Multilingual extension in Africa: The response to Ebola

Various earlier posts on this blog have discussed the importance of African languages in extension and development from general and tactical points of view (with particular reference to agriculture). Also during the course of the ebola epidemic in West Africa (which peaked in 2014-5), a number of posts looked at specific efforts to undertake health education and ebola awareness in various languages, and proposed systematically sharing, vetting, improving, and providing for re-use of translated and original materials in African languages.

This post looks from several different angles at multilingual messaging, including translation, over the course of the ebola epidemic. It will be followed by another post considering what strategies one might identify for future responses to emergencies - as well as less urgent public education needs - in multilingual contexts.

First, however, a quick note concerning summaries or evaluations of the linguistic dimension of the ebola response. As far as I am aware, there is no comprehensive overview or analysis. Reports from major organizations involved in the ebola response barely mention language (at the end of this post is a quick review). Perhaps the only report specifically on language and translation in the response was done by the international NGO Translators Without Borders, which was prominent in arranging translations of ebola materials into many languages (not just in West Africa): "Words of Relief  – Ebola Crisis Learning Review" (29 May 2015).  For a little bit broader view, but without pretense to completeness, I posted a summary largely reflecting content on this blog: "Ebola messaging in African languages - taking stock and looking ahead" (12 Dec. 2015, on LinkedIn). Both of the above proposed some lessons for the future.

Even lists of resources and websites, mainly done for reference or reporting during the period of the epidemic, are not comprehensive (for example, here). As I'll discuss below, one reason has to do with the scale or "layer" at which these operate, meaning that local activities either tend to be missed by international activities (which do the reports we see), or just aren't seen as falling in their scope. But it may also just be that information didn't travel or networks weren't connected. When researching ebola projects recently, for instance, I discovered an analysis of an interesting multilingual cellphone messaging project in Guinea called "Polly" from a group at Carnegie Melon University - something I personally had not seen mentioned elsewhere. Are there others?

Image by Chris55, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Ebola messaging in African languages

It is useful to disaggregate as much as possible several interrelated aspects of the process of responding to a crisis like ebola in a multilingual context: time; space; demographics of languages; the levels or layers of activity (international, national, provincial, local); modes of developing information in diverse languages (translation, interpretation, and creation^*); media (print, media, mobile, in person); and organizational policies.

• Time: Information about the epidemic came most quickly in English and French - official languages and main languages of media, the aid community, and the medical community. There was a lag in getting information in other languages of the affected countries. Major efforts to address this took a while to get going - according to TWB's report (cited above) its translation efforts began in November 2014 (though it seemed to have started some work in August), which was around the peak of the epidemic (per graph of cases above). Ad-hoc interpretation of incoming information on local levels (local radio, community meetings) was probably ongoing from relatively early in the cycle, with more organized efforts later on, though documentation is limited.
• Space: Three countries were most hard-hit by the epidemic, and within those some regions within them more so than others. Responses obviously tried to address those, but logistics and information (such as for ebola education) tend to move from center to periphery. Data, on the other hand, may move from periphery to center by one or another means. Neither is perfect, but they evidently took time, especially early in the epidemic, even where there was mobile technology. Since the spatial distances were accompanied by language differences (different languages, different varieties of a language, or even different competencies in a same language variety), there was added time and evidently more potential for misunderstanding. All of this is in theory - I have seen no discussions of spatial dimensions of the response (looking in particular for the impact on information flows).
• Linguistic demography: One dimension of linguistic demography is of course who speaks what where. Another is that on the country level, speakers of some languages are more numerous than others overall. Translations in languages more widely spoken on the national level were apparently done before less spoken ones. This makes sense on a broad scale but where less widely spoken languages dominate in a local areas, these likely were used orally (the backstory to the murder of health workers in Womey, Guinea included mention of local languages; a story from neighboring Côte d'Ivoire offered a peak at interpretation on the village level), but otherwise may not have received much attention. The only project I heard of that focused on translations in "smaller" languages was one organized by SIL in the neighboring Casamance region of Senegal (mentioned here).
• Levels/layers: International aid and NGOs, national administration and services, and local communities and their local and extra-local networks seemed to operate on different and often only selectively interacting levels, especially early in the cycle. This dynamic meant that what happened or was being said on one level may or may not have had (immediate) effect on, or even in the extreme not been known by the others. And where information and diverse languages are involved, gaps and even contradictions (the latter in the form for example of misinformation about what ebola is or its treatment) seemed to emerge fairly quickly especially in critical early stages of an emergency.
• Modes: Translation efforts focused on standard texts or posters, especially on the level of international aid and NGOs, but also some national level print media, and governmental and non-governmental entities. Interpretation and creation of information in African languages were more national and local in character - meetings, individual contacts, blogs. In the case of media (print, radio, TV) content about ebola, it is not clear the mode in which it was rendered in African languages (translation, interpretation, or creation^*). For example, two international organizations working with media - International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) - had projects with community radio stations to broadcast messages in local languages, but in neither case was it clear how that was done (which languages, whether oral translation from Europhone scripts or scripts pre-translated in target languages, what training, etc.). An example of community contacts in local languages to spread information about ebola in Liberia was given by International Rescue Committee (IRC) - the person in the example was a physician assistant and evidently fluent in the target language, so able to put information in his own words ("creation" in this model) to fit the needs and questions/challenges as he encountered them.
• Media: Ebola messaging in African languages was conveyed on diverse media (print, poster, TV, radio, blogs, video, and mobile apps) as well as via community meetings and individual contacts. I am not aware of any studies of media activity during the ebola epidemic that might include discussion of languages used. An exception is information about mobile media used during the epidemic - "mobile-based interactive voice response technology," and apps like the SAWBO animations with African language voice-overs and the abovementioned "Polly." Also, an observation mentioned in an earlier posting that the dominant languages used in each means of communication tended to differ, such that in Nigeria supposedly the higher tech media used more English and the in person and community communication tended to be in first languages.
• Organizations and languages: The observation by Nadia Berger and Grace Tang based on TWB's work translating ebola messages that "translation is not always considered a priority by governments and aid agencies" echoes experience more generally in international development. This is a major structural hurdle to more effective use of African languages in response to crises like the ebola epidemic, in health education, and indeed in all aspects of development. Do organizations and agencies have policies with regard to languages in the multilingual societies struck by the epidemic, or was the linguistic dimension of their work handled as an incidental consideration really given less priority in the face of a very physical crisis, despite its relevance to successful public education and control of disease transmission?

