Patterns of Translating English Compound Words into Hausa

Abstract

Various definitions have been put forward by different researchers, scholars and translation practitioners in an attempt to capture the meaning and focus of translation. According to Nida (1974:19), “Translation consists of producing in the target language the closest natural equivalent of the source language message, firstly with respect to meaning and secondly with respect to style”. The main aim of this paper is to explore different patterns of translating English compound words into Hausa. The data were collected from dictionaries, books, theses and articles in journals as well as conferences. The model employed for the analysis is descriptive. This work identifies various formats for translating compound English words into Hausa.