This document discusses narrative paradigm in BBC news translations. It begins by describing a study on the structural coherence between original BBC news articles and their translations regarding a conflict between Israel and Palestine. The study found that while translators sometimes change sentence structures, overall structural coherence is maintained or improved. It then explores differences in narrative between international journalists and local journalists, with local journalists providing more concentrated news. The document also discusses how translators may rewrite news from multiple angles in the original into single news stories from one angle, changing the structural coherence. Narrative paradigm theory holds that people communicate through storytelling and evaluate stories based on their own experiences and cultures.

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NARRATIVE PARADIGM ON BBC ONLINE NEWS TRANSLATION
Rizki Gunawan
Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia
rizki6unawan@gmail.com
Abstract
This paper describes narrative in BBC News translation that informs Hamas leader killed as
the main cause of the war between Israel and Palestine begin since November 14th
2012. The
data were focused on the structural coherence from the original into the translation, such as
the number of paragraphs, sentences, and words. The researcher also analyze how the
translator rewrites and reorganizes the composition of paragraph into one article and examine
how far the news text to be separated and combine with other relevant text, instead, it flows
smoothly. It was found that although the translator changes the formation of sentence,
structural coherence stills flows smoothly, even better than the original. Furthermore,
narrative style of International Journalist (IJ) is different with Local Journalist (LJ). The LJ
provide news to be concentrated. While the IJ make the idea spread in some part.
Keywords: news translation, narrative, journalism
Introduction
Many people agree that translation has been important and useful element in the life. By
translation, people may communicate with other from different language. The communication
can be conducted through direct conversation or written expression. By translation, people
also have a chance to know other culture in order to enrich the knowledge. Moreover,
translation is also a media to students that need information and study from other country. It
has contributed in transffering information from one country to another country through
news. Many foreign news has been accessed by people through a journalism translation.
However, translating journalism works is not easy matters because the translator
should fulfill the code of conduct of journalism and the textconsists of figurative language,
cultural words, sentences, text coherences and cohesions that require continuous compromise
and readjustment. In the case of coherence, the translator has to maintain and preserves the
continuation topic arranged in well structure.In writing news translation, coherence is
important element to be regarded, therefore, all journalistshave to write news considering the
element. Even so, not every journalist does the same way in applying coherence. There is
difference character between news presented in paper, news showed in television, and news
displayed in online media.
The differences between the translation of broadcasted news and written news
(newspaper or online news) is the content. Broadcasting news translation should present an
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information that is short, simple, and clear, so that, the content is only the main point, less
detail explanation. While, written news translation is an information that should be clearly
provided, especially in online news in which people are able to read it everytime and
everywhere.As Lee (2006) stated, ―lead reduction is characteristic of broadcasting translation,
lead expansion figures more prominently in newspaper translation‖.
Actually, news in online media is the most dynamic of all. It means one topic from a
source or event can be divided into some news in different angle. The news about Maroon 5
concert in Jakarta, for example. A Journalist may write in point of view of the personeel that
includes how is the preparation and what they feel about Jakarta, etc. Journalist also can write
news in point of view of the fans such as what the opinion about Maroon 5 and what they feel
when they watch the concert. In addition, a journalist can also provide news about the t-shirt
seller of Maroon 5, such as how much money they earn after selling t-shirt in the concert.
Every piece of idea can be written in every single news.
Different matter happens in translated news where source structural coherence can be
changed in the translation. Whenever the content of the source consists of some point of
view, the translator often rewrites news in only one angle. The rest of angle will be re-writed
in another news of other angle. By this reason, it can be said that there will be much different
of structural coherence between the source and the target. There will be different narrative
between journalist of SL and the translator that plays role as TL journalist. Therefore, this
paper will highlight how much the different and what the effect of the change for the reader.
Essentially, narrative paradigm is the study about how people tell the story in
communication. ―We are thus all storytellers who ―creatively read and evaluate the text of
life and literature‖ (Fisher, 1985, p. 86). Beside narrator, people also act as audience who
listen and evaluate the story from another.All of the case, matter, or the part of life that
people tell is narrative. As Fisher (1987, p. 49) points out ―No matter how strictly a case is
argued – scientifically, philosphically, or legally – it will always be a story...,‖. Whatever
people tell, both science and social phenomena, is story.
