Today I silently thank Rev. Fr. Bruno of the Ranau Catholic Parish for having given me a Dusun bible some years ago. It was the time I started getting serious in my Bundu Dusun language analysis to aid my understanding of how the language works in order to create better teaching and learning materials for the students.(The work continues on, although there have been a lot of halts along the way.)
Many might think what has a bible got to do with this? But it actually does a lot for me. I especially realize it today when I was translating some personality quiz materials for my students to try out in the classroom. (God knows a language classroom without elements of fun in it can 'kill' the teacher and students!). Many words in the personality test, as expected, are adjectives describing people. Needless to say, it is so difficult to find the equivalents in Dusun.
I was giving up on the translation when I remembered to look in the bible. I thought if I typed in the words I was looking for in the online bible website, I'd be able to check them in the dusun bible. I took it from the shelf, and started my project. True enough, words such as 'loving, gentle and kind' are shown in many verses and I was able to check them up in the Dusun bible. Who would have thought that the word 'gentle' that I was still not able to translate after an hour was easily found?(and it's 'alamaya' by the way)
My self-lesson today: never take religious texts for granted. Even if you are not reading them to 'hear the words of God', you can certainly learn languages from them, the way the languages are used by the community .
My next target is to get my hands on the Islamic hadis translation in Dusun. I think there has to be one, because I used to hear the Friday sermon (khutbah Jumaat) being read in the Dusun radio station. It would be interesting to see how the two religious communities speaking the same language translate the language.
Thank you Fr. Bruno. You have given me a gift that I would be able to use in many areas of my life.
7 comments:
Hi Verone, there's a Dusun bible? Thats nice.
Incidentally you a Kadazan?
Glad to read you following the teachings of the bible.
Kopivosian do doungadau.
Lee.
Hi uncle Lee- yes there is a Dusun bible :) I've always referred to myself as Dusun because of the language my community speak, but the ethnic group written on my IC is Kadazan. I have no problem wth that though. I look at Kadazan as being the umbrella label, and Dusun or other ethnic labels as the sub-labels. Confusing huh? :)
Hi Verone, One thing I can tell you, one of my regrets long ago, I never stayed long enough to make friends with SYTs in your country, ha ha.
It was always fly in, talk business, fly out.
But maybe in a way it was good as I would have certainly be captured by any one of the beautiful, exotic beauties there.
Kadazan, Bidayus, Orang Ulus, Ibans.....And Sabah, Sarawak has more than its fare share of exotic beauties.
No wonder I hear a few of my friends going to Sabah and Sarawak for holidays, ha ha.
Have a nice day.
Lee.
drop by yr blog... i found it is interesting... not have much time to read your posts today.. will come back in my next visit.
add yr blog to my list and follow you..
have a great weekend! God bless.
cheers!
rose ragai
if you do find any dusun books on hadis, pls share it here. It's kinda new [if you find one] because all the reference materials that I knew [hadis] are in Malay.
The handy religious books, you never knew what it can be used for........:)
Attuk oi haro mala buuk do kinorohingan id boros do dusun id diya kio??
Haro mah kasai doho. Iri no kopiyo rujukon ku toririmo soira nopo mogihum-gihum oku botok toi boros do dusun it aralom-ralom toi ko it a' nodi asaru do pakayon.
Om iri nogi mah kasai guwas do koposionku tu kosorupai no kopiyo maan posiliho sabaagi do poimpahan do koposion dit otopot. Okon nopo ko' otunudan oku do Baibol dii, nga mawas-kawas nogi o toilaan ku do monurat om nogi mimboros Dusun mantad do kapanambasaan do buuk do kinorohingan dii. Pounsikou tu pinoilang i lugu do pomusarahan nu lolobi po kokomoi do kitab dusun maya do "blog" do miagal diti. Tabi do pibabasan!
-Andreas Alex John. Email : gydeec@yahoo.com
Uncle Lee-well, it's never too late! The internet makes the world smaller ;)
Rose- thanks for dropping by. I'll make time to drop by yours too:)
Azamain- I have yet to find the Dusun hadis. But I find it really interesting to hear the Friday khutbah in Dusun (glad I have the advantage of listening to it here :)
Andreas Alex John- tabi pibabasan nogi kumaa doid diya. Ounsikou oku nogi do noonuan di buuk diri :)
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