TransÜD – Arb e i t e n zu r Th e o ri e u n d Pra x i s

des Üb ers etze n s u n d D o lme t sc h en s

Translation und Interkulturelle

Kommunikation /
Translation and Intercultural
Communication
Lavinia Heller / Tomasz Rozmysłowicz (Hg.)
Inhaltsverzeichnis / Contents

L AVINIA H ELLER /T OMASZ R OZMYSŁOWICZ  

Einleitung..........................................................................................................................7 

M AURICIO M ENDONÇA C ARDOZO  

Translation und die ethische Herausforderung der Relation .......................................11 

L AVINIA H ELLER  
De-Westernize! Historisierung und (Inter-)Kulturalisierung
translationswissenschaftlicher Diskurse .......................................................................37 

T OMASZ R OZMYSŁOWICZ  
Translation und kulturelle Differenz.
Kritik und Revision ihrer translationswissenschaftlichen Verhältnisbestimmung ....51 

H OLGER S IEVER  
Metaphern für die Figur des Translators.......................................................................65 

S TEPHANIE E NGOLA  
Translation and National Integration.
Promoting Peace and Unity through Literary Translation ..........................................89 

J UDIT M UDRICZKI  
The Role of Translation in the Formation of post-1989 Hungarian
Cultural Identity in the United Kingdom.
The “Country Full of Aliens” turns into the “Island of Sound” ................................109 

T AM T HANH N GUYEN  
Indirect Translation Proposed as a Tool of Triangular Intercultural
Communication. The Case of Japanese Literature in Vietnam .................................129 

L UBNA B ASSAM  
Self-Translation on a Periphery.
Motives of Code-Switching in SMS Messages of Young People in Lebanon .............149 

Die Autorinnen und Autoren / About the Authors ....................................................165

© Frank & Timme Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur 5

 Translation and national integration: promoting peace and ideology
through literary translation
Stephanie Engola
Department of Bilingual Studies
University of Yaounde I
engolaamougou@yahoo.fr

Abstract: Throughout history, translation has played a cultural and political role in the building of
nations. Literary translation, in particular, has strengthened national identities by importing or
exporting cultures and promoting the coexistence of powerful civilizations. In Cameroon, translation
is underused as a tool to foster national integration. With over 280 national languages and ethnic
groups, the cultural diversity is a source of conflict rather than an asset to achieve national salvation.
There is no translation activity between national languages. Literary works written in national
languages are scarce. No foreign masterpiece is translated into a national language and no literary
material of any great national authors is available in national languages. Using the constructivist
approach in historiography, the theory of face negotiation in intercultural communication and
statistical data, this paper intends to point out the consequences of a poor development of literary
translation in a context dominated by culture-based political conflicts, social clashes and the
frustration of minorities. The recommended strategies include the creation of a national center of
literary translation, the introduction of a comparative approach of teaching national languages in
schools and the promotion of inter-ethnic literary translation.

Keywords: literary translation, national integration, national consciousness, constructivist approach,

face negotiation.

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 1. Introduction

National integration and national unity are two recurrent issues in a multicultural
and multilingual context. Benedict Anderson posits that “a nation is an imagined
political community - and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign” (1983:
6). It is imagined because not all members know each other, yet feel that they have
things in common [..]” (Op cit.). And it is a community, because it implies
comradeship and a sense of belonging. These concepts call for another, which is more
recurrent in the field of literary translation, notably national integration. It coincides
with national integration, culture, social harmony, literature, cultural systems, and
the conception which communities have of their own world and that of other people.

National integration is a process, whereby people reach a state of positive

assimilation so as to create unity. For it to be effective and efficient, national
integration should be supported by social dialog, tolerance, cohabitation,
intercultural communication, and social harmony. In other words, alterity is one of
the main issues in national integration: people are conscious of their differences,
learn to live together, endeavor to import the positive components of other cultures,
and afford each other due respect. With time, uncertainty, which jeopardizes
intercultural communication, gradually vanishes and gives room to a new common
culture (Ting-Toomey 1988) that is mutual understanding and strengthens national
integration. But how is this national integration created? What are the social
mechanisms put in place to promote national integration? What is the most efficient
mechanism able to succeed in achieving positive national integration?

