A Translation Of Women Of Owu (By Femi Osofisan) From English To Igbo: Problems And Principles

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.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page - - - - - - - - - i

Certification - - - - - - - - - ii

Dedication - - - - - - - - - - iii

Acknowledgements - - - - - - - - iv

Table of Contents - - - - - - - - v

Key to Conventions - - - - - - - - vii

Abstract - - - - - - - - - - viiii

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 Introduction - - - - - - - - - 1

1.1 Background of Study- - - - - - - 1

1.2 Statement of the Problem - -- -- - - - - 5

1.3 Aims and Objectives - - - - - - - 6

1.4 Significance of the Study- - - - - - - 6

1.5 Scope of the Study- - - - - - - - 7

1.6 Methodology - - - - - - - - - 7

CHAPTER TWO:

Literature Review

2.1 Theoretical Studies - - - - - - - - 9

2.1.1 Introduction - - - - - - - - 9

2.1.2 Principles of Translation- - - - - - - 10

2.1.3 Approaches to Translation - - - - - - 12

2.1.4 Types of Literary Translation - - - - - - 14

2.1.5 Peculiar Problems of Literary translation - - - 16

2.1.6 Importance of Literary Translation - - - - - 23

2.1.7 Methods of Solving Problems of Literary Translation

 (Translation techniques). - - - - - - - 25

v

2.2 Empirical Studies - - - - - - - 30

2.3 Summary - - - - - - - - 34

CHAPTER THREE (Presentation of Target Text)

3.1Target text (Igbo version of Women of owu)- - - - 37

3.2 Source Text (English Version of Women of Owu) See

 Appendix 1 (117)

CHAPTER FOUR (Analysis)

4.1 INTRODUCTION - - - - - - - 95

4.2 Cultural Problems - - - - - - - - -95

4.3 Characterization - - - - - - - - -97

4.4 Problem of Style - - - - - - - - -99

4.5 Ecological Factors - - - - - - - - 107

4.6 Problems of Equivalence - - - - - - - 108

4.7 Linguistic Problems - - - - - - - - 108

CHAPTER FIVE

5.0 Summary and Conclusion - - - - - - - 112

5.1 Recommendation - - - - - - - - 113

References - - - - - - - - - 115

Appendix 1: English Version of Women of Owu (Source text)- - 118

Appendix 2: Literary translation of songs in the text from Yoruba to

English and Igbo - - - - - - - - 167