Translating metaphors into Afrikaans in a source language-oriented translation of the Hebrew Bible
Year: 2012
Type: article
Abstract: In order to better understand the problem to be addressed, we commence in Section 2 with a brief discussion of the background and theoretical frame of reference of the new translation of the Bible in Afrikaans (NBA).Some of the strategies proposed in recent years for dealing with metaphors in translating the Bible are discussed in Section 3. It will be evident from the theoretical frame of reference of the NBA why following these strategies is problematic as far as this translation project is concerned.As an interactional (and, by implication, an inferential) model of communication is assumed in this project, and many of the developments in cognitive linguistics are taken into account, 2 recent insights into the cognitive mechanisms of metaphorical language are discussed in Section 4. 3 The most pertinent of these insights are identified, and in Section 5 the implications they have for the NBA are spelled out in the form of a proposed strategy for treating metaphors.4 The New Bible in AfrikaansAfrikaans is one of the 11 official languages of South Africa.It is a relatively young language with a colourful (although not always honourable) history.Currently, it is the mother-tongue of approximately 6 million people, with another 10 million secondary speakers.5 After initial attempts at translating the Bible at the end of the 19th century and in the early 1920s, the first "official" translation of the Bible in Afrikaans appeared in 1933.6 This word-for-word translation represents a translation from the Hebrew andGreek source texts, but followed the Dutch Statenvertaling as far as possible.The main reason for this strategy was an attempt not to "estrange" the target audience who were accustomed to the Statenvertaling (see Fensham 1974:62).The 1933 translation was revised in 1953.In 1983, a dynamic equivalent-inspired translation was published.In those apartheid days, the translation teams were predominately representative of the three "white" Reformed churches.This 1983 translation immediately became the official translation of the Bible in Afrikaans in these churches.However, this "Good News" type of translation did not appeal to all readers of the Bible in Afrikaans, including many in conservative Reformed and Pentecostal churches, the Roman Catholic Church and mother-tongue speakers who belonged to the coloured Reformed churches.7 This led to a situation in the 1990s in which one third of the Bibles in Afrikaans distributed by the Bible Society of South Africa (BSSA) were 1933/53 versions.In recent years, the BSSA has been advised by a committee, namely the Advisory Committee for the Bible in Afrikaans (henceforth "the Advisory Committee"),
DOI: 10.5842/33-0-24
Institution: Stellenbosch University
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $149
OpenAlex ID: W2111223928