De/Recolonization in Translation

Although the creative appropriation of the language of the former British colonizers in Anglophone African writing has received ample attention in postcolonial literary studies, much less has been written about what happens when this creatively appropriated, linguistically hybrid discourse is translated into another hegemonic European language. The ideological implications in particular have remained under-investigated and the few studies within translation studies that have been done in this area tend to equate target-text strategies of fluency with a ‘recolonization’ of the text, as they do not take into account the exoticizing and hence stereotyping potential of non-fluent strategies, both in the source and the target text. Taking the viewpoint that translation has the potential to be ‘a source of separation when it reaffirms received stereotypes’ (Carbonell i Cortés, 1996; 83) rather than a bridge across cultures, and, hence, that a recolonization also takes place when the target text perpetuates the stereotypical image the target culture has constructed of the source culture, this article argues that neither strategies of fluency nor strategies of non-fluency per se are de- or recolonizing. Instead, it suggests that a more detailed and differentiated analysis of the creatively appropriated, linguistically hybrid elements in the source text as well as the effect a non-fluent rendering would have in the target text is needed. Without such an analysis it is impossible to reach conclusions about whether translations of postcolonial texts show a tendency towards recolonization, attempt to uncover the motivations behind this presumed recolonization, and ultimately, explore what alternative translation strategies are realistically available to a translator working in a commercial publishing environment. Furthermore, such an analysis is needed in order to be able to investigate how translator training can contribute to encouraging translators to opt for strategies that prevent this presumed recolonization and in so doing work to change the norms behind recolonizing translation strategies.