Fidelity in the Translation of Humour in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart
Abstract
This paper is an in-depth evaluation of the translation of humour in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, a novel which has been translated into the French language as Le monde s’effondre by Michel Ligny. Since humour is an interesting and important aspect of human life, this paper examines the cultural, linguistic and semantic challenges posed in the translation of humour in a novel originating from a culture different from that of the translator. For translation to be judged effective and faithful, the sentiments evoked in the readers of the original text must also be felt by the readers of the target texts. Adopting the Interpretive Approach, the paper reveals that Michel Ligny has demonstrated great understanding of the culture of the source text. The paper concludes that the translator has been faithful in the translation of humour in the novel.
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