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Covid-19 crisis communication in Sepedi

The quality of translation by the Limpopo Department of Health

Bibliographic Data

ID21490895
AuthorsNapjadi Letsoalo (0000-0001-8109-2354, University of South Africa, corresponding author), Tshepho Justice Kgasago (0000-0001-8157-9998, University of Limpopo)
Year2023
Volume43
Issue2
Pages113-121
Publication date2023-05-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSouth African Journal of African Languages (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0257-2117 • E-ISSN: 2305-1159
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02572117.2023.2248723
OpenAlexW4387622206
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited27

There is a paucity of literature on the importance of translating health risk messages into South Africa’s indigenous languages as a tool for crisis prevention and management. This article focuses on the quality of translations of COVID-19 information from English into Sepedi by the Limpopo Department of Health. Sepedi translations that are already available in the public domain are selected by means of the purposive sampling technique. House’s translation quality assessment (TQA) model is applied to evaluate the quality and accuracy of the translations as part of the strategic crisis response. Based on House’s model, errors in the translations are identified and classified as either ‘dimensional mismatches’ or ‘non-dimensional mismatches’. It is found that, in pursuit of covert translation, the target text from the Limpopo Department of Health does not retain the equivalent function of the source text. It is also observed that House’s model of TQA is applicable and useful in the field of translation of communications of health information. Furthermore, current studies in effective health communication miss the importance of translation during a crisis. Thus, this article bridges this gap by investigating the role of translation during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa. The article suggests that future research could investigate the experience of translators during the pandemic

Covert · Environmental health · Health department · Knowledge management · Knowledge translation · Linguistics · Nonprobability sampling · Pandemic · Pathology · Political science · Public health · Public relations · Computer Science · Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare · Medicine · Nursing · Translation Studies and Practices

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Unique citing works1
Citations per year1
Citation span2025 - 2025 (1)
Citation velocityrecent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 1

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