If a novel is written in a certain language with certain characters from a particular community and the story is very good or illuminating, then that work is translated into the language of another community.
NGUGI WA THIONG'OThen they begin to see through their language that the problems described there are the same as the problems they are having. They can identify with characters from another language group.
More Ngugi wa Thiong'o Quotes
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In terms of language, English is very dominant vis-Ã-vis African language. That in itself is a power relationship – between languages and communities – because the English language is a determinant of the ladder to achievement.
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Seen as an economic, political, cultural, and psychological re-membering vision, it should continue to guide remembering practices
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We think of politics in terms of power and who has the power. Politics is the end to which that power is put.
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What is translated from English and into English – and in what quantities – is a question of power.
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So we’re talking about the Bible itself being a translation of a translation of a translation. And, in reality, it has affected people’s lives in history.
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Any writer likes to be near the area which is the location of his work.
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If poverty was to be sold three cents today, i can’t buy it.
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Christianity and Western civilization-what countless crimes have been committed in thy name!
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The Bible has affected their lives, but in translation, since they do not read the Bible in the original Greek or Hebrew.
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Life, struggle, even amidst pain and blood and poverty, seemed beautiful.
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I think a repressive regime always fears people who are awakened – particularly ordinary people. If they are awakened, I think governments all over the world feel uncomfortable about that; they want to be in control.
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The Bible in translation is being read to thousands and thousands in Africa. It is an integral part of their functioning and the way they look at the world.
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For me, being in prison writing in an African language was a way of saying: “Even if you put me in prison, I will keep on writing in the language which made you put me in prison.”
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Another phenomenon developing in Kenya is ethnic cleansing – and that’s the thing that has made me very sad. Because some people will use the cover of the problems of rigged elections to do things that are unacceptable like ethnic cleansing and displacement of people. It’s completely unacceptable.
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The same questions are there in Native American languages, they’re there in native Canadian languages, they’re there is some marginalized European languages, like say, Irish.
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