We are currently open to working with academics, authors, publishers, and others who are interested in developing and promoting this project. Depending on your interests and qualifications, please consider:
Indigenous Language Project
Coordinator: Teresa Yego, BA
Host: Novelty Fiction Agency
Native languages are a communication tool that not only conveys information, but also passes culture and memory from one generation down to the next. Native languages may also be used to give an individual or community a sense of identity. Moreover, since native languages are typically taught “mouth to mouth” from early childhood, they may enable someone to express themselves in the most accurate and intuitive manner possible.
Indigenous Language Project aims to explore the benefits and limitations of writing a manuscript – whether fiction or nonfiction – in one’s native language. Doing so could certainly be a way to preserve important cultural meanings, convey complex or sensitive emotions, and maintain originality that may be lost during real-time adaptation. Native languages are used to decode meaning and shape identity. However, authors may feel pressured to write in dominating languages such as English to reach an international audience.
Problem statement
It is our hypothesis that authenticity is often best preserved where the author writes in their native language, followed by translation by a native speaker of the target language. Moreover, we hypothesize that finding suitable translators has become easier due to technological advances, giving authors an additional incentive to write in their native language.
Objectives
To build a case for authors to write in their native language, especially considering recent advances in machine translation and artificial intelligence.
To analyze how complex culture and sensitive emotions are better preserved when writing natively, yielding an authentic master manuscript.
To look into the challenges experienced during translation into dominant languages, and how technological advances may help bridge the gap.
To examine the global impact of the chosen language upon originality, readership, and literary value.
Methodology
This project will primarily rely upon surveys to collect data anonymously from writers, both male and female. Our subjects will be recruited from active creative writer communities, representing a variety of native languages, genres, age groups, and educational backgrounds.
The project will also rely on literary analysis and scholarly works on translation studies, post-colonial literature, and linguistic identity. Examples will be gotten from authors who write in their native language and those who write in a dominant or international language.
Findings
The expected findings of this project are that writing in a native language preserves important cultural aspects, conveys complex or sensitive emotions, and maintains originality that may be lost in translation. Translating a manuscript can increase readership; however, the original meaning could be lost, emphasizing the significance of native languages as a potentially superior form of literary expression.
