Empirical Assessment of Multilingualism and Literary Translation Competency Among Comparative Literature Students in Northern Nigeria

Multilingual competency is a theoretical prerequisite for serious comparative literary scholarship, yet the actual distribution of language skills among students enrolled in Comparative Literature and English programmes at northern Nigerian universities, and its relationship to translation and comparative reading competency, has not been empirically assessed. This study empirically assessed multilingual competency and its relationship to comparative literary analysis skills among final-year literature students at Ahmadu Bello University, Bayero University Kano, and Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto. A competency assessment methodology was employed, administering a validated multilingual literary competency battery to 180 final-year students at the three institutions. The battery assessed proficiency in English (assessed as academic literary English), Hausa (assessed as literary comprehension), Arabic (assessed as basic ajami literacy), and one additional indigenous language. Comparative literary analysis competency was assessed through a separate essay-based analytical exercise. Results showed that 72.2 percent of students demonstrated strong academic English competency but only 38.9 percent demonstrated the capacity to engage analytically with literary texts in Hausa. Arabic literary literacy was present in 44.4 percent of students at a level sufficient for basic ajami engagement. Significant positive correlations were found between multilingual literacy breadth and comparative literary analysis scores (r = 0.54; p < 0.001). The study recommends that Comparative Literature programmes in northern Nigeria integrate systematic multilingual competency development, particularly in Hausa literary analysis, into their curriculum as a foundation for regional and comparative scholarship. Keywords: multilingualism, literary translation competency, Comparative Literature students, Northern Nigeria, language and literature