The "Anglophone problem" has undoubtedly been one of the most significant socio-cultural and political events of this decade in Cameroon. This protest movement, whose epicenter is the so-called Anglophone part of Cameroon, has led to the resurgence or appearance, in both the Anglophone and Francophone zones, of terms and expressions such as "Southern Cameroons", "West Cameroon", "The Republic of Cameroon", "Ambazonia", "Anglophone culture/Francophone culture", "secession", etc. Each of these terms and expressions carries a notional and ideological charge that testifies, if at all, to the fact that the Anglophone part of Cameroon is the only part of the country that is "Anglophone". Each of these terms and expressions has a notional and ideological charge that testifies, if proof were still needed, to the split in identity that is expressed in Cameroon today, mainly in terms of the quasi-Manichean Anglophone/Francophone distinction. Why has Cameroonian identity become so "unhappy"?[1] ? Are national unity and cohesion in jeopardy? Que sera sera!
From this gloomy picture, the "urgency of thought" is felt more than ever. The English proverb "the pen is mightier than the sword[2] Doesn't the phrase "the nation's future" find its full meaning in this vein? Shouldn't every Cameroonian intellectual and professional, according to his or her own training and skills, be doing the nation a service by dipping his or her pen into proposing practical and effective solutions to repair these cracks in the social, cultural, political and historical foundations?
However, we are witnessing endless bickering and quarrels between Anglophones and Francophones, between intellectuals and politicians of all stripes. Each believes it has a better knowledge and reading of the country's history. Accusations of bad faith are made on both sides. This dialogue of the deaf runs at least two risks for Cameroonian society. Firstly, there is a risk of of identity essentialization in Cameroon. An "anglophone" is someone whose parents are geographically from the north-west and south-west regions of Cameroon. A Cameroonian born in these regions, educated in the Anglophone education subsystem, fluent in the languages of these regions, including Pidgin-English and English, but whose parents come from "elsewhere", is not an "Anglophone". In this form of imaginary identity, it's almost impossible for a non-English speaker to become an English speaker, just as the son or daughter of a Cameroonian would become German if born in Germany and acquiring its culture, way of life and nationality! Secondly, we run the risk of of identity autarkyThis is the corollary of identity essentialization. Anglophone and Francophone identities would thus become watertight, escaping any form of mutual enrichment. Mutual enrichment would give way to the poison of preconceived ideas and clichés. Linguistic identities borrowed from colonial times would become quasi-ethnic identities. Divisions will continue to take root and be expressed in words that take such basic forms as "les bamenda...", "nous les anglophones...", "vous les francophones...", "les anglophones sont...les francophones sont", and so on.
However, it seems clear to us that no community, no country, can live with cultural or identity-based insularity. Especially not Cameroon! Cameroon's beneficial future lies and remains in its mix, in its mosaic of cultures, in the effective cohabitation and not the simple juxtaposition of two linguistic communities which, incidentally, form a single people, the Cameroonian people.
One thing leads to another, and it's up to us to build bridges and create common spaces between Cameroon's English-speaking and French-speaking communities. That's how we came up with the idea of creating a collection of translated literary works from Cameroon. This collection will be called Collection crossing the Moungo / Across the Mungo Series. The name echoes the Moungo bridge, a famous meeting point between the former East and West Cameroon. In the same way, we could have named this collection "Babadjou-Santa", to refer to another no less famous border between the former English-speaking Cameroon and the former French-speaking Cameroon: the Babadjou-Santa border. Obviously, we opted for the first designation because the image of the bridge seems more meaningful to us. First of all, the Moungo River doesn't change its name from one bank to the other. What's more, isn't the bridge that crosses this river the link par excellence between the two parts of Cameroon? Given the current situation in Cameroon, we've chosen to emphasize encounters, reunions and, incidentally, bridges. It seems counterproductive to us to insist on borders and geographical divisions, the relevance of which we question. In short, we intend to build bridges: "Wissen schafft Brücken".[3]we say in German.
From then on, the Collection en passant le Moungo/Across the Mungo Series draws its inspiration from the following premise: the translation and retranslation of Cameroonian literary works, both English and French, and their consequent introduction into our educational system, is part of the logic of linguistic decompartmentalization of our literature and, moreover, of the revitalization of living together, which is in jeopardy in Cameroon.
