In China, a Chinese would ask you, “Chi Fan Le Ma?” (Have you eaten?) For him this question is far beyond the obvious question of whether you have eaten or not; he wishes to know whether everything that concerns you is going well. A young Chinese student at a Chinese University, in his early 20’s would ask you, “What do you think about China?” You would possibly answer this question with regard to issues of economy, their culture, history and so on.
At the University City, a “student” street with many universities all in one street, in Xi’an, Shaanxi, in North Western China, the home to Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses site, Xi’an International Studies University is located. A typical student at this university would take Japanese Studies — where he would be trained in the history of Japan, its culture, its international relations and diplomacy.
At Fraunhofer-IPA, part of the larger German Fraunhofer Society where mp3 — a tool that enables the storage of audio files on digital audio players, was invented — it’s not uncommon to find Literature and English student assistants working hard to translate and/or correct grammar errors in scientific publications written by its researchers.
Thomas Sankara, the late president of the “Land of Upright Men” of Burkina Faso, known for his accomplishments for his country, among which include the ambitious world record of vaccinating 2.5 million children against meningitis, yellow fever and measles in one week, and making his country food self sufficient, remains among the very few, if there has ever been one, African presidents who gave speeches without the help of a written paper. During his era he addressed the then Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the United Nations Organization (UNO) in French. The question is, do all the countries mentioned here use English?
Is Tanzania performing any better than any of these countries on any area? Have they failed to address their concerns on international forums? Is any average student who has taken English classes from these countries worse at English than any average Tanzanian student who has recently graduated from high school? Or do you think if you cannot speak Chinese then you can not do business with China? Was Thomas Sankara ineloquent? Couldn’t he give talks on international forums? Couldn’t his message be clearly sent and heard in all corners of the world?
Unlike the Samurai of Japan who “from the moment they [woke] wake they devote[d] themselves to the perfection of whatever they pursue[d],” we have reiterated and devoted ourselves to train our students, ones we wish to lead the country to a better place, with mediocrity in a language both students and instructors do not understand…
I have come to think that we should make Swahili the medium of instruction at all levels!
English should be used for issues of international concern, in international business, international relations and scientific life. Germany, Romania (I have not known a better high school computer science student than a Romanian), Russia, to name a few examples only, do not use English. They use their own languages. They train their students in their mother tongue.
Some may have come to a conclusion that some scientific terms can not be translated to Swahili, but I believe that we can find a translation for any words including Artificial Intelligence or complexity and computability theories in Swahili. In that light, I would like to call upon any interested student with an interest in computer science, Swahili researcher, or English-Swahili linguist to set up a simple and large online library of Swahili translation of terms and vocabulary found in computer science on a wiki page in preparation for translation of the most cited books — Introduction to Algorithms by T. H. Cormen et al and Donald Knuth’s The Art of Computer Programming.
It would go by the name Swahili Labs: An online library for the advancement of Swahili for computing.
Interested? Please get in touch with me [bkimasa (at) googlemail (dot) com].
Bihemo, great idea.
Technology is definitely the main area where language is changing/developing constantly and Swahili needs to stay abreast.
On a similar note, recently I’ve been trying to translate the content for my website http://www.bongo-live.com into Swahili. I encountered issues with technical lingo offcourse. However, in general I’ve found it really hard to find general translation help. There is the Kamusi project and google translate, however these are only good for single words. Nothing for phrases, sentences etc.
This is a good initiative. Perhaps you could expand on your last paragraph and tell us more about this initiative. Are those books currently used in the curriculum of CS in Tanzania?
The problem is also there in Swahili language making the medium of instruction a heavy debate. As the UWAZI report found out:
1.One in five primary school leavers cannot read Standard 2 level Kiswahili.
2.Half the children who complete primary school cannot read in English.
The invention of new words for such a purpose would also make the words seem as foreign as the usage of CS English words.
i think it makes sense for our schools to teach us swahili as the language of instruction… look at germany, look at france, look at spain, they all use their own languages n they still survive and integrate in the world at all levels. We need to get over thinking that English is everything…
Utumiaji wa kiswahili kwa mada kama hii inayotaka matumizi ya lugha ya kiswahili ungekuwa na mantiki zaidi na ungekwenda sambamba na maudhui ya hoja iliyowasilishwa.
Hatuwezi kama ‘wasomi’ kupigania matumizi ya kiswahili wakati sisi tunashindwa kuwasilisha hoja zetu kwa lugha hiyo hiyo tunayoipigania.
Hoja yako ni sawia, lakini kwa kuongezea tu kwenye tatizo lililopo ni kuwa, watanzania wengi hatuwezi kuzungumza/andika kiswahili sanifu na wengi hatutumii zaidi ya ‘maneno 500’.
