ABSTRACT
Literary translation, which is our major focus, implies the
translation of all genres of literature which include prose, drama and poetry.
Literary translation has to do with translating texts written in a literary
language which are highly connotative and subjective, abound in ambiguities,
homonyms and arbitrariness, as distinct from the language of science or that of
administration which is denotative and direct. Literary translation may as such
be said to have the greatest number of peculiar problems. This research is
therefore aimed at examining the problems and principles of literary
translation. The methodology adopted include applying the techniques of
translation (direct and indirect methods) to obtain the target text. The
analysis of the result showes that cultural, linguistic, equivalence problems
amongst others exist in the course of translating the source text to the target
text. It is recommended that the following steps amongst other be taken to
tackle such problems: the translator must have a sound linguistics knowledge
including a good theoretical and practical knowledge of translation, the
cultural backgrounds and the requisite communicative competence in both
languages, since the quality of translation depends upon them.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background of Study
Translation, one of the most
important cross-linguistic and cross-cultural practices has been going on in
Nigeria for quite some time (Edebiri, 1982:1). The actual time of origin of
translation has not been specific. But according to some scholars, translation
started with the Babel theory of translation. The theory explained the
linguistic confusion that followed man’s first attempt to construct an edifice
that will reach God’s abode, heaven. That edifice was called “the tower of Babylon”
(Genesis 11:9). Some other scholars believe that translation began with the
renaissance school of thought. In the renaissance period, the monks did a lot
of work, translating the document they saved from Greek and Latin into English
and French. The first serious task on translation was assumed to have been
carried out by the Arabs, having conquered the Greek Scientific and
Philosophical works. (New Standard Encyclopedia 1985:258). In the ninth
and tenth century Baghdad, the scientific and philosophical works of Ancient
Greece were translated into Arabic and this learning spread to Europe through
Spain which was virtually a Muslim country from the early eighth century for
four hundred years. The transmission reached its peak through the school of
Toledo where translations were made from Arabic to Latin and later to Spanish.
This situation helped in the scientific and technological development for the
European Renaissance. Since then till date, translation has helped to develop
the whole world together.
Generally,
it is believed that translation is as old as written literature. In Nigeria,
translation started as an offshoot of missionary activity. During the colonial
conquest, the missionaries translated the Bible into the various indigenous
languages of Nigeria because they saw that it could enhance their work. Lack of
an established orthography in the indigenous languages posed a problem to them.
So, the missionaries proceeded to design orthography for the local languages
and to translate the Bible into these languages. Apart from translating the
Bible to the Nigerian indigenous languages, some missionaries also translated
some aspects of the Nigerian indigenous literature into English. In Nigeria,
translation started by rendering the Bible from English to the indigenous
Nigerian languages while literary translation took off in the opposite
direction from indigenous to English language (Oraka 1983:28).
Edebiri (1982:20) confirm the
work of these missionaries when he said that by the middle of the last century,
they had already rendered the Bible into the Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Ijaw, Efik
and Kanuri languages.
Every translation activity has
one or more specific purposes and whichever they maybe, the main aim of
translation is to serve as a cross-cultural bilingual communication vehicle
among people (Constanza, 2000:1).
In the past few decades, the
activities of translation have developed because of rising international trade,
increased migration, globalization, the recognition of linguistic minorities,
and the expansion of the mass media and technology. For these reasons, the
translator plays an important role as a bilingual or multi-lingual
cross-cultural transmitter of culture and truths by attempting to interpret concepts
and speech in a variety of texts as faithfully, and accurately as possible
(Contanza, 2000:1).
Translation
means different things to different people. House (2009:4) sees
translation as the replacement of an original text with another text. With this
type of replacement, translation has been regarded as a kind of inferior substitute
for the real thing, and it has been likened to the back of a carpet, or
a kiss through a handkerchief.
Dabelnet
(1997:7) says:
Translation consists in
transferring from one language into another all the elements of the meaning and
only these elements which ensuring that they retain in their target language,
their relative importance as well as the tonality and also taking into account
their relative differences present by the culture to which the source language
and target language correspond respectively.
In this definition, Darbelnet
emphasizes the meaning and cultural differences of both the source and target
languages. Sharing a similar view, Nida and Taber (1969:210) see translation as
a reproduction in the receptor language of the closest natural equivalence of
the source language message, first in terms of meaning and second in terms of
style.
Cartford (1965:20) defines
translation as the replacement of the textual material in one language (SL) by
the equivalent textual material in another (TL). In a similar view, Newmark
(1981:7) sees translation as an exercise which consists in the attempt to
replace a written message in one language by the same message in another
language.
Thriveni (2000:1) says that
translation is not simply a matter of seeking other words with similar meaning
but of finding appropriate ways of saying things in another language.
Ezeuko
(1997:19) points out that translation could well be considered, not only as an
activity or art but also as the product of the art or activity.
Translation provides access to
something, some message, that already exists. With this, translation is seen as
providing access to something, some message, that already exists, and it is
always therefore a secondary communication (House 2009:3). Translation is the
process of replacing an original text, known as the source text, with a
substitute one, known as the target text.
