Multilingual translation vs. English-fits-all in South African news media

TY - JOUR

T1 - Multilingual translation vs. English-fits-all in South African news media

AU - Gottlieb, Henrik

PY - 2010/12/1

Y1 - 2010/12/1

N2 - After the demise of apartheid, the ANC government in South Africa elevated nine African languages to the status of official languages, on a par with the two official languages during the apartheid regime (1948–1991), Afrikaans and English. With eleven official languages in this vast country, the home of some 50 million people, one may expect a high level of translational activities, as is seen in, for instance, the EU, with 23 official languages - one of which happens to be English. However, although English plays an important role in the European media, it has an all but dominant role in South African media. To the extent that translation is found in South African media, it tends to be either between English and Afrikaans or from an African language into English, not from English into an African language. This paper establishes a theoretical framework distinguishing between varying degrees of visibility in (media) translation, and exemplifies various translational phenomena typical of the special conditions found in South Africa, with the local use of English as a de facto lingua franca reinforced by the global success of Anglophone culture

AB - After the demise of apartheid, the ANC government in South Africa elevated nine African languages to the status of official languages, on a par with the two official languages during the apartheid regime (1948–1991), Afrikaans and English. With eleven official languages in this vast country, the home of some 50 million people, one may expect a high level of translational activities, as is seen in, for instance, the EU, with 23 official languages - one of which happens to be English. However, although English plays an important role in the European media, it has an all but dominant role in South African media. To the extent that translation is found in South African media, it tends to be either between English and Afrikaans or from an African language into English, not from English into an African language. This paper establishes a theoretical framework distinguishing between varying degrees of visibility in (media) translation, and exemplifies various translational phenomena typical of the special conditions found in South Africa, with the local use of English as a de facto lingua franca reinforced by the global success of Anglophone culture

U2 - 10.1556/acr.11.2010.2.4

DO - 10.1556/acr.11.2010.2.4

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1585-1923

VL - 11

SP - 189

EP - 216

JO - Across Languages and Cultures

JF - Across Languages and Cultures

IS - 2

ER -