Problems encountered in the translation of Tshivenḓa into English: a case of musanda language terminologies and expressions

Abstract

Translators encounter challenges when translating terminologies and expressions of the musanda royal language from Tshivenḓa into English. For this reason, it is important to investigate the obstacles Tshivenḓa translators encounter when translating expressions into English. It is commonly believed that there is generally a lack of equivalent terms for Tshivenḓa when translating them into English. The aim of this article is to investigate how cross-cultural practices shape translation in relation to musanda terminologies and expressions. Thus, it is important to come up with translation techniques that could be adopted to overcome these obstacles. Unstructured face-to-face interviews were used as data collection tools for this study. The participants were 18 language practitioners, members of the royal families and postgraduate students from the University of South Africa, University of Limpopo and University of Venda who were selected purposively. This study used the qualitative research approach. The Skopos theory was applied in understanding translating the musanda variety into English. This theory was useful because it looks at translation with a purpose. Textual analysis was used as a data analysis method. The qualitative findings show that language practitioners, members of the royal families and postgraduate students encounter difficulties in translating musanda terminologies and expressions from Tshivenḓa into English.