For the last 13 years, Pratham Books has published 300 titles in 18 languages and helped put them in the hands of 3 million children. But in a linguistically diverse country like India with 122 major languages and 1599 ‘other’ languages, achieving the mission of ‘a book in every child’s hand’ becomes a challenge.

StoryWeaver was envisioned as a means through which we could significantly scale the creation of joyful reading material for children in a language they’re fluent in, whether it’s a mainstream, minority, tribal or endangered language. These are languages that are traditionally overlooked by mainstream publishing. Since its launch, StoryWeaver has played a small but key role in the preservation of these languages, by providing language champions, teachers and authors a platform on which they can translate, create, download, print and share stories with ease and for free.   

Surjapuri is a lesser known Bengali dialect is spoken in pockets of Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and Bangladesh by 1.2 million people. In Bihar, the language is spoken in Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnia and Araria districts.

As many of the villages in the Kishanganj  district are located in the interior realms of the district, they have little by way of basic infrastructure and primary health care. The literacy rate is low and primary schools often lack even the most basic facilities. As most of the high schools are located in Kishanganj and Thakurganj towns which are far from the villages, girls tend to discontinue their education leading to a high drop-out rate.

The Azad India Foundation

The Azad India Foundation (AIF) was founded by Yuman Hussain in 1998 to seed initiatives in education and primary health care. The activities reach out to marginalized women, adolescents and underserved children from rural and urban areas of Kishanganj district. AIF has 73 learning centres impacting 3500 children directly in the area. StoryWeaver is periodically used in these centres.The children in AIF’s centres are aged between 6 - 9 years and are either school dropouts or children attending Madrassas. The centre’s syllabus includes Hindi, English, Science and Maths.

Yuman Hussain shared “The main aim of the initiative is to ensure that children are ready to merge with mainstream education in state-run schools by grade 4. Literacy initiatives play a big role in ensuring this. The children that I engage with at the learning centres have never seen a story book in their mother tongue. Even my teachers haven’t read books in Surjapuri.”  

Previously, AIF used printed storybooks in the centres and were limited by the number of books they could source. Plus, these books were not in Surjapuri.Through StoryWeaver AIF has access to thousands of stories free of cost.

“The reading culture among children is diminishing.” says Yuman. “I can put together a sizeable bank of stories from StoryWeaver as they are freely available and nudge the children towards reading. Before I came across StoryWeaver, I hadn’t thought of translating stories for the children. When I realised that it was so easy on the platform, I decided to give it a shot. The level 1 and 2 books were really fun and straightforward and I felt perfect for the children we worked with. Translating on StoryWeaver for children has made me realise the importance of picking the ‘right’ words in line with the reading level and the essence of the story. Also, Surjapuri has minor variations across villages, so choosing a word that would be understood across speakers was also an enjoyable challenge for me.”

The AIF Centres are not tech equipped as there are electricity issues in the villages. So Yuman picks stories to read to children or for translation at the AIF office in Kishanganj where there is better connectivity. She uses Google Input Tools for translations and then, pastes the text in the StoryWeaver editor. After translating the stories, they are downloaded, printed and distributed to teachers who then carry the stories to the learning centres to read to children.  

Yuman strongly believes that reading books in Hindi and English will improve the children’s language skills. “Plus, if educational concepts are taught through stories in their mother tongue and if we engage children in activity based learning, they are more eager to learn and will grasp the concepts better.”

Yuman was motivated by reading how other educators were using StoryWeaver in their classrooms.

“The stories were received very positively by the children. The stories in Surjapuri, the mother tongue of the children, left them amazed. I plan to keep exposing the children to more and more stories with the hope that they will then start to read voluntarily over the course of time.”

Watch this short video about AIF.

 

 

Be the first to comment.

