Dintšhontšho tsa bo-Juliuse Kesara is a translation into Setswana of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, by the renowned South African thinker, writer and linguist Sol T. Plaatje, who was also a gifted stage actor. Plaatje first encountered the works of Shakespeare when he saw a performance of Hamlet as a young man; it ignited a great love in him for the works of the Elizabethan dramatist. Many years later he translated several of Shakespeare’s plays into Setswana in a series called Mabolelo a ga Tsikinya-Chaka (‘The Sayings of Shakespeare’.) Dintšhontšho tsa bo-Juliuse Kesara went to print five years after Plaatje’s death, in 1937, published in the Bantu (later, African) Treasury Series by the University of the Witwatersrand Press.
His translations of Shakespeare’s plays into Setswana helped to pioneer and popularise a genre, the drama script, that was previously not well known in Southern Africa. It also showcased the rich range of Setswana vocabulary and served Plaatje’s aim of developing the language.
Dintšhontšho tsa bo-Juliuse Kesara ke phetolelo ya Setswana ya Julius Caesar ya ga Shakespeare ka mokwadi, moakanyi wa Mo Aforika le seitseanape sa puo Sol T. Plaatje, yo gape e neng e le modiragatsi yo o nang le bokgoni wa serala. Plaatje o rakane la ntlha le ditiro tsa ga Shakespeare fa a bona tiragatso ya Hamlet e sa le lekawana, mme seo se ne sa tsosa lerato le le boitshegang mo pelong ya gagwe la ditiro tsa mokwadi yoo wa Mo Elisabeta. Dingwaga di le dintsi morago ga foo o fetoletse diterama tsa ga Shakespeare di balwa mo puong ya Setswana mo dikgatisong tsa Mabolelo a ga Tsikinya-Chaka (‘The Sayings of Shakespeare’). Dintšhontšho tsa bo-Juliuse Kesara e gatisitswe dingwaga di le tlhano morago ga loso lwa ga Plaatje, ka 1937. E gatisitswe mo metseletseleng ya Bantu (moragonyana African) Treasury Series ya Univeristy of the Witwatersrand Press.
Go fetolela diterama tsa ga Shakespeare mo Setswaneng go thusitse go godisa le go naya serodumo mokwalo wa boitlhamedi wa diterama o o neng o sa tlwaelega thata mo malobeng. Go bontshitse gape khumo le nonofo ya tlotlofoko ya Setswana mme ga thusa Plaatje go tlhabolola puo ya gaabo jaaka e ne e le maikaelelo a gagwe.

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