An analysis of the role of culture in the tradition of Northern Sotho idiomatic expressions into English

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).