Original Research

Presenting a pre-translation text analysis of Chinua Achebe’s novel A Man of the People

Oageng John Tsheole, Rampasane Sol Chaphole

Received: 09 Feb. 2026; Accepted: 16 July 2026; Published: 30 Sept. 2026

Copyright: © 2026. The Authors. Licensee: AOSIS.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Abstract

This article presents a pre-translation text analysis (PTA) of the novel A Man of the People by Chinua Achebe. PTA focuses on collecting intra-textual and extra-textual information (Nord 1991) about the source text. The process of gathering intra-textual information involves a thorough analysis of the source text’s linguistic peculiarities, whereas the analysis of extra-textual information focuses on the communicative properties of both source and target texts. In practice, PTA is essentially multidisciplinary, drawing on linguistics, translation theory, text typology and cultural studies. As such, the theoretical framework for this article is eclectic, borrowing from these fields of study. This study follows a qualitative approach. The data are derived from the satiric novel A Man of the People by Chinua Achebe and should not be regarded as empirical evidence. There is a dearth of published work on PTA relating to African indigenous-language literature, for example, literature in Setswana.

Contribution: This lacuna represents a gap in the knowledge base that warrants attention and provides a rationale for the current study. The findings of this paper will help guide translator trainees on the analysis required before embarking on the actual translation of a literary text.

Keywords: translation; pre-translation text analysis; A Man of the People; Chinua Achebe; theoretical framework.

Introduction

Literary translation represents a subfield of Translation Studies and involves transferring literary texts into different languages and cultures (Sayaheen, Sayaheen & Malkawi 2024). Examples include the translation of Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe into over 60 languages (Ochiagha 2022), the translation of the historical novel Chaka by Thomas Mofolo into 31 languages (Kunene 1989), and the translation of Mhudi by Sol Plaatje into French, Dutch, Italian (Willan 2015), and Setswana (Awung & Wagner 2025). Pre-translation text analysis (PTA) is fundamental for achieving reliable and accurate translation results (Gasparyan et al. 2014). This process enables translators to learn about the source text (ST) and provides them with the necessary information as they address the challenges posed by the ST to produce an authentic target text. Conducting a PTA of the ST equips the translator with relevant skills and strategies needed to minimise actual translation challenges. Gasparyan (2020) suggests a step-by-step guide to PTA. The first step is the collection of appropriate information relating to the ST to make the analysis complete and reliable. The information collected should include relevant data about the author, the culture, the country, the historical period, and the author’s intention and motivation (Ayupova 2014). The second step in PTA is collecting intra-textual information concerning the genre and its linguistic peculiarities, namely, the nature of the language used in the text under translation. Within this procedure, a thorough analysis of the ST is essential. The translator should determine what to transmit and how to transmit it into the newly created text, while keeping the ST features in mind and producing a readable and comprehensible new target text (Gasparyan 2020). The first step in PTA is based on socio-cultural relevance produced by the ST, whereas the second step determines the linguistic peculiarities relevant to the target text.

Newmark (1998) suggests that while collecting extra-textual information about the ST, one should keep in mind that the process automatically leads to the method of discourse analysis with its socio-cultural examination of extra-linguistic contexts. Pragmatic analysis is used with discourse analysis to determine the significance of translations on the intended audience. Discourse and pragmatic analyses together lead to the second stage of PTA, namely, the strategy of collecting intra-textual information of the ST.

Summary of A Man of the People

The novel, A Man of the People, is an example of African literature written in English by an acclaimed writer, Chinua Achebe, and published in 1966. The novel is considered Achebe’s commentary on the effects of a twisted system of independence in an unnamed country on the African continent (Obi 1990). In the novel, Odili Samalu challenges the unshakeable independence and leadership of Chief Nanga, who was a role model for high school students like Odili Samalu, who later wanted to leave teaching and enter politics. Chief Nanga ascended to power by joining the ruling party, the People’s Organisation Party (P.O.P.). Odili Samalu had hoped that corruption would stop under Chief Nanga’s rule, only to find that corruption got worse with Chief Nanga enriching himself with State resources. Corruption, state control, bribery and misuse of government resources were the order of the day in Chief Nanga’s regime. Odili and his friends started planning to form a political party to overthrow the government of Chief Nanga. The newly formed party aimed to establish a civil and accountable government that would eliminate corruption and tyranny in the country. The party found it difficult to attract followers because the public is accustomed to seeing its leaders misappropriating government funds. Dictatorship was beginning to manifest itself under the leadership of Chief Nanga, and this situation caused the country to face the prospect of civil unrest and the threat of civil war. As a result, the country’s military decided to overthrow the government and place the country under military rule.