With the latter point in mind, it is worth taking a quick look at whether and how language as a factor did or did not figure in reports of organizations involved in response to the ebola epidemic.

Language in reports on ebola responses?

Reports on ebola response efforts by Medecins Sans Frontiers, World Health Organization, and IRC did not mention languages or translation, nor did an analysis of the international ebola response by the UK Overseas Development Institute's Humanitarian Policy Group.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), to its credit, did in its report mention language as a factor: "The Road to Zero: CDC's Response to the Ebola Epidemic." (Recall that CDC's ebola information resources included a few in Malinké - a variety of Manding). The two specific mentions merit a closer look:

• A CDC worker with "intermediate" French worked with people Guinea's forest region, of which perhaps only one per village might speak French, to "translate important  health messages into the local language" and train local workers. An impressive effort, but the kind of situation where available language support - people with better French and acknowledged erudition in the local language(s) - could help assure accuracy of translations and messages in the local language. Also, since that part of Guinea has several local languages, it is not clear which was the focus of efforts
• A training of midwives and cleaners was held in the Malinké language "since they do  not speak French, the official language of Guinea." Looked at another way, a big reason to use an important first language and lingua franca like Malinké would be that this is understood better, and that an advantage of training using such languages is that it could arguably better prepare trainees for work with patients who may also speak them better than the Europhone official language, French. (Another possibility might be a bilingual format with relevant African and Europhone languages, arguably better preparing trainees for contexts they will encounter.) 

Reports or website content of all but a few of the 67 organizations on USAID-CIDI's list of NGOs involved in ebola response also did not discuss languages or translation (to be fair, a few of those which didn't were only involved in logistics of shipping supplies). CIDI's list is extensive, but notable among the omissions is TWB, certainly the most prominent international NGO facilitating translation of ebola materials. The exceptions which did mention language include:

• CRS, which like ICRC, highlighted work with community radio stations on local language messaging (see above). 
• InterHealth, with pages mentioning language in the context of use of mobile technology (per the interactive voice response mentioned/linked above).
• Although IRC's report did not mention languages, there was as mentioned above, at least one article on its site which did.
• Medical Teams International (MTI) has a facilitator's guide in which the topic of language is brought up in several contexts. 
• UNICEF had material mentioning a project for individual level contact in Krio in Sierra Leone, and "translation of outreach materials into local languages, including Gbandi, Lorma, Kissi, Mandingo and simple Liberian English" in Liberia.

Another organization on the CIDI list, Mali Health Organizing Project, used Bambara in its ebola response, as one would expect (for example in a factsheet), but did not mention this linguistic dimension in its report or website.

In all of these instances it would be helpful to have any materials developed/used for review (were they saved?) and incorporate them in archives for potential reuse (per 2Ds & 4Rs).

Perspectives of health workers & patients?

Another level at which language is important in such an epidemic is that of the interaction between health workers and the patients. For a glimpse of this issue, see two personal accounts by Western nurses about the language gap between them and patients (in Nurse.com and PIH.org). It would not of course have been possible to train foreign health workers in any of the local languages they would encounter, given the time factor, but one wonders if a couple of words or phrases might have made the difficult experience a bit more bearable for caregiver and patient (especially the younger ones).

See also "Multilingual extension in Africa: Framing the contexts"

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* Note on these 3 terms. On the first two, there seems to be a gap in the terminology: "translation," strictly speaking, refers to text, as distinct from "interpretation" being defined as oral and in person (physically or virtually). This leaves out what we might call oral translation, or interpretation of a source either received as text (announcer on radio reading in one language but giving the meaning in another) or heard in one language (in a meeting or on media) but transmitted orally in another language at a later time. These kinds of cross-language sharing are common in multilingual societies with rich oral traditions, and I suggest in this context they be considered as forms of interpretation (keep in mind the range of meaning of "interpretation" as an art). "Creation" is intended to cover instances where the writer (for example of a blog) or speaker (many possible scenarios) is conveying their understanding of a subject in their own words - which happen to be in a language different than that of the main international media, medical research, etc. Of course the lines among these three are not rigid, but I think it is useful to retain them as more or less archetypes of different ways information about ebola was communicated in African languages. (The neologism "transcreation" has specific applications, but might constructively be adapted for use somewhere within this space.)

Breaking the "dialect barrier"*

You hear a lot about "language barrier" - a term that I for one would just as soon replace with "language divide" or "language gap" - but what about navigating the less daunting but sometimes trickier differences between dialects or varieties within a language or dialect continuum? Yet this must be common to the experience of many people around the world, including most of Africa.

Personally my biggest experience with this was transitioning in 1985 from Djenné, Mali, where as a Peace Corps volunteer I gained a certain competence in the Maasinankoore variety of Fulfulde, to Pita, Guinea, in the heart of the Pular-speaking Futa Jalon region. Actually it was unlike anything I've done before or since, even though I've encountered dialect differences more briefly elsewhere.

Making the transition was kind of fun - and occasionally funny. The biggest initial difference I found between Fula varieties has always been the greetings, but they are relatively simple to learn. Then there was keeping track of different verb endings, not making the initial consonant shifts in verbs, and a few other grammatical differences. Most of this was on the fly, but as I mentioned in an earlier posting, it did help me to have Sonja Fagerberg-Diallo's learning materials for both varieties of the language.

Then there were some differences in vocabulary - including some well-known (such as the first two below) and lesser known pitfalls:

• caggal = "back (anatomy)" or "after" in Maasinankoore, but cagga = "prostitute" in Pular
• ɓaawo = "back (anatomy)" or "after" in Pular, but ɓaawo = "female genitalia (very impolite)" in Maasinankoore
• pati = "don't" in Maasinankoore, but pati = "grandmother" in Pular
• kaani (pl. perfective of verb haanude) = "should" in Maasinankoore, but kaani = "ugly" in Pular

You can imagine that such differences could suddenly deflect a conversation into incomprehension or laughter.

