Author:Prof. Salisu Ahmed Yakasai & Dr. Suleiman Adamu Sarvi
Date: 20/02/2026
This paper discusses Teaching and Training of Translators and Interpreters and the intricacies of orthography with regard to English-Hausa and HausaEnglish translation. The aim of the article is to draw the attention of trainees on the intricacies with reference to English-Hausa and Hausa-English experience. The study presents and discusses some comparative texts as evidence of the orthographic bungle. Two methods are used in collecting the data. The first one is observation. The research listens to the utterances of bilinguals and radio programmes to detect the use and conveyance of orthographic blunder and mismatches that would negatively affect the semantic quality of the information disseminated. The second method is the use of intensive and extensive readings in which print materials are scrutinized to sample out some equivalent versions that provide ground for comparison to discover the effect of orthographic mismatches in both the source and receptor languages. The paper discovered that, sometimes, the intricacies originate from the author of the source language text. Here, an effective translator is bound to understand the text differently from the intended meaning of the message, and translate along the line. In some other times, the original text is orthographically effective but, along the way, the translator conveys the version of the receptor language with orthographic blunder(s) to distinguish the receptor from the source languages. The conclusion is that, in both cases, translation is ineffective.
Keywords: Teaching, Training, Translators, Interpreters, Orthographic Intricacies, Hausa-English/English-Hausa Experiences.
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