Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language

Studies

ISSN: 1607-3614 (Print) 1727-9461 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rall20

The translator as cultural mediator

Laetitia Bedeker & Ilse Feinauer

To cite this article: Laetitia Bedeker & Ilse Feinauer (2006) The translator as cultural
mediator, Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, 24:2, 133-141, DOI:
10.2989/16073610609486412

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.2989/16073610609486412

Published online: 12 Nov 2009.

Submit your article to this journal

Article views: 483

Citing articles: 5 View citing articles

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at

https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rall20
Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies 2006, 24(2): 133–141 Copyright © 2006 NISC Pty Ltd
Printed in South Africa — All rights reserved SOUTHERN AFRICAN LINGUISTICS
AND APPLIED LANGUAGE STUDIES
EISSN 1727–9461

The translator as cultural mediator

Laetitia Bedeker* and Ilse Feinauer

1 Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, University of Stellenbosch,
Private Bag x1, Matieland, 7602, South Africa
* Corresponding author, e-mail: lmf@sun.ac.za

Abstract: The increased focus on the importance of culture and communicative function in transla-
tion has led to a view of translators, not as mere transferrers of words or sentences as units of texts,
but as cultural mediators who are responsible for successful cross-cultural communication and for the
creation of functionally optimal target texts in target cultures. In order for this to take place translators
need sound knowledge of the source text and the target culture, the function that the source text and
the target text fulfil in their respective cultures, and the translation strategies available to the translator
during the process of cultural transfer. This article aims to investigate this mediating role of the
translator and the importance of cultural awareness during the process of translation. The Afrikaans
translations Harry Potter en die beker vol vuur (Oosthuysen, 2001) and Harry Potter en die orde van
die feniks (Oosthuysen, 2003) of J.K. Rowling’s (2000) Harry Potter and the goblet of fire and Harry
Potter and the order of the phoenix (2003) are used to illustrate the importance of such awareness
within a functional approach to translation, and to emphasise the importance of careful consideration
and planning of translation strategies.

Introduction
The view of translators has long shifted from that of transferrers of words and sentences between
languages to mediators of culture and cross-cultural communicative functions. Theorists such as
Venuti (2000) argue for the inclusion of cultural studies in all theories of translation in order to
account for the diverse range of values, beliefs and social representations in the respective cultural
groups.
Translators today need to be aware of the importance of their role as cultural mediators in order
to produce texts that function as communicative instruments in the target cultures. This article
examines this role and the importance of culture as manifested in the Afrikaans translations of
Harry Potter and the goblet of fire (Rowling, 2000) and Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix
(Rowling, 2003)
After establishing the importance and the role of culture in the translation, the discussion will
focus on the translation strategies for creating a communicative text in the target culture accord-
ing to the functional approach to translation.

The target texts under discussion

Examples from Harry Potter and the goblet of fire (Rowling, 2000) and Harry Potter and the order
of the phoenix (2003) by J.K. Rowling, which were translated into Afrikaans as Harry Potter en die
beker vol vuur (2001) and Harry Potter en die orde van die feniks (2003) by Janie Oosthuysen, are
used as illustrations of translations between cultures.1 The popularity of the British series is well
known and the target readers of the source text and its various translations are not only children,
the primary target group, but also adults — a fact that can only be ascribed to the excellent quality
of the source texts. Adults are therefore the secondary target readers.
134 Bedeker and Feinauer

The English originals were written for readers of eight years and older (Scholastic online chat
transcript, 2000), although Rowling admits that she does not, in fact, visualise a target text reader
when she writes (Rowling interview with Amazon.co.uk, n.d.). The source texts were produced for
readers of the same age as the British audience, and the five books have been translated into
more than three hundred languages, including Latin and Welsh — representing a wealth of differ-
ent cultures. But first, a discussion of the term ‘culture’ and its importance for translation follows.

