

































IJO- INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH  
( ISSN 2811-2466 )   

                                                                              Mary Effiong NYONG (PhD)* 

https://ijojournals.com/                                       Volume 07 || Issue 06 || June, 2024 || 
Fidelity in the Translation of Humour in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart 

 

 
 

Fidelity in the Translation of Humour in Chinua Achebe’s Things 
Fall Apart 

 

Mary Effiong NYONG (PhD) 
Department of Languages and Linguistics, Bamidele Olumilua University of Education, 

Science and Technology, Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria. 

 
Abstract 
This paper is an in-depth evaluation of the translation of humour in Chinua Achebe’s Things 
Fall Apart, a novel which has been translated into the French language as Le monde 
s’effondre by Michel Ligny. Since humour is an interesting and important aspect of human 
life, this paper examines the cultural, linguistic and semantic challenges posed in the 
translation of humour in a novel originating from a culture different from that of the 
translator. For translation to be judged effective and faithful, the sentiments evoked in the 
readers of the original text must also be felt by the readers of the target texts. Adopting the 
Interpretive Approach, the paper reveals that Michel Ligny has demonstrated great 
understanding of the culture of the source text. The paper concludes that the translator has 
been faithful in the translation of humour in the novel. 
 
Key words: Humour, Translation, Interpretive Approach, Fidelity  
 
Introduction 

Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart cannot be classified as a comedy.  Nevertheless, 
even in tragedies and tragi-comedies, humour is thrown in from time to time in order to lift 
the fog of sadness a bit.  After all, literature is a reflection of the society.  And the society is 
characterized by good and bad, hills and valleys, joy and pain, grief and laughter. According 
to Weinstock and Ramadan (1979: 126-127), Things Fall Apart is so patently an excellent 
realistic novel that readers have been able to derive much of value from it without having to 
read deeply. Humour is an interesting aspect of human life and varies from culture to culture. 
“Translating across cultures” and “cultural proficiency”, according to Katan (1999.1), have 
become buzz words in translating and interpreting. A humorous situation in one culture may 
turn out to be a scandalous or even a gruesome one in another culture. For Femi Ojo-Ade 
(1989), the way people live is their culture; the totality of their beliefs, codes of  conduct, 
technique, all elements that are necessary for existence and survival in a social setting. Katan 
(1999:16) has remarked that people instinctively know what “culture” means to them and to 
what culture they belong, and that even though we all know to which culture we belong, 
definition of the word has been elusive and difficult. Humour plays a very vital role in human 
society.  Life without humour would be dreary and stifling.  Humour acts as the conveyor belt 
through which man’s tension, frustrations, fears, apprehension, gloom and even grief, 
evaporate from his body.  Vicissitudes of daily existence become less oppressive and less 
alarming when humour creeps in. It must be stated here clearly that humour is not just an 
outlet for man’s over-heated emotions and passions.  It is also a medium through which 
people pass their time in excitement.  There is nothing as calming as an outburst of rapturous 
guffaws from a group of people just sitting around or even doing hard jobs. It is no 
gainsaying that humour does not only operate on the oral level.  In written literature humour 

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IJO- INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH  
( ISSN 2811-2466 )   

                                                                              Mary Effiong NYONG (PhD)* 

https://ijojournals.com/                                       Volume 07 || Issue 06 || June, 2024 || 
Fidelity in the Translation of Humour in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart 

 

 
 

has continued to exist especially through comedies.  Comedy is usually accentuated by 
laughter-inducing scenes, statements, and actions. 
 In contemporary societies, it is remarkable that men and women have taken humour to 
another level.  We know of people both within the African societies as well as in the western 
world, who make a living out of humour.  The Nigerian Television Programme “Night of a 
thousand laughs” is an apt example of humour that attracts income.  The Afro-American 
comedian Bill Cosby achieved fame through a skilful handling of humour.  We can say the 
same for programmes like “Mr. Bean”, “Some Mothers do have them”, “Tom and Jerry” and 
the popular children series “Home Alone”.  With the advent of the Information and 
Communication Technology, the social media has become an avenue for young people to 
display their creativity through short comedy skits. Life would be gloomy without humour. 
 
Clarification of terms 
Humour 
This concept has multiple definitions. The Merriam – Webster defines it as “a changeable 
state of mind often influenced by circumstances” or “the amusing quality of things”. 
However, the definition by the Britannica (2024)  as a “type of stimulation that tends to elicit 
the laughter reflex”, is considered more suitable for the subject matter of this paper. 
 
Translation  
The phenomenon called “translation” has been defined in many ways by many scholars.   
For John C. Catford (1965:20), translation is: 

the replacement of textual material in the SL  by equivalent textual material in 
another language, that is, an operation performed on language whereby a text 
is substituted in one language for a text in another. 

According to Eugene A. Nida and Charles R. Taber (1974:12), translation consists of 
reproducing in the receptor language, the closest natural equivalent of the source language 
message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style.  A natural rendering of the 
ST (Source Text) into the TT (Target Text) should fit into the receptor language and culture.  
 
