Translation Into French Of Migration And Mobility In Ghana Trends, Issues, And Emerging Research Gaps

ABSTRACT

It takes more than just knowledge of two or more languages to translate successfully because a word in one language seldom covers exactly the same ground as its equivalent, if there is such a thing, in another language. Often, the translator must choose from among several similar words, considering the subject, context, style and many other factors. Making the right choice could be crucial. That is why an in-depth understanding of the subject matter is required if one is to be a professional in translation. Professional skill in translation comes gradually with experience on the ground through internship and later on in the translation career. After the internship a report follows to make room for the student to put in writing experiences gained, challenges faced, weaknesses exposed and tasks accomplished. What were the duties during this internship? What were the challenges and experiences?

These questions are answered in the internship report. The report is followed by the translation of a part of a book entitled: “Migration and Mobility in Ghana” Trends, Issues, and Emerging Research Gaps. ’It was published by five authors in 2011, from research undertaken as part of the ‘African Perspectives on Human Mobility Programme co-ordinated by the International Migration Institute (IMI), Oxford University.

The second chapter features the text to be translated while chapter three presents the translated text and finally chapter four focuses on analysis of the source and target texts.

Analysis is a very important aspect of the dissertation project. Apart from scientific approaches, namely, semantic and grammatical factors, I also explain socio-linguistic or extra linguistic elements in the text.

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How are scientific approaches used in text analysis? How can a translator be able to render accurate translation? What is accurate translation?

Throughout the report, the translation focuses not on word for word translation but on the meaning, the message conveyed by the sentences or thoughts.

Charles Taber and Eugène Nida in the chapter entitled: ‘What is translation ‘of the book ‘The theory and practice of translation’, they define translation ‘not in terms of conveying a text from source language into a text in a target language, but in terms of reproducing accurately the import of the message from the first language into the target language’..

According to Maurice Pergnier, ‘a message roots out its sense from a specific situation and criteria used to assess fidelity in translation are in this situation and is determined according to the addressees’.

The dissertation report ends with a conclusion and recommendations as well as glossary where I listed research words during our translation project. My work may serve as a stepping stone for other translators or researchers.