Tom Roa, Professor at Waikato University’s faculty of Māori and Indigenous Studies, is translating Tolkien’s The Hobbit into te reo Māori.
Roa is no stranger to translating children’s classics into te reo Māori. In 2015, his translation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland was published under the title Ko Ngā Takahanga i a Ārihi i Te Ao Mīharo. When translating Alice in Wonderland, Roa’s explains in an Interview with stuff.co.nz that his approach was not to swap “one word for another, but translating the “tones” of a word”. He explains:
“The word for adventure, there’s a number of ways of saying that. But in Alice’s case the adventure had to do with her falling into a rabbit hole.
“In the translation of ngā takahanga, taka means to fall, or to befall.”
Roa will use the same approch when translating The Hobbit:
“One that comes to mind is Thorin the dwarf.
“I’m playing with the name Torino, because rino is the Māori word for iron, and he’s steel.
“He’s probably one of the staunchest of the dwarfs, so [the translation] gives it that kind of reflection.”
Even though the translation will take about a year, Roa hopes, I cannot wait to add his translation to my collection.
Te reo Māori is one of many endangered indigenous languages. Initiatives launched in the 1980’s have brought a revival of te reo, after concernes that the language was dying out. Translating popular books such as The Hobbit into languages as te reo can preserve the language by being conveyed to a new generation of speakers.
A few years ago, The Hobbit was translated into another endangered polynesian language in an attempt to preserve the language. Keao NeSmith’s Hawaiian translation of The Hobbit, titled Ka Hopita was published by Evertype. Keao earned his PhD in applied linguistics at the School of Māori and Pacific from the University of Waikato.
Ka Hopita: ISBN-13: 9781782010920
Ko Ngā Takahanga i a Ārihi i Te Ao Mīharo: ISBN-13: 978-1782010869
Once we know the official title and release date for Roa’s translation, you will hear it here first!
