Translator training: The on-going search for relevance and appropriateness in anglophone Africa

Abstract

The term “Anglophone” is misleading because many languages are spoken in each of the nations of “Anglophone Africa.” The people are not English speaking or Anglophone. A high percentage of them often are not proficient in English. Rather, in most speech domains, they speak their native tongues or local regional languages of wider communication. What makes these nations “Anglophone” is that they are countries in which English was the former language of the colonial power. And my colleagues would agree that the same can be said about both “Francophone” and ”Lusophone” Africa as well (see the two articles to follow). So in this case, whether we talk of “English-speaking” or “Anglophone” to refer to these nations, both are a misnomer. However, since the term “Anglophone” is widely used in UBS literature, it is also used in this article for ease of discussion.

There are several Bible translation agencies in Anglophone Africa but the work done by Bible Societies exhibits the longest tradition and most varied products. Often there is collaboration and fellowship among these agencies in the training of translators. Some agencies work with the smaller language communities while the Bible Societies traditionally tend to work with larger language communities. Initial translator training needs vary from one community to another depending on the education level of the members of these communities. The small language communities have often been marginalized while larger groups have enjoyed more advantages, such as early exposure to schooling and literacy.

Today, there are more openings for higher education in most of these English-speaking nations than in the past. What does this mean for training of translators? It means that increasingly Bible Societies no longer need to give potential translators a “basic higher education.” There are many Christians with training in theology, linguistics, and related fields. It is important to note also that theological training in Africa has expanded tremendously over the last few decades in keeping with the growth of the church on the continent. Biblical studies are taught in most of the theological institutions; however, many of them have not yet seen the need to include Bible translation components. A few universities and colleges have designed programs that focus on Bible translation. This is a great move in the continent, but these programs must be evaluated in terms of relevance of the course content itself, and the way they respond to the needs on the ground. More specifically, we need to ask whether these programs are flexible enough to meet the needs of translators who work with Bible Societies. Is the philosophy by which they were designed and structured still applicable to the African communities of today? Since in some cases a basic higher education is no longer an adequate prerequisite for translation, are the training institutions sensitive enough to run programs that equip graduates to produce diverse products as the church may have need of? In this article, we will suggest that when the recruiting and training process is sensitive to local conditions, not only as perceived by foreign agencies but by informed local leadership as well, then the road to adequate training of translators need not be that long.