African Influences, Dutch Translation: On the Translation of Orality and the Influences of African Languages in Marlon James's Black Leopard, Red Wolf

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to analyse the influences of African languages and African oral traditions on the language used in the novel Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James, and subsequently, explore in what ways these influences might manifest themselves in a Dutch translation. The main focus lies on the inclusion of terms and phrases in different African languages; the varied use of nonstandard language, and especially nonstandard syntax; idiolect of characters; and the inclusion of oral poetry. A translation-oriented source text analysis is presented, whereby different translation strategies are considered in order to choose the ones deemed most suitable to the translation of this text. Finally, these strategies are put to the test in the translation of six fragments from the novel, in which the abovementioned aspects come to the fore.