As both storytellers and audience, people make decisions on the principle that Fisher
names ―good reason‖ determined by the history, culture, experience and the stories we come
to ultimately believe about the world (Baker, 2006, p. 142). According to Fisher (1987, p.
48), good reason is ―elements that provide warrants for accepting or adhering to the advice
fostered by any form of communication that can be considered rhetorical‖. It is used as the
parameter to decide whether the narration is good or bad. Warrants is the realization of good
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reason. In short, good reason is concept used to determine, while warrant is action that
―...authorizes, sanctions, or justifies belief, or action – the being the usual forms of rethorical
advice‖ (Fisher, 1987, p.107).However, good reason here does not mean the best ideology
compared with other. It is probably not always good for another. Sometimes, it is only good
for itself. It ―only signifies that whatever is takes as a basis for adopting a rhetotical messages
is inextricably bound to a value – to a conception of the good‖. Thus, the good reason
concept can be describes as value-laden, a personal value that may not be true in the strictest
sense but based on personal opinion values.
Then, Baker (2006) adopts this notion in communication between two language that is
mediated by translation. She adopts the Fisher‘s notion to assess the narrative of the
translation work compared with the original narrative. There are two principles that define
narrative rationality and embody the concept of good reasons in Fisher‘s paradigm, namely
coherence and fidelity.
Fisher‘s narrative coherence concerns the internal consistency and integrity of a
narrative (Baker, 2006, p. 143). To produce a good narrative, a writer should be consistent in
the work and related each other. It is, essentially, about how well structural coherence hangs
together as a story. Assessing coherence narrative consists of three elements; they are
structural coherence, material coherence, and characterogical coherence. Regarding that there
are so many structural change in news translation, I focus my study on structural coherence,
because it is the most explicit element in narrative.
Structural coherence or may be called as argumentative coherence refers to ―the
internal consistency of a narrative – whether or not it reveals contradictions within itself in
‗form of reasoning‘ (Fisher, 1997, p. 315). Baker (2006, p. 144-145) suggests two element
that create structural incoherence, namely inconsistency argument or the contradictive
occurence between the previous and the next idea and different syntactic choices or structural
change.
Structural change can be seen in an article published in Liputan6.comon October 9th
,
2012, a journalist - Tanti Yulianingsih tells Leeteuk Super Junior (SuJu), a Korean boyband,
asks people to keep smiling althought he will go in fulfilling army enlishment. Even so, there
is lack of structural coherence in Tanti‘s explanation as follows:
Leeteuk Super Junior mengajak fans agar selalu tersenyum. Ajakan itu disampaikan
Leeteuk kepada para penggemarnya di saat-saat terakhir menjelang kepergiannya
untuk menunaikan wajib militer.
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Laman global.mnet me edisi Senin (8/10) memberitakan bahwa Leeteuk kini
lebih optimistis menjalani kehidupannya. Seperti ceritanya melalui situs
Microblogging Twitter.
"Apakah kau bersenang-senang kemarin? ^_^ Setiap hari telah menjadi
sangat istimewa bagi saya. ~ Menghabiskan hari yang baik hari ini! Have a nice day!
^ ^, " tulisnya.(http://showbiz.liputan6.com/read/443336/leeteuk-ajak-dunia-dan-fans-
tersenyum, Retrieved November 17th
2012)
What I underline is a paragraph that sounds lack of coherence, in which the sentence
Leeuteuk kini lebih optimis menjalani kehidupannya seems unrelevant with the context. She
reports that Leeteuk is optimistic without the reason why he feels like that, eventhough there
is statement in first paragraph that the SuJu personnel will take army enlistment later. It is
better to arrange the narrative as the primary original article published in mwave.interest.me
as follows.
With the days counting down until his army enlistment, Super Junior‘s Leeteuk is
taking this optimistically.
On October 8, the leader tweeted, ―Did you have fun yesterday? ^^ Every
single day has become very special to me~ Spend a good day today! Have a nice
day!! ^^‖
He later added, ―^_____^ The perspective of everything in the world depends
on me. If I‘m sad, then everything becomes sad. If I‘m happy, then everything
becomes happy. Let‘s spend the remaining time happily and to the fullest..!! Let‘s
smile!! (http://mwave.interest.me/enewsworld/en/article/16955, Retrieved November
17th
2012)
The sentence begins with the information that Leeteuk takes optimistically in facing his army
enlistment. Then, he is told to ask people to smile. Comparing this with the translation, it
shows that the journalist changed the paragraph formation. She had change the structure
coherence in which she moves the first sentence idea (optimistic) into the second sentence.
