Series: Beekman Lecture #2

Quality in Oral Bible Translation and Performance

Dr. Tshokolo Makutoane - University of the Free State

The process of all translation, including oral translation, is not simply the transference of linguistic items from a source text into a target text across linguistic, cultural, and semiotic barriers; but rather all translation involves a meaning-making product which must satisfy the needs of the audience. From a complexity point of view (Marais 2014, 2019, forthcoming), the term incipient sign system(s) is used instead of source text to refer to all the multifaceted, complex, and emergent semiotic features that provide input into the translation process. Similarly, subsequent sign system(s) is used instead of target text(s) to include all the texts, written or oral, that emerge out of the translation process.

A translation must have a purpose or skopos that is informed, amongst others, by the translation brief (Nord 2018), which is a roadmap or compass that must be followed to promote quality throughout the process of meaning-making. The end product of the meaning-making process must also be assessed for quality assurance in order to satisfy all of the stakeholders of the translation.

In this presentation, I examine how quality assessment of the meaning-making product of oral and performative Bible translations can take place through a quality assessment instrument that can be adapted and localized for individual oral or performative translation projects. I will illustrate the use of a quality assessment instrument within a total quality management framework with recent efforts of performative translations in Sesotho (one of the eleven official languages of South Africa) for Scripture engagement.