How Many Legs Does an Ant Have? (and other storybook translations)

Eileen and Eddy in the Maipenairu classroom; photo by Rebekah Drew

Eileen held up the picture of a rooster crowing loudly from the treetops. “I am a rooster, “ she said in her own language of I’ai. “I like to crow very loudly in the early morning and wake everyone up. Ko-ko-ro-ko!” The children gathered at her feet laughed as Eddy wrote the I’ai words on the blackboard.

Group translation results in community ownership! 

 photo by Robbie and Debbie Petterson

Teachers Eileen and Eddy along with over 20 children from Maipenairu, Gulf Province, were translating simple story books into I’ai to be used in the schools. Lack of basic materials, like books, is a common challenge for many rural schools, and so linguists here have created many picture books that range from simple to difficult that cover familiar topics in PNG life—from animal folk stories to health discussions to counting books (how many legs does a rat have?). Once the words are translated, they are easily plugged into the corresponding picture, and a book is complete. Because PNG is an oral culture, telling stories out loud, rather than first writing them down, often results in a more natural and vibrant translation. In addition, in PNG, people are often more comfortable working in groups to reach a conclusion, rather than individually.

In light of these principles, when I and my team travelled around Gulf Province in August for several weeks, we encouraged a translation process that was more than just pens and paper. First, one of our team would tell the story in English or Tok Pisin (PNG’s  trade language) several times, showing everyone each picture that corresponded to the words.

photo by Robbie and Debbie Petterson

Then, one of the audience members would take the pictures and retell the story in I’ai (or Urama when we were in Kivaumai village), with his or her classmates helping whenever the words were forgotten. Difficult translation concepts (such as the number eight when the counting system was only specific up to five) were discussed noisily by the whole group until they came to resolution.  Within only 2-3 repetitions, the translation would be complete, and they could then retell it for a scribe to write on a blackboard.
 

Here I'm working with a group of Urama speakers in Kivaumai

photo by Hanna Schulz

 Finally, as the whole group read aloud together, they could refine the spelling, punctuation, and phrasing until it met with their satisfaction and was ready for publication.

photo by Hanna Schulz

In the evenings, after Robbie checked the spelling and recorded the stories, Hanna, Rebekah, Susie and I would painstakingly create one copy of an A4 “big book” (our typeface was colored pencils and the binding was dental floss...) to leave behind. The plan is to print more A5 books to send back to the villages once we headed back to a land of printers and computers. We were able to create 20 books in total, which was a significant increase in their language’s corpus of literature!

photo by Hanna Schulz

A simple counting book: "An ant has 6 legs." photo by Hanna Schulz

“I am a rooster,” Eileen’s eyes twinkled as she turned to a picture of a smirking, preening rooster. “Hens like to follow me because of my beautiful feathers! Ko-ko-ro-ko!”

photo by Hanna Schulz