Intercultural translation from Lugwere into English: the case of proverbs

Abstract

There is limited literature on translated Lugwere proverbs into English yet Lugwere proverbs are full of wisdom and teachings embedded therein. This study set out to explore the intercultural translation of Lugwere proverbs into English. Twenty-six Lugwere proverbs were identified from Lugwere written literature. The objectives were to examine the idiomaticity of translating these proverbs into English, the challenges of translation, and strategies to address these challenges. The study was guided by the Skopos theory of translation, cultural theory, and interpretive theory. The latter mainly informed the study by explaining the representation of the source text (ST) messages in a target text (TT) with a real sense and meaning. It was a qualitative type of research. Questionnaires highlighting specific Lugwere proverbs were administered to three community translators/interpreters with good knowledge of Lugwere and English. According to the findings, there were challenges in finding equivalent proverbs in the target language (TL), difficulties in representing the exact semantic images depicted by the proverbs and thus leading to meaning loss, difficulties in preserving the proverb rhyme, the presence of an equivalent proverb in the TL but used in a different context and difficulties in expressing sarcasm.

The results reveal that the key strategies used in addressing the challenges encountered in the intercultural translation of Lugwere proverbs into English included word-for-word translation, most likely due to its technical simplicity in application and time saving aspects, as well as explicitations, transpositions and modulations. The study recommends that researchers ought to start publishing Lugwere proverbs and their translated versions in order to enhance communication between the Lugwere and non - Lugwere speakers.