TOWARDS CROSS-CULTURAL COGNITIVE COMPATIBILITY IN THE MALAY TRANSLATION OF SOTERIOLOGICAL TERMS

Abstract

This research seeks to investigate cross-cultural cognitive-linguistic problems pertaining to the Malay translation of theological terminology in the specific field of soteriology, one of the major doctrines of the church. Since 1983, Malay has successfully replaced English as the medium of instruction in all Malaysian government schools and tertiary institutions and all Malaysians aged thirty years and under are now authentically Malay-educated. Thus far, government and university terminology committees have published extensive Malay vocabulary lists for their respective disciplines. Religious terminology has not been adequately explored. Careful research Into Malay semantics and cognition will help fill this linguistic vacuum and thus enrich the role of Malay in the efficient communication of both secular and religious concepts.

An important preliminary research question is therefore whether indifferent or even negative attitudes are possible underlying problems, since English as well as the vernacular languages have been well-established as popular church register for centuries. To assess the situation more accurately, current views on translation problems and their respective solutions were elicited from interviews with 34 key Malay-speaking personnel comprising linguists, translation specialists, pastors and missionaries. To complement this, a questionnaire survey was conducted among 150 Malay-speaking church members, sub-divided into three groups viz., West Malaysian Teachers, West Malaysian Non-Teachers and East Malaysian Teachers for a comparative study. To ensure results sufficiently cogent for valid inferences about the population as a whole, inferential statistics (Chi-square and T-test) were used.

On the whole the findings of the survey revealed that in most cases Malaysian Christians were rarely in full agreement. For instance, slightly less than half of them supported the convenient solution of complete borrowing from the well-established Indonesian church lexicon. Surprisingly, however, all three groups showed an outstandingly positive attitude towards the use of Malay for church purposes. The only other instances of unanimous opinion were the translations for “Jesus” (YESUS) and “Atonement” (PENEBUSAN DOSA). For the rest of the terms, there was little consensus. In some cases there were distinct preferences between East and West Malaysians, such as JURUSELAMAT and PENYELAMAT for “Saviour” respectively. Overall there was a comparatively high percentage of those in the “uncertain” category. One possible reason is understandably the rather “sensitive” nature of many of the questions in view of the linguistic proscription legislated in some Malaysian states.

Finally, on the basis of the findings of this research, it is recommended that, with regard to the translation of theological terms in particular, Malay indigenous creation is preferable to orthographically-adapted loan words. The primary requirement is that the translations be cognitively compatible with their English equivalents. This essentially means that their cognitive emphasis as well as contextual implications should be comparable with those of the English terms, inspiring similar emotional and aesthetic responses with no negative connotations to hinder the full expression of religious fervour. Fulfilling all these criteria satisfactorily for the Malay-speaking Christian is certainly a challenge that can only be achieved with more research into Malay cognition.