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Translation-Identity Engola
Translation-Identity Engola
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1 Introduction
National integration and national unity are two recurrent issues in a multicul-
tural and multilingual context. Benedict Anderson posits that “a nation is an
imagined political community – and imagined as both inherently limited and
sovereign” (1983: 6). It is imagined because not all members know each other
yet feel that they have things in common […]” (Op cit.). And it is a communi-
ty, because it implies comradeship and a sense of belonging. These concepts
call for another, which is more recurrent in the field of literary translation,
notably national integration. It coincides with national integration, culture,
social harmony, literature, cultural systems, and the conception which com-
munities have of their own world and that of other people.
National integration is a process, whereby people reach a state of positive
assimilation so as to create unity. For it to be effective and efficient, national
integration should be supported by social dialog, tolerance, cohabitation, in-
tercultural communication, and social harmony. In other words, alterity is one
of the main issues in national integration: people are conscious of their differ-
ences, learn to live together, endeavor to import the positive components of
other cultures, and afford each other due respect. With time, uncertainty,
which jeopardizes intercultural communication, gradually vanishes and gives
room to a new common culture (Ting-Toomey 1988) that is mutual under-
standing and strengthens national integration. But how is this national integra-
tion created? What are the social mechanisms put in place to promote national
integration? What is the most efficient mechanism able to succeed in achieving
positive national integration?
According to Anderson (1983: 44), language and literature were the most
effective means to foster national integration in the medieval period. He ar-
gues that
Indeed, one cannot deny that most French writers of the Middle Age argued
that literature was an important lever of national integration. Hampton (2001)
demonstrates how literary texts reflect ideological conflicts. In the same line,
Keller (2011) strongly believes that literature is a common representation of
things, which leads to the feeling of belonging. Desbois also argues that “La
Deffence de Du Bellay illustre le rôle de la langue dans la construction du
sentiment national, E. Babilar ayant à ce propos insisté sur l’idée que les
peuples, pour former une nation, ont besoin de partager une même langue”
(Desbois 2011: 3). Compared to the Greek and Latin languages, the French
language established its identity through translation. This process led to the
imposition of the French language and nation in a globalizing Europe and was
the beginning of extensive literature and the benchmark for the construction
of French rhetoric. The peak of this evolving national integration was the pub-
lication of the first Encyclopedia of science, art and crafts by Diderot and
d’Alembert in 1751, though at first, it was a draft translation of the Cyclopedia
of Ephraim Chambers published in 1728. The case of France to illustrate the
historical process through which a nation builds its identity is somewhat simi-
lar to that of Cameroon in terms of external linguistic pressures that usually
force a configuration of national languages and the imposition of one in par-
ticular as the language of unity.
Unlike France, Cameroon has diversified its mechanisms to ensure an in-
ter-ethnically harmonious setting and to build national integration. With a
important step in the social integration of a person whose culture, in its broad-
est sense, is different from the culture(s) in a given historical, ethical, geo-
graphical and cultural setting.
This understanding of intercultural communication is deepened by Ting-
Toomey (1988). She underlines that the intercultural communication can only
be considered efficient if both the speaker and the receptor negotiate a com-
mon signifier. Of course, the communication capacity of a person depends on
individual psychology and the nature of his/her original culture. As a matter of
fact, she distinguishes two types of cultural groups: individualist and collectiv-
ist groups. When a person comes from an individualistic culture, he/she tends
to preserve his/her own image to the detriment of the group and vice-versa.
Whatever the case, it appears that both perspectives seriously influence the
outcome of the communication process. The sociological appraisal of literature
in Cameroon will thus show that national integration in Cameroon is ensured
by political mechanisms, whereas the lack of intercultural communication
through literary instruments postpones a much bigger social clash in the years
ahead.
