Abstract:
Human beings the world over benefit from sharing experiences and knowledge
through language. African languages have now demonstrated that they also have
capacity to transmit intellectualism that advances human progress and knowledge
beyond human boarders. Words such as ubuntu, imbizo and lobola have broken
bonds of linguistic superiority. But is it possible to translate the linguistic superiority
into English without acculturation? This study adopts the qualitative research method
to present a detailed descriptive analysis of the socio-cultural framework of the
Northern Sotho idiomatic expressions. It adopts Nord’s (1997/2000) Functionalist
Approach of translation within Descriptive Translation Studies to engage in a critical
analysis of a clearly defined collection of Northern Sotho idiomatic expressions.
Despite the fact that Northern Sotho idiomatic expressions can be rendered in the
English language through translation, they may (still) remain foreign to the English
culture. The study assumes that the translation of idiomatic expressions should be
taken above the limits of narrow microtextual context analysis and consider the
broader macrotextual context (Lindfors, 1978). The study distances itself from the
notion of ‘equivalence’, between the source text and the target text, as propagated by
linguistic-orientated theorists such as Cartford (1965), Nida and Taber (1969) and
House (1977).
