Abstract:
Interpretation plays an important role in religious meetings where those in the audience speak
different languages. However some interpreters face serious challenges in their attempt to
interpret the messages from one language to the other. This paper discusses some difficulties
of lexical nature in interpreting religious messages in Bondo town in Kenya. The main
objective of the study was to establish challenges in translation during religious meetings
where English and Luo languages were used. Data was collected by taping the messages
during the meetings. These were then transcribed and analyzed to establish whether the
lexical items in the interpreted message gave the accurate message that the orator intended to put across to the audience. The analysis showed that a number of lexical items used did not
give the accurate message the orator intended to pass to the audience. This distorted the
message in a number of cases.
