Chapter 3: The Translation of Cultural Categories
4.3. Micro-textual analysis of Oyono Mbia’s source texts
4.3.9. Stylistic calques
Readers/audiences not familiar with the Bulu culture could also mistakenly consider the forms of address “Tita”, “Tit” and “Na” as part and parcel of the indigenous names they precede, such as “Tita Meka”, “Tit’ Abessôlô” and “Na’Bella”, respectively.
All the various forms of address in the plays serve to demonstrate the very natural tendency in the traditional society to show respect through the use of such polite terms.
The author does not provide any form of cushioning at all for these forms of address because he considers his primary Bulu/Cameroonian readers/audience to be quite familiar with them.
This is simply a way of telling somebody that s/he is the wisest person in the world.
The Witch-doctor Sanga-Titi thus flatters the Chief Mbarga by telling him he is the wisest person in the world.
ii) Sanga-Titi: (D’une voix inspirée) C’est moi Sanga-Titi, le grand Sorcier qui avait hérité des secrets du passé ! Ah Mbarga, on te dit sage, mais moi je
t’appelle fou, car tu n’as pas plus de deux yeux. Voici la preuve de ce que j’avance : où est maintenant ton trisaïeul ? [(In an inspired voice) I am Sanga-Titi, the great witch-doctor who inherited the secrets of the past! Ah Mbarga, people consider you a wise man, but I call you a fool because you have got no more than two eyes! Here is proof of what I say: where is your great-great-grandfather now?]
(TPUM:88)
The highlighted expression means to be naïve and stupid. The Witch-doctor, Sanga- Titi, reproaches the Chief Mbarga by telling him that he is naïve and stupid.
iii) Abessôlô: (de l’air du sage qui voit se réaliser ses prophésies) Ha ha ! Tu te fâches encore Ondua ? N’est-ce pas là ce que je vous dis toujours ? Les hommes de votre génération se conduisent tous comme des insensés ! (Fièrement) De mon temps, quand j’étais encore Abessôlô et … (Indiquant Bella qui sort de la cuisine) et que ma femme Bella était encore femme, vous croyez que j’aurais toléré des histoires pareilles ? […] [(With the air of a wise man who sees his prophecy being realised) Ha ha! So you are getting angry Ondua?
Isn’t this what I have always told you? Men of your generation all behave like foolish people! (Proudly) In my day, when I was still Abessôlô and … (Pointing at Bella who is coming from the kitchen) and my wife Bella was still a woman, do you think I would have tolerated such nonsense?] (TPUM:14)
The highlighted expressions simply refer to when Abessôlô and his wife Bella were in the prime of their youth. Through these calqued local expressions, Abessôlô thus expresses nostalgia at the good old days and his disappointment with the modern times.
iv) Nkatefoe: (Mettant ses lunettes rondes) Voilà bien trois lunes que Matalina et son mari sont revenus de France ! [(Putting on his glasses) It is now three full moons since Matalina and her husband returned from France!]
Abessôlô: Trois lunes tout entières ! Et Matalina n’a jamais songé à dire à son mari : « allons saluer mes pères et mes mères à Mvoutessi, le petit village où je suis née » [Three full moons ! And Matalina has never said to her husband: “Let’s go and greet my fathers and mothers in Mvoutessi, the little village where I was born”]
(JNA:16)
The highlighted expressions « trois lunes » and « trois lunes tout entières » evoke the past in that “time” is presented in the way the “months” were calculated by the ancestors of the villagers, a way still very much in use today in traditional Cameroonian society. In this traditional system, the natives are not interested in knowing whether there are 28, 29, 30, or 31 days in a month as the case may be.
Rather, what is of importance is the face (shape) of the moon (i.e. quarter, half or full moon). Thus, according to the traditional system, a month stretches from one full moon to the next one.
v) Nkatefoe: (Tandis que le cyclomotoriste ralentit) Ces jeunes gens et leurs engins! Ils vont plus vite qu’une pierre lancée ! [(As the motorcyclist slows down) These young people and their machines! They go faster than you would throw a pebble!]
(JNA:16)
The highlighted phrase means as fast as light. It expresses the local and unsophisticated way of perceiving and describing extreme speed.
vi) Nkatefoe: Nos oreilles se refroidissent, ah Mezoé ! [Our ears are getting cold, ah Mezoé!] (JNA:18)
This is the traditional way of expressing impatience in the society depicted in the plays. Nkatefoe means that they are waiting impatiently to hear Mezoé’s story.
vii) Nkatefoe: Nos oreilles sont avec toi, mon fils! [Our ears are with you, my son !]
Mezoé : (Posant les deux assiettes par terre devant lui) Comme je le disais donc, on ne mange pas avec les mains chez Matalina à Yaoundé [(Putting the two plates on the floor in front of him) As I was saying,
you don’t eat with your hands in Matalina’s house in Yaounde]
(JNA:19).
The expression highlighted is the local way of saying “We are all ears”.
viii) Folinika: Laisse-moi tranquille, ah Bilomba! Tais-toi et bois ta bière ! Tu es venu ici pour te moquer de ta vieille mère ? Qui t’a dit de venir me dire ce que les hommes me disaient quand je m’appelais encore Folinika ? Tais-toi et bois ta bière ! [Leave me alone, ah Bilomba ! Shup up and drink your beer! Did you come here to make fun of your old mother? Who told you to come here and say the things which men used to say to me when I was still Folinika? Shut up and drink your beer!] (LTSSE:22).
The highlighted expression is a calque of the local way of saying “when I was in the prime of my youth” or “when I was still young and pretty”. Folinika is expressing nostalgia at her good old days.
ix) Missa Majunga: (Nostalgique) Hi i i ! Tout comme à l’époque où la terre était encore terre ! Les grands hommes d’alors ne buvaient que du rhum, du cognac, du whisky, du champagne et d’autres boissons importées. On ne connaissait pas encore cette vogue de vin de palme et de boissons distillées localement. Une honte ! […]
[(With nostalgia) Hi i i ! Just the way it used to be when this land was still a land! The great men of the time only drank rum, brandy, whisky, champagne and other imported drinks. Nobody knew palm wine or any of these locally distilled spirit drinks
which have become popular today. What a shame!]
(LTSSE:24)
The expression highlighted is also a calque of the traditional way of saying « In the good old days ». Missa Majunga expresses nostalgia at the good old days and disappointment at the present situation.
The playwright does not provide any cushioning for these calqued expressions since to a large extent they are transparent or comprehensible in the language of the source text (i.e. French).
From the above examination of the nine different ways in which the playwright introduces cultural elements in his plays, it is evident that the culture-specific elements so introduced actually carry his message or contribute in one way or another in dramatizing the action of the plays.
Having thus identified, described and analyzed the culture-specific aspects of Oyono Mbia’s plays which confer a typical Bulu coloration to his plays, thereby making the portrait of his native Bulu society realistic and convincing, and having shown how the author handled them in the first place in the source texts, it is now necessary to examine how he, as translator, has mapped these aspects on to the target texts in the translation process.
4.4. Macro- and micro-textual comparison of Oyono Mbia’s source and