Translating Regional Specific Words From English to Kiswahili: a Case Study of Animal Farm Translated as Shamba La Wanyama

Abstract

This project concerns translation of RSW in literary texts from English to Kiswahili and it considers the novel Animal Farm and its translation,Shamba La Wanyama, as case study. The main purpose of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of TPs in the rendition of conceptual and contextual meanings of RSW to the TA. It concludes that the TPs applied in translation of RSW in literary texts lead to mismatches and miscommunication of conceptual meaning to the TA. However, despite the mismatches in the conceptual meaning, the TPs lead to effective rendition of contextual meaning to the TA. Chapter 1 is the introduction of the study. It focuses on the background of the study, statement of the problem, objectives, hypothesis, significance of the study, scope and limitations, theoretical framework, literature review and methodology. Chapter 2 investigated the types of RSW found in Animal Farm and demonstrated how they have been translated into Kiswahili. It observed that there are mismatches in the translation of RSW into Kiswahili, which leads to miscommunication of the conceptual meaning to the TA. It noted that these mismatches were also as a result of inconsistency in the application of TPs while translating the same concept. Chapter 3 analyzed the TPs applied in the translation of RSW. It was realized that there are dominant TPs in translation of every type of RSW. It observed that the common TPs applied in the translation of RSW are FE, OM, DE and CE. Chapter 4 analyzed the effectiveness of TPs in the rendition of contextual meaning. It was observed that despite the miscommunication of conceptual meaning as perceived in chapter 2, the TPs lead to effective rendition of contextual meaning of RSW to the TA. Finally, Chapter 5 gave conclusions and recommendations. It gave a summary of how the objectives of the study were achieved, how the hypotheses were tested and how the theory of Domestication and Foreignization was applied in the study. Furthermore, it discussed the challenges encountered during by the study and gave recommendation on further studies within the same area.