A Study of Translation Lapses in Commercial Advertisements in Selected Broadcast Media in Sokoto Metropolis

This work examined some lapses in translation of product adverts and news items in selected media stations in Sokoto metropolis. The main data for this research came from Hausa – translated broadcast texts from Rima FM, Rima TV and Vision FM Sokoto. These stations were chosen by means of purposive sampling. The original texts were from English and translated into Hausa. The research highlighted some of the challenges of translating and jingles from English to Hausa in these stations by the translators. It identifies translation lapses made in commercial adverts in Sokoto broadcast media and determine the sources of these lapses and suggest ways of overcoming such lapses. This research is a qualitative research based on analysis and results of data collected to come up with some of the findings of the research are lapse in spellings, problems of word division, lack of conformity and misuse of words. It investigated some obstacles to effective translation in broadcast media houses. Looking at the basic translation issues of form, invariance and equivalence which determine whether the meaning contained in the source language is actually being transferred into receptor the language. It’s obvious there are lapses in commercial adverts from English to Hausa and vice-versa. This has been as a result of the differences in language structures and cultures between source (English) and target (Hausa) languages continue to blur effective translation in broadcast media.