The Analysis of Metaphor, Hyperbole, and Irony in Indonesian Webtoon Translated from English

Abstract

This study investigates the translation of metaphor, hyperbole, and irony in the Indonesian translation of the popular Webtoon Lookism, addressing the vulnerability of non-literal language in multimodal media where text and image are inseparable. Employing a qualitative descriptive method with a comparative analysis of 23 figurative instances from the first 20 episodes, data were categoried using Molina and Albir's (2002) translation taxonomy and interpreted through Audiovisual Translation principles and Barthes' (1977) concept of visual anchorage. The key finding is that strategy selection is systematically governed by figurative type and its multimodal interaction. Metaphors show a dichotomy: Literal Translation for universal concepts versus adaptive strategies for culture-specific ones. Notably, irony relies predominantly on Literal Translation (71% of cases)—a strategy enabled by visual context providing essential pragmatic cues. Hyperbole requires Modulation and Equivalence to recalibrate expressive intensity for the target culture. This study's specific novelty lies in three contributions: (1) it extends Molina and Albir's taxonomy by demonstrating that strategy viability is contingent on multimodal support—a dimension absent in text-only translation; (2) it empirically validates Barthes' visual anchorage in the underexplored context of digital comics, showing that static images actively constrain linguistic choices; and (3) it provides the first systematic mapping of how metaphor, hyperbole, and irony each predict distinct strategic patterns in Indonesian Webtoon translation. This study contributes to translation theory by reframing figurative language translation as a multimodal negotiation rather than a purely linguistic transfer, and offers practical, evidence-based guidance for localizers of graphic narratives on how visual elements systematically influence translation strategy selection.