Department of Afrikaans and Dutch

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Browsing Department of Afrikaans and Dutch by Author "Basson, Catherina Susanna"

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    'n Funksionalistiese benadering tot Bybelvertaling
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2002) Basson, Catherina Susanna; Feinauer, A. E.; Van der Merwe, C. H. J.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences. Dept. of Afrikaans & Dutch.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The functional approach to translation is investigated in the context of Bible translation. For some practising translators, functionalism has application only in the production of instrumental translations, and for them this approach will inevitably lead to the dethroning of the source text. In Bible translation the status of the source text is very important. With the functional equivalence approach this status is disregarded in an effort to produce a Bible translation that can be used as a missionary instrument. Within functionalism, however, a documentaryexoticising translation can retain the status of the source text and can have the skopos to bridge the cultural gap between Biblical times and the modern world by adding cultural information. This was the skopos of a functional translation of the New Testament in German. Examples from this translation, as well as examples from the NAV (1983), were examined qualitatively to see how additional cultural information could assist the target reader in understanding the otherness of the ancient Biblical text. An empirical investigation was done. Text fragments from the NAV (1983), with cultural information added, were presented to people who study the Bible regularly. The response to the additional cultural information was very positive. The focus in the literature study was on the functional approach to translation, also known as skopos theory. This was compared with the functional equivalence approach as well as the newer relevance theory approach as described by Gutt. Attention was also given to the importance of culture in translation. In the functional approach other skopoi and other target groups can be identified. In a further study, the application of this approach to the translation of the Old Testament can be investigated. The functional approach might also be used in the translation of other ancient religious texts such as the Koran and the Torah. The benefits of co-operation between experts in the field of the Biblical languages and culture and practising translators are shown. The skopos of the translation will give such a team the framework within which they can produce a translation with a specific aim for a specific target group. The functional approach can be applied broadly to include both instrumental and documentary translations. In the case of Bible translation the documentary-exoticising translation provides the framework wherein the source text of the Bible can be accounted for in a responsible way. The application of functionalism is, however, wide enough to include all types of translation, provided that a clear skopos is identified and formulated for each translation.