Fortunately nothing I encountered in Futa Jalon was too extreme. As alluded to above, I spoke and listened, which is more or less how people from the region who move to a new area would bride a language or dialect gap. Except that I had a few advantages: One was that being a foreigner with any competence in the language was a bit of a novelty in Guinea at that time, so I think expectations were not high (and maybe some missteps were attributed to accent). I was also able to ask and get pointers from my Guinean co-workers in the community forestry project since they all also spoke French. And I was fortunate to have help of a local teacher, Amadou "Sernas" Bah, in going through an extensive Pular word list. (I had done something similar but more extensive in Djenné with Maasinankoore that led to the later Fulfulde Lexicon.)

The risk of meaning one thing but saying the opposite

I recall a Malian co-worker in Djenné, Boubey Touré, who came from Rharous in the Songhai area in the north of that country, but who never tried speaking his language (what Ethnologue classifies as Songhay, Koyraboro Senni) with speakers of the Djenné dialect of Songhai (a distinct variety of  Songhay, Koyra Chiini), for fear that some word he would say would would mean the opposite in local speech (as he put it). So he ended up mostly relying on Bambara in forestry extension work.

When I went to Futa Jalon, I actually encountered the kind of situation Boubey referred to, but in Fula. The accomplished (roughly past tense) negative ending for active voice verbs in Maasinankoore is pronounced -aayi (even though generally written -aali), wheras the future ending for active voice verbs in Pular is pronounced -ayi. Essentially the same sound. So coming from one background and not knowing, one could actually say a lot of things that mean almost the opposite in the other location.

The bigger lesson though is that an African extension worker like Boubey who is fluent in one language variety never had any training or materials to allow him to negotiate the dialect / language (variety) differences in his own country, while someone like me gets to go there as a Peace Corps volunteer, get all kinds of training for a second language, and then support and materials to transition to another variety of that language.

Greetings differ most markedly between dialects

I have much less experience with Manding varieties, but recall my first trip to the Bougouni area of Mali where people greeted me with "I ni se," a Bambara greeting I hadn't encountered before. It wasn't a different pronunciation of the widely used greeting, "I ni ce," and though it sounded disconcertingly close to the female response to greetings "Nse," it definitely wasn't that either. Then I realized this was the verb "se," to arrive. I ni se is a greeting on arrival. Welcome! Apparently this is common only in that region.

It is always the greetings that are the most different between varieties. One more example from Fula: In Maasinankoore one could say on parting, Alla hollu en ontuma (God show us another time), while in Pular I only ever heard a short form of that, En ontuma. Most other greetings are just different.

Thank you for your understanding

On a break from a PanAfrican Localisation workshop in Centurion (Tshwane), South Africa, Adel el Zaim, Dwayne Bailey and I took a walk over to a shopping area, and on the way out of one shop I looked back and read a sign "Dankie vir u ondersteuning." (What?) I asked Dwayne and he explained that it actually meant "Thank you for your support." English and Afrikaans are of course two separate though related languages, with some cognates, and evidently some faux amis as well. But this sort of example, even allowing for different spellings, of a concept ("under"+"standing") shifting meanings is something found between dialects as well.

Another example is from my move from Mali to Guinea: In Maasinankoore, the verb doomude (or doomugol) means simply to wait, but in Pular it has the sense of waiting around at mealtime to be invited to eat.

* Barrier or divide or gap?

Quick note on terminology. There is an advantage I think to using a "divide" or "gap" rather than "barrier" to describe the situation where lack of common language prevents or hampers communication. In effect what we're actually talking about is a "communication gap" in need of a common language "bridge" or learning some key differences between dialects to exchange ideas and information and do so accurately.

The gap/divide and bridge metaphor is I think quite powerful in portraying the problem and solution in the case of people with very different languages. In the case of dialects, the divide is not as wide or deep, and the problem is not as much inability to communicate, as running into mini-gaps such as differences in vocabulary or terms that are used differently. The knowledge need is more nuanced - figuring out what you know and don't know. So "dialect barrier" is no more apt here (I used it humorously in the title), but not sure of a better analogy.

More on written Malinke

The previous post highlighted issues with choice of Malinke orthography, and with spelling, in an ebola poster. Thanks to several responses* to a message about this sent to the Mande Studies Association (MANSA) list, I'm able to give more information on the situation of written Malinke in Guinea.

First, as background: Malinke (known to its speakers as Maninka) is a Manding language (within the Mande group) spoken primarily in upper Guinea as well as in southwestern Mali. It is closely related to Mandingo (Mandinka), Bambara (Bamanan), and Dyula (Jula) spoken in several countries of West Africa. There are four ways of writing the language in Guinea, of which the first two in the list below are Latin-based. The Latin-based and Arabic-based (Ajami) transcriptions include modifications to letter values to accommodate the sounds in the language - a process observed with other languages of the region as well.

1. Pre-1985 orthography (developed by the newly independent Guinea using available characters and accents on French typewriters, for use in all Guinean languages)
2. Current or "reformed" orthography (harmonized with usage in neighboring countries per the African Reference Alphabet, which incorporates some characters used in the International Phonetic Alphabet)
3. Ajami (Arabic-based; I understand that this is more commonly used in Mandingo/Mandinka of Gambia and Senegal than for any other Manding language)
4. N'Ko (created by Solomana Kante in 1949 and spread since then by an active grassroots movement; it is incidentally the only system in which one consistently marks tones)

The information from responses to my message on MANSA is that N'Ko today is the most used system for writing Maninka in Guinea. It evidently was finally recognized by the Guinean government in 2011.

