Richmore Tera.
Harare, Zimbabwe. (News Of The South) – WHEN popular Zimbabwean author, Charles Mungoshi, decided to translate Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thion’go’s novel “A Grain of Wheat” into the Shona language predominantly spoken by the people of Zimbabwe, his intention was to help spread the message carried in the book to a wider audience.
Mungoshi’s translation of Ngugi’s novel, which was published under the Shona title, “Tsanga Yembeu”, managed to bring out the nuances of the novel for the benefit of the Shona-speaking people and also became one of the many translations of Ngugi’s books into various languages spoken around the world.
Mungoshi himself, the late Chenjerai Hove and Shimmer Chinodya, among other popular writers from Zimbabwe, have had their books also translated into various languages, something which is achievable only when a literary piece of work carries something worthy in it.
Although there have been some good poetry written in the Shona language, there has however been little of it that has been translated into other languages like English, German or French.
This is probably because of the nature of the Shona language which, despite being very rich, is not easy to directly transform from its very original nature without having to ‘arm-twist’ it here and there so as to achieve the desired goal.
That, as it might sound, is not license enough to stop one from translating Shona works into English and the experience is a fascinating one to the reader.
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Ngugi himself did it with a high degree of success with most of his award-winning novels which he first wrote in his mother-tongue of Gikuyu before they were translated into English.
Talented young female Zimbabwean poet Chipo Shahwe has self-published a collection of Shona poems titled “Tsumo Dzatete Chipo” which, when one goes through it, cannot help but feel if some of the poems could be translated into the English language.
The poet writes in a language and style that is both engaging and visual, something which makes her book a candidate for both translation into other languages as well as a set-book for the schools’ Shona language curriculum.
Of course, it will take the finest of a bi-linguist to do the translations, but the effort will be worth it.
This is one way through which our writers can reach out to a wider audience when their works are translated into other languages.
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At first, the title of the book sounds like an anomaly only until one goes through the title poem, “Tsumo DzaTete Chipo”.
In Shona, “tsumo” means proverbs; therefore, how could one title a book of “nhetembo” (Shona word for poetry) as a collection of proverbs?
“What I simply wanted to say through this title was that these are poems laden with proverbial meaning whose aim is to impart wisdom and advice to people of all ages,” she said.
Through her Eden Publishers, (2017), Chipo hopes to engage other publishers to market and distribute her book for easy access.
A product of the University of Zimbabwe where she attained a BA Honours in English as well as an MSc in Development Studies (Women’s University in Africa), the author, who is also a high school teacher, can as well translate the poems into English herself since she is also adept in the language.
Poems that can easily the attention of the reader include “Kufamba neKombi”, “Havo Vasikana Vemadhigirii”, “Mari”, “Chirungu”, “Rwendo Rwebhazi”, “Muenzi”, “Mai Mupombera”, “Mota Yangu”, “Mwana Sikana”, “Kufungisisa” and “Bvepfe” among others.
She was born on June 6, 1986 and this is her second self-published book after “19 Reasons for Giving to God” (Eden Publishers, 2012.)
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