Cross-Cultural Communication: Translational Context of African Tonal Languages in the West

~ David Achodo

15th Annual Meeting of the Southeast African Language and Literature Forum (SEALLF) at East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN. OCT 29-31 2025.

In the current study, I investigate the obstacles inherent in translating African tonal languages, focusing on the Beninese Fon, into French. The Fon tonal system, made up of diacritical marks and tonal spelling, complicates the realization of an equitable translation and effective cultural mediation.

Full abstract available here.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20681105

Unknown's avatar

Published by David Achodo

David Achodo is a PhD candidate and Graduate Teaching Associate in French at the University of Tennessee, USA. He is the Primary Organizer and Founding Member of the “World Languages and Cultures Graduate Student Association,” University of Tennessee. A French, English, German, Fon, and Yoruba speaker, Achodo is a Scholar, Translator, Interpreter, Poet and Preacher.

Your motivating, amazing, constructively honest comments to my posts take me farther than eagle's wings!