The definition of ‘culture’ within a functional approach to translation

According to Ménacère, in translation the word ‘culture’ is a blanket term ‘which eludes any notion
of precision because it covers wider spheres and embraces larger areas’ (1999: 346). Mounin
(1977, cited in Pérez, 1995: 95) has stated that ‘every term of a vocabulary expresses a civilization’.
Bartsch defines culture as the ‘sum of repetitive, relevant, and deliberate actions, activities, and
products produced by a population. This sum is reproduced and preserved by systems of norms
practised in the population’ (1987: 294).
Reference to the definition of ‘culture’ according to Scollon and Scollon appears in various
works by translation scholars. These authors define ‘culture’ in an anthropological sense, by which
they mean ‘that culture is any of the customs, world view, language, kinship system, social organi-
zation, and other taken-for-granted day-to-day practices of a people which set that group apart as a
distinctive group’ (Scollon & Scollon, 1995:126).
According to Nord, the concept of culture used in functional translation theory is based on a
definition by the American ethnologist Goodenough (1964, cited in Nord, 2002: 100):
As I see it, a society’s culture consists of whatever it is one has to know or believe in order
to operate in a manner acceptable to its members, and do so in any role that they accept
for any one of themselves. Culture, being what people have to learn as distinct from their
biological heritage, must consist of the end product of learning: knowledge, in a most
general, if relative, sense of the term. By this definition, we should note that culture is not a
material phenomenon; it does not consist of things, people, behaviour, or emotions. It is
rather an organisation of these things. It is the forms of things that people have in mind,
their models for perceiving, relating, and otherwise interpreting them.
Culture, within a functional approach to translation, can be defined as follows: ‘a shared mental
model or map of the world... a system of congruent and interrelated believes, values, strategies
and cognitive environments which guide the shared basis of behaviour. Each aspect of culture is
linked in a system to form a unifying context of culture which identifies a person and his or her
culture’ (Katan, 1999: 17).

The importance of culture in translation

After the shift away from the word as the unit for translation (linguistic approach) to the text as unit
(text linguistic approach), translation scholars such as Snell-Hornby, Lefevere and Bassnett
advocated a ‘cultural turn’ in which the focus moves from text to culture.
In Snell-Hornby’s account of the development of translation theories, the new approach to
translation is described as follows: an orientation towards cultural transfer instead of linguistic
transfer; a view of translation as an act of communication instead of a transcoding process; an
orientation towards the function of the target text and the text as ‘an integral part of the world and
not as an isolated specimen of language’ (1990: 82). In addition, Vermeer, a central figure in the
functional approach to translation, sees translation as primarily a cross-cultural transfer and also as
a cross-cultural event (1989).
But why is culture so important in translation? According to Hietaranta, the texts that translators
work on often contain elements of which the significance to communication cannot be made clear
to the addressees ‘unless the readers are somehow cued about the role of such elements in the
original, source-text culture’ (2000: 102). An example of this is concepts referring to objects or
Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies 2006, 24(2): 133–141 135

phenomena that only exist in the word of the source text (in the section titled ‘The translation of
cultural items in the source text’ examples in the Afrikaans Harry Potter translations are given).
Another reason why culture is so important in translation may be that it can only be handled
properly if the translator is aware of the relevant norms that constitute much of culture and
language. Nord argues that ‘[t]ranslation means comparing cultures’ (1997: 34), and Venuti’s
opinion is that translation is ‘a linguistic “zone of contact” between the foreign and translating
cultures’ (2000: 477). Vermeer refers to translation as ‘a skopos-orientated2 cultural process’ and
as ‘a holistic “acting” in a target culture for a given purpose and its intended recipients’ (1998: 56).
According to Venuti (2000), translations, especially those of foreign texts which have achieved
mass circulation, could succeed in fostering communities of readers who would, in ordinary circum-
stances, be separated by cultural differences and social divisions, but who are now joined by a
common fascination. However, British culture is not foreign to South Africans in general. According to
Ponelis, Afrikaans-speaking people experience their world via English in a variety of forms, such as
the media: ‘English forms the conceptual mould on radio and TV, in pop music, on film and video, in
newspapers, magazines and books, in advertising, on menus, labels, posters and graffiti, in
cyberspace (with respect to software, games and the Internet)’ (1999: 159). Ponelis argues that
Afrikaans-speaking people experience reality as it is conceptualised in English and that the English
lexicon forms an integrated part of this experience (Ponelis, 1999: 159).
Still, there are indeed important differences between the two cultures. The translation of Harry
Potter into Afrikaans gives Afrikaans-speaking South African readers the opportunity to view a
world of snowy Decembers, summer holidays in June and references to place names otherwise
unfamiliar to the Afrikaans youth.
Venuti continues that a target text that includes part of the social or historical context in which
the source text first emerged, causes translation to create a community ‘that includes foreign
intelligibilities and interests, and understanding in common with another culture, another
tradition’ (Venuti, 2000: 477).
Toury is of the opinion that translations are in fact initiated by the target culture. He argues
that it is ‘not mere existence of something in another culture/language, but rather the observation
that something is “missing” in the target culture which should have been there and which, luckily,
already exists elsewhere’ (Toury, 1995b: 27). Yet, in order to provide the target culture with this
‘missing something’, the translator needs to be a bi-cultural expert and employ the necessary
translation strategies if the cultural transfer is to be functional and successful.