According to Anderson (1983: 44), language and literature were the most effective
means to foster national integration in the medieval period. He argues that

“Speakers of the huge variety of Frenches, Englishes, or Spanishes, who might find it
difficult or even impossible to understand one another in conversation, became capable
of comprehending one another via print and paper. In the process, they gradually
became aware of the hundreds of thousands, even millions, of people in their particular
language-field, and at the same time that only those hundreds of thousands, or millions,
so belonged. These fellow-readers, to whom they were connected through print, formed,
in their secular, particular, visible invisibility, the embryo of the nationally imagined
community”.

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Indeed, one cannot deny that most French writers of the Middle Age argued that
literature was an important lever of national integration. Hampton (2001)
demonstrates how literary texts reflect ideological conflicts. In the same line, Keller
(2011) strongly believes that literature is a common representation of things, which
leads to the feeling of belonging. Desbois also argues that “La Deffence de Du Bellay
illustre le rôle de la langue dans la construction du sentiment national, E. Babilar
ayant à ce propos insisté sur l’idée que les peuples, pour former une nation, ont
besoin de partager une même langue” (Desbois 2011: 3). Compared to the Greek and
Latin languages, the French language established its identity through translation.
This process led to the imposition of the French language and nation in a globalizing
Europe and was the beginning of extensive literature and the benchmark for the
construction of French rhetoric. The peak of this evolving national integration was
the publication of the first Encyclopedia of science, art and crafts by Diderot and
d’Alembert in 1751, though at first, it was a draft translation of the Cyclopedia of
Ephraim Chambers published in 1728. The case of France to illustrate the historical
process through which a nation builds its identity is somewhat similar to that of
Cameroon in terms of external linguistic pressures that usually force a configuration
of national languages and the imposition of one in particular as the language of
unity.

Unlike France, Cameroon has diversified its mechanisms to ensure an inter-

ethnically harmonious setting and to build national integration. With a plethora of
national languages and ethnic groups, the management of institutions and people
becomes a game of strategies. While literary translation among national languages is
almost nonexistent, one of the most praised solutions to national integration is
regional balance in appointments, examination entrances in schools, recruitments,
etc. However, the regional balance, which has become a leitmotiv in political
discourses, hardly appeases the self-propagating consequences of the quest for peace
and national integration (Kampoer 2011). At the beginning, i.e. from the colonial
period, regional balance has been instituted to satisfy the demands of all ethnic
groups on the Cameroonian territory. It was a way of encouraging a policy that

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protects minorities. Nowadays, national integration is justified by representativeness.
Besides, Cameroonians seem to respond superficially positively to this sociological
and political measure. Social conflicts are still part of national life. The Anglophone
and Francophone issue is more than a linguistic issue. Both parties call it the
Anglophone-Francophone problem. In order to contribute to the project of national
integration in Cameroon, this paper proposes the use of literary translation as a tool
for achieving this goal.

1.1 Theoretical framework

The investigation shall use the constructivist approach in historiography, which

purports that the society is the product of a construction. According to Gellner
(1998), societies build on interactions between people within a community or an
ethnic group. The constructivist approach is opposed to the naturalist and the
primordialist approach of ethnicity that make the genetic aspect accountable for the
social integration of groups. In case of ethnicity, the feeling of belonging is based on
origins, whereas anthropological items and the fight are limited to the causes of the
ethnic group. It validates the idea of excluding other groups even within the same
territory. This idea also applies when groups share the same historical events at a
national level. Though the limit between constructivism and the rational choice
theory of ethnicity is narrow (individuals can choose to be regarded as members of a
group if they find it to their advantage), in the view of experts in anthropology such
as Hall (1996), the idea that ethnic groups are social productions can be retained as
specificity in constructivism. Moreover, the features of these groups are no more
defined according to elements of nature (genetics), but rather based on culture as an
endogen process.

