CULTURAL TRANSLATION OF TRADITIONAL FOOD FROM WEST-JAVA: A MEDIA TO PROMOTE THE TRADITIONAL CUISINE TO THE WORLD

Abstract

Indonesia is the largest archipelagic country in the world with a total of 17,054 islands. Each island has different customs, values and habits. As one of the elements of culture,Indonesian culinary is also a pride cultural element. Traditional Indonesian food is one ofthe attractions of foreign tourists and local tourists. In Indonesia there are many kinds oftraditional food. From 17,054 islands that make up the Indonesian archipelago, there is theisland of Java which is known for its unique history and its beauty. It is named WestJava.West Java Province, also known as the land of Sunda, has different kind of dishescomparing to other Indonesian cuisine. Sundanese people by utilizing the existing ingredients in the surrounding likes to create a unique food in terms of names and flavors.Name it colenak, combro, batagor, cireng, cimol, gehu, and so on. In translation, there isprocedure known as cultural equivalent. Cultural equivalent is an approximate translationwhere a source language of cultural word is translated by a target language cultural word(Newmark, 1988:82). The translation from kinds of food from West Java is a way topromote the traditional food to international world. The research is conducted usingdescriptive- qualitative method. In this study, the object of the research data is the typicalfood of West Java which is located in big cities in West Java, such as in Sumedang andGarut. The data are obtained by conducting survey method and questionnaire interview. The researcher goes to the area to capture the culinary trademarks in some areas in WestJava. The results of this research will give big effect to tourism development in West Java cuisine.