Strategies for producing a functional text in the target culture

Nord (1997: 92–93) suggests strategies for a goal-orientated (thus functionalist) approach to
literary translation. These strategies involve interpreting the source text in relation to its situation in
the target culture, interpreting the function of the target text in the target culture and finally assess-
ing the compatibility of the target text with this function. These strategies will now be examined and
illustrated with culture-specific examples from the chosen target texts.

The translation of cultural items in the source text

Nord (1997) suggests that the source text should be interpreted not only in accordance with the
author’s intentions, but also in accordance with the source text’s adaptability to the target situation, and
therefore the target culture. The translator therefore has to compare the target text profile with the
information offered in the source text. The translator should also not only analyse the author’s
intentions towards the source culture receivers, but also the ability of the target culture receivers to co-
ordinate the source text information with their own situation and expectations. In order to accomplish
this, the translator requires as much information as possible about the target text receivers.
Should the translator neglect to keep the intended target audience’s cultural and world
knowledge in mind while producing the target text, the result is alienation between the target
136 Bedeker and Feinauer

readers’ knowledge and the information offered in the translation. Hietaranta (2000) confirms that it
is sometimes difficult to locate culturally adequate target-language equivalents. He says that the
reason for this could be that there are no good target-language expressions available, because the
target culture has never needed to make use of the corresponding concepts and thus has no
ready-made linguistic labels for them.
The translator should keep the target reader’s knowledge regarding the source culture in mind
when translating cultural markers. In the Harry Potter books, for example, pasties (HPE4: 30)3 and
pumpkin pasties (HPE5: 762) are British delicacies that are foreign to the average young Afrikaans
reader. Due to interference in the target text (Bedeker, 2004), these cultural elements were translated
as pasteitjies (HPA4: 23), instead of the more factually correct tertjies. Retaining terms that are
unique to the British culture could indeed be problematic for the young Afrikaans reader. For
example, the average Afrikaans youngster might not fully appreciate other delicacies enjoyed by the
British youth, such as treacle tart (HPE4: 162), spotted dick (HPE4: 162), black pudding (HPE4: 221)
and blancmange (HPE4: 223). The linguistic equivalents used in the translation, namely strooptert
(HPA: 119), korintepoeding (HPA4: 119), bloedwors (HPA4: 163) and blancmange (HPA4: 164) would
definitely be alien to the Afrikaans youngster, and not as appetising as more traditional South African
delicacies such as malvapoeding, koeksisters and melktert.
Although Afrikaans has no semantic equivalents for these terms, using the linguistic equivalents
is no solution, as they are not familiar terms in South Africa. In HPA4, the choice of the archaic
wambuis (p. 113) for doublet (HPA4: 154) would be lost to the average primary target reader of the
Afrikaans translations (and probably to the secondary target readers too). Words such as doublet
and galoshes (HPE4: 70) are not well known to the Afrikaans youth, and neither are their transla-
tions wambuis and oorskoene (HPA4: 53) (the word wambuis is not even included in the 2000
version of Odendal and Gouws, Verklarende Handwoordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal). Perhaps
adaptation would have been a better strategy in this case.
The Afrikaans translator did, however, keep the target culture’s moral ethics in mind with the
decision to replace blasphemous exclamations such as Good lord (HPE5: 27) with more conserva-
tive ones, such as Grote genade (HPA5: 23). Her knowledge of the relatively conservative
Afrikaans market led her to believe that a more conservative choice of words would be more
appropriate. This probably also explains the translation of the very British knickers with the conser-
vative broek instead of perhaps onderbroekie.
The reference to time in the target text takes place without explanation to younger readers. In
HPA4 (p. 131) the translation reads: ‘Ek dink ek is reg, skat, as ek sê dat jy in die hartjie van die
winter gebore is?’ ‘Nee,’ sê Harry, ‘ek is in Julie gebore’. For the primary target readers this
information could possibly be confusing, as July is in fact the middle of winter in South Africa.
Another example is the reference to the traditional British ‘high tea’ which is foreign to South
African (young) readers: Omdat die bal ’n feesmal insluit, is daar nie vandag ’n Kerstee nie, dus
laat vaar die res hul sneeugeveg... (HPA4: 261) — possibly alienating the younger reader and
marring association with the target text.

