Levels of Equivalence in Interpreter-mediated Sermons from English into Luhya Varieties

Annet Aromo Khachula,Lucy Mandillah,Bernard Angatia Mudogo

doi:10.32996/ijels.2021.3.5.4

Annet Aromo Khachula, Lucy Mandillah + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.32996/ijels.2021.3.5.4

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Abstract

Languages have different concepts for conveying meanings; hence there is a problem in finding equivalents between the source language (SL) and the target language (TL) in the process of interpreting. The transfer of meaning is identified as one of the basic problems in interpreting due to the absence of equivalence between two languages. This paper identifies levels of equivalence in the interpretation of selected sermons from English into Luhya varieties. Data was collected through key-informant interviews of interpreters, Focus Group Discussions by the congregants, and the researcher’s non-participant observation during church services. An audio recorder was used to collect the corpus for analysis which was later transcribed and translated for analysis. Relevance Theory by Sperber and Wilson (1986) provided the background for the discussion of the data. The findings revealed the following levels of equivalence in the interpretation of English sermons into Luhya varieties; one to many, one to part-of-one and nil equivalence. Further, it was also revealed that interpreters need to identify these three levels of equivalence in interpreting English sermons into Luhya varieties to determine the appropriate measures to counteract the situation.

Highlights

1 If the audience fails to understand the source language, it is necessary to get the message and communicate with the target language speaker through an interpreter
This paper identifies levels of equivalence in the interpretation of selected sermons from English into Luhya varieties
The findings revealed the following levels of equivalence in the interpretation of English sermons into Luhya varieties; one to many, one to part-of-one and nil equivalence

Summary

Introduction

1 If the audience fails to understand the source language, it is necessary to get the message and communicate with the target language speaker through an interpreter. Chishiba (2018) asserts that equivalence is a fundamental requirement to guide interpreters in their work as it helps them provide the so much needed similarity or approximation between the SL and the TL. He adds that it is usually very difficult to find equivalence in interpretation as a result of the constant development of terminologies in some languages, coupled with increased innovations and changes in phenomena. Making the sermons relevant to the TL speakers may prove difficult to the interpreters in churches where interpretation is used during the delivery of sermons

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