In disseminating information about health issues, government health departments and NGOs use, inter alia, written health texts. In a country like South Africa, these texts are generally written by medical experts and thereafter translated into the languages of the people. One of these languages is Zulu, which is spoken by the majority of South Africans. A large percentage of Zulu speakers are illiterate or semi-literate, especially in the rural areas. For this reason, Zulu translators have to use ‘simple’ language that these readers would understand when translating English texts into Zulu. Translators are expected to use strategies that can deal with non-lexicalized, problematic or other related terms that appear in health texts, as well as geographical and cultural constraints. This study focuses on the strategies used by Zulu translators in an attempt to make translated Zulu health texts accessible to the target readership. The investigation includes the use of self-administered questionnaires for respondents from two of South Africa’s nine provinces, where Zulu speakers are found (Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal), to determine whether the health texts do reach the target readership. Focus groups, semi-structured interviews and other complementary techniques were used to collect data from the selected respondents. Furthermore, a parallel concordance called ParaConc was used to extract and analyse data from the corpus as compiled for the present study, in an attempt to investigate the strategies used to make the translated health texts easier to read. The study uncovers various strategies which are used when translating English health texts into Zulu. These strategies include the use of loan words, paraphrasing, cultural terms and so on. In future, the use of ParaConc can be broadened to investigate newly discovered translation strategies, with the aim of making health texts more accessible to the target readers. Furthermore, this software programme can also be used to study translation strategies as used in other types of texts, for example journalistic texts. / Linguistics / D. Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics (Translation Studies))

The purpose of the study was to explore and describe the perceptions of adolescents about sexuality and sexually transmitted infections, which probably contribute towards the high incidence of sexually transmitted infections amongst this group.The study was designed as a qualitative, exploratory and descriptive research. A focus group interview and unstructured observation were used to collect data, using a nonprobability snowball sample. The group consisted of 12 male and female adolescents residing in a specific geographical area in Pretoria and attending different high schools. Recommendations made focus on: the approach to sex education programmes factors that need to be addressed in order to improve adolescent sexual health empowerment strategies of teachers, parents and community leaders on adolescent sexuality and sexually transmitted infections so that in turn, they should be able to empower adolescents on their sexual roles and thus make informed choices The impact of implementing the recommendations will benefit individuals, families and communities. / Health Studies / M.A.(Health Studies)

The purpose of the study was to explore and describe the perceptions of adolescents about sexuality and sexually transmitted infections, which probably contribute towards the high incidence of sexually transmitted infections amongst this group.The study was designed as a qualitative, exploratory and descriptive research. A focus group interview and unstructured observation were used to collect data, using a nonprobability snowball sample. The group consisted of 12 male and female adolescents residing in a specific geographical area in Pretoria and attending different high schools. Recommendations made focus on: the approach to sex education programmes factors that need to be addressed in order to improve adolescent sexual health empowerment strategies of teachers, parents and community leaders on adolescent sexuality and sexually transmitted infections so that in turn, they should be able to empower adolescents on their sexual roles and thus make informed choices The impact of implementing the recommendations will benefit individuals, families and communities. / Health Studies / M.A.(Health Studies)

In disseminating information about health issues, government health departments and NGOs use, inter alia, written health texts. In a country like South Africa, these texts are generally written by medical experts and thereafter translated into the languages of the people. One of these languages is Zulu, which is spoken by the majority of South Africans. A large percentage of Zulu speakers are illiterate or semi-literate, especially in the rural areas. For this reason, Zulu translators have to use ‘simple’ language that these readers would understand when translating English texts into Zulu. Translators are expected to use strategies that can deal with non-lexicalized, problematic or other related terms that appear in health texts, as well as geographical and cultural constraints. This study focuses on the strategies used by Zulu translators in an attempt to make translated Zulu health texts accessible to the target readership. The investigation includes the use of self-administered questionnaires for respondents from two of South Africa’s nine provinces, where Zulu speakers are found (Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal), to determine whether the health texts do reach the target readership. Focus groups, semi-structured interviews and other complementary techniques were used to collect data from the selected respondents. Furthermore, a parallel concordance called ParaConc was used to extract and analyse data from the corpus as compiled for the present study, in an attempt to investigate the strategies used to make the translated health texts easier to read. The study uncovers various strategies which are used when translating English health texts into Zulu. These strategies include the use of loan words, paraphrasing, cultural terms and so on. In future, the use of ParaConc can be broadened to investigate newly discovered translation strategies, with the aim of making health texts more accessible to the target readers. Furthermore, this software programme can also be used to study translation strategies as used in other types of texts, for example journalistic texts. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics (Translation Studies))