Articles and Stories

April 13, 2015

The Navajo tribe is the largest Native American tribe in the United States. The Navajo language is the most spoken ancient tribal language. As with most ancient languages spoken by a minority in a nation with another primary language, it is at risk of extinction.  This is true, in particular, because it is difficult for children to be interested in the language and to speak it in our modern day culture. Many objects or concepts that are familiar today, simply do not have a Navajo word or expression to describe them, as they did not exist when the language was widely spoken. Navajo, as with many ancient languages, has not undergone the developments other languages have.

Recognizing this problem, the Navajo Nation Museum has undertaken the initiative of having the animated film “Finding Nemo” dubbed into Navajo. Walt Disney Studios funded the project to revive interest and awareness in the ancient language.  A few years ago, a similar project involving the dubbing of “Star Wars” was a big success.

Our own experience with Navajo translation projects has taught us that the process of finding a suitable Navajo word for an English original can be quite a challenge. Describing an underwater fantasy setting with a language that developed far away from the ocean, forces Navajo linguists to be creative. The word “anemone” was translated with “a place of many plants”. Proper names and colloquialisms were left in English to avoid confusion. (Any guess as to the translation of “robot” in “Star Wars”? “Living metal”!).

In addition to the difficulty of translating the script, the selection of voice talents who are fluent in the language and can impersonate a talking shark or clown fish is challenging.

Much excitement and success is expected in regards to the Navajo “Finding Nemo” version. Nicely done Navajo Nation and Disney!

For an interesting quick read on the subject, please go to:

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/s3655734.shtml#.VQyE8o7F_Td