The initiator in the translation process: A case study of The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran in the indigenous languages of South Africa

Abstract

This article examines the role played by the initiator in the translation of The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran into the indigenous South African languages, and the resulting influence on the translator’s decisions. This is achieved through an exploration of how this work came to be translated into the indigenous languages of South Africa, with a discussion of who initiated the translation process, and the intention behind the decision. Translation scholars generally agree that the translator is seldom given an explicit brief; it then becomes his or her responsibility to ask for one. In considering the function of the initiator in the translation of this work by Gibran, the aim was to establish whether the brief provided by the initiator was useful. The article seeks to establish some guidelines as to what constitutes a clear translation brief, in the case of literary translation in particular.

South African Journal of African Languages 2012, 32(2): 99–109