Interpretive Approach 
The emphasis of the Interpretive theory of translation on the transfer of meaning or sense 
from the Source Language (SL) to the Target Language (TL) using the equivalent form.  
Most scholars refer to this theory as the “Interpretative Theory”. The central point of this 
theory is that the translator does not concentrate on words or linguistic structures present in 
the SL, but rather on the meaning and the sense that these words carry. It sees translation 
process not as a direct conversion of the linguistic meaning of the source language meaning, 
but as a conversion from source language to sense, the intermediate link being non-verbal 
thought which, once consciously grasped, can then be expressed in any language regardless 
of the words being used in the original language. 
 
Fidelity 
 Marianne Lederer (1994), citing Ampero Hurtardo, says that fidelity is defined on the basis 
of the intentions of the author, the text language and the reader.  The three factors are 
inseparable.   
Fidelity, which also means “faithfulness”, is defined by Longman’s Dictionary of 
Contemporary English (1995) as “The quality of not changing something when you are 

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IJO- INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH  
( ISSN 2811-2466 )   

                                                                              Mary Effiong NYONG (PhD)* 

https://ijojournals.com/                                       Volume 07 || Issue 06 || June, 2024 || 
Fidelity in the Translation of Humour in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart 

 

 
 

producing it again in a different form…by translating.” Wikipedia gives us the following 
definition of the term: 

The extent to which a translator accurately renders the meaning of the source text 
without adding to or subtracting from it, without intensifying or weakening any part 
of the meaning and otherwise without distorting it. 
 

Literature review  
In a functional approach to translation great emphasis is laid on target language 

production of text and on the fact that the text in the target language should meet the 
expectations of the target readers as well as the textual requirements of the target culture, 
(Jakobson :1959; Neubert: 1985; Neubert & Steeve: 1992; Snell – Hornby, Honig, Kusmaul 
& Schmidt:1998; Vincze:2004). One of the qualities of a good translator is that of creator. 

Humour is a multi-dimensional phenomenon. It is the only form of communication 
whereby a stimulus produces predictable, stereotyped response on the level of psychological 
reflex and includes practical jokes, anecdotes, irony, jibes, brainteasers, 
epigram(Britannica:2024).The result of humour is always one thing: laughter. However, we 
are going to limit ourselves to four kinds of humour, namely: jokes, satires, scatology and 
accidental humour.  A joke is anything said or done to cause laughter or amusement, (Oxford 
Languages Online).  Nilsen & Nilsen (2000) identify four basic types of jokes: (a) the 
concealing of knowledge later revealed, (b) the substitution of one concept for another, (c) 
an unexpected conclusion to a logical progression, and ( d) the slipping-on-a-banana-peel. 
 Satire, according to the Oxford Languages Online is “the use of humour, irony, 
exaggeration or ridicule to express and criticise people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the 
interest of contemporary politics and other topical issues”. It is also defined as “a literary art 
of diminishing or derogating a subject by making it ridiculous and evoking towards it 
attitudes of amusement, contempt, scorn or indignation “(Abrams, 2005:284). Critics identify 
two divisions of satire, namely formal (or direct satire) and indirect satire.  In formal satire 
the satiric character speaks out in the first person.  This “I” may address either the reader or 
else a character within the work itself who is called the “adversarius” and whose major 
function is to elicit and add ridicule to the satiric speaker’s comments (Abrams,  ibid 285). 

Abrams goes on to distinguish two types of formal satires namely “Horatian” and 
“Juvenalian” satires, taking their names from the great Roman satirists Horace and Juvenal.  
In Horatian satire, the speaker manifests the character of an urbane, witty and tolerant man of 
the world.  In contrast, in Juvenalian satire, the speaker is a serious moralist.  

Scatology is defined by the Longman Dictonary of Contemporary English (1995) as 
“great interest in human bowels, bodily waste” etc.  It is actually a word of Greek origin with 
the root “scato” which means “faeces” or “excrement”.  [Odebunmi & Ogunleye,  
2003:244)].  In the context of humour, scatology refers to jokes about bodily functions and 
the parts of the body not usually talked about in polite societies (Nilsen & Nilsen 2000:261).
 Again, Nilsen & Nilsen (ibid:175) identify the following types of accidental 
humour.(a). creating new names for already existing eponyms e.g. PhD – piled higher and 
deeper.  
There are some popular examples in the Nigerian society like 
(a)    * NEPA plc – Never Expect Power Always please light candle 

* IBB – International beg beg 
* ITT – International thief thief (these last two were coined by the deceased activist-
juju musician, Fela Ransome Kuti). 
* OYO – on your own 

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IJO- INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH  
( ISSN 2811-2466 )   

                                                                              Mary Effiong NYONG (PhD)* 

https://ijojournals.com/                                       Volume 07 || Issue 06 || June, 2024 || 
Fidelity in the Translation of Humour in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart 

 

 
 

*IBO – I before others 
*WWW.com – women with wings come onto me. 
*OBAMA—ordinary black African managing America 

b. putting clipped forms or letters and numbers together and making them sound like 
words e.g.  Alinco 4 u – Alinco for you. 
With the advent of ICT, this form of accidental humour has become very popular.  
Text messages on the GSM are generally written in this makeshift shorthand manner 
e.g. dnt 4get 2c me – don’t forget to see me. 

c. short and easy-to-read messages.  Some allude to sexual intercourse e.g. nurses do it 
with care… 

d. pattern based on the idea of wind-up dolls e.g. 
 The Elizabeth Taylor doll:  wind it up and it wrecks two marriages. 