---

Madhu B. Joshi prefers to be known as a communication practitioner. She sees a great need for demystification in daily life and has been trying to work towards it. She has taught translation and a short, self-designed course of Indian Culture; mentored content teams of major education NGOs and designed educational audio-video programmes for CIET, NCERT. Joshi is a translator of Hindi poetry and short fiction in English and has presented major black feminist writers in Hindi. She is also a prolific and visionary collaborator of StoryWeaver. All of this, and we also know and love the other मधु बी. जोशी (in her own words)... जो खाना पकाना, इलाज करना, पौधे और कुत्ते पालना, राय देना.. जैसे बहुत से मुफ़्त काम करती हैं। उन्हें सब से ज़्यादा मज़ा बच्चों के लिए काम करने में आता है और वह इसका कोई मौका नहीं चूकतीं। 

Here, we re-present an article of hers that was carried in Hindustan on International Translation Day (30th Sept). In this article, she gives us historical evidence to emphasize the power of translations. She talks about how translations of key religious texts helped break religious barriers and induce world peace in the strife ridden political milieu of the 16th Century.

अनुवाद के धर्म के चेहरे को बदलने और उसे अधिक लोकोन्मुख और सर्वसुलभ बनाने के दो बड़े उदाहरण हैं रामायण और बाइबल के 16वीं सदी में आए संस्करण। इन ग्रंथों ने अपनी भाषा और युग को नए शब्द, नए मुहावरे और नई अवधारणाएं ही नहीं दीं, सामाजिक और राजनीतिक बदलाव की प्रक्रिया को भी प्रभावित किया। कम से कम यूरोप में तो इन के बाद लेखन का तेवर पूरी तरह बदल गया। आज अगर धर्म पर सार्वजनिक बहस संभव है तो उसकी पीठिका इन्हीं अनुवादों ने तैयार की है।

बाइबल के शुरूआती जर्मन और अंग्रेज़ी अनुवाद करने वाले मार्टिन लूथर और विलियम टिंडेल हिब्रू-ग्रीक और लैटिन जैसी शास्त्रीय भाषाओं के अधिकारी विद्वान और धर्मशास्त्री थे (बाइबल के उनके अनुवाद इस ग्रंथ के हिब्रू-ग्रीक पाठों पर आधारित थे) तो रामायण का पुर्नपाठ करने वाले तुलसीदास संस्कृत के अधिकारी विद्वान और धर्मशास्त्री थे। लेकिन अपने युग और समाज के लिए, अभी तक अभिजातवर्ग तक सीमित रहे और ज्ञान के समानार्थक बन चुकेशास्त्रीय ग्रंथों को लोक के लिए सुलभ बनाने के लिए उन्होंने घर-गली-बाज़ार की भाषा को आधार बनाया। तुलसीदास ने काव्यरचना की तत्कालीन भाषा ब्रजभाषा के बजाय अपने क्षेत्र की लोकभाषा अवधी में रामचरितमानस लिखा। 

यह अनुवाद धर्मविरूद्ध माने गए। आखिर वह धर्मग्रंथों के एक वर्गविषेश द्वारा ही लिखे-पढ़े और व्याख्या किए जाने की परंपरा से ज़बर्दस्त विचलन थे। यूरोप में तो यह चर्च और उस के समर्थन से चल रही राजा की सत्ता को बड़ी चुनौती थे। मार्टिन लूथर का साथ उनके अनुयायियों ने तक छोड़ दिया, विलियम टिंडेल के अनुवाद की प्रतियां राजादेष पर जलाई गईं, खुद उन की हत्या की गई, तुलसीदास और रामचरितमानस काषी के विद्वतवर्ग का कोपभाजन बने रहे।

इन तीनों अनुवादों ने अभिजातवर्ग का विषेशाधिकार बन चुके शास्त्रीय ज्ञान को जनसाधारण के लिए सुलभ बना कर विषेशाधिकार और ज्ञान पर एकाधिकार को एक झटके में तोड़ दिया। दरअसल इस आंदोलन की शुरूआत पहले ही जर्मन बोलियों में लैटिन स्त्रोतों के अनुवाद और भारतीय बोलियों में भक्ति और ज्ञान के पदों की रचना से हो चुकी थी। इनमें से बहुत सी रचनाओं में विचार के स्तर पर शास्त्रीय धर्मग्रंथों की अनुगूंज सुनाई देती है लेकिन सच यह भी है कि इनके रचनाकार, कम से कम भारत में, ज़्यादातर परंपरागत शास्त्रीय ज्ञान से दूर रखे गए वर्गों से थे। यह सभी रचनाएं पुरोहित वर्ग के दान-दक्षिणा-प्रायश्चित-अनुष्ठान को मुक्ति का साधन बताने के विरूद्ध स्वर उठाते हुए मनुष्य के व्यक्तिगत कर्म को, मनुष्य के देवताओं को समर्पण के बरक्स मनुष्य के जीवमात्र के प्रति करूणाभाव को सर्वोच्च मान रही थीं जिससे पुरोहित की ज़रूरत और वैधता ही संदेह के दायरे में आ गई। जीवमात्र के प्रति करूणाभाव कोई नई अवधारणा नहीं थी। ईसाई संत फ्रांसिस और बुद्ध ने करूणा का उपदेश बहुत पहले दिया ही था लेकिन पुरोहितवर्ग ने उसे ईश्वर और ईसा का विषेश लक्षण बना दिया था। 

