By
Isyaku
Bala Ibrahim
1.0 Introduction
Communication is one
important fact that made the world what it is today. It is a world where
barriers are falling apart because we can today understand each other more and rightly
through conventional and unconventional means. The conventional means are
through the use of language and the unconventional means are through technologies.
Language is one important aspect of our lives that makes us what we are, human. The ability to speak one's language is another important thing in the life of any
individual and for other people who are not one's tribespersons, makes it more
interesting. Languages present the identity of our complex world. This
complexity is reflected in the multiplicity of the over six thousand languages
therein and the interactions among them. These interactions occur as a result
of the unrelenting human activities like trade, spread of knowledge, religion, socialization
that demand movements or interconnections of societies and their civilizations from
one part of the world to another, which poses one important challenge, the
challenge of understanding each other; this is where as in the past, the services
of ‘interpreters and translators are now more essential to enable both parties understand
each other.
2.0
Brief History of Translation/European Renaissance
Somewhere in Spain, and
to be exact in Toledo, translation was what triggered the scientific
renaissance of the world in the twelfth century. In a presentation by the School
of Translators of Toledo asserted,
“The
School of Translators of Toledo is considered to be an historical fact which
took place in the 12th and 13th centuries. Systematically and with the support
of the Archbishopric of Toledo, and of King Alfonso X himself later, many
Arabic works which contained part of the Greek, Persian, Indian and Arabic
science and philosophy and which have survived until our days were translated.
This situation was made possible to the fact that Toledo was the first great
Muslim city of Al-Andalus conquered by a Christian kingdom. When Castilian king
Alfonso IV conquered the city in 1085, he found out that there were plenty of
original works in the libraries of Toledo, including the remaining works from
the library of Al-Hakam II in Cordoba, which had managed to gather up to
400,000 volumes. All that, along with the presence of a large number of
Muslim, Hebrew, Mozárabe, Latin and Frankish educated people in the city, made
possible that scholars and translators from all over Europe gathered in Toledo
to know and share the scientific and philosophical knowledge of Al-Andalus and
Sefarad. Toledo was not just a vast translation centre, but also a
place for meditation on the organization of knowledge, which later proved to be
crucial because of its repercussion on European culture.” 1
It concluded also that,
“Thanks to the
translations of Arabic texts into Latin and Castilian language which were made
in Toledo, Aristotelianism and mainly Averroísm arrived in Europe. The works of
Aristotle influenced the ideas of St Thomas and the Scholastic, and, after
being spread, the ideas of Averroes brought about several confrontations
between philosophers and theologians in the University of Paris. The
contribution of the School of Translators was remarkably significant in
Medicine, Mathematics, Astronomy and Astrology. In Mathematics the sexagesimal
system, the algorism and the number zero were spread. The translations of
astronomical subjects, along with the works supported by Alfonso X, meant the
birth of European astronomy, so much so that The Alfonsine Tables of Toledo
helped Copernicus to develop his heliocentric theories.
Finally,
translators did not only help to spread texts, but, what is more important, to
spread the Islamic experimental method consisting of experience, observation
and analogy; which would prove to be crucial for the later development of
modern science and European Renaissance.” 2
Nigeria is a state with over three hundred languages, and with their sub-tribes, over five hundred. Nupe is one of the major languages in the country. Today, there is no tentative figure on the number of speakers but they are predominantly found in Niger, Kwara, Kogi States, and the Federal Capital Territories (FCT). This bridge was caused by non inclusion of the language/tribe/ethnic group on the census questionnaire in the recent conducted census in the country. Though, the earliest censuses showed that Nupes numbered 650,000 in 1963, and it grew by 1986 to a population of 1,314,000. It is ranked among the first ten major tribes in Nigeria. The language has a well established literary tradition dating over a century.
3.0 Complexities of Language Translation
There are several kinds/approaches to
translations:
Formal equivalence — literal translation of the
text, it is a word for word translation.
Dynamic equivalence – it is also known as the
functional equivalent- it expresses the essential thought in the source text.
