Translation allows stories the freedom to travel, giving readers access to stories that they otherwise might have missed out on. Most readers are familiar with Grimm’s fairy tales from childhood, partially thanks to its translation into several world languages – seconded by another popular and controversial book, The Holy Bible.
The UNESCO Index Translationum is a central database of world translations which aims to keep a record of countries, authors, languages and translated works. According to this, the world’s most translated authors are Agatha Christie, Jules Verne and William Shakespeare. Good translation becomes an art, allowing stories and information a conduit to spread.
Alex J Coyne examined some of the South African stories found in translation, and what important lessons translation might have to teach.
Kings, gods and politics: Early South African translations
Lesotho-born author Thomas Mofolo’s novel Chaka is a viable starting point for exploring the history of translation. The novel, showcasing the Zulu monarch’s rise to power, was first published in 1925, after which it was translated into English (1931) and then into Afrikaans in 1974.
Religious texts provide an earlier example, where the first isiZulu Bible was published by the American Bible Society, first in 1883, then in 1959 and again in 2020. This predates the Afrikaans version, which appeared only in 1933, 1953, 1983 and 2023.
It’s a little-known fact that author Eugene Marais translated The Transvaal from within (Fitzpatrick) into Dutch, of course secretly, from London. The Communist manifesto appears with an Afrikaans introduction in 1937, released by the Workers’ Party of South Africa. Kings, gods, and politics: it’s interesting to see which topics attracted translation first.
About Jonker and The rubaiyat
The rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam was, perhaps surprisingly, translated into Afrikaans by Abraham Jonker in 1950. Poetess Ingrid Jonker’s staunch National Party parent was also part of the government’s censorship board – and supposedly didn’t care much for poetry or his daughter’s writing. SA History Online highlights the severity of bans, including how thousands of titles were burned during apartheid.
Jonker was not the first to translate The rubaiyat. CJ Langenhoven had beaten him by more than a quarter of a century!
Winnie-the-Pooh first appears in Afrikaans during 1952, translated by Gratia Hess. Ingrid Jonker’s poem is translated from Afrikaans and read by Nelson Mandela: The child who was shot dead by soldiers at Nyanga is more than just a famous translation, but an iconic and historical move. Zulu author Sibusiso Nyembezi writes his novel The rich man of Pietermaritzburg (Zulu: Inkinsela YaseMgungundlovu) in the 1960s, though it’s only translated into English later – in 2018. Andre P Brink’s 1973 novel Kennis van die aand (later translated as Looking on darkness) is the first Afrikaans book banned by the South African government. Author Miriam Tlali’s English-language novel Between two worlds is also banned approximately two years later – though today, translations of her novels exist in Japanese, Polish and Dutch.
Translation and its South African history holds an important lesson: book banning does damage. Studies show that banning literature fuels separative and infringing effects, while translation frees access to information.
Triomf and others
Marlene van Niekerk’s novel Triomf is first published in 1994, and later translated into English by Leon de Kock. The novel (and later movie) follows the Benade family, who can be described as one of the first triumphant literary declarations of what zef has come to mean: “poor, but fancy”. Translation allows readers a window into rooms they might have missed, and sometimes portals into whole new worlds.
Let’s not forget that translation also has a legal purpose that goes beyond bookworms, and the 1995 text of English translations of selected Afrikaans judgments comes up in research. Better translation leads to understanding: one can imagine its importance within the legal system, as well as between medical professionals in an emergency.
Dalene Matthee and cake pans
Dalene Matthee’s acclaimed Forest novels are self-translated into English by the author herself. According to sources, Matthee did this herself “to prevent the English from translate koekepanne (ore trams) with cake pans” [sic]. An experiment with Google Translate, however, shows that modern computing gets the translation of koekepanne versus “cake pans” correct. Would she have been surprised or potentially horrified at the fact? The truth about machine learning and translation, however, is that machine translations are still flawed. Software might correctly translate individual terms, but completely miss idioms or context, for example. Circles in a forest, Fiela’s child and Dreamforest are immediately popular to whole new readers in another language.
Translation isn’t an easy task, especially when preserving an original story’s nuances. I’ve attempted translating some of my own stories, and while they are not as nuanced as Tolkien or Rowling, it’s worth admitting its complexity!
Potter and more
Harry Potter and the philosopher’s stone causes considerable controversy over its magical content, and sparks some of it again when the work is translated into Afrikaans. However, the translations into Afrikaans (by Janie Oosthuizen) maintain the popularity of the Harry Potter series – and no doubt open whole worlds for new readers.
Is translation a sign of liberation and free thought, instead of signalling oppression or the idea of suppression? The short answer: yes. The statistical answer, according to Unesco, lists only one translated book for 1983, seven books for 1997 and 580 books for 2008 – also yes.
Let’s also mention Jaco Jacobs, a South African children’s book author who has translated more than 250 books, including many of his own works. Modern times bring more translations, including François Bloemhof with Double echo (Doodskoot) in 2016 and Dieretuin (Feeding time) in 2017.
Film and more: The next frontiers
Translation doesn’t just matter for reasons of literature and politics, but also for breaking new ground when movies or television shows are subtitled. Jeanne Goosen’s film based on the eponymous South African novel, A paw-paw for my darling, is available with subtitles; unfortunately, still, the majority of her works haven’t broken through this barrier yet. There’s also the hard-hitting documentary Mutant (2021), exploring the life and trials of rapper Isaac Mutant – yes, subtitled. He’s known for lyrics in several languages, where most people would find it difficult to keep up with him using one.
Die Antwoord, whether you like them or not, successfully spread familiar Afrikaans expletives from their founding date in 2008 to their documentary, Zef, in 2024. Their documentary, including producer and DJ Flash.Wrldwide (Lil2Hood), ends with celebrity Jack Black repeating a four-word Afrikaans phrase into a microphone. The saying, though inappropriate, has now become understood almost everywhere. Actress Charlize Theron made at least a few headlines for the same phrase, said while appearing on the webshow Hot ones.
I’ve experienced the same excitement I imagine others must feel when discovering new bands in new languages and looking up what their lyrics mean. This process has given me a lot of Italian and French rap music, for example, found in translation.
The 2020 horror film Pinky Pinky reintroduces an old South African urban legend, with English subtitles that allow the Candyman-like story to flourish. The Xhosa-language film Mlungu Wam (Good madam) is another subtitled example from 2022. How many great stories are currently lost in translation, and how many could be found by translating them?
If you’ve ever accidentally set your phone’s interface to a language you don’t understand the characters for, the importance of translation is a more obvious point. Translation can be comforting, life-saving, important. Translation is powerful, and its progressive results could still make many people uncomfortable. Thankfully, that’s true for a lot of successful art.
See also:
Die vertaler ontbind, verklaar en bewaar ’n ruimte tussen tale
Vertaalhistoricus Lieven D’hulst over de tactiek van kleine talen
Bekroonde Belgiese digter "gelukkig en dankbaar" oor ontvangs van sy bundel in Afrikaanse vertaling