2 Methodology
Cameroon is a complex linguistic setting. Apart from the two official lan-
guages, French and English, there are numerous national languages collocating
with two other composed languages: Pidgin-English and Camfranglais. Offi-
cial languages are spoken in formal settings, namely administrations, schools,
and universities. The 226 national languages1 are reserved for informal situa-
tions, though sometimes used informally in public services. Pidgin-English is
used in the Western parts of the country, whereas Camfranglais is spoken by
youths in all ten regions. At first glance, one may consider this to be a wonder-
ful linguistic landscape. But, once in the field, the contrary becomes strikingly
evident. Indeed, the relations between all those languages are limited in terms
of the spoken aspect. It answers the need for social interaction. For example,
there are public servants from the Francophone zone who are appointed in the
Anglophone zone. To be able to develop a social life, they need to learn the
language spoken in that area. However, as the learning is informal, so is the
acquisition of language rules.
The current linguistic configuration of Cameroon suggests a complex net-
work of intercultural communication. Language is the means through which
culture expresses itself. Thus, both language and culture are interdependent in
the sense that language is the social expression of values, norms and attitudes,
while culture is the invisible part of the behaviorist iceberg that underlies lan-
guage (Selfridge/Sokolik 1975). It is difficult, if not impossible to talk of a
situation whereby there is a universal culture and co-cultures in Cameroon.
From the anthropological point of view, national languages have the same
status and the same value when considering the attitude of speakers all over
the territory. Though the number of speakers of a national language may vary
from one region to another, the attitude of speakers shows that there is no
ideologically dominant language. Even though five national languages have
been selected among the bulk of national languages for teaching within the
framework of policy for the promotion of national languages, this does not
............................................
1 These figures are derived from the International Center for Research and Documentation on
Traditions and African Languages (2012), Linguistic Atlas of Cameroon, Language directory,
tome 1.
However, one should keep in mind that the root of the age-old Anglophone
and Francophone problem is language. Therefore, the question that arises is
whether or not there is a real national literature. The names Francophone and
Anglophone Cameroon literature speak for themselves. But is it really possible
to have a Cameroonian literature that includes two sub-categories of literature
separated by their writers’ languages and the topics they address? In an inter-
view with African Writing, Ashuntantang (2016) 2 says:
In other words, literature has not yet fully succeeded in playing its role in the
building of national integration. Most of the books on the market are translit-
erations of national cultures. Biloa and Echu are more formal when saying that
............................................
2 Interview with Cameroonian writer, George Ngwane, a versatile commentator on African
affairs, Cameroonian politics and literature, and the author of The Cameroon Book Industry –
Challenges and Changes, https://www.african-writing.com/ngwane.htm. The interview has no
page numbers.
“It is important to point out from the start that in Cameroon, the indigenous
languages of the country have never really played any major role in issues of
national integration, and the critical languages involved in the projection of
major group identities in Cameroon are in fact the ex-colonial languages,
English and French” (2008: 202). Writers use one of the two official languages
and are still classified as being Anglophone or Francophone. None of them is
known for having translated his/her own writings, as was done by Samuel
Beckett. This shows that literature remains an instrument used to claim na-
tional integration rather than a means to build national identity. Although
there is Cameroonian literature, which is defined as a literature written by
Cameroonian writers who tackle issues concerning the Cameroonian society,
its objectives remain a hard nut to crack for those who try to set features of
national Cameroonian literature. Literary works are hardly echoed into the
other official language. This means that this literature continues to serve the
claims of the colonial period. Although more translation schools are set up
throughout the country, authors are seldom translated into the other official
language and great philosophical and literary works have not yet been translat-
ed into national languages. Three reasons explain this state of affairs which
impedes the emergence of a national literature stricto sensu.
The first reason is the incredible number of ethnic groups and languages
competing in the field. With over 235 national languages (Boum Ndongo-
Semengue 2013) and two official languages, Cameroon is a country where
cultural movements imply a blend of languages. National languages are begin-
ning to transcend their geographical areas to compete with other languages in
terms of the number of speakers. These are languages which are widely used
but restricted to informal communication situations. Among those languages
are Fulani, Beti-Fan, Pidgin-English, Basa’a, Duala, Mungaka, Wandala,
Kanuri, Arabic, and Hausa (Boum Ndongo-Semengue, 2013: 31–32). There is
another language, Camfranglais that emerges from the mixture of French,
English and national languages.
