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The translation of Chinua Achebe's Things fall apart into isiXhosa Lwadilik'udonga : a critical analysis

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Things Fall Apart is an unsentimental novel which appeared in 1958 as Chinua
Achebe's first novel. It is regarded as a classic of world literature. It is deemed
vital that such rich literature as the one of Achebe, be made accessible to
readers in as many language communities as possible. It is through the vehicle
of translation that a multitude of readers are endowed with the power to make
some form of contact with much of the world's great writings.
But translation of literature is a very complex process, which poses some difficult
yet interesting problems that demand particular notice and specific attention. In
translation of literature one is not just dealing with words written in a certain.
time, space and sociopolitical situation, most importantly it is the cultural aspect
of the text that should be taken into account. Therefore, translation of literature
is not just the transfer of information between languages, but the transfer of one
culture to another. Literary texts in isiXhosa and English, which are not only
written in different languages but also represent different cultures, differ greatly
in terms of linguistic, literary and cultural-social conventions. Challenges such as
these make it difficult for a translator, in this case K.S. Bongela, to render the
source language text flawlessly in the target language.
This study thus investigates how Bongela coped with transmitting the cultural
issues in Things Fall Apart into Lwadilik'udonga. It will highlight the various
problems the translator encountered in search for equivalence and adequacy,
and also analyse the strategies he has employed in this transference of cultural
elements to the target text. As will be seen, it is possible to relate the translation
of this text to the six general rules mentioned by Bassnett-MacGuire (1988: 116-
117) for the translator. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Things Fall Apart is 'n onsentimentele roman wat in 1958 as Chinua Achebe se
eerste roman verskyn het. Dit word beskou as fn klassieke werk in die wêreld van
letterkunde. Dit is ook belangrik dat letterkunde wat so ryk is soos dié van
Achebe aan soveel verskillende taalgemeenskappe as moontlik bekend gestel
word. Dit is as gevolg van vertaling dat fn verskeidenheid lesers die geleentheid
het om kontak te maak met die wêreld se beste geskrewe werke.
Letterkundige vertaling is fn baie komplekse proses waar uitdagende maar
interessante probleme voorkom, en dit verg besondere en spesifieke aandag.
Met die vertaling van letterkunde word daar nie net gebruik gemaak van woorde
in fn sekere tyd, plek en sosio-politieke situasie nie, maar belangriker is die
kulturele aspek van die teks waarmee rekening gehou moet word. Daarom is
vertaling van letterkunde nie net fn oordra van informasie tussen tale nie, maar
fn verplasing van een kultuur na fn ander. Letterkundige teks in isiXhosa en
Engels is nie net in verskillende tale geskryf nie, maar verteenwoordig ook
verskillende kulture wat baie verskil in terme van taalkunde, letterkunde en
kultureel-sosiale gebruike. Sulke uitdagings maak dit baie moeilik vir die vertaler,
in hierdie geval K.S. Bongela, om die brontaal foutloos in die teikentaal te
vertaal.
Die studie gaan oor hoe Bongela met die vertaling van Things Fall Apart na
Lwadilik'udonga, die kuturele uitdagings gehanteer het. Die verskillende
probleme waarmee fn vertaler met die soeke na gelykwaardigheid en geskiktheid
in aanraking kom, asook die analise van strategieë wat gebruik word in die
oorskakeling van die kulturele elemente in die teikenteks, word aan die lig
gebring. In die studie sal daar aan die lig gebring word dat dit moontlik is om fn
verband tussen die vertaling van die teks en die ses algemene reëls wat deur
Bassnett-MacGuire (1988:116-117) aangegee word, te sien.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/50530
Date12 1900
CreatorsNtwana, Thenjiswa
ContributorsFeinauer, A. E., Jadezweni, M. W., Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of African Languages.
PublisherStellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
Languageen_ZA
Detected LanguageUnknown
TypeThesis
Format94 p.
RightsStellenbosch University

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