Classification
of Translations
In most societies,
people understand other people through oral transmission of language. When
people from say north move to the south for work or any other engagement that
will make them spend some time in the place, they are expected to at least
understand one or more languages which are often learned orally more especially
the dominant ones or the lingual Franca in such areas. So when one visits the
North, he is expected to learn Hausa; in the south, when one visits, he is expected
to learn at least Yoruba or Igbo. Written documents on the languages are almost
absent and the rigorous process of getting right the orthographies could be
tiring.
i.
Back-text translation – recovery process- is a translation of a translated text back into the language of
the original text, made without reference to the original text. It is also
called "round-trip translation”
ii.
Forward Translation - It is a one language
translation oral or written.
iii.
Mixed translation - a word like ‘come’ can be
translated into three Nigerian languages as in Wa (Yoruba), Zo (Hausa), Bia
(Igbo). It is a translation in more than a language at a time or in a written text.
Issues/challenges of Translation
Issues/challenges of Translation
1.
Reliance on a third-party called an
Interpreter– In the introduction of his grammar book, Rev. Crowther said, “In
translating into a newly reduced language, without the aid of a good native
interpreter, there is a great disadvantage if the construction is made according
to the idiom of a foreign language, instead of the idea and idiom of the
language into which the translations are being made. The force of the original
will thus be destroyed. Native idea, idiom, and construction should be studied
as much as possible, so as to convey the subject home to the mind through the
proper channel.”
2.
Mis-0r mal -translation – ‘Kare jini, biri jini’ this is
a Hausa idiomatic expression that heated-up the polity in the wake of the April
2011 elections. Most newspapers in the south did not translate the expression
properly. It technically means ‘struggling it out between two contending
parties.’
3.
False equivalents - the use of unsuitable words which lead to change in the message.
There are three basic facts or
assumptions worth noting in translating a language to another:
i.
No perfect translation – it is not possible to
get a hundred percent translation exactly as the source language. The closest
one is to the meaning and the message, the better the translation.
ii.
Respect the language-registers: words that
suggest names of people, places and things should be left in their original
language format.
iii.
The translator must be fluent in the source and
the text languages to be able to bring out a good work. Roger Bacon wrote
in 13th century that if a translation is to be true, the translator
must know both languages, as well
as the science that
he is to translate; and finding that few translators did, he wanted to do away
with translation and translators altogether.
Why
Translate a Language
When a language is
translated into one or more languages, there are expected effect on the people and
the society. Some of which are:
1.
Cultural promotions
2.
Language development
3.
Academic Experience
4.
Religious Propagations: Different religions in the world today most especially Islam and
Christianity have developed a friendly method of evangelism where God’s message
and religious doctrines are presented to the target group in the way and manner
they will understand. So language is the key to achieving that. That is the
more reason why Qur’an and the Bible are the most translated books on earth.
5.
Social Cohesion, Understanding and Harmony
There is always a need for the projection of one’s culture
for the other to recognize and appreciate, and there is a special bond a
language creates when a person not from your tribespersons can speak or write in
ones language.
4.0
Nupe Language Translation
Language translation is
generally a double-edge sword. It involves translating a language into another
language vice versa. This can be traced back to the early missionaries of both
Islam and Christianity. The early Islamic scholars used the Qur’an and Hadiths
to translate/interpret in Nupe their messages to Muslims from the oral to the
written Nupe Ajami. It was widely used
by the businesspersons, emirates and the aristocrats in the ancient Nupe
Kingdom from about seventeenth century through the use of translators or
interpreters orally or written. This trend continued until the coming of the
Christian Missionaries whose activities heightened in the mid-nineteenth
century in the kingdom.
