Alisi Ndani ya Nchi ya Ajabu
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in Swahili

By Lewis Carroll, translated into Swahili by Ida Hadjivayanis

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“Upande ule,” Paka alisema, huku akipunga unyayo wake wa kulia, “anaishi Mshona Kofia, na upande ule,” huku akipunga unyayo wake mwengine, “anaishi Sungura wa Masika. Mtembelee unayemtaka, wote ni vichaa.”		“In that direction,” the Cat said, waving its right paw around, “lives a Hatter: and in that direction,” waving the other paw, “lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they’re both mad.”
“Lakini sitaki kwenda miongoni mwa vichaa,” akasema Alisi.		“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.
“Ahh hayo hutoyamudu,” akasema Paka: “sote hapa ni vichaa. Mimi kichaa. Wewe ni kichaa.”		“Oh, you ca’n’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”
“Unajuaje kama mimi ni kichaa?” akasema Alisi.		“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.
“Lazima upo hivyo,” akasema Paka, “bila ya hivyo usinge­kuja hapa.”		“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn't have come here.”
Lewis Carroll ni jina la uandishi: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson ndilo jina halisi la mwandishi wa kitabu hiki, na alikuwa mhadhiri wa hisabati huko Christ Church, Oxford. Dodgson aliianza hadithi hii tarehe 4 Julai mwaka 1862, pale alipofanya matembezi katika mashua ya makasia huko Oxford katika mto Thames akiwa pamoja na Mchu­nga­ji Robinson Duckworth, Alice Liddell (aliyekuwa na miaka kumi), binti wa Mkuu wa kitivo huko Chirst Church, pamoja na dada zake wawili Lorina (aliyekuwa na miaka kumi na mitatu), na Edith (aliyekuwa na miaka minane). Kama inavyoonekana wazi katika shairi pale mwanzoni mwa kitabu, mabinti hawa watatu walimwomba Dodgson awa­ha­dithie hadithi, na kwa kusita sita akaanza kuwahadithia ile hadithi ya awali. Kuna marejeo mengi yaliyofichika kiasi ambayo yanawahusu watu hawa watano ambayo yamesa­mbazwa ndani ya kitabu chenyewe, ambacho hatimaye kilipigwa chapa mwaka 1865.		Lewis Carroll is a pen-name: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was the author’s real name and he was lecturer in Mathematics in Christ Church, Oxford. Dodgson began the story on 4 July 1862, when he took a journey in a rowing boat on the river Thames in Oxford together with the Reverend Robinson Duckworth, with Alice Liddell (ten years of age) the daughter of the Dean of Christ Church, and with her two sisters, Lorina (thirteen years of age), and Edith (eight years of age). As is clear from the poem at the beginning of the book, the three girls asked Dodgson for a story and reluctantly at first he began to tell the first version of the story to them. There are many half-hidden references made to the five of them throughout the text of the book itself, which was published finally in 1865.