The Frank Sinatra doll:  wind it up and it chases another doll (Nilsen & Nilsen, 
Ibid:175). 
 
Translation of humourin Things Fall Apart 
We shall now examine how faithfully humour has been translated in the novel under 
consideration. Henceforth, Things Fall Apart shall be referred to as TFA while Le 
monde s’effondre shall be LMS. The discussion shall examine the four classes of 
humour earlier identified. 

  
Translation of Jokes 

(i) The story was always told of a wealthy man who set before his guests a  
mound of foo-foo so high that those who sat on one side couldnot see what 
was happening on the other, and it was not until late in the evening that one of 
them saw for the first time his in-law who had arrived during the course of the 
meal and had fallen to on the opposite side.  It was only then that they 
exchanged greetings and shook hands over what was left of the food (pg. 26). 
On racontait toujours l’histoire d’un homme riche qui avait placé devant ses 
hôtes une si haute montagne de fofo que ceux qui étaient assis d’un côté ne 
pouvaient voir ce qui se passait de l’autre, et il fallut attendre jusque tard 
dans la soirée pour que l’un d’eux voie pour la première fois son frère par 
alliance qui était arrivé pendant le repas et s’était attablé du côté opposé.  Ce 
fut alors seulement qu’ils échangèrent des congratulations et se serrèrent la 
main par-dessus  ce qui restait de la nourriture (p. 50). 

The main activity of the translation here is that of transmission of culture. The 
practice of many people eating from the same dish at the same time is purely cultural and 
truly African.  Ligny has successfully translated this cultural practice plus the humour of the 
extra-ordinary foo-foo into the target language. 
(ii) “It is like the story of white men who, they say, are white like this piece of chalk” said 

Obierika.  He held up a piece of chalk…” And these white men, they say, have no 
toes”.  “And have you never seen them?”  asked Machi. 

 “Have you?” asked Obierika 
“One of them passes here frequently”…“His name is Amadi”. Those who  
knew Amadi laughed.  He was a leper, and the polite name for leprosy was  
“the white skin” (pg. 51-52). 

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IJO- INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH  
( ISSN 2811-2466 )   

                                                                              Mary Effiong NYONG (PhD)* 

https://ijojournals.com/                                       Volume 07 || Issue 06 || June, 2024 || 
Fidelity in the Translation of Humour in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart 

 

 
 

“C’est comme l’histoire des hommes blancs qui, à ce qu’on dit, sont blancs comme ce 
morceau de craie”, dit Obierika.  Il tendait un morceau de craie… “Et ces hommes 
blancs, a ce qu’on dit, n’ont pas de doigts de pied”.   

 - Et tu n’en as jamais vu?  Demanda Machi. 
- Et toi?  Demanda Obierika 
- L’un d’eux passe souvent par ici, dit Machi.  Son nom est Amadi.  Ceux qui 
connaissaient Amadi éclatèrent de rire.  C’etait lépreux et le nom poli pour la lèpre 
était “la peau blanche” (p. 91) 

. 
(iii)  “God will not permit it” said Okonkwo.   

“I do not know how to thank you”“I can tell you”, said Obierika. 
Kill one of your sons for me” 
“That will not be enough” said Okonkwo.“Then kill yourself” said Obierika. 
“Forgive me”, said Okonkwo, smiling.“I shall not talk about thanking you anymore” 
(pg. 100). 

 
- Dieu ne le permettra pas, dit Okonkwo.Je ne sais comment te remercier. 
- Je peux te le dire, dit Obierika. Tue un de tes fils pour moi. 
-Cela ne suffirait pas, dit Okonkwo. 

 -Alors tue-toi toi-même, dit Obierika. 
-Pardonne-moi, dit Okonkwo en souriant. 
-Je ne parlerai plus de te remercier (p. 172).   

 
(iv) You told us with your own mouth that there was only one god.  Now you talk 

 about his son.  He must have a wife, then.(pg. 103). 
“Vous nous avez dit de votre propre bouche qu’il n’y avait qu’un seul dieu. 

  Maintenant vous parlez de son fils.  Il doit avoir une femme, alors” (pg. 177). 
 
(v). It was said that he wore glasses on his eyes so that he could see and talk to evil spirits 

(pg. 106). 
On disait qu’il portait des verres sur les yeux de sorte qu’il pouvait voir les esprits du 
mal et leur parler (p. 180-181). 

