This document discusses the translation of greetings from Igbo to French and identifies some of the challenges involved. It provides context on greetings in Igbo culture, including that greetings can be time, activity, weather or occasion specific. It gives examples of Igbo greetings and their French equivalents. However, it notes there are problems with direct translation between the two languages and cultures due to their differences and the fact that Igbo has various dialects. Key challenges include differences between Igbo dialects and greetings that are fixed expressions in Igbo but do not directly translate to French.

1. TRANSLATING GREETINGS: THE IGBO-FRENCH
EXAMPLE
Dr. Kate Ndukauba
Department of Foreign Language & Translation
Studies
Abia State University, Uturu.
Nigeria.

2. • INTRODUCTION
• Different languages and cultures have their modes of
greeting.
• The forms of greetings and the gestures that accompany
them also differ from culture to culture.
• Greetings can be time-specific, activity-specific, weather-
specific or occasion-specific.
• Sometimes, they take the form of questions and answers.
• Very often, they are an expression of wishes and regards, of
feelings and beliefs.

3. • They can be verbal or non-verbal.
• They may involve gestures and gesticulations.
• Greetings have their role in culture and culture plays a role in
greetings.
• Understanding the cultural undertone in greetings is
imperative to the correct translation of greetings from one
language to another.
• The intention of this write-up is to find equivalent greetings
in Igbo and French languages and identify the problems of
translating greetings from Igbo to French.

4. • WHAT ARE GREETINGS?
• Chambers 21st Century Dictionary defines greeting as a
friendly expression or gesture used on meeting or welcoming
someone; a good or fond wish, a friendly message.
• To greet is to address or welcome someone especially in a
friendly way.
• Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary says it is a salutation at
meeting, an expression of good wishes; regards.
• To greet is to address with kind wishes, to hail, to meet or
react to in a specified manner.

5. • So greetings imply friendliness, thoughtfulness and are
expressed in a specified manner depending on the place,
time, circumstances and the individuals involved.
• They vary from place to place. Igbo (African) culture and
French (European) culture are far apart in terms of space and
time.
• From the above two definitions, greeting is about welcoming
or wishing somebody well in a friendly way. But in the
African setting, it is more than that.

6. • In addition to well wishes, it has to do with activities
(different kinds of work or engagements), age (elders and
youths), emotions (feelings – joy, sorrow, anxiety etc), place
(market, palace, mourning house, wedding venues,village
square etc), status (Chiefs, Ezes, Kings, titled men, subjects,
the wealthy, bosses, educated etc) and the like.
• Languages are a way of establishing and displaying group
identity. (Wikipedia) They also have varieties as is the case
with Igbo language.
• Different parts of Igboland (e.g. Ngwa, Ubakala, Owerri,
Ohafia, Anambra) speak different dialects.

7. • CONTEXT OF GREETINGS
• Various situations have specific greetings that go with them.
Some situations can even modify the greetings. The
situations include time, weather, activity, relationship, age,
place, status, gender etc. Examples:
• Time (morning): Ututu oma, I boola chi (good morning) :
Bonjour
• Weather: Unu ahula miri? (Greeting on a rainy day): Quel
temps pluvieux!
• Activity: Jisie ike (greeting to somebody at work): Bon travail
• Relationship (between friends): Kedu ka eke si anya anwu?
(How are you?) : Ça va?

8. • Age (younger to older): Dee, mmamma oo: Bonjour
monsieur.
• Place (village square meeting): Umuibe Kwenu! (Brethren, I
greet you): Mesdames et messieurs, bonjour
• Status: Eze, i ga-adi ooo (Your Royal Majesty, Long live the
King): Vive le roi!
• Greetings can be expressed verbally or non-verbally. Verbal
greetings convey specific meanings in words and
expressions.
• e.g. Nnoo (welcome): Bienvenu
• Ndeewo nu o (I greet you, Hello): Salut

9. • Non-verbal greetings are expressed through gesticulations
(e.g. when titled men used their fans to touch each other’s
fan twice on one side and once on the other side,
• or when a king or a queen uses his or her cowtail to touch
somebody prostrating or kneeling before him or her,
• or still when a king or titled man raises and waves his fan or
cowtail at the crowd.
• Greeting by gesticulations include waving goodbye with the
hand, holding up the two hands or palms or fists in
acknowledgement of cheers.

10. • Non-verbal greetings can be in the form of gestures like
giving gifts (symbolic or plain), giving a helping hand, or even
a handshake, a pat on the back, a bow etc.
CULTURAL CONTEXT OF GREETINGS
• In the Igbo Culture, the younger greets the older first. The
untitled greets the titled first.
• The wife greets the husband first. The subordinate greets the
boss or the leader first. A child greets the parents first.
• The individual greets the group first and the one coming in
greets those already seated first.