Tafsiri ya mwanzo ya Kiswahili ya hadithi ya Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland ilipigwa chapa mwaka 1940 na iliitwa Elisi katika Nchi ya Ajabu (Carroll, Lewis. 1966. Elisi katika nchi ya Ajabu. Imetafsiriwa na St Lo de Malet. London: The Sheldon Press). Kitabu hicho kilikuwa ni kimojawapo kati ya vitabu vya tafsiri za fasihi za kigeni ambavyo vilitumiwa na serikali ya kikoloni ili kukuza lugha fasaha ya Kiswahili. Tukumbuke kwamba huo ulikuwa ni wakati ambapo lahaja ya Kiunguja ilichaguliwa kuwa lugha fasaha na lugha hii ilihitaji kuwa na maandishi yaliyoku­ba­lika ili kuisambaza. Tofauti na tafsiri zingine za wakati huo ambazo zilitolewa kwa wafasiri kama jukumu kutoka kwa Inter-territorial Language Committee tafsiri hii ilifanywa kwa uamuzi binafsi wa Ermyntrude Virginia St. Lo Malet (Conan-Davies). Yeye alimgeuza mhusika mkuu, aliyemwita Elisi, kuwa msichana wa Kiswahili akikusudia kumweka karibu zaidi na ukweli wa maisha ya watoto wa Kiswahili ambao hawakuwa na ujuzi mkubwa wa utamaduni na mai­sha ya watoto wa kizungu (Nilihakikisha jambo hili katika mazungumzo yangu na mtoto wa mfasiri aitwaye Meredith).		The first Swahili translation of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland appeared in 1940 with the title Elisi katika nchi ya Ajabu (Carroll, Lewis. 1966. Elisi katika nchi ya Ajabu. Imetafsiriwa na St Lo de Malet. London: The Sheldon Press). This work was to be part of a body of Swahili literary translations that had the role of disseminating a new standard Swahili. It must however be noted that, unlike most translations into Swahili which were commissioned by the Inter-territorial language committee, the translation was self-commissioned. The translator, Ermyntrude Virginia St. Lo Malet (Conan-Davies) presented Alice as a little Swahili girl so as to make her more accessible to the Swahili children who would have had very little knowledge of English children and their western lives (confirmed through my communi­cation with Meredith, her daughter).
Akiongelea tafsiri yake, mnamo tarehe 16 Mei mwaka 1965, Ermyn­trude alimwandikia barua mkosoaji mmoja wa kazi yake, Bwana Weaver, ambamo alijitetea akisema kuwa “nilichukua kitabu ili kuki­tafsiri—ilikuwa ni kama zoezi, kwa sababu—tofauti na mimi kuiona kama hadithi iliyoshindikana kutafsirika—ilionekana kuwa na uwezekano mkuu wa kutafsirika katika lugha ya kitoto. Hadithi ina mambo ya kiulaya kidogo sana. Na kuhusu lugha ya mafumbo na jinsi yalivyoundwa—basi ni kama wewe ulivyoona—sikujitahidi sana kuyashughulikia” (Imholtz, A. 2000. ‘Excerpt from Imhotz talk on Weaver’, Humanities Research Center, University of Texas, Austin) (tafsiri yangu).		Discussing the translation, Ermyntrude had written a letter to one of her critics, Mr Weaver dated 16 May 1965, in which she writes that she had “picked on it to translate—more or less as an exercise, because—far from appearing to me to be untranslatable—it seemed highly translatable into the language of a child race. There are so few Europeanisms in it. And as for the play on words—well as you noted—I made no great effort to go in for it” (Imholtz, A. 2000. ‘Excerpt from Imhotz talk on Weaver’, Humanities Research Center, University of Texas, Austin).
Ni kweli kwamba hadithi hii haina mambo mengi ya kiulaya, lakini kiujumla kuna mengi ya kizungu. Ukiangalia kwa mfano jinsi nywele zinavyoelezewa kwamba zina vipete na mifano ya kihistoria iliyotolewa kuhusu William mvamizi; haya ni mambo ambayo si rahisi kutafsiri kwa Kiswahili. Mfano mwingine mzuri ni vyakula vya kizungu kama “treacle, tarts, pies na marmalade” pia havikuwa rahisi kuvi­tafsiri, hivyo nimejitahidi kuvitafutia majina wenza kwa njia tofauti ikiwa ni pamoja na kuvifahamisha, kuviacha kwa Kiingereza kama vilivyo na pale nilipoweza nimegeuza majina ili yatamkwe kwa Kiswahili, yaani nimeyaswahilisha! Mimi nina imani kwamba sasa hivi dunia imekuwa ndogo, na watu watakaosoma kitabu hiki watakuwa na njia nyingi tofauti za kuvielewa vyakula hivi, njia mojawapo ikiwa ni picha za katika intaneti.		It is true that there isn’t an abundance of Europeanisms in the text, but the content of the text is European, ranging from hair described as having ringlets to historical narrations about William the Conqueror; these things are not easily translatable into Swahili. A good example is the food: treacle, tarts, pies, and marmalade are not particularly easy to render into Swahili. I resorted to either explaining the terms, italicizing the English and where I could, I made the terms sound Swahili. I believe that the world has become pretty small and those who will read this book will have various means of accessing these foods, one way being at least through looking at internet images.