Indeed, people may be of the same genetic family, but do not feel they belong to one
and the same group. However, people who share the same ideas and ideological
patterns may be closer to each other in terms of beliefs, worldview, etc. This does not
exclude that genetic relations may involve a sense of belonging as far as ideas and
culture are concerned. The issue of ethnic groups in Africa is a patent example of the
opposition between the naturalist and the constructivist approach. From an
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administrative point of view, Cameroon is a territory that shares borders with
Gabon, the Central African Republic and Equatorial Guinea. From a cultural point of
view, some ethnic groups share a heritage with groups and communities in
Cameroon. The Fang-Beti group is spread throughout the border regions with
Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and the Central African Republic, and people on either
side feel close to Cameroonians. This proximity is well justified by historical data,
which clearly indicates that all the ethnic groups at the borders of all three countries
are members of the same group that spread all over central Africa before the arrival
of colonizers. However, when it comes to the political point of view, the feeling of
belonging changes the apprehension of the relationships. One of the main
consequences of this separation is the fate of Cameroonian in some of the countries,
notably Equatorial Guinea`, where they are treated as foreigners and imposters due
to their individualistic appraisal of life. This shows that although societies in Central
Africa share the same genetical, historical and cultural lot, the geographical
reorganization of groups into countries has encouraged the formation of societies
based on political perspectives of colonization.

Besides, when considering with Gudykunst (1998) that the real problem with
intercultural communication is the uncertainty zone where the speaker is in a new
and different milieu, the issue of culture becomes important in the chain of
communication. In his communication model, components such as the motivation to
interact, the reaction in front of foreigners, the social categorization of foreigners,
situational processes, connections with foreigners, ethical considerations, and self-
concept usually influence the way people manage uncertainty and anxiety in a
communication situation. The success of this management depends on the reflexivity
of a person to understand his own culture and that of others. The negotiation in the
uncertainty sector is thus an important step in the social integration of a person
whose culture, in its broadest sense, is different from the culture(s) in a given
historical, ethical, geographical and cultural setting.

This understanding of intercultural communication is deepened by Ting-Toomey

(1988). She underlines that the intercultural communication can only be considered
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efficient if both the speaker and the receptor negotiate a common signifier. Of course,
the communication capacity of a person depends on individual psychology and the
nature of his/her original culture. As a matter of fact, she distinguishes two types of
cultural groups: individualist and collectivist groups. When a person comes from an
individualistic culture, he/she tends to preserve his/her own image to the detriment
of the group and vice-versa. Whatever the case, it appears that both perspectives
seriously influence the outcome of the communication process. The sociological
appraisal of literature in Cameroon will thus show that national integration in
Cameroon is ensured by political mechanisms, whereas the lack of intercultural
communication through literary instruments postpones a much bigger social clash in
the years ahead.

2. Methodology

This paper uses statistical figures to analyze the importance of translation in general
and literary translation in particular in Cameroon. It compares figures from the
European world, Africa in general, and Cameroon in particular to assess the
commitment of the government in the cultural development of the country while
focusing on the implementation of an intercultural communication between the
various ethnic groups represented in the territory. Moreover, since this research
fundamentally focuses on an interdisciplinary perspective, it also draws from
sociological and empirical writings on connected issues, such as the power of the
ethnic group, political instruments, and historical data.

3. The problematic linguistic and ethnic situation in Cameroon

Cameroon is a complex linguistic setting. Apart from the two official languages,
French and English, there are numerous national languages collocating with two
other composed languages: Pidgin-English and Camfranglais. Official languages are
spoken in formal settings, namely administrations, schools, and universities. The 226
national languages1 are reserved for informal situations, though sometimes used

1
These figures are derived from the International Center for Research and Documentation on Traditions and
African Languages (2012), Linguistic Atlas of Cameroon, Language directory, tome 1.

