Celebrating International Translation Day

To mark International Translation Day, PEN members from around the world have translated a poem by Eritrean poet and journalist Amanuel Asrat, to demonstrate the significant role translation can play in furthering freedom of expression by highlighting the ongoing plight of journalists in Eritrea.

Read PEN Afrikaans Manager Danie Marais’ Afrikaans translation of the poem below or click through to read “War’s Curse” by Amanuel Asrat in English, Bangla, Catalan, Croatian, Dutch, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Tamazight and Tigrinya.
Translation and translators are fundamental part of PEN’s freedom of expression and literary work. PEN’s Girona Manifesto specifically underlines the importance of translation in protecting and advancing linguistic rights:

‘The translation of texts, especially the great works of various cultures represents a very important element in the necessary process of greater understanding and respect among human beings.’

Later this month, the PEN general assembly is expected to adopt the ‘Québec City Declaration on Translators and Translation’, at the 81st PEN International congress, which will be held in Quebec City, Canada. The declaration will continue to build on PEN’s work on linguistic diversity and rights.

Amanuel Asrat is an award-winning Eritrean poet, critic and editor-in-chief of the leading newspaper ዘመን (Zemen, meaning The Times). On 18 September 2001, in a climate of mounting repression, 15 members of the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice wrote an open letter denouncing President Isaias Afwerki’s iron grip on power, calling his actions “illegal and unconstitutional”. For this they were quickly jailed.

On the same day, Afwerki cracked down on all dissent, banning private newspapers. Eleven journalists were taken into custody, and remain in undisclosed locations. Asrat was arrested at his home on the morning of 23 September 2001, when the editors of all the country’s private newspapers were rounded up.

Fourteen years later the country remains in the iron grip of Afwerki. Freedom of expression continues to be severely repressed. Current estimates suggest there are at least 23 journalists in prison without due process. It is widely believed that between four and nine of the 11 journalists detained in September 2001 have since died. From the limited information available, Asrat is believed to be among the few surviving journalists, detained in the maximum security prison, Eiraeiro, north of Asmara.

ኣበሳ ኵናት

ሓደ ነገር ጓዚሙ
ሓደ ነገር ተዳህዩ
ንህድኣት በሲዑ
ሓደ ነገር ኣቃሊሑ።
ኣብታ ክልተ ኣሕዋት ዝተሓላለፉላ
ኣብታ ክልተ ኣሕዋት ዝራኸቡላ
ኣብታ ክልተ ኣሕዋት ዝዋሰቡላ
ኣብ ቅርዓት ሂወትን ሞትን
ኣብ ወሽመጥ ጥፍኣትን ልምዓትን
ኣብ ስንጭሮ ሻቕሎትን ሰላምን
….ተቐርቒሩ
ሓደ ነገር ተዳህዩ።
ሽዑ ሓንቲ ፍረ ዘርኢ….
ጭዓን ሰራውን እናተታፍአ
መሸላን ብልቱግን እናተጎናንአ
ዝእክቦ ስኢኑ ሓድሕዱ እናተበላልዐ
ብሰርቢ ንብዓት ተሰጕዳ
ካብ ነብሳ ጎሚዳ ነብሳ ተጎሚዳ
ካብ ነብሳ ነብሳ ዘሪኣ።
ኣብቲ ዛጊት ዘይተፈርሽሐ
ኣብቲ ኣየናይ ናይ መን ዘይፍለ
ዋሕዚ ደምን ማይን
….ተተኺላ
እታ ዘርኢ ግን…
ብቐዛሒት ጸሓይ
ብዘይሰክን ሰርቢ
ብፋሕሸዋይ በርቂ
ብዘንድድ ዝናብ…ተዓጂባ፣
ጋዕ-ገልጠም ሓጺነ-መጺን ሰሊዃ
መልኣከ ሞት ተጊራ
ምኹን ሂወት ሓንጊራ
እነሆ ኣርኪባ ኣብ ኣዝመራ።
እታ ዘርኢ…
ካብቲ ዘይተፈርሽሐ ደምን ማይን
ናይ መን ናብ መን ዘይጠለለ
ማይኮዖኡ ዘይለለ
ባዕላ ኢያ በጺሓ
ኣብቲ ኣዝመራ ክትፍለ
ኣብቲ ኣዝመራ ግን…
የማና እንተማዕደወት
ንሱ ሰብኣይ ንሳ ጭሕሚ
ጸጋማ እንተማዕደወት
ንሱ መሬት ንሳ ተኽሊ
ደንጺዋ… ግራሞት ተዓንጊላ
ተደናዲና… ዝርያ ኸኣ ዘይኣመላ
ምስ መንያ ክትጽጋዕ ኣበይ ከተድቢ
ናበይ እያ ከተድምዕ ናበይ’ያ ክትድርቢ
እቲ ኣዝመራ ግን ሕማቑ እቲ ዘይምጽባቑ
ብኣፍ ጥይት ሓሪሱ
ካዕቦ ሂወት ኣፍሲሱ
ሕልፈት ካብ ትንፋስ ጎልጕሉ

ንሞት ብሞት ዓጺዱ
ኣብ ዝባን ውሉድ ኣኺዱ
ኣማስያኡ ነታ ፍረ ኣብ ስግኣት ጠፍሊቑ።
እታ ፍረ….
መዓልትን ለይትን ሓደ እዩ ኮይኑዋ
ሻቕሎትን ሩፍታን ተሓዋዊሱዋ
ዓለም ኣብ ውሽጢ ዓለም
ኵናት ኣብ ውሽጢ ሰላም
እምነት ኣብ ሕጓ ዘለ ጥልመት
ምስ ረኣየት ደንጺዋ።
ዘየደንጹ ድዩ’ሞ?