Pia, kuna wanyama ambao hawapo katika Kiswahili, wa kwanza akiwa ni Gryphon bila shaka ambaye nimemwita Simba-Mwewe kutokana na umbile lake. Pia, kuna aina ya bata ambaye huitwa dodo, basi kwa vile Kiswahili kina bata mzinga, bata bukini, nikaona tukuze lugha yetu kwa kumwongeza bata dodo. Pia kuna aina ya panya mdogo sana aitwaye dormouse, mwenye rangi ya kahawia ambaye ninaa­mini sisi hatuna, mfasiri wa mwanzo, Ermyntrude, ali­mgeuza panya huyu na kumwita komba, tafsiri hii imemwita kipanya.		It is true that there isn’t an abundance of Europeanisms in the text, but the content of the text is European, ranging from hair described as having ringlets to historical narrations about William the Conqueror; these things are not easily translatable into Swahili. A good example is the food: treacle, tarts, pies, and marmalade are not particularly easy to render into Swahili. I resorted to either explaining the terms, italicizing the English and where I could, I made the terms sound Swahili. I believe that the world has become pretty small and those who will read this book will have various means of accessing these foods, one way being at least through looking at internet images.
Tofauti kuu kati ya tafsiri hii na ile ya awali ni kwamba tafsiri hii imejitahidi kujengeka katika ukweli wa Alisi. Alisi ni mtoto wa Kiingereza anayeishi Uingereza. Pia nimeji­ta­hidi kufuatilia maandishi ya mwandishi wa awali na nimetumia sentensi zake ndefu ambazo huunganishwa kwa viunganishi tofauti kama koma na mistari. Ninategemea kwamba hizi hazitomwudhi msomaji wangu na atazifurahia kwa utofauti wake, na pia atafurahia kupata hisia zilizokusudiwa na mwandishi.		Similarly, there are animals that do not exist in Swahili. The first obviously being the Gryphon whose name I translated as Simba-Mwewe (Lion-Eagle). Also the Dodo whom I have named Bata-Dodo; the word bata means ‘duck’, and we have a lot of ducks in Swahili. For instance we have Bata-Bukini, ‘goose’, and Bata-Mzinga ‘turkey’. And so this translation introduces Bata-Dodo. The dormouse whom Ermyntrude translated as komba ‘bush-baby’, I have kept as a tiny mouse, kipanya. Different from the previous transla­tion, I endeavoured to keep Alice in England where she is British. Also, although not always possible, but I have tried to replicate Carroll’s writing. I have therefore retained the characteristic long sentences formed from the piling up of clauses punctuated by colons and semi-colons and the dash. I hope these will not be too perplexing in Swahili.
Sikutaka kuchukua njia rahisi ya kumswahilisha Alisi. Pia kwa vile sikutaka kitabu kichoshe, ilinibidi nifanye maamuzi ambayo kama nisingaliyafanya, hadithi ingebadilika. Kwa mfano mara nyingi Alisi hutaja lugha ya Kiingereza. Yeye hulitaja neno hili ili kujaribu kufafanua jambo, sasa kwa vile hii ni tafsiri ya Kiswahili, msomaji angehisi hovyo kusoma “hebu jielezee vizuri kwa Kiingereza” wakati yeye anasoma Kiswahili, hivyo palipokuwa na neno “Kiingereza”, mimi nimeandika “lugha yetu”.		I have not Swahilized Alice herself. This has not been easy. And since I did not want the book to be awkward and tiresome, I had to think out of the box a few times, for example there are a few instances where Alice specifically refers to the word “English”. This often happens when there is some form of confusion and a character is asked to clarify by speaking English. It would of course be maladroit for a child to read ongea Kiingereza ‘speak English’ while reading a Swahili text! Therefore, I opted to use the term lugha yetu ‘our language’, a very communal term that also does not uplift Alice. I have named our heroine Alisi which is much closer than Elisi in orthography and phonetics to the English Alice.
