University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Portuguese

This study seeks to find what problems and process of interpreting are experienced by professional interpreters in the criminal justice system in South Africa. This study commences with an outlook of the origins and development of types of interpretation and then proceeds with critical review of scholarly literature dealing with interpretation in multilingual courtroom. This study explores the flawed language policy and its impracticality for the Eastern Cape courtrooms. This study undertakes a critical analysis of the current legislation (Bills & Acts).This study explores the extent to which the court automatic review proceedings act as a gatekeeper in ensuring against prejudice that can result in the non-use and use of indigenous languages in the trial courtroom within the Eastern Cape jurisdiction. Furthermore this study focuses on cases taken for review based on mis-understanding, mis-communication and wrongful interpretation that result in irregularities that appear on court records. This study also investigates the primary barriers for the use of African languages as languages of record in the courtroom. An eclectic sociolinguistic approach which encompasses the ethnography of speaking, and discourse analysis (observation in the courtroom) is used as a methodology in this study. Furthermore, the analysis of case-law forms part of the methodology alongside court observation.This study saw court actors from different spheres of the legal profession give their personal views and encounters with regards the art and the state of court interpreting in the province of the Eastern Cape.This state of affairs may have disastrous and far-reaching effects in that incorrect and/or imperfect translation may relate to the very facts that are crucial for the determination of the case. At the end recommendations are given on how to remedy the current state of affairs.

No description available.

Thesis (MPhil (Afrikaans and Dutch))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / One of the biggest problems faced by translators has always been the issue of whether a translation should be a free translation or a literal translation. These days, the general tendency is to view a translation as a cultural transfer of information (or intercultural communication) and no longer as merely a linguistic transfer of information. This study took the translation of the applications (columns that deal with life issues) in the Leefstyl-Bybel vir Vroue (LBV), as adapted from the Bible, as subject matter. The reason for this choice of subject matter was that these applications were translated for a target audience (Afrikaans-speaking women) that differs culturally from the source text readers and that the new culture, therefore, constantly had to be taken into account in the translation. It was found that the following theoretical approaches had been successfully applied in the translation of the source text. Firstly, there was the Functionalist approach, where the work of Nord en Vermeer played a significant role. Vermeer’s Skopos Theory focuses, above all, on the aim of a translation and Nord’s instrumental translation on the fact that a translation must communicate successfully with the target text readers in their culture. The LBV is functionalist in the sense that it was translated with a specific aim in mind, namely to empower the Afrikaans-speaking women on a political level and to counter their voicelessness and disempowerment. Secondly, Gutt’s Relevance Theory, and the term “Indirect Translation” in particular, were used. This kind of communication communicates the meaning of the original in such a way that it makes sense to the target language reader in her own context. For example, the metaphors were adapted because the original metaphors would not have been relevant to the Afrikaans-speaking women. New text, that the translator felt was relevant to the target language readers, was also added to the target text. Lastly, Venuti’s Foreignizing and Domestication were used. The LBV was highly domesticated, which meant that the target language values were visible to the target language culture in the translation. This domestication was successful because the translation met the cultural expectations of the target audience. The concept of “Gender and Translation” was also examined. The reason or need for the translation and why the source text had been translated for this target audience specifically, also had to be determined. It was found that women in South Africa had been oppressed for some time. The publisher therefore deemed it necessary to have a Bible for women in Afrikaans. Presenting the Bible to them in a “woman-friendly” way would assist them to believe in their own worth. The source text and the target text were compared and analysed on the macro and micro levels. It was determined whether the above theoretical approaches were successfully applied and whether the target text worked as a communicative instrument in the new target culture. Various reviews were consulted. These reviews and the research in this study indicated that the LBV had been successfully received by the target audience.