 
(vi). The white missionary was very proud of him and he was one of the first men in 

Umuofia to receive the sacrament of Holy Communion, or Holy Feast as it was called 
in Ibo.  Ogbuefi Ugonna had thought of the feast in terms of eating and drinking… he 
had therefore put his drinking-horn into his goatskin bag for the occasion (pg. 123). 
Le missionnaire blanc était très fier de lui, et il fut un des premiers hommes 
d’Umuofiaà recevoir le sacrement de la Sainte Communion, ou du Saint Repas 
comme on l’appelait en Ibo.  Ogbuefi Ugonna avait cru que le Repas consistait à 
manger et à boire… il avait donc mis sa corne à boire dans son sac de peau de chèvre 
à cette occasion (p. 20). 

 
(vii). There was once a man who went to sell a goat.  He led it on a thick rope which he tied 

round his wrist.  But as he walkedthrough the market he realized that people were 
pointing at him as they do to a madman.He could not understand it until he looked 
back and saw that what he led at the end of the tether was not a goat but a heavy log 
of wood(pg. 79). 

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IJO- INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH  
( ISSN 2811-2466 )   

                                                                              Mary Effiong NYONG (PhD)* 

https://ijojournals.com/                                       Volume 07 || Issue 06 || June, 2024 || 
Fidelity in the Translation of Humour in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart 

 

 
 

Un jour, un homme était allé vendre une chèvre.Il la menait au bout d’une solide 
corde qu’il avait enroulée autour de son poignet. Mais tandis qu’il déambulait à 
travers le marché, il se rendit compte que les gens le désignaient du doigt comme on 
le fait pour un fou.  Il n’y comprit rien jusqu’ à ce qu’il tourne la tête et voie que ce 
qu’il tenait en laisse n’était pas une chèvre, mais une lourde buche de bois (p. 139). 

. 
In text (ii) Achebe uses hyperbole.  The white man is not really as white as chalk but 

the speaker just wants to make jest of the mysterious white man.  The reference to their toe-
less legs and the allusion to leprosy adds colour to the humour. 

The translation of “white like this piece of chalk”, “have no toes” “passes here 
frequently” and the surprising revelation “His name is Amadi” rendered into French 
respectively as “blancs comme ce morceau de craie”, “n’ont pas de doigts de pied”, “passe 
souvent par ici” and “son nom est Amadi” makes the target reader to be equally entertained 
as the source reader.  The reader in the target language is also made to appreciate the ignorant 
exaggerations of the illiterate villagers of Umuofia in which is embedded the humour.   

In (iii) the seriousness of Okonkwo’s tone at the beginning of the exchange between 
him and his friend Obierika, which Obierika also echoes in his response “I can tell you”, 
only to change it with his next statement which is so ridiculous that it punctures that grave 
atmosphere, makes the English reader to at least grin.  Obierika’s next suggestion “Then kill 
yourself”, which Ligny translates as, “alors tue-toi toi-même”, would surely make the two 
readers burst into laughter. 

In (iv) the phrases “with your own mouth” “now you talk about his son”, “a wife 
then” which make the white missionary look like a liar, and their translation into French as 
“de votre propre bouche”, “maintennt vous parlez de son fils” “une femme alors” carries 
scintillating humour.  The word “own” carries heavy ridicule and its inclusion in the 
translation by Ligny as “propre” carries this heavy ridicule across into the target language.    
The humour here is crowned by the insinuation that God has a wife and this is also properly 
translated.  This joke, actually, has a satirical undertone. 

In texts (v) and (vi), which Ligny translates word for word, the humour here is not 
hidden at all.  The naked jokes are well translated into the target language. 
 In text (vii) the humour manifests in the tail end of the narrative “he looked back and 
saw what he led at the end of the tether was not a goat but a heavy log of wood”.  The 
obvious but imagined consternation, shame and confusion of the man whose goat had been 
exchanged for a log of wood by a smart thief puts this joke along the line of “slipping-on-the-
banana peel”.  This humour has been adequately translated. 
 We can say, on the whole, that Ligny’s translation of jokes respects the concept of 
faithfulness in translation.  He has transformed the humour in the texts cited into acceptable 
standardization in the target language. 
 
The Translation of Satire 
 The story of Things Fall Apart, like George Orwell’s Animal Farm can, to some 
extent, be said to be a satire depicting the futility and the foolishness of fighting against a 
more formidable foe.  However, for the purpose of this research work we have only picked 
out isolated instances of humour that we consider to be satirical.  

a. Each group there represents a debt to someone, 
and each stroke is one hundred cowries.  You 
 see, I owe that man a thousand cowries.  But 
 he has not come to wake me up in the morning 

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IJO- INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH  
( ISSN 2811-2466 )   

                                                                              Mary Effiong NYONG (PhD)* 

https://ijojournals.com/                                       Volume 07 || Issue 06 || June, 2024 || 
Fidelity in the Translation of Humour in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart 

 

 
 

 for it.  I shall pay you, but not today.  Our 
 elders say that the sun will shine on those who 
 stand before it shines on those who kneel under 
 them.  I shall pay my big debts first (pg. 6). 

