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.
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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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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I’m more trying to connect; I’m more listening to people. Whatever I get is very meaningful to me.
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Through the act of translation we break out of linguistic confinement and reach many other communities.
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Why did Africa let Europe cart away millions of Africa’s souls from the continent to the four corners of the wind?
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There is no way we can survive as a nation in the world without finding unity.
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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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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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What is translated from English and into English – and in what quantities – is a question of power.
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Life, struggle, even amidst pain and blood and poverty, seemed beautiful.
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Then 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.
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So what I thought was just an African problem or issue is actually a global phenomenon about relationships of power between languages and cultures.
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Writing in African languages became a topic of discussion in conferences, in schools, in classrooms; the issue is always being raised – so it’s no longer “in the closet,” as it were. It’s part of the discussion going on about the future of African literature.
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We can appreciate each other’s languages. And the question of being uncomfortable about our languages would go away.
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People went to war as a result of it and even today, every Sunday.
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Any writer likes to be near the area which is the location of his work.
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