Literature review

Timko (2021) writes from the point of view of pre-translation as an ‘essential part of translators’ training’. Her starting point is that a pre-translation analysis of any complex text is necessary; otherwise, the meanings are lost, and the author’s discourse is distorted. Timko (2021) goes on to say that a pre-translation analysis of the text allows the translator to determine the translation strategy, including the type of text being dealt with in the pre-translation phase (Newmark 1998; Reiss 2013) and its typical structure, as well as the features on which the internal and external form of the text depend. Also, there is a variety of linguistic features that must be conveyed in the translation, including the words and syntactic structures that should be given preference (Nord 1991).

FIGURE 1: Chief Albert John Mvumbi Luthuli: ‘A Man of the People’.

To understand the message, the translator must engage deeply the meaning of the ST, adding appropriate extra-linguistic information to the linguistic structure of the ST. Timko’s (2021) reference to ‘internal and external form of the text’ resonates with Gasparyan (2020), regarding the relevance of intra-textual and extra-textual information in PTA. Translational reading refers to the process of critically analysing the ST for comprehension and for identifying several features of the text that impact the translation process (Bayrak 2025). Cragie and Pattison (2017) break down the reading stages into four: the assignment stage, pre-translation reading, in-translation reading and post-translation reading.

Focusing on pre-translation reading, the translator should be considered both a re-reader and rewriter (Bassnett 2014). For Larson (1998), the translator’s role as a reader becomes apparent in the pre-translation stage as the translation process requires a deep engagement with the ST. Hence, the text needs to be read from a dual perspective, both as a reader and as a translator and/or writer. Translators can therefore anticipate how readers in the target language will understand and react to the text. Ayupova’s (2014) research focuses on theoretical issues in Translation Studies. She discusses models and approaches to translation proposed by Nord (1991), Newmark (1988), and Reiss and Vermeer (1984). Ayupova (2014) labels PTA approaches as (1) textocentric (linguistic), functional, and (3) communicative. The textocentric approach focuses on linguistic features to identify genre, text type, narrator position, language, and grammatical structure.

Supporters of the functional approach are particularly interested in elements outside of the text. This method asserts that it is critical to identify the ST components associated with the translation function and the transfer of culturally appropriate information to the target culture. This approach identifies extra-linguistic textual aspects as well as their impact on textual elements. This strategy is best demonstrated by Nord’s (1991) model.

In the skopos theory, the primary consideration is the dominance of the author’s intention (Reiss & Vermeer 1984). What this means is that the examination of the internal and external structure of the ST (Timko 2021) is the basis of a reliable PTA. Nord (1991) describes the internal and external form of a text as its intra-textual and extra-textual information. This branding offers a potent, productive and generative approach that precedes an effective translation process. The communicative approach in pre-translation analysis emphasises the function of the ST and its intended effect on the target audience to ensure an equivalent effect in the target language. The approach involves analysing extra-linguistic factors like the author’s intention, the addressee, the text’s context, and the communicative task to determine the most appropriate translation strategy (Di Nisio 2022).

Research methods and design

Research methodology is the framework that guides the research and helps the researcher to achieve the research aims and to answer the research questions. Cresswell (2014) defines research methodology as a systematic and theoretical analysis of the methods applied to a field of study. The methodology involves the theoretical framework, research design, data collection methods, and data analysis techniques used to investigate and possibly solve a research problem or issue. Smit (2011) adds that a research methodology is a detailed description of the methods that will be used to conduct the research. The research methods can be qualitative, quantitative or mixed, depending on the phenomenon under investigation. A research methodology will further specify the nature of the data for the research, data-gathering tools and strategies for data analysis.

This research will use a qualitative approach. The design is appropriate because the study will examine data derived from the text. The data for this study are mainly textual rather than empirical. The study focuses on the internal and external form of A Man of the People. An appropriate research methodology for PTA involves a combination of discourse analysis focusing on both intra-textual (linguistic features and extra-textual (socio-cultural aspects) factors and a translation-oriented pragmatic and communicative approach that serves the function and purpose of the target audience. Key steps include analysing genre, style, syntax and lexis, along with identifying the text’s purpose, intended audience and cultural contexts to inform translation strategies.

