English-Igbo glossary creation of palm oil production and processing terms

Abstract

The Igbo speaking people are well known for palm oil production and processing in Nigeria. This occupation is one of the lucrative ventures among other trades or occupations for which the Igbo are known. With recent technological advancement in the method of production and processing palm oil, more English terms that do not exist in the lgbo language create communication problems. It is expected that the Igbo farmers of south-eastern Nigeria should be equipped with the Igbo equivalents of both the new and old terms involved in this venture for a balanced and free flow of communication. To achieve this objective, this paper comes to fill the gap of lack of an Igbo glossary for the technical terms involved in palm oil production and processing. The study is anchored on such translation techniques as Adaptation, Calque, Naturalisation, Transposition, Modulation and Loaning. It is a rendition from English to Igbo. Findings of the study indicate that some English terms have no Igbo equivalents, which calls for the documentation of terms in this area. Again, it finds out that some unschooled translators create terms indiscriminately without following the morphological rules involved in the process, thereby making it difficult to comprehend. Sequel to this, the paper discovers that readers of English-Igbo translated texts need to be cautioned not to take every product of translation with much seriousness. Based on these findings, the researcher recommends that the federal government should give the needed support for research development; translators involved in terminology should register with international organizations for unification of terminological neologism.