Chacun de ces groupes représente une dette 
 envers quelqu’un, et chaque trait cent cauris. 
  Vous voyez, je dois mille cauris à cet homme. 
  Mais il n’est pas venu me réveiller le matin à 
 leur sujet.  Je vous paieri, mais pas aujourd’hui. 
  Nos anciens disent que le soleil brillera sur 
 ceux qui sont debout avant de briller sur  
ceux qui sont à  genoux au dessous d’eux. 
  Je paierai mes grosses dettes d’abord (p. 14). 

  
We find this humour in the instance when Unoka’s friend, Okoye, came to ask for his 

debt from Unoka.  Instead of pleading for more time to raise the money, Unoka burst into 
laughter.  He laughed so much that tears stood in his eyes.  Okoye, the creditor, was amazed.  
Then Unoka showed him some lines he had drawn on the wall of his hut with chalk and 
addressed his creditor friend in the text we have just cited.  In fact, Okoye’s reaction to this 
effrontery is even more humorous: 

b. Okoye rolled his goatskin and departed ( pg 6). 
  Okoye roula sa peau de chèvre et partit (p. 14) 
 In this text, we see how Unoka, the debtor, succeeds in ridiculing his creditor in an 
amusing way.  The crown of the satire here is the quiet, resigned and calm acceptance of 
failure by Okoye as well as his silent departure.  The term “goatskin” would seem to be 
untranslatable into a culture that has had no experience of goatskin mats.  A language may 
contain expressions which refer to things and concepts that do not exist in another language, 
as is the case here. Translation between languages draws on the same procedures that are 
used intralingually and intersemiotically.   Thus we see that Ligny has translated “goatskin” 
as “peau de chèvre” in the manner that makes the reader understand that the object is a kind 
of mat for sitting down.  The words “rolled up” rendered as “roula” clears up any ambiguity 
that would have arisen vis-à-vis “goatskin” in the target language.  The satire in the source 
language has been adequately translated into the target language.  

a. The Oracle said to him: “Your dead father wants you to sacrifice a 
goat to him”.  Do you know what he told the Oracle?  He said, “Ask my dead 
father if he ever had a fowl when he was alive”.    
L’Oracle lui dit: “votre père défunt désire que vous lui sacrifiez une chèvre”.  
Savez-vous ce qu’il répondità  l’Oracle?  Il lui dit: 
 “Demandez à mon père défunt s’il a jamaiseu un poulet à lui quand il était en 
vie”. 

The satire here is knee-deep.  Obiako, the subject of the discussion here, has not just 
ridiculed his dead father who was poor.  He has also ridiculed the Oracle by talking back to 
the Oracle, a feat no mortal in Umuofia had ever attempted.  Ligny has translated the humour 
here including the derisive undertone into the target language. 

b. On a moonlight night it would be different.  The happy voices of children 
playing in open fields would then be heard.  And perhaps 
 those not so young would be playing in pairs in less open places… (pg. 7). 

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IJO- INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH  
( ISSN 2811-2466 )   

                                                                              Mary Effiong NYONG (PhD)* 

https://ijojournals.com/                                       Volume 07 || Issue 06 || June, 2024 || 
Fidelity in the Translation of Humour in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart 

 

 
 

Par une nuit de clair de lune, c’auraitété différent.  On entendait alors les voix 
heureuses d’enfants jouant en plein champ.  Et peut-être les moins jeunes 
jouaient-ils deux par deux dans des lieux moins ouverts… 

In ‘d’ Achebe is insinuating that even in the village setting, there is illicit romance.  In 
fact, the phrases “those not so young”, “playing in pairs”, “in less open places” are pregnant 
with satirical humour.  Ligny has captured the spirit of this satire in rendering them as “les 
moins jeunes” “jouaient-ils deux par deux” and “dans des lieux moins ouverts” respectively.  
In fact, Ligny had the choice of translating “in pairs” as “en paires” but he opted for “deux 
par deux” which is more suggestive than “en paires”.  It is the suggestiveness of Achebe’s 
context and choice of words that harbour the humour here.  Chinua Achebe, like most 
African writers, adapts the use of English with vigour and freshness, keeping within the 
English language and at the same time capturing the idioms and nuances of his own 
indigenous language.   
 In his translation, Ligny can be said to have paid special attention to the nuances in 
the source language and has therefore chosen appropriate equivalents. 

c. “Two years ago” continued Odukwe, “when she was pregnant, he beat her 
until she miscarried”.  “It is a lie.  She miscarried after she had gone to sleep 
with her lover”.  “Uzowulu’s body, I salute you” said Evil Forest, silencing 
him.  What kind of lover sleeps with a pregnant woman” (pg. 65). 
- Il y a deux ans, continua Odukwe, alors qu’elle était enceinte, il l’a battue 

au point qu’elle a fait une fausse couche. 
- C’est un mensonge.  Elle a fait une fausse couche après avoir couché avec 

son amant. 
- Corps d’Uzowulu, je vous salue, dit Forêt Maudite en le laissant taire. 

