Ekwivalensie op woord- en sinsvlak in die vertaling van literêre werke uit Noord-Sotho in Afrikaans

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.