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17th Translation Contest: "The Sounds of Silence" » English to Hausa » Entry by Hamisu Mohammed


Source text in English

Translation by Hamisu Mohammed (#22892)

A theme of the age, at least in the developed world, is that people crave silence and can find none. The roar of traffic, the ceaseless beep of phones, digital announcements in buses and trains, TV sets blaring even in empty offices, are an endless battery and distraction. The human race is exhausting itself with noise and longs for its opposite—whether in the wilds, on the wide ocean or in some retreat dedicated to stillness and concentration. Alain Corbin, a history professor, writes from his refuge in the Sorbonne, and Erling Kagge, a Norwegian explorer, from his memories of the wastes of Antarctica, where both have tried to escape.

And yet, as Mr Corbin points out in "A History of Silence", there is probably no more noise than there used to be. Before pneumatic tyres, city streets were full of the deafening clang of metal-rimmed wheels and horseshoes on stone. Before voluntary isolation on mobile phones, buses and trains rang with conversation. Newspaper-sellers did not leave their wares in a mute pile, but advertised them at top volume, as did vendors of cherries, violets and fresh mackerel. The theatre and the opera were a chaos of huzzahs and barracking. Even in the countryside, peasants sang as they drudged. They don’t sing now.

What has changed is not so much the level of noise, which previous centuries also complained about, but the level of distraction, which occupies the space that silence might invade. There looms another paradox, because when it does invade—in the depths of a pine forest, in the naked desert, in a suddenly vacated room—it often proves unnerving rather than welcome. Dread creeps in; the ear instinctively fastens on anything, whether fire-hiss or bird call or susurrus of leaves, that will save it from this unknown emptiness. People want silence, but not that much.
Maudu'in zamani, akalla a kasashen da suka cigaba, shine cewa mutane suna bukatar rayuwa ta rashin hayaniya ko kara amma sun kasa samun hakan. Karar ababen hawa, karar sautukan wayoyi ba kakkautawa, sautukan na'urorin sanarwa a cikin motocin bas da jiragen kasa, karar akwatunan talbijin hatta a cikin ofisoshin da ba kowa, al'amura ne masu cusgunawa da dauke hankali. Bil'adama suna kashe kansu da karar sautuka don haka suke muradin samun kishiyar hakan - ko dai a cikin dazuka, akan fadin kogi ko kuma a wasu wuraren kebancewa da aka ware don nutsuwa da tsaida hankali. Alain Corbin, wani Farfesa a fannin tarihi, ya kan yi rubuce rubucensa ne daga mafakarsa da ke cikin Sorbonne, da kuma Erling Kagge, wani mai yawon bincike dan kasar Norway, daga labaran yawonsa na barnar Antarctica, wurin ne su duka biyun suka yi kokarin tserewa zuwa can.

Amma duk da haka, kamar yadda mista Corbin ya bayyana a cikin "Tarihin Yanayin Shiru," watakila babu wata karar sauti fiye da yadda ta ke a da. Kafin zuwan tayoyin da ake bugawa iska, titunan birane cike suke da karar karafunan kafafun mota da takalman dawakai akan dutse. Kafin kebewa ta sa-kai a wayoyin hannu, motocin bas da jiragen kasa sun kasance wuraren hira da zantuttuka. Masu sayar da jarida ba jibge kayansu suke wuri daya su yi shiru ba, sai dai suna tallarsu ne da sautin murya mai karfi, kamar yadda su ma masu sayar da cheri, furannin violets da kuma danyen kifi suke yi. Gidajen wasan kwaikwayo da dandamalan wakoki da wasanni sun kasance wajen iface ifacen hayaniya da hargowa. Hatta a yankunan karkara, talakawa manoma kan rera waka yayin da suke kaftu. Amma yanzu ba sa yin waka.

Dan canjin da aka samu bai kai ko kusa da matsayin hayaniyar karar ba, wadda aka yi ta kuka da ita a karnonin da suka gabata, amma matsayin dauke hankalin mutane, wanda ya ke cike sararin da yanayin shiru zai iya wanzuwa. A nan akwai abin mamaki, saboda idan idan ya kutsa ya mamaye - a cikin kungurmin daji, a cikin tsagwaron hamada, a cikin dakin da aka kaurace masa - da yawa ya kan kasance mai cusgunawa maimakon abin da ake so. Daga nan sai tsana ta shigo; kunne zai rufe ga sauraron kowane abu, koda kuwa hucin wuta ne ko kukan tsuntsaye ko kuwa kasau kasau din ganye da zai fitar da shi daga wannan bakon holoko. Mutane suna son yanayin shiru, amma ba mai tsanani irin wannan ba.


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