TEZU, 31 Dec: “We have to be flagbearers in producing a variety of literary forms in our mother languages,” said Arunachal Pradesh Literary Society’s Lohit district president Alenso Chai in his address at the concluding session of a three-day translation workshop to produce children-friendly books in the Kaman Mishmi language, using Pratham Books’ free book portal www.storyweaver.org.
The workshop, organised jointly by Bamboosa Library here and Medo-based Forum of Library Activists, was coordinated by Akhilesh KR, a PhD scholar in linguistics at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf in Germany.
Congratulating the library activists for hosting the workshop, Chai said that “our goal in the next few years is to create a large pool of translations suitable for various age groups.”
Stating that he learnt a lot from the workshop, Chai expressed hope that “more members of the society will come forward to do translations in Arunachal languages.”
Expressing joy over “the enthusiastic response from the participants that led to the translation of six books,” Akhilesh reminded them that “languages like Hebrew in Israel and Maori tribal language in New Zealand, which had faced extinction and got totally sidelined, could rise to the status of vibrant official languages by the determined efforts of its speakers.”
“So, developing Kaman Mishmi language can surely be easy if the community members show enthusiasm,” he said.
Pratham Books are well-produced, with attractive illustrations graded into four difficulty levels, and can be freely translated by anyone in any language, with no prior permission. Idu Mishmi language titles are already available on the story-weaver platform.
“Let each one translate one title a week, and in a year we will have a large collection of Kaman Mishmi books suitable for a range of readers. Today, computer and technology have made this dream a reality,” Akhilesh said.
Sharing her experiences of the workshop, Forum of Library Activists secretary Keselo Tayang expressed great happiness over the informal interactions during the workshop, while participants Bethem Marai and Solina Kambrai were all praise for the friendly support extended by Akhilesh.
Lohit Youth Library Network coordinator S Mundayoor thanked Akhilesh “for being a volunteer of the library movement for the last four years, and for coming all the way to Tezu at your own expense to conduct this unique workshop.”
Bamboosa library in-charge Siwani Pul thanked New Delhi-based RPETA Trust for co-sponsoring the event.