House (2009:4) says that such
process is usually an interlingual translation in that the message in the
source language text is rendered as a target text in a different language. She
adds that sometimes the term is also used to refer to an intralingual
translation, a process whereby a text in one variety of the language is
reworded into another. Example is when a text in, say, old English is reworked
into a text in modern English, or a text in one dialect or style is reworked
into another. We also have intersemiotic translation. This is when replacement
involves not another language but another non-linguistic means of expression,
in other words, a different semiotic system. Example is when, for instance, a
poem is translated into a dance or a picture, a novel into an opera or a film.
She concludes that what all these processes have in common is that they involve
replacement of one expression of a message or unit of meaningful content by
another in a different form.
Delisle as quoted in Constanza
(2000:2) illustrates what a subtle form of torture translation is: “Translation
is an arduous job that mortifies you, puts you in a state of despair at times,
but also an enriching and indispensable work that demands honestly and
modesty”. He concludes that there are many thorns that can mortify us during
the translation process and whatever the nature of the text
we face, the translators should be aware of them.
A person who concerns himself
with translation of literary texts is a literary translator. A literary
translator, according to Newmark (1981:23), generally respects good writing by
taking into account the language, structures, and content, whatever the nature
of the text. This work focuses on literary translation which include prose,
drama and poetry, their problems and prospects. Women of Owu was selected
because it is a literary text (drama precisely) and it combines features both
prose and poetry
1.2 Statement of Problem
A lot of works have been carried out on translation
generally but not much have been done on literary translation. Literary
translation has to do with translating literary texts which include prose poety
and drama. As distinct from the language of science or that of administration,
literary language is highly connotative and subjective because each literary
author is lexically and stylistically idiosyncratic and through his power of
imagination, he uses certain literary techniques such as figures of speech,
proverbs and homonyms through which he weaves literary forms.
Owing
to the nature of literary text, problems abound in its translation.
These
problems include the following:
•
Problem of style.
•
Problem of translation of cultural
words where there is no cultural overlap between source language and target
language.
•
Linguistic relativity. Each language
has its own metaphysics which determines the spirit of a nation and its
behavioural norms. The way languages realize their sounds are not the same,
some words spelt and written
alike also have different meanings and to worsen the problem, words are not
arranged in the same way in different languages.
•
Figures of speech and idiomatic
expression constitute their own problems since they are not easily interpreted
and even when you interperete them , you may not find equivalent proverbs or
words to express them and bring out the sense as was intended by the writer of
the original
•
The question of exact equivalence in
translation constitutes another problem.
The magnitude of these problems depends on who is
translating. These problems of literary translation make translation of
literary texts difficult. Translation of Drama which is a type of literary
translation is one of such neglected areas. This prompts the desire for this
research work. This research therefore attempts to overcome the aforementioned
problems in the course of translating a drama titled women of Owu from
English to Igbo.
1.3
Objective of Study
This study is aimed at
examining problems and principles of literary translation. This will be
achieved through the following objectives:
(i)
Translating the drama titled Women
of Owu by Femi Osofisan (2006) from English to Igbo.
(ii)
Examining the problems involved in
such translation.
(iii)
Making recommendations that will aid
potential translators in carrying out the job of literary translation
effectively.
1.4 Significance
of Study
This
study will be of immense help to potential translators, while exposing them to
existing problems in literary translation. The source text being a WAEC recommended text,
its translation from English to Igbo, will enhance its understanding by
students of south east geo-political zone of Nigeria, since it is written in
their native language. The loan words will be added to list of words whose
equivalence will found in Igbo and this will help to build up Igbo vocabulary.
Information contained in the source text will also be disseminated to the
target audience, since it will be transferred in the target text in their
native language.
1.5 Scope
of Study
This study is limited to the
translation of a drama text by Femi Osofisan titled Women of Owu from
English to Igbo, examining problems encountered in translating the English
drama to Igbo and subsequently highlighting constraints experienced in
translation. The methods used in the translation exercise are direct and
indirect techniques of translation as suggested by Vinay and Darbelnet
(1976:4).
1.6
Methodology
The text women of Owu
was actually translated into Igbo adopting almost all the seven translation
techniques with the exception of calquing and Adaptation. The source text was
read over and over to enhance understanding of the text. During the translation
exercise, expert like Prof. Onyekaọnwụ, a translator in the Department. of
Igbo, African and Chinese study, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka was consulted,
English and Igbo dictionary were also consulted, the first, second and third
drafts were written and each of these drafts subjected to correction; editing
and recopying them severally till the final draft (the actual Tt).
The work was translated from
the source language to the target language. The problems encountered were
highlighted and they include:
Cultural, Characterization,
Style, Ecological, Equivalence and Linguistic problems. The analysis was
carried out based on the above mentioned problems. The examples where presented
in a tabular form. Note also that source text and source language were used and
they were referred to as St and Sl respectively while target text and target
language were referred to as Tt and Tl respectively in the analysis.
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