Translation of Proverbs: Problems and Methods

This dissertation is a reflection on the mechanisms of translation of proverbs. It revisits the relevant theories on the translation of cults in general and of proverbs in particular, from a double perspective of analysis and questioning of the methods proposed so far for their translation. It is therefore a question here of saying what the translation of proverbs is, or better, what it should be, since proverbs are statements with quite particular morphosyntactic characteristics. Moreover, their function as a vehicle for the popular wisdom of a specific culture makes their transposition from one language to another quite delicate. We are therefore trying, on the basis of samples collected in two French versions of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, to propose methods that can help, when translating proverbs, to preserve their originality, intelligibility and idiomaticity as much as possible.