However, what she did make the article to be lack of structural coherence, because the
sentence Laman global.mnet me edisi Senin (8/10) memberitakan bahwa Leeteuk kini lebih
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optimistis menjalani kehidupannya. Seperti ceritanya melalui situs Microblogging Twitter
impress another interpretation of what the source imply.
Research Methodology
In this study, I analyzed one articleand the two translationson BBC News that tells about
Hamas leader is killed as the main cause of the war between Israel and Palestine since
November 14th
2012. Thesource is the article in English BBC―Israeli air strike kills Hamas
military chief Jabari‖ published in November 14th
2012 - last updated at 21.46 GMT, then it
is translated into two articles in Indonesian BBC, ―Israel bunuh pemimpin militer Hamas‖
published in November 14th
2012 - last updated at 22.32 WIB and ―Netanyahu : Israel siap
memperluasoperasi‖publishedinNovember15th
2012-lastupdatedat07.40WIB.
What I analyze is the selected structural change from the original into the translation,
such as the number and formation of paragraphs, sentence, and words. I also analyze how the
translator rewrites and reorganizes the composition of paragraph into one article and examine
how easy the news text to be separated and combine with other relevant text. Instead, it flows
smoothly.
Results
In the first news translation ―Israeli air strike kills Hamas military chief Jabari‖ into ―Israel
bunuh pemimpin militer Hamas‖, I find some structural changes. In the beginning of the
transformation, it can be seen the differences between the author and the translator in
narrating the story (see table 1 below). Basicly, the first two sentence written by the author is
translated into three sentence. These change is the difference of structural coherence in
narrative between the author and the translator.
Table 1 –The selected data in the first translation
SourceText TargetText
1) The head of the military wing of the PalestinianIslamist
group Hamas has been killed during Israeli air and naval
strikesintheGazaStrip.
1. Pemimpin militer kelompok militan Palestina Hamas, Ahmed Jabari,
tewasdalamseranganudaraIsraeldiGaza.
2) Ahmed Said Khalil al-Jabari and another Hamas official
diedwhenthecartheywereinwashitinGazaCity.
2. Ahmed Jabari, 46, tewas ketika mobil yang dikendarainya dihantam
serangan udara Israel selagi melaju di pusat kota Gaza pada Rabu
(14/11).
3)It follows a wave of rocket attacks against Israel
from the territory.
3. Dia memegang jabatan sebagai kepala sayapmiliter
Hamas Ezz El Dine Al Qassam. (doesn‘t match with the
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line 3) in the left side)
17)MrJabari,who was 46, is themostseniorHamasofficialtobe
killed in the Gaza Strip since the major Israeli offensive four
yearsago.
4. Jabari merupakan pejabat Hamas paling senior yang dibunuh Israel
sejak Israel menyerbu Gaza empat tahun lalu. Dia sudah lama berada
dalam daftar orang yang paling diburu. (this line represent the line 17)
ofthesourcetextintheleftside,whiletheline4)until16)in thesource
arespreadintoanothertranslation)
Specifically, in the first line, the translator does not mention the detail of the Hamas
leader. Compared with the source that provides the word wing, the translator does not put the
meaning sayapin the beginning line. The translator embedssayap in the third line and adds
the full name of the organization Hamas Ezz El Dine Al Qassam that does not exist in the
original.
The most interesting case is the translator‘s decisionintransferring the word Islamist in
the first sentence. He translate Islamist into militan. In my opinion, actually, the translator
knows a lot about the readers, Indonesian people that are mostly moslems. He chooses the
word militan to avoid racism element, since Indonesian hardly support Hamas rather than
Israel.
Furthermore, the translator provides different narrative in describing Gaza Strip. The
translator does not embed the meaning of strip, but only provides Gaza in the translation. It is
probably because Indonesian readers have already known what Gazais. In the second line, the
translator adds the age 46 as mentioned by author in the seventeenth line. Beside that, the
translator does not put the translation of another Hamas official eventhough the leader killed
with him. The translator has just explained the another official killed in the next seven
lineSerangan udara Israel kali ini juga menewaskan sedikitnya satu pejabat lain dari Hamas.
