Problems of translating two Nigerian novels into German

Abstract

The concept of translation has been, over time, mainly dominated by Western literary norms. But in the last few decades, African scholars as well as postcolonial scholars have emerged to develop new directions within translation studies that reflect their socio-cultural realities, imbedded in their ethnic languages and cultures. This was necessary because of the large number of books by African authors that emerged in the literary field starting in the 1950s until present times. Most of the books were written rooted on the authors' strong socio-cultural backgrounds. The Nigerian author Chinua Achebe once said that Africans have been given the English language, and they will do unheard things with it. This is precisely what this article is all about. It discusses how Nigerians have done unheard things with the English language, which have now become the foreign translator's burden. Two books written by two Nigerian authors, Amos Tutuola (The Palm-Wine Drinkard) and Ken Saro-Wiwa (Sozaboy) have been chosen as examples. How vital is the understanding of the socio-cultural implications of such language experimentations for the translation process? How far should the translator make the translation readable? What are the steps needed to be taken in order to find solutions to such language experimentations? These are some of the questions that are central to this article.