological and transportation references. This is due to cultural differences between the source and target cultures, which restricted Javanese lexical alternatives. Conversely, France has a very diverse lexical choice. Therefore, the inclusion of foreign words into Javanese will enrich the Javanese vocabulary.

6. Conclusion

This study uncovered negotiation forms, the reasons for negotiating French cultural identity, and its implications on translation. Through meticulous investigation, it can be concluded that when Javanese has a vocabulary that is semantically similar to French vocabulary, semantic negotiation occurs by selecting equivalent, narrowing, or expanding meaning. Nonetheless, if there is no cultural activity in Javanese that is equivalent to French cultural activity, the translation is done by borrowing, perspective, and mental sets shift or by negotiating its form. Identity negotiation in the Javanese translation of French text seems to take place in various categories of culture, including material culture, social culture, anthroponyms, religion, gestures and habits, political culture, administration, transportation, and ecological references. These findings can be compared with studies of identity negotiation by previous researchers, for instance, Rani and Udasmoro (2015) and Sunarti et al. (2021), who discovered that identity negotiation occurs only in behavior, art, and daily activities. These two forms of identity negotiation were the impact of cultural and historical disparities between French and Javanese cultures. In Javanese culture, interpersonal social relations are based on kinship, whereas in French culture are based on social status. Historically, the French were a wealthy and powerful royal state that could occupy parts of Africa and Asia, whereas Java (Indonesia) was a colony for more than 300 years. TColonial shackles still band the Javanese people to this day (Faruk, 2007). Consequently, many loan words emerge in Indonesian or Javanese translations. The implications of cultural identity negotiation will enrich Javanese (Indonesian) cultural treasures. This study suggests that future studies should include a language-based approach to examining cultural identity. Cultural equivalence beyond language boundaries appears to be more critical for translators and academics to consider because it prevents a culture from being isolated in translation practices. However, as this study was limited to French-Javanese paired data, future research on cultural identity negotiations in translation is expected to use a wider range of language pairs and data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the Directorate of Research Universitas Gadjah Mada Program RTA Batch I Year 2022 Program RTA Batch I Year 2022, Indonesia under the scheme of Program Hibah Rekognisi Tugas Akhir (Final Assignment Recognition Grant Program) Batch I Year 2022 Contract No. 1525/UN1/DITLIT/Dit-Lit/PT.01.05/2022.

Notes on contributors

  Sajarwa

Sajarwa (Dr.) is a senior lecturer and researcher in the French Department, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia. He has been engaged in translation, French literature, and language studies.

Nadia Khumairo Ma’shumah

Nadia Khumairo Ma’shumah is a final-year student in Master in Linguistics Study Program, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia, and a junior researcher. She focuses on translation and culture, literary translation, English literature, and English language studies.

Noor Diana Arrasyid

Noor Diana Arrasyid is a final-year student and research assistant in Master in Linguistics Study Program, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia. Her concerns were French language and translation studies.

Arwatrisi Ediani

Arwatrisi Ediani is a final-year student in Master in Linguistics Study Program, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia. Her research interests are French language and translation studies.