“At the
dawn of the twenty-first century a new interest in vernacular translations has
arisen among Nigerians. It is fueled by the
popularity of the Jesus film, which is being dubbed into the tribal
languages. Most of this work is being done by Nigerians themselves, many of
whom have been prepared in United Missionary Church schools such as the United
Missionary Church of Africa Theological College and the Tungan Magajiya Bible
College. Often this has been followed by linguistic training from the Nigerian
Translation Trust, an heir of Wycliffe Bible Translators.”3
Early Nupe Translations
The use of the indigenous languages became a catch for
effective evangelization of Nupe Kingdom in the nineteenth century which called
for translations of the scriptures in the native languages. So this profession was
pioneered by the Church missionaries in the 1840s. The activities in the 19th
century have made tremendous impact in the literary activity and development of
the Nupe language. Nupe was among the first target when
mission stations were stationed in different parts of Niger River territories.
The Anglican Bishop Herbert Tugwell suggested
that the missions interested in the Nupe come together in a conference to
decide on matters related to translation questions. These missions were the
Anglican Church Missionary Society (CMS), SIM and the Brethren Mission (UMS).
Their first meeting was held at Pategi in 1906 where they settled on a working
alphabet. They also planned to translate the Ten Commandments, the Apostles’
Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer. Banfield was asked to be the secretary. The
second meeting in 1907 was at Shonga, and later meetings were at Pategi in 1908
and 1909. At the first conference J. L. McIntyre (CMS) was asked to write a
Nupe grammar. Banfield was to revise his translation of the Gospels. After the
committee decided his translation of the Gospels was good quality it went to
the Bible Society and they were printed in 1908. The Banfields were on furlough
and were able to be in London when the Gospels were being printed.
The Nupe Literature Conference’s work was
not the first attempt at Bible translation into Nupe...It is likely the
Anglicans made Banfield aware of earlier efforts. As early as 1877, Samuel
Crowther had a translation of the Gospel of John printed by CMS in London,
fruit of his many contacts with the Nupe and attempts to open the kingdom to
Christian missionaries. In 1886-87, the BFBS published the four Gospels
translated by Archdeacon Henry Johnson and a later revision by J. L. McIntyre
and T. W. Bako in 1889. This same Thomas Bako also had a translation of the
Psalms, with revisions by Obadiah Thomas and J. J. Williams, published in 1903
after Bako’s martyrdom. As they met, the 1909 Literature Conference urged
Banfield to continue translating.4
Pioneer
Nupe Translators
The interesting part of
the earlier Nupe translators was that their source language was not Nupe. They
worked through oral interpreter or translators to get their messages across to
their target group or their work published.
Reverend Samuel Ajayi Crowther (c. 1809 -1891)
i.
Primer
for the Nupe language in 1860
ii.
A
grammar and vocabulary of Nupe in 1864
iii.
Translated
Gospel of John into Nupe in 1877
Rev. Henry Johnson
i. i. Nupe
reading book and a translation of the Catechism of the Church of England, 1883.
12 pages
ii. ii. He translated the Gospels into Nupe and popularly
known as the African Pastor between1886-1887
iii. iii. Adua Lazhin be Lozun.
| Be Litani. Be Gigo Lilici. | Be Baptismi Lilici. | To Katekismi. Be Konfirmesoni.|
nimi ezhi Nupenci.
| (Portions of the Book of Commmon Prayer in the Nupe language.), 1899
T. W. Bako
i.
1. Alikéwo Wóró nyá Jesu Kristi Cocĩ to Zaboluguoyi (
Gospels (revised), a 283 page book with J. L. Macintyre, CMS, and T. W. Bako in 1899
ii. Psalms into Nupe in 1903. It was revised before printing by O. Thomas and J. J. Williams
iii. Enikozi (Songs/Hymns) , a 169 page book in 1903 with
Alexandra
Banfield Wood (1878-1949)
|
A.W. Banfield was an evangelist
who stayed in Tsonga (Shonga) for over two decades in the current Kwara State
of Nigeria. He started the work of translating the Bible into Nupe in 1900s; by
1908 he has translated the four Gospels into Nupe language from English Bible. In 1914 Banfield completed the entire translation of the New
Testament Nupe language and later the whole Old Testament. He is considered as
giant in Bible translation.
