Overt-Covert Translation Analysis in the Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2007

Abstract

This article examines the application of overt and covert translation in the English translation of the Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2007. It observes how the translators have used these translation strategies to convey the constitutional provisions of Nepal. How the translator used these two strategies to communicate the cultural differences between the source and the target language is analyzed. It uses Juliane House's translation model of overt and covert strategies for quality assessment. How the functional and pragmatic equivalence is achieved by analyzing the ST and comparing it with the TT at the word, sentence, and textual levels. The major finding of the research is that the overt strategy is used to preserve the SL culture, and the covert strategy is used for the TL tradition. This research is significant for trainee translators to mitigate the mismatch in translation.  It concludes that overt translation preserves native culture, and a covert translation adjusts the SL culture in the TL by filtering the culture.