In deze scriptie wordt onderzocht hoe spreektaal in de Nederlandse kinderboeken Krassen in het tafelblad en Ik ben Polleke hoor! vertaald is naar het Zweeds. De analyse is gemaakt volgens de theorie over vertaalnormen van de descriptieve vertaalwetenschap, en uitdrukkingen van spreektaal worden geanalyseerd vanuit Lindqvists (2005) indeling op drie niveaus: fonologisch/ morfologisch niveau, lexicaal niveau en syntactisch niveau. Het onderzoek toont aan welke strategie de vertalers mee hebben gewerkt en de vertaalnormen die mogelijk invloed hebben gehad tijdens het vertalen. Het resultaat wijst op dat de spreektaal in Krassen in het tafelblad vrijer vertaald is dan de spreektaal in Ik ben Polleke hoor!. Beide vertalingen tonen een streven aan om binnen de doelcultuur te passen, maar Krassen in het tafelblad ligt dichter bij een aanvaardbare vertaling dan Ik ben Polleke hoor!, die zich dichter bij de brontekst bevindt en gezien kan worden als een meer adequate vertaling. / This thesis examines how spoken language in the Dutch children's books Krassen in het tafelblad and Ik ben Polleke hoor! has been translated into Swedish. The analysis is done according to the descriptive translation studies’ theory of translation norms, and spoken language expressions are analyzed by using Lindqvist's (2005) classification of spoken language markers on three levels: the phonological/ morphological level, the lexical level and the syntactic level. The survey shows the translation strategies used by the translators and the norms that may have had an impact during the translation process. The result shows that the spoken language in Krassen in het tafelblad is more freely translated than the spoken language in the translation of Ik ben Polleke hoor!. Both translations show an ambition to fit within their target culture, but Krassen in het tafelblad lies closer to an acceptance-oriented translation than Ik ben Polleke hoor!, that adheres more to the source text and can be seen as a more adequate-oriented translation.

While translation can be studied with a view to throwing light on a number of aspects in life, in this thesis translation has been researched with a view to outlining the development of written Zulu from its earliest stages, using twelve texts of the Book of Matthew. The Book of Matthew has been chosen in this undertaking because it was the first book of the Bible to be translated into Zulu and was thought to be the most apposite instrument with which the development of written Zulu could be measured. The polysystem theory and the descriptive approach to translation studies are the theoretical models that inform the arguments presented in this study. Polysystem theory sees translated literature as a system operating in the larger social, literary and historical systems of the target culture, while with the descriptive approach translations are regarded as facts of the target culture. Against this premise the focus of this study is mainly on the twelve translations of the Book of Matthew and no comparisons between source and target texts are undertaken here. Corpus-based research provided tools such as WordSmith Tools 3.0 for linguistic analysis. Biblical texts were obtained, scanned and presented in electronic format ready to be analysed. From the findings drawn, written Zulu developed all the way through Bible translation, with some translations revealing slight developments and others showing enormous ones. As the findings of this study reveal, Zulu developed gradually, as evidenced by the change to conjunctive writing which occurred over a considerable period, along with the appropriate representation of Zulu speech sounds and grammar conventions. It could also be established at what point during the development of the language, processes such as consonantalisation and palatalisation were introduced into the written language. It is also clear that words of Greek and Hebrew origin were brought into the Zulu language through Bible translation. Furthermore, this study demonstrates that it is feasible to use corpus-based research for analysis in the indigenous languages of South Africa. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)

La presente tesi ha come scopo l’analisi della traduzione per il doppiaggio dell’umorismo costruito su argomenti tabù (quali ad esempio riferimenti al sesso, alla sessualità, all’obesità, al consumo di alcol e droghe) presente in quattro sitcom americane, nello specifico Friends, Will & Grace, How I Met Your Mother e 2 Broke Girls. In particolare, partendo dalla teoria della riscrittura proposta da Lefevere (1992,) la ricerca mira ad identificare casi di censura e manipolazione presenti nella traduzione in italiano dei suddetti testi audiovisivi. Con un approccio traduttivo descrittivo, i dialoghi trascritti dall’inglese sono stati confrontati con la loro traduzione in lingua italiana e i risultati dimostrano che censura e manipolazione all’interno della traduzione per il doppiaggio sono due fenomeni esistenti pur non essendo sempre possibile distinguere tra i due dal momento che non solo i vari specialisti coinvolti nel doppiaggio, quali traduttori, direttori del doppiaggio, doppiatori, adattatori, ma anche gli organi afferenti al patronato (Lefevere 1992) possono in qualche modo influire sull’atto traduttivo stesso. Un confronto diacronico tra le sitcom prese in esame dimostra tuttavia come fenomeni censori e manipolatori nella traduzione dell’umorismo tabù siano oggi in diminuzione rispetto al passato, probabile segno di una mutata ideologia nella cultura di arrivo. / The purpose of the present thesis is to analyse the translation for dubbing of humour based on taboo topics – such as, for example, references to sex, sexuality, obesity, alcohol and drug addiction – present in four American sitcoms, namely Friends, Will & Grace, How I Met Your Mother and 2 Broke Girls. Moving from the theory of rewriting introduced by Lefevere (1992), the present research aims to identify cases of manipulation and censorship in the Italian translation of the above-mentioned audiovisual texts. Following a descriptive translational approach, the English dialogues have been compared to their Italian translation. Results show that censorship and manipulation exist in the translation for dubbing even though it is not always possible to distinguish between the two. Indeed, not only the several specialists involved in the dubbing process, such as translators, dubbing directors, dubbing actors, adaptors, but also the powers linked to patronage (Lefevere 1992) can influence in several ways the translation process. However, a diachronic comparison of the analysed sitcoms demonstrates that censorial and manipulative phenomena in the translation of taboo humour are decreasing compared to the past, and this is probably due to a change in the receiving culture ideology.