It is this capacity of translated or re-translated literary works to stimulate constructive debate on living together, to enrich cultural perspectives on both sides, and ultimately to serve as a mobile bridge between two shores that this project to create a collection of translated Cameroonian literary works sets out to explore. This document is presented in three parts, corresponding to three major questions concerning the contribution of translated Cameroonian literary works, not only in times of socio-political and identity-related discontent, but also in a perennial Cameroonian society, to the construction of a cultural identity that is more Cameroonian than Francophone or Anglophone.
This document is presented in three parts. The first part presents the legal and institutional framework within which this project will be implemented. In the second part, we look at the need to translate and re-translate Cameroonian literary works. Finally, the third part reviews the process of translating, re-translating and integrating translated literary works into the Cameroonian education system.
PART ONE
Political and legal framework
This project is in line with
Question: How does our work fit in with the Ministry's public policy? (Your work fits in with the Ministry's public policy)
The teaching of ancient or foreign works is an integral part of school curricula. It has been reinforced by the definition of the common base of knowledge and skills enshrined in the French Education Code, both in its legislative part (Loi d'orientation pour l'avenir de l'École) and in its regulatory part (decree of July 11, 2006). (What about Cameroon?)
In addition, we are currently considering how to integrate the various pillars of this foundation into our curricula. For Pillar V, devoted to humanist culture, to which the subject of your work largely relates, (What can we think about in Cameroon?)
Which of the following genres: also authors of children's literature, science fiction or adventure.
The common core values this humanist culture:
"Students must be prepared to share a European culture" Cameroonian culture
- through knowledge of the major texts of Antiquity,
- through knowledge of major literary, pictorial, musical, theatrical, architectural and cinematographic works from France, Europe and the rest of the world.
[…]
This humanist culture provides students with common references and encourages a personal cultural life and an aptitude for curiosity.
National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism (decree 2017/013 of January 23, 2017)
The Commission is a consultative body with legal personality and financial autonomy.
CHAPTER II ATTRIBUTIONS
ARTICLE 3 - (1) Under the authority of the President of the Republic, the Commission is responsible for promoting bilingualism and multiculturalism in Cameroon, with a view to maintaining peace, consolidating the country's national unity and strengthening the will and daily practice of living together among its people.
LAW N°98/004 OF APRIL 4, 1998 GOVERNING EDUCATION IN CAMEROON
Article 3: The State enshrines bilingualism at all levels of education as a factor of national unity and integration.
Article 5: As part of the general mission defined in article 4 above, education has the following objectives: 1. the training of citizens rooted in their own culture, but open to the world and respectful of the general interest and the common good; 2. training in the great universal ethical values of dignity and honor, honesty and integrity, as well as a sense of discipline; 3. education in family life; 4. the promotion of national languages; 5. initiation to the culture and practice of democracy, respect for human rights and freedoms, justice and tolerance, the fight against all forms of discrimination, the love of peace and dialogue, civic responsibility and the promotion of regional and sub-regional integration; 6. the culture of love of effort and work well done, the quest for excellence and the spirit of partnership; 7. the development of creativity, initiative and entrepreneurship; 8. the physical, sporting, artistic and cultural training of children; 9. the promotion of hygiene and health education.
Who are they? -academics, regional educational inspectors and teachers
Antoine Berman, "La retraduction comme espace de la traduction", Palimpsestes [En ligne], 4 | 1990, online December 22, 2010, accessed December 18, 2016. URL: http:// palimpsestes.revues.org/596
- academics, secondary school teachers, researchers and pedagogues
-It seems to me that we can't work without the university.
Questions :
-expert group
Arguments: Literary translation is an extremely important part of the teaching process, because ancient and foreign works enable students to discover a literary and artistic heritage, to distinguish and understand the foundations of different genres, and to appreciate their renewal. At all levels of schooling, this heritage is the object and subject of teaching, to which the curricula are giving increasing prominence.
TAF : Draw up a list of 1. Of works on the program that are indeed translations. 2. Draw up an inventory of the ratio of non-Cameroonian authors to Cameroonian authors in our school curricula, from sixth grade to Terminale, and from Form One to Upper Sixth.
