MODULATION PROCEDURE ON TABOO IN ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL

This study discusses the translation procedure of taboo words and the acceptability aspects of translation in the Indonesian translation novel Me and Earl and the Dying Girl . This study applied a descriptive-qualitative approach using Vinay & Darbelnet’s modulation theory and Na baban’s acceptability concept. As a result, 92 translation procedures of unfindable words, 30 fixed modulations, and 62 free modulations were found. Those 92 taboo words were classified into Jay’s classification of taboo terms, which consisted of 22 data on sexual reference, 11 data on profane, 7 data on scatological referents, 7 data on animal names, 10 data on ethnic-racial-gender slurs, 4 data on insulting references, 5 data on ancestral allusions, 2 data on substandard vulgar items, and 24 data on offensive slang. For the acceptability analysis, this study took eighteen samples from Jay's nine types of taboo terms to be rated by the respondents. The respondents were final-year English Literature Department students of UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta. The results showed that the translation results tended to be acceptable.


INTRODUCTION
Translating taboo words or cultural-specific items may take much work, especially when introducing the source language's cultures, beliefs, thoughts, ideologies, and traditions. The taboo term relates to phrases that are socially forbidden and are commonly used to express disgust, social norm violations, sexual connotation, and wrath (Lovihandrie et al., 2018). As a result, a good translation result can conform to the language and culture because translating culture means translating the language and connecting how the translation may provide the readers with context based on the appropriate language and culture (Supardi & Sayogie, 2019). In the process, translating taboo words need a lot more attention and effort than translating other types of text; there are so many concepts and meanings which belong to every culture. However some of them are known by modernity, but many of them are also unfamiliar, even unknown; these concepts are already known as cultural-specific items. Persson and Ström Herold (2015) assume that cultural-specific items have concepts specific to a particular culture, such as flora, fauna, foods, clothes, housing, work, leisure, politics, law, and religion. These concepts are different in every language and culture, so when translating them would be more complicated, the translator has to know and interpret the meaning behind the cultural concepts correctly, then find out the most suitable word to be transferred to the target language in order to avoid controversy on their work.
Besides, research on translating CSI employs Newmark's taxonomy to identify the most strategy used in translating Jalal Al-Ahmad's by the Pen (Daghoughi & Hashemian, 2016), and it concerns evaluating the frequency of the most used strategy to determine which method could help in translating CSI. According to the findings, the functional equivalent was the most used strategy, while modulation and paraphrasing were the least.
Other research on taboos that applied Ljung's typology are 8 Mile, Straight Outta Compton, and All Eyez On Me (Al-Yasin & Rabab'ah, 2019). These studies focus on identifying the connotative functions of English and examining how the translation is suitable for Arabian. The results show that three Arabic subtitles in the selected sample mostly fit the connotative function of English taboo words only when the translator used euphemisms.
Meanwhile, the connotative functions are inappropriate when the translator resorts to the omission technique. When dealing with taboo words and expressions, cultural untranslatability occurs when it is impossible to assimilate relevant features of the situation into the contextual meaning of the target language. Four approaches could be adopted for their suitability and properness in dealing with taboo words and expressions from English into Arabic: censorship, substitution, rendering taboo for taboo, and applying euphemism (Almijrab, 2020). It has been discovered that euphemism, among the four approaches adopted, is important in translating English taboos into Arabic. The application of other techniques depends on the circumstances and cultural constraints.
In translating the taboo, the translator can employ a variety of translation procedures. Vinay & Darbelnet (2000) describe seven translation procedure approaches: borrowing, equivalency, calque, transposition, literal translation, modulation, and adaptation. One of them is the modulation procedure, which deals with changing the translator's viewpoint or perspective to resolve another equivalent variation. The researcher has an interest in choosing this topic after reading the novel Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, both the original version and the Indonesian translated version. The original one has too many taboo expressions, so this research discusses the modulation procedure in the translated version.
Modulation procedures are examined to measure how well Indonesian readers accept the translation. Translation Quality Assessment is used to measure translation quality. Nababan (2012) states that a quality translation must meet three criteria: accuracy, readability, and acceptability. This study, therefore, focuses on the acceptability assessment because the idea of acceptability is crucial; even if a translation accurately conveys its message or content, the target reader may reject it if the way it is contrary expressed to the rules, customs, or culture of the target language. Hence, this study evaluates the modulation procedure on English-to-Indonesian translations of taboo in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and measures the translation's level of acceptability.

