Damai Daam Setuhan Poem Analysis

Damai Dalam Sentuhan by Shukri Zain, a celebrated Bruneian Poet, contains fifty free verse poems written between 1955 and 1985 in several countries including Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Britain. The Malay anthology was first published in Bandar Seri Begawan in 1985. The poems main themes are Islam, homeland and humanism. In 1990, the present writer translated this book into Arabic and published it in Cairo in 1993. Three years earlier, the book was translated into English by Wong Fook Khoon. In 1990, her translation was published by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Brunei along with the original Malay poems. This edition encouraged me to examine this translation and to compare it with its Malay source.

Nevertheless, they occur in a remarkable degree in this English translation. Such changes are both natural and acceptable as long as the translator has no way to avoid them, and more importantly they do not do harm to the original text. Therefore, the translator cannot take blame if he or she makes them.

2. Translation Errors:
Unlike shifts and transpositions, translation errors which may change the meanings and the messages of the source text should be treated seriously. Such translation errors are numerous in “The Touch of Peace”. Here, I will focus on three types of these errors, namely: (1) Lexical errors, (2) Technical errors, (3) Phrasal errors.

(a) Lexical Errors:
A great number of the errors in “The Touch of Peace” fall in this category. The following table contains a few examples compared with both the original Malay and the Arabic translation:

Damai Dalam Sentuhan Touch of Peace Lamsat Salam
Cinta P.1 Devotion P.2 ﺤﺏﹼ P.15
Ayat-ayat P.1 Holy exaltations P.2 ﺁﯿﺎﺕ P.15
Terciptalah P.1 Born P.2 ﺃﺒدﻋﺕ P.16
Takbur P.29 Proud P.27 ﺍﻠﻤﺗﮑﺒﺮﱠ P.42
Kerinduan P.53 Nostalgia P.54 ﺍﻠﺤﻧﻳﻦ