Nadhani tungeanza mageuzi taratibu kwa kuhakikisha kiswahili kinatumika zaidi katika uwasilishaji wa hoja, kiswahili kinachotumika ni sahihi na misamiati ya aina nyingi inatumika.
Ngojeni kwanza, mnadhani chanzo cha matatizo mashuleni ni Kiswahili? Hata kama una mwalimu anayejua kuwa “kimbaka” ni neno la Kiswahili lenye maana “tooth-pick”, ni kielelezo tosha kuwa wanafunzi watamuelewa?
Matatizo ni mengi mno, na inasikitisha — kama sio kupandisha watu hasira. Mi’ nitaendelea kushikilia bango suala la ualimu: mpaka watu ambao walifanya vizuri kwenye masomo yao shuleni au vyuoni watakapoamua kusaidia walimu wa Tanzania kufundisha, nadhani matatizo ndio yataanza kupungua.
Hawa Warusi, Waromania na Wachina tunaopigana nao vikumbo huku wana msingi mzuri waliopewa na walimu wao, ambao nimeambiwa kuwa ni wazuri (sawa, kwa lugha zao). Ila sidhani kama wangefanikiwa kupata msingi huo kama wangekuwa na walimu wabovu. Kwasababu, hesabu au sayansi ya tarakilishi au fizikia haibadiliki ukifundishwa kwa Kiingereza au Kiswahili au Kigiriki.
Kwa mfano, mwanafunzi anatakiwa “aelewe vizuri” KWANZA Pythagoras theorem ni nini. Hata baadae akija kuambiwa “base” ni “kitako”, au “height” ni “kimo” (cha pembe tatu) asianze kutoa mimacho! (Sasa fikiria, kabla ya kuelewa ipasavyo vitu vya mpaka darasa la saba, halafu, ghafla kila kitu kinaanza kufundishwa kwa lugha nyingine ambayo bado hajaimudu.)
Na ukija kwenye ngazi ya juu kabisa, wanafunzi wa fizikia watakwambia Quantum Mechanics ni “lugha” nyingine kabisa. Kwa mantiki hiyo, kama mhusika akiwa hana msingi bora wa hisabati na sayansi (hata kama alifundishwa kwa Kigiriki, Kijapani, Kichina, Kirumi, Kilatini au Kiswahili) basi hataweza kumudu kirahisi.
Na nadhani hata hizo algorithms za tarakilishi ni hivyo hivyo; mwanafunzi anahitaji msingi mzuri kwanza. La sivyo itabidi awe anajipinda kadri anavyoweza mpaka atakapoweza kumudu.
Huku vyuoni tunaona Wachina, Wajapani, Wajerumani, Warusi, nk. wakitembea na kamusi za Kiingereza. Sawa wengi wao mwanzoni hawazungumzi vizuri Kiingereza ipasavyo, lakini mpe swali akokotoe.
Ningependa kutoa mfano wa pili: Fasihi za lugha mbalimbali. Mi’ huwa najiuliza, mbona Watanzania hatuna tabia ya kutafuta taarifa kwenye hadithi ambazo zinaonekana huwa ni za kawaida sana*. Kwanini hatuna ile tabia ya kuunganisha nahau, methali na aina nyingine za misemo ili kujaribu kutambua nini hasa mwandishi anachojaribu kusema?
Kiswahili si lugha yetu? Mbona tunashindwa kuchambua Kusadikika na vitabu vingine vya Shaaban bin Robert, au fasihi za Kiswahili kwa ujumla? Unadhani labda ingekuwa rahisi kama tungekuwa na walimu wazuri ambao wangechochea na kutufundisha kufikiria wenyewe? Na kutafuta hizo taarifa, kutuwezesha kuchambua fasihi ipasavyo?
Nitakupa mtazamo wangu: ni jinsi tunavyofikiri. Na bahati mbaya hatuna msingi unaotusukuma kutafuta taarifa muhimu kwenye hadithi husika. Walimu wetu wa Kiswahili walikuwa wanatuchambulia kila kitu na tulibaki kutafuta “notes” kutoka kwa waliotangulia, basi; tukakariri, tukafaulu Kiswahili na kuepuka kupigwa “penalty” kwenye mitihani ya kidato cha nne.
Lakini kama tungekuwa na msingi mzuri wa uchambuzi wa fasihi (hata wa vitabu vya Shaaban Robert), sidhani kama tungeona Hamlet (Shakespeare) ni kitabu kigumu.
Kwahiyo, kutafsiri vitabu (au kutohoa maneno) na kufundisha watu kwa lugha zao inaweza ikaleta mabadiliko, ila je, itawapa misingi bora wanafunzi na kuweza kustawi, kuelewa kwa kina na kuwawezesha kufikiria wenyewe, hata itakapobidi wabadili lugha?
