Ntombovuyo Ngaphu: Living A Purposeful Life Through Language Translation
Breaking the language barriers is her passion.
“I have an undying passion for languages.”
Ntombovuyo Ngaphu is a language translator who is living a purposeful life through doing what she loves. She was born and raised in a beautiful village in Mthatha, Eastern Cape.
Passion and driving force.
Ntombovuyo has an undying passion for languages, and her passion stemmed up from a very young age. Although she had a fondness for languages and Xhosa to be specific, she never predicted back then that one day she will pursue a career in African Languages. Ngaphu has always been passionate about poetry, creative writing and reading. She says growing up, she used to think that Xhosa language was just a subject to study up to high school. And that made her believe that the only career options for African languages were to become an African language teacher. However, when she got to university she discovered the unexpected, where she found out how African languages were taught in universities and how important they are. She was certain then that she wanted to specialize in Xhosa translation.
Ntombovuyo draw her inspiration from her late grandmother, who was her driving force to succeed in life. She narrated how her late grandmother wished for her and her brother to be the ones to put their family on the map. As a result, Ntombovuyo knew she had to fulfill her grandmother’s yearning, and she strived and worked hard to make her proud.
Education
Ngaphu obtained her bachelors degree in translation at Rhodes university. She then continues to broaden her skill set and knowledge base with further studies, where she managed to acquire honors in Translation Studies in the year 2016. Through studying language translation, she was already living her dreams and she knew she was never wrong in chasing her passion.
Employment
Ntombovuyo started off as a Xhosa freelance translator, and in her line of work she was blessed with opportunities to work with clients in sectors such as education, healthcare, publishing, media, marketing, and information technology. In addition to that, she has also worked with international clients, helping them to understand the Xhosa community on a deeper level. Ntombovuyo is currently working as a Project Manager for a language and localization company.
For her, language translation is a calling, and she loves how she can bring local and international people from different languages and cultures together so that they may understand one another. Her career and passion to her, it is a tool and a platform which allows her to live her dreams and be in a position to bring about development and emphasize on the significance of African languages.
Her favorite part of her job is the creativity that comes with it. In every translation project, she plays with words to a point where she becomes more satisfied with the outcome, and seeing documents being transformed from one language to the next is a celebration and a victory for her. Ntombovuyo is a dedicated and hard-working, with her undying desire for success she has built a name for herself in this industry by always doing her best in producing quality translations for her clients as well as being active on LinkedIn.
Challenges and breakthroughs
Although Ntombovuyo has a passion for the industry, some challenges come with it. She admits that her journey was not all sun shines and roses because she struggled for years to find a job that was aligned with her passion. However, Ntombovuyo never allowed the stumbling blocks to give her reasons to give up. Instead, she had acquired countless skills set from her previous job opportunities, and she believes that it was a stepping stone to position her where she is today. She also utilizes her unique and trustworthy personality to overcome her challenges. Despite all the ups and down she encountered, she was persistent in what she believed she can achieve and so far, she is enjoying the fruits of her hard work.
Advice to others
Ntombovuyo advice people that would like to pursue the same career path as hers and says:
• Make sure that you’re passionate about languages.
• Take courses relating to language studies at college or university.
• Do your research regarding career paths that you could follow
• And lastly, have fun with it.
Ripfumelo is an ambitious and self-motivated individual who thrives on challenges and constantly sets objectives for herself. She's always looking for an opportunity to do better and achieve greatness.