Thesis (MSc)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: A review of the literature shows the Beck-Depression Inventory (BOl), and its revisions, to have received world-wide support over the past four decades as a screening instrument for depression, proving to be robust amongst various populations and in various translations. Although popular amongst health care practitioners in South Africa, the BOl and its revisions are, however, currently unstandardised amongst South African populations. This current research culminates in the development of a Xhosa translation of the latest revision of the BOl, the BOl-II that accurately reflects the contents of the BOlli, the BOl-Il-X. It is regarded as linguistically and grammatically robust enough to be easily understood by a broad spectrum of Xhosa respondents. The development of the BDI-II-X is discussed, and suggestions regarding future research are given. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: 'n Oorsig van die literatuur dui aan dat die Beck Depression Inventory (BOl), en sy hersienings, oor die afgelope vier dekades wêreldwye erkenning ontvang het as 'n meetinstrument vir die identifisering van depressie, onder verskeie populasies en in verskeie vertalings. Alhoewel dit populêr onder gesondheidspraktisyne in Suid-Afrika is, bly die BOl, en sy hersienings, huidiglik ongestandardiseerd onder Suid-Afrikaanse populasies. Die navorsing wat aangebied word, word saamgevat in die ontwikkelling van 'n Xhosa vertaling van die nuutste hersiening van die BOl, die BOl-II, wat die inhoud van die BOl-II akkuraat reflekteer, die BOl-li-X. Taalkundig word die BOI-II-X beskou as 'n vertaling wat maklik onder 'n breë spektrum van die Xhosa populasie verstaanbaar is. Die ontwikkelling van die BOI-II-X word bespreek, en aanbevelings rakende toekomstige navorsing word aangebied.

No description available.

This work springs from the subjective need for limiting the translation bias. It has been noticed that a considerable amount of translation is allowed to be published and read mainly due to the importance of its readability in the target language and often overlooking the goal(s) of the source text. This seems to derive from two common presumptions: (1) That a text goal is the result of an irretrievable and indescribable intentionality and (2) That target text readability and the preservation of the source text goal are two incompatible goals of translation. And this is in turn the result of the long lived dichotomy of translation studies into literal and free or text-based and reader oriented approaches. This work attempts to show that both (I) and (2) are misconceptions. Given a reasonable characterisation, intentionality is retrievable from the text itself and revealing of the text goal, the preservation of which does not exclude the readability of the TT and vice versa. Based on pragmatic insights drawn mainly from the Gricean Maxims and Cooperative Principle, Speech Act theory and the Text Linguistic model, this work proceeds to argue the case by analysing three Arabic texts and their twenty-two translations (each text is translated seven to eight times by different translators). These are of three most common types of prose: the expository, the argumentative and the instructive types. The analysis revolves around the identification of the text goal in the SL and its preservation in the TL. During this process a number of models and theories that constitute a controversial view of intentionality are outlined and discussed with a view to breaking the polarity they form and finding a medium path that is apt for charting more plausibly the context, the text and the process of translation. It is hoped that the implications of such work will help improve the quality of translation, provide a more explicit and plausible contribution to the account for the process and to further the effort towards standardising the theory.

While telephone interpreting is very well established on the foreign market, in the Czech Republic it is still quite unknown and not very much used. Foreign companies that provide telephone interpreting have sophisticated systems to chose, train and assess interpreters and to connect them promptly with clients. This type of interpreting is being employed in various areas of human activity - in healthcare, in communication with service providers, such as banks, at courts, during police interrogations, in the private sector, where business partners need to communicate with each other, etc. Telephone interpreting is still seeking its position on the Czech market - the service is offered and provided by agencies, clients, however, are not interested. In its first part, the present thesis explores the theory and present-day situation of telephone interpreting. Telephone interpreting is defined in the contexts of remote, dialogue and community interpreting; the foreign market is described, as well as the areas where over the phone interpreting is mainly employed. The conducted research focuses on the USA, where the telephone interpreting market is developed the most. The empirical part of the thesis draws on a survey carried out among translation agencies, hospitals, nongovernmental organizations and...

No description available.

Translation is enjoying growing recognition in today’s globalised world. It plays an important role in all spheres of human activities and is fundamental to intercultural communication, particularly in international organisations. This empirical research therefore explores how the profession is practised at the African Union, particularly at the African Union Commission (AUC) and the Pan-African Parliament (PAP). More specifically, it establishes the profile of translators in both institutions, assesses the quality of translations, and determines if translations are source or target-oriented. To this end, this study uses statistical and documentary research as well as quantitative and qualitative data gathering through personal interviews with translators and a supervisor. Further, it critically evaluates four original texts and their translations using House’s (1997) model of translation quality assessment. Except for the Solemn Declaration of Oath of Allegiance, the evaluated texts displayed ideational features purposefully aimed at informing the readership. These result in a covert translation strategy being employed by translators and a cultural filter being applied in order to achieve a functional equivalence. A critical analysis of questionnaires and personal interviews with translators and one supervisor through purposive sampling shows that translation plays a strategic role in the smooth running of the two institutions. Translators mostly adhered to original texts, while ensuring that the translation was natural and fluent.