Botswana National Anthem & its terrible English translation

Fatshe leno la rona,
Ke mpho ya Modimo,
Ke boswa jwa borraetsho;
A le nne ka kagiso.

CHORUS:

Tsogang, tsogang! banna, tsogang!
Emang, basadi, emang, tlhagafalang!
Re kopaneleng go direla
Lefatshe la rona.

Ina lentle la tumo
La tšhaba ya Botswana,
Ka kutlwano le kagisano,
E bopagantswe mmogo.

CHORUS:

Tsogang, tsogang! banna, tsogang!
Emang, basadi, emang, tlhagafalang!
Re kopaneleng go direla
Lefatshe la rona.

(official??) ENGLISH TRANSLATION

Blessed be this noble land,
Gift to us from God's strong hand,
Heritage our fathers left to us.
May it always be at peace.

CHORUS:

Awake, awake, O men, awake!
And women close beside them stand,
Together we'll work and serve
This land, this happy land!

Word of beauty and of fame,
The name Botswana to us came.
Through our unity and harmony,
We'll remain at peace as one.

CHORUS:

Awake, awake, O men, awake!
And women close beside them stand,
Together we'll work and serve
This land, this happy land!

In this section I discuss some mis-translations of the Botswana national anthem which have in some sense gained official currency. I discuss problems with the National Anthem stanza by stanza and conclude by giving what i consider a better English translation of the national anthem.

FIRST STANZA

The first stanza starts by "Fatshe leno la rona" and its badly translated as "Blessed be this noble land." The Setswana version has no "noble" & "blessed". The accurate translation is "This land of ours" or "This country of ours" it does not proclaim any blessing nor does it make any claim that the country or land is noble in any way.

The second line: "Ke mpho ya Modimo" is wrongfully translated as "Gift to us from God's strong hand". The right translation is "It is a gift from God" or a "It is a gift of God." The sense of "God's strong hand" is nowhere expressed in the Setswana version. "to us" in the English version is also nowhere in the Setswana version. If it was there it would have appeared as "go rona".

The third line "ke boswa jwa borraetsho" is translated as "Heritage our fathers left to us". This translation is fine semantically, although I feel an accurate rendering is "It is an inheritance from our fore-fathers."

I am at peace with the translation of "A le nne ka kagiso." as "May it always be at peace."

CHORUS

Here I query the second line "Emang, basadi, emang, tlhagafalang!" which is translated as "And women close beside them stand." The translation is totally inaccurate! The Setswana version doesn't say anything about women being "close BEHIND!!!" standing next to the men! The proper translation should read something like "Arise, O women, arise! energised"

The last two lines "Re kopaneleng go direla, Lefatshe la rona" is rendered in flowery words as: "Together we'll work and serve, This land, this happy land!" These are rather of the mark for the Setswana version doesn't say "we'll" and "this" nor does it say "This happy land"! A better translation is "Let us work together to serve, our land/country." I wonder who came up with the flowery stuff!!

LAST STANZA

The only "bad word" in the translation of the first line of the last stanza is the first word "Ina" which is rendered as "Word" in the English translation. This rendering is inaccurate. "Ina" is a shortened form of "Leina" which means "name". This makes sense as it refers to the name of the country. The English translation should therefore read as "Beautiful name of fame".

The second line "La tšhaba ya Botswana" is translated as "The name Botswana to us came." As tiring as it is to write it, but the translation is wrong too. The right one is simply: "Of the nation of Botswana". This follows well after the first line: "Name of beauty and of fame."

The third line "Ka kutlwano le kagisano," is rendered as "Through our unity and harmony". Let's deal with the individual words in this line "kutlwano' is a noun that is derived from "utlwana" meaning "befriend each other" or "be at peace with one another". "Kutlwano" is therefore "a state of peace or mutual friendship" or a harmonious relation. "Kagisano" is derived from "agisana" meaning "reconcile". "Ka kutlwano le kagisano" therefore translates to "Through harmonious relations and reconciliation."