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informally in public services. Pidgin-English is used in the Western parts of the
country, whereas Camfranglais is spoken by youths in all ten regions. At first glance,
one may consider this to be a wonderful linguistic landscape. But, once in the field,
the contrary becomes strikingly evident. Indeed, the relations between all those
languages are limited in terms of the spoken aspect. It answers the need for social
interaction. For example, there are public servants from the Francophone zone who
are appointed in the Anglophone zone. To be able to develop a social life, they need
to learn the language spoken in that area. However, as the learning is informal, so is
the acquisition of language rules.

The current linguistic configuration of Cameroon suggests a complex network of

intercultural communication. Language is the means through which culture
expresses itself. Thus, both language and culture are interdependent in the sense that
language is the social expression of values, norms and attitudes, while culture is the
invisible part of the behaviorist iceberg that underlies language (Selfridge / Sokolik
1975). It is difficult, if not impossible to talk of a situation whereby there is a
universal culture and co-cultures in Cameroon. From the anthropological point of
view, national languages have the same status and the same value when considering
the attitude of speakers all over the territory. Though the number of speakers of a
national language may vary from one region to another, the attitude of speakers
shows that there is no ideologically dominant language. Even though five national
languages have been selected among the bulk of national languages for teaching
within the framework of policy for the promotion of national languages, this does
not relegate other national languages to a less important layer of the discourse scale.

4. Language use and national integration in Cameroon

It is difficult to speak of national literature without raising the issue of national

identity. Similarly, the definition of the latter cannot go without that of national
unity. These three concepts are interrelated and intertwined in one way or another.
National unity is the solidarity that exists between individuals of the same nation. In

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Cameroon, language is one of the most important elements that determine national
integration as stated in the Preamble of the 1996 Constitution:

Proud of our linguistic and cultural diversity, an enriching feature of our

national integration, but profoundly aware of the imperative need to further
consolidate our unity, we solemnly declare that we constitute one and the
same Nation, bound by the same destiny, and assert our firm, determination
to build the Cameroonian Fatherland on the basis of the ideals of fraternity,
justice and progress. (Constitution of the Republic of Cameroon 1996: 1)

In this light, the government regularly makes efforts to promote language through a
number of reforms. They include language reform, the promotion of national
languages, their equal status and ethnic balance.

However, at the political level, the difficulties faced by the Government in the
implementation of the unity and national integration stated in the Constitution
remain the same, because solutions are more political than cultural. This is why
scholars like Nyamnjoh still doubt its effectiveness when observing that

the system produces trouble-makers, and this includes promoting inter-

provincial or inter-ethnic conflicts, which the central government regulates
and crushes from time to time when things get a little out of hand. The system
is interested in nation-deconstruction, not nation-building, national disunity,
not national unity, disintegration, not integration. (Nyamnjoh 1999: 9).

This disunity is caused by a retreat into groups of interest, especially political and
ethnic groups. It threatens peace in a nation whose government has established a
regional balance policy so that all language and cultural groups are represented. This
retreat leads to the birth of regional, tribal and linguistic trench warfare, which mars
national integration, defined as the willingness of an imagined community to live
together without discrimination.

Focusing on the origin of nationalism in Cameroon, Abwa (2010) underlines the fact
that the country’s diversity helped the people to question national unity. Ruled by

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three countries, namely Germany, France and Britain prior to its independence,
Cameroon is known for its climate, rich and varied fauna and its hundreds of
national languages and sociocultural groups. The interest in its human resources is
raised by its ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity as well as the racial melting pot
consisting of Pygmies, Bantu, Sudanese, and Hamito-Sudanese groups. Cultural
groups interact in all the fields. Yet, the group identity prevails. Paul Abouna (2011)
shows that the concept of group is rather tribal and is manifested through the way
groups occupy the space, media and churches. Group identity underlies the
relationship among people of the same origin. This ethnicisation has reached the
church to the extent that the administration of churches has become the cause of
ethnic conflicts. The media broadcast a tribal reading of political information and the
administration of newspapers is made around ethnic leadership. Furthermore, this
configuration impacts on the power relationship at the level of politics and
diplomacy as Abouna (2011: 77) explains:

“L’une des conséquences nécessaires de la configuration ethnique des partis camerounais

est l’ethnicisation des revendications politiques. Elles sont apparues ces dernières années
sous la forme de mémoranda ou de documents écrits divers, mettant en relief les
problèmes non pas de classes sociales, des classes d’âges, des catégories socio
professionnelles, des genres, etc., mais des régions et des ethnies qui y vivent”.