Nimemwita mhusika mkuu wetu kwa jina la Alisi, ambalo kima­tamshi na maandishi linakaribiana zaidi na jina la kiingereza “Alice”. Na pia msichana huyu amevaa nguo zake za awali, na si kama ilivyo katika tafsiri ya mwaka 1940 ambamo amevalishwa kanga, amesukwa twende kilioni na pia yupo miguu peku. Tafsiri hiyo pia imembadilisha mhusika mmoja anayeitwa Duchess na kumwita Mama Mkubwa huku ikimwacha kavalia nguo zake za Kiingereza. Tafsiri hii imemwacha kama alivyokusudiwa kwenye maandishi ya awali. Duchess ni mwanamke mwenye cheo cha kifalme nchini Uingereza. Hakuna mwenza wa Duchess katika jamii yetu. Kuhusiana na picha hizi, niliandika katika utafiti wangu wa shahada ya tatu ya uzamifu (Ph.D.) kwa­mba, “tunagundua kwamba ingawa wahusika wote wamefa­nywa kuwa waswahili, wakiwa wamevalishwa kanzu nyeupe na kofia za tarabushi, hata hivyo, picha ya kwanza inamwo­nyesha msichana wa kiafrika aliyejifunga kitambaa katika kifua chake huku akimtazama malkia wa chapa ya moyo katika mahakama yake ya utukufu. Yeye amevaa gauni la kifalme, akionekana kama vile malkia Victoria, akiwa ame­kaa katika mahakama yake ya kiingereza huku akizungukwa na watumishi wa kifalme na Mfalme wa chapa ya moyo, wote wamevaa mawigi meupe wakionekana kuwa ni wafalme wa kiingereza. Mtu anaweza kuelewa picha hii kuwa ni tafsiri ya kikoloni ambapo malkia hawezi kuwa mwengine zaidi ya yule anayefanana na malkia Victoria” (Hadjivayanis, Ida. 2011. Norms of Swahili Translations in Tanzania: An Analysis of Selected Translated Prose. PhD Thesis, SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies).		The images in the 1940 Swahili translation are Swahilized. Elisi is wearing a piece of cloth across her chest, most probably a kanga cloth. Her hair is braided into tight rows and she is barefoot. In contrast, the 1940 book renames the Duchess as Mama-Mkubwa ‘elder-mother’ while retaining her European attire. I have kept her here as she appears in the original. This is because we do not have peerage in Swahili, and I did not want to change and give her a different role. An interesting point about the images of the 1940 translation is included in my PhD thesis where I write, “we find that, although all the characters have been made Swahili, wearing long white robes and the Swahili hats, tarabushi, nevertheless, the very first page contains a picture of an African looking girl wearing a piece of cloth across her chest, looking at the Queen of hearts in her imperial court. She is dressed in a gown, the image of Queen Victoria, seated in her very English court with her courtiers and the King of hearts are all wearing wigs and looking like members of the British monarchy. One may interpret this as a typical orientalist image where the Queen can be no other but Queen Victoria look-alike.” (Hadjivayanis, Ida. 2011. Norms of Swahili Translations in Tanzania: An Analysis of Selected Translated Prose. PhD Thesis, SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) )
Mwisho kabisa ningependa kuwataja watu wachache. Jon Lindseth ndiye aliyeanzisha mradi huu ambapo mwanzoni aliniomba niandike makala yaliyochapishwa ndani ya kitabu cha Alice in a World of Wonderlands. Baada ya hapo aka­pendekeza nitafsiri kitabu chote kwa Kiswahili. Nilikubali!