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Al-Nahda
Today’s topic is language or, rather, criticism of the way the Tigrigna language is being abused. There is an obvious question, so let’s get it over with by using a convenient analogy. Do you play any musical instruments? The average reader doesn’t or, if s/he does, they play it badly. Yet, that doesn’t stop us from recognizing that a musical instrument is badly out of tune, does it? Exactly. So, my criticism of Tigrigna Sewra should not imply that I am saying I have mastery of the language, far from it. But I can tell when the language is out of tune. But some do. Like Dr. Ghidewon Asmerom. Around 5 BEC (Before Eritrean Crisis, ie. 2000), Dr. Ghdewon and I used to have fun trying to invent Tigrigna equivalent words for English phrases. Like “Affirmative Action.” I floated a few; he provided rebuttals. I think what I learned is that the ideological bend of the inventor dictates the translation. Some of my phrases were “Kel’Alemawi halefa” (half-hearted privilege.) He had suggestions like “awuntawi sgumti.” The point is that although these suggestions amounted to nothing they were efforts to come up with substitutes for the lazy, direct, literal translation now being practiced by our elite—mostly in the PFDJ media. I’ve already mentioned some in previous articles. For example, the new generation now signs letters with “natka” or “natki”—a direct translation of “yours.” No more, ms bzuH selamta or any reference to deity. Now all young people who write me make a point of ending it with natka. I would have thought “natka", "natki” were a bit too intimate to be used as casual footers, but hey, ztefelaleye gusTi nztfelaleye seb. (Different strokes for different folks.) See how silly literalism is? A few years ago, Isaias Afwerki gave an interview to journalist Mike Seium and (now actor (!)) Elias Amare and when they thanked him for his time, he responded, “shigir yelen, ab-zkone gzie”—literally, “no problem, anytime!” This got me to stumble upon a discovery, which resulted in a confession: the reason it is so easy to translate the interviews of Isaias Afwerki (from Tigrigna to English) is because Isaias thinks in English and speaks in Anglicized-Tigrigna. I swear it, sgaka—your meat! This literalism is continuing—and it gives no sign of checking itself at all. A few examples below: The Eritrean Liberation Front-Revolutionary Council (ELF-RC) is hosting a festival at In any event, in announcing the event, the organizers of the Is this any improvement over Arebia Jebeli, Makina, Cucinete, Karossa that were just directly borrowed from Arabic and Italian? But the champions of literalism are the PFDJ. They are quite good at inventing put-down words and insults (“mokos weyane” being my favorite) but when it comes to beefing up the political science dictionary, they are out to lunch. kmsHu keydom. What exactly is the benefit of having a vanguard party if it can’t even enrich the major language in The Eri-TV guys had an announcement on PFDJ’s position regarding 1. The announcer was presenting the government’s working paper which takes position about…what? Yes, working paper is called wereqet sraH. It sounds like a work permit, doesn’t it? An iqama of sorts: Dear Semere: Thank you for your letter and I appreciated the money you sent us which has been helpful to us, specially now that I do not have wereqet sraH. Natka, Hawka Xxxxx 2. Why doesn’t Xxxx have wereqet sraH? It had something to do with the events of Nine Eleven. He had applied for green card but due to more stringent… what? Oh, yeah, events of Nine Eleven are translated as Fitsame tShAte Aserte Hade. It is not Meskerem Aserte Hade. Or Aserte Hade Meskerem. It is tshAte Aserte Hade. I wonder if when referring to the events in 3. The Eri-TV announcer was explaining how 4. You can’t talk about Somalia without talking about the dangers of balkanization. You would think that mbt’tan is a close enough translation but our Eri-TV wordsmiths here outdo themselves and tell us that it is actually mblkan. Once you do mblkan, you have to conjugate it: belkina, belkinu, yblkn. Then you have to apply it in a sentence: I would use it like this: a. You know the EPLF had a decent research institution called RICE but thanks to the PFDJ’s animosity towards the intellectual class, it has now belkinu. 5. But, I had saved the best for last. Which is really the one that actually jolted me for a few seconds. The announcement starts by telling us that Somalia is at cross-roads. And a cross-road is, you guessed it, mesqelawi mengedi. This is an unfortunate choice of words because your mind plays tricks with you—here you are thinking the poor Somalis have to deal with the Islamists, (“werHi kokobawian”?), and the warlords (Goitot wigie) and for a nano-second, you think the announcer is telling you that the mesqelawian (crusaders) have joined in. Then you realize that is just a poor translation—and an unnecessary one, in the obsession with literalism. Would you call a cross-eyed person somebody who has “mesqelawi Ayni”? No, it is Hawlal. Similarly, cross-road was long translated as “meraKbo” or “zeyelabo ewan.” Why, oh why, do we have “mesqelawi mengedi?” Literalism. Which is curious coming from a party that warns of the dangers of colonialism and neo-colonialism. Translate the following using Hgdef Literalism: I was sitting cross-legged, reading a cross-posting at Awate, about a cross-eyed cross-dresser who was going through a cross-examination when it dawned on me that I am at a cross-road here... The most compelling argument that those opposed to liberal democracy make is that liberal democracy is a Western construct which grew in Europe and was nurtured by European culture--language, customs, religion, history and cannot be easily imported. I don't find it convincing (Japan and many South American countries having disproved that myth), but at least it is intellectually honest. I don't know why the same argument is not made against direct translation of words--which surely have their own origins unique to their locations. In fact, they have a whole science--epytomology--dedicated to it. Literalism is just a cross-eyed view of languages.
You may argue that to obsess over language when the nation has so many other problems is a bit trifle and misdirected. But, as many social scientists have already shown, language is the very basis of thought, which is the basis of action. In fact, some linguists argue human beings did not develop language because they are smarter than animals; rather, they became smarter because only they could develop a language. It is one thing when the politicians control language for purposes of controlling people—as Orwell’s 1984 demonstrated. For example, when, in its Tigre programming, the PFDJ media tells us that in Tigre, the correct translation for “ambassador” is the “envoy of his country to another country”, rather than the one-word import from Arabic, sefeer, at least the PFDJ is saying, “I want to minimize use of Arabic in Tigre language.” Or when perfectly adequate words like “Aqmi adam zeybetS’He”—meaning underage—have been substituted by “tiHti Edme”, one can argue that the PFDJ is saying, “I want to purge religious references from language.” All controversial, and all worthy of debating. But it is quite another when it is done out of pure laziness, which I think is the case with mesqelawi mengedi, and wereqet sraH.
Tigrigna is at cross roads and the intellectual class better intervene here….before the language gets run over by PFDJ Literalism.
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