It is important to note that the organization of national languages into phy-
la shows their diverse backgrounds. Indeed, Cameroonian national languages
are organized into three phyla which are subdivided into families, subfamilies,
branches, sub-branches, etc. The Afro-Asiatic phylum or Mito-Semitic in-
cludes two families, four branches, 12 sub-groups, and groups of 58 languages
while the Nilo-Saharan phylum has two families. The Niger-Kordofan phylum
is the most represented with three families of 188 dialects (Biloa, 2003: 14–18),
although some of them are endangered as demonstrated by Bitja’a Kody
(2000). In a quantitative survey on language dynamics in Yaounde, he noted
that the use of national languages is regressive to within endogamous house-
holds, which represent the strongholds of those languages. He reported that
Francophone adults use their national language in 52% of situations against
42% where they use French. Youth between 10 and 17 argue that they use
French in 70% of family communications. Bitja’a concludes that this situation
will escalate, because the chain of teaching the national language will soon be
broken. In other words, there are languages which are endangered as they are
abandoned by their native speakers who are under the influence of various
social pressures. It goes without saying that the atlas of Cameroon’s national
languages is complex. It is reminiscent of the tower of Babel, whereby people
of different languages try to understand each other while speaking their re-
spective language.
The second obstacle to the emergence of literature in the national language
is the economic aspect. The book industry is a purely commercial and lucra-
tive industry. In this perspective, the book is a product, a commodity for con-
sumption that follows the logic of the market. Therefore, if a market implies
the presence of customers or readers, the lack of interest in books written in
national languages justifies the scarcity or the virtual absence of translations
on the market. This explains the market logic applied by publishers, who re-
quire demand and a loyal readership. Due to its existence at the periphery of
the translation process, this aspect is not discussed in translation studies.
However, its impact on the overall result is great, since translation orders come
from a publisher or an author.
The last reason is a social concern. Trends in translation in the Came-
roonian context show that there is a general movement, a sort of mimicry
underpinned by other economic and political reasons. When one considers the
current practice, there are two parallel pillars. The first revolves around trans-
lation into European languages inherited from colonization. This is the most
important pillar, because translation schools teach in official languages. It
influences, directly or indirectly, the landscape of translation. The second
pillar is a kind of translation which is not really professional, as it is done for
linguistic research. For clarification purposes, researchers sometimes use
translation to explain semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic elements. It is a non-
It is agreed that differences can be turned into strengths if they are used well.
However, the situation rather tends to promote ethnic group identity, and the
issue of language reform is one result of this misuse of differences. Indeed,
language reform is subject to several reflections in Cameroon. According to
Tabi Manga, a language reform is “le lieu de la détermination des grands choix
en matière de rapports entre les langues et la société. Ce domaine rassemble
toutes les décisions et règlementations à caractère politique touchant la vie des
langues, leur statut et leur mode de fonctionnement social” (Tabi Manga 2000:
7). The language policy of Cameroon tends to favor the official languages and
Bitja’a Kody (2011: 2) questions the achievement of its objective when noting
that
In the same vein, Onguene-Essono (2013: 18) argues that this language policy
is sometimes timidly implemented at the institutional level, even if instru-
ments have been developed for its effective implementation. The issue of Cam-
eroonian languages remains a central concern, though their impact is already
attested in the economic development of the country. Acknowledging the
crucial role of language in the development of groups, Ngalasso Mwata Mu-
sanji (1981: 281) states that “avoir une politique linguistique, c’est d’abord
prendre conscience que la langue est un fait de culture et un facteur de déve-
loppement économique et social tout à fait primordial […]” and Onguene-
Essono (2013: 13) adds that language is a priceless treasure, the loss of which is
a disaster.
At the cultural level, it seems as if there were two separated areas and spe-
cific cultures, namely the Francophone culture and the Anglophone culture.
Although elements of interculturality are numerous, literary works written by
Francophone authors are not translated into English and vice-versa. Moreover,
no great novel has yet been published in a national language, whereas Came-
roon has more than 240 national languages. This situation causes the rejection
of other groups and weakens nationalism advocated by the government
through laws and political speeches. Biya clarifies that
laid the bases for national consciousness […]. First and foremost, they
[print-languages – i.O.] created unified fields of exchange and commu-
nications below Latin and above the spoken vernaculars […]. Second,
6 Recommendations
7 Conclusion
References