ኣዝመራ ኵናት እቲ ኣበሳነቱ
ንብዓት ኣደ ንውላዳ
ንብዓት እንዳ ነታ ርስታ
ንብዓት መሬት ንመሬታ
ውሒዙ ውሒዙ ምስ ዛረየ
ባይታ ምስ ጨቀወ ምስ ጠልቀየ
ናውቲ ሸሚሙ
ንኹሉ ሰሊሙ… ምስ ራሰየ
ኣሻቡ ፈርዩ ባዴላ ኣፍራዛ
ኣሻቡ ፈልፊሉ መግነዚ ቃሬዛ
የግዳስ…
ኣሻቡ ድማ ይሃልኽ ኩሉ ይሻመዎ
ኩልና ንደልዮ ኩልና ንውንኖ

ነገር ኵናት እቲ ክፋኡ…
ኣዝመራኡ ከይደለኻዮ ምስ ዝበጽሕ
ፈንጤጋር መቓልሑ ማዕጾኻ ምስ ዝኹሕኩሕ
ሽዑ እዩ ኣበሳ ኵናት ኣበሳ ዘገማድሕ
ግና…
ከይፈተኻ ተሳስዮ
ከይደለኻ ተሳልዮ
ኣርሒቑ ክሃጥም ግን ኣ…ቤት ትጽልዮ!

ኣማኑኤል ኣስራት

(ተዓዋቲት ፍሉይ ሽልማት ሃገራዊ ኣወሃሃዲ ሽማግለ በዓላት 1999)

Oorlog se vloek

Iets het gegrom
iets het gegalm
die vrede deurboor
weerklink
… vasgesit
waar twee broers aan mekaar verbygaan
waar twee broers ontmoet
waar twee broers een word
op die piazza van lewe en dood
in die golf tussen rampspoed en beskawing
in die vallei van angs en vrede
het iets gebars, geknal.
Terwyl twee akasia-bome na mekaar gespoeg het
het sorghum en gras mekaar afgemaai
met niemand om te oes nie op mekaar geteer
tot net ’n enkele saadjie oor was …
randvol trane
afgekap – gekerf
in sigself gesaai.
… geplant
in aarde wat nog moet wegstort
in daardie ononderskeibare ding,
stroom van bloed en water,
die saadjie …
bestook deur:
die vriesende son
stormagtige nimbuswolke kolkend
gryserige weerlig
verskroeiende reën …
glip dit deur ’n rommelveld van yster
beklim dit die gees van dood
dra dit sy steriele lewe
hier, het dit ’n lente aangegryp.
Die saadjie …
het op sy eie aangekom
uit die bloed en water wat nog moet vloei
wie s’n en na wie nog onbekend
sy voedingsare onidentifiseerbaar
toe dit daardie lente gekloof het
maar in daardie lente …
wanneer die saadjie na regs gekyk het
was hy ’n man, was dit ’n baard
wanneer dit na links gekyk het
was hy die aarde, was dit ’n saad
verward en verwilderd … het dit geëet uit die hand van verwondering
versoek … maar hensop was nie in sy aard nie
Aan wie moes dit trou sweer, waar wie bekruip?
Wie moes oorgehaal, wie gestenig word?
Maar daardie lente se vuilheid is sy onooglikheid
dit het geploeg met die snawel van ’n koeël
ontelbare lewens gemors
asem weggevee

dood met dood gemaai
gedors op die skouers van ons nageslag
uiteindelik die vrugte in wantroue gekneus.
Want die vrugte …
toe dag en nag versmelt
angs en kalmte vermeng
’n wêreld binne ’n wêreld
oorlog binne vrede
vertroue in die agterdeur van verraad
het dit gesink in verbystering.
Is dit nie verbysterend nie?

Die plaag van hierdie lente van oorlog
ná ’n moeder se trane vir haar kinders
die clan se trane vir sy tyd
die aarde se trane vir die aarde
wat gevloei en gevloei het soos ’n stroom
het die aarde gou nat en modderig geword
eiendom in die slik versink
almal vasgekeer … beroof
toe het die graaf en die pik verskyn
en die roukleed en die draagbaar opgeskiet
maar …
hoe vinnig word alles opgebruik en almal skarrel daarna
almal van ons honger daarna en besit dit

die lelikheid van hierdie ding, oorlog
wanneer sy lente ongewens opdaag
wanneer sy vernietigende eggo’s aan jou deur klop
dit is dan dat oorlog se vloek die ondergang brou
maar …
jy dien dit teen wil en dank
teësinnig hou jy dit geselskap
steeds, bid jy hard: Maak dit stil!

Amanuel Asrat (1999)
(Translated by Danie Marais from Tedros Abraham’s English translation of the original poem in Tigrinya in collaboration with David Shook)