यूरोप में बाइबल के अनुवादों को यूरोप की राजसत्ताओं पर रोमन कैथॅलिक चर्च की कड़ी जकड़ को तोड़ने वाली घटना माना जाता है जिसने आखिर अरब, ईसाई और मुसलमान सेनाओं के बीच चलनेवाले धर्मयुद्धों को लगभग खत्म कर दिया। रामचरितमानस और भक्ति काव्य ने हिंदू धर्म के आधार, चतुर्वर्ण की अवधारणा पर पुनर्विचार किए जाने की ज़रूरत को रेखांकित किया और यह क्रम अब भी जारी है।
 

Read Madhu B Joshi's happy translations on StoryWeaver here. One World, that's the eternal dream! 

Be the first to comment.

---

       

Pratham Books is a not-for-profit children's book publisher that was set up in 2004 to publish good quality, affordable books in many Indian languages. Our mission is to see ‘a book in every child’s hand’ and we have spread the joy of reading to millions of children in India. In 13 years, we have published over 3000 books and distributed over 14 million copies of our storybooks and 16 million story cards.

Last year, Pratham Books' increased its footprint by going digital. As an industry leader, we were one of the first publishers in the country to open license our content. All this content is now available on StoryWeaver, which is a digital platform that hosts stories in languages from India and beyond, so that every child can have an endless stream of stories in her mother tongue to read and enjoy. The stories can be read, translated, versioned or downloaded for free. All stories on the platform are openly licensed.

Donate-a-book, is a unique crowd-funding platform for children’s books. The platform helps to bridge the gap between individuals who want to help children read and those organizations, schools and individuals who need books for children.

At Pratham Books, we are shaping a new, innovative approach to multilingual publishing because we believe that every child needs good books to read in a language of their choice.

Job Description

Pratham Books is looking for a dynamic person to lead its marketing and communications activities for all its initiatives. The landscape is wide, varied and creative. It would range from creating campaigns to tickle the imagination of writers, illustrators or translators to designing collateral for events; from creating newsletters to promoting a new series of books. You would need to create marketing communications strategies for different stakeholders, support internal teams, manage media relations, and oversee all brand related activities. It goes without saying that you’ll be good with words and ideas.

Key Responsibilities

Develop and present the communication activities memorably and create a strong brand presence for Pratham Books

• Plan and execute marketing campaigns

• Create CRM programs    

• Support on ground events like book fairs and literature festivals with marketing collateral and on ground activation

• Develop and maintain media relations

• Use digital marketing tools to increase awareness and traffic to websites    

• Measure and report performance of marketing campaigns

• Participate in award challenges

Qualifications

A degree in Business/Marketing

• Minimum of 3-4 years experience in     Advertising / Marketing Communications

• All-round knowledge of different aspects of communication – Advertising, PR, Digital Marketing, CRM programs    

• Good communication, presentation and interpersonal skills

• A self-starter and motivated team player    

• Good technology skills

Nice to have but not mandatory: Experience in working with nonprofits.    

Location: Position is based out of Bangalore

Salary: Will commensurate with experience. We are looking for a passionate individual who wants to be part of a team that is creating a new model in multilingual publishing to address the scarcity of books for children in need

Write to us: Email your resume with Marcom Manager in the subject line to  [email protected]

Be the first to comment.

---