The current Latin-based orthography (#2) is used by literacy efforts, but has not been taught in schools, so is not widely used (language of instruction policy in Guinea would be another discussion). The old Latin-based orthography (#1), which was taught in schools through 1984, is still used by people familiar with it. Apparently people not familiar with the current Latin-based system (due mainly to the unfamiliar extended characters borrowed from IPA) are more comfortable with the old orthography. However, the irregularities in use of the latter observed in the previously discussed ebola poster are said to be common in other writing.

Some suggestions:

• Development communication and health education efforts in Upper Guinea should prioritize use of N'Ko. 
• If Latin transcriptions are used, it may make sense to make use of both Latin transcriptions. Conversion from one to the other should be simple (a guide and perhaps a software tool could be developed to facilitate this).
• In any case, material in any Malinke transcription - whether composed or translated - should be reviewed (per 2Ds & 4Rs), preferably before publication. While it may be that irregular spelling can still be understood, the range of alternate spellings could lead to misunderstanding and will make sharing and re-use problematic.
• On a broader scale, primary education in countries where extended Latin alphabets are used (such as those of West Africa) should teach the expanded alphabet to children, regardless of the language of instruction. This would facilitate first language literacy, and could be done in a way that does not confuse students.

* Thanks to Valentin Vydrin, Ibrahima Sory Condé, and John Hutchison for their responses and information.

Does spelling matter in Malinke ebola materials?

An earlier post looked at problems with non-standard Bambara in an ebola poster. Here I'll look at similar issues with a poster in Malinke (Maninka), a closely related Manding language spoken mainly in upper Guinea, and also southwestern Mali.

The Malinke poster at right is a translation of a CDC poster on ebola symptoms, one of various different materials translated into a number of languages by Translators Without Borders. It appears to be written in the old, pre-1985 Guinean orthography with some French spellings.

After independence, Guinea adopted a common alphabet to transcribe all its languages, using the keys available on the typewriters of the day. Many people learned to read and write with these spelling rules (I personally encountered people and Pular materials using this system, and used it myself, in the mid-1980s), and to some degree their use persists.

When the government transitioned after the death of longtime president Sékou Touré in the mid-1980s, Guinea adopted an orthography harmonized with that of the other countries of the region. For Malinké that meant for example the following changes: dy → j ; è → ɛ ; nh → ŋ ; ny → ɲ ; ö → ɔ ; and ty → c (the latter sound is represented by "ch" in English and variously by "tch" or "thi" in French).

The French writing influences in the poster are dj instead of dy or j, and ou instead of u. The accent aigu on é in the poster is probably gratuitous (the letter e in the old and new Malinke orthographies indicates the same sound) - unless a tone was intended by the writer (Manding languages are tonal, but usually tones are not marked in writing them in Latin-based script).

To see what the current orthography would look like, a simple set of substitutions would be straightforward, however I'm not sure on some word divisions (what knowledge I have of Bambara is an imperfect guide for that task).

The product as is, is presumably readable - and read-aloud-able - by many in Guinea since it is based on the older transcription. I don't have information on how widespread use of the new orthography is, but that is a question that should be considered.

And to the extent it is used consistently, conversion to the new system would be easy - which would facilitate use with Malinké populations outside of Guinea, or comparison with materials in other Manding languages (for terminology development etc.). Malike is also written in the N'Ko script (which has been the subject of some previous posts) - transcription between that and the Latin-based systems for communication or for comparison  is not as simple.

So in answer to whether spelling matters - yes, especially if the material is to be re-used or reviewed in comparison to other materials in Malinke or in other Manding languages. The fact that there has been a change in orthographies adds a complication, but one easily dealt with if each system is used consistently. And as indicated above, the matter of relative knowledge and use of the old and new orthographies for Malinke - and other languages of Guinea - is a question.

Addendum (2 January 2015)

I am told that the ebola poster above has numerous mistakes. This again points to the need to review materials in African languages (per "2Ds & 4Rs"), preferably before publication.

See also follow up posting: "More on written Malinke."

Fula and the letter H

The origin and uses of the letter "h" in various European languages was the subject of a 2008 essay by Coby Lubliner, professor emeritus of Engineering Science at the University of California at Berkeley. In "The Story of H," as he titled it, Prof. Lubliner admits it may not be the "whole story, but some interesting parts of it."

Here then is a quick complement to that essay, focusing on three hopefully interesting roles of the letter "h" in the historically more recent Latin-based orthography(ies) of the Fula language (Fulfulde, Pulaar, and Pular), and in foreign nomenclature for the Fula people and their language:

1. The role of the letter in the language: First of all, in Fula, as in many languages, "h" represents a "voiceless glottal fricative." When in initial position in nouns and verbs, however, it typically alternates with "k," for the "voiceless velar plosive" sound, between singular and plural forms. (The system of consonant alternance or mutation of which this is a part is quite regular across the varieties of Fula spoken mainly in the West African Sahel, with the exception that in Pular - spoken in parts of Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and Sierra-Leone - verbs do not feature the alternation.) 
2. Orthography of Pular in Guinea, pre-1985: The old Latin-based orthography for languages of Guinea was established after the country's independence in order to facilitate production of materials in its various languages with existing typewriters. This orthography included various digraphs for: (1) sounds not present or carrying a meaningful difference in European languages, for which other conventions were being developed in neighboring countries; and (2) three common sounds which in written French (the language of education and government since the colonial period) represented by its own digraphs or trigraphs. In the case of Pular, the combinations, including four using "h," and equivalents in current Fula orthographies are: bh = ɓ ; dh = ɗ ; dy = j ; nh = ŋ ; ny = ñ or ɲ ; ty = c ; yh = ƴ. These conventions - particularly the ones with "h" - can sometimes be observed in use in written Pular today, even though this orthography ceased being in official use since the mid-1980s.
3. "Random H": I've used this expression (not to be confused with the "random.h" utility) to describe the here-again gone-again use of "h" in English and French terms for the people and their language. 
• The English "Fula" sometimes appears as "Fulah," especially in older literature. However the spelling with the "h" is used in language coding (see here and here) and hence in localization (note its use last week by The Economist in reference to computer terminology in Fula). However, one has yet to observe the random H applied to the alternative term for Fula in English, "Fulani."
• The French "Peul" sometimes appears with an "h" before or after the terminal "l": "Peuhl" or "Peulh." I haven't been able to discern any particular pattern in use of these spellings other than that either use of the random H seems to be less common now. 

