Challenges and strategies in translating idiomatic expressions from English into Kirundi
Loading...
Date
2024
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
UB, FLSH
Abstract
Understanding and decoding the meaning from idioms is often difficult because idioms consist of multiple words that are used as a single unit carrying a single meaning. Idioms usage shows how fluent and natural a language user is. Idioms are indeed the ingredients that make a language fun and good for the ears and eyes of the audience. The objective of this study is to investigate difficulties encountered by Burundian postgraduate students majoring in Master of Arts programme in Translation and Interpretation at the University of Burundi when translating idiomatic expressions from English into Kirundi. In addition to this, the study attempts to identify the strategies that they use to translate idiomatic expressions from English into Kirundi. The survey is administered to 23 postgraduate students majoring in Master of Arts in Translation and Interpretation at the University of Burundi. Google Form is used to collect the data of this research while SPSS is used to analyze the data quantitatively. This study is underpinned by the strategies provided by Mona Baker‟s book “In Other Words: A coursebook on translation”. The research findings show that respondents face many challenges while translating English idioms into Kirundi due to the fact that the two languages do not fall in the same language family and they are used in different cultures. The study suggests some solutions and recommendations to help them handle such challenges. Students in the first and second year of Master of Arts in Translation and Interpretation at the University of Burundi, to whom this research was intended, should strive to do more research that can help them to improve proficiency in both working languages. They should read more books and articles that provide strategies and techniques used in translation in general and in idioms translation in particular.
Description
A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Master‟s Degree in Translation and Interpretation.