Back-Translation as a Quality Control Mechanism in Sesotho Translation

Researchers in translation are most of the time quality conscious and aspire to determine the accuracy of the translated meaning as the source text (ST). They perceive back-translation as a reliable quality assurance mechanism. However, some of the clients maintain that back-translation is not an effective and efficient quality control mechanism. It is therefore the purpose of this paper to determine whether back-translation is a reliable quality control mechanism between the source text and the target text (TT). The researcher applies a hermeneutic phenomenological research method within the qualitative paradigm to amplify the findings in this study. The research techniques involve the collection, analysis and interpretation of data. The operative principle will be that both the first and the second forward translations will be reconciled to gather the prima facie evidence justifying the accuracy of back-translation. The results reflect ipso facto that if there is a flaw in a reconciled translation, there will be a flaw in the accuracy of a back-translation. Back-translation is dependent on the forward translation to determine the accuracy of translation. The results also reflect that back-translation lacks originality and creativity. The study concludes that though back-translation is commonly intended to determine ST-TT accuracy, it something fails to do so as back-translators are not the custodians and the first language speakers of the source language. The implications are that less research has been done on back-translation. The limitations of back-translation are that back-translation is commonly dependent on the forward translation and tend to be restricted to effectively determine the accuracy.