The function of the target text in the target culture

The target text has to be produced in such a way that it fulfils the functions in the target text
situation and culture that are compatible with the author’s intentions. According to functional
translation prescriptions, the translator has to analyse the source text to determine, inter alia, what
function(s) the source text fulfils in the source culture.
According to Vermeer, the function of a translation refers to what a text means or is supposed to
mean from the receiver’s perspective (1989: 95, translated in Nord, 1997: 28). The receiver uses the
text for a certain function, which depends on the receiver’s own expectations, needs, knowledge and
circumstances.
Nord distinguishes four communicative functions (based on Karl Bühler’s (1934) organum
model and Roman Jakobson’s (1960) language function model and corresponding to Reiss’s
Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies 2006, 24(2): 133–141 137

(2000) three text functions) that can be fulfilled by target texts (Nord, 1997: 40–45). The four
functions are in short:
• Referential (refers to objects and phenomena in real or fictitious worlds), with the sub-functions
informative, metalinguistic, instructive or didactic.
• Expressive (refers to the sender’s attitude towards objects and phenomena in the world),
which includes emotive and evaluative sub-functions.
• Appellative (aimed at the receiver’s sensitivity or willingness to react in a certain manner), with
the sub-functions the receiver’s experience or knowledge, an appeal to the receiver’s sensitivity
and desires, an appeal to the receiver’s needs and an appeal to the receiver’s receptivity to ethical
and moral principles.
• Phatic (aimed at establishing, maintaining or ending contact between the sender and receiver).
The Harry Potter target texts fulfil an expressive function in the target culture. Nord’s expressive
function differs from that of Reiss (2000), whose expressive function is limited to the aesthetic
aspects of literary or poetic texts. However, the aesthetic value of texts should enjoy a more
prominent position in Nord’s categories — not necessarily based only on the literary form of the
source text, as in Reiss’s category, but based on the entertainment value of texts (Bedeker, 2004:
11). The source texts were written with the purpose of offering entertainment to young British
readers, and the translations have the same function. According to Puurtinen, a general require-
ment for children’s books is that they be suitable for reading fluently out loud (1989: 210), which
further supports the argument for the entertainment function of the source and target texts. The
target texts also fulfil an additional function, as these texts are also informative in nature. The target
receivers learn a lot about British culture in the Afrikaans target texts, since the translator mainly
used the strategy of foreignisation, which will be explained in more detail shortly.4
According to Nord (1997), the translator should use the knowledge about the functions of the
source and target text to decide which of these functions can be attained in the target culture, and
then decide on a relevant translation strategy. Venuti’s (1995) strategy of foreignisation entails
introducing the target culture reader to the foreign culture by retaining cultural and linguistic differ-
ences in the target text. Domestication, on the other hand, involves making the translated text
recognisable and more familiar to the target text reader by bringing the foreign text closer to the
reader. Venuti calls this type of translation ‘an ethnocentric reduction of the foreign text to target-
language cultural values’ (1995: 20).5 A compromise between these two translation strategies, by
choosing elements that are common to both the source text and the target text culture, would perhaps
have been the ideal option for the translation of Harry Potter into Afrikaans.
The Afrikaans translator of the Harry Potter books mainly opted for retaining the British setting.
The target text readers are therefore fully aware that the texts are set in a foreign environment and
are, for example, forced to share Harry and his friends’ disappointment when Britain cannot partici-
pate in the Quidditch World Cup (‘Ek wens darem Engeland het ingekom’ (HPA4: 45)). The
retention of British place names in the translation does, however, occur inconsistently. True British
place names, such as Ottery St Catchpole (HPE4: 66), King’s Cross (HPE4: 635), Bethnal Green
(HPE4: 123) and Elephant and Castle (HPE4: 123) were retained in the target texts, while other
names have been domesticated. For example, Privet Drive (HPE4: 22) becomes Ligusterlaan
(HPA4: 16), or partially domesticated, for example Stoatshead Hill (HPE4: 66) and Grimmauld
Place (HPE5: 58) which became Stoatsheadheuwel (HPA4: 50) and Grimmauldplein (HPA5: 49).
The well-known British High Street (HPE5: 492), which is the name for the main streets in British
suburban areas, was incorrectly translated as Hoogstraat in the target text (HPA5: 408) — the
translation should, in fact, have been Hoofstraat. This mistranslation emphasises the necessity for
the translator to be fully informed of the cultural markers in the source text.
According to the functional approach to translation, the requirement is that the translation
function as an independent text in the target culture. The target text should be translated in such a
way that the target text becomes part of a ‘word continuum’ that is interpreted by the receiver as
something that is consistent with his or her situation (Vermeer, 1983, translated in Nord, 1991: 93).
138 Bedeker and Feinauer

