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When next I fall in love,
It has to be with Nigeria - my beloved country
Where...Read the full article.

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Brother, I read your piece with more than a passing interest.

I have always had an interest in poetry and philosophy, with special emphasis on the poetic richness of our ethnic proverbs. Your incorporation of our proverbs in the stanzas of your writing is smart: one or two lines of proverbs, properly delivered, can capture a message or argue a point more profoundly than ten pages of prose.

But a major problem, to which I have been searching for a solution, is that the richness, meaning, and general figurative teachings of each proverb is often lost to the average reader and more easily grasped by a reader who speaks the native language who already knows the proverb in that original native language.

I speak of the problem of translation (from Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa to English).

I have often spent an hour or two trying to translate a proverb of one sentence into English. I try several translations until I am satisfied. One of the difficulties is that unless the reader is familiar with the natural or legendary habit of the animal or insect used in the proverb (such as grasshopper, kite, vulture, chicken, toad, tortoise), he will never fully capture the meaning; and yet, to utter/write a proverb and proceed to explain it is not appropriate. It just kills the purpose, wit, sarcasm, or warning that a proverb, by its nature, thrusts upon the hearer/reader. It removes from the reader the invitation to think (which is why the Igbos have a proverb stating that they don’t speak to people in proverb and then explain it, or else…).

“When the chicken farts, the land will chase after it” is one of those problematic translations because unless the reader has seen a domestic chicken do it, and then watch the chicken take off, the reader will not fully grasp the analogy to a fugitive or scared politician who is wanted for polluting the financial/political air of Nigeria and is now proverbially on the run.

Anyway, my brother, I say all the above just to say more power to you.

“To take one palm nut (from someone else’s tree, farm) is fine, but to take the entire head of the palm nuts is stealing”
“The vulture and the kite (hawk) do not fight over food (one is a scavenger while the other is a predator)”

Again, more power to you.