Solving problems of non-equivalence when translating highly technical texts into an African Language : the translation of chemistry terms into isiZulu for a quadrilingual explanatory dictionary of chemistry (English Afrikaans isiZulu Sepedi)

Abstract

The focus of this study is on solving non-equivalence problems when translating a highly technical text. This study investigates the term formation strategies used in providing the isiZulu term translation equivalents of 50 English chemistry dictionary entries and their definitions into isiZulu, totalling approximately 1 109 source text terms. This dictionary is a Quadrilingual Explanatory Dictionary for Chemistry (QEDC) comprises four languages, which are English, Afrikaans, Pedi and Zulu. I am providing and investigating the isiZulu translation equivalents only. The term list/DIY glossary was created using English chemistry terms excerpted manually from 50 chemistry dictionary entries definitions and terms collected from a ?keywords list. The keyword list was extracted from the source text semi-automatically using WordSmith Tools (a corpus query tool). This term list/DYI glossary was provided with isiZulu translation equivalents from the existing general isiZulu dictionaries and terminology lists. Due to the problem of non-equivalence between English and isiZulu, only 30% of translation equivalents could be found in the existing sources referred to above. The next step was therefore to collaborate with a chemistry specialist/expert, who is an isiZulu mother-tongue speaker, to try to find and/or create suitable translation equivalents for those terms that did not have ready translation equivalents which could not be found in the written sources referred to above. By consulting with the specialist/expert, the newly coined/created isiZulu terms could be ?legitimised . The term list/DIY glossary was then used for the translation of the source text. Before these translation term equivalents could be used for translating the source text, they were then back translated for validation reasons, i.e. to identify vagueness in the equivalents provided, as these are technical terms. For the translation of the source text, it was necessary to determine which of the various isiZulu translation equivalents for a particular SL term should be selected for use in the translation task. The consolidated term list/glossary was used not only as a DIY glossary/term list to translate the source text, but was also used in this study as terminological data in an analysis of the term formation strategies applicable and used in finding isiZulu translation equivalents for the English chemistry terms. The various strategies used were identified with reference to the term formation strategies listed by Baker (1992: 26 41), and Mtintsilana and Morris (1998: 110 112). The frequency of use of these term formation strategies applied to the translation task at hand were subsequently broadly analysed statistically. The study uncovered a number of term formation strategies used in providing the various isiZulu chemistry translation equivalents. These strategies include the use of loan words, paraphrasing, transliteration, semantic shift, compounding, etc. It was also clear from the term selection for use in the translation of the ST that both the translator and subject field specialist/expert preferred directly insertable translation equivalents rather than, for example, paraphrases, which could be cumbersome. The predominance of borrowing as a term formation strategy can probably be ascribed to the highly technical nature of the ST. It is, however, heartening to note that after borrowing, the most preferred strategy is the use of ready translatable equivalents, i.e. indigenous isiZulu terms. However, the practice of borrowing as a term formation strategy has a negative impact on the one-to-one relationship of a concept and its term, since a borrowed term does not assist in concept formation and the user s understanding the concept. I am of the opinion that this state of affairs is a result of the slow process in the standardisation of isiZulu terms, particularly in highly technical fields such as the field of chemistry.