National integration as promoted in Cameroon is based on multiple group identities,

and Nyamnjoh (1999: 8) highlights the negative consequence of the policy of regional
balance:

“Take the Anglophone community as a case in point. Objectively speaking, they have a
far greater interest in uniting their two provinces than pulling them apart. But in the
interest of the politics of regional balance (divide-and-rule) in high office, no person can
be appointed from the Anglophone region, without another being dis-appointed from the
same region. This makes it incumbent on power-mongers or opportunistic politicians in
the two provinces to imagine divisions among themselves in order to increase their
chances of prominence or appointability”.

However, one should keep in mind that the root of the age-old Anglophone and
Francophone problem is language. Therefore, the question that arises is whether or
not there is a real national literature. The names Francophone and Anglophone
Cameroon literature speak for themselves. But is it really possible to have a
Cameroonian literature that includes two sub-categories of literature separated by

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their writers’ languages and the topics they address? In an interview with African
Writing, Ashuntantang (2016) 2 says:

“Cameroonian writers are still described as Anglophone and Francophone based first on
the historical context of the country and second by the themes that each class evokes in
their works. There are of course political and subject differences between these two
classes in the sense that while the overall democratic subject goes through both writings
the specific political considerations of Anglophone marginalization remain relevant to the
discourse of any serious Anglophone writer. Style is not the issue. Maybe mood is.
Challenged by a political elite (whether ruling or opposition), which is insensitive to the
goals of democratic development and resource allocation, there is unsurprisingly much
anger and bitterness from the writers”.

In other words, literature has not yet fully succeeded in playing its role in the
building of national integration. Most of the books on the market are transliterations
of national cultures. Biloa and Echu are more formal when saying that “It is
important to point out from the start that in Cameroon, the indigenous languages of
the country have never really played any major role in issues of national integration,
and the critical languages involved in the projection of major group identities in
Cameroon are in fact the ex-colonial languages, English and French” (2008: 202).
Writers use one of the two official languages and are still classified as being
Anglophone or Francophone. None of them is known for having translated his/her
own writings, as was done by Samuel Beckett. This shows that literature remains an
instrument used to claim national integration rather than a means to build national
identity. Although there is Cameroonian literature, which is defined as a literature
written by Cameroonian writers who tackle issues concerning the Cameroonian
society, its objectives remain a hard nut to crack for those who try to set features of
national Cameroonian literature. Literary works are hardly echoed into the other
official language. This means that this literature continues to serve the claims of the
colonial period. Although more translation schools are set up throughout the
country, authors are seldom translated into the other official language and great
philosophical and literary works have not yet been translated into national

2 Interview with Cameroonian writer, George Ngwane, a versatile commentator on African affairs, Cameroonian
politics and literature, and the author of The Cameroon Book Industry - Challenges and Changes,
https://www.african-writing.com/ngwane.htm. The interview has no page numbers.

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languages. Three reasons explain this state of affairs which impedes the emergence of
a national literature stricto sensu.

The first reason is the incredible number of ethnic groups and languages competing
in the field. With nearly 238 national languages (Boum Ndongo-Semengue 2013) and
two official languages, Cameroon is a country where cultural movements imply a
blend of languages. National languages are beginning to transcend their
geographical areas to compete with other languages in terms of the number of
speakers. These are languages which are widely used but restricted to informal
communication situations. Among those languages are Fulani, Beti-Fan, Pidgin-
English, Basa’a, Duala, Mungaka, Wandala, Kanuri, Arabic, and Hausa (Boum
Ndongo-Semengue, 2013: 31-32). There is another language, Camfranglais that
emerges from the mixture of French, English and national languages.

