EBONYI JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE
EJLLS Publication
EJLLS| Title: | Issues in the Translation of an In-Text Igbo Expression in Achebe’s There Was a Country |
| Author(s): | Obinna Iroegbu |
| Abstract: | This paper looks at a glossed translation of a particular Igbo expression in Chinua Achebe’s last work, There was a Country. The principal concern of the discourse is to understudy and review the translated expression with a view to verifying its correlation to the gloss. It is observed that based on a linguistic account, this particular translation as applied by Achebe does not give a clear representation of the intended Igbo expression as translated into English. Achebe’s position as one of the foremost African writers confers on him the iconic authority such that what he writes and what he translates might be taken as the standard. Granted that such use of language emanated from a literary icon of such renown, a distal (non-native context) user/learner of the Igbo language might believe that it reflects the true interpretation of the said expression. This conclusion would certainly hamper the process of learning and understanding of Igbo/English in relation to the context of use. |
| Keywords: | Achebe, translation, Igbo/English, context |