Theoretical framework

Nord’s (1991) model of translation serves as a theoretical framework that would enable translators to understand the functional elements contained in the content and structure of the ST.

There are advantages to Nord’s (1991) model. Firstly, the model is suitable for the translation of all text types. Secondly, the model encourages translators to take a broader view of what translation entails. Thirdly, the model is multipurpose and therefore can be applied in both translator training and professional practice (Nord 2018). Different models and approaches inform the translation process and define translation as an action (Ayupova 2014). For instance, Reiss and Vermeer’s (1984) theory argues that translation is based on the translator’s position in the translation process, as well as on the evaluation of the objectives of a translation. In contrast, Nord’s (1991) translation theory adopts a functional approach to the translation process, and this point is explained fully in Nord (2018). In particular, the translator applies extra-textual information to explain and understand the purpose and meaning of the ST. In addition, linguistic (intra-textual) aspects should be taken into consideration to complement extra-textual factors during the translation process.

Extra-textual factors in Nord’s translation theory

According to Nord (2005), extra-textual factors are communicative and situational factors that influence the use of the ST in effective translation (see also Newmark 1998). These factors constitute a text’s external structure, and they include the sender, the sender’s intention, audience, medium, place, time, motive and function (Nord 2005). The sender is the author, the audience is the target group, and the sender’s intention is the content of the text to be translated. All of these are interdependent, and they affect the translation process (Pym 1993). Nord (1997) has identified the following factors that affect extra-textual analysis:

• The theorist focuses on the function and text type, the characteristics of the receiver (audience), and the relevance of the place and time at which the message is rendered. Situational aspects such as social and cultural backgrounds of the language users are closely connected to the competences of both the translator and the recipient.
• Also, Nord (2005) focuses on the communicative function of the text through the universal functions of language. A reader participates in creating meanings when reading a literary text, based on his and/or her literary background, assumptions and imagination (see Kristeva 1980). On the other hand, the author might not even have intended those meanings.
• One of the biggest challenges for a literary translator is the cultural element inherent in a literary text. The translator will know much about his and/or her own culture (the Target Text [TT] culture). Knowing as much as possible about the author’s culture (ST culture) will enable the translator to make translation choices that will convey and adapt the Source Text (ST) culture into the TT culture, which will make sense to the target audience. In this sense, the translator is a target-text-culture-producer who produces a communicative instrument for the target culture (Armstrong 2005). In the process, the target text becomes the result of the interaction between two cultures.

The extra-textual factors described here cannot function without the linguistic instrument (the intra-textual factors) in an effective translation process

Intra-textual factors in Nord’s translation theory

The intra-textual factors are mainly concerned with the internal structure of the text itself. They include subject matter, content, composition of the text, presuppositions, lexis, sentence structure, suprasegmental features and non-verbal elements (Mujiyanto 2020). These factors fulfil specific functions in the translation process:

• Subject matter: This is the theme or overall meaning of the text.
• Content: Content refers to what the text is about.
• Composition of the text: This is the overall structure and arrangement of the text.
• Presuppositions: The knowledge that the author assumes the reader to have.
• Lexis: These are the words and the way they are used in the text.
• Syntax: This refers to sentence construction and the way it contributes to meaning.
• Suprasegmental features: These features include intonation, tone, stress and rhythm.
• Non-verbal elements: These refer to information conveyed through means like symbols, charts and images.

In Nord’s (1991) translation theory, these eight linguistic elements constitute the intra-textual factors involved in the translation process. With reference to suprasegmental features (Fox 2000; Katamba 1996), it would be helpful for the translator to know that translating A Man of the People from English into a language like Setswana will involve working from an intonation language (the source language) to a tone language (the target language). Both intonation and tone are markers that signal differences in meaning. In terms of sentence structure, both English and Setswana are SVO languages, in which the basic unmarked sentence structure is Subject-Verb-Object (Chomsky 1957, 1965, 1988; Li & Thompson 1976).

Data presentation and analysis

The data presented are in two parts, namely, extra-textual and intra-textual. We start with extra-textual information (the external structure of the text) followed by a discussion of intra-textual information (the linguistic peculiarities of the text).