_______________________
*Kwenye hiyo hadithi, unadhani ni wangapi walifikiria haya yafuatayo:
1. Uwajibishwaji wa vijana (siku nzima Magirini amekaa nyumbani; kila siku anashindwa kuondoa “buibui” kwenye chumba chake… Buibui ni nini kwenye ile hadithi? Fikiria, buibui anatisha, lakini Magirini anafanikiwa kusinzia! Kuna vitu kibao chumbani, kwanini mwandishi ametaja buibui tu?)
2. Kwanini mwandishi alitumia jina “Magirini”?
3. Tofauti ya malezi ya vijana wa kike na kiume.
4. Kuna ishu ya rushwa pale, na mchangiaji “mmoja” aliiona na akatoa maoni yake…
5. …
Ningependa kugusia na hadithi ya pili pia.
1. Dullah na Issa (marafiki zake Magirini) hawatakiwi kula nguruwe. Lakini wamembatiza huyo mnyama jina “mbuzi-katoliki”, kwanini?
2. Kwanini mwandishi anaonekana kung’ang’ania tu mazimwi na Binti Chura (hadithi za Debora Mwenda)?
Hint: Binti Chura ni kama fairytale fulani… Mazimwi yanatisha. Sasa, mtu akisoma kwa makini, hatashtuka atapokuja kusoma mwisho wa hadithi. No happy ending, I can tell you that.
SN
ni sahihi kuwa tatizo linaanzia kwenye namna ya ufundishaji na sio kwenye lugha yenyewe.
kwa mfano si dhani kama lugha inayotumika kwenye somo la hisabati ni ngumu kiasi cha kuwa iwe kikwazo iwapo mwanafunzi ataelewa nadharia yenyewe tokea mwanzo.
Labda pia ni ukosefu wa vitendea kazi na hasa visual aides za kusaidia walimu kufikisha ujumbe kwa wanafunzi kirahisi.
Tatizo jengine linakuja katika kumbana mwanafunzi anapojaribu kuwa mbunifu. ‘Nidhamu’ inayolazimishwa kwenye madaftari ya wanafunzi ambayo iko ‘rigid’ inamzuwia mwanafunzi kuwasilisha mawazo yake kwa namna atakavyo yeye ambacho nadhani ni kikwazo cha aina yake pia.
Wakati wenzetu wanafunzi wanaruhusiwa kuwa wabunifu katika kuwasilisha mawazo yao kwa kutumia mbinu tofauti kama kufanya kazi za nyumbani ‘assignments’ kwa kutumia kalamu za rangi zozote wapendazo (kuelezea msisitizo au mood waliyonayo) au hata pia kutumia picha/manga/emoticons kwenye madaftari yao, kwetu tunambana mwanafunzi kuandika kwa namna ile ile tu anayotaka mwalimu.
Sisemi kuwa hii ndio njia sahihi pekee lakini mfumo wa kwetu hauruhusu kukuza vipaji vya wanafunzi ambavyo vinatofautiana na ule mfumo ambao mwalimu ameuweka na ndio maana ni vigumu sana kukuta mtoto wa miaka 15 kwetu labda kavumbua kitu kipya.
Tukiachilia mbali ufundishaji wenyewe, nasisitiza kuwa bado hatujui kiswahili vya kutosha kusema kuwa tukibadili lugha ya kufundishia tu wanafunzi wataelewa zaidi na hivyo kufaulu zaidi.
ushakutana na wangapi wanaoshindwa kutofautisha matumizi ya R na L?! na mengineyo na mengineyo
I’d like to think that Bihemo’s proposal is very theoretical and can’t really come to fruition because:
1. We do not have the scientific and technological competence to avoid the main languages used in technologically advanced countries. We first have to work to build this core competence for a few generations.
2. Say if we managed to use Swahili as the language of instructions, other local languages like Kizaramo will want to be improved so that kids born or living in such where the language is spoken would learn in the language. This digs us deeper into dividing us. Using English would be a unifying force.
3. Who said the Germans, French and the Chinese are not adopting English as the language of instructions? All highly reputed journals are published in English, a reason for the current shift in Germany where many graduate programs are conducted in English.
4. English is the language of modern scholars as was Latin in the ancient time in Europe as I always like to think that Bantu was the language of scholars in the medieval times here in Africa.
You’re probably not aware that countries like Germany are now using English in some of their schools as the language of instruction to keep up with the rest of the world. They have now introduced English in class 1 instead of waiting until class 5! Even the adamant French are having a hard time because English has established itself as the language of business. The standard of spoken and written English (and Swahili) in Kenya particularly need desperate improvement. Most people who’s livelihood seem to depend on writing SMSs can hardly write a proper sentence in either languages!