This study is a critical analysis of translation-mediated Arabic news items on the “Arab Spring”. It explores the influence of social, historical, political, localic, and socio-ideological aspects of news translation via certain media agendas, by applying Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and qualitative descriptive methods in the analysis of the localised news items, interviews with translators, and a corpus of comments by the Arabic-speaking readership. The data analysed in this case study comprise a four-year (2010-2014) collection of news items that were localised by Al Jazeera and published on its website, as well as readers’ commentaries on said localisations, and interviews with two of Al Jazeera’s translators. Making use of this rich source of data, this study aims at finding answers for the questions: Are there discernible patterns in the translated texts? If so, how and for what purpose are they produced and re-produced through localisation in Al Jazeera’s translation-mediated Arabic news articles? Whose interests are served and whose interests are annulled by the reproduction and localisation processes? The three sets of data were thematically coded; then their most salient points and arguments were analysed. The localised news items were examined for clues to the localisation techniques, ideologies, and the agenda(s) of Al Jazeera. The readers’ comments were probed for the influence that the localised news items had on Al Jazeera’s target readership, and were examined to find out which of Al Jazeera’s ideologies resonate with which readers to form Al Jazeera’s target locale(s). The analysis of the interviews with Al Jazeera’s translators was undertaken with the aim of delineating the tasks of these translators, specifically to see to what extent journalism and translation meld, as suggested in much of the research done so far on translating news items. The tripartite analysis has provided a more comprehensive understanding of the processes involved in the production of translation-mediated news items as well as their effect on the readership. It also suggests relatively new insights into viewing the term localisation as a good alternative to acculturation in accounting for news translation. Within the umbrella of the social turn in translation studies (TS), this study suggests that current approaches to studying news translation question large-scale concepts such as culture and acculturation, and proposes they be replaced with the small-scale concepts of locale and localisation. Hence, this study suggests using localisation to extract and understand the underlying particulars of the processes involved in producing translation-mediated news items. The results of the analysis show that Al Jazeera ostensibly promulgates three major ideologies: anti-regimism, Islamistism, and pan-Arabism and embeds these ideologies in the messages it delivers to its target locales through the localised news items. The study concludes that Al Jazeera’s localisation techniques reflect the viewpoints of its benefactor the State of Qatar whose goal is to create a solipsistic identity that distinguishes it from its immediate rivalling neighbours within a dichotomy of the Same and the Other. These localisation techniques are driven by motives associated with the sociopolitical and sociohistorical circumstances of the founding of the State of Qatar and Al Jazeera.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 185-194) / Underpinned by the premise that any text can be studied as a translation provided it is identified as such, this study theoretically uses Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS) to investigate English-Swahili healthcare texts. The aim of the study was to: identify, describe and analyse linguistic and cultural aspects in the texts; identify, describe, and analyse translation strategies used in the texts; and describe and analyse the use of illustrations in the texts. The study made use of Kruger and Wallmach’s (1997) analytical framework. The Tertium Comparationis of the study was descriptive terms, cohesive devices, translation strategies, division of texts, illustrations, text titles, and taboo words. On the linguistic aspects, the study’s main findings were: that the English texts use more descriptive terms than the Swahili texts; Swahili texts have a higher frequency use of references because it contains a number of derivational and inflectional morphemes; substitution is sparingly used whereas ellipsis is almost non-existent in Swahili texts in spite of its presence in the source texts; additive and causal conjunctions were the most prevalent in the texts; and inasmuch as there were no significant