Metaglossia: The Translation World

Nicaragua translates Constitution into indigenous languages
Separatist leaders say ‘thanks, but we already know our rights’

Mother Tongue: Indigenous members of the Miskito and Sumo-Mayangna nations can now read the Nicaraguan Constitution in their own language (photo / Tim Rogers)

By Tim Rogers/ Nicaragua Dispatch
October 15, 2012

In an effort to better incorporate the indigenous communities of Nicaragua’s historically marginalized Caribbean coast, the legislative National Assembly this month printed first-edition translations of Nicaragua’s Constitution in the languages of Miskito and Sumo-Mayangna.

The translations of the Constitution— known as “Kuntri Wauhkataya” in Miskito and “Kabamint Mabani Tingnita Ulwi Yakwa” in Mayangna—will provide indigenous leaders with better access to Nicaraguan law, says congressman Brooklyn Rivera, president of the National Assembly’s Commission on Ethnic Affairs, Autonomy and Indigenous Communities.

Sandinista lawmaker Brooklyn Rivera (photo/ Tim Rogers)

“Until now, the Constitution has been inaccessible (to many indigenous communities) because we didn’t know what it said and couldn’t read it in our own language,” Rivera, a Miskito leader and political ally of the Sandinista Front, told The Nicaragua Dispatch. “This changes now that we will have the Constitution in our hands and in our own language to better understand what it says.”

Rivera, who proposed the initiative last June, says 1,000 copies of the Constitution have been printed in Miskito and Mayangna and will be distributed to community leaders to read, analyze and share with others.

The congressmen and YATAMA leader says the translations were done by technical teams that spent three months getting the wordings right. He says the translations are faithful to the spirit of the Magna Carta.