Translation in Public Health Terms Related to COVID -19 Issues

Nor Diyana Saupi; Amirah Ahmad; Nurrissammimayantie Ismail

doi:10.37052/jb22(1)no5

Nor Diyana Saupi Akademi Pengajian Bahasa, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.
Amirah Ahmad Akademi Pengajian Bahasa, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.
Nurrissammimayantie Ismail Akademi Pengajian Bahasa, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37052/jb22(1)no5

Abstract

The spread of the COVID-19 virus in early 2020 has had a major impact on the world's population. Every day, the media will report on the latest news about COVID-19, both locally and abroad. Therefore, accurate and correct information should be delivered to the public to create understanding and awareness of this pandemic. In the field of public health in Malaysia, the COVID-19 issue is considered as something new. This implied the need to translate the exact medical terms from English to Malay to ensure that the information presented is completely acceptable by the society. The efforts made by the Ministry of Health Malaysia and Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) in forming accurate terms is a proactive step. This study was conducted to describe the methods of translation, absorption, and adaptation of foreign term remuneration or a combination of such methods in forming terms in the field of public health, particularly related to the issue of COVID-19. This qualitative study was conducted by utilizing data observed from the Twitter handle, @DBPMalaysia, which aims to articulate the right terms for the issue of COVID-19. Data were taken from submissions on DBP's official social media from 18 March 2020 to 18 March 2021. A total of 54 public health terms related to the COVID-19 issue were identified and the formation methods of the terms used were analyzed. Discussions matching those terms are based on "Pedoman Umum Pembentukan Istilah Bahasa Melayu Edisi Baharu" (2004), published by DBP. The findings of the study indicate that the translation method is the most widely used method in the data studied, followed by a combination of translation and absorption.

Keywords: COVID-19, Public Health, terminology, translation, combination of translation, absorption

Full text: PDF

References

1. Amirra Shazreena Amirul Razin, Vijayaletchumy Subramaniam & Che Ibrahim Salleh. (2017). Jurnal Mawangsa PERTANIKA. 4 (2), 361-378.

2. Berita Harian Online. (17 Mac 2020). Kronologi Covid-19 di Malaysia. BH Online. https://www.bharian.com.my/berita/nasional/2020/03/666122/kronologi-covid-19-di-malaysia

3. BERNAMA. (2 Julai 2020). Pandemik COVID-19 wujudkan kepelbagaian penterjemahan, padanan istilah-Awang Sariyan. Bernama.com. https://www.bernama.com/bm/am/news_covid-19.php?id=1856670

4. Chaer, Abdul & Leonie, Agustina. (2004). Sosiolinguistik: Perkenalan awal. RinekaCipta.

5. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. (t.t.). Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu. Dicapai pada 20 Mei 2021 daripada https://prpm.dbp.gov.my/

6. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. [@DBPMalaysia]. (t.t). Tweets. [Twitter profile]. Dicapai pada 15 Mei 2021 daripada https://twitter.com/DBPMalaysia

7. Ducharme, Jamie. (11 Mac 2020). World Health Organization declares COVID-19 a 'pandemic'. Here's what that means. Time. https://time.com/5791661/who-coronavirus-pandemic-declaration/

8. Gambier, Y. (2018). Translation studies, audiovisual translation and reception. In E. Di Giovanni & Y. Gambier (Eds.), Reception studies and audiovisual translation (41st ed.). 43-66. John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.141

9. Hasnah Mohamad. (2020). Bahasa dan Peristilahan: COVID-19 Istilah yang memenuhi syarat. Dewan Bahasa, 5, 8-10.

10. Jabatan Kesihatan Negeri Selangor. (t.t). Bahagian Kesihatan Awam. Portal Rasmi Jabatan Kesihatan Negeri Selangor.

11. Junaini Kasdan, Rusmadi Baharudin & Anis Shahira Shamsuri. (2020). COVID-19 dalam korpus peristilahan bahasa Melayu: Analisis sosioterminologi. GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies, 20 (3), 221-241.

12. Merriam-Webster. (t.t.). Viral. Dalam Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Dicapai pada 4 September 2021, daripada https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/viral

13. Mohamad Zakuan Tuan Ibrahim. (2020). Terminologi COVID-19: Peristilahan dan penerimaan masyarakat di laman sosial. E-Prosiding NARADATA 2020: Penyelidikan Bahasa, Sastera dan Budaya dalam Era Pandemik, 58-66.

14. Mukhlis Rosli, Nasimah Abdullah & Luna Abd. Rahman. (2020). Terjemahan teks keagamaan: Tinjauan dari sudut kebolehterjemahan. e-Bangi Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 17(4), 78-89.

15. Pedoman Umum Pembentukan Istilah Bahasa Melayu (Edisi Baharu). (2004). Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.

16. Raja Masittah Raja Ariffin, Che Ibrahim Haji Salleh & Norazlina Hj. Mohd Kiram. (2012). Penerapan istilah Sains Pertanian MBIM/MABBIM dalam penterjemahan buku Inggeris-Melayu. Jurnal Linguistik, 15, 1-28.

17. Vinay, J.P., & Darbelnet, J. (1958/1995). Comparative stylistics of French and English: a methodology for translation (Vol. 11). John Benjamins B.V

18. Zaliza Zubir & Mahfuzzah Md. Daud. (2014). Peristilahan dalam bidang saintifik. Journal of Human Development and Communication. 3 (Special Issue), 93-113.