A complexity approach to the incipient sign system of Zephaniah in the 1983 Afrikaans bible translation

Abstract

Traditionally a translation is considered to be the result of the interaction between only two elements – the source text and the target text, each defined as being a single text. From the perspective of complexity, the current study argues that the source of a translation should not be viewed as just one text. The current study demonstrates that a translation emerges from a complex source that consists of various elements such as various texts and other factors. These could include other translations apart from the source text that translators consulted.

The current study uses the Book of Zephaniah in the Afrikaans Bible Translation of 1983 as an example to detect instances where the translators deviated from their source text. Using principles of Descriptive Translation Studies, the current study compares the translation to its explicitly stated source text (i.e. 𝘉𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘢 𝘏𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘤𝘢 𝘚𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘢 𝘰𝘧 1977). 𝘉𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘢 𝘏𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘤𝘢 𝘚𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘢 is a scholarly edition of the Hebrew Bible that contains a critical Hebrew text based on 𝘊𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘹 𝘓𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘴 supplemented by a text critical apparatus. Using principles of Descriptive Translation Studies, the translation was compared to its source text to determine the translators’ translation strategies. Describing translation strategies revealed that translators used the strategies of addition, deletion, specification, and transposition. In cases where the Hebrew source text of 𝘉𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢 𝘏𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘤𝘢 𝘚𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘢 was problematic, the translators sometimes deviated from their source text by following neither the Hebrew text nor the text critical apparatus. In such instances, the translators were forced to base their translation on sources beyond their stated source text; at least some of these additional sources can be identified. This study thus demonstrates the presence of a complex source for the Afrikaans 1983 translation of the Bible in particular, but it also has implications for Bible translations in general.