Addendum (8 Oct. 2014)

Since posting this, I've remembered another unusual instance of the "h" in Fula:

4. "Himɓe" for "yimɓe":  In most varieties of Fula, the word for "people" (as in persons) is pronounced "yimɓe." However, in Western Niger and apparently into Burkina Faso it is pronounced, and written, as "himɓe." The word yimɓe is techically the plural of "gimɗo," a term that I've never heard used, but which shows another of the consonant mutations discussed above - this one between "y" and "g." However it is usually the word "neɗɗo" that is used to refer to the singular, "person." Neɗɗo is actually derived from the root for being raised, educated. This sets up an atypical pair of singular/plural in common usage (and in materials for learners): neɗɗo / yimɓe. I first encountered the variant himɓe when working on a Fulfulde lexicon, and then later when in Niger. Without having researched the matter, I'm wondering if the "y" to "h" shift in local pronunciation was in effect permitted by the decoupling of the plural form from the rarely used singular form, gimɗo.

Fear, loathing, and murder in Womey, Guinea

Reports of the brutal murder of most of an ebola outreach team by villagers in Womey, Guinea already has spawned reactions on social media referring to "ignorance" and "low education levels." Nothing excuses such killing, but before concluding that the causes are a local population that is simply unenlightened and/or given to violence, more facts should be sought.

What is known of the incident from current reports (see 18 Sept. reports in GuineeNews, ReliefWeb, Washington Post) is that a team consisting mainly of local government officials and local media went to Womey on Tuesday 16 Sept. as part of an ebola education campaign. They were attacked by a mob with stones and clubs, and 8 of them killed as they fled into the bush (9 people were listed as missing in this report, and apparently all but the son of the Sous-préfet of Womey [head of the "sub-prefecture" administrative area] were confirmed dead; the regional governor, Lancèi Condé, and a female journalist also escaped alive).

Womey is in the region where ebola in West Africa first occurred about nine months ago. This virus had never before been seen in the area, and apparently many people suspected it had been brought by outsiders. An incident in N'Zerekore city (not far from Womey) in late August certainly fed the anxiety level when workers were sent into a market to spray disinfectant without prior announcement - some people reportedly feared the spray was intended to spread the virus. Riots ensued.

It is worth recalling that when reading a report that people in Womey feared the ebola campaign team had come to kill them.

It is also worth considering this evaluation from Cheikh Ibrahima Niang, a Senegalese anthropologist who has worked in some ebola-affected areas of the region:

"Quand les populations disent qu’Ebola n’existe pas, elles se rebellent contre quelque chose. Elles sont dans des situations où on ne les a pas consultées et ont l’impression qu’on les traite avec beaucoup de paternalisme." [When people say that ebola doesn't exist, they are rebelling against something. They are in situations where they haven't been consulted and have the impression they are being treated with lots of paternalism.]

So it seems that some of the issues involved in the events in Womey are: fear; anger; sharply different perceptions of authorities on the one hand and local residents on the other; and communication or lack of it.

With my interest in language in development communication - and in public education on ebola - I've also wondered what the linguistic dimensions may have been. The region of Guinea in which this took place is very multilingual (much more than the other three traditional regions of the country, in each of which one African language dominates). In addition to 5 languages (of Guinea's 8 national languages) - Guerzé/Kpelle, Kissi, Toma, Kono, and Lola - there is also the official language of French. And some of the higher level government and health officials come from other regions and not speak any of the local languages. That adds to complexity of communication: Were communications in locally dominant languages lacking in quality or frequency? Did they counter the narrative about ebola being introduced and how? How strong were the local language skills of the outreach team? (On the latter question, the presence of local radio journalists on the team presumably means there were people fluent in the local language(s).)

An article giving Gov. Condé's account of the incident in Womey hints at language as a factor, but in an unexpected way. Apparently the delegation had visited other localities without incident, and the meeting in Womey began in a relaxed atmosphere. The governor's opening talk (presumably in French; there was no mention of that or interpretation) went well. According to the account, however, when another team member stepped up to talk in the local language (which was not specified), people started throwing rocks, and chaos ensued. This could be interpreted in various ways, of course. It would be horrible to think that a misstatement by the second speaker was so off or misinterpreted that it triggered the reaction. On the other hand, it is no more comforting to see this as premeditated. So it will be informative to have any further information as it becomes available.

In any event, one must come back to the nexus of issues around fear, anger, perceptions, and communication. Of these, communication is a key to mitigating other issues, and language (choice of languages, quality of translations, etc.) is inseparable from the communication process.

Some ebola message translations from Freetown

The US Embassy, Freetown, Sierra Leone website has 6 language versions of an ebola message (including English "Unite to Fight Ebola!"). I'm posting available image files of those documents from a Facebook posting by Zee Tunkara Clarkson (31 July 2014) with full text and links to the original PDFs of the documents. The object here is to promote dissemination of this material as well as to facilitate review by experts in the 5 languages of translation:  Krio, Mende, Kono, Susu, and Limba. (Three of these are cross-border languages, Mende also being spoken in Liberia, and Susu and Limba in Guinea.) Such material may possibly be useful in crafting other educational material in these languages.

The text below was copied as-is from the documents pictured and linked. I do not speak any of these languages, so cannot comment on the translations, however there appear to be some inconsistencies in spellings (e.g., ibola and ebola in Krio). Feedback invited.

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Krio: "Le Wi Jɔyn An Fɔ Fɛt Ibola!"

Ibola na sik we de kil kwik kwik wan ɛn na motalman ɛnimi; as i kin mek pɔsin in bɔdi de wam pas mak ɛn pul blɔd ɔlsay we gɛt ol na i bɔdi, so te i day.

Dis mɛsej de fɔ ɛp yu, yu fambul dɛm ɛn yu neba dɛm fɔ fɛt ibola tranga wan.

