Chichewa: lingua franca

Since 1997 I have been involved in Malawi, as a resident and as a friend at a distance. I taught at Zomba Theological College for almost a decade and developed a keen interest in various aspects of African society and culture. At present from our vantage point in The Netherlands we continue to be active for Malawi. Out of this the Chichewa/ Chinyanja Dictionary Project was born. Why? The English language has acquired an important position in the societies of Central and Southern Africa.

However, the vernacular languages have remained indispensable vehicles of communication. For more than 15 million people in Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa, Chinyanja or Chichewa has become the most important language of daily life. The language of the Chewa or Nyanja has gained importance and strength by developments in its written and oral use, and because an increasing number of its speakers have come to discover and emphasise their common linguistic heritage and practice. That is why it has become an intermediary language for all Malawians, and for many people in the whole of Central and Southern Africa.

A crisis of communication

During my time of residence in Malawi I experienced a crisis of communication, which is caused by the difference between cultures and languages. In general this crisis affects all situations of learning and communication. Of course in schools the crisis is more acute than anywhere else. The communication gap especially affects the poor, the illiterate, the orphans and the sick, because it bars their social mobility and emancipation. Learners of Chichewa or English were especially handicapped by the absence of Dictionaries in their mother languages. In this situation I have had the opportunity to compile dictionaries, English-Chichewa (EC) and Chichewa-English (CE). Donors helped me to publish and spread them. In the course of time tens of thousands of books have been distributed for free, mainly to secondary school pupils. By January/ February 2009 the two books had run out of stock. They have not been reprinted.

First Edition CE-EC

We decided to have the separate EC and CE collections combined to one book. In 2009 the CE-EC Dictionary began its history. The first edition has more than 35,000 entries on 730 pages, A5. We printed 15,000 copies.

The books went to:

a.Libraries of 3000 primary schools in the Northern, Central en Southern Regions of Malawi through the organisations ACEM and Edukans.

b.Pupils teachers and libraries of about 40 secondary schools, and teachers of about 20 primary schools in the districts of Nsanje,  Blantyre, Zomba, Mangochi, Nkhotakota.

c.Another 23 schools that belong to the Access to Education Programme, supervised by Mr. and Mrs van den Bos, and Programme Officer Miss Mercy Chapita

During our latest stay in Malawi in April, together with Mercy, we visited seven of these schools, in the districts of Chikhwawa and Nsanje (Lower Shire region) and handed out books to Form 3 and 4 pupils, to their teachers and to the school libraries. This part of the programme was financially covered by Stichting Weeshuis in Nijkerk.

d.Sixteen schools in the districts of Blantyre, Phalombe, Mulanje and Zomba are in the process of being visited and provided with dictionaries, to be concluded before the end of May. Five other schools on the East Bank of the, Lower Shire are being helped with books in May, through the assistance of Dr. Erwin van der Meer.

e.The general public through bookshops, e.g. Kachere, CLAIM, Central Bookshop, Central Africana, Habitat, La Caverna/  Mandala, Bethel Bookshop, Tasty Bite. Maxson.

f.Various schools and institutions in Zambia, i.e. in the Eastern Province and in its capital city Lusaka, through Werkgroep Zambia with the assistance of the Dutch Embassy.

Second Edition CE-EC

In 2010 the Chichewa Dictionary Project made an important step forward. On 12th April we signed a contract with AG Press in Limbe for the printing of 10,000 copies of the second edition of the CE-EC Dictionary, at MK 9,950,000, which at the present rate of 200 is the equivalent of  € 49,750. The second edition has 860 pages and more than 40,000 entries.

In the meantime, in agreement to the contract, the first and the second instalments were paid, half of the amount.  We agreed that all books will be printed and paid for before the end of August. By that time, depending on the progress of the sponsoring, we may decide to order an extra 5,000 copies or more.

Apart from handing out for free directly to selected schools, hopefully a substantial quantity of books will be sold, either to Edukans/ ACEM (who are still campaigning for dictionaries and other learning materials to Malawian schools), and other ngo’s, or to bookshops.

Depending on these sellings, and on the generosity of the donor community there will be room for more plans, i.e. for printing the third edition, and perhaps for publishing a version in Braille.

In comparison to the first edition of the Dictionary the second edition is a significant step forward. Not only has a considerably larger number of pages than the first edition, but also the contents has improved a lot. The second edition of the book is expected to get wider recognition, especially at schools and with educational authorities. Besides, there is a growing interest in having the Dictionary available online or in any other electronic form. The Dictionary really fills a gap!

Online Version

Besides, an important move was made when the CE-EC Dictionary went online, translate.chichewadictionary.org, on 28th May. We expect that the paper and online versions will help one another to attract the attention of potential users and to encourage sponsors of the Project.

Also we are continuing the process of improvement, research, and the collection of vocabulary for later editions. Working on the contents of the book and guiding the printing and distribution requires a lot of effort, intellectually, organisationally and financially.