Translation of Proverbs

This dissertation is a reflection on the mechanisms of translation of proverbs. It revisits the relevant theories on the translation of cults in general and of proverbs in particular from a double perspective of analysis and questioning of the methods proposed so far for their translation. It is therefore a question here of saying what the translation of proverbs is or better what it should be since proverbs are statements with quite particular morphosyntactic characteristics. Moreover their function as a vehicle for the popular wisdom of a specific culture makes their transposition from one language to another quite delicate. We are therefore trying on the basis of samples collected in two French versions of Chinua Achebe''s Things Fall Apart to propose methods that can help when translating proverbs to preserve their originality intelligibility and idiomaticity as much as possible.