The case of Oshiwambo-English/English-Oshiwambo translation of informative texts

Is meaning lost in translation?

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the question of whether translators retain the meaning or the correct message from the source language into the target language despite the language differences. Successful translation includes linguistic forms, word selection, sentence structure, cultural features, literal meaning and rhetoric devices. It is of significant importance to translate carefully to maintain the primary meaning of any text. The present research presents the challenges of direct translation in maintaining the meaning of the given contexts. This qualitative study uses a descriptive analysis by examining a few selected texts from Oshiwambo-English and EnglishOshiwambo informative texts. The results show that some translation could not maintain the primary meaning of texts due to direct translation. The researchers provided suggestions and corrections for the discovered errors. The study suggests two significant practices; translators to consider the translation in the target language and the context of the source the language.