The Relevance and Applicability of English-Luhya Translations in an Informative Text

Abstract

Translating informative texts from English into the Kenya indigenous languages in the mass media has always been a keystone in facilitating information access to many Kenyans. However, the choice of relevant and applicable translation to be used by the translators has always been a herculean task. Against this background, this study focuses on evaluating the relevance and applicability of English-Luhya translation as measured by quantitative data derived from translated news transcripts from Mulembe FM radio station by presenters who are non-native speakers of the Target Language of the listeners. This study was motivated by the fact that the Luhya language group, as distinct from other languages, has unique features carried by the particular way the various dialects exhibit lexical diversity. Furthermore, in Mulembe FM newscasts, the translation is from English into any of the Luhya dialects depending on the presenter. In this respect, whether or not there is mismatch between what is announced by the presenters and what is interpreted by the Lukabras listener was a crucial question for the current investigation. The functional relevance of the English-Luhya translations was analysed in line with the Skopos Theory. Consequently, a sample of thirty news transcripts from the evening Mulembe FM newscasts was investigated. The researcher also sampled 47 Lukabras listeners as respondents and 3 non-Kabras presenters from Lwisukha, Luwanga and Lukhayo dialects as key informants. From the analysed data and from the literature review, the study established that the translations approaches used by the Mulembe FM newscast were not relevant and applicable to most of the listeners. This study has implications on translators, Luhya language researchers and to media practitioners who can assess the relevance and applicability of their translations on Target Language audience.