MISLEADING NOTICES A BAD SIGN FOR XHOSAS
Myolisi Gophe

The Weekend Argus
March 12 2005

Many of the official signs in isiXhosa that are proliferating around the Western Cape are a fiasco.

The signs are so badly translated that they have been described as "meaningless and offensive".

Like the one advising pregnant women to phone a clinic when they are in labour, translated as "phone the clinic when your tummy is running".

Or the sign that should tell people they can book for a picnic, but saying instead "you can bring book for picnics".

A Cape Town road sign proclaiming "no hawking" has been mistranslated into isiXhosa as "no walking", completely baffling pedestrians.

And the one telling people that drinking is prohibited on a beach, informs them instead "there is no alcohol here", in effect an invitation to bring alcohol.

Instead of making isiXhosa-speaking people feel welcome, the signage baffles, misleads and annoys them.

This revelation follows Cape Town mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo's statement that black people do not feel welcome in the city. Ironically, some of the absurd signs have been put up by her own municipality.

Language experts have blamed carelessness and negative attitudes for the poor isiXhosa translations on official signs on roads, at beaches, hospitals and other public places. Translators appear to be unqualified or have relied solely on dictionaries, a recipe for chaos.

IsiXhosa is one of three recognised official languages in the province, together with English and Afrikaans, but the translation into isiXhosa at government, provincial and municipal institutions, heritage and other sites has been found to be ridiculous.

Language experts say those who commission translations see this indigenous language as valueless and treat it as less important than Afrikaans and English or any other Western language.

"When people want translations into Afrikaans they will get qualified translators, editors and proof-readers, but when it comes to isiXhosa they just drag in anybody," said Tessa Dowling, director of the African Voices language institution in Muizenberg.

She and Wynberg Girls' High School isiXhosa teacher Thandi Mpambo-Sibukwana have recently done a study which revealed that signage translation is appalling.

One sign, which Mpambo-Sibukwana described as the worst, was at the Afrikaans Taal Monument in Paarl. The sign "you can book for picnics" has been translated into isiXhosa as meaning "you can bring book for picnics". "Because of that sign, I hate to visit that monument," said Mpambo-Sibukwana.

But that is just one of many.

At St James beach, a sign warning people that alcohol is prohibited turns out to mean that "there is no alcohol here" in the IsiXhosa translation.

At the dispensary unit in the Khayelitsha Community Health Centre in Site B, the researchers found countless errors.

The Department of Obstetrics has been translated as "Isebe labazali", which means the "department of parents". The title of a pamphlet about HIV/Aids has been misspelt and instead of "Isifo uGawulayo" it reads "Isipho uGawulayo", which means "The Gift HIV/Aids".

Mpambo-Sibukwana said a Cape Town municipal sign urging people to save water was written as "Bonga amanzi", which means "praise water" instead of "Yonga amanzi".

A sign relating to "seizure" has been translated into isiXhosa as "isikere", meaning "scissors".

Dowling said that, legally, isiXhosa-speaking people could not be prosecuted for bringing alcohol onto St James beach because of the poor translation.

She said translators, editors or proof-readers at official institutions just dragged in any unqualified isiXhosa-speaking person to translate.

Sydney Zotwana, former head of translation services in parliament, agreed and said: "If you speak a certain language, it doesn't mean you are qualified to translate it".

He said the problem was that institutions had negative attitudes towards African languages and would translate English and Afrikaans correctly while translating isiXhosa sloppily.

"They use financial constraints as an excuse and want to save when it comes to isiXhosa translation while they are prepared to spend for Afrikaans and English," he said.

Zotwana, an independent language consultant, said another problem was the lack of standardisation of the language. IsiXhosa, along with other African languages, was struggling to cope with the new parliamentary, scientific and technological concepts.

Attempts to get the city council to comment were not successful and the Afrikaans Taal Monument and the Khayelitsha Health Centre said they had no knowledge of the errors.

Meanwhile, the government hopes to put its house in order after the launch of the Western Cape Language Policy - the result of a five-year consultation process - a few weeks ago.

About R4.2 million has been approved for the next financial year, starting next month, and the policy will require departments to have language units to render translation and interpreting services, "ensuring that people of the Western Cape feel at home, welcomed and respected".