Quelle sorte d’amant couche avec une femme enceinte? (p. 112). 
This is the context in which the dreaded masquerades of Umuofia who judge cases, 

among other duties, are judging the case of Uzowulu, the wife-beater.  The scene is the 
village square with the whole villagers present.  The somber atmosphere and the expectant 
and exciting attitude of the crowd are reflected in the manner of address by the awe-inspiring 
judge, Evil Forest.  Spirits do not address humans by their names.  Evil forest cuts Uzowulu 
short as he was testifying, he then salutes him, giving the impression that he agreed with 
Uzowulu’s testimony only to land him flat with open ridicule as he thunders “what kind of 
lover sleeps with a pregnant woman?”  This is where the satire lies.  Evil Forest is calling 
Uzowulu a liar in public because his lie is so obvious.  Our translator has respected this 
sequence and maintained the atmosphere in his translation as he uses literary translation 
technique here. 

d. If I hold her hand 
  She says, “Don’t touch”. 
  If I hold her foot   
  She says, “Don’t touch”. 
  But when I hold her waist beads 
  She pretends not to know” (pg 83). 
   

Si je lui tiens la main  
  Elle dit:  ne me touche pas. 
  Si je lui tiens le pied 
  Elle dit:  ne me touche pas. 
  Mais quand je tiens sa ceinture de perles, 

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IJO- INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH  
( ISSN 2811-2466 )   

                                                                              Mary Effiong NYONG (PhD)* 

https://ijojournals.com/                                       Volume 07 || Issue 06 || June, 2024 || 
Fidelity in the Translation of Humour in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart 

 

 
 

  Elle feint de l’ignorer. 
 Apart from the satire in the song, the musicality of repetitions in the song gives it 
aesthetic beauty which evokes excitement in the reader.  Ligny displays his bilingual 
proficiency and bi-cultural competence in translating “la main”, “le pied” and “ceinture de 
perles” which makes the target reader to be inspired, touched and aesthetically entertained in 
the same manner as the source language reader.  Ligny’s translation of linguistic items “if I 
hold…”, “if I hold…” as “si je tiens…”, “si je tiens” is an indication of his high literary 
insight and aesthetic sensitivity of Achebe’s oral poetry.  The caricature of women’s pretence 
when it comes to romantic situations is where the satire lies.  This caricature, the derision as 
well as the aesthetic quality of the song have been properly translated into the target 
language. 

e. “Do you know that men are sometimes banished for life?  Do you know that 
men sometimes lose all their yams and even their children?  I had six wives 
once.  I have none now except that young girl who knows not her right from 
her left…”(pg 95). 
Sais-tu qu’il y a parfois des hommes qui sont bannis pour la vie?  Sais-tu qu’il 
y a parfois des hommes qui perdent toutes leurs ignames et même leurs 
enfants?  Il fut un temps où j’avais six femmes.  Je n’en ai aucune maintenant 
sauf cette jeune fille qui ne sait pas distinguer sa 
 droite de sa gauche… (p 164). 

Here, the speaker, old Uchendu, Okonkwo’s Uncle, under whose roof Okonkwo is 
sheltering on his exile, is trying to pull his nephew out of the deep depression he has fallen 
into as a result of his misfortunes.  This is the purpose of this family meeting he has 
summoned.  Yet, in his speech he makes allusion to the irresponsible nature and immaturity 
of his young wife.  This derogatory remark in passing makes the young wife look ridiculous. 

The solemn tone heightened by the repetition of “do you know that” “do you know 
that”, which Ligny has rendered as “sais-tu qu’il y a” “sais-tu qu’il y a”, and the same grave 
tone with which Uchendu ridicules his wife in the presence of others, wreaks of satire.  This 
subtle insult is also noticeable in Ligny’s translation into French. 

f. “They want a piece of land to build their shrine”; said Uchendu to his 
peers…“We shall give them a piece of land”.  He paused and there was a 
murmur of surprise and disagreement.  “Let us give them a 
 portion of the Evil Forest.  They boast about victory over death.  Let us give 
them a real battlefield in which to show their victory”.  They laughed and 
agreed, and sent for the missionaries.  They offered them as much of the Evil 
Forest as they cared to take.  And to their amazement the missionaries thanked 
them and burst into song (pg. 105). 

 - “Ils désirent une pièce de terre pour batir leur sanctuaire, dit Uchendu à ses pairs… 
Nous allons leur donner une pièce de terre”. 

  Il fit une pause et il y eut un murmure de surprise et de désaccord.  
“Donnons leur un morceau de la Forêt Maudite.  Ils se vantent 
 de remporter la victoire sur la mort. Donnons-leur un vrai champ de bataille 
où ils puissent montrer leur victoire”.  Ils rirent et acquiescèrent et envoyèrent 
chercher les missionnaires… ils leur offrirent une aussi grande portion de la 
Forêt Maudite qu’ils voulurent en prendre.  Et à leur plus grande 
consternation les missionaires les remercièrent et entonnèrent une cantique 
(p. 180). 

