Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart: Deviations in Translation

Abstract

Many scholarly papers have been written about Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. While many scholars focused on Achebe’s use of proverbs, some others concentrated on his domestication of the English Language. Other studies also examined the different translations of Things Fall Apart into French, German, Hebrew, Finnish, and Spanish. However, there seems to be paucity of studies on Achebe’s use of translation in the novel. Premised on the sociolinguistic theory of translation, this paper attempts to examine the appropriateness of Achebe’s translation of some Igbo words and phrases into English in the novel under study. The study employed the qualitative analysis of selected words and phrases as translated in Things Fall Apart. The paper submits that in some of his translations in Things Fall Apart, Achebe deviated from their original Igbo meanings. The paper concludes that the improper translation of some original Igbo words into English in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart conveys wrong meanings to readers.