| dc.description.abstract | With the exception of publications like those of Grobler and Lombard (1981 ), as well
as Groenewald a.o. (1988), very little attention has been paid in the past to the
translation of literary works from the African Languages (including Northern Sotho) into
Afrikaans. Research on equivalence on word and sentence level in the translation of
literature from Northern Sotho into Afrikaans has, therefore, never been undertaken
formally before.
In this study, research is done on the definition of the notion of equivalence which, as
appears from the study, bristles with difficulties. The establishment of equivalence
regarding the translation of metaphors, proverbs and idioms is also examined. From
the research done in the study it becomes clear that total equivalence on word and
sentence level in the translation of Northern Sotho literature into Afrikaans is not
possible, on account of the linguistic diversity between these two languages which is
mainly a result of cultural diversity.
Linguistic diversity refers to the differences between languages regarding the lexicon,
for example the ideophone, idiomatic language use and puns; syntactic, semantic and
morphological features, for example stress, word order and discourse which, amongst
other things, includes figurative speech and figurative language. Cultural diversity
refers to values, prescriptions, aversions, ideas and other structures which are
characteristic of a community or subgroup and which differ from community to
community and subgroup to subgroup. The difficulties experienced with translations
as a result of linguistic and cultural diversity, can be bridged by the use of applicable
translation strategies such as metatext and the explanation of culture bound
expressions or concepts.
The requirements for translatability and effective translation, as well as communication
as requisite for a successful translation are also examined in this study. The process
of
translating literature is examined more closely and the difficulties experienced in the
process of translating literature are also researched. A classification of the genres of
Northern Sotho literature is made. The necessity for the translation of Northern Sotho
literature is also mentioned briefly.
Finally, the problems experienced in the translation of Sebilwane as a result of linguistic
and cultural diversity between Northern Sotho and Afrikaans are examined. These
problems are discussed under the following four headings:
*Lexicon
*Syntactic, semantic and morphological features
*Discourse
*Cultural differences
*Proposals for possible solutions to these problems are also suggested. | en_US |