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IJO- INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH  
( ISSN 2811-2466 )   

                                                                              Mary Effiong NYONG (PhD)* 

https://ijojournals.com/                                       Volume 07 || Issue 06 || June, 2024 || 
Fidelity in the Translation of Humour in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart 

 

 
 

The satire in this exchange is deep.  It goes beyond comedy.  Comedy, according to 
Abrams (2005:285), evokes laughter mainly as an end in itself, whereas satire derides.  That 
is to say satire uses laughter as a weapon of scorn, contempt and amusement.  The suggestion 
of offering the dreaded and eerie Evil Forest to the missionaries evokes laughter but it is 
aimed primarily at deriding the white missionaries who are ignorant of the significance of the 
Evil Forest.  

On the other hand, the villagers are on the receiving end of this satire because they, 
too, are ignorant of the powers of the white man’s God.  Also, Achebe’s use of repetition of 
“a piece of land” adds poetic quality to the piece of writing here. 

Although, Ligny has translated both the satire and the poetic repetitions we are of the 
opinion, as we remarked earlier,  that “la Forêt du Mal” would have been a better equivalent 
for “Evil Forest”.  “Mal” carries more weight than “maudite” which could mean “damned” 
or “cursed”.  “Mal”, which literally means “Evil” evokes fear, the macabre, and even death, 
which is more in line with the context of the scene. 

 
  
The Translation of Scatology 

a. “Who will drink the dregs?”  He asked. 
  “Whoever has a job in hand”, said Idigo, looking at Nwakibie’s elder 
 son, Igwelo, with a mischievous twinklein his eye (pg. 15).  

  “Qui boira la lie?”  demanda-t-il 
 “Quiconque a une affaire en train” dit Idigo en faisant  Igwelo, le fils aîné de 

Nwakibie, un clin d’oeil malicieux (p. 30). 
In ‘a’, Igwelo, the victim of this humour, has just married a new wife.  The thick 

dregs of palm-wine, according to Achebe in the story, is believed to increase a man’s libido.  
What the speaker implies here is that Igwelo needs to impress his new wife with his sexual 
prowess. 
 In polite African societies, sexual intercourse is generally not talked about openly yet 
it is humorously discussed here among the drinking men.  Ligny in his translation carries this 
humour into the target language. 

b. “If, on the other hand, Uzowulu should recover from his madness and come in 
the proper way to beg his wife to return she will do so on the understanding 
that if he ever beats her again we shall cut off his genitals for him”.  The 
crowd roared with laughter (pg. 65). 
“Si, d’autre part, Uzowulu devait guérir de sa folie et venir selon les règles 
supplier sa femme de revenir, elle le ferait, étant bien entendu que, si jamais il 
la battait de nouveau, nous lui couperions les parties 
 génitales”.  Un énorme éclat de rire montade la foule. 

We see scatology at work here again.  Except in the classroom environment, genitals 
are generally a topic reserved for adults.  Women and young people, if they must discuss 
these parts of the body, do so in hushed voices.  The scene here is the village square where 
the masquerades are judging cases with the whole village agog with excitement. 
 Nevertheless, we see Odukwe, whose sister married Uzowulu and who receives 
beatings all the time from the husband, shouting this threat, in anger, about his inlaw’s 
genitals in the village square, with women and children present, ridiculing Uzowulu’s 
manhood to the general amusement of the crowd. 
 We need to commend Ligny’s translation of certain meanings here.  By translating 
“in the proper way” as “selon les règles” he applies the technique called “modulation”.  

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IJO- INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH  
( ISSN 2811-2466 )   

                                                                              Mary Effiong NYONG (PhD)* 

https://ijojournals.com/                                       Volume 07 || Issue 06 || June, 2024 || 
Fidelity in the Translation of Humour in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart 

 

 
 

Modulation, according to Vinay and Darbelnet (1958), is a variation in the message whose 
purpose is to make the message clearer in the target language.  “Selon les règles” aptly 
translates the meaning embedded in “in the proper way”, which suggests that there are laid 
down rules according to the customs and tradition of Umuofia to settle such matrimonial 
matters. 

c. “We had meant to set out from my house before cock-crow”, said Obierika.  
But Nweke did not appear until it was quite light.  Never make an early 
morning appointment with a man who has just married a new wife”.  They all 
laughed (pg 99)  
-“Nous avions décidé de quitter la maison avant le chant du coq”, dit 
Obierika. “Mais Nweke n’est pas apparu avant qu’il ne fasse complètement 
jour.  Il ne faut jamais donner de rendezvous à l’aube 
à un homme qui vient juste d’épouser une nouvelle femme”.  Tous rirent (p. 
171). 

We encounter scatology here again when Obierika and two others, came to visit 
Okonkwo in exile.  We see how they joke about sexual intercourse freely and openly here. 
Michel Ligny rendered this scatology into French adequately. 

d. “Your buttocks said he had a son” said the joker.  “So he must have a wife 
and all of them must have buttocks” (pg 103). 
“Vos fesses ont dit qu’il avait un fils”, ditle plaisantin.  “Il doit donc avoir 
une femme et eux tous doivent avoir des fesses (p. 177). 