differences in the use of lexical cohesion in the ST and TT, Swahili texts were found to be more cohesive due to the slightly higher number of lexical items. Regarding the cultural aspects, it was found that translators use euphemism in the translation of words considered taboo and this informed the conclusion that there reigns the euphemism norm in Swahili texts. It equally emerged that strategies used to overcome non-lexicalisation include: use of pure loan words, use of pure loan words preceded by explanation, use of indigenised loan words, use of omission and translation by a more general word. On the other hand, translators used strategies of substitution, use of general words, paraphrasing and cultural substitution to translate words considered taboo. In addition, the study found that illustrations are used in more less the same way both in the ST and TT save for some slight modifications that are done in order to align them with the target culture expectations. Furthermore, the study theoretically effectuated four norms: explicitation norm, explicitness norm, euphemism norm, and illustration norm / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D. Litt.et Phil. (Linguistics)

Text has abstracts in English, Afrikaans and isiZulu / Translators give us access to texts written in other languages, yet they remain mostly invisible to us. The translator’s preface therefore becomes the most important paratext where their voices are heard and where the text is identified as a translation. Research on South African paratexts is scarce and the study contributes to filling this gap. The aim of this study was to explore the nature of South African translatorial prefaces by determining the characteristics, content and functions of the prefaces and describing how translators are visible in their prefaces. A qualitative study was done where Genette’s (1997) conceptual framework was fitted into the overarching theory of Descriptive Translation Studies, making use of thematic analysis as described by Braun and Clarke (2013) to analyse the data. The data consisted of 65 South African literary texts with translatorial prefaces, published between 1945 and 2016 in the official South African languages. The study found that South African translators are mostly invisible through the absence of translatorial prefaces, but when they do write prefaces, they become highly visible and write about a wide variety of topics that make their prefaces a rich documentary source of valuable information for readers, translation studies students and scholars. The study provides a foundation for further research on South African translatorial prefaces. Translatorial prefaces should be included in the curricula for Translation Studies students and in a multilingual country like South Africa, no translation should be without a preface. Translators are encouraged to write comprehensive prefaces that will increase their visibility and situate translations in the polysystem of South African literature. / Vertalers gee ons toegang tot tekste wat in ander tale geskryf is, maar tog bly hulle meestal onsigbaar vir ons. Die vertalersvoorwoord word dus die belangrikste teks waar hul stemme gehoor kan word en waar die teks as ’n vertaling geïdentifiseer kan word. Navorsing oor Suid-Afrikaanse parateks is skaars en die studie dra daartoe by om hierdie leemte te vul. Die doel van die studie was om die aard van Suid-Afrikaanse vertalersvoorwoorde te ondersoek deur die kenmerke, inhoud en funksies van die voorwoorde te bepaal en te beskryf hoe vertalers sigbaar is in hulle voorwoorde. ’n Kwalitatiewe studie is gedoen waar die konseptuele raamwerk van Genette (1997) in die oorkoepelende teorie van Beskrywende Vertaalstudies toegepas is, met behulp van tematiese analise soos beskryf deur Braun en Clarke (2013) om die data te ontleed. Die data bestaan uit 65 Suid-Afrikaanse letterkundige tekste met vertalersvoorwoorde, wat tussen 1945 en 2016 in die amptelike Suid-Afrikaanse landstale gepubliseer is. Die studie het bevind dat Suid-Afrikaanse vertalers hoofsaaklik onsigbaar is deur die afwesigheid van vertalersvoorwoorde, maar wanneer hulle wel voorwoorde skryf, word hulle hoogs sigbaar en skryf hulle oor ’n wye verskeidenheid van onderwerpe wat hul voorwoorde ’n ryk dokumentêre bron van inligting vir lesers, studente in vertaalstudies en vakkundiges maak. Die studie bied ’n basis vir verdere navorsing oor Suid-Afrikaanse vertalersvoorwoorde. Vertalersvoorwoorde behoort opgeneem te word in die kurrikula van vertaalstudie studente en in ’n veeltalige land soos Suid-Afrika behoort geen vertaling sonder ’n vertalersvoorwoord te wees nie. Vertalers word aangemoedig om omvattende voorwoorde