AROHATIA TE REO - CHERISH THE LANGUAGE
Te Wiki O Te Reo Māori is a special time each year to celebrate this language and to also reflect on the importance of being able to read the teachings of God’s Divine Messengers in our own languages so we all have the opportunity to access this lifegiving knowledge.
In the words of one Baha’i being able to read a prayer in her own language at last, “Reading or hearing the Word of God in one’s mother tongue touches heartstrings that are only accessible in that language and this is a bounty of a beautiful translation, to be connected to the Manifestation of God on such a profoundly heartfelt level”.
Some volumes of Baha’u’llah’s Writings have been already been translated into more than 800 languages. Baha’u’llah employed beautiful prose with elements of poetry, such as rhythm and metaphor making accuracy of meaning into English often a difficult task for translators.
The special difficulties encountered by English translators are no less likely to pose a challenge to other translators. Their daunting task is to convey in a foreign language the unique qualities of a book concerned not only with often mapping out a new way of life for the individual and society, such as in Baha’u’llah’s Most Holy Book, but with bringing about a future state of “true understanding in a spirit of love and tolerance throughout the world”.
Therefore, translation is not just about a one-to-one correspondence from English to Māori. There has to be both faithfulness to the original language and the musicality of the vernacular. For example, while translating Baha’i writings into Māori, Tom Roa encountered a conundrum. This deeply spiritual indigenous language has a word for spirit but not for soul. “In the Bible this word, wairua, means soul and spirit. But in The Hidden Words they are two distinct ideas. So, we had to make a distinction,” explained Dr. Roa, Professor of Māori and Indigenous Studies at the University of Waikato, referring to efforts to translate one of Baha’u’llah’s most well-known works.
The resulting word for soul, wairua-ora, is a combination of the word for “spirit” and a word meaning “living” — living spirit.
This was one of the many complexities of translating Baha’i writings into Māori. A 14year effort, during which two other major translations of Baha’i works were published in Māori, culminated in the release in 2004 of the first substantial Baha’i prayer book (Ētahi Karakia Baha’i) in this language. Providing access to prayers in Māori was a key motivation for the Baha’is of New Zealand when it began the process. A small team of Baha’is worked with Dr. Roa, who has translated other spiritual texts into the Māori language, including the Bible and the Quran. Here is a prayer translated by Dr. Roa, one that can be said for departed ancestors and loved ones as even after death we can assist their eternal spiritual progress through our sincere prayers.
“Kei tōku Atua! Ē Koe te poumuru i te hara te kaituku i ngā tākoha, te kaiwhakaora o ngā mate!
Tūturu, ko tāku inoi ki a Koe kia murua ngā hara o te hunga kua whakarere i te kākahu kikokiko kua piki ake ki te ao wairua.
Kei tōku Atua! Kia horoia rātou i ngā hara, kia mahea ō rātou pōkē, kia tahurihia tō rātou pōuriuri ki te māramarama. Meinga rātou kia uru ki roto ki te kāri o te harakoa, horoia rātou ki te wai parakore, tukua rātou kia kite i ō ahurei i runga o te maunga teitei rawa.” [A prayer by Abdu’l-Baha].