 This is the scene when the white missionary is addressing the villagers through an 
interpreter.  The interpreter unfortunately, speaks a strange dialect which changes the 
meanings of certain words by his intonation.  Instead of saying “myself” he was saying “my 
buttocks” which caused a lot of laughter among the listeners.  Buttocks, as we know, are 
among the parts of the body not usually talked about in polite African societies.  Furthermore, 
the missionary, in the context, is talking about God and his only begotten son.  The joker here 
not only picks on the interpreter’s dialect, he goes further to insinuate that God has a wife and 
they too have buttocks.  This is highly humorous and atrocious.  The humour here has a 
satirical undertone because the speaker, by his choice of words, is insinuating that the white 
missionary is talking from the two sides of his mouth.  First, he said God had a son, then he 
failed to say anything about the mother of the said son.  
 Ligny has translated the text word for word and has therefore captured every hidden 
nuance and humour. 
 
The Translation of Accidental Humour 

Even though jokes, satires and scatology abound in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, we 
have just two instances of accidental humour in the text.  Here they are: 

a. These court messengers were greatly hated in Umuofia because they were 
foreigners and also arrogant and high-handed.  They were called ‘kotma’, and 
because of their ash-coloured shorts they earned the 
 additional name of Ashy-Buttocks (pg. 123). 
Ces messagers de la cour étaient profondément hais à Umuofia parce qu’ils 
étaient étrangers en même temps qu’arrogants et brutaux. 
  On les appelait ‘kotma’, et à cause de leurs short couleur de cendre, ils 
méritèrent le nom supplémentaire de Fesses-Cendrées (p. 211). 

 ‘Kotma’ is an accidental humour derived from the wrong pronunciation of the words 
‘court messenger’ by the illiterate villagers.  “Ashy-Buttocks”, as Achebe himself has already 

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IJO- INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH  
( ISSN 2811-2466 )   

                                                                              Mary Effiong NYONG (PhD)* 

https://ijojournals.com/                                       Volume 07 || Issue 06 || June, 2024 || 
Fidelity in the Translation of Humour in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart 

 

 
 

explained, stems from the colour of the shorts worn by these court messengers. And then we 
have: 
  Kotma of the ash buttocks 
  He is fit to be a slave. 
  The white man has no sense 
  He is fit to be a slave (pg 123). 
  Kotma aux fesses de cendres,  
  Il est bon pour faire un esclave. 
  L’homme blanc n’a pas de bon sens, 
  Il est bon pour faire un esclave (p. 211). 
 The textemic use of ‘kotma’ in a song of derision, as used in the source language text 
and correspondingly translated by Ligny, serves to introduce ridicule of the court messengers.  
The heavy mockery in the source text is cleverly transferred into the target language, together 
with the rhythm of the song. 

b. Many people laughed at his dialect and the way he used words strangely.  
Instead of saying ‘myself’ he always said ‘my buttocks’ 
(pg 102). 

 
Beaucoup riaient de son dialecte et de la façon bizarre dont il utilisait les 
mots.  Au lieu de dire ‘moi-même’ il disait toujours 
‘mes fesses’ (p 174). 

  The humour here is purely accidental because if the man’s (the interpreter’s) 
dialect had been the same as that spoken by the villagers of Umuofia, there would not 
have been anything humorous in the context.  The fact that what he said in his strange 
dialect meant ‘my buttocks’ also puts this humour under scatology.  Ligny, again, has 
translated the text literally, thus keeping the target reader aesthetically entertained in 
the same manner and to the same degree as the reader of the original text. 
It is true that many readers of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart will always 

remember Ikemefuna and his gruesome murder by the man he called ‘my father’.  
Okonkwo’s ultimate suicide also lends a heavy and sinister atmosphere of tragedy to the end 
of the novel.  Nevertheless, one cannot but admit that at many instances the readers found 
themselves bursting into loud laughter in spite of the seriousness of the general tone of the 
story.  This is what makes the story very interesting.   
 
Conclusion 

This paper has been an attempt to examine Michel Ligny’s fidelity in his translation 
of humour in Things Fall Apart. This study found  that  a translator can successfully translate 
a text, whose origin is different from that of the translator, if such a translator adopts the 
Interpretive theory, and that in literary translation, one does not translate just the ideas but 
also the culture of the source text.  Translating the ideas poses no great challenges most of the 
time.  It is the translation of the cultural elements that constitute the bulk of difficulties faced 
by the translator. The paper concludes that the translator has been able, in many instances, to 
translate humour in the novel.  
 
 
 
 
 

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IJO- INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH  
( ISSN 2811-2466 )   

                                                                              Mary Effiong NYONG (PhD)* 

https://ijojournals.com/                                       Volume 07 || Issue 06 || June, 2024 || 
Fidelity in the Translation of Humour in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart 

 

 
 

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