By CANUTE C.N. TANGWA
In trying to build bridges between cultures, the translator sometimes assists, in no small measure, in tearing them down. The upshot: disputes-conflicts ensue between parties or actors with, at times, dire consequences.
A dispute-conflict may arise from a wrongly placed comma, semi-colon to an outright mistranslation. This is quite common with legal texts.
Thus, the battle for the apt phrase, word or punctuation mark shifts from the translator to the law courts, arbitration centres or the field. Hence, belying some heated debates and disputes is a misplaced comma, colon or a mistranslation. Surely, most of us have not forgotten the translation of lettre d’intention as letter of intention over Cameroon Radio and Television (CRTV) when Cameroon decided to join the infamous IMF club in the early 90s.
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