Translation and Terminology in the Development of African Languages: The case of Legal Terminology in Mbafeung

Applied Linguistics

Following Haugen’s model of language planning (Haugen 1990 :49), translators and linguists are involved in codification- developing the lexis of a language, and the elaboration of the norm, adapting the style and terminology of the codified language to suit the demands of modernity, the production and spread of new terms. It is in view of this that this work is concerned with the modernization and spread of Mbafeung, the language of the Mbafeung, and is aimed at elaborating a suitable terminology adapted to legal discourse for the translation of the new penal code of Cameroon into the above-mentioned language. Spurred by the idea that every concept can be expressed in any language and that in the case of Mbafeung, the translation strategies of modern concepts into African languages can transmit political discourse to Mbafeung people, our translation was after the following stages: analysis of existing translations; inventory of legal terms; definition of the terms in the inventory with the help of law dictionaries; translation of the terms; back-translation; analysis. Using Baker’s Taxonomy we found divergence in style between French and Mbafeung. Actually, Mbafeung mostly uses imagery, familiar style, more sensitive and predominant use of terms figuratively while French is neutral and academic. We also noticed that Mbafeung has a flexible but limited lexicon. These difficulties were overcome through compounding, transposition, amplification, metonymy and resurrection at the word level; modulation and adaptation above word level.

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