TRANSLATING POSTCOLONIAL EUROPHONE AFRICAN LITERATURE: THE GERMAN TRANSLATION OF CHIMAMANDA ADICHIE’S PURPLE HIBISCUS

Abstract

Literary hybridity necessitated by cultural differences is a distinct feature
of Postcolonial Europhone African Literatures. This is evident in Chimamanda
Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus (2000). This paper examines the hybridity in the source
text (ST) and their translation from English into German. Instances of hybridity in the
source text and their translation were identified. This highlights the translation
strategies in the process of analyzing the translation choices and their implications,
especially in transferring culture-specific elements in the source text into the target
text (TT). Some challenges of intercultural translation are discussed in relation to the
reflection of the author’s style in literary translation. The paper reveals the
consciousness of the translator to preserve the culture-specific elements that portray
the author’s culture and purpose through the adoption of ethnocentric strategies.
Nida’s equivalence theory was adopted to examine the translation of cultural phrases
to determine how they were transferred to German language, and also discuss the
implications of some choices made by the translator in propelling intercultural
dialogue through translation. The study concludes that the translator’s effort to strike
a balance between the source and the target text was challenged as a result of inability
to provide explanation for some unexplained culture-specific terms of vernacular
origin in the source text.