However, R. V. Bingham, the co-founder of
SIM said: “Mr Banfield applied himself wholeheartedly to mastering this
difficult tongue. Into it he began to translate the precious Word of God. He
compiled his own dictionary and when he returned from his first furlough he had
ready the manuscript which the British and Foreign Bible Society printed, so
that he was able to take back to the field these portions of the New Testament
(the four Gospels) to the two or three million people who spoke the Nupe
language.” Bingham later said: “A.W. Banfield set the standard and tone for
SIM’s translation programme.”5
He used the Niger Press and published
his works which are listed below:
i.
Gospels (Matthew, Luke, John & Mark, 1908
ii.
Completed the translation draft of the
whole New Testament in 1914 using the Reverse Standard Version of 1881.
iii.
Romans- Revelation (Portion of the Bible), 1910-1915
iv. A Grammar of the Nupe Language together with a Vocabulary by A. W. Banfield & J. L. Macintyre in 1915
v.
A Nupe Dictionary in two volumes of over
13,000 words was also published; volume 1 in 1914 and volume 2 in 1916.
vi.
Published in 1916, Gamaga - Nupe Proverb and translated in English, a collection of
623 Nupe proverbs.
vii.
Published Zabura tò Gạ̀cìṇẓì. (Psalms and Proverbs – Part of the Old Testament into Nupe) in 1920 and
revised by a committee in 1950, the committee included: A. W. Banfield, I. W. Sherk, F. Merryweather, A. E. Ball, and C. H. Daintree.
viii.The whole bible in 1953 by same committee.
Examples of translations done
by Banfield in his proverb book wrote:
Bolanci è la ewun zhe etsan ò : (Nupe
Language)
A weak person turns a quarrel into laughter. (i.e., he can't fight
it out.) (Translation)
Cintara wuryagi kun dinni nya
à, a ci ba ù nya dinni nance à : (Nupe Language)
The goat's tail that is not long enough to switch flies, should
not be cut off to make a fly -switch (i.e., if he cannot support himself he
cannot support others). (Translation)
Isaac Madugu
Sharp Sayings: Aphorisms of Jesus in the
Gospels
1994
Sheikh Saidu
Muhammad Enagi (1952 – 2011)6
Translated the Holy Qur’an into Nupe Language in 2002
Ambassador
Solomon Adama Yisa
Just published a 900 page Nupe Heritage Dictionary to be presented
to the public this week in Abuja
5.0 The Government effort and Policies on Indigenous
languages
The impact of
language development could be felt more when government creates the enabling
environment for it to strive. That is by establishing policies that encourage the
languages. The former National Language Center, now transformed into the
current Language Development Center (LDC) and placed under the Nigerian
Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), in 1976 suggested that,
in addition to the three major languages, viz: Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba, only
the following nine of the remaining 387 or so indigenous languages in the
country should be allowed to feature in the country's formal school system:
Edo, Fulfulde, Ibibio, Idoma, Igala, Ijaw, Kanuri, Nupe, and Tiv.
Thereafter, the Federal Republic of Nigeria through National
Policy on Education (NPE) mentioned in an official document first published in
1977, revised in 1981, it for the first time laid it down as a policy for the
whole country that:
a. in primary
School, which lasts six years, each child must study two languages,
namely: (i) his mother-tongue (if available for study) or an indigenous
language of wider communication in his area of domicile, and (ii) English
language;
b. in Junior
Secondary School (JSS), which is of three years' duration, the child must study
three languages, viz: (i) his mother-tongue (if available for study) or an
indigenous language of wider communication in his area of domicile, (ii)
English language, and (iii) just any one of the three major indigenous language
in the country, namely, Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba, provided the Language chosen
is distinct from the child's mother-tongue;
c. in Senior
Secondary School (SSS), which also lasts three years, the child must study two
languages, viz: (i) an indigenous language, and (ii) English
language.7
In 1978, the Niger State government
inaugurated the Nupe Language Project Committee to look into the possibility of
teaching the language in public schools especially at the primary and secondary
school levels, the state drew its inspiration from the conclusion of the
National Language Centre that included Nupe among major languages to be taught
at that stage. Sadly, this effort was never realized.
