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28 April 2021 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo UFS Archive
The fact that Prof Naomi Morgan enjoyed reading the book herself, contributed to the successful translation process.

Fille à soldats is the French title of Dr Francois Smith’s book Kamphoer. The ground-breaking novel recently made its appearance on French bookshelves thanks to the translation skills of Prof Naomi Morgan from the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French at the University of the Free State (UFS). 

Any translation work is a difficult task to take on, but for Prof Morgan, Head of the Division of French at the UFS, translating Kamphoer into French was worthwhile. “The biggest advantage (of translation) is that more people can read the novel. Without translation, different cultures do not know each other,” said Prof Morgan.  The only way of knowing existing languages is through translation. 

This is the third translation of the novel. The first translation was into Dutch and the second into English. “I work mainly in the French-Afrikaans language pair and thought the French would be interested in this story,” Prof Morgan said. 

Kamphoer author bursting with pride 

Dr Francois Smith, a lecturer in the same department as Prof Morgan, has great appreciation for his colleague. “I am very grateful for the translation and also very proud of it. Someone who translates your book reads it with the greatest love and attention,” he said.  The first reviews published in France are full of praise. “It seems that Prof Morgan has succeeded in giving Kamphoer a new and powerful life in French.” 

Recently, Dr Smith was also named as the runner-up in the Great Novel Competition for his book Die getuienis.

 
Dr Francois Smith, author of the book Kamphoer. Photo: Mlungisi Louw 

Historical bond with the French

The historical connection with the French was another reason for translating Kamphoer, since they (the French) supported the Boer forces during the Anglo-Boer War. The storyline for Kamphoer is based on this war. “French readers like historical novels and history in general. Therefore, there would be a potential reading public,” Prof Morgan said.  

Her own love for the history of this war, her language skills, and the required background were the winning recipe for the skilful translation of the novel. “I enjoyed reading the novel – a requirement when you are working as a translator for months on a text,” she said. 

Translation not an easy process

The best and only French-Afrikaans dictionary dates from the 1950s. According to Prof Morgan, translation is a very difficult process, as translators and interpreters normally translate into their mother tongue and not the other way around.  “The translation process with any novel is handled by two publishers; in this case, Tafelberg (South Africa) and Actes Sud (France),” Prof Morgan said. The translator is appointed after that. Prof Morgan worked with Georges Lory, a well-known French translator who understands Afrikaans.

 With unique words and phrases in Afrikaans, it can be quite a struggle to translate from Afrikaans into French. Words that are inherent to a language and/or culture can be difficult to translate. “One of the challenges was also the fact that the main character, Susan Nell, at times quoted from the Dutch State Bible written in seventeenth-century Dutch. What do you do with this? Or with the Afrikaans onomatopoeia of bird sounds?” Prof Morgan explained. 
 
Future plans for more Afrikaans-French translations?

Future plans for the translation of other books into French unfortunately do not depend on Prof Morgan, because the contracts are concluded between publishers, and because Afrikaans novels are usually first translated into English. “Therefore, if translation errors occur in the English version, the French translator does not realise this,” Prof Morgan said. There are also only three French translators who can translate directly from Afrikaans.  

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Leader of Bafokeng nation delivers a guest lecture at UFS
2011-05-05

 
Kgosi Leruo Molotlegi, leader of the Royal Bafokeng, Proff. Teuns Verschoor, Vice-Rector: Institutional Affairs, Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of our university, and Hendri Kroukamp, Dean of our Faculty Economic and Management Sciences (acting).
Photo: Stephen Collett

Kgosi Leruo Molotlegi, leader of the Royal Bafokeng nation, asked the pertinent questions: Who decides our fate as South Africans? Who owns our future? in the JN Boshoff Memorial Lecture at our university.

He said: “It’s striking that today, with all the additional freedoms and protections available to us, we have lost much of the pioneering spirit of our ancestors. In this era of democracy and capitalist growth (systems based on choice, accountability, and competition), we nevertheless invest government with extraordinary responsibility for our welfare, livelihoods, and even our happiness. We seem to feel that government should not only reconcile and regulate us, but also house us, school us, heal us, employ us, even feed us.

“And what government can’t do, the private sector will. Create more jobs, invest in social development and the environment, bring technical innovations to our society, make us part of the global village. But in forfeiting so much authority over our lives and our society to the public and private sectors, I believe we have given away something essential to our progress as people and a nation: the fundamental responsibility we bear for shaping our future according to aims, objectives, and standards determined by us.”

He shared the turnaround of the education system in the 45 schools in the 23 communities of the Bafokeng nation and the effect of greater community, NGOs, the church and other concerned parties’ engagement in the curricula and activities with the audience. School attendance improved from 80% to 90% in two years and the top learners in the matric maths in Northwest were from the Bafokeng nation. 

Kgosi Leruo Molotlegi stressed the need for people to help to make South Africa a better place: “As a country, we speak often of the need for leadership, the loss of principles, a decline in values. But too few of us are willing to accept the risk, the expense, the liability, and sometimes even the blame, that accompanies attempting to make things better. We are trying to address pressing issues we face as a community, in partnership with government, and with the tools and resources available to us as a traditionally governed community. It goes without saying that we can and should play a role in deciding our fate as members of this great country, and in the Royal Bafokeng Nation, as small as it is, we are determined to own our own future.”

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