THE ROLE OF CONTEXT IN TRANSLATION

Authors

  • Ngozi Patricia Ijioma National Institute for Nigerian Languages Aba Abia State Nigeria

Keywords:

context, connotative, culture, denotative, language, meaning, translation

Abstract

Translation, which involves the transfer of meaning from one language to another, is a complex process. Certain variables influence this transfer of meaning: time, place, text and socio-cultural knowledge of both the source and target audience. These variables sum up the context. Consequently, there is linguistic and social context. Every language has a peculiar way of expression. Some expressions acquire different meanings in different contexts; some also have connotative and denotative meanings. Also in this era of globalization, there are constant shifts in contextual meaning of words and expressions. For a translator to transfer this meaning, the linguistic and extra linguistic aspects of both languages are imperative for understanding. Through translation the meaning of a word, text or an expression is given in the context in which it occurs: a kind of symbiotic situation. In this work, we try to buttress the importance of context in translation by citing copious examples of some expressions, words, and slang which cut across different domains of study. 

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Published

2021-01-12

Issue

Section

Articles