Before commencing the translation, it is vital that the translator analyse the source and target
texts carefully in order to determine the functions that the respective texts have in the respective
cultures, before deciding on the relevant translation strategy.6

Correspondence of the target text with the target text functions

According to Nord (1991), the linguistic elements in the target text should be selected in such a
way that the effect of the target text corresponds to its intended functions. The translator should,
based on the source text analysis, decide whether s/he wants to imitate the source text style and if
so, to what extent, and determine what would be the most suitable way to attain the intended
function and effect in the target culture.
As mentioned, the main translation strategy during the production of the Afrikaans Harry Potter
texts was foreignisation. This strategy also impacts on the effect that the target text will have in the
target culture. This effect could be seriously hampered if the translation strategy and its application
are not carefully considered during the translation process. The characterisation in the Afrikaans
Harry Potter translations is an example of this. It is vital that the translator keep in mind that the
target text should function as an independent, functional text in the target culture and that the
intended functions be of prime importance. The communicative objectives should guide the transla-
tor in the creation of credible characterisation in the target text with which the reader can identify in
the target culture situation.
In the source texts under discussion this is not the case. In HPE4 Madame Maxime’s (the reason
for translating the name to Madame Maxine in the Afrikaans text is unclear) origin is at first not given,
but the source text readers could infer that she is French due to the portrayal of her accent: I ‘ope I
find you well?; But ze ‘orses; and My steeds require – er – forceful ‘andling (p. 215). This proved to be
difficult in the Afrikaans version, firstly because French people are quite unlikely to speak Afrikaans,
and secondly, because the translator unsuccessfully (and inconsistently) decided on omitting the ‘h’
and ‘g’ sound (where the English omits the ‘h’ and the ‘th’, resulting in speech that is difficult for the
Afrikaans audience to read and relate to: Ek ‘oop jy is wel?; and Het Karkaroff al ‘earriveer? versus
the inconsistent My rosse benodig – e – krag by die hantering.... Hulle is geweldig sterk (p. 158).
While the information in the English version is at first implicit, but inferable from the accent, this
information is totally lost to the Afrikaans reader, and in addition very difficult to read out loud.
Another example is the representation of the English w sound. The English well, we and winter is
written as vell, ve and vinter in the source text to represent the French pronunciation phonetically
(HPE4: 363). In the source text, however, this became vhel, vhinter and hoevhel (HPA4: 264). This
phonetic representation is abundant in the target text and possibly confusing for the primary target
reader, as the vh pronunciation sounds the same as the w sound — and the words therefore do not
sound out of the ordinary or like a foreign accent when read aloud.
Nord warns that presuppositions in the source text (such as the character’s French origin in the
above example) could lead to serious translation problems: ‘The cultural gap between the amount of
information presupposed with respect to the source-text receivers and the actual cultural and world
knowledge of the target-text addressees can sometimes be abridged by additional information or
adaptations introduced by the translator’ (Nord, 1997: 86). The Afrikaans translator could for
instance have informed the target reader explicitly that Madame Maxine is French, as this informa-
tion is not easily inferred from the target text accent.
Although the Afrikaans translator opted for foreignisation in retaining the geographical surround-
ings and most cultural markers, most of the dialects used in the original were domesticated. This
constitutes a loss in the Afrikaans version. Compare the following words by the British Hagrid with
the Afrikaans: You jus’ wait. Yer going ter see some stuff yeh’ve never seen before. Firs’ task... ah,
but I’m not supposed ter say (HPE4: 233) versus Wag net. Julle gaan goed sien wat julle nog nooit
tevore gesien het nie. Eerste taak... h’m, maar ek’s nie veronderstel om te sê nie (HPA4: 170–171).
Hagrid’s distinct West Country accent, which largely contributes to his special character, is lost in the
translation, and the Afrikaans version simply does not add the same effect to his character.
Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies 2006, 24(2): 133–141 139

