Translation in Afrikaans Today

Afrikaans in translation has come a long way since then.

Today it is not limited to translating classical and contemporary literature in all genres from various local and foreign languages. From mainly English, translation takes place in the fields of general Christian literature, of national and international legal, paralegal and technologically technical texts, and of various written communications with socio-economic impact.

In all fields of textual translation, particularly since finally also gaining official status alongside English in 1925, Afrikaans has gained a rich tradition and expertise. It continues to do so under the new, democratic dispensation in South Africa. Section 6 of the current Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, also provides for parity of esteem among the now 11 official languages, of which Afrikaans is one.

After years of delicate deliberations, Parliament has recently given full effect to this Constitutional provision by approving and publicly launching and publishing the National Language Policy Framework(2) in the 11 official languages. The Framework provides, among others, for the eventual compulsory usage of six official languages for all government publications at national government level(3). This provides an overall boost to the local translation and language development industry.

In practice, the working language in both private and public sector is English. The required subsequent translations to be done in the public sector require enhanced skills and terminology development, especially for the previously disadvantaged indigenous South African languages. This is very much the mandate of the National Language Service (NLS) and the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB). In the process Afrikaans not only maintains its level of development, but also shares its growth.

Textual translation, as an established language activity, gives the non-speakers/readers of any language access to the information and cultural context conveyed by means of that language, promoting general understanding and acceptance. Globalisation and provincialisation are effected simultaneously, be that good or bad. In the diversely multicultural South African society, access to one another’s culture is a powerful enabling tool necessary for nation building. The continued translation into and from Afrikaans contributes to such nation building.

Hence, the experience gained in developing and standardising Afrikaans is, at various institutions, being translated into training interventions. This experience is being made applicable to the general development and standardisation of the previously disadvantaged indigenous South African languages.

In doing so, Afrikaans and the speakers thereof is also benefiting markedly from the formal interaction with the previously disadvantaged indigenous South African languages and its speakers – informal, interpersonal interaction was never absent. The greatest overall national benefit is experienced not so much in the field of non-literary translation, but in the field of literary translation.

The locally and internationally much awarded South African author, Antjie Krog(4), for instance, recently published Met woorde soos met kerse [With Words as with Candles] (2002), a collection of indigenous African poetry “translated” in an unusual, if not novel, way. If direct translation is understood to be translation without third language intervention, one could call the kind of translation activity used by Krog indirect translation.

Poems of cultural and literary importance from the various cultures of the previously disadvantaged indigenous South African languages were identified by literary experts in those languages. Those poems were explained extensively to Krog mainly in a mutual language other than the first language of either party. Krog, a poet laureate herself, subsequently wrote Afrikaans versions for each of those poems. Hence, indirect translation. The Afrikaans text of each poem is published alongside the text in the language of origin.

An example of such indirect translation, from Afrikaans into Xhosa(5), where the mutually common third language was English, is the following:

By actively, even aggressively so, increasing the readership of translated South African works in South Africa, former President Nelson Mandela’s Rainbow Nation can begin to understand and appreciate Africa’s unique cultural diversity and thereby eventually meaningfully participate in the African Renaissance, as envisaged by President Thabo Mbeki.