Tuesday, May 15, 2007

umwana ashenda...

Ola people!
I wasn't having a good day today and was giving my "mayo ukuchula"(woe is me) speech to my friend and she gently reminded me that I have a roof over my head, food on my plate, clothes on my body...so technically I aint ukuchulaling...:-) I needed that though and i feel better. I hit a pothole with a project that I am working on, but with a little more work and prayer I should be fine.

So any way, I am one of those people that don't like it when languages are directly translated, I think the end product sounds different sometimes. For instance, that book I told you about last week has a Bemba adage 'umwana ashenda atasha nyina uku naya' many translations on google and around translate it as 'a child who doesn't travel praises his mothers cooking'. But Bemba words have many meanings... ashenda- can't walk/ can't move/ can't travel, atasha- praises/ thanks, uku naya- now this one I could have sworn is reserved only for preparing nshima (I don't think uku naya can be used for cooking anything but nshima). If they wanted the word to mean cooking shouldn't they have said ukwipika? The implication of the statement though is always the same: travelling or visiting others increases you capacity to broaden views of the world.

Wait!!! I forgot to comment on the Zim deal...what's with rationing electricity to 4 hours a day?????? what do factories/ butchers/ clinics and others do in those hours? the idea is good for the wheat farmers...but jeez louise! This is the problem with sanctions...they rarely hurt the people that they need to hurt- especially in Africa. Mugabe can live off his money in his Swiss(?) account while the general masses starve! Inflation of 2200% now that's crazy!

On another note: my paranoia about the media industry was just increased last week when I heard on NPR (who I can almost trust) that a certain program on CBS uses fabricated/ inaccurate information and they claim they're always right! it was as simple as figures for undocumented immigrants bringing leprosy to the U.S. It was an interesting story and I'm sure you can look it up on NPR's website. I just don't have the energy to tell it.

Well I'm off now- stay well! Remember to broaden your minds:)

3 comments:

kokakolafanta said...

I don't know what I would do if they rationed electricity for 4 hours in the U.S. Kunyumba you can just use koloboyi and a ka mbaula fast fast! manje kuno guy tingafe!
Glad your day got better ma'!

African girl, American world said...

you can use google to translate our languages? I didn't know!

Manena said...

A.G.A.M: Google doesn't officially translate the language as far as I know, but when you search words of phrases you get translations from various sources such as wikipedia... or just random people explaining things:) that's what I was trying to say-- English is my second language:)