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One of the most recognisable aspects of Japanese pop culture which has invaded Malaysia is the Japanese comic or manga. It appears in translation in both Malay and English in Malaysia. Taking into account its foreign origin and the fact that translated manga is targeted at a local readership, translators often resort to the use of notes in the translations in order to assist the readers. This study, thus, intends to examine the type of notes used in the Malay and English translations of Japanese manga, and to determine items in the Japanese manga which required clarification and for which notes are provided. To analyse the use of notes by the translator in the translated manga, this study adopts a qualitative content analysis approach. The analysis involves six Japanese manga and their corresponding translations in Malay and English. The findings show that the translators employ the use of three different types of notes in the translation: notes on the image, notes in the gutter and notes at the end of the text. The analysis also shows that the elements in the Japanese manga which require clarification in translation are giongo/gitaigo, inscriptions, culture-specific elements, wordplay, technical terms and honorifics. There is also a minor difference between the Malay and English translations where the use of notes is concerned. Based on the findings, it is concluded that notes are important in translated versions of the manga in Malaysia in that they provide assistance to readers in understanding certain aspects of the manga.

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The novel The Great Gatsby (1925) remains one of the most sought-after classic novels among avid readers to date, whose popularity opened the door for the production of a Malay translation, titled Tuan Gatsby (1988). This masterpiece is made up of diverse literary devices and poetic language which demonstrate the original author’s creativity. Among the literary devices present in this well-known work are aphorisms. This term refers to the expressions of differences and similarities in a message, such as idioms, simile, and satire. Aphorisms, however, are rhetorical devices that are rarely discussed by scholars in Malaysia. For this reason, this study was conducted to focus on the translation of aphorisms by comparing the original and translated text. The objectives of this study include identifying the types of aphorisms found in the original work and subsequently assessing the translation of aphorisms in the target text. Besides this, the present study also evaluates the translation approach used by the translator. Based on the analysis conducted, there are six particular types of aphorisms found in the source text which are: aphorisms that hint at a character, confessional aphorisms, metaphorical aphorisms, aphorisms that tease a commonplace, aphorisms that tease out cultural assumptions and aphorisms that hint at questions, as mentioned in Angel-Lara’s research (2015). The findings also show that the translation of aphorisms in the target text successfully convey the aesthetic value of the source text. This is due to the fact that dynamic equivalence, as introduced by Nida (1964), was used as the main approach in the translation of the text under study.

The novel the Great Gatsby (1925) remains one of the most sought-after classic novels among avid readers to date, whose popularity opened the door for the production of a Malay translation, titled tuan Gatsby (1988). This masterpiece is made up of diverse literary devices and poetic language which demonstrate the original author’s creativity. Among the literary devices present in this well-known work are aphorisms. This term refers to the expressions of differences and similarities in a message, such as idioms, simile, and satire. Aphorisms, however, are rhetorical devices that are rarely discussed by scholars in Malaysia. For this reason, this study was conducted to focus on the translation of aphorisms by comparing the original and translated text. The objectives of this study include identifying the types of aphorisms found in the original work and subsequently assessing the translation of aphorisms in the target text. Besides this, the present study also evaluates the translation approach used by the translator. Based on the analysis conducted, there are six particular types of aphorisms found in the source text which are: aphorisms that hint at a character, confessional aphorisms, metaphorical aphorisms, aphorisms that tease a commonplace, aphorisms that tease out cultural assumptions and aphorisms that hint at questions, as mentioned in Angel-Lara’s research (2015). The findings also show that the translation of aphorisms in the target text successfully convey the aesthetic value of the source text. This is due to the fact that dynamic equivalence, as introduced by Nida (1964), was used as the main approach in the translation of the text under study.