Training second language tertiary students as translators in a multilingual South Africa: translation from English into Afrikaans
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20853/39-3-6403Keywords:
assessment, translation skills, training, communicative and semantic equivalence, reading skills, editing skillsAbstract
Due to South Africa’s diverse speech community, and the needs of Afrikaans speakers, translation from English into Afrikaans has become relevant in making documents accessible. This study explored translation training of University of Technology (UoT) second year students who enrolled for a course in Language Practice engaged in translating. The study attempted to shed light on translation challenges experienced by Afrikaans second language translators translating from English into Afrikaans to bridge the knowledge gap on perceptions and challenges faced. Translation theories such as Skopos theory, and Communicative equivalence were used as theoretical lenses. A qualitative research approach was employed engaging students and lecturers in focus group interviews. It was revealed that students lacked the needed vocabulary, general knowledge, grammatical skills as well as application of translation strategies. A need for training in machine translation to improve the quality of translations surfaced from the research.
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References
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Ahea, M. R. K., Ahea, and I. Rahman 2016. The Value and Effectiveness of Feedback in Improving Students’ Learning and Professionalizing Teaching in Higher Education. Journal of education and practice 7(16):38-41.
Alexander, M. 2023. The 11 languages of South Africa. https://southafrica-info.com/arts-culture/11-languages-south-africa/.
As-Safi, A. B. 2011. Translation theories: Strategies and basic theoretical issues. Aman: Dar Amwaj.
Baachaoui, M. M. 2014. Translating into L2 - The unachievable perfection. Arab world English journal special issue on translation 3, May: 147-154.
Baker, M. and G. Saldanha 2001. Routledge encyclopaedia of translation studies. London: Routledge.
Baker, M. 2011. In Other Words. Oxon: Routledge.
Bedeker, L.M. 2012. Interferensie in die Afrikaanse Harry Potter. MPhil dissertation. University of Stellenbosch. Retrieved from: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/a6d7aaa1-0192-4cc2-abe3-acdf56b368e6/full. Accessed: 09/09/2023.
Boonmoh, A. 2021. Use of Dictionaries and Online Tools for Reading by Thai EFL Learners in a Naturalistic Setting. Lexikos 31, 239-258.
Carstens, W.A.M. 2013. Norme vir Afrikaans: Enkele riglyne by die gebruik van Afrikaans. Pretoria: Van Schaik Publishers.
Chahrour, O. 2018. Cultural problems in translation. Translation journal [Online], July. https://translationjournal.net/July-2018/cultural-problems-in-translation.html.
Coetzee-Van Rooy, S. and A. Peters. 2021. A Portrait-corpus study of language attitudes towards Afrikaans and English. Language Matters, 52(20):3-28. https://doi.org/10.1080/10228195.2021.1942167.
Corder, S.P. 1981. Error analysis and interlanguage. London: Oxford University Press.
Ditsele, T. and C. Mann. 2014. Language contact in African urban settings: The case of Sepitori in Tshwane. South African journal of African languages [Online], 34(2):159-165. https://doi.org/10.1080/02572117.2014.997052.
Du Plessis, C. 2023. Dit is waarom minder Afrikaans by huis praat. Netwerk 24. 12 Oct.
Duncan, L. G., S. P. Mcgeown, Y.M. Griffiths, S. E. Stothard, and A. Dobai. 2016. Adolescent reading skill and engagement with digital and traditional literacies as predictors of reading comprehension. British journal of psychology 107:209-238.
Flusk, S.T. 2023. An analysis of linguistic errors in translations of complainants’ sworn statements. MA thesis, Cape Town, University of the Western Cape https://etd.uwc.ac.za/bitstream/handle/11394/10435/Flusk_arts_m_2023.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y .
Heale, R. and Y. Twycross. 2017. What is a case study? Evidence-Based Nursing, 21(1): ebnurs-2017-102845.
Jabir, J. K. 2006. Skopos theory: Basic principles and deficiencies. Journal of the College of Arts. University of Basrah 41:37-46.
Lehka-Paul, O. and B. Whyatt. 2016. Does personality matter in translation? Interdisciplinary research into the translation process and product. Poznan Studies in Contemporary Linguistics 52(2): 317-349.
Maree, K. and J, Pietersen. 2020. Sampling (Pp. 213-224). In: Maree, K. First steps in research 3. Hatfield: Van Schaik Publishers.