te skryf wat hul sigbaarheid sal verbeter en hul vertalings in die polisisteem van Suid-Afrikaanse letterkunde sal plaas. / Abaguquli beelwimi basenza sikwazi ukufikelela kwiimbalo ezifumaneka ngezinye iilwimi, kodwa bahlala befihlakele kuthi. Iimbulambethe zabaguli zilwimi ngoko ke ziba yingcaciso ebaluleke kakhulu ethi ibaveze ivakalise amazwi abo, kwaye yenza iimbalo ezo zibe nokuphawulwa okanye zichazwe njengeenguqulelo. Uphando malunga neembulambethe okanye iingabulazigcawu eMzantsi Afrika lunqabile kungoko olu phando lunegalelo ekuvaleni esi sikhewu. Injongo yolu phando kukuphonononga ubume beembulambethe zeenguqulelo ezifumaneka eMzantsi Afrika ngokufumanisa iimpawu zazo, umxholo kunye nemisebenzi yeembulambethe, kwakunye nokuchaza indlela abazibonakalisa ngayo abaguquli kwiimbulambethe zabo. Kwenziwe uphando lohlobo oluchazayo (qualitative), apho kuysetyenziswe inkqubosikhokelo yengqiqo kaGenette (1997) ndawonye nethiyori esisikhokelo yeziFundo zoGuqulo loLwimi eziChazayo (Descriptive Translation Studies), nolusebenzisa uhlahlelo lwethematiki njengoko luchaziwe nguBraun noClarke (2013) ekuhlalutyeni idatha. Idatha iqulathe iimbalo zoncwadi ezingama-65 zaseMzantsi Afrika ezineembulambethe zeenguqulelo ezapapashwa phakathi konyaka ka-1945 no-2016 ngeelwimi ezisemthethweni eMzantsi Afrika. Olu phando lufumanise ukuba abaguquli beelwimi ikakhulu, ababonakali ngenxa yokungabikho kweembulambethe zezi nguqulelo, kodwa xa bathe bazibhala iimbulambethe, bayabonakala kakhulu kunjalonje batsho babhale ngenqwaba yezihloko ezahlukeneyo nezenza iimbulambethe zabo zibe ngamaxwebhu angoovimba abaqulethe ubutyebi bolwazi olubalulekileyo kubafundi zincwadi, abafundi bezifundo zoguqulo kunye nezifundiswa. Olu phando lwakha isiseko solunye uphando olunokwenziwa ngeembulambethe zeenguqulelo zaseMzantsi Afrika. Ngolu phando kuhlatyw’ ikhwelo lokuba iimbulambethe zeenguqulelo zibe yinxalenye yekharityhulam yabafundi beziFundo zoGuqulo kananjalo, kwilizwe elineelwimi ngeelwimi njengoMzantsi Afrika, makungabikho nguqulelo ingenambulambethe. Abaguquli bayakhuthazwa ukuba babhale iimbulambethe ezityebileyo eziya kubatyhila ngakumbi babonakale kubafundi neziya kubeka iinguqulelo kwisixokelelwano soluhlu loncwadi lwaseMzantsi Afrika. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / M.A. (Linguistics)

Music videos have been published on YouTube since the site’s creation in 2005. However, on-demand subtitles for music videos are a relatively recent phenomenon. As fans can now understand lyrics in a language that is not their own, by using translated subtitles, artists have the possibility of reaching a wider international audience than ever. This qualitative study aims to fill a gap in translation studies by examining the translation of French song lyrics into English in the subtitles of music videos on YouTube. The study poses the following questions: how are specific linguistic features that are characteristic of song lyrics translated in the subtitles of music videos? What is the overall effect of these translations – is there a loss of meaning or of style once the lyrics have been translated? What are the particularities of this medium of translation?  The corpus consists of 14 music videos published on YouTube within the last decade. All 14 pop/hip-hop songs examined are performed in French and subtitled in English. The study gives an overview of the translation techniques used in the English subtitles on French music videos, by examining both the methods used to translate songs as well as the strategies used by subtitlers to translate specific linguistic features. The linguistic features examined through comparative text analysis are phonetic (assonance, alliteration, rhyme, and language play), socio-cultural (linguistic register, cultural references, and idiomatic expressions including slang), and grammatical.  This thesis begins with an interrogation of previous research on audiovisual and song translation, including an examination of taxonomies of subtitling strategies. These taxonomies are applied to the under-examined context of YouTube music videos, following the paradigm of Descriptive Translation Studies.  Through a descriptive analysis of the pairs of source-language and target-language linguistic features, the study found that translation strategies were varied, and could result in a tension between the prioritisation of stylistic elements over the original meaning of the lyrics. The results confirmed a lack of standardised conventions for subtitled translations on YouTube, and certain markers of this digital, community-oriented medium were present, where they might not be found in more conventional arenas of audiovisual translation.