In addition, the translator adds the time Rabu (14/11) that refers to the day of the
leader killed instead the author has not mentioned this in the original article. As I mentioned
above, the third line contains the translation of wing existed in the first line of the original and
the detail explanation of the leader position that is not present in the original.
Next, the forth line of translation is equivalent with the author narrates in the
seventeenth line. What the translator puts in the forth lineJabari merupakan pejabat Hamas
paling senior yang dibunuh Israel sejak Israel menyerbu Gaza empat tahun lalu. Dia sudah
lama berada dalam daftar orang yang paling diburu is the rendition of Mr Jabari, who was
46, is the most senior Hamas official to be killed in the Gaza Strip since the major Israeli
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offensive four years ago. Even so, the translator does not embed the age 46, since he has
already put it in the second sentence.
Considering the structure coherence, the translation is seen flows smoothly. There is
no contradiction, inconsistency and the sentence that break connection between the previous
and the next sentence. For this reason, what the translator reorganizes doesnot break
structural coherence of the work, instead the formation of sentence is changed.
The second news translation, ―Israeli air strike kills Hamas military chief Jabari‖ into
―Netanyahu: Israel siap memperluas operasi‖is the continuation of the incident of the Hamas
leader killed (see table 2 below). That is, Israel Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu declares
that his troops will extend the invasion. What the translator embeds in the first line is what
the author put in the forth line of the original. It shows the differences of the narration
between the original and the translation where the sentence formation is different.
Table 2 – The selected data in the second translation
Sentence1)... 3),
4) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military was
preparedtobroadenitsoperationagainstHamastargetsinGaza.
...5)...15)
1. Perdana Menteri Israel Benjamin Netanyahu mengatakan militer
negaranya bersiap untuk memperluas operasi terhadap Hamas di Jalur
Gaza.
16)"Todaywe'vesentaclearmessagetoHamasandtootherterrorist
organisations. And if there is a need, the Israeli Defense Forces are
preparedtowidentheoperation.Wewillcontinuetodoeverythingto
defendourcitizens,"MrNetanyahusaidinatelevisedaddress.
2. "HariinikamitelahmengirimkansebuahpesanyangjelaskeHamasdan
organisasiterorislainnya,''kata Netanyahudalamsebuah pidato yang
disiarkanditelevisi.
3. "Dan jika dibutuhkan, Angkatan Bersenjata Israel tengah bersiap untuk
memperluas operasi. Kami akan terus melakukan apapun untuk
membelawarganegarakami.'‖
Specifically, in the first line, the translator makes the meaning Gaza to be explicit,
that is Jalur Gaza. The choice is probably because the translator wants to provide the more
familiar word to Indonesian reader. Jalur Gaza is probably better known by them. Then, the
translator applies different structure in providing Netanyahu statement. In original article, the
statement existed in the sixth line fit in one set of quotation. That is, ―Today we've sent a
clear message to Hamas and to other terrorist organisations. And if there is a need, the
Israeli Defense Forces are prepared to widen the operation. We will continue to do
everything to defend our citizens," Mr Netanyahu said in a televised address. While, the
translator divides the statement into two part in the translation, namely 1) "Hari ini kami
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telah mengirimkan sebuah pesan yang jelas ke Hamas dan organisasi teroris lainnya,'' kata
Netanyahu dalam sebuah pidato yang disiarkan di televisi, and 2) "Dan jika dibutuhkan,
Angkatan Bersenjata Israel tengah bersiap untuk memperluas operasi. Kami akan terus
melakukan apapun untuk membela warga negara kami.‖Furthermore, the author embed Mr
Netanyahu said in a televised address after the statement end. While, the translator puts it
after the first line of what Netanyahu declare.
Moreover, this decision is probably conducted because the translator aims to shows
the news that is better-looking. Displaying two sentence in short form is better than providing
one sentence in long form. It is the translator‘s principle to render this paragraph. As the
previous analysis, what the translator had change is does not matter to the reader, even it
looks better.
