Reading Ruth as an Akan Story: A Proposal for an Alternative Akan Mother-Tongue Translation of Ruth 1.1

Abstract

One of the key steps in interpreting a biblical text is to identify its literary genre correctly. It is important for Bible translators to ensure that the translated text takes account of the genre of the source text and that an appropriate genre from the receptor culture is employed. The book of Ruth is generally recognized as a story. Yet, the translation of Ruth 1.1 into three Akan dialects—Asante, Akuapem, and Fante—does not introduce what follows in the book as a story and so Akan readers may not correctly interpret Ruth as a story. It is against this backdrop that this paper examines storytelling elements in the book of Ruth through a discourse analysis and then offers an alternative Akan translation of Ruth 1.1 that will lead to an improved interpretation and appropriate application of the message of the book.