The last line is ungrammatical in the Setswana language. It suffers from what grammarians term as "number agreement problems." Let's illustrate this with the sentence *"Mary and John is reading". You get the problem? While the previous line refers to "kutlwano" AND "kagisano" the final line uses "E", the singular pronoun to refer back to the plural Noun Phrase. There is therefore no number agreement. It should therefore read in Setswana: "Di bopagantswe mmogo". Se se bopaganeng here is "kutlwano" AND "kagisano". When that hurdle is passed, the proper translation is not, "We'll remain at peace as one" for there is no reference to "peace" in the Setswana text. The text actually means: "bound together" here refering to "harmonious relations" and "reconciliation".

I here therefore offer a different translation

THE BOTSWANA NATIONAL ANTHEM TRANSLATION
Translation © Thapelo Otlogetswe 2006

This land of ours,
Is a gift from God,
An inheritance from our fore-fathers,
May it always be at peace.

CHORUS:
Awake, awake, O men, awake!
Arise, O women, arise! be energised,
Let us work together to serve,
Our land.

Beautiful name of fame
Of the nation of Botswana
Through harmonious relations and reconciliation
Bound together

Setswana Rhyming Dictionary

The explosion of hip-hop, poetry and other music genres has encouraged me to create a Setswana rhyming dictionary. So far it's 256pages with three columns of text. It is still work in progress so I would appreciate your views on it - whether you think it's needed or not. Here is just a sample:

-tlapa

Matlapa
Magatlapa
Legatlapa
Bogatlapa
Tlatlapa
Letlapa
Metlapa
Tlantlapa

Motlapa

-disa

Edisa
Odisa
Idisa
Badisa
Sadisa
Madisa
Padisa
Otlaadisa
Balabadisa
Lebadisa
Kgadisa
Thadisa
Tlhadisa
Ntlhadisa
Itshadisa
Kgoladisa
Ntladisa
Mmadisa
Bapadisa
Kepadisa
Tsadisa
Ikwadisa
Kwadisa
Ithwadisa
Nkwadisa
Bokwadisa
Nyadisa
Inyadisa
Nedisa
Fedisa
Bedisa
Tedisa
Sedisa
Medisa
Sebedisa
Nthibedisa
Reedisa
Mmifedisa
Ragogedisa
Tlogedisa
Ntlogedisa
Amogedisa
Shedisa
Phedisa
Iphedisa
Mphedisa
Tshedisa
Itshedisa
Ntshedisa
Eledisa
Paledisa
Ipaledisa
Reledisa
Tseledisa
Gateledisa
Tshweledisa
Tsweledisa
Itsweledisa
Nyeledisa
Buledisa
Mpuledisa
Tlhokomedisa
Dumedisa
Itumedisa
Ntumedisa
Itlhaganedisa
Ipedisa
Opedisa
Rapedisa
Ikopedisa
Rasedisa
Otsedisa
Nkotsedisa
Latedisa
Duedisa
Nwedisa
Bidisa
Hidisa
Tshidisa
Itshidisa
Modisa
Fodisa
Godisa
Bodisa
Laodisa
Gaodisa
Mabodisa
Gabodisa
Kgabodisa
Nkgabodisa
Difodisa
Kgodisa
Ngodisa
Segodisa
Ikgodisa
Nkgodisa
Phodisa
Gotlhodisa
Ikgotlhodisa
Iphodisa
Maphodisa
Lephodisa
Sephodisa
Bophodisa
Tshodisa
Lekodisa
Ntekodisa
Itekodisa
Moitekodisa
Sokodisa
Tlodisa
Alodisa
Falodisa
Folodisa
Tsholodisa
Kgokolodisa
Simolodisa
Ntlodisa
Imodisa
Ramodisa
Iphafamodisa
Kgamodisa
Iphaphamodisa
Mmamodisa
Itlhomodisa
Apodisa
Mapodisa
Sepodisa
Gopodisa
Bopodisa
Hudisa
Rudisa
Thudisa