—na ni lazima niseme kwamba, tafsiri hii ya Alisi Ndani ya Nchi ya Ajabu ilinifurahisha sana na nilifarajika sana kuifanya. Lakini pia ilikuwa ni kazi nzito, haswa kwa ajili ya mantiki na upuuzi uliozagaa kitabuni. Nikagundua kwamba ilinibidi nielewe matukio na maneno halafu ndipo niyafa­hamishe matukio hayo kwani hayangeleta maana katika Kiswahili. Na hapa ndipo nilipobahatika kuwa na mchapi­shaji mzuri, Michael Everson, ambaye kwa mfano, alinio­nesha kuchezea kwa maneno kulikofanywa kitabuni, na kunisaidia katika kupata masuluhisho ambayo niliyapata kwa msaada wa wazazi wangu, Salha Hamdani na Georgios Hadjivayanis. Ninalo deni kubwa kwao, sio tu kuhusiana na kugundua kuchezewa kwa maneno lakini pia kusoma na kusahihisha tafsiri hii.		Lastly, I wish to mention a few people. Jon Lindseth started the ball rolling by asking me to initially take part in Alice in a World of Wonderlands where I contributed through the Swahili section, and then he asked whether I would be interested in translating the entire book into Swahili. I did!—and I must say, translating the current Alisi Ndani ya Nchi ya Ajabu was a lot of fun and I truly enjoyed doing it. But it was also an arduous task, largely due to the interplay between logic and nonsense. I found that I had to understand and then explain a number of events since they would not make sense in Swahili. And this is where I was lucky to have a great publisher in Michael Everson, for instance, he pointed out the puns in the book, offering possible solutions for which I then called on to the help of my parents, Salha Hamdani and Georgios Hadjivayanis. I am highly indebted to them for their help in not only discovering equivalent puns but also in the general proof-reading of the text.
Mfano wa haraka wa maamuzi ambayo ilinibidi kufanya yapo Sehemu ya IX. Nimetafsiri neno Uglification (mchezo wa neno Multiplication lenye maana “kuzidisha” katika hisabati) kuwa Kuchangamsha. Ilibidi neno hili la kihisabati liwe na maana tofauti na neno lingine, mimi nikachagua neno Kuboa. Kwa hivyo, Uglification limewekwa dhidi ya Beautify katika Kiingereza, na katika Kiswahili nimeweka Kuchangamsha kuwa dhidi ya Kuboa. Ninakumbuka nilipokuwa mdogo katika somo la hisabati walimu wa hisabati walipoingia tu darasani walianza kwa kutucha­ngamsha kwa kutuuliza maswali ya kuzidisha. Pia, maneno ya Kiingereza, Laughing na Grief yamepangwa kusimamia Latin (Kilatini) na Greek (Kigiriki), Mimi nimetafsiri haya kama Kilaini na Kudiriki. Huu ni mchezo mzuri wa maneno haya kwani tukiyaunganisha, tunaweza kupata maneno yanayohusu tafsiri hii kwani kazi hii “imediriki kilaini”.		Quick examples of the kinds of choices that I had to make are in Chapter IX. I translated the word Uglification (a pun on Multiplica­tion) as Kuchangamsha ‘to stimulate’. Interest­ingly, this term is often used in class by Maths teachers; I actually remember during my childhood having our Maths teacher walking into class and always wanting to “stimulate” us first thing in the morning by throwing random multipli­cations at us. It also makes perfect sense in this instance since it is the opposite of kuboa ‘to bore’. And so uglification and beautify are rendered as ‘stimulate’ and ‘bore’. Similarly Laughing and Grief which are puns for Latin (Kilatini) and Greek (Kigiriki), I translated as Kilaini and Kudiriki. These words are great puns and also put together they mean ‘softly daring’, which is what this translation is to me.
Hiki ni kitabu chenye umuhimu mkubwa na kinacho­husiana na utamaduni wa magharibi. Kuifahamu dunia, inatubidi tujue na tuelewe yetu, na ya wengine. Ninategemea kwamba wasomaji watafurahia kitabu hiki na watakikubali kama johari muhimu.		I hope readers will enjoy reading this book, and I hope they will adopt and embrace it for the important classic that it is.
—Ida Hadjivayanis London, tarehe 28 Julai 2015		—Ida Hadjivayanis London, 28 July 2015