Abstract
M.A. (Applied Linguistics)
The debate on the nature and purpose of. translation, involving
two broad schools of thought, dates back to classical thinkers
such as Cicero and Horace, and has 'continued into modern times.
The one school holds that the translator's prime concern is
fidelity to the source text, the other that it is to focus on
reader response in the target language. The proponents of both
schools of thought are strongly prescriptive in their views, and
in the literature normative pronouncements on the issues abound.
More recently, some modern thinkers, Gideon Toury in particular,
have argued for a non-prescriptive, descriptive approach to translation
studies in order to broaden the explanatory force of the
discipline. It is argued that descriptive studies alone can
provide the factual basis for a systematic, theoretical account
of the nature and function of translation.
The present study attempts to provide such a descriptive account
of the norms of textuality employed in the translation into
English of tutorial matter at the Technikon RSA, an institution
offering technikon training through distance education. Four
norms of textuality are described: cohesion, clarity, conciseness
and correctness, and the study attempts to show that the
application of these norms is essential to the writing of translations
that are fully acceptable. to the English-speaking reader.
In chapter one the objective of the study is explained and
primary concepts such as text, textuality and norms are discussed
and defined. Chapter two deals with the notion of the text as a
communicative occurrence, a speech act occurring in a communicative
situation. Various types of texts are described and the
referential text, which is the focus of this study, is defined
and illustrated with examples. Chapter three examines the role
of the translator as reader of the source.