An Evaluation of Cultural Concepts in Swahili Translated Texts: An Example of Walioteuliwa by White

Abstract

This paper evaluated the cultural religious translated concepts in Walioteuliwa. This book is read and studied among the SDA believers  and interpreted differently among the same believers of same denomination. The objective of the study was to evaluate the difficulties in  translating cultural concepts from English into Kiswahili. The study was qualitative and quantitative. Therefore, the following cultural concepts were analyzed: ecological, material culture, religious concepts, linguistic concepts, figures of speech and proverbs. Seven SDA  churches were purposefully selected to take part in the study. The respondents filled out questionnaires and the leaders were  interviewed. The actual sample size was 140 participants. Thus, 42 church leaders and 98 church goers were involved. Participants who  read and write in Kiswahili only participated in the study. The skopos theory guided this research. It states that the process of translation  is determined by the function of its product. Thus, that function is specified by the addressee. The results of this study showed that the  strategies used by the translator posed problems in translated cultural concepts among the readers of the selected text. Therefore, this  study contributed to the understanding and interpreting of cultural concepts in religious texts.