11. • There is however, no law against the greeting going the
opposite way. That could just be out of love or fondness or
familiarity or friendliness.
• A person who greets very often is considered well-brought
up and is liked by many.
• Greetings are always accompanied by smiles or radiant joy
which infects the person being greeted thereby creating an
atmosphere of happiness.
• The Igbo say: E kwee ekele, ihu achaa (Greetings brightens
the face). So a social function of greetings is that it brightens
people up and creates opportunity for further interactions.

12. • In fact, a young lady of marriageable age who does not greet
people, may find it difficult to have a suitor. The habit of
greeting adds to the good character that sells the lady.
• Greeting as part of culture does not seek to achieve a
specific result but is part and parcel of the people, it is a way
of life.
• For example, a young girl does not go greeting people
because she wants a husband, rather she greets people
because it is a habit she formed through her good upbringing
in the culture of her people.
• However, it is possible for unscrupulous persons to use
greeting as a tool to manipulate relationships.

13. • Greetings are peculiar to every people and race.
• For the Igbo, greeting can means you are welcome or you
appreciate the effort being put into a particular work or
activity.
• It means respect for the other person, it means good wishes,
it means empathy, it means blessings.
• That is why there are various greetings at various times and
occasions. They serve different purposes. They can be used
to hail, to boost morale, to motivate into action, to affirm
honorifics.
• According to Adewole and Abraham (2012), greetings
perform the under-listed social functions:

14. • Used to open a sequence of communicative acts between
two persons irrespective of their positions.
• As a means of defining and affirming both identity and rank.
• Because the standard forms of greeting contain an element
of deference which is status enhancing, greeting becomes a
mode of entering upon or manipulating a relationship in
order to achieve a specific result.
• One indisputable fact is that greetings are an essential part
of a people’s way of life especially in Africa.
• Some of them have direct equivalents in French, others do
not for cultural reasons.

15. FRENCH EQUIVALENTS OF IGBO GREETINGS
Igbo English French
Time-specific
greetings
Morning I bọọla chi
I saala chi
Good morning Bonjour
Evening Ka chi foo See you
tomorrow
A demain
Activity-
specific
greetings
Work Jisie ike
Kedu maka oru?
I rụwala?
A na-arụ kwa
How is work?
How are you
doing?
Bon travail/ Bon
courage
Eating I riwala? Enjoy your
meal
Bon appetit

16. Welcome Unu abiala
I lola
You are
welcome
Soyez les
bienvenus
Parting Ka ọ di.
Nọdụ nu mma oo.
Ka emesia
Good bye Au revoir
Weather-
specific
greetings
Unu ahụla anwụ? It’s a sunny
day.
Quelle chaleur!
Blessings/Goo
d wishes
Ya gazie oo
Ije ọma oo
Chukwu gọzie gi oo.
Good luck
Safe journey
God bless you.
Bon chance
Bon voyage
Que Dieu vous
bénisse.
Context-
specific
greetings
Mourning
Achievement
s
Ndo o.
Kasie obi. Kaanụ ọma.
I gbaliala,
I’m sorry
What a pity!
Accept my
sympathy
Congratulation
s
Désolé
Quel dommage!
Mes
condoléances
Félicitations!

17. Honorifics: At
gatherings, in
the palace
Igweeeeeeeeeee!!!
Agụ na-eche mba!!!
Ϙnwa na-etiri ọha!!!
- -
Group
greetings:
(a)
Amụzụ Kwenu …..Iyaa
Rie nụ……….….…Iyaa
Ñụọnụ…………….Iyaa
Mụọ nụ…………....Iyaa
Zụọ nụ………….…Iyaa
Kwezuo nụ oo..…..Iyaa.
(b)Ndeewo nu…Ndeewo
(c)Daalụ nụoo…Daalụsọ
(d)Unu anọdụla ee?...Ee
(e)Mma mma nụ…Iyaa
(nwa m)
Amụzụ people,
I greet you
Les gens
d’Amụzụ, je vous
salue.
ou bien
Bonjour
General
greetings
Kedụ ka ọ di?
Ulo kwanu?
How are you?
How is the
family?
Comment ça va?
Et la famille?

18. • PROBLEMS OF TRANSLATING IGBO GREETINGS INTO FRENCH
• According to Davanineshad (2009), there are often more
problems in cross-cultural communication which happens
between people of different cultural backgrounds than in
communication between people of the same cultural
background.
• Each participant may interpret the other's speech according
to his/her own cultural conventions and expectations.
• If the cultural conventions of the speakers are widely
different, misinterpretations and misunderstandings can
easily arise, and can even result in total breakdown of
communication.

