Thank you to everyone who participated in TWB’s first Swahili translation contest! Our Swahili language lead, @paul, has commented on the winning translations:
We take this opportunity to thank all the Swahili translators who took their time to participate in the recently concluded contest. We joyfully received over 30 submissions. We received submissions for both humanitarian and literary categories and we have been lucky to get winners for both categories.
- Amine Abdoune for the Literary category
@abdoune translation stood out and received favorable ratings across all indicators. One thing that was super impressive about this literary category submitted by Amine is a careful choice and use of terminology that made the translation exceptionally accurate despite the technicalities of cultural differences presented with the text. You can read Amine’s translation, which comes from an excerpt of “High Tide in Tucson” by Barbara Kingsolver, here:
“Ninafungua macho yangu kila siku nikitumaini kwamba kijito kitatiririka ndani ya bustani yangu chini ya mishira yenye majani mapana na mama yangu atakuwa akipiga mluzi jikoni. Nyuma ya kilio cha mbwa-mwitu, ninasikiliza vipozamataza. Nyakati nyingine ninataka sana kuliwazwa kifuani mwa watu wa ukoo na wadadisi wa utoto wangu. Hasa nilipokuwa mama asiye na mwenzi wa ndoa, nilikosa sana wavu wa ulinzi wa familia iliyopanuka.
Katika jiji lenye wakazi nusu milioni bado ninatazama kila uso nikitumaini kwamba nitatambua mtu fulani, kwa sababu nililelewa katika mji ambako kila uso ulikuwa ukimaanisha kitu kwangu. Nina tatizo la kukumbuka kufunga milango. Ni hadhari juu ya wageni niliyojifunza kwa njia ngumu. Nilipokuwa mkazi mpya jijini, niliruhusu mwanamume aingie ndani ya nyumba yangu alasiri moja yenye joto kwa sababu alionekana kuwa mwenye uhitaji mkubwa wa maji ya kunywa; nilipoacha sinki nyuma yangu, niliona kipande kikali cha chuma akisukumwa tumboni mwangu. Na hivyo ninajua, ninajua. Lakini ninasitawisha shaka kwa ugumu mwingi kama vile ninalazimisha nyanya kukua katika udongo wenye ukame wa bustani yangu ya ajabu. Hakuna kijito kinatiririka hapa, lakini bado ninasikiliza mawimbi yaliyofichwa nikiishi kana kwamba nilikuwa katika mahali pa mapema, si Kentucky kwa lazima, bali ardhi inayokaribisha na familia ya kibinadamu. Msitu. Aina.”
Barbara Kingsolver — Maji Kujaa katika Tucson
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Ian Murimi Nyagah for the Humanitarian category
This translation received the highest score of the contest
Nyagah’s translations won the favour of most peer reviewers because it read very naturally and obeyed the grammar rules with the utmost fidelity, although it had one stylistic flaw. Compared to all other submissions Nyagah’s translation rates the highest. Our text for the Humanitarian category came from an article published on TWB’s blog. You can read the original text here, and @Ian1’s translation below:
“Kama ningeandika muhtasari wa funzo la Translators without Borders kutoka kwa mwitiko baada ya Tufani la Idai, ungekuwa: usaidizi wa kilugha unaweza kuwa zana muhimu katika kufanikisha juhudi za uhisani zenye matokeo mazuri na uwajibikaji. Hata hivyo, hilo litawezekana tu kama jamii itashirikishwa kikamilifu kutoka mwanzo. Kusoma takwimu kuhusu kuwepo kwa lugha tofauti na viwango vya chini vya elimu miongoni mwa watu wa Mozambique ni jambo moja. Ni jambo tofauti kabisa unapoketi chini na kundi la manusura wa Tufani la Idai na kusikia masuala hayo wewe mwenyewe. Kusikia kutoka kwa mtu mmoja baada ya mwingine kwamba hawawezi kuzungumza na wahisani kupitia lugha wanayoelewa.
Hicho ndicho mimi na timu ya tathmini ya TWB tulisikia wiki chache zilizopita tulipotekeleza tathmini ya haraka ya lugha katika maeneo manne ya makazi ya muda mfupi. Tuligundua kwamba watu wengi hawaelewi lugha kuu na fomati zinazotumika na mashirika ya uhisani. Walieleza masikitiko yao kuhusu jinsi ilivyo vigumu kufikia habari kuhusu usaidizi unaopatikana. Baada ya moja ya majanga makuu zaidi kusini mwa Afrika katika muda wa miongo mingi, tulifahamu kuwa juhudi nyingi za wahisani za kueneza habari zinafeli kwa sababu wanatumia lugha isiyofaa.
Leo hii, kutoka nyumbani kwangu, nafikiri kuhusu maana ya jambo hili. Kwa namna fulani, linaonyesha kuwa wahisani bado hawatimizi kikamilifu wajibu wao wa “kutomwacha yeyote nyuma” na “kuwaangazia watu.” Pengine hili si jambo geni kwa watu wengi. Lakini linanisikitisha sana ninapofikiri kuhusu athari za huduma za usaidizi wa kilugha za TWB katika mwitiko baada ya Tufani la Idai.”
Blogu ya TWB
In recognition of their winning translations, they will receive a TWB certificate, be featured in the TWB blog and our social media pages, and become Kató Verified translators.
Thank you all who submitted and those were able to review each other’s translations! Kudo! 
We also would like to recognize the submissions of four other translators, who received particularly high scores in the contest. We will award the following translators a TWB Honorable Mention certificate: 
- Salvius Duwe for the Literary category
- George Kihanda for the Humanitarian category
- Johnson Matandi for the Literary category
- @Grace3 Njenga for the Humanitarian category
In addition, the randomly selected winner of our prize draw for 50 USD is Godline Gabriel. Congratulations, @Godline!
Finally, thank you to everyone who participated and helped make this contest a success! It is because of all of you that initiatives like this—and TWB as a whole—are able to thrive, and we are very grateful! 
If you participated in the contest, let us know in the comments what you thought! We hope to continue with initiatives like this in the future, and would love to hear from the community what went well or what could be improved. 