It was a revelation for me, in a practical sense, that you could write in an African language and still reach an audience beyond that language through the art of translation.
NGUGI WA THIONG'OWhy did Africa let Europe cart away millions of Africa’s souls from the continent to the four corners of the wind?
More Ngugi wa Thiong'o Quotes
-
-
There is no way we can survive as a nation in the world without finding unity.
NGUGI WA THIONG'O -
Christianity and Western civilization-what countless crimes have been committed in thy name!
NGUGI WA THIONG'O -
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'O -
So what I thought was just an African problem or issue is actually a global phenomenon about relationships of power between languages and cultures.
NGUGI WA THIONG'O -
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.
NGUGI WA THIONG'O -
And even in terms of justice, law codes, the legal system. A person who does not know English in Africa is excluded from that system because he can only operate through acts of translation.
NGUGI WA THIONG'O -
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.
NGUGI WA THIONG'O -
How did we arrive at this, that the best leader is the one that knows how to beg for a share of what he has already given away at the price of a broken tool? Where is the future of Africa?
NGUGI WA THIONG'O -
I’m writing for those people in Kenya, but in Irvine and in New York.
NGUGI WA THIONG'O -
The Bible has affected their lives, but in translation, since they do not read the Bible in the original Greek or Hebrew.
NGUGI WA THIONG'O -
I’m more trying to connect; I’m more listening to people. Whatever I get is very meaningful to me.
NGUGI WA THIONG'O -
Those who strive to build a protective wall around it, and those who wish to pull it down; those who seek to mould it and those committed to breaking it up; those who aim to open our eyes, to make us see the light and look to tomorrow […] and those who wish to lull us into closing our eyes
NGUGI WA THIONG'O -
What’s good about writing is that when you write novels or fiction, people can see that the problems in one region are similar to problems in another region.
NGUGI WA THIONG'O -
Our lives are a battlefield on which is fought a continuous war between the forces that are pledged to confirm our humanity and those determined to dismantle it.
NGUGI WA THIONG'O -
The Bible affects everybody’s life who is a Christian, from the middle class in Europe to the peasant in Africa and Asia.
NGUGI WA THIONG'O