19. • Given that both languages and the cultures they express are
worlds apart there are bound to be problems in translating
greetings from one to the other.
• French belongs to the Indo-European family of languages
while Igbo belongs to the Kwa family of the Niger-Congo
phylum.
• Hence there is little or no resemblance or relationship
between them. Some of the problems encountered include:

20. 1. Dialectical differences
• It has already been mentioned that Igbo language has many
dialects as see in the examples below.
• Comb: nvuvo, nbubo, asara
• Oil: manu, mara
• Husband: di, ji
• Money: ikpeghe, ojomma, okpogho, ego, nwa ohuu
• These variations can constitute problems for a translator
who does not know or speak the dialects. He can get round it
by asking questions and contacting native speakers.

21. 2. Greetings in fixed expressions or clichés
• Jennifer’s Language Page agrees that some greeting words
and phrases have standardized forms.
• This is very true of Igbo language where some greetings are
in fixed expressions and vary from one part of Igboland to
the other.
• These greetings cannot be translated into French because a
literal translation would make them meaningless.
• The only way to get closer to an acceptable translation would
be to look for an equivalent situation and what the French
would say in that situation.

22. • For example, in Ngwa land, the younger person greets while
the older responds thus:
• Mazi………………………….….Nde (nne, nna, nwa m etc),
• Nawu……………………………Na nwa afo,
• Ka nka…………………….…….Nka mu na gi,
• Dabiri……………………………Ekpewara Chi.
• Olokoro people say: mma mma o…….…….iyaa (nwa m)
• Ohafia people say: Kaa nu…………….….Ka nnule
• Item people say: Juo kwa.

23. • These greetings call attention of the ones involved, wish
them long and enjoyable life. The person responding wishes
the one greeting the same.
• No French translation can capture the whole picture with all
the nuances contained therein.
3. Cultural undertones
• In Igboland, people have salutation names, honorifics, which
do not exist in the French culture. These honorifics become
greetings when the bearer is hailed.
• How does one translate the following salutation names or
praise names when they serve as greetings?

24. • Igweeeeee
• Onwaaaaa
• Gaa ga a n’ogwu
• Ideeee
• Agu na-eche mba
• O chiri o zuo
• Oke osisi
• As an example, Igwe literally means sky or heaven, onwa
(moon), agu na-eche mba (the tiger that watches over the
people). The cultural perception of the Igbo is seen in these
expressions with different symbols.

25. • One wonders whether the French can hail an individual by
calling him heaven or moon.
• The cultural context comes into play here and poses a
problem for an uninformed translator.
• Greetings are culture-specific. Jennifer’s Language Page
explains that some cultures have very lengthy complex
greetings while others do not.
• Besides, what may be polite and appropriate in one culture
may not be in another.
• These constitute problems in translating greetings.

26. • CONCLUSION
• It is an established fact that different people greet in
different ways, though greeting in itself is universal.
• Some greetings have equivalents in other languages while
some do not. This is because languages and cultures differ.
• The cultural context and undertone in greetings give specific
meanings to the greetings in the language in which they are
expressed.
• Translating greetings is a difficult task because many of the
greetings have no direct equivalent in other languages.

27. • The best that can be done is to find equivalent situations
where those greetings are used and apply them to the
language of the other culture.
• Hence language and culture play a very important role in
greeting. It is worthy of note that when people get to a
foreign land, one of the first things they learn is how the
people they are visiting.
• This warms them up to their hosts and makes their stay more
welcome. It is, however, very necessary to understand the
greetings in order to give the appropriate response in the
appropriate way. The world would be a better place.

28. • REFERENCES
• Adewole, Alagbe and Abraham,David. 2012. “The
Implications of Socio-cultural Meaning of Yoruba Greetings”
in Issues in Language and Human Development, A Festschrift
for Jerome Ikechukwu Okonkwo.Enugu: San Press Ltd.
• Chambers 21st Century Dictionary. 2001. India: Allied
Publishers Private Limited.
• Davaninezhad Forogh Karimipur. 2009. Cross-cultural
Communication and Translation. Translation Journal. vol.13
no.4. Oct.
http://translationjournal.net/journal/50culture.htm

29. • Jennifer’s Language Page: About Translating Greetings. 28
Apr 2015.
users.elite.net/runners/jennifers/abouttranslatinggreetings.h
tm
• Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary. 1981. U.S.A.: G.&C.
Merridian Co.
• Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. “Language families”
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/language.families
• Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. “Languages in West Africa”
en.wikipedia.org.

30. THANK YOU