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FEATURES LITERARY GREAT © 2008 BEOWULF SHEEHAN/PEN AMERICAN CENTER Known as the 'grandfather of Nigerian literature', Chinua Achebe speaks at a PEN American Center event distinguish the two meanings suggested in the original (emphasis added): But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest and the forces of nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw. Okonkwo's fear was greater than these. (p.9) Mais sa vie entière était dominée par la crainte, la crainte c'était quelque chose de plus profond et de plus intime que la crainte du mal et des dieux capricieux et de la magie, la crainte de la forêt et des forces de la nature, malveillants, aux dents et aux serres rougies. La crainte d'Okonkwo était plus grande que celles-ci. (pp.21-22) As can be observed from the passage, 'fear', as used by the author, suggests two different meanings: one in the face of danger (peur) and the other when it is reverential in front of God (crainte). To make this distinction clearer, I propose the following translation: Mais sa vie entière était dominée par la peur, la peur de l'échec et de la faiblesse. C'était quelque chose de plus intime que la peur du mal et la crainte des dieux capricieux et de la magie, la peur de la forêt et des forces de la nature, malveillants, aux dents et Vol/52 No/4 2013 aux serres rougies. La peur d'Okonkwo était plus grande que celle-ci. Thus, as the passage shows, the word 'fear' translated into French is either peur or crainte, depending on the context. The inability to find the right contextual meaning for a word or expression could also be due to lack of knowledge of certain social and environmental conditions. For example, depending on context, the word 'bite' may be associated with a dog or an insect, ie a mosquito. In French, however, the verbs mordre and piquer are used respectively in these contexts. This is why the translation of '… a mosquito had bitten him as he slept' (p.53) as 'un moustique l'avait mordu pendant son sommeil' (p.83) doesn't work. The names of some food items and the expressions associated with them are unique to West Africa. Thus, a translator who is not conversant with the indigenous environment is bound to have some difficulties in translating phrases used in this context. This explains why Ligny is unable to find the French equivalent for 'a big meal of pounded yam and bitter-leaf-soup' (p.99). His translation 'un grand repas d'ignames écrasés et de soupe de légumes (p.170) is not appropriate in the Francophone West African context. Écrasé suggests 'crushed' rather than pounded in a mortar, as is the practice in West Africa. Instead, it should be translated as ignames pilés. There are other instances in which the translation misrepresents West African traditional and socio-cultural practices. While Ligny shows great skill in the handling of Ibo proverbs and other culture-specific expressions in Things Fall Apart, his lack of in-depth knowledge of West African culture and customary practices means that he is unable to interpret them adequately. He also fails to carry out some research to make up for his cultural limitations. This supports the view that many European writers write about an Africa in the European imagination, showing no real interest in reality and authenticity. Notes 1 Bandia, P F, 1996, 'Code-switching and CodeMixing in African Creative Writing: Some insights for translation studies' in TTR: Traduction, Terminologie, Rédaction, 9(1), 139-153 2 Ashcroft, B, Griffiths, G and Tiffin, H, 1989, The Empire Writes Back: Theory and practice in postcolonial literatures, Routledge, London 3 Mbangwana, P, 1990, 'Cross Cultural Communication and Miscommunication through Connotation Usage in Translation: The case of two African classics in translation' in Journal of Multilingual Development, 11(4), 319-335 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER The Linguist 11