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A critical analysis of domestication in Makhambeni’s translation of Chinua Achebe’s novel No longer at ease (1960)

Literator

 
 
Field Value
 
Title A critical analysis of domestication in Makhambeni’s translation of Chinua Achebe’s novel No longer at ease (1960)
 
Creator Masubelele, M.R.
 
Subject — Culture; Domestication; Norms And Conventions; Target Language; Translation Strategies
Description Through translation the target reader is exposed to other cultures. Translators, therefore, have to use the target language to convey the source text message to the target reader. There are various choices at their disposal as to how they wish to convey the source text message. They may choose to adopt the norms and conventions of the source text message, and therefore those of the source language and culture, or choose those of the target language. Commonly, adherence to the target language norms and conventions leads to a strategy in which the foreignness of both linguistic and cultural conventions is reduced. According to Venuti (1995) this is domestication. Since translations are rarely equivalent to the original, this article seeks to examine how Makhambeni uses Venuti‟s domestication as a translation strategy, with the purpose of rewriting the original to conform to functions instituted by the receiving system. The descriptive approach to translation, which advances the notion that translations are facts of the target culture, will be used to support the arguments presented in this article. It will be shown that, although Achebe has used a lot of Igbo expressions and cultural practices in his novel, Makhambeni has not translated any of the Igbo expressions and cultural practices into Zulu. Instead Makhambeni used Zulu linguistic and cultural expressions such as similes, metaphors, idioms, proverbs and of cultural substitutions to bring the Igbo culture closer to her audience. It will be concluded that through the use Zulu linguistic and cultural conventions Makhambeni has effectively minimised foreign culture and narrowed the gap between the foreign and target cultures. She has successfully naturalised the Igbo culture to make it conform more to what the Zulu reader is used to.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2011-07-30
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — — —
Format application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/lit.v32i3.212
 
Source Literator; Vol 32, No 3 (2011); 105-124 Literator; Vol 32, No 3 (2011); 105-124 2219-8237 0258-2279
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://literator.org.za/index.php/literator/article/view/212/185
 
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Rights Copyright (c) 2011 M.R. Masubelele https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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