By Ndumiso Mlilo.
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa. (News Of The South) – The San activists in Zimbabwe are currently putting logistical measures in place to translate the bible to the San language.
They San language advocates expect to have the bible ready in three years time. About 2500 San people still live in Zimbabwe mostly found in Tsholotsho in Matabeleland North, a few in Plumtree and Matobo in Matabeleland South.
From January 27-29, 2016 the activists were in Botswana attending the workshop to boost their understanding of the San language called Tjoao. News of the South spoke to Davy Ndlovu, the Tsoro-o-tso San Development Trust, director who was in Botswana for the workshop and he said, “The idea of the meeting was to translate the San language (Tjoao) into the bible. We were learning language
translation so that we can translate the bible into Tjoao.
We will be doing oral recordings in our respective countries and sending the recordings to Botswana for verification. We now have a standard orthography and we now use Tjoao.”
The workshop in Botswana was attended by the San people from Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. This project is being facilitated by the Seed Company of South Africa and Wycliffe Bible Foundation. The project would be done through the San Councils. Ndlovu also said, “The San in Tsholotsho are concerned about their language which is critically endangered, any efforts to revive the language are welcome among the San people. The most practical thing right now is to increase efforts to revive the language than complaining yet doing nothing.”
Comments
About Author