It is important to note that the organization of national languages into phyla shows
their diverse backgrounds. Indeed, Cameroonian national languages are organized
into three phyla which are subdivided into families, subfamilies, branches, sub-
branches, etc. The Afro-Asiatic phylum or Mito-Semitic includes two families, four
branches, 12 sub-groups, and groups of 58 languages while the Nilo-Saharan phylum
has two families. The Niger-Kordofan phylum is the most represented with three
families of 188 dialects (Biloa, 2003: 14-18), although some of them are endangered as
demonstrated by Bitja’a Kody (2000). In a quantitative survey on language dynamics
in Yaounde, he noted that the use of national languages is regressive to within
endogamous households, which represent the strongholds of those languages. He
reported that Francophone adults use their national language in 52% of situations
against 42% where they use French. Youth between 10 and 17 argue that they use
French in 70% of family communications. Bitja’a concludes that this situation will
escalate, because the chain of teaching the national language will soon be broken. In
other words, there are languages which are endangered as they are abandoned by
their native speakers who are under the influence of various social pressures. It goes
without saying that the atlas of Cameroon's national languages is complex. It is

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reminiscent of the tower of Babel, whereby people of different languages try to
understand each other while speaking their respective language.

The second obstacle to the emergence of literature in the national language is the
economic aspect. The book industry is a purely commercial and lucrative industry. In
this perspective, the book is a product, a commodity for consumption that follows
the logic of the market. Therefore, if a market implies the presence of customers or
readers, the lack of interest in books written in national languages justifies the
scarcity or the virtual absence of translations on the market. This explains the market
logic applied by publishers, who require demand and a loyal readership. Due to its
existence at the periphery of the translation process, this aspect is not discussed in
translation studies. However, its impact on the overall result is great, since
translation orders come from a publisher or an author.

The last reason is a social concern. Trends in translation in the Cameroonian context
show that there is a general movement, a sort of mimicry underpinned by other
economic and political reasons. When one considers the current practice, there are
two parallel pillars. The first revolves around translation into European languages
inherited from colonization. This is the most important pillar, because translation
schools teach in official languages. It influences, directly or indirectly, the landscape
of translation. The second pillar is a kind of translation which is not really
professional, as it is done for linguistic research. For clarification purposes,
researchers sometimes use translation to explain semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic
elements. It is a non-profit translation which accompanies activities of literacy and
tailoring of educational resources. All these factors impede the emergence of national
literature and national integration insofar as translation only fulfils a pragmatic-
instrumental function, not a literary one.

5. Language reform and translation

It is agreed that differences can be turned into strengths if they are used well.
However, the situation rather tends to promote ethnic group identity, and the issue
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of language reform is one result of this misuse of differences. Indeed, language
reform is subject to several reflections in Cameroon. According to Tabi Manga, a
language reform is “le lieu de la détermination des grands choix en matière de
rapports entre les langues et la société. Ce domaine rassemble toutes les décisions et
règlementations à caractère politique touchant la vie des langues, leur statut et leur
mode de fonctionnement social” (Tabi Manga 2000: 7). The language policy of
Cameroon tends to favor the official languages and Bitja’a Kody (2011: 2) questions
the achievement of its objective when noting that

“l’obsolescence du système éducatif actuel en matière de langues d’enseignement ou de

langues enseignées se manifeste par l’application unilatérale de la politique du bilinguisme
officiel et la non prise en compte des langues nationales dont l’enseignement est pourtant
instruit par le Chef de l’État, S.E. Paul Biya, par la Constitution de 1996, et par la Loi
d’Orientation de l’Éducation au Cameroun de 1998”.

In the same vein, Onguene-Essono (2013:18) argues that this language policy is
sometimes timidly implemented at the institutional level, even if instruments have
been developed for its effective implementation. The issue of Cameroonian
languages remains a central concern, though their impact is already attested in the
economic development of the country. Acknowledging the crucial role of language in
the development of groups, Ngalasso Mwata Musanji (1981: 281) states that “avoir
une politique linguistique, c’est d’abord prendre conscience que la langue est un fait
de culture et un facteur de développement économique et social tout à fait
primordial […]”and Onguene-Essono (2013: 13) adds that language is a priceless
treasure, the loss of which is a disaster.

