Achieving equivalence in literary translation from Afrikaans to English : Kaburu by Deon Opperman

Abstract

Drama translation is an area in the discipline of Translation Studies that has been neglected compared with the translation of other literary texts, especially in the South African context. This dissertation contributes to this neglected area by exploring to what extent and how the principles associated with foreignisation, dynamic equivalence and shift theory can aid in the process of translating a literary text, specifically a dramatic text, from Afrikaans into English. This dissertation also discusses translation challenges specific to the translation of the source text, Deon Opperman’s Kaburu, from Afrikaans into English. The source text, Kaburu, was selected because of the playwright’s interesting use of the Afrikaans language and the numerous culture-specific references in the text. In addition, it was theorised that a larger global audience would be able to relate to the international themes of identity and migration while being exposed to themes pertaining to socio-political issues that are prevalent in contemporary South Africa, such as crime, land disownment, name changes and political programs to redress the injustices of the past. In order to retain the culture-specific nature of the text, the decision was made to produce a foreignised translation of the source text. Numerous examples of challenges encountered during the production of the target text are provided and discussed. The examples and discussions provided demonstrates that the theoretical concepts of equivalence, domestication and foreignisation and shift theory can be useful tools in analysing and producing solutions for dealing with challenging translation in a literary translation between Afrikaans and English.