African Folklore: An Encyclopedia - Marshalls University

African folklore 960
During the nineteenth century, at a time of great interest in Europe in missionary activity
and in folklore scholarship, numerous collections of African oral traditions were
translated into European languages (Scheub 1977). For example, in 1852 the Nigerian
Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther published A Vocabulary of the Yoruba Language, which
included over five hundred Yoruba proverbs in English translation. In 1854 the German
missionary Sigismund Koelle published African Native Literature, or Proverbs, Tales,
Fables, and Historical Fragments in the Kanuri or Bornu Language, to which are added
a translation of the above and a Kanuri-English Dictionary.
The translation of African oral traditions continues up to the present day. Scholars
transcribe and translate texts in an extremely literal fashion for scientific analysis. Writers
retell folktales remembered from childhood and publish them for foreign audiences, as
A.C.Jordan has done in Tales from Southern Africa (1977). Modern authors draw
inspiration from traditional motifs and form as in the novels, poems and plays of the
Nigerian writers Amos Tutuola and Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka. Or, an artist may
adapt and illustrate a popular African folktale for a children’s book.
As a result of translation under a variety of guises, it is true, as Roger Abrahams
asserts, that “the oral repertoire of Africa is better known than that of any other area of
the world” (1983, xiv). But translation raises serious issues (Okpewho 1992, 347–54). In
addition to the practical problems to be solved, such as how to translate ideophones and
whether to retain extensive repetition in written text, classic distinctions of genre may
become blurred. Prior to translation, the oral text is transcribed, thereby transposing it
from spoken rhythms to formatted lines. Is the artist’s tale then to be presented as
narrative text or as prose poetry? Is the song to appear as free verse or is it dance?
Ethical questions also arise. Folklore by definition belongs to the people, but an oral
performance is created by an artist for an audience. In recording a tale by writing, by
audio recording or by video, a record is made of an event, but what is that event and to
whom does it belong? When a translation is made, does it reflect the social event of the
performance, or is it merely a skeletal storyline? What recognition is owed to the
performer who is all too often lost in the anonymity of translation? What degree of
freedom may an editor exercise in modifying a translation to meet the expectations of a
new audience?
Modern African writers and critics have brought translation into literary discussion as
well. Some argue that their works should be written first in the mother tongue and only
secondly be translated into international languages (Ngugi 1986, 27). Many authors,
however, prefer to create their works in a language like English or French that will reach
a wider audience both in and outside the continent of Africa.
In the polyglot nations of modern Africa, translation is a prominent feature of
everyday life. The mother tongue is spoken in the home, a trade language is spoken in the
market place, a regional language is spoken for business and politics, and an international
language is taught in the schools and is used on a national level. Translation in a myriad
of forms ensures communication in all spheres of life, from the artistic and religious to
the commercial and political.