AN ANALYSIS OF TRANSLATION STRATEGIES OF INDONESIAN IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS IN DIGITAL MEDIA CONTENT INTO ENGLISH

Abstrak

The translation of idiomatic expressions in digital media content plays an important role in ensuring effective communication across cultures in the global digital era. Idioms are culture-bound expressions whose meanings cannot be interpreted literally, which makes their translation particularly challenging. This study aims to analyze the translation strategies used in translating Indonesian idiomatic expressions into English in digital media content and to examine how these strategies affect meaning equivalence and readability. This research employed a descriptive qualitative method. The data were collected from Indonesian digital media content such as social media captions, promotional posts, and short online texts that provide English translations. The analysis was conducted by identifying translation strategies based on Baker’s (2018) framework. The findings reveal that paraphrase is the most dominant translation strategy, followed by idioms with similar meaning but different form. Idioms with similar meaning and form and omission are used less frequently. Most translations achieve partial meaning equivalence, as the core message is conveyed while some cultural and expressive nuances are reduced. This study concludes that translators tend to prioritize clarity and readability over maintaining idiomatic form in digital media contexts.