La traducción en la enseñanza virtual de las lenguas gabonesas
Authors: Okome Engouang Liliane Surprise 
Published: September 2023

Translation in The E-learning of Gabonese Languages

The definitions that revolve around language are as plural as the functions that are assigned to it. For some people, it is an instrument of communication. Other people see it as an instrument for analysing the world, as a personal and social identification. Considering the evolution of societies, the preponderant place of language in any development process is more and more indisputable. Gabon, a sub-Saharan African country, is multilingual. This multilingualism is characterised by a double linguistic heritage. On the one hand, it is made up of some fifty endogenous languages, also known as local languages. On the other hand, it is made up of a foreign language: French, a language received from colonial education and established throughout the country as the language of education, administration and official communication since its independence on 17 August 1960.

However, the work of many Gabonese sociolinguists presents some worrying results. The sociolinguistic context in Gabon is today characterised by a proven glottophagy, as the French language has opacified the endogenous languages. This language of the colonising country is thus positioned like a dinosaur that swallows all the others with which it shares the Gabonese national territory. Numerous sociolinguists, Gabonese linguists and language teachers are tirelessly calling on the high authorities and the Gabonese population about the situation in Gabon. The promotion of these local Gabonese languages in training and education is the first solution, alongside intra-ethnic communication within the family unit. But today, the inaction of the public authorities regarding the introduction of these languages in the curricula has led to the creation of several virtual platforms dedicated to the teaching-learning of Gabonese local languages and cultures. These are taught by staff with a variety of profiles. In other words, the teaching of Gabonese endogeneity through virtual channels would no longer be the specific work of pedagogues or other actors in the world of education and the field of languages, but it becomes the business of any willing person. Looking at these virtual teaching-learning spaces, we can see that different courses are given through different didactic activities, such as translation. In this study, we focus on pedagogical translation in a virtual educational space. In other words, this article presents a qualitative analysis, in an exploratory approach, of the place and manifestation of translation in this process of teaching endogenous Gabonese knowledge through, specifically, the Langue 241 web page and its Facebook platform.

Translation is a pedagogical discipline whose contours are guided by interpretative and comparative theory. It is on the curriculum in formal and institutional foreign language classes through the tandem in french thème and version. We will examine here how it operates in this virtual setting in order to better appreciate the teachers and the courses offered by means of screenshots taken on mobile phones. In order to carry out this study, we interpret the reasons for the courses, the profile of the webmaster and analyse the programme offered and the results expected through it. In addition, we take a critical look at the translation activities carried out in order to better understand the transfer processes, the items studied and above all the learning context. As this is a translation aimed at the teaching-learning of Gabonese languages, i.e. African languages with a tone, a look is also taken at the transcriptions that are made and the alphabet used for this purpose.

The results of the various analyses carried out make it possible to see whether the theme and version courses given are of a didactic relevance that truly enables users to learn their local Gabonese languages well, both orally and in writing.