This thesis is focused on a study of translation strategies in Guillaume Oyono Mbia's plays. By using the sociological, formalistic and semiotic approaches to literary criticism to inform the analysis of the source texts and by applying descriptive models outlined within the framework of descriptive translation studies (DTS) to compare the source and target texts, the study establishes the fact that in his target texts Oyono Mbia, self-translating author, has produced a realistic and convincing portrait of his native Bulu culture and society depicted in his source texts by adopting the same default preservation and foreignizing strategy employed in his source texts. Oyono Mbia's works, his translation strategies and translational behaviour are situated in the context of the prevailing trend and attitude (from the sixties to date) of African writers writing in European languages and it is posited that this category of writers are in effect creative translators and that the strategies they use in their original compositions are the same as those outlined by translation scholars or effectively used by practitioners. These strategies enable the writer and the translator of this category of African literature to preserve the "Africanness" which is the essence and main distinguishing feature of that literature. Contrary to some scholars (cf. Bandia 1993:58) who regard the translation phenomenon evident in the creative writings of African writers writing in European languages as a process which is covert, semantic and secondary, the present study of Oyono Mbia's translation strategies clearly reveals the process as overt, communicative and primary. Taking Oyono Mbia's strategies as a case in point, this study postulates that since for the most part, the African writer writing in a European language has captured the African content and form in his original creative translation, what the translator simply needs to do is to carry over such content and form to the other European language. / Linguistics / D.Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)

This thesis is focused on a study of translation strategies in Guillaume Oyono Mbia's plays. By using the sociological, formalistic and semiotic approaches to literary criticism to inform the analysis of the source texts and by applying descriptive models outlined within the framework of descriptive translation studies (DTS) to compare the source and target texts, the study establishes the fact that in his target texts Oyono Mbia, self-translating author, has produced a realistic and convincing portrait of his native Bulu culture and society depicted in his source texts by adopting the same default preservation and foreignizing strategy employed in his source texts. Oyono Mbia's works, his translation strategies and translational behaviour are situated in the context of the prevailing trend and attitude (from the sixties to date) of African writers writing in European languages and it is posited that this category of writers are in effect creative translators and that the strategies they use in their original compositions are the same as those outlined by translation scholars or effectively used by practitioners. These strategies enable the writer and the translator of this category of African literature to preserve the "Africanness" which is the essence and main distinguishing feature of that literature. Contrary to some scholars (cf. Bandia 1993:58) who regard the translation phenomenon evident in the creative writings of African writers writing in European languages as a process which is covert, semantic and secondary, the present study of Oyono Mbia's translation strategies clearly reveals the process as overt, communicative and primary. Taking Oyono Mbia's strategies as a case in point, this study postulates that since for the most part, the African writer writing in a European language has captured the African content and form in his original creative translation, what the translator simply needs to do is to carry over such content and form to the other European language. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D.Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)

This study investigates factors hampering comprehension of sign language interpretations rendered on South African TV news bulletins in terms of Deaf viewers’ expectancy norms and corpus analysis of authentic interpretations. The research fills a gap in the emerging discipline of Sign Language Interpreting Studies, specifically with reference to corpus studies. The study presents a new model for translation/interpretation evaluation based on the introduction of Grounded Theory (GT) into a reception-oriented model. The research question is addressed holistically in terms of target audience competencies and expectations, aspects of the physical setting, interpreters’ use of language and interpreting choices. The South African Deaf community are incorporated as experts into the assessment process, thereby empirically grounding the research within the socio-dynamic context of the target audience. Triangulation in data collection and analysis was provided by applying multiple mixed data collection methods, namely questionnaires, interviews, eye-tracking and corpus tools. The primary variables identified by the study are the small picture size and use of dialect. Secondary variables identified include inconsistent or inadequate use of non-manual features, incoherent or non-simultaneous mouthing, careless or incorrect sign execution, too fast signing, loss of visibility against skin or clothing, omission of vital elements of sentence structure, adherence to source language structures, meaningless additions, incorrect referencing, oversimplification and violations of Deaf norms of restructuring, information transfer, gatekeeping and third person interpreting. The identification of these factors allows the construction of a series of testable hypotheses, thereby providing a broad platform for further research. Apart from pioneering corpus-driven sign language interpreting research, the study makes significant contributions to present knowledge of evaluative models, interpreting strategies and norms and systems of transcription and annotation. / Linguistics / Thesis (D. Litt.et Phil. (Linguistics)