The Birth of a New Paradigm in Sesotho Translation

Abstract

The paper introduces the translatorial action theory as a shift from the linguistic to the functional paradigm in Sesotho translation. The reason that prompted this view is that the equivalence principle had always narrowed and limited the scope of operation of the Sesotho translator only to the production of the target text. In doing so, the subject-object dialectical relationship that the Sesotho translator should have with the commissioner as well as the target group that he translates for, is neglected. The paper introduces Holz-Manttari's translatorial action theory as the birth of a new paradigm in Sesotho translation. The results in this paper reflect the significance of the translation brief as a crucial mechanism that ensures the transactional relationships (between the translator, the initiator and the target readers) in the Sesotho translation. The equivalence principle, which had always been fore-grounded as the determining factor for a good translation, was discovered to be technocratically dehumanising. The study recommends that commissioners should henceforth mind the fact that the translator is not only called upon to produce a translation but the translator goes beyond by being engaged in cross-cultural communication and a mediated communication that qualifies the translatorial action as the new paradigm in Sesotho translation.