TAF: accompanying documents include lists of works classified by genre. Your work will certainly help to renew them.
Question: 1. Which literary works are intended for study?
The workshops showcase the diversity of our choices. We'll be tackling the monuments of European and classical literature, works that embody the universal genius of Goethe,
Cervantes or Dante.
*** Pedagogical responsibility In these cultural monuments, the teaching teams draw on the diversity of ages and backgrounds, and the pedagogical responsibility of each teacher and researcher.
***we need to think about the status of these works: the LTO is a literary work in its own right. The dean mentioned translation errors: liberties or purism? What is proposed to the students is not a series of words and sounds taken from a word-processing program with disconcerting aesthetic results. Translation is about transferring the aesthetic dimension of a work from one language to another, and from one culture to another.
So we'll have to debate the very thing that is
t transferred, the artistic quality of the original work, possibly betrayed, but also recreated
*Argument: the methods and tools of comparative literature do not play a major role in the recruitment and training of secondary school teachers, especially at college level.
***Theory***
Examine whether the translated text avoided strangeness (deviation from the norm of the target language) while retaining the foreign aspect of the original work.
Working on works in translation is by no means an easy solution or a sign of renunciation; on the contrary, it means facing up to the challenge of asking multiple questions of texts that, in one way or another, reveal an element of the foreign.
The seminar workshops provide an opportunity for what has been called manipulation
It's all about handling texts, wondering why a particular form or expression has been used, and questioning the relevance of a particular term or formula. For example, if you're using a bilingual edition (which is by no means a necessary or sufficient condition!), observe on which pages the original text and the translated text are respectively located: which of the two is on the "beautiful page", i.e. on the right-hand page, normally assigned an odd number? Having a translated work read raises the question of reading conditions.
- first and foremost, to provide mutual training and information. In the short space of time that these two days represent, we will have the opportunity to discuss and exchange ideas, without preconceived concessions or prejudices. We all know that the simplest questions are often those that actually pose the most fundamental problems;
- secondly, to summarize the debates and discussions so that they can be published as soon as possible in the form of proceedings, which will provide information on the work carried out in all the workshops;
- in the longer term, consider the creation of sites dedicated to literary works in translation; they would bring together dossiers on these works, as well as the issues raised by their study (e.g.: choice of this or that translation, suggestion of this or that exercise, interest in confronting this or that translation in another language...). It should be possible to set up these sites fairly quickly, as we already have work underway in this field; in particular, they could serve as echo chambers for exercises to be proposed to pupils and students, as well as to candidates in recruitment competitions.
Goethe praised the translation as a great success [...] even though it was mostly prose. In German," he said, "I no longer enjoy reading
Faust, but in this French translation, everything is fresh, new and full of spirit.
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It means conceiving of translation not as a simple reproduction of the original, but as the production of a side of the work that only translation brings to light: the untranslatable is no longer a brake, but a motor, no longer an ergon, but an energeia, as Wilhelm von Humboldt would say.
8
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The translation of a literary work then appears as what it is: a literary fact, just as Amyot's Plutarch was to Montaigne.
We can't ingenuously conclude that all translations are destined to reach a similar level of brilliance; but the fact that some have done so demonstrates that it's not inconceivable, just as it's possible to demonstrate the possibility of walking while walking.
Retranslation as a space for translation
The theme of this talk is: retranslation as the space of translation. By "space", we mean space of accomplishment.
On the other hand - and this is a very different direction of thought - since no translation can claim to be "the" translation, the possibility and necessity of retranslation are inscribed in the very structure of the act of translating.
We have to re-translate because translations age, and because none of them are translations at all: hence we see that translating is an activity subject to time, and an activity that possesses its own temporality: that of caducity and incompleteness.
And these individuals only appear when, on the other hand, the time for translating a work has come, or returned. This time (re)comes when, for a culture, the translation of a work becomes vital to its being and its history. Naturally, this can only be a re-translation. For the work, for its part, must have long matured its presence in us, before the need for its retranslation becomes apparent.
between the Faculty of Medicine and the Centre National de Développement du Numérique Universitaire (CNDU)