Furthermore, in the portion of the 1989 Nigeria constitution dealing
with the educational objectives of the policy. Section 19 sub-sections (4),
says simply that "Government shall encourage the learning of indigenous
languages."8
In
addition, government established media9 organizations both print and
electronic in northern Nigeria to reach out to its people with educative and
informative local programmes in different languages. At the beginning,
indigenous languages programmes that involves news gathering, interpretation and
translations was part of the core programmes of these organizations, which was a
good language development tool that has the ability to transform the society,
suddenly stopped broadcasting in some, with only a skeletal transmission in the
Hausa. For instance:
i.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the weekly Nupe
Newspaper, Nnanyitsu published by the
Gaskiya Corporation, Zaria with over 2500 copies weekly circulation had stopped
long ago.
ii. The Nupe half-hour programme aired on the Radio Nigeria
Kaduna in the 1960s had also stopped.
However, despites all the efforts by
government in promoting indigenous languages in the country through policies,
Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba got the dismal result, the rest, total neglect. So, in
the face of official neglect, the responsibility of Nupe speakers is obvious.
The onus is on them to keep their language alive by using it as medium of communication all the time and
to also get involved in language engineering with the aim of making Nupe
acquire tools needed to communicate efficiently in today’s changing world.
6.0 Current Efforts:
Since year 2007,
new nerve of creative art brew into Northern Nigeria, specifically in Niger
State thereby repositioning itself as the literary hub of the country. Book
activities were energized and momentum increased. In a bid to responds to this
hype, I wrote,
collaborated, or translated the following books in an effort to further promote
the language:
i.
Eganmaganzhi Nupe (Nupe Proverbs – over a
thousand proverbs with English translation and explanations) in 2009. Here are
examples of the proverbs:
“Soko gá tankpolo cin be ezhi lo è,
wun à de kara eza na wun à fu dan na.
When God has
destined the travelling of a toad, it
will hop into a traveller’s luggage. (i.e. Whatever
God had ordained for any person, he will get it.)
Eza è cewo ya
ti ù wun kpé éwó so à.
A person does not trade alone and defrauds himself.
(i.e. One cannot deceive himself).”
10
ii.
Prof. Mohammad Kuta Yahaya’s play – Ignorance is a Disease was also
translated and acted into Nupe Language book (Rakpebo Batán Wun Yi ò) and film respectively in 2012, it was a collaboration
between me and the Sadisu Mohammad, a Nupe Filmmaker.
iii.
Translated into Nupe language BM Dzukogi’s Sex is Beautiful titled Cìn Sà. This is an excerpt from the
book:
“Nyizagi ndondo kpe aziki na
dan nyizagibo ù na. Nyizagi ndoro kpe wó gan muradi bagi gá yi nyizagibo wun
bo. Nyizagi, ba na wun sà tu à na, bòla wun yi ò, alita na è fò bagi sharya na
ù yi ò. Wun ma kpe acin; wun kpe gan éyézhi kpátá zhe dan ù. Kpekpewo nana,
ganganni be kemina a ku ù dan dozhi ge na, wun à jin wun fe ka ù gi, yekpa nyá
didàbéwo be èsà è. Nyizagi sà à ka a la de egwa la tò wun à.” 11
“Everywoman knows the treasures called
femininity. Each woman knows that the terminal goal of man for the day is her
femininity. A woman, no matter how bad looking, is a delicate, lucid creature
that tickles another man’s fancy. She understands this; she believes that all
eyes are on her. This consciousness, together with her adorable nature,
regularly ignites in her, the sense of self-esteem and beauty. A woman is ugly
only when not touched”
iv.
