Fixi Lingo: New imprint translates local novels into BM

When it comes to developing local literature, the agencies in charge aren’t exactly noted for being proactive.

That is why Fixi Lingo was created - to translate existing novels by Malaysians that were written in various other languages into Bahasa Malaysia.

The initiative was started by Amir Muhammad, the founder of the publishing company Buku Fixi.

He said that while there are translated works from English, Japanese, Arabic, Spanish, French, German, and other foreign languages written by foreign authors, there never seem to be works by Malaysians who happen to write in other languages; a gap that Amir is attempting to fill.

A crowdfunding effort was held recently (which ended at midnight on Oct 22) and Fixi Lingo has commissioned three translations of existing novels.

The first to be released will be ‘Sigandi’, a Tamil novel by Navin Manogaran, which has been translated into Bahasa Malaysia by Saravanan Satianandan. 

They plan to launch it at the George Town Literary Festival, which will be held from Nov 23 to Nov 26.

Also in the pipeline are a Chinese novel and another from an Iban writer. 

“I have noticed for some time that there is very little by way of translation between Malaysian languages. So, sometime last year, I started asking around to find out who the writers were in languages other than Malay and English. 

“There are so many books written by local authors out there in languages other than Bahasa Malaysia,” said Amir, explaining to Malaysiakini what led him to start Fixi Lingo.

The focus right now is on contemporary novels published quite recently that could appeal to a young adult or adult audience.

The money from crowdfunding will go to offset some of the translation fees. There is no specific target of how much they are aiming to collect.

When asked if Fixi Lingo aims to expand our literary world, Amir simply replied, “If it can expand one reader’s world-view, that is already good enough.”

Sigandi writer over the moon

‘Sigandi’ is a gritty urban story about Theeban, a teenager who runs away from home and ends up working in a red-light district in Kuala Lumpur, first as a seller of fake goods and then as hired help for prostitutes and drug dealers. 

The area is controlled by a mysterious and powerful woman known as Ibu. After a while, Theeban starts to get greedy and this leads to a violent conclusion.

When asked about his novel being translated into Bahasa Malaysia, Navin said he was moved by the response from readers, especially from the Malay community who are keen to read his work.

He said there have been writers who have attempted to translate their works from Tamil into Bahasa Malaysia using their own money. 

However, they have yet to achieve any roaring response from Malay readers because the result of the translation is not well known. 

He hopes to change all that with Fixi Lingo helping him with his book.

Navin is also the editor of Vallinam magazine. In 2018, he had the opportunity to interview a transgender resident in the Chow Kit.

“She became a defender of the fate of all transgender people living in the surrounding area.

“Throughout our conversation, this person accepted me as a close confidant. She also shared all the information about their customs, how to pray, and their culture with me.

“She also got me to promise not to disclose this information in my article,” said Navin. 

The transgender woman treated Navin as though he was her child.

“After all this time, that conversation still resonates and left such a deep impression on me.

“In addition to that, the difficulties and challenges often faced by transgender people from various countries also became the starting point for the birth of the work known as Sigandi.”

Navin, with some help from Saravanan, had gotten some of his short stories translated into Bahasa Malaysia in the past but not all were published.

When his first novel, ‘Peichi’, was banned in 2020 for allegedly pornographic and immoral content, more people started reading his translated short stories that appeared in Eksentrika dan Dewan Sastera.

Our common humanity

Navin said he will continue highlighting humanitarian issues in his works.

All humans experience pain and emotional challenges, he said, and that ‘Sigandi’ is not only aimed at the transgender group but also all people who do not have the right to speak because they are seen as being from a lower class.

“Regardless of who it is, we should be the first to be humane towards every soul in this world,” said Navin.

He would be extremely proud if readers could understand what he is trying to convey in this book.

Meanwhile, Saravanan said it took him 13 weeks to fully translate ‘Sigandi’.

“It is difficult to translate some terms. However, the translation was done very carefully so as not to affect the original content from the author,” Saravanan assured.

It was his first attempt at translating an entire novel.  

“I hope it is the beginning for our Bahasa Malaysia readers to grasp content and themes that they were never able to do before with this book,” he said.

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