Salon pipul dɛm we bin gɛt ibola bɔt nɔr day bin liv bikɔs dɛn ebul go ɔ spitul kwik wan. Fɔ tap dis sik, na fɔ wok tranga wan wit di wɛlbɔdi pipul dɛm ɛn kɔl 117 ɛnitɛm yu si pɔsin we yu fil se gɛt dis sik. Yu nɔ go pe ɛnitin.

• Fɔ naw, na pɔsin nɔ mɔ kin sheb dis sik. U kin gɛt dis sik we u jam bɔdi wit pɔsin we gɛt di sik bad bad wan ɔ sɛf kin gɛt am pan ɛni wata we de kɔmɔt na di pɔsin in bɔdi.
• Pɔsin kin gɛt dis sik fɔ 2-21 de ɛn i nɔ go sho pan am, fɔ bɔku pipul, i go tek 5-8 de bifo i go sik. Durin dis tɛm, i nɔ go gi u pas di sik dɔn bad ɔf. If u de waka, u nɔ go kech di sik frɔm pɔsin we gɛt am.
• Na we di posin don sik tranga wan na da tem de di sik go sho insef fos na di blod den na di wɛt, vɔmit, tɔylɛt, bɔbi wata spam ɛn swɛt.
• Dis sik kin sheb kwi k wan frɔm pɔsin to pɔsin, mɔ to fambul we de mɛn di sik man or di wɛlbɔd i pipul dɛm we de tek care of dɛn sik man ya.
• Duya, nɔ tɔch pɔsin we de day. Dedebɔdi kin gi u ebola so duya lɛf di dedebodi to di wɛlbɔdi pipul dɛm we dɛn dɔn tren fɔ andul dis sik ya.
• Dis virus we wi kin kɔl tumbu, de day kwik wan if yu yuz sop, blich en san wi klos dɛm. Sɛf, yu we gɛt da machine for was klos kin yuz am for kil dis tumbu. Lɛ wi lan fɔ was wi an wit sop ɔl tɛm.
• Yu nɔ go gɛt ebola if yu de ple wit mɔni, bay bred ɔ swim na wata. Nɔ it bush bif we nɔ kuk dɔn as dɛn bat we lɛk it fruit na dɛm wi biliv se de sheb dis ebola ɛn mɔnki, babu ɛn dɛn bush animal dɛn sɛf kin gɛt am.
• As wi de tɔk so naw, wi nɔ gɛt no wɛlbɔdi risin fɔ tap plen nɔ fɔ flay, pipul fɔ travul, fɔ lɔk bɔda ɔ lɔk ɛmbasi, skul ɔ biznɛs dɛm.
• Di american ɛmbasi opin fɔ biznɛs lɛk ɔltɛm.

All salon man kin ɛp fɛt ibola. Di fɔs tin na fɔ no bɔt di sik so yu go protɛkt yusɛf, yu fambul dɛm ɛn u neba dɛm. Di nɛks tin na fɔ tɛl ɔda pipul dɛm aw dɛn sɛf kin ɛp tap ibola.

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Mende: "Mu nGoyila GbE Ebola Lapii Maa!"

Higbeh nyamu yila mia wa mu luehun ta toli ar Ebola, Taa nungaa waama wa, egbiya na ma, numgaa sia tia loo baoma. Mu yenge a goyila a hale bla sia ko mu higbe gi gbia ndohun. Nu gbi lee higbei gi ma ngoongo nu e pae hileblasia ti ma ngo flo.

• Ba hingbei gi majoolo ar nu mui na hingbei gii gi gu gahun saniko nu mu hingbe ngur gi vondei.
• Higbei gi ar yea nu gahun gi fele or gi nu fele gboyongo mahu yila.
• Kelee ebola higbei eyeh numa tamia ar geh nu ngamii hun, golii, balii, fundei, ndolay yei, nyini yei.
• Higbei gi ar lae lo nu gama ar bi bondasia or bi ma blasia ta bi mahun gbe.
• Ba jaa ar numui na ebola higbei gi ma or numui na ebola higbei gi wa ga keley hiebla sia.
• Ma hingbei gi waa flo, e na Mua mu yea ya wama fo ar bawei, klawa kemikasia, fulii ke klawa ngoli bee.
• Ba ya ndogbo huen me, Huen na e yii panda ba mE, mehen na ndevei mia ba meh clo beh va.
• Bee Ebola hingbei gi maango gi ba lolii ar kopoi, gi ba ye haka yea ya ma sabonda braedii yae ya mi ke gibon ba ye moi ma njei la.
• Temi na e ya foi lei ko scuisia, embassisia, baluisia, businessisia ti gbo.
• America Embassy wubla bla sia ti officii lao ngo temi gbi lee, ti lin hinda gbi.

Mu kpelei ndoe gi hu mo a muye ma gu lo mu lapii a hin gbei wai gi ta toli Ebola ke hinda, halei ma pae ta mia a hingbei wai gi ma ngo lei, na mia a pae hingbei gi e mu hue ke mu bondaasia bee. Hinda yekei ma pa e a ndelaa nungaa yekei sa bee ma.

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Kono: "Mor Buteneh Che Kweyedondoryor Ebola ban Kwaya!"

Ebola mu mor far gbadi ana Eh wan gbeh mor teh. Sakana kweh chea ehbatina mor ma benkwana, butuneh che kwaya gbandicha Mor bamoi min bow wnda gbadi ch, an fuawa ta bwe cheneh da. Ni moah wyiche bwetina, gbadicha eh fua wan banda moah chenechor. Mor gbadi chewakwa oryean bwetina timaor tima a wakwa or sonda mor bema Moi bwetin chawan gbabye chea ma 117.

