Abstract

Proverbs are representative of the world view of the native speakers of a language. In most African communities, the elders are well versed in the use of proverbs and are seen as the custodians of their culture. This implies that African proverbs are an indication of orality. Nko̩ro̩o̩ and Urhobo are two minor languages spoken respectively in Rivers and Delta states of Nigeria, both located in the Niger delta region of the country. As a result of the creation of more states in Nigeria, Urhobo has assumed a dominant status as the major language spoken in Delta state but it is still considered a language of limited diffusion in global communication. This paper discusses the translation of proverbs from Nko̩ro̩o̩ into Urhobo, taking into cognizance the fact that Nko̩ro̩o̩ is an Ijoid language with a Subject-Object-Verb word order while Urhobo is an Edoid language with a Subject-Verb-Object word order. It examines the differences that occur in terms of sentence structure, phonological and morphological processes, cultural contexts, as well as sociolinguistic variations. Using the linguistic approach to translation, the paper highlights the processes involved in translating from a minor language into a language of limited diffusion, thus establishing the fact that translation between both languages is possible. Dynamic equivalence is adopted where proverbs of the Source Language (SL) are not identical with those of the Target Language (TL) due to contextual differences. The study uses five (5) selected SL proverbs to illustrate intercultural transfer in the translation process.