An assessment of the Problems and Prospects of Translating Hausa Proverbs into English
An assessment of the Problems and Prospects of Translating Hausa Proverbs into English
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2011-08
Authors
IBRAHIM, Auwal Amba
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Proverbs enshrine a lot of historical and cultural heritage of the people who possess them.
They contain a vast treasure of information and knowledge on the socio-cultural life of their
beholders. But unlike prose narratives and some other forms of literary genres, proverbs do
not lend themselves easily to translation. Translators often encounter a lot of problems in
translating proverbs across languages. Some of these problems are linguistic, especially
where the source language and the target language are structurally different. Others are
cultural, especially where the languages involved are geographically apart. The aim of this
research is to identify and discuss the problems and prospects of translating Hausa proverbs
into English. The research investigates Hausa proverbs in order to identify their functions, the
historical and cultural elements of the Hausa people they contain, the different contexts
within which Hausa proverbs could be used, the translation techniques suitable for translating
Hausa proverbs into English, and measures to adopt in order to minimize loss of meaning. In
doing so, 50 Hausa Proverbs were randomly selected -according to their relevance to the
research- from the internet, and from the work of Kirk-Greene (1966) titled: Hausa Ba Dabo
Bane and those proverbs compiled by Ibrahim Madauchi, Yahaya Isa and Bello Daura in
their book Hausa Customs (1968). In some instances proverbs from the researcher’s personal
experience are used based on the Chomskian concept of the validity of native speaker’s
intuition. These proverbs are grouped into two; culture bound and culture free. At the end of
the research we discovered that Hausa proverbs are used for different functions and in
different contexts. They are used to warn, admonish, encourage, rebuke and so on.
Furthermore, we discovered that culture bound proverbs tend to pose more problems to
translators as a result of the cultural elements ingrained in them. Such proverbs could be
translated with minimal loss of meaning only through the use of footnotes to explain the
cultural elements, circumlocution, loan translation e.t.c. On the other hand, a similar proverb in the TL could be adopted to translate a culture free or universal proverb.
Description
A Thesis submitted to the School of Postgraduate Studies, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Award of Masters Degree in English
Language
Department of English and Literary Studies, Faculty of Arts
August, 2011
Keywords
assessment,, Problems and Prospects,, Translating,, Hausa Proverbs,, English