Lend me your ears

As you may know, I produced an audio version of the first book in my Koba saga, i.e. Salt & Honey. It was professionally narrated and recorded. (Listen to this fabulous sample.) The significant cost was covered by me from a saving set aside for the purpose. To date, book sales have not paid out on that investment, which, as I head towards the finishing line, throws the production of a second audiobook for the sequel, Kalahari Passage, into question.

I don’t want to give up on the idea of an audio version for book 2. Technological difficulties notwithstanding, listening rather than reading a story is what my indigenous readers are more used to. (Bear in mind that the Ju|’hoan people have an ages-old oral tradition. A written form of their language only came into being in the 1980s and to this day, reading-writing literacy is a problem for most.) My San friends who have managed to read/listen to Salt & Honey have said they enjoyed reading about people like them and about their recent history. N#aisa told me the Grandmother in my story sounded just like hers. ) Therefore my determination to find a cheaper way to make an accessible audiobook.

One way to cut costs may be to narrate the book myself. I don’t have a good voice but I am at least familiar with the accents and the clicks that occur in my story.

Above is an experimental clip

I’m not a linguist, so must apologise for my mangling of words. I’m no doubt guilty of pronunciation inconsistencies. I find I get tongue-tangled when trying to read Ju|’hoan names fluently within my text. Also, I suspect I sometimes produce an alveolar click when it should be a dental one.

The famous linguist, David Crystal, had this to say about San languages, of which Ju|’hoan is one:

‘If Khoisan [San] languages had all died out before linguists had described them, it is unlikely we would ever have guessed that human beings would use such an apparently minor feature of sound production [clicks] to such complex effect.’ Crystal,D. 2002: 57

So please excuse my oopses. And,

There’s another problem…

I’m becoming increasingly hard of hearing. I fret that what I hear may not be the whole audio truth. Therefore I’d greatly appreciate your feedback on the short excerpt I’ve posted here. Consider yourselves my coaches, my audio producers and my truth sayers. Holler if the narration is too slow, too fast, unclear in places (say where) or if my voice is just plain annoying. It annoys the hell out of me.

In the video below, awesome N|oce dances and sings. This gives you a better idea of what a happy Ju|’hoan song should sound like.

Enjoy!