Nindy Naditha

1209617030 (17SasB)

Scientific Reading

Summary: An Intersemiotic Approach towards Translation of Cover Designs in

Retranslated Classic Novels

1. Previous Studies
- The previous study that the researchers mentioned in this paper is about the first
research of Semiotic in the 1990s.
- The previous studies about semiotic are referring to the study of signs within the
Saussurean tradition which is from Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913), the founder
of modern linguistic.
- The other study that talk about Intersemiotic translation is in Jakobson;s sense, which
associated with all manifestations of total translation.

2. Theories Used
The theories that the researcher used to analyze the Intersemiotic translation:
A. 11 criteria that is proposed by Kress and Van Leeuwen, about the model of semiotic
analysis.
- Frame and Setting; frame is a mental structure that shape the way we see the world
and is triggered by words. They are also part of the unconscious mind and operate
automatically to help us make sense of the world. Setting here is the element of a
visual composition, such as colors and visual shapes.
- Foreground and Background; applied for artistic purpose and to study of language.
- Color and Light; the forms of colors are the signifiers and their meaning as signified
play important role in determining the intended meaning.
- Cultural, Historical, or Social References; elements that work as sign-makers in
determining the ideological implications.
 - Linguistic Information; title of the book, author’s name, translator’s name that are
used in the expression of intended meaning.
- Logo Sign; used by the publisher on the cover that may represent the possible
commissioner of the novel, and logo sign can show a bestselling work.
- Marked Sign; the gist of the story, for instance; the letter of A in original cover image
is related to Puritain religion.
- Directionality of Information Structure; the position and directionality of information
structure in respect of central items versus marginal items or the upper versus lower
elements can be affected from semiotic’s view.
- Point of View; refers to the way the viewer looks at th semiotic scene. The distance
created by point of view can relate the viewer more or less to the elements of the
design and help us to understand the meaning of the cover better.
- Mode of Representation; painting, drawing, color and light that help us to clarify
nature of the story on the cover.
- The Elements of Storyline; help the viewer discern to marked signs and she/he try to
understand their ideological implications behind the selection of the cover.

3. Problem under discussion

- The researchers are trying to show us the important role of cover designing. The
publishers are usually the one who determined the elements that will be represented
in the cover.
- The paper is investigating the ideological trends that can be signified by the cover
design of the translated novel.
- Beside of that, the socio-cultural features are represented by the cover design that is
determined by the publisher.
- Translators do not play an important role in cover designing, when in fact, it’s
important for them to pick the cover along with the publisher.
4. Method used
- The research type is a parallel corpus study where social, cultural, and ideological
implementations are the most fundamental categories that would be discussed on
representation of the translated book cover designs.
- The method that is being used by the researchers is by taking any chunk of meta-text
which carries the ideological load to be compared and contrasted with the parallel
part in the translation.

5. Conclusion and Findings

- The covers of The Scarlet Letter translated books are having a different colors and
also pictures that represent the publisher interpretation of the book.
- All of the covers have something in common, which is the religious symbol in Puritan
tradition, so it can be inferred that a fair judgement should be based on the Christian
doctrines. The original version of the book shows us the letter A that represent sin in
Puritan tradition’s view, which is very unacceptable and in the other two covers, one
of them shows a forbidden love by using a picture of women holding an infant, and
the other one is image of black that show sin and the man who is tormented by guilt.
- Covers of each book conveyed a message about the content of the novel, influencing
both the retailer who stock the book and people who will probably purchase the book,
- The researcher believed that different translations of certain works done during
different socio-historical circumstances are demonstrating the prevailing ideological
stances to some extent.
- There are a lot of differences that we can find in between the cover designs of re-
translated novels, because they are depended on different times and also contexts.
- Social, cultural, political and religious ideological implications are different from one
society to another, and we can see their reflections in text as mean that the images on
book covers severely are influenced dominant cultural norms in Source and Target
society.
- Translator did not play an important role in designing the covers but publishers.
- There are different graphic designs for re-translated book covers that are associated
with the theme of the story. But after the researchers did this paper, they revealed the
 impact of social, cultural, political and religious ideological implications on the
process of translation.
- It’s clear that translator should be aware about the implicit information that’s hidden
throughout the story and they should pay attention and response to the cover designs.
- Translators should be more aware about the impact of their choice in translating a
story, and they should be aware about their ideology and that of the society can play
in constructing the culture.
- Translation is a tool to spread or control certain ideology throughout the society.