AN ERROR ANALYSIS TRANSLATION FROM TETUM NARRATIVE TEXT TO ENGLISH: DESCRIPTIVE STUDY AT FIFTH SEMESTER STUDENTS OF ENGLISH STUDY PROGRAM

Abstract

There are many public and private institutions and companies in East Timor that use English as a working language because it needs cooperation as national and international partnerships with the other English native countries to many amongst differences other foreign or vernacular languages. The objective of the study is to the description and errors analyze the translation from tetum narrative text to English of the fifth-semester students of the English study program in Instituto Superior Cristal. The method used to conduct the research was descriptive analysis which is to describe the types of errors that had been committed by the students. Based on the results of research presented in several tables that the students make errors in the translation of Tetum Narrative text into English: The omission morphology is 31 (50.82%); the omission syntax is 30 (49.18%); the addition morphology is 9 (20,0%); the addition Syntax is 34 (75.6%); the misinformation morphology is 8 (34.8%); the misinformation syntax is 15 (65.2%); the disordering morphology is 7 (18,4%); the disordering syntax is 13 (34.2%); the disordering pronunciation is 14 (36.8%); the number of errors in disordering lexical is 4 (10.5%). And the mistakes are 23 (12.1%), so, total errors are 167 (87.9%). The local error is 18 or 54.5%; the global is 15 (45.5%); the overtly is 18 (69.2%); the covert is 8 (30.8%); the Interlingua (transfer errors) is 10 (71.4%); the intralingual (Overgeneralization Errors is 4 (28.6%).  The cause of errors committed by the Fifth Semester Students is Interlingua or L1 transfer errors to L2 and in Interlingua. The difficulties faced by the students are the differences between the culture of English as a foreign language and their first local language. So, those errors are influenced or transferred by the First Language (L1) Tetum narrative text to English as a target language (L2). Therefore, the English teachers and students of the English Study Program are recommended that the various types of errors that have been committed by the students in the writing skill transfer errors from the first language to the target language.