25 Guyanese trained to translate emergency COVID-19 messages into Indigenous languages

Sep 14, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – Twenty-five Guyanese have been trained by the Language Unit of the University of Guyana (UG) to translate emergency and COVID-19 related messages into Indigenous languages.

Participants of the training at the virtual ceremony held last week.

The 25 persons have since translated public health and emergency messages into the various local languages. These languages are Akawaio, Arekuna, Carib, Creolese, Arawak, Makushi, Patamuna, Wai-Wai, Wapichan and Warrau.
According to information obtained from UG, Charro Albert, Tatiana Famey, Alim Hosein, Dillon Mohamed, Rosemarie Ramitt, Charlene Wilkison, Samantha Thomas, Ovid Williams, Berbice Rocke, Silverius Vitus Perry and Shondell Rodrigues all received certificates of achievement.
Certificates of recognition were awarded to Sandra Austin, Romario Hastings, Akeem Henry, Colleen Frazer, Eileen Charles, James Thomas, Marybeth Singh, Gloria Duarte, Leah Camsimero, Ian Paul, Norman Cox, Maglenis Medina and Derrick Henry.
During a virtual award ceremony, Lecturer Charlene Wilkinson explained that the training to translate key COVID-19 health and emergency messages started a year ago.
“We in the Guyanese Languages Unit including our overseas members who belong to the University of the West Indies wondered how we can intervene to turn, as the Buddhists would say, turn poison into medicine,” Wilkinson explained. “We approached the Ministry of Health and said look people have to get information in the languages that they understand and we are here and willing to work with you to translate any advisories that you want to go out to the public.”
The eight-week training was done virtually with University of the West Indies Professor of Linguistics, Hubert Devonish. Among the challenges, Professor Devonish explained, was translating the “complicated sciences and concepts,” into local languages.
“I felt very strongly that this was one occasion when the world, when we, as speakers of these local languages, needed to be connected via our own languages, because there was stuff going on out there, and that stuff was coming at us.”
The evolution of the pandemic brought different challenges to this project, Professor Devonish explained, as the group navigated how to translate terms like viruses and germs to languages that did not cater for those words.
“We got something in place, we got people who are aware, who have recognised the importance of understanding what the other world, the outer world people saying, in the outer world style and then trying to integrate us into it,” he said. “Because we have to understand ‘the talk’ because in the end, we have to decide at this critical point whether to take the vaccine or not, what is the benefits, so we got to have a discourse, a discussion in our languages,” Professor Devonish added.
Professor Devonish recalled that during the training, there were real-life scenarios of tribes travelling from one location to another for information on pandemics. With this translation project, he said there has been the creation of a level of intelligence about “what are the decisions they need to make,” about the pandemic and vaccinations, “they need to understand this in a deep way, not simply take the vaccine, go and tek vaccines, wash yuh hand,” he asserted.
UG Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Paloma Mohamed, welcomed the training as well as the creation of a manual for future use. “The fact that you spent time developing a system and a manual that would help us to replicate this with more people, is really I think fundamentally important,” she pointed out.
The Ministry of Health has been producing a number of public service announcements that range from preventative measures to myth busters surrounding the vaccination process. These public service announcements are set to be translated in the various languages.

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