Translating the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa into the official indigenous languages : a review with reference to the Tshivenda version

Abstract

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa is the supreme law of South Africa. It provides the legal foundation for the existence of the Republic and outlines the rights and duties of all citizens. The study identified and reviewed the translation strategies used by translators in the translation of the English version of the constitution into the Tshivenḓa version. The study used a mixed methods approach, that is, qualitative and quantitative. Taking into consideration that the study is exploratory in nature, the chosen method for data collection was a self-administered questionnaire. Data obtained from the questionnaires served as inputs to MS Excel Office 2016 and validated Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 26. The study was based on two theoretical approaches, i.e. the Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS) and Corpus-based Translation Studies (CTS). The software tool used to analyse the English-Tshivenḓa Parallel Corpus is ParaConcU Version 269. Dictionaries and terminology lists were used to cross-reference the meaning of the terms that were extracted from the English-Tshivenḓa Parallel Corpus. The study revealed that the translators relied much on translating by paraphrasing and using loan words. Although they tried to use other strategies, they did not use them successfully. The target text is full of inconsistent usages of terminology, which affects the rendering of the source text messages. Readers of the Tshivenḓa version of the Constitution encounter difficulties due to a lack of similarity, language errors, a lack of terminology, poor editing, and inconsistency. In addition, the Tshivenḓa version of the Constitution is not easily accessible. The study further revealed that many African language translators lacked training to the extent that they struggled with scientific or specialised terminology. Resources were also minimal or non-existent in some African languages leading to some translations being incomprehensible. The study contributes to the legal, translation and interpretation fields in many ways. It helps language practitioners, including translators, interpreters, terminologists, etc., in executing their duties. It is valuable to the Vhavenḓa citizens towards enhancing their understanding of their constitutional rights.

Ndayotewa ya Riphabuḽiki ya Afrika Tshipembe ndi mulayo muhulwanesa wa Afrika Tshipembe. I ṋetshedza mutheo wa mulayo kha u vha hone ha Riphabuḽiki ya dovha ya bvisela khagala pfanelo na mishumo ya vhadzulapo vhoṱhe. Ngudo yo ta na u sedzulusa zwiṱirathedzhi zwo shumiswaho nga vhapinduleli u bva kha vesheni ya Ndayotewa ya Tshiisimane u ya kha vesheni ya Tshivenḓa. Ngudo yo shumisa ngona dzo ṱanganelanaho, dzine dza vha khwaḽithethivi na khwanthethivi. Musi ri tshi dzhiela nṱha uri ngudo ndi ya lushaka lwa tsedzuluso na uri a hu na zwinzhi zwo no ṱoḓisiswaho kha sia iḽi ḽa ngudo, ngona yo shumiswaho kha u kuvhanganya data ndi ya khweshenere dzine mufhinduli a fhindula e eṱhe. Data yo waniwaho yo dzheniswa kha MS Excel Office 2016 na u khwaṱhisedzwa hu tshi khou shumiswa vesheni 26 ya Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Ngudo yo ḓisendeka nga thyiori mbili khulwane dzine dza vha Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS) na Corpus based Translation Studies (CTS). Tshishumiswa tsha sofuthiwee tsho shumiswaho u saukanya khophasi ya mbambedzo ya Tshiisimane-Tshivenḓa ndi ParaConcU ya vesheni 269. Ṱhalusamaipfi na mitevhe ya theminoḽodzhi zwo shumiswa u wana ṱhalutshedzo nga vhuḓalo dza mathemo o bviswaho kha Khophasi ya Mbambedzo ya nyambo mbili dza Tshiisimane na Tshivenḓa. Ngudo yo wana uri vhapinduleli vho ḓitika nga u pindulela nga u shumisesa u u pharafureisa na u pamba maipfi. Naho vho lingedza u shumisa zwiṅwe zwiṱirathedzhi, a vho ngo zwi shumisa lu fushaho. Vesheni yo pindulelwaho yo ḓala u shumiswa ha theminoḽodzhi yo fhambanaho, zwine zwa thithisa mulaedza wa vesheni yo pindulelwaho. Vhavhali vha vesheni ya Tshivenḓa ya Ndayotewa vho ṱangana na vhukonḓi zwo bveledzwa nga u sa fana, vhukhakhi ha luambo, ṱhahelelo ya theminoḽodzhi na u sa edithiwa zwavhuḓi. U ḓadzisa kha zwenezwo, a zwo ngo leluwa u swikela vesheni ya Ndayotewa ya Tshivenḓa. Ngudo yo wana uri vhunzhi ha vhapinduleli vha nyambo dza Vharema a vho ngo gudela u pindulela, vha dovha vha konḓelwa nga theminoḽodzhi ya sainthifiki kana yo khetheaho. Zwiko zwe zwa vha zwi hone zwo vha zwo pimea kana zwo vha zwi siho kha dziṅwe nyambo dza Vharema; izwi zwa livhisa kha uri dziṅwe phindulelo dzi sa pfeseswe. Ngudo i shela mulenzhe kha sia ḽa mulayo nga nḓila nnzhi. Ngudo i ḓo dovha ya thusa vhathu vhane vha shuma nga luambo, hu tshi katelwa vhapinduleli, vhaḓologi, vhasiki vha maipfi na vhaṅwe, musi vha tshi khou shuma mishumo yavho. Ṱhoḓisiso iyi ndi ya ndeme kha vhadzulapo vha Vhavenḓa malugana na uri vha pfesese pfanelo dzavho dza Ndayotewa.