University students go back to basics
with their mother tongue

CAMEROON — In a classroom in a cultural centre for the Fe’efe’e language, students from the University of Yaoundé are learning to read Fe’efe’e. Cameroon has one of the highest literacy rates in Africa – around 63 per cent – but with the number of living languages in the country approaching 300, many students evidently feel that, even as their degree studies teach them about cultures from different times and places, they still want to connect to their own heritage, to preserve a language which might otherwise die out and to read the Bible in it.

A Fe’efe’e class in progress at the Centre for the Study of the Fe’efe’e Language, Yaoundé. The student in the foreground is Eric Ngaduji, a fourth year Philosophy student at Yaoundé University. Slow in speaking his mother tongue, he says that learning Fe’efe’e gives him access into his own culture. Photo: Norwegian BS/Dag Smemo (CAM05DJ-43.JPG)

One of them, Eric Ngaduji, is a fourth-year Philosophy student but here, in the twice-weekly Fe’efe’e class, he is a beginner.

“I need to really learn my mother tongue!” he declares.

In the course of his education he has learned several European languages. “But when it comes to my own language, Fe’efe’e, I am really slow,” he says.

Gain insight

Learning a language has many benefits. To Eric, learning Fe’efe’e represents an important means of access into his own culture, a chance to compare Fe’efe’e with French and the opportunity to gain insight into the Bible.

In my culture, we symbolise settlement and peace with the sharing of a particular kind of fruit seed. This picture has now been used to express peace in the Bible.

“When studying Jewish and Greek philosophy,” he says, “I started comparing thoughts and ideas to my own tradition. I tried studying similarities and differences, and to do so I had to dig into my own roots. That’s why I find this language course very interesting.”

The class is also used as ‘guinea pigs’ to test the translation of the Bible to Fe’efe’e.

At the moment there are two translations of the Bible into Fe’efe’e. One was done by a Catholic priest, the other by an evangelical. Both were largely solo efforts, and in neither case were the quality control standards which are normal among Bible translation agencies such as UBS applied. The Bible Society is therefore hoping that it can use the two existing translations to produce a third, subject to rigorous ‘checks and balances’ prior to publication and acceptable to the whole Church with regard to its interconfessionality.

In the meantime they are producing a few Portions and booklets designed to aid people getting to grips with reading Fe’efe’e, to test the quality of parts of the existing translations.

In your soul!

Christell Tcholieu, a student at Yaoundé University who is also learning her mother tongue, Fe’efe’e, at the Centre for the Study of the Fe’efe’e Language, Yaoundé. Photo: Norwegian BS/Dag Smemo (CAM05DJ-47.JPG)

Eric is unequivocal that this [reading the Bible for the first time in his mother tongue] has given him a fresh insight into biblical terms.

“When it comes to swearing or love,” he says, “the French words have lost much of their flavour. If someone swears by the name of God in French, it doesn’t make much of an impression on me any more… But use Fe’efe’e, and the words hit you deep in your soul!

“It’s the same with the terms for peace and reconciliation. In my culture, we symbolise settlement and peace with the sharing of a particular kind of fruit seed. This picture has now been used to express peace in the Bible. That made it more clear to me what it means when it says that Jesus came to bring peace on earth!”

Sitting next to Eric, fellow student Christell Tcholieu nods in agreement.

Grandparents

The reason Christell began going to the class is to save herself from embarrassment: whenever she went to her grandparents’ village, she found it hard to speak what was, in fact, her own language.

“I won’t give up until I can speak, read and write Fe’efe’e fluently,” she says. But like Eric, she has other reasons at heart for her active interest in the language.

Important

“I want to ask the Bible Society to help us publish the Bible in modern Fe’efe’e. For our older people, it is their only chance to read the Bible, as they know no other languages. It is also important to teach the children and the young people, because if not, the language will die. If the Bible is published in Fe’efe’e, we’ll achieve two important goals: the language will be saved for the future, and new generations will be able to get to know God.” (WR 395/14 - 08.05) [4 photos]

Cameroon stories and photos gathered by Dag Smemo (Norwegian Bible Societies). Registered users of the UBS Intranet can view all the photos gathered by Mr Smemo on his trip in the Image Gallery section.