• Sanjeh chor gbandi che ka modonbwe artina ata modominday tina. Asin moi ya mason gbandi moi chedehchedel ama, Gbadi chiar arbebe tar or chiah or choir chiar.
• Gbandiche emawan moi ma eyoson aca tay fea ma ata tay bifea kuma dondoiior. Che Moi kuso far gbandi chea sonda tay du the ar ta tay saiy ar the.
• Gbandichea ebain gbadimoi dor. Inima weh gbaindachea ai bay mor dominda ma kadache Gbandiche ta gbaineh ma gbeh formoi ana hata or tar. Siache, susuei bor kaka, tarr. Asin, gbandi samoinfan bay amason kaka.
• Iy ma tu suah, ambeh Gbandiche bay wan. Ni ya moi fah, ar to bweti mbowah ar ton kwaya Fineh mimbi gbandiche bay matuni somboiah, tay or kena gbandineh So mormor bo ark o tima or tima Yi tuah kapwe ah iea.
• Gbandi eba moima Bbede orh or iea dah or kwa.
• Yi ma feah or swi mima tama ni chendeh down,cheminah, feahor swim be knongbwoi down fan  Tosa na min to kenechior.
• A beebeh kwa niooh nu Chebeor, momo ma foni mbeh fia dendeh ma na or ta. Momo ma bodar na ton ni Momo ma foni moie ma ta tache or.
• Pu chenneh na wichetiya na kain famu Suku mbeh na kain famu.
• Abbebeh Amerlica na cheneh a kain far mu sajameh.

Morgbeh mormor boo art un Butuneh che kwa ya gbandi char. Mbe gbandi ch makwaor. Yi pen son mbe ya for to yi moin ja.

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Susu: "Muhu Berein Halam Fekayrinma Ebola Gayrayfey!"

Ebola furay far furay nara. Gi furay etan, nu eha me fiyea, nu edoh ho boray. Leonenay, na habara gi furay sortoh aye serri na tongo e fa-yalan. Alan oh nu menga sie ha woo kayrain sortoh. A fala mengeh sie beh furay ma naha mu wama serry tongo fay. Hellity (117)

• Hallow ar to forloh he key, aryerima mehri nu mehri nama. Egi furay sortoh manneh e na di eboray-rah.
• Gi foo-ray lo manneh merima keyfree nu/mahoyennu kayrain. He suelee he solowma saha afa foorah
• Foryei foo-rah afa wuleema sortoh, nu kwolee, nu bouwin woesi
• Mehkeyray nehray, furayma dandama etangi furay masatorma
• Enagha deen furayma fore nehray arfay colon
• Gi furay, safwin, sogay. Temberin e bela he marah
• E mu Ebola sortorma kobiri, tami yeama safay. E nah ha don say don naha mu yengri afa yerah. Keycoin nafa mordonma
• Gi moment e nu norma baloyin dan dae aye mu kerabalama ecole nu wholiday, mu balama
• US Embassy neh tanabay tembelay

Leonenay nor manneh Ebola keriday. As sengeh, he tan, nu ehan meri aye nu e dohboray, nu gbetaye e fala berinbeh.

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Limba: "Mi Bointada Ba Dakila E thuna Key Dorma Ebola!"

Ebola, e Thuna na key kori limba-meti. Key kotheh mi bah u thunkoh. Kayla bamba ba she ba me, hunpo hoe kentu, nu bay kentu ba mi hu kothor ba dakila Ebola. Hu gbon hoe ka Salone bin dae punkay kuta tali ban a gbokolimbi yakoh. Ma boinadi e ba pilin bay, bay bindeh masaay tabay ba mi na massita ba dakila e thuna ki. Yonkina hu gbon hoe ka ba pillim bay ka e kalahin 117 bana e kuta wah way sim ay kayhin ba e thorna key ka Ebola.

• E thornah key seh key, key thala dain ka limba metti. E koh kin kutu na e labay kay wah metti wo tukeh, ni mu boti mu ka wah wo belun e thorna ki.
• E san wu kothoh ba doma na wah bilun e thorna kin-kin ba ma loko koyi-kala ni manthay. Ma loko ma nundi, kin koh tukinokoh ka ma loko masoyi e ma loko maso-matati. Kin thornaki, kin sa thalanda yokoh wah wo thorna ma ka-here. Ba nah ndo punku thariokoh,e sakin thalintianda ka wah wu fenah.
• Ba pilin bay e bay kenah-meh bay nayan kuta e thornah kin-kin.
• Ba labay kay wah way tukeh. Ba pilin bay na doru wu labay kay wah way ni Ebola, ni ba mankia wah wu koro e Ebola.
• E thunaki, kin koh kora e sineh, mu maythna, e kan woo. Mi thania ba loka tha lunkoh tha kantu timu-timu.
• E sa kutu e thuna kinkin kama thalintanda kopiri, ka bola mu theri, ni ba gban thiokoh ka mandi. Ba thor mu thor mu poniyorta ma lohun - nor na bara.
• Ka ma loko mama, mi ka eh e bali ba yikina thalan-boti ba sir, ba lunka beluin ni nga ken ken ka thurea-mina, ba yikina ba thariokoh, ba gboni bay, karani ba, ni Embassinabay.
• Hu gbon hoe ka U.S. Embassy hoe petheh tuma-tuma nanda thurn hun.

Mi formah kin ba thiah ma massay ba daykila Ebola. Yi kin Lanka kothor ba pulunokoh, ba bia bay kenda, ni metti da. Wu mankeh wu, mi kin bah wu tapay bia bi fenah ken na bin kothoh ba e thonaki.

More on ebola and health information in African languages

Quick follow-up on last week's post on Ebola and health information in African languages, to share some more information about initiatives on ebola education and reporting in African languages.

Following tweets on the previous post, there was additional information via Twitter on some videos in Nigerian languages:

@babatabita Check @LensOnEbola for more #Ebola videos from #Nigeria, in #Yoruba, #Pidgin and #English. @donosborn #NgHlth
— Nigeria Health Watch (@nighealthwatch) September 5, 2014

The Nigerian language videos (YouTube) that I'm aware of so far are as follows (would appreciate more links from those who have them):

• In Yoruba, "Owó Fifò," on hand washing
• In Pidgin, on ebola symptoms and what to do if one experiences them

Also from Nigeria, there is an official poster in Igbo - Nje Ọrịa Ebola - which since it is from the Nigerian government, may also be in other languages like Hausa and Yoruba.

