BY KWANELE TSABEDZE
MBABANE – To help keep siSwati alive, a graduate from the University of Eswatini (UNESWA) has developed a translation handbook for the language.
Thobeka Nxumalo revealed that as a linguist, she was inspired to write the book after a real life encounter which proved its necessity.
We caught up with Nxumalo to ask her a few questions about the ‘Siswati Simnandzi’ English to Siswati translation handbook, and here is what she had to say:
EPN: Please give us a brief background of Thobeka Nxumalo?
Thobeka: My name is Thobeka Prominent Nxumalo. I am 27 years of age. My home is Maphalaleni and I am the 3rd born of nine siblings. I did my primary school education at Ezulwini Primary School from Grade 1 to Grade 4 and then finished off my primary education at Kwaluseni primary school. From there I proceeded to do my high school at Swazi National High School. God being great I managed to enroll at the University of Eswatini pursuing my undergraduate degree in Bachelor of Arts degree in Humanities majoring in African Languages and Literature and History. I graduated in October 2019 and then from there I pursued my Post Graduate Certificate in Education.
EPN: Why did you decide to create a translation handbook for Siswati?
Thobeka: The idea to actually write the translation handbook was one that I had carried with me two years prior to me beginning to write it. I was with a few friends of mine at one of the local tourist attraction areas in Eswatini around Malkerns. While we were leaving, there was a bus that entered the place and in it were tourists from France who overheard my friends and I conversing in Siswati. One of the tourists came to us to compliment us on the language, how beautiful it was and how they would love to learn the basics when they visit the country, which they said was quite frequent. So among my group of friends, I was the only one who was a linguist so they pushed me to the front and said I must teach him a word or two. It was such a lovely experience seeing this man being mesmerized by the language. He said to me “I wish there was something that would help us learn the language here because the culture and the people are so beautiful” About a week later I called my languages lecturer Mrs G Malaza to pitch the idea and she totally fell in love with it – so upon getting her excitement about it I began writing the handbook. Just like that. Okay maybe not. (laughs) I began the handbook 2 years later when I was more confident in myself and I had done some research.
EPN: In your research, what did you find to be the biggest opportunities In the Siswati language space in the country?
Thobeka: Okay so initially the translation handbook was meant to be for tourists. I wanted to do this as an innovative idea that had not been done before. However, the more I researched I realized that there is actually a big gap between the language and the people. There are not that many resources that provide the language. People can only learn the language in school and even then, most people find it difficult to translate the Siswati words without the aid of an English equivalent. Even Google Translate has 13 African Languages and Siswati is not among those. As a Swati woman and a passionate African Languages graduate, I felt that it was up to people like me to keep the language alive. In addition, a few friends of mine who are teachers have expressed their concerns over their learners having a challenge with English in schools. A lot of the learners either find it difficult to translate Siswati to English or vice versa and this handbook provides a solution to that challenge.
EPN: What challenges did you encounter as you developed the handbook?
Thobeka: Well, as any other startup innovative idea, it was really difficult to find people that actually believe in the idea. The few that have believed in it just want to believe in it from afar. It has been a challenge finding someone to work with in editing and actually printing the copies of the book and distributing it. I have approached a few partners but I haven’t gotten a solid positive response which can be quite demotivating especially when you believe in your idea so much. I also have a challenge with the business side of things. I need someone to help me with the business side because it is not my forte! I have no doubt that if those challenges were solved, this translation handbook would be a hit.
EPN: What are your next steps with the Siswati Simnandzi translation handbook?
Thobeka: Okay, so far I have a friend of mine who is a teacher in one of the rural schools and he is eager to help do a trial with his school in collaboration with the English and Siswati department so that we can have numbers and proof that it works. After that we license it, and then God willing we can begin printing and distribution at the beginning of next year.
Nxumalo says the main main vision for this handbook is to have every Swati child be proud of the Siswati language and to have our language documented so it doesn’t become extinct.
“There are approximately 308 highly endangered languages spoken in Africa (roughly 12% of all African languages) and at least 201 extinct African languages and I do not want my language to be a part of the statistics. As a woman who studied African languages and a Swati woman, I do not want to go down in history as the ones that failed,” concludes Nxumalo.