Similarly, the accent and the verb use of the elves, used by the original author to depict their
low social standing, are also lost in the Afrikaans translation. Winky’s dialect becomes the same as
all the other characters in the book, thus losing the important cultural significance. House-elves is
not paid, sir!... I says to Dobby, I says, go find yourself a nice family and settle down, Dobby. He is
getting up to all sorts of high jinks, sir, what is becoming to a house-elf. ... House-elves does what
they is told. I is not liking heights at all... (HPE4: 89–90) versus Huiselwe word nie betaal nie,
meneer!... Ek sê vir Dobbi, ek sê gaan soek vir jou gawe mense en bedaar. Hy haal allerhande
streke uit, meneer, wat nie betaamlik vir ’n huiself is nie.. .. Huiselwe doen wat vir hulle gesê word.
Ek is bang vir hoogte ... (HPA4: 67).
On the other hand, the translator retained certain manners of speech unique to the British, which
resulted in a word order that is unusual and unnatural in Afrikaans. Word repetition and word usage
typical of the British and of British culture have been translated into unnatural Afrikaans. That’ll
change the world, that report will (HPE4: 53); They saved my life, those cakes (HPE4: 54); and Well,
they’re Apparating, aren’t they? (HPE4: 62) became Dit sal die wêreld verander, daardie verslag
(HPA4: 41); Hulle’t my lewe gered, daardie koekies (HPA4: 42); and Wel, hulle appareer mos, dan
nie? (HPA4: 47) – word orders and usage not commonly used in Afrikaans.
As indicated by these examples, successful translation requires ‘a greater awareness of the
world and familiarity with the cultural references of the language involved’ (Ménacère, 1999: 345),
something that is vital to the functional translation of a source text by a skilled translator.

Conclusion
Translators are themselves members of certain cultures and form part of the traditions, norms and
conventions imbedded in those cultures. Venuti asks: ‘Can a translation ever communicate to its
readers the understanding of the foreign text that foreign readers have? Yes, I want to argue, but
this communication will always be partial, both incomplete and inevitably slanted towards the
domestic scene’ (Venuti, 2000: 473).
The translator can, in fact, produce a communicative instrument, a target text document that will
function optimally in the target culture. But the translator has to be an expert in intercultural
communication and work according to a well-structured and well-planned translation strategy and a
clear functional brief in order to embrace the cultural differences involved in the production of a
fully-fledged target culture document. As discussed in this article, the translator’s role is far greater
than perhaps originally thought: the translator needs cultural knowledge and awareness in order to
apply successful translation strategies during the production of a cross-cultural communicative
instrument that functions optimally in the target culture.

Notes
1 The analysis of the source and target texts under discussion formed part of an MPhil thesis

(Bedeker, 2004) on the occurrence of interference in the Afrikaans translations of the Harry Potter
books. The study is based on an analysis using Toury and Chesterman’s norm theories and
Lambert and Van Gorp’s scheme for the comparison of the source and target texts’ literary systems.
2 The basic premise of the skopos theory is that translation is a specific type of communicative

action, and that these actions are carried out with a specific purpose (skopos) in mind (Vermeer,
1989: 221).
3 The following abbreviations are used in the article: HPE4 refers to Harry Potter; English; fourth

book in the series, namely, Harry potter and the goblet of fire.
4 The presence of translationese, translation errors and interference in the Afrikaans target texts

raises the question of whether the translator did indeed apply a well thought-out translation
strategy (Bedeker, 2004).
5 Venuti’s terms foreignisation and domestication are mainly used as part of a political and financial

agenda. He uses it to criticise Anglo-American domination on translation strategies and traditions,

as well as low compensation to translators. He urges translators to purposefully act against the
140 Bedeker and Feinauer

expectations of the target culture by choosing texts for translation that will be excluded by the
literary canon and dominant cultural values of the target culture (Venuti, 1995). In this article,
these agendas are largely left out of account, and the terms are used as they apply to the
choosing of a translation strategy in order to produce an optimally communicative instrument in
the target culture.
6
In Bedeker (2004), it is argued that the Afrikaans translator neglected to analyse the source texts
and target texts carefully, thus ignoring the prevailing norms, functions and strategies that needed
to be considered.

