25 January 2010
As a Scot – and an Ayrshire Scot at that – Robert Burns and his poetry have always been important to me and I’ll be raising a glass to his ‘immortal memory’ tonight as Scots the world over celebrate
Burns night.
The unofficial national bard of Scotland (and voted the greatest ever Scot in a TV poll),
Burns was by far the most important poet to write in the Scots dialect. He took the language of 18th Century Scottish rural workers and fashioned it into a poetry that has endured. A national newspaper today includes him in a series of the
great British poets of the Romantic age.
Burns wrote all sorts of poetry and song from the politically charged
‘Man Was Made to Mourn’ or
‘For A That’ to tender love songs like
‘Ae Fond Kiss’ or ‘
A Red Red Rose’.
Probably his best known song (though he adapted it from an earlier traditional one) is
‘Auld Lang Syne’ which sees in the new year wherever one or more Scots gather. Some of the words may be strange to an English ear but the message is clear and universal:
And there's a hand my trusty fiere,
And gie's a hand o thine,
And we'll tak a right guid-willie waught,
For auld lang syneMany people are familiar with this song from New Years Eve, but how many know what it actually means:
And here's my hand, my trusty friend,
And give me your hand too,
And we will take an excellent good-will drink
For the days of long ago. With a few friends I had an early stab at celebrating the man and his work with a Burns supper at the weekend. Though we lacked a piper, the traditional meal of
haggis, neeps and tatties was duly served washed down with a fine malt whisky. Incidentally the same newspaper has tackled the thorny problem of just
what constitutes a neep.
And of course the haggis was welcomed to the table with a rendition (in my somewhat rusty Scottish dialect) of Burns ode (
listen here) to that great Scottish culinary treat, the haggis.
Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy of a grace
As lang's my arm.Or as I found myself explaining, in
English translation:
All hail your honest rounded face,
Great chieftain of the pudding race;
Above them all you take your place,
Beef, tripe, or lamb:
You're worthy of a grace
As long as my arm.Labels: dialects, literature, Scottish
21 August 2009
A fun new book out this summer takes a sideways look at the idioms and sayings of the world.
"I'm Not Hanging Noodles on Your Ear and Other Intriguing Idioms from Around the World" takes its title from a Russian saying which is broadly similar in meaning to the English phrase "I'm not pulling your leg". Often, we are so used to these absurdities in our own languages that they pass us by in everyday speech – although of course they often present a challenge to the foreign language translator!
The book is best viewed as a something to dip into, considering idioms from the Russian “To look like September” (to look miserable) through to the French “to fart in silk” (be very happy).
The chapters are arranged by subject matter (love, health, work, and so on) with a short introduction to each, and translations from a range of languages including French, Italian, German, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Chinese and Arabic. Several of the idioms are illustrated in cartoon form, adding to the entertainment value.
Sadly the book doesn't really delve into the background of the idioms. An academic study would have been out of place, but you can't help but wonder if a more thorough exploration of a phrase and its etymology would have added to the fun. Also, as
foreign language typesetters and translators, we would have liked to see more emphasis on the original saying rather than just the literal translation.
That said, it's all good fun. Even better, it's inspired the Guardian newspaper to produce a
fun quiz of foreign language idioms. Give it a go and, as they point out, you can find out if you're "a walking donkey killer or simply carrying owls to Athens"
Labels: foreign language, global, literature
12 August 2009
Along with much of the rest of the English speaking world, the WorldAccent office has not been immune to the lure of the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson. For the uninitiated, crime novel "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" was a massive hit last year. The second in the series
"The Girl Who Played With Fire" has just come out in paperback and has instantly become one of the hot reads of the summer.
Larsson was an
interesting character, being both a crusading journalist himself and noted for tackling extreme right and racist groups. He wrote his books in his native Swedish and they have enjoyed great success in Sweden. But sadly he died before the books could be translated, and so could provide no guidance in shaping the English text.
Glancing at the translation credit in the front of the book – to a Reg Keeland – made us wonder about the responsibility involved in this project. The
Swedish translation certainly felt professional, maintaining a sense of the Swedish setting while using some elegant English turns of phrase and native colloquialisms. Now it has emerged Reg Keeland is a pseudonym, and as with many a large translation project, there were some twists and turns in the process. You can read more in the interesting interview "Reg" gave his
local paper in Seattle...Labels: literature, Stieg Larsson, Swedish, translation