Finally, through the Niger State Book Development Agency, Minna, efforts is
being made to get late Chinua Achebe’s Things
Fall Apart translated into some indigenous languages, among which Nupe
language was included. It is interesting to note that this classical book has
been translated into over 50 languages of the world, sadly, none from Nigeria.
The Nupe Translation by Allah’s grace would be ready before the end of the
year, here is an excerpt from the translated work:
égó dan zumata èmì Okonkwo ò. èfògi na lo
èmì ù na gá yi eba na dan ègba-egundzuru na bishezhi è lo be ezhin ebo ègi à
zhi ò na. Èfo wunci ma la eza wo à. Égó
zumata nana gá Obierika la komishina be eza ù zhi da ò. A ci à ganshe nbaga be
saza è, a ci à tsò ba ègba ò. Nyana we wó wo na gá yi bicí à zhi na è ban finigbásázhi
be nyi na. 12
There was a small bush behind Okonkwo’s compound. The only opening into
this bush from the compound was a little round hole in the red-earth wall
through which fowls went in and out in their endless search for food. The hole
would not let a man through. It was to this that Obierika led the Commissioner
and his men. They skirted round the compound, keeping close to the wall. The
only sound they made was with their feet as they crushed the dry leaves.13
7.0 Conclusion
In Niger State, writers are
not resting on their oars in a bid to re-energize the almost forgotten Nupe
Language Project Committee set up by the then Military Administrator of the
State, Colonel Ola Oni. For that reason,
we have devised means of furthering the development of the indigenous languages
in the state most especially, the Nupe language in the following ways:
-
Opening of a
translation bureau in collaboration with the Niger State Book Development
Agency to published translated works of writers in the areas of Prose, Poetry,
even sciences and humanities.
-
Teaching the
language at HillTopArts Centre, Minna owned by the HillTopArts Foundation
-
Proposing to
host a Nupe Language Conference to further promote the teaching of the language
in schools in the states.
If translation of texts was
used as a tool for scientific development and above all the European
Renaissance, I am hopeful that this can be repeated in Nigeria or the whole
Africa. The impediment here would be the absence of a strategic plan by
government, and the inactivity of the languages concerned to consolidate on the
past efforts and devising new approaches of producing works and popularizing
the use of translation in developing our indigenous languages.
Endnotes:
1The
School of Translators of Toledo, University Board of Toledo (within
the University of Castilla-La Mancha) Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha,
Spain. http://www.uclm.es/escueladetraductores/english/history/ (accessed 17 June 2013)
2Ibid
3Erdel, Dr Paul, Vernacular Language Translators and the Missionary Church
4Mason, Jim (2009). Literature Outreach in Nigeria: A History of SIM Literature Work 1901 – 1980. Waterloo
5R. V.
Bingham, Seven Sevens of Years and a
Jubilee, Evangelical Publishers, Toronto, Canada, 1943.
6Ndagi, M. U. Sheikh Saeedu Muhammad Enagi
(1952-2011). Weekly Trust newspaper. Abuja: 12 November 2011
7Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1981. National Policy on Education. Revised. Lagos, Nigeria: NERDC
Press.
8Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1989. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Ilorin,
Nigeria: Woye Printers & Publishers.
9See a Report of the Use of Mother Tongue for Literacy Part III: Nigeria
by UNESCO / University of Ibadan.
Ibadan: 13-23 December, 1964, p 62-64.
10Ibrahim, I. B. (2009) ‘Eganmaganzhi Nupe (Nupe Proverbs)’, over a thousand (1000)
proverbs. Minna: Gandzo Enterprises.
11See Chapter 9 (first paragraph).
Dzukogi, BM. (2008), Sex is Beautiful,
Ibadan Kraft Books; and it translation, Cìn Sà
(unpublished).
12Excerpt from Enyazhi à Gbìnya (Things Fall Apart),
Nupe Language Translation by Isyaku Bala Ibrahim (Unpublished).
13Achebe, Chinua. (2008) Things
Fall Apart. Essex: Pearson Education Limited Edition – Chapter 25, pp. 164-6.
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