Table 3 – The selected data in the second translation
4. DiatewassaatmobilnyamenjaditargetseranganudaraIsraeldikawasan
tersebut.(there-statementofthefirsttranslation)
5) At least nine people had been killed in Gaza by the Israeli strikes
and that number would probably rise, the Palestinian envoy to the
UnitedNations,RiyadMansou,toldreportersinNewYork.
5. Selain Jabari dan seorang pejabat Hamas lainnya, serangan itu juga
menewaskansedikitnyasembilanorangdiGaza,angkainikemungkinan
akanbertambah,demikiankatautusanPalestinadiPBB,Riyad Mansou,
kepadawartawandiNewYork.
6) A number of injured civilians were seen being taken to hospital in
GazaCity.
6. Sejumlah korban luka dari warga sipil, termasuk anak-anak, terlihat
dibawakerumahsakitdiKotaGaza.
7. Jabari, 46, merupakan tokoh senior Hamas yang terbunuh di Jalur Gaza
sejak serangan besar Israel empat tahun lalu. (the re-statement of the first
translation)
The forth, fifth, and eight line in the second translation are restatement of the previous
translated news (see table 3 above). In other words, what the translator embeds in sentence 4,
5, and 8 is the translation of the first line of the original news entitled ―Israel bunuh
pemimpin militer Hamas‖. Then, they are retold again in ―Netanyahu: Israel siap memperluas
operasi‖. This decision is obliged to conduct because when the journalist narrate about
Netanyahu that declares Israel prepares to extense the invansion, he also should put the
background or the previous story. These changes shows the different narration done by
translator compared with the journalist and the change doesn‘t influence the structural
coherence. The translation is readable, understandble, even seems better.
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The interesting point can be seen in line 6 of the translation. The translator
addstermasuk anak-anak, as the way to produce the news translation to be more tragic and to
invite the reader to be sympathy or feel the pain of Palestine citizen. Again, the translator
realizes that the relationship between Indonesian and Palestine is so close. Every sadness of
Palestine will stimulate empathy to Indonesian.
Overall, the translator here decides so many changes in form of sentence formation. The
translator dividesone original article into two articles. The translator replaces the position in
which the sentence line in the translation is different with the source. The translator also gives
additional information that does not exist in the source. The translator puts subtitle to make
the reader more comfortable to read the article. By applying this, the reader has choice to
continue read the information until the end or not. The translator restates the sentence in the
second article that has been mentioned in the first article. Lastly, the translator decides to
divide one sentence into two sentences.
Conclusion
Despite many structural changes in the BBC online news translation, the coherence is
stillpresent. The idea flows smoothly from the beginning until the end of sentence. Baker‘s
opinion (2006, p. 145) that states structural coherence may be created by syntactic choice is
not proved here. In fact, althought the translator changes the formation of sentence, structural
coherence stills flows smoothly, even better than the original. Comparing English BBC news
and the Indonesian, it is going to say that narrative International Journalist (IJ) is different
with Local Journalist (LJ). The LJ provide a news to be concentrated. While the IJ make the
idea spread in some part.
References
Baker, M. (2006). Translation and conflict: Narrative account. New York:Routledge.
BBC Online News. Retrieved November 17th
2012,http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-
middle-east-20328579
http://www.bbc.co.uk/indonesia/dunia/2012/11/121114_hamas_militaryleader.shtml,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/indonesia/dunia/2012/11/121115_israelhamas.shtml
Fisher, Walter R. (1985). The narrative paradigm: In the beginning. Journal of
Communication 35(4): 74-89.
Fisher, Walter R. (1987). Humman communication as Narration:Toward a phylosophy of
reason, value, and action. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.
Fisher, Walter R. (1997). Narration, reason, and community. In Lewis P. Hinchman and
Sandra K. Hinchman (Eds.), Memory, identity, community: The idea of narrative in the
human sciences. Albany: State University of New York Press.
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Lee, C. (2006). Differences in news translation between broadcasting and newspapers: A case
study of Korean-English translation. Meta : journal des traducteurs / Meta:
Translators' Journal, vol. 51, n° 2, p. 317-327.
Liputan6.com News Portal, Kreatif Media Karya (KMK) Online, SCTV. Retrieved
November 17th
2012,http://showbiz.liputan6.com/read/443336/leeteuk-ajak-dunia-dan-
fans-tersenyum
Rizki Gunawan