Tafsiri za Riwaya za Kigeni kwa Kiswahili Nchini Tanzania

This article explores the production of literary translations into Swahili in post-independence Tanzania. It will focus on the translating strategies used by East African translators, in particular on their the approach to the culture-specific use of the source language (vocabulary drawing from material, social and religious culture, idioms, proverbs, etc.). For the purpose of this article, I selected a micro-archive composed of four prose works of translation within the Tanzanian Swahili literary field, i.e. Shamba la Wanyama (Fortunatus Kawegere, 1967; translation of Animal Farm, G. Orwell, 1945), Shujaa Okonkwo (Clement Ndulute, 1973; translation of Things Fall Apart, C. Achebe, 1958), Mzee na Bahari (Cyprian Tirumanywa, 1980; translation of The Old Man and the Sea, E. Hemingway, 1952) and Jambo la Maana (Ebrahim Hussein, 1982; translation of some short stories by H. C. Andersen: The Emperor’s New Clothes, 1837, Something, 1858 and The Old Street Lamp, 1847).