McCain, N. and N. Ebrahim. 2023. Load shedding has led to job shedding for township businesses, report finds. https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/load-shedding-has-led-to-job-shedding-for-township-businesses-report-finds-20230411,
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Mohamadaid, A and S. Rasheed. 2018. Can English considered to be a global language? Bachelor's degree, Research paper, Kurdistan Region/ Iraq, University of Duhok. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED608887.pdf.
Mraček, D. 2019. The role(s) of native speakers in L2 translation. Studies in Applied Linguistics 10(1):7-25.
Mullen, J. 2019. Is South Africa’s “Born Free” Generation Truly Free? https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/is-south-africas-born-free-generation-truly-free.
Munje, P.N. and T. Jita. 2020. The impact of the lack of ICT resources on teaching and learning in selected South African primary schools. International journal of learning, teaching and educational research, 19(7):263-279. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.7.15.
Murdoch, A. 2017. Strategies used in the translation of fixed expressions in magazines: A comparison of selected texts with Afrikaans as source language and South African English as target language. Literator, 38(2):1-9. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2219-82372017000200008&lng=en&nrm=iso .
Mutepe, M., F. O. Makananis and S. E. Madima. 2021. Experiences of first year students with using English second language for teaching and learning at a rural based university in a democratic South Africa. Gender and behaviour 19(2):1-2.
Newmark, P. 1988. A textbook of translation. Hempstead: Prentice Hall International.
Nord, C. 2018. Translation as a purposeful activity. Functionalist approaches explained. New York: Routledge.
Nordquist, R. 2020. Pragmatic competence. ThoughtCo [Online], August 26. https://www.thoughtco.com/pragmatic-competence-1691653.
Panda, A. K. 2017. Attitude, Language and Translation. Translation Journal. https://translationjournal.net/January-2017/attitude-language-and-translation.html#:~:text=Language%20attitude%20is%20one%20of,translator%20takes%20in%20a%20translation.&text= .
Patrick, A and C. Bhengu. 2023 Sign language officially becomes SA's 12th official language. https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/sign-language-officially-becomes-sas-12th-official-language-20230719.
Pokorn, N. K. 2016. Is it so different? Competences of teachers and students in L2 translation classes. International journal of translation, 18:31-48. https://www.openstarts.units.it/server/api/core/bitstreams/e247542e-20b5-4ae6-8124-d363a3708577/content.
Popescu, T. 2016. Linguistic competence vs. translation competence: A pedagogic approach. International journal of translation 18:31-48. https://www.openstarts.units.it/server/api/core/bitstreams/e247542e-20b5-4ae6-8124-d363a3708577/content.
Robertson, S. and M. Diaz. 2022. Understanding and being understood: user strategies for identifying and recovering from mistranslations in machine translation-mediated chat. Proceedings of the 2022 ACM conference on fairness, accountability, and transparency, 2223-2238.
Sall, T. L. The Rainbow Myth: Dreaming of a Post-Racial South African Society. Institute for Global Dialogue, 2018. JSTOR http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep19352.
Shi, X. 2014. E-C advertisement translation on communicative translation and semantic translation theory. Theory and practice in language studies 4(6):1214-1218.
Šimurka, M. 2020. The importance of translation. Lexica: Translation and interpreting. https://www.lexika-translations.com/blog/the-importance-of-translation/.
Stats SA. 2022. Statistics South Africa. https://www.statssa.gov.za/?page_id=3839 .
Traugott, E.C. and M. L. Pratt. 1980. Linguistics for students of literature. Orlando: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
TUT Prospectus. 2023. Applied Languages. Humanities Diploma. https://www.tut.ac.za/study-at-tut/i-want-to-study/what-to-study/prospectus/department?Department=6501&Faculty=50.
Venuti, L. 1995. The Translator‘s Invisibility: A History of Translation. London and New York: Routledge.
Webb, V. and M. Meyer. 2012. Sensus 2011: Taallandskap en taalpolitieke karakter. Litnet archive (2006-2012). argief@litnet.co.za.
Willemse, H. 2017. More than an oppressor’s language: reclaiming the hidden history of Afrikaans. https://theconversation.com/more-than-an-oppressors-language-reclaiming-the-hidden-history-of-afrikaans-71838.
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Published
2025-07-04
How to Cite
Kaltwasser, J.J.E., C. G. Smith, and L. van Huyssteen. 2025. “Training Second Language Tertiary Students As Translators in a Multilingual South Africa: Translation from English into Afrikaans”. South African Journal of Higher Education 39 (3):137-54. https://doi.org/10.20853/39-3-6403.
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