THE GERMAN TRANSLATION OF FOLKSONGS IN THE AFRICAN TRILOGY AND THE EFFECTS OF ADDRESSIVITY

Abstract

Studies focusing on the translation of Europhone African literature into other European languages have emphasized the significance of oral literature in translation. However, songs, as a form of oral literature, have received relatively less consideration in these literatures regarding their role and transfer in the field of translation studies. One one hand, the translation of songs does not give room for footnotes and on the other hand, such translations must fit perfectly withing the purposes rhythm and melody. This study intends to fill this gap by examining the German translations of songs in Chinua Achebe’s novels Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God, and No Longer at Ease, collectively called The African Trilogy. The study will make use of the three German translations of Things Fall Apart, the two German translations of No Longer at Ease, and the only German translation of Arrow of God. The translations will be analyzed using Bakhtin’s notion of addressivity. The aim of the study is to shed light on how addressivity affects translation of hybrid oral texts.