Taboo
The term taboo was derived from tapu in Tongan, a language from Polynesians in the Pacific archipelago, meaning something forbidden (Hashemian et al., 2015). In many societies, taboos are respected with the culture and religious beliefs of a people from one community to another (Ndhlovu & Botha, 2017). Taboo expressions are regarded as indivisible components of each language. They are subjects, words, or activities avoided because of their highly hurtful or embarrassing impact (Almijrab, 2020). The taboo term relates to phrases that are socially forbidden and are commonly used to express disgust, social norm violations, sexual connotation, and wrath (Lovihandrie et al., 2018). Taboo refers to ideas that are generally forbidden or discouraged; almost all taboo words are considered impolite expressions, as taboo words can negatively affect a social group (Roni, 2020). Taboos are a part of everyday language and one of each linguistic society's cultural representations; different communities have varying views toward taboo terms, and some of these expressions are culturally specific, therefore some terms may be taboo in one language but not in another (Nazari Robati & Zand, 2018).
According to Jay (2009), there are nine types of taboo terms in English, they are: a. Sexual reference relates to sexual organs or is associated with sexual acts or involving sex, for instance, bl*w j*b, p*ssy, and c*nt.
b. Profane or blasphemous, insults or despises or demonstrates a lack of respect for God, religion, or beliefs, for instance, godda*n and Jesus. c. Scatological referents and disgusting objects, the biologically oriented of excrement that is disgusting to be discussed, for instance, sh*t, cr*p, and dou*he bag. d. Some animal names are used for treating with ridicule or making fun or for imitating someone or something close to the animal's appearance or behavior, for instance, b*tch, d*nkey, and p*g. e. Ethnic-racial-gender slurs, which have the purpose of anything intended to insult someone or a group by mocking, swearing, and using slurs that make fun of various ethnicities, races, and genders, for instance, n*gg*r, f*g, d*go.
f. Insulting refers to perceived psychological, physical, or social deviations; giving or intended offense to make a person or group feel hurt, angry, or upset by something said or done, for instance, ret*rd, wh*mper, l*rd a*s. g. Ancestral allusions, an offensive word or phrase people say when they are in anger, for instance, son of a b*tch and b*st*rd.
h. Substandard vulgar terms, words or terms that seem rude, insults that are disrespectful to despise someone, for instance, f*rt face and on the rag.
i. Offensive slang is using informal words to attack someone using abusive language, for instance, cluster f*ck and t*t run.
Taboo terms are a type of intensifier that gives our speech a distinctive character; because of the differing opinions of each country against these terms as a result of religious, political, and social attitudes, translating them is challenging; a translator must be familiar with culture-specific terms of both languages to translate a taboo (Nazari Robati & Zand, 2018). Furthermore, when cross-cultural communication occurs, cultural translation will be required if translators need to be made aware of each other's cultures so the result will lead the readers into misinterpretation and misunderstandings; translators are responsible for the effective and correct intercultural interactions (Roni, 2020). According to Almijrab (2020), To elicit type two and three translations, the translator can apply Davoodi translation strategies, which include euphemism, censorship or omission, substitution, taboo for taboo, domestication, and foreignization. These applied strategies integrate Vinay and Darbelnet's translation strategies, specifically modulation with Venuti's domestication and foreignization. Since some of those strategies have the same concept in translating taboo terms, the researcher prefers a modulation translation strategy.

Modulation Procedure
Vinay and Darbelnet discovered the modulation translation theory. They said that "modulation is variation through a change of viewpoint of perspective and very often of the category of thought" (Newmark, 1988). Modulation is a translation procedure requiring a translator's viewpoint to turn the meaning from the source language into the target language. This procedure deals with the change of point of view or perspective of the translator (Multazim et al., 2019). The significant impact of modulation is that it provides a new perspective on the relationship between semantics and pragmatics, modulation is also related to contrastive linguistics because it enables in clarifying the relationship between the ST and the TT, on the one hand, and contrastive linguistics employs translation aspects (Croitoru & Dumitraşcu, 2006). On the other hand, the modulation translation method can also be a good strategy for the translator to produce natural meaning commonly used in the target language and the situation described in the source language. Furthermore, it is a translation strategy that can be useful in overcoming the problem of message transfer due to the cultural differences between two languages (Putranti, 2018).
There are two kinds of modulation, fixed or obligatory modulation, and free or optional modulation. Fixed modulation is used when a preferred expression in the TL is more favorable and familiar to use rather than the literal translation of the expressions; whether or not an expression is more favorable and idiomatic in the TL is founded in the dictionary, then, Free modulation can be described as the translator's creative approach to achieving the highest level of equivalency in their translation (Venuti, 2000). Fixed modulation is used if there is a condition that a word, a phrase, or a structure cannot be equivalent in TL due to the limited equivalent, so it is better to apply the preferred expression in the TL instead of literal translation and Free modulation is a non-linguistic translation method used to clarify the meaning or correlate between SL and TL words, and to determine the best proper word in TL (Misbah, 2017).

