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Project

TRANSLATION AS IMAGE PROJECTION: AFRIKAANS PROSE IN DUTCH TRANSLATION SINCE 1994

Although Afrikaans and Dutch are closely related, there are big differences between the languages causing Dutch readers trouble understanding Afrikaans texts, and vice versa. Thanks to translations, Afrikaans literature is made accessible to Dutch-speaking people, which also gives Afrikaans writers access to a bigger reading public. Considering the extent and reception of these translations, as well as the different agents in the translation process, the focus of this imagological study will be on identifying ethnotypes projected through the chosen translated Afrikaans texts to the Dutch-speaking readership . The term “ethnotype”, referring to stereotypical attributions of national character (Leerssen 2016:13), will be problematised within the South African context, given the socio-political diversity and polarisation based upon language and cultural “borders”. Within the European context with traditionally more homogeneous national populations, it was possible to derive stereotypes of a “national character”. For example, Verschaffel (2007:109) indicates the Flemish as a “(d)emocratic and freedom-loving, rude yet courageous, hospitable yet quarrelsome, and inclined to gambling and drinking” nation. Portraying South Africa as the “Rainbow nation” was a way to acknowledge our unity in diversity. Kruger (2002:198) points out that the South African identity is constructed from a multitude of Self/Other-relationships. No formal research on the extent of translations from Afrikaans into Dutch has been done since 1994, making it difficult to identify tendencies and role-players. The study will firstly provide data which will reflect the true state of translations since 1994. This data will form the basis of the second, and actual research part of the study, which aims at deducing the ethnotypes projected through Afrikaans literature in translation to the Dutch-speaking reading public since 1994, from an imagological approach.

Date:15 Jan 2018 →  30 May 2023
Keywords:Imagology, Translation, Reception, Afrikaans, Dutch, Literary translation
Disciplines:Theory and methodology of literary studies
Project type:PhD project