The author

The author of the novel under discussion is Albert Chinualumogo Achebe. He was born on 16 Nov. 1930 in Ogidi, Nigeria, and died on 21 Mar. 2013, in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States of America. Achebe was raised in his ancestral Igbo village of Ogidi in southeastern Nigeria. His father was a missionary teacher, and his mother was convent-educated. The family revered the written word, and it was within that setting that Achebe’s fascination with the world of stories began (Ochiagha 2022):

• Chinua Achebe studied English, History and Literature at the University of Ibadan.
• He worked for the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation in Lagos.
• He co-founded a publishing company in Enugu with his friend, the poet Christopher Okigbo, who was killed in the war for the independence of Biafra.
• He openly supported the cause of Biafran independence during the Nigerian Civil War.
• He toured the US with fellow writers Gabriel Okara and Cyprian Ekwensi.
• He was director of two Nigerian publishers, Heinemann Educational Books Ltd. and Nwanko-Efejika Ltd.
• An automobile accident in Nigeria in 1990 left him partially paralysed and confined to a wheelchair.
• He moved to the US for treatment and taught at a number of universities.
• He received several honorary degrees from different universities.
• Achebe embodied indigenous [Igbo] selfhood and an elite colonial education. From the point of view of onomastics, his name, Chinualumogo, means ‘May my Chi fight my battles’ in his ancestral Igbo language.

In Standard English, the name translates as ‘May God fight for me’. We see a fusion of Igbo religion and Western Christian education coursing in his veins (Dowden 2013; Ochiagha 2022).

Chinua Achebe’s brief profile presented here is not complete or exhaustive in any way. If anything, it is a bird’s-eye view of this larger-than-life child of the universe.

Culture

Traditional Igbo religion includes belief in a creator god [Chukwu], an earth goddess [Ala], and numerous other deities and spirits, as well as a belief in ancestors who protect their living descendants. Many Igbo are now Christians, some practising a syncretic version of Christianity intermingled with indigenous beliefs. Achebe’s father was a missionary teacher who encouraged his son to read. His mother was convent-educated. As an individual, Chinua Achebe embodied Igbo African culture and Western British education.

Country

Nigeria is a diverse country in West Africa. It is the world’s most populous black country, rich in natural resources such as petroleum, and known for its vibrant culture and thriving film industry. The country is a federal republic with a bicameral system of government and 36 states. Nigeria gained independence in 1960, the aftermath of which could be regarded as Achebe’s motivation for writing his novel, A Man of the People. According to the narrator, there was no independence in independent Nangaland at the time of writing the story. Independence belonged to Chief Nanga and Chief Nanga alone. The citizenry of Nangaland experienced no independence because there was no Man of the People to interpret the essence of self-rule to the people.

Historical period

The novel A Man of the People by Chinua Achebe was written during the post-colonial period in Nigeria in 1966. This is a time marked by the nation’s ongoing struggles with corruption, political instability, and the lingering effects of colonialism. The novel was released shortly before the 1966 military coup in Nigeria.

Author’s intention

Achebe celebrated Nigerian independence with excitement, believing that Africa would soar. His disillusionment was swift, however, long before the rest of the world foresaw the political disaster that the new Africa was facing. His intention was to expose the widespread corruption and political instability in post-colonial Nigeria and to highlight the dangers of failed leadership and internal political strife.

Author’s motivation

The author’s motivation is to critique the corruption and political failures of newly independent African nations, to offer a realistic perspective on post-colonial life, and to expose the dangers of self-serving leadership (Britannica; Dowden 2013).

We now consider the linguistic peculiarities of the book under discussion.

Internal features of the novel

The internal features of the book refer to the linguistic peculiarities, also known as the intra-textual factors of the text. A Man of the People, published in 1966, reflected individual and collective disillusionment with the social and political realities of self-rule and the uncritical acceptance of corrupt leaders by the masses. A political satire, the novel is narrated in the first-person by Odili Samalu, an idealist who condemns the moral decadence of the political class, embodied in the antagonist Chief Nanga. The satirical novel ends with a military coup, a fictional denouement that foreshadows Nigeria’s first coup (Ochiagha 2022).

