Friday, October 7, 2022

BÉESO DAH YINÍLJAA

 


Because I live in New Mexico and sometimes write about it, an article in the Albuquerque Journal in mid-August caught my eye.

BÉESO DAH YINÍLJAA

My accent marks are not quite right because I don’t have a Navajo keyboard and they’re not standard on the Alt code charts.

Here’s the translation: “A Fistful of Dollars”, which has been dubbed in Navajo through the efforts of the director of the Navajo Nation Museum, Manny Wheeler. This is one of the steps he’s taken to keep the language alive (there are no subtitles). Previously, “Star Wars” and “Finding Nemo” had been translated into Navajo.

The translators and voice actors were all Navajo. The challenge in translating is finding the right word, 
according to Wheeler: “…Native languages are more complex than the English language. With ‘Star Wars’, we had to translate lightsaber. We have many words that fit that translation. We had to pick the right one.”


For more examples of Navajo (Diné) language see: http://navajopeople.org/blog/my-mother-navajo-language-lesson/

Don’t expect to learn it. I’m told if you didn’t grow up around Navajo speakers, you’ll never get it quite right.  

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