Acceptability Level Assessment
Acceptability refers to whether a translation has been confirmed appropriately with the target language's applicable rules, norms, and culture. The concepts of acceptability are fundamental, even though a translation is accurate in terms of content or message, the target reader can reject the translation if the way of expressing it is contrary to the reader's rules, habits, norms, and culture of the target language. Nababan (2012) said that something considered polite in one group of people could be seen as disrespectful in another society.
The acceptability level assessment is a quality translation assessment that measures how the target language reader understood the translation result well. In conducting the translation acceptability, an indicator is needed to measure and identify whether the translation results deviate from the original text's message. Nababan (2012) explains the indicator to assist in measuring the acceptability level of translation; here the indicator table and its detailed explanation as follows:

Indicator Conclusions Score
The translation is natural; the technical terms used are generally used and familiar to the reader; including phrases, clauses, and sentences used are in appropriate with the rules, norms, and cultures of the Indonesian language.
Acceptable 3 In general, the translation felt natural; but there are some problems with the use of technical terms or some grammatical errors.

Less Acceptable 2
The translation is not natural or it can be known as a translation work; the technical terms used are unfamiliar to the reader; phrases, clauses and sentences used are not in accordance with the rules, norms, and cultures of the Indonesian language.

Not Acceptable 1
The assessment instrument of acceptance is a reference to determine the level of acceptability; the scale available spans from 1 to 3 that is given a reflection of the level of acceptance aspect, whether the translation quality is poor, good, or excellent. The acceptable vote is indicated that the reader fully accepts the translation result. Meanwhile, the vote for less acceptable is accepted but only partially accepted due to technical problems or grammatical errors. Lastly, the unacceptable vote is implied that the target language reader does not fully understand the translation.

METHODOLOGY
This research analyzes the modulation procedure and measures the acceptability level of the taboo terms translation in the novel Me and Earl and The Dying Girl. In conducting the research, the researcher uses a descriptive-qualitative research method to measure the acceptability level of taboo translation. The descriptive method is the most suitable for this research to analyze data that has been collected. Nawawi and Hadari (1992) stated that the descriptive method is the procedure to solve a research problem with explaining the object that becomes the data with the actual situation based on the fact.
The acceptability level was measured based on respondent's evaluation of the questionnaire, which was taken from the survey of 20 respondent evaluation, understanding, and acceptance of the taboo terms translation. For another support instrument, the researcher used several journal articles, the online version of the English dictionary Merriam Webster Dictionary, and the online version of Indonesian language dictionary Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (kbbi.web.id) for further analysis.
The technique for collecting the data in this research are documentation techniques and questionnaire. The technique of collecting data derived from a written record or written source (Arikunto, 2010). The data from this research would consist of words, phrase, clauses, or a sentence that belongs to the taboo terms. Meanwhile according to Sutopo (2006), the questionnaire technique is a written technique used to get information from informants or respondent without face-to-face meeting. The respondents were 20 from the final year student of English Literature department of State Islamic University (Uin) Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta. The respondents are those who passed the translation in practice course in the sixth semester because they were confirmed to understand the basics and the ethics of translation practice. In this research, respondents will be given a questionnaire to rate the level of translation acceptability level with the concept of Nababan's model score of acceptability.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The  Consequently, in order to determine the level of cultural acceptability of the translation novel, the researcher used a questionnaire to get an evaluation from the respondent The respondents were given eighteen questions to be answered by themselves, the question about the data was taken randomly the researcher, and it consists of 2 sample from each classification of taboo terms. This is a fixed modulation procedure occurring in a phrase of this sentence. The word 'menegang' is the preferred word that is more familiar to the Indonesian readers rather than use the literal translation of 'boner' because it is impossible to openly expressed the terms. 'Menegang' is a term that implies the hardening of men's organs, it is related to the word 'boner' as the replacement of its literal meaning, so as it made to appropriate with the context.

