The Perils of Translation

Extract

It is well known what confusions and misunderstandings have arisen in the history of Christianity by translations from one language into another. They can be worse when attempts are made to translate religious literature from a European language into languages of peoples with cultures very different from ours, such as the peoples of Africa. I have recently come across an illustration of this in a C.M.S. hymn book in Zande (Buku Aimina, The Religious Tract Society, London, n.d.). I shall present a few specimens of translations into this Central African language of familiar verses as examples. Before doing so I should say that Zande is a tonal language and that the translations are made to conform to English metre and to be sung to the English tunes. This in itself is enough to render the hymns more or less meaningless. I am not trying to make fun of the missionaries, for whom I had great respect, but I must say that I am astonished at their attempts not only to translate hymns to be sung to a foreign system of notation but also to translate them, where possible, literally. Thus:

Sun of my soul, thou Saviour dear,

It is not night if thou be near:

O may no earth-born cloud arise To hide thee from thy servant’s eyes.

Yesu, Uru mbisimore,

Ka Mo du no, yuru o te;

Ka paiye nga ka oka Ro Ti bangili vururo ya.

This would have sounded quite remarkable to an ordinary Zande (one who was not an instructed Christian convert).