Riyandari (2003) observes that the first-person narrator, Odili Samalu, uses four distinct varieties of English. There is the Standard English mode used for the overall narration of the story, followed by the Standard English Dialogue used by educated characters in the novel. Then comes the Nigerian Pidgin English used in informal contexts. Lastly, there is Native or Igbo English, which draws on the rich oral traditions and features of the Igbo language, such as translating proverbs and local figurative usage unique to Igbo culture. This awareness of Englishes (Kachru 1986, 2006) relates to intra-textual presuppositions pertaining to the knowledge that the author assumes the reader to have (Nord 1991). The translator, as reader, is assumed or expected to have this knowledge. According to Patel (2022), Achebe’s narrative in A Man of the People reveals two distinct linguistic tools, namely, lexical items and syntactic structures. The narrator uses appreciative and depreciative modifiers in the text to characterise the lexical items for satirical denunciation. The syntactic structures of the satirical denunciation, on the other hand, are characterised by the use of compound sentences in the active voice, dialogue, direct speech interspersed with Pidgin English, and first-person singular narration (see also Riyandari 2003). A modifier, in the form of a word, phrase or clause, acts as an adjective or adverb to describe or clarify the meaning of a statement. Appreciative modifiers assign positive values, whereas depreciative modifiers are the opposite of appreciative modifiers. In the novel, these modifiers are reinforced by the deliberate use of action verbs to enhance theatrical scenes for maximum satirical impact (Patel 2022). In this book, the author accomplishes characterisation through the first-person singular narrator, who is the sole presenter of the characters and the events. Achebe communicates with his characters through their speech, dress, manner and action. These are non-verbal elements that Nord (1991) refers to in her intra-textual model of translation. Patel (2022) concludes that the characters and events in A Man of the People closely resemble those depicted in fictional works from most African countries.

Findings

This article confirms Nord’s (1991) translation theory that a text, particularly a literary text, has an internal and an external structure. Socio-cultural information about the background of the author and the historical period of the publication helps explain why language in the text is used in a particular manner. In this sense, a text’s internal and external structures are complementary, resulting in intra-textual and extra-textual information about a given text. Nord’s theory refers to the meaning intended by the author, as though a text has one meaning.

This point is arguable because any text can have a multiplicity of meanings (Kristeva 1980), given the varied literary backgrounds and life experiences of different respondents and readers. These contribute to different interpretations of the same text, thereby bringing about different meanings. Overall, we found Nord’s model suitable for the pre-translation analysis of Chinua Achebe’s novel, A Man of the People. Furthermore, based on our experience of applying this model in the article, we predict that the model can be used successfully in the pre-translation analysis of comparable literary texts.

Conclusion

This article set out to present a PTA of Chinua Achebe’s novel, A Man of the People.

The article gave examples of classical texts that have been translated into other languages, to situate the purpose of the paper within the broader discipline of Translation Studies. From here, the paper concentrated on PTA itself, its definition, and the views of other translation researchers about it.

With a solid understanding of what PTA entails, the article selected Nord’s (1991) model as a theoretical framework. With this analytical tool in hand, the paper presented a detailed pre-translation analysis of Achebe’s novel. The complementary categories of intra-textual and extra-textual information proved particularly effective in achieving the purpose of the article.

Acknowledgements

This article is based on research originally conducted as part of Oageng John Tsheole’s master’s dissertation titled ‘Phetolelo Ya A Man of The People Ya Ga Chinua Achebe mo Setswaneng: Tsharololelo-Pele ya Sefetolewa ka Melebo ya Tlhaeletsano le Bodirisego’, submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, School of Languages, Setswana Subject Group, North-West University, in 2023. The dissertation is currently unpublished and not publicly available. The thesis was supervised by Eileen Elizabeth Pooe. The supervisor was not involved in the preparation of this article and were not listed as co-authors. The dissertation was reworked, revised, and adapted into a journal article for publication. The authors confirm that the content has not been previously published or disseminated and complies with ethical standards for original publication.

The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.

Oageng John Tsheole: Investigation, Resources, Writing – original draft. Rampasane Sol Chaphole: Project administration, Writing – review & editing. Both authors reviewed the article, contributed to the discussion of results, approved the final version for submission and publication, and take responsibility for the integrity of its findings.

Ethical clearance to conduct this study was obtained from the North-West University Ethics Committee for Language Matters (No. NWU-01445-25-A7).

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

The authors confirm that the data supporting this study and its findings are available within the article and its listed references.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and are the product of professional research. They do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated institution, funder, agency or that of the publisher. The authors are responsible for this article’s results, findings, and content.

References