INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY STUDIES (IJMS)
THE DIFFICULTY IN TRANSLATING THE CULTURAL CONTENT OF A LITERARY WORK, DONE IN THE SECOND FOREIGHN LAGUAGE, INTO THE FIRST FOREIGN LANGUAGE TO THE CULTURE OF THE NOVEL: THE CASE OF “DIFFICILE
E-ISSN: 3349-4132
P-ISSN: 3349-5939
DOI: https://iigdpublishers.com/article/1549
Although translation is important in human communication, it is not an art very easily acquired? In translation, there are a lot to consider. In this work, we are taking a look at the translation of the cultural aspect of a literary work. We are studying Tony Ezike’s novel (Difficile à Survivre). This is a novel written in French, the second foreign language to the culture, describing Igbo cultural realities. The first foreign language is English. The problem in this study is the fact that using the second foreign language to the culture of the people to express the same culture as found in the very language of the culture would possibly present cases of impossibility of translation or translations far away from the culture and therefore far away from the message. The problem becomes more complex when this is further retranslated into the first foreign language; which is English. We studied this novel and translated it into Igbo and English, to see the level of the accuracy of information. Finally, we discovered that a writer who describes his culture in a foreign language, be it the first or the second, is liable to falter in expressing the culture of the original language. Foot notes may help in such circumstances to add more light to the message especially as it concerns the cultural content.
Odoh Evaristus Ifeanyi
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