The Cognitive Process in Translating English Phrasal Verbs into Indonesian

This study dealt with the cognitive process of students in translating English
Phrasal Verbs into Indonesian by using the think-aloud protocol (TAP) technique
and introspective interview. The objectives of the study were 1) to describe kinds
of cognitive processes occurring in translating English Phrasal Verbs into
Indonesian 2) to elaborate the manner of cognitive processes occurring in
translating English Phrasal Verbs into Indonesian, and 3) to explain reasons of
the way the cognitive processes occur in translating English Phrasal Verbs into
Indonesian. This research was conducted by descriptive qualitative design. The
source of data was the bilingual students, they were sixth-semester students of the
English Education Program at the State University of Medan. The source of data
was taken by using Snowballing Technique. The data consisted of the
transcription of audio recorded observation of think-aloud protocols (TAP), and
the transcription of the interview. The findings showed that there are two
processings which were activated by the students, they are semantic processing
was 36.26% and pragmatic processing was 63.73%. It means that the students
activate their pragmatic processing more than semantic processing. There are six
behaviors available during the process of the translation done by the students,
namely 1) reading the text, 2) alternating between the SL and the TL 3)
monitoring the proposed translation, 4) consulting the dictionary 5) paraphrasing,
and 6) translation. The cognitive processes occur when the subjects 1) read the
text, either they read the whole SL or segment by segment, 2) kept repeating the
term (the lexical) which indicates hesitation, questioning, and remembering the
real meaning 3) were not able to decide for an equivalent, 4) did not understand
the meaning of verbs and consult the dictionary, 6) tried to clarify a concept and
reformulate a proposed translation by paraphrase, and 7) wrote down a translation
and express it orally. The reasons which make such cognitive processes occur
during the act of translating are the inability to produce a spontaneous translation
and lacking knowledge of the English Phrasal Verbs. The translators' inability to
activate their syntactic processing, semantic processing, and also pragmatic
processing will also affect the behaviors of the translators in the process of
translation.