Page 20 - Translation Journal July 2015
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African cultural and literary specificity in the broad translation quality debate
By: Wanchia T. Neba, PhD
Abstract
Beyond revisiting the byzantine and seemingly inconclusive debate on translation quality assurance and assessment,
this article qualitatively investigates the extent of an across-the-board applicability of existing quality assessment
frameworks against a strong backdrop of culture-specificity to the broad translation quality debate. It, first and
foremost, exemplifies cultural and literary specificity through linguistically open-ended African creative writing,
examines the variegated concept of translation, the volatile concept of translation quality assurance and assessment,
outlines constraints to the assurance and assessment of this translation quality, and importantly portrays the
preponderant place of metrics, rubrics and models in quality assurance and assessment. Secondly and finally,
it then qualitatively demonstrates from existing evidence that quality assurance with its acquiesced formulae will
continue to be at the mercy of incontestable contextualised cultural specificity – quality assessment is of necessity a
‘provincialised’ and ‘balkanised’ activity.
Key concepts:
Cultural specificity; translation as variegated concept; translation quality; quality assurance and assessment;
metrics, rubrics and models; creative writing; translation quality provincialisation/balkanisation.
1) African literary and cultural specificity
In Translation Studies, it is also an inviolate fact that cultural specificity influences how translation quality is constructed. The
issue of African cultural and literary specificity has been stated and discussed by scholars both from within and out of African. This
is exemplified in African literary works, for instance, in the few outstanding traits below:
• First and foremost, there is specificity on account of its orality: Okara (1973:137-138) posits that African ideas,
philosophy, folklore and imagery help to keep as close as possible to vernacular expressions, and thus adequately express
African ideas and thoughts (and not those of the other – European). Kourouma (in Koné, 1992:83) declares while thinking first
in his native Malinke before writing in French, he exercises boundless liberty, “cassant le français pour trouver et restituer le
20 | Translation Journal - July 2015
By: Wanchia T. Neba, PhD
Abstract
Beyond revisiting the byzantine and seemingly inconclusive debate on translation quality assurance and assessment,
this article qualitatively investigates the extent of an across-the-board applicability of existing quality assessment
frameworks against a strong backdrop of culture-specificity to the broad translation quality debate. It, first and
foremost, exemplifies cultural and literary specificity through linguistically open-ended African creative writing,
examines the variegated concept of translation, the volatile concept of translation quality assurance and assessment,
outlines constraints to the assurance and assessment of this translation quality, and importantly portrays the
preponderant place of metrics, rubrics and models in quality assurance and assessment. Secondly and finally,
it then qualitatively demonstrates from existing evidence that quality assurance with its acquiesced formulae will
continue to be at the mercy of incontestable contextualised cultural specificity – quality assessment is of necessity a
‘provincialised’ and ‘balkanised’ activity.
Key concepts:
Cultural specificity; translation as variegated concept; translation quality; quality assurance and assessment;
metrics, rubrics and models; creative writing; translation quality provincialisation/balkanisation.
1) African literary and cultural specificity
In Translation Studies, it is also an inviolate fact that cultural specificity influences how translation quality is constructed. The
issue of African cultural and literary specificity has been stated and discussed by scholars both from within and out of African. This
is exemplified in African literary works, for instance, in the few outstanding traits below:
• First and foremost, there is specificity on account of its orality: Okara (1973:137-138) posits that African ideas,
philosophy, folklore and imagery help to keep as close as possible to vernacular expressions, and thus adequately express
African ideas and thoughts (and not those of the other – European). Kourouma (in Koné, 1992:83) declares while thinking first
in his native Malinke before writing in French, he exercises boundless liberty, “cassant le français pour trouver et restituer le
20 | Translation Journal - July 2015
