ABSTRACT
In multilingual societies, where researchers and participants often do not speak the same language, research is a challenge as a mismatch of understanding between researchers, research instruments and participants often occurs. Reporting on the translation process is crucial because of the potential implications for the validity of the data that follow from it. We aimed to report on the complexities of such a translation process and many considerations that came to our attention. Methodologically, we used a detailed case study to demonstrate that the complexity of translation might be underestimated by researchers who may neglect to report on the challenges that they experience to benefit the wider research community. We emphasise that translating documents, particularly between languages that are not cognate, requires time and financial resources that researchers often do not anticipate or plan for. By discussing what happened to texts that were translated, and how we as researchers were challenged by considerations that were primarily linguistic but also straddled cultural and socio-political domains, we hope to encourage a deeper understanding of the translation task. We conclude that consideration of these complexities is necessary if the aim is the development of translated documents which complement the researchers’ goals.
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgement is given to the community and professional translators involved.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Authors’ contributions
ADW and LS conceptualised and drafted the manuscript. All authors were involved in editing the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Ethics approval and consent to participate
Ethics approval for the underlying study was obtained from Stellenbosch University’s Research Ethics Committee: Humanities (reference: HS1058/2014) and University of Toronto’s HIV Research Ethics Board (protocol reference number 30609).
ORCID
Anneliese de Wet http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8121-8698
Tessa Dowling http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5547-2924
Leslie Swartz http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1741-5897
Anthea Lesch http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0245-0529
Ashraf Kagee http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1241-2566
Peter A. Newman http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0444-5915