There is a Senegalese video (also on YouTube) about ebola in Wolof, with some written French. (An August 29 newscast in Wolof on ebola in Senegal is also on YouTube.)

A GooglePlay app "About Ebola" is available in English, Jola (Diola in French spelling), Krio, Liberian English, and Wolof.

There appears to be significant information on ebola in Fula, notably on pulaar.org, including a recent long article "Ebola Hol no haɓtortee?" (ebola, how can it be fought/countered?). Peeral Media has a short piece in Fula on Facebook, with a parallel English version. A 5-minute audio "Info sur Ebola en Pulaar/Fulfulde" is available on YouTube (accompanied by one graphic). Another example is a story on Voice of Nigeria about the Nigerian Hajj Commission's screening of pilgrims going to Mecca: "Hukuuma hijju Najeeriya wiɗitay hijooɓe Najeeriya."

In Guinea, Studio Hirondelle in collaboration with the rural radio network has produced radio programs on ebola in Fula (Peulh in French; the endonym in Guinea is Pular) and Malinké (a Manding language for which the endonym is Maninka or Maninkakan).

WHO and Athinkra

Athinkra LLC is coordinating translations of a FAQ on ebola provided by the World Health Organization (WHO). Languages on its list so far include N'Ko (an alphabet for Manding), Vai (in its own script and Latin alphabet), and Fula (in the new Adlam script - more on the latter in another post). (Thanks to Coleman Donaldson for calling my attention to this.)

Rubric, Wikimedia ZA, and WikiProject Medicine

Further afield, there is a collaboration in South Africa among Rubric (a languages services company), Wikimedia ZA, and WikiProject Medicine (which has a Translation Task Force/Project) to translate ebola health info on Wikipedia into the official languages of that country.

Summary and thoughts

The above is an eclectic sampling of initiatives and reporting on ebola in some African languages. Much of this is happening on country levels or by individual or small group initiatives. This post helps fill out blank spots in the picture as portrayed in the previous posting, but it is far from complete.

At this point it would seem very useful to have a way of monitoring such efforts and products with an eye to facilitating communication and sharing among them (particularly important, I'd argue, for cross-border and closely-related languages), reviewing material for accuracy, and building a data bank of medical translations in African languages about ebola and related public health topics.

Ebola and health information in African languages

The alarming ebola epidemic in West Africa - primarily Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, with a few cases in Nigeria - is now into its sixth month and still expanding. There are fears that ebola may explode into urban areas of the region. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) president Dr. Joanne Liu was recently quoted as saying that "the world is losing the battle to contain it," and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Dr. Thomas Frieden was quoted as saying the epidemic is "spiraling out of control."

International and national responses to ebola in West Africa have naturally focused on measures to control its spread and treat patients (as much as can be done, given the high mortality rate and lack of available remedies). Public health education is recognized as an essential element in controlling the epidemic and helping the region's population to understand what the real risks and treatments are.

Ebola education in a multilingual region

West Africa is of course a multilingual region, and any effort to effectively communicate and educate in such an emergency must take account of its multilingual nature, with many languages, limited knowledge of the various countries' official languages (English, French, or Portuguese), and limited literacy in first languages and regional lingua francas. No one language can be relied on to get ebola information and advice to all the people who need it. This means finding ways to translate messages, assure quality in such translations, and provide them in appropriate mixes of text (for posters, scripts) and audio (for national and local radio). It also has longer term implications that I will come back to in a later post on this blog.

This linguistic dimension to public education on ebola in West Africa is recognized on various levels. The CDC for instance had radio spots produced in several languages of the affected area: Pular, several languages of the affected area. (links on language names go to Wikipedia descriptions). A Wellesley College prof, Dr. Donna A. Patterson, suggested that public campaigns should be available in "local languages" in an article entitled "Better Public Education Programs Could Help Stop the Spread of Ebola." And a news item on Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) mentioned translation on on the village level in the west of that country (although without the names of target languages).

The non-governmental organization (NGO), Translators Without Borders (TWB) has coordinated translation of material into Hausa (see image at right). Its collaboration with the Nigerian Institute of Translators and Interpreters might be a good model for international and national collaboration on ebola messaging in African languages.

However, attention to the importance of African first languages and lingua francas for public health education is apparently not a given. In an interview with BBC's World Update, TWB president Lori Thicke pointed out that health NGOs working in rural areas aren't always aware of language issues. Without anyone minimizing their efforts, this is not surprising from what I know of development projects and extension organizations, which tend to deal with "local languages" on an ad hoc basis with interpretation by staff or local people when the need arises (see blog posts on this in context of agriculture in 2007 and 2008).

But it's not just a problem of NGOs in the field. In an interview on the US public television service, PBS, MSF's Dr. Liu referred to the need for clear messaging on ebola issues, but did not mention the challenges of quality translation of such messaging. She likely is well aware of that, but the fact it did not arise in either her statements or the interviewer's (Jeffrey Brown) questions is telling. Voice of America, in an August 20 article about media in West Africa and public education on ebola did not mention anything about languages or translation.

This is not to say that the issue of translation of information on ebola is necessarily easy, but that it is an issue needing attention, especially at higher levels. The kind of volunteer-based translation that TWB facilitates is impressive, as is the less visible daily work on local levels by officials such as discussed in the Côte d'Ivoire item cited above, but it certainly would help to have more resources to support translation and wider coordination of translation efforts (the latter in part because many languages cross borders, meaning potential duplication of effort and differences in wording).

Building resources for short- and long-term

Another important need for dealing with ebola in the immediate future and in years to come, as well as for improving individual and public health in general, is to collect, record, and compile medical and health education material in African languages. Aside from providing reference material for the future, it also should help avoid having to start translations from scratch each time a public health emergency arises.

Fortunately there is a volunteer effort to achieve this sort of outcome: the Wikipedia-based Medical Translation Project, which collaborates with TWB. An example of their work is an article on ebola in Hausa entitled "Ƙwayoyin cuta na Ebola" on the Hausa-language edition of Wikipedia

I plan to post more on this project later.