uMabhengwaneYesterday, in therapy (because am broken, as should be obvious to anyone reading this) I didn’t start with any negative things or gripes or complaints – but I did end up talking about bridges. No, you idiot. Not the physical structure. It’s a metaphor. In this case, I am a bridge. In fact, I am […]
Le yintandokazi yami yenkondlo. Ngithanda indlela iqhubeka ngayo, kusukela emehlweni kuya ezindlebeni, kungene olimini nasesifubeni. Ikhuluma ngamandla othando. Funda-ke uyijabulele. Ngumzamo wami wokuqala ukuhumushela isiGilikhi esiZulwini. φάινεταί μοι κῆνοσ ἴσοσ τηέοισινἔμμεν ὤνερ ὄστισ ἐναντίοσ τοιἰζάνει καὶ πλασίον ἀδυ φωνεύσασ ὐπακούει ibukeka kim’ injengothixo, noma yiph’ indod’ ebhekene nawe ehlez’ eduze nelimtot’ iphimbo lakho, elalele καὶ γαλαίσασ […]
Incwadi ebizwa i-Iliad noma “inkondlo yakwa-Iliyonu” imnandi uma uyizwa njengomlaleli, kodwa inzima uma uyibona ngamehlo okuhumusha. Kunemibuzo eminingi! Okokuqala: kufanele ngiyihumushe iphelele, noma ngihumushe iziqephu nje? Okwesibili: ngizokwenzani ngesigqi senkondlo? IsiZulu asinasigqi esifana nesamaGilikhi esibizwa nge-dactylic hexameter. Kuneminye, kodwa kwamanje okusele wukuthi ngiqhubeke!
I’m going to do it. No, I’m doing it. I’m translating Homer into isiZulu. And there are so many different ways to start that it doesn’t feel like I’ve begun. But I have. There are about 200 translation equivalents already loaded between the two languages. Awesome. I’ve translated some of the names. Winning. So of […]
caution: this blog contains some swearing / isixwayiso: kunenhlamba kuleli blog I had my fighting shoes on. Tan brown hightops, white t-shirt and jeans. I strode in there demanding justice, and was met with four occupied attendants. So I sat down, and waited, and surveyed the battlefield. Yellow. Everything was yellow. The colour of ubuhlanzo. […]
This is the first part of a three-part series on Gender ngesiZulu, which is something I’ve recently been researching for two different friends. This is an ancient or ur-Bantu root meaning ‘bed’. It’s very different from the word u(lu)cansi, meaning ‘sleeping mat’ or (euphemistically) ‘sex’. There are no cognates of -lili meaning ‘bed’ specifically. This […]
The idea of choice is at the heart of an election. E-leg-ere is a Latin verb, meaning ‘to pick out’ or ‘to select’ from a list of candidates. And the Zulu verb uku-khetha means exactly the same thing. I’ve spoken about it before, I think. I should have, at any rate – my darling wife’s […]
I posted this on FB recently, and there has been some debate. I offer it now to the wider internet. Let me know what you think. Um, in my humble opinion there are a few issues with this poster. 1. I-Johannesburg isn’t a thing. I know that you might be meaning to say ‘Johannesburg Metro’, […]
As part of our organisation’s ‘Home Week’, my dear friend John led us in a reflection on the intersectionality of all forms of exclusion and prejudice, and did so by guiding us in a pantoum exercise. He asked us to reflect on a moment, and more specifically an interaction with another person, in which we […]
It’s been a busy week so far – a 3500-word backtranslation and two sets of radio scripts for a retail chain, in between the usual paths of public holidays and normal weekdays teaching around Gauteng, landing without a sound at a creative and refreshing hour’s lesson with Mr Thursday in Yeoville (after a late night […]