News — indigenous African language
Teen Woke Up From Coma Speaking Different Language
After being kicked in the head during a soccer game, Rueben Nsemoh stopped breathing several times. He was rushed to the hospital, where he was in a coma for days. When he woke, his parents said he spoke exclusively Spanish, which he never spoke fluently before. He did not speak any English for a couple of days. Ruben's story is one among many football players who have suffered from severe concussions. His story proves we know little about the impacts of concussions on the brain, and we should take the necessary precautions to prevent it. What do you think?
Feature News: South Africa’s Anthem Comprises Five Different Languages In The Same Song
It is not that there are five linguistic renditions of South Africa’s national anthem even though there may as well be. But the legitimate anthem of the Rainbow Nation since 1997 is a five-language lyrical composition, making it the most unique anthem in the world in this regard.
The five different languages are Xhosa, Zulu, Sesotho, Afrikaans and English.
Having that much linguistic diversity can only be for the purpose of tapping into the strength of differences. And it would seem that is exactly what the 12-member committee that oversaw the foundation of the anthem took into cognizance. Indeed, this vision was stated in the document that founded the committee and was authorized by Nelson Mandela.
The native Black populations of South Africa are different and many. The country has 11 official languages and nine of them are originally African. These differences are also a fact that the apartheid government tried its possible best to help it realize a white-dominated and separate nation.
South Africa’s anthem is informally known by the Xhosa reference ‘Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika which translates as Lord Bless Africa. That name is taken from a hymn authored in 1897 by Enoch Sontonga, a Xhosa man who was a Methodist clergyman. However, that does not tell the whole story of the anthem.
The anthem is mainly a combination of two songs – ‘Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika and Die Stem van Suid-Afrika – The Call of South Africa – the apartheid-era anthem composed in the 1930s. After 1994, both anthems were used by South Africa until 1997.
For a long time, Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika stood as an anthem of defiance of white-minority rule and apartheid. It was adopted by the African National Congress (ANC) in 1912 and it has been associated with African nationalism in South Africa and southern Africa ever since. Apart from South Africa, Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika was in various forms, the anthem of Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, with Tanzania still retaining a Swahili version.
When Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika and Die Stem van Suid-Afrika were married, a few other verses in other languages were introduced leaving South Africans with the following:
Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika (Xhosa)
Maluphakanyisw’ uphondo lwayo (Xhosa)
Yizwa imithandazo yethu, (Zulu)
Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho Iwayo. (Zulu)
Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso, (Sesotho)
O fedise dintwa le matshwenyeho, (Sesotho)
O se boloke, O se boloke setjhaba sa heso, (Sesotho)
Setjhaba sa, South Afrika, South Afrika. (Sesotho)
Uit die blou van onse hemel, (Afrikaans)
Uit die diepte van ons see, (Afrikaans)
Oor ons ewige gebergtes, (Afrikaans)
Waar die kranse antwoord gee, (Afrikaans)
Sounds the call to come together,
And united we shall stand,
Let us live and strive for freedom
In South Africa our land.
Feature News: Kenya’s Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o acknowledged for writing in an indigenous African language
Kenya’s Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o is the first writer to be nominated for the International Booker Prize as both writer and translator of the same book. He is also the first-ever nominee for a work originally written in an indigenous African language.
In the award’s 16-year history, Thiong’o has made history writing his epic novel, The Perfect Nine: The Epic of Gikuyu and Mumbi, and translating it from the original Bantu language, Gikuyu, into English.
The book, which tells the origin story of the Gikuyu clan, is a blend of folklore and mythology about the first man and woman created according to Kenyan legend.
Judges described the novel-in-verse as “a magisterial and poetic tale about women’s place in a society of gods,” according to The Guardian.
It talks about nine sisters and their quest to find a magical cure for their youngest sibling, who cannot walk.
Thiong’o is known for writing several books and for his unending fight for recognition and use of indigenous languages. His writing career dates to the 1960s. He is the author of many award-winning novels, plays, short stories, and essays including the “Wizard of the Crow”, “Weep Not, Child”, and “The River Between”.
For his work in literature, Thiong’o has been recognized all through his life with awards such as the Lotus Prize for Literature and National Book Critics Award, among others. He has also been conferred honorary degrees by different universities across the world.
One of his first plays “Ngaahika Ndeenda”, a native Kenyan word for “I Will Marry When I Want”, set in post-independence Kenya in 1977, was banned by the then Kenyan government because of its thought-provoking plot, which authorities saw as a threat to the status quo.
His recognition has come from a repressive past, where he was imprisoned for more than a year at Kamiti Maximum Prison. Thiong’o fled to the United States with his family in 1978 to seek asylum because the then-government considered his writings treasonous.
13 books were nominated for the Booker Prize this year from 12 countries and the books have been translated from 11 languages. The other African author to make the list is Senegalese-born David Diop, who was picked for his second novel, At Night All Blood is Black.
Diop’s book follows the experiences of two Senegalese soldiers fighting in World War I for the French. The judges described it as “like nothing else in terms of tone and power, it is a blinding revelation, an incantatory work of kinship and terror.”