Profane or blasphemous
Data 3

ST: "Shut the hell up!" TT: "Tutup bacotmu!"
This is a free modulation procedure. The sentence 'tutup bacotmu' is the proper translation for 'Shut the hell up'. This translation procedure preferred to find the most suitable word in TL to clarify the meaning and context in the SL. The expression of 'tutup bacotmu' is made to fit given the context of the speech, since the SL expressions show ambiguity. Table 6. Acceptaility assessment of Data 3

Translation Quality Respondents vote Results
Acceptable 11 (11 × 3) + (9 × 2) + (0 × 1) : 20 = 2.55 Less Acceptable 9 Not Acceptable 0 From the explanation above, 2.55 is the final average score that shows this sample is less acceptable. It can be said that the quality of the translation of this sentence is good, with an average value of 2.55 on scale 1 to 3, because less acceptable does not mean it unacceptable.

ST: Jesus Christ in a cockwagon! TT: Astaganaga!
The word 'Jesus Christ' means 'the highest human corporeal' since it is the major figure for the Christian religion. This translation procedure is free modulation, because this translation procedure tries to correlate the meaning of taboo terms in SL into TL culture concept. The free modulation procedure preferred to achieve equivalency by using the word 'astaganaga' into the context of the SL expression. The word 'astaga' is "a nonformal form of 'Astagfirullah', which means expression of asking forgiveness from Allah (God)", for Indonesians. Sometimes it is used when someone got panic. The expression of 'astaganaga' is appropriate given the context of the speech, since the SL expressions show ambiguity.

Scatological referents and disgusting objects
Data 5 ST: "Liv! The perpetrator has probably not returned to the scene of the crime. P*e Diddy is long gone by now."

TT: "Liv! Pelaku barangkali tak akan kembali ke TKP. Si Air Seni-man sudah lama pergi."
This translation procedure is free modulation, because the translation of TL tries to relate the meaning of taboo terms in SL, the translation preferred to achieved equivalency with clarify the meaning of 'pee diddy' as pronoun, so the terms 'Si Air Seni-man' become the equivalence in Indonesian since 'Air seni' is more familiar to Indonesian readers by seeing the acceptability aspects of the taboo terms regarding to the context, in order to make it understandable. The procedure is free modulation, because the translation tries to clarify the meaning of taboo terms in SL into TL through the acceptability aspect. The translation procedure preferred to achieve equivalency by clarifying the meaning of 'permen upil', which is the understandable concept for the Indonesian reader.

Data 7
ST: I don't want to sound like a "p*ssy-ass b*tch", but this is surely less than ideal, as living situations go.

TT: Aku tidak mau terkesan seperti "banci-bawel", tapi kehidupan rumah tangga semacam itu jelas kurang ideal.
This procedure is free modulation. The words of 'banci bawel' is more appropriate and more familiar concept for Indonesian readers, since the phrase 'p*ssy-ass b*tch' express rudeness for Indonesian cultures and traditions, if it is translated literally. This procedure is free modulation. This case is taboo in Indonesian culture and traditions as human bodies should not be compared to animal body. The expression of 'melotot' is more appropriate given the context of the speech, which is that term is more familiar to Indonesian readers, rather than comparing the animal's organ to human's body.

Data 9
ST: He has a huge painful-looking neck tattoo that says "TRU N*GGA" next to some pictures of guns.

TT: Dia punya tato di leher yang kelihatannya menyakitkan, bertuliskan "NEGRO TULEN" di sebelah gambar pistol.
This procedure is fixed modulation, the term of 'NEGRO TULEN' becomes the proper translation for 'TRU N*GGA'. The word 'NEGRO TULEN' is the preferred translation by regard the acceptability aspect, the translation procedure preferred to achieved equivalency with clarify the meaning of 'TRU N*GGA' into 'NEGRO TULEN', which is more understandable for Indonesian reader. This procedure is free modulation. In the TL, this translation can be done literally, but the point of translating the taboo terms is to avoid a hurtful or embarrassing impact. So, this term needs to be fully translated due to the norms and religious aspects in the TL could not accept this, the translation is not translated, but it could deliver the intended meaning to the TL reader. Table 13. Acceptability Assessment of Data 10

Translation Quality Respondents vote Results
Acceptable 13 (13 × 3) + (6 × 2) + (1 × 1) : 20 = 2.60 Less Acceptable 6 Not Acceptable 1 From the explanation above, 2.60 is the final average score that shows this sample needs to be revised. The quality of the translation of this sentence is good, with an average value of 2.60 on a scale 1 to 3, because less acceptable does not mean it is unacceptable.

Data 11
ST: The closest thing we have is Ms. Giordano in the principal's office, and she's kind of lumpy and has a face like a parrot.
This procedure is fixed modulation. The word 'gempal' is preferred to be the equivalent of 'lumpy', due to the word that can explain the intended meaning. From the explanation above, 2.90 is the final average score that shows this sample needs to be revised. The quality of the translation of this sentence is almost excellent, with an average value of 2.90 on scale of 1 to 3. It almost reaches the maximum standard score perfectly with all respondents prefer to agree with this translation, based on the score results for almost reached the maximum standard, this translation is considered to be acceptable.