References

Bartsch R. 1987. Norms of language: Theoretical and practical aspects. London: Longman.
Bedeker LM. 2004. Interferensie in die Afrikaanse Harry Potter. Unpublished MPhil thesis.
Stellenbosch: University of Stellenbosch.
Chesterman A. 1993. From ‘is’ to ‘ought’: laws, norms and strategies in translation studies. Target
5(1): 1–20.
Chesterman A. 1997. Memes of translation: the spread of ideas in translation theory. Amsterdam:
John Benjamins.
Chesterman A. 1998. Causes, translations, effects. Target 10(2): 201–230.
Hietaranta P. 2000. Thwarted expectations: investigating translational mishaps with reference to
cultural disparities. Target 12: 83–107.
Katan D. 1999. Translating cultures: an Introduction for translators, interpreters and mediators.
Manchester: St Jerome.
Lambert J & Van Gorp H. 1985. On describing translations. In: Hermans T (ed.). The manipulation
of literature: studies in literary translation. New York: St Martin’s, pp 42–53.
Lindfors A-M. 2001. Respect or ridicule: translation strategies and the images of a foreign culture
[Online]. The Electronic Journal of the Department of English at the University of Helsinki 1.
Available: http://www.eng.helsinki.fi/hes/Translation/respect_or_ridicule.htm.
Ménacère K. 1999. Linguistic acrobatics: translating a web of cultural connections.Babel 45(4):
345–354.
Nord C. 1991. Text analysis in translation: theory, methodology, and didactic application of a model
for translation-oriented text analysis. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
Nord C. 1997. Translating as a purposeful activity: functionalist approaches explained. Manchester:
St Jerome.
Odendal FF & Gouws R. 2000. Die verklarende hand woordeboek van die Afrikaanse taal.
Johannesburg: Perskor.
Oosthuysen J. (transl). 2001. Harry Potter en die beker vol vuur. Cape Town: Human & Rousseau.
Oosthuysen J. (transl). 2003. Harry Potter en die orde van die feniks. Cape Town: Human &
Rousseau.
Pérez MC. 1995. Translators in Wonderland: A study of the tempo-cultural aspects of Alice in
Wonderland. Babel 41(2): 86–109.
Ponelis F. 1999. Afrikaans-English codeswitching and convergence. Language Matters (30):
157–170.
Puurtinen T. 1989. Assessing acceptability in translated children’s books. Target 1(2): 201–213.
Reiss K. 2000. Translation criticism — the potentials and limitations. Categories and criteria for
translation quality assessment. Manchester: St Jerome.
Rowling JK. 2000. Harry Potter and the goblet of fire. London: Bloomsbury.
Rowling JK. 2003. Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix. London: Bloomsbury.
Scholastic online chat transcript. 2000. Available at: http://www.mugglenet.com/scholchat2.
shtml [accessed 18 June 2004].
Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies 2006, 24(2): 133–141 141

Rowling interview with Amazon.co.uk. n.d. Available at: http://www.cliphoto.com/potter/

interview.htm [accessed 18 June 2004].
Scollon R & Scollon SW. 1995. Intercultural communication: A discourse approach. Oxford:
Blackwell.
Snell-Hornby M. 1990. Linguistic transcoding or cultural transfer? A critique of translation theory in
Germany. In: Bassnett S & Lefevere A (eds) Translation, history and culture.London: Pinter. pp.
79–86.
Toury G. 1980. In search of a theory of translation. Jerusalem: Academic Publishers.
Toury G. 1995a. A rationale for descriptive translation studies. In: Hermans, T (ed.). The manipula-
tion of literature: studies in literary translation. New York: St Martin’s, pp 16–41.
Toury G. 1995b. Descriptive translation studies and beyond. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Toury G. 1995c. The nature and role of norms in translation. In: Venuti L (ed.) 2000. The translation
of studies reader. London: Routledge, pp 198–211.
Toury G. 1998. A handful of paragraphs on ‘Translation’ and ‘Norms’. In: Schäffner (ed.) Translation
and norms. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, pp 10–32.
Venuti L. 1995. The translator’s invisibility: a history of translation. London: Routledge.
Venuti L. 2000. Translation, community, utopia. In: Venuti L (ed) The translation studies reader.
London: Routledge. pp. 468–488.
Vermeer HJ. 1989. Skopos and commission in translational action. In: Venuti L (ed). 2000. The
translation studies reader. London: Routledge. pp. 221–232.
Vermeer HJ.1998. Starting to unask what translatology is about. Target 10(1): 41–68.