At the cultural level, it seems as if there were two separated areas and specific
cultures, namely the Francophone culture and the Anglophone culture. Although
elements of interculturality are numerous, literary works written by Francophone
authors are not translated into English and vice-versa. Moreover, no great novel has
yet been published in a national language, whereas Cameroon has more than 240
national languages. This situation causes the rejection of other groups and weakens
nationalism advocated by the government through laws and political speeches. Biya
clarifies that

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 au niveau ethnique, il faut encourager le développement de toutes les langues nationales,
véhicules privilégiés des cultures ethniques […] l’on ne sera descendu au fond de sa
personnalité ethnique que pour en remonter avec ce que l’ethnie détient d’excellent et
dont la nation entière doit bénéficier, à travers les langues nationales et les langues
officielles. (Biya 1987: 117)

This assertion shows that national integration is inseparable from interactive

communication and translation. Languages are part of a collective heritage and
should be used for the benefit of all. It is not a matter of a group frustrating another
because it represents a majority. The contribution of translation is therefore
important to establish the necessary bridges among the groups. Its aim is to induce
not only an efficient communication, but also to create the feeling of belonging
through language balance. This is the argument of Anderson (1983) when he talks of
the concept of a nation from a constructivist approach. In his opinion, nationalism is
a form of collective consciousness that provides a sense of belonging for a
community institutionalized by school and the army. Some factors facilitate the
emergence and the expansion of national communities. The first factor is printing
that manifests itself through media and the novel. Writing leads to the spreading of
ideas that create a sense of belonging. In a capitalist context, printing

“laid the bases for national consciousness […]. First and foremost, they [print-languages
– i.O.] created unified fields of exchange and communications below Latin and above the
spoken vernaculars […]. Second, print-capitalism gave a new fixity to language, which in
the long run helped to build that image of antiquity so central to the subjective idea of the
nation. […] Third, print-capitalism created languages of power of a kind different from
the older administrative vernaculars”. (Anderson 1983: 44)

Anderson’s model could be beneficial to Cameroon where groups are less

homogeneous than in Europe. The issue of national integration irreversibly implies
the definition of the community and consideration of ethnic boundaries. As the
strengthening of national consciousness depends on texts and writings with which
individuals identify to build a common history, the social fragmentation into distinct
cultural groups could be an obstacle to rapidly form an immediate imaginary
community. The written work is therefore designed to establish a national ideology
which spreads patriotic values. The protagonists of historiographical constructivism
thus assign an important role to language and literature, which are responsible for

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conveying, shaping, and creating a strong sense of confidence in every individual
(Aliana 2017: 156):

La nation a été conçue dans le langage, ce sont aussi l’ensemble des textes et récits,
l’accumulation de documents de toute sorte, qui ont la charge de dire la fraternité, d’en
tracer l’histoire et d’en créer le mythe, d’en authentifier les racines « naturelles » pour des
sociétés neuves restées pourtant fragmentées, « fracturées par les antagonismes de races (et)
de classe.

If the constructivist thesis is limited to classes and races in Europe, it can be extended
to ethnic groups in Cameroon. In fact, most African countries have not had the
opportunity to build national consciousness because the partition of Africa during
colonization depended more on political and economic interests than on the
grouping of people according to their cultural affinities. However, there is no
evidence that this grouping could not allow the formation of collective
consciousness. The existence of borders has been the basis for nationalism, often
transcended by the sense of brotherhood.