Data 12
ST: The gothy dorky kids are very low in the social hierarchy, but at the same time they are almost impossible to infiltrate.

TT: Bocah-bocah culun berkostum menduduki posisi sangat rendah dalam hierarki sosial, tapi menembus kelompok mereka hampir mustahil.
This procedure is free modulation, because the translation is correlate the meaning of taboo terms in SL into TL through the acceptability aspect. The term of 'bocah-bocah culun berkostum' is used to achieve equivalency by connecting the preferred translation with the context. The expressions of 'bocah-bocah culun berkostum' is more appropriate since the SL expressions maintain ambiguity. According to the context in this sample, "the gothy dorky kids are very low in the social hierarchy", so the term 'bocah-bocah culun berkostum' is the suitable equivalent. The term 'gothy dorky kids' clearly can be categorized as taboo terms, insulting references to perceived psychological, physical, or social deviations, since this character insults a group appearance.

Data 13
ST: Lunch is where you are asked to demonstrate your allegiance to one group or another by sitting with them for all to see-or, God forbid, being asked to sit with some poor sap who's not even in a group.
This procedure is free modulation. The expressions of 'amit-amit' is more appropriate and more familiar to the Indonesian cultures and traditions since the SL word express ambiguity. This translation procedure tries to relate the meaning of taboo expression in SL by using the equivalent translation that is familiar to the culture concept of Indonesian. TT: Aku malah iba pada anak-anak sial itu.
The taboo term of 'the wretched bastards' translated with term 'anak-anak sial itu'.
This procedure is fixed modulation since the term 'anak-anak sial itu' is preferred to be the equivalent of 'the wretched b*stards'. The translated term can be related to the context of the sentence. In accordance with the free modulation procedure, this procedure used a nonlinguistic way to get the intended context or to correlate between SL and TL. The context of the sentence is about a character mocking another character, the translation in TL is used to equate with the SL expressions. The term 'Madison-toloyo' is used even though it has no linguistic correlation with 'Madison Fartner' in term, but it is made to be appropriate with the context. This procedure is free modulation. The expressions of 'aku mentok kalau disuruh menggombal' is more appropriate since the SL expressions has an ambiguity. The term 'menggombal' is related to the context of term 'Casanova', since in Indonesia 'menggombal' is known as an act to praise and seduce women to get their attention and love.  This procedure is fixed modulation, the term expressions of 'seorang tukang teler ternama' is more appropriate given the context of the speech since the SL expressions maintain ambiguity. According to the Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI Daring), the word 'teler' means "keadaan tubuh tidak normal, lemas tidak berdaya karena pengaruh obat alcohol dan sebagainya". The translation 'seorang tukang teler ternama' is the preferred equivalent to the acceptability aspect, which is more familiar in the Indonesian reader rather than use the literal translation. Not Acceptable 0 From the explanation above, 2.55 is the final average score that shows this sample is less acceptable. The quality of the translation of this sentence is good, with an average value of 2.55 on a scale of 1 to 3, because less acceptable does not mean it is unacceptable.

CONCLUSION
Ninety-two data have been found from the original and translation versions of Me, Earl, and The Dying Girl novel. All the data found are classified into nine types of taboo terms based on Timothy Jay's classification. It consists of twenty-two frequencies of sexual reference, eleven frequencies of profane or blasphemous, seven frequencies of scatological referents, seven frequencies of some animal names, ten frequencies of ethnic-racial-gender slurs, four frequencies of insulting references, five frequencies of ancestral allusions, two frequencies of substandard vulgar terms, twenty-four frequencies of offensive slang. From the ninety-two data found, there are thirty data of fixed modulation and sixty-two data of free modulation.
From the 20 respondent's evaluation, two translation samples are rated acceptable, and 16 are rated less acceptable. However, less acceptable does not mean unacceptable because the translation is generally accepted, but some problems with using technical terms feel unnatural. So, it can be concluded that according to the 18 samples, the acceptability level of taboo terms translated in the Indonesian language of translation novel Me and Earl and The Dying Girl tend to be acceptable. However, this research is not made to judge whether this book is good or bad, but it was conducted to study more about the acceptability aspect of a translation work based on the reader's point of view. This result has shown us how the efforts put in by the translator of this novel work to deliver the context not only by translating by the literal meaning but also by providing a preferred expression or words adaptable to cultural aspects, norms, and ethics in the target language.