Lost in Translation: Analysis of Oral and Written Narratives of Indigenous Students in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh

• In Event: Indigenous Language and Cultural Revitalization in Diverse Democracies

Abstract

The children of the Indigenous communities of Hill Tracts, Bangladesh, are among the most illiterate and at the highest risk of dropping out from schools. This study utilizes rich oral story-telling tradition in classrooms where students tell folk tales from village elder and also submit in writing. In this paper, I analyze oral and written narratives by same students in two languages and explore what is lost or reduced in translation. Results suggest that oral narratives in L1 contain more causal linkage of events and complex description of episodes while written narratives in L2 contain simpler sequence of actions. These findings suggest potential benefit of using oral story-telling in classrooms for improving engagement and reducing dropout among Indigenous communities in Bangladesh.

Author

• Maung Nyeu, Harvard University