6. Recommendations

The advantage of the constructivist model is that it allows a redefinition of national

integration which takes into account the literary culture. In a multicultural milieu, it
also draws attention to translation, one of the greatest vehicles of culture. The content
of the novel establishes fraternity among readers who identify with its characters and
themes. The contribution of the novel, and the press in particular, is beneficial in that
they reinforce fraternal links through narration and mass opinion. For Anderson
(1983: 36), “fiction seeps quietly and continuously into reality, creating that remarkable
confidence of community in anonymity which is the hallmark of modern nations”. Chivallon
(2007) believes that the press plays a similar role. It creates a mass ceremony between
readers who share with other readers they do not see. In this case, the power of the
literary work and the written document is unquestionably a way that offers the
opportunity to maintain peace and stability through the relationships it establishes -
unknowingly - between individuals who may not know one another. The
postmodernist approach could be enriched by another element. The multitude of
national languages that exist in the same area seems to slow down the ability of

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states to permanently install nationalism and patriotism through collective
consciousness. It should be noted that the issue of national languages implies ethnic
divisions that can weaken the nation, while consolidating ethnic groups that
constitute it. Obviously, the problem is more complex when collective consciousness
is preceded by group consciousness based on the mother tongue. Translation can
therefore be ideologically oriented to annihilate those divisions based on
misunderstanding and the wrong manipulation of the instruments used to create
national consciousness. It is a mediation tool that should be applied to literature in
order to control political thoughts and place the various groups in a perpetual
situation of dialogue.

According to the online version of Merriam-Webster dictionary (2008), to mediate

means “to act as an intermediary agent in bringing, effecting, or communicating” or
“to reconcile differences.” Each of these definitions applies to Montoya Arango's
(2010) current conception of translation. In addition to the fact that he/she bridges
two languages, the translator acts as an agent involved in a cross-cultural activity.
His/her role is to reconcile parties who do not understand each other.

Translation facilitates cultural dialogue without trying to assimilate one culture to

another or cause a language superimposition. The problem of language
superimposition is that it is a situation whereby there is an ‘inferior’ and a ‘superior’
language. This leads to a situation of diglossia, where the lesser used language is
dominated by the one that is considered superior. Translation can then be used as a
bridge to balance the representation of writings and writers within a territory. The
contribution of translation in the consolidation of a genuine national literature is
important. It is worth mentioning that Arabic literature owes its power to the
proliferation of translations of philosophical, literary and European scientific works.
René Descartes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Honoré de Balzac, Jean
Baptiste Poquelin, Jean-Paul Sartre, Guillaume Apollinaire, Paul Claudel, Jacques
Prevert, Sain-John Perse, André Breton, etc., were translated and accepted by the
Arab audience. Amongst other things, this acceptance is due to the fact that the Arab
world itself had a fairly dense and prolific literature.
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If it is true that the translator is a cultural mediator, then translation is a tool than can
bridge cultures in order to favor understanding. Multilingualism and Multi-ethnicity
in and of itself are not necessarily an advantage to nations. Only where
understanding and dialogue are possible, can this linguistic and cultural resource be
used productively for the development of a national identity. Cultural diversity
being the key element of a developing country, translation should review people’s
interactions and clear up cultural and linguistic conflicts.

Conclusion

Cameroon is a complex country. With many languages and a long colonial history, it
is striving to maintain peace and be an emergent country by 2035 as stated in the
Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (2010) of Cameroon. However, social obstacles
slow down its development. Translation can promote a mutual understanding
between Francophone and Anglophones on the one hand, and also between ethnic
groups. Regarding the dichotomy Anglophone-Francophone, literary translation can
prompt a rapid dissemination of ideas and cultural exchange. It is able to enhance
the reading and appreciation of works of literature written in two different
languages. It is proposed here that literary works should be translated into both
Cameroonian official languages in order to efficiently achieve the regional balance
promoted by the government. Besides, editors and publishers have their own share
of the work. They should not only help to develop translation as a profession in
Cameroon, but they should also contribute to the development of Cameroon
literature. As for national languages, they also have a role to play in the consolidation
of national integration. Philosophical works should be translated into those
languages to build the foundations of a great nation in the minds of its different
groups. In other words, the translation of philosophical works into national
languages will lay down the fundamentals of what Anderson calls an imagined
community.

105
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