Yoruba translation of 'Things Fall Apart'

[Gen Sani Abacha]

For anyone who is interested, the Yoruba translation of Prof Chinua Achebe's 'Things Fall Apart' is called 'Igbesi Aye Okonkwo', and was translated by the late Chief Wale Ogunyemi. It is available here: Link.

ciao

 

[Sola]

Nice. Should buy this just for keeps.

 

[Gen Sani Abacha]

Nice. Should buy this just for keeps.

How about translating your own works into Yoruba ? I think published Yoruba/Nigerian/African authors should also write in their mother tongue alongside English. I think this is the Kenyan author, Ngugi Wa Thiong'o 's position also. He used to write in English, but now writes in his mother tongue Kikuyu, before doing his own English translation.

 

[ssergit]

Hmmm.... i wonder if they will get the verbatim translation of some of those Igbo konk proverbs....abi, they will subsitute them with Yoruba similar ones??

 

[Gen Sani Abacha]

Hmmm.... i wonder if they will get the verbatim translation of some of those Igbo konk proverbs....abi, they will subsitute them with Yoruba similar ones??

I remember an old interview I read, where Chief Wale Ogunyemi(the translator) said he did a bit of both. In some places he used the Yoruba equivalent, in others, he left the original Igbo words. I think he said there is a glossary at the end of the book which explains the untranslated Igbo words. Unfortunately, I've googled but can't find the interview which was conducted by Dr. Reuben Abati(Yeah, I know). Here's link to an excerpt from another interview late Chief Ogunyemi gave to allafrica.com. Only subscribers have access to the full interview on the site. LINK.

 

[ssergit]

I remember an old interview I read, where Chief Wale Ogunyemi(the translator) said he did a bit of both. In some places he used the Yoruba equivalent, in others, he left the original Igbo words. I think he said there is a glossary at the end of the book which explains the untranslated Igbo words. Unfortunately, I've googled but can't find the interview which was conducted by Dr. Reuben Abati(Yeah, I know). Here's link to an excerpt from another interview late Chief Ogunyemi gave to allafrica.com. Only subscribers have access to the full interview on the site. LINK.

very true, I can understand that, because, even with my adulterated Igbo, I can still note that the proverbs my late granny used to drop was different from my dad's and also from some other elders'....at the end of the day, if they used Okra in one, it may be cocoyam in another etc, but with same moral.....it would make sense to use the equivalent definitely. because there are some things in igboland that yorubas dont even have at all, not to talk of the words for them. Especially food items, herbs, gods/deities etc....

 

[Gen Sani Abacha]

very true, I can understand that, because, even with my adulterated Igbo, I can still note that the proverbs my late granny used to drop was different from my dad's and also from some other elders'....at the end of the day, if they used Okra in one, it may be cocoyam in another etc, but with same moral.....it would make sense to use the equivalent definitely. because there are some things in igboland that yorubas dont even have at all, not to talk of the words for them. Especially food items, herbs, gods/deities etc....

Here is a link to the story/interview I was referring to earlier, now on Naijarules: A Yoruba Writer Called Achebe.

 

[ssergit]

I still stand on .....it wont be the same!

 

[Gen Sani Abacha]

I still stand on .....it wont be the same!

And I stand on this...As long as the sense of the story is conveyed, and the characters/geographical environment portrayed properly in the target language, that's all that counts!