Another 55-word story with two translations this time. The first is done by Mr Asadollah Amra’ee (See also this), the second by Ms Guita Garakani (Caravan Books, Tehran, 2005). The story is written by Dean Christianson.
A December Story
Nick DeSantos, mailman, scanned the dead letter bin. Hundreds of envelopes bore the same address: “Santa Claus, North Pole.”
“Hate seeing disappointed kids,” Nick said to his supervisor.
“Serves ‘em right,” he said. “Believin’ in Santa Claus.”
Arriving home, Nick reached inside his bag and took out one of many letters.
“Dear Bobby,” Nick wrote.
داستان عيد كريسمس
نيك دوسانتوس نامهرسان، سبد نامههاي بينشان را ميكاويد. صدها پاكت يك نشاني داشت. «قطب شمال، برسد به دست بابا نوئل.»
نيك به رئيس خود گفت: «وقتي بچهها را نااميد ميبينم، حالم بد ميشود.»
گفت: «باور به بابا نوئل، آنها را اميدوار ميكند.»
نيك وقتي به خانه رسيد، دست توي كيف برد و يكي از آن همه نامه را در آورد.
نيك نوشت: «بابي عزيزم،»
داستاني در دسامبر
نيك دوسانتوس، پستچي، سبد نامههاي بدون آدرس را بررسي كرد. روي صدها پاكت نوشته شده بود: «سانتا كلاوس، قطب جنوب.»
نيك به رئيس خود گفت: «از ديدن نااميدي بچهها بيزارم.»
مرد جواب داد: «اعتقاد به سانتا كلاوس بدردشان ميخورد.»
نيك وقتي به خانه رسيد دست در كيفش كرد و يكي از آن همه نامه را بيرون آورد.
نيك نوشت: «بابي عزيز.»
Here is another conversation I have specially written for the workshop. Two friends talking about some bad news:
- You remember those shares I told you about the other month?
- The so-called blue-chip ones?
- Yeah, I spent half my savings buying some, and now see what,
the company had gone bust. It’s all over today’s papers.
- Surprise, surprise!"
This is a part of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem, In Memoriam.
‘Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all
On the occassion of the Persian New year, here is a short text about an old Persian tradition: Haft-seen. Let’s see how best we can translate it into English.
هفتسين از نابترين سنتهاي ايراني است. هر سال، هنگام سال نو، ايرانيان سفرهاي ميچينند حاوي هفت چيز كه نامشان با «س» شروع ميشود، كه حرفي است در الفباي فارسي معادل S در الفباي انگليسي.
Many of us have heard or read about Murphy’s law. Where it has come from, how many variations it has, or even if it is true or not are not our concerns here. We want to see how good we can translate it into Persian. Here we go.
Anything that can go wrong, will.
Here is an interesting quote from Maria Robinson. Let’s see how we can translate it into Persian.
Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.
In this part, we will have an excerpt from the book Project Omega by Elaine O’Reily, Penguin Readers Level 2.
“I’ll think about Christmas later, Clara. This morning, I have to do something – and it can’t wait.”
She dressed very quickly. Then she put the Omega file in her bag and ran out.
She opened the door of the lift – “No!” There was no lift there. Only cold, black nothing. The ground was forty floors below her. She started to fall.
In this part, we will study a poem by Shel Silverstein, translated by Chista Yasrebi. It has been taken from a bilingual edition published by Namira Publication in 2000, Tehran.
The Persian text had a blank line space between every distich in the book, which we have removed. The English text has been slightly modified, too. Firstly, the hyphenated words (like now-and-then-ner) were written with spaces in between (now - and - then - ner) and secondly, somethin’ was written somthin’. We assumed these to be typographical errors and corrected them.
Now let’s turn our attention to the translation. As usual, please read the translated text first.
بگذار چيزي باشم
اگر نمي توانم هميشه مالِ تو باشم
اجازه بده گاهي، زماني از آنِ تو باشم
و اگر نمي توانم گاهي زماني از آن تو باشم
بگذار هر وقت كه تو مي گويي ، كنارِ تو باشم
اگر نمي توانم دوست خوب و پاكِ تو باشم
اجازه بده دوست پست و كثيفِ تو باشم
اگر نمي توانم عشق راستينِ تو باشم
بگذار باعث سرگرميِ تو باشم
اما مرا اين طوري ترك نكن
بگذار در زندگي تو ، دست كم چيزي باشم …
Let me be something
If I can’t be your all-the-time
Lemme be your now-and-then-ner
And if I can’t be your now-and-then
Lemme be your you-tell-me-when-ner
And if I can’t be your Mr. Clean
Lemme be your Mr. Dirty
If I can’t be your serious Love
Lemme be your just-for-funner
Baby, don’t you leave me this way…
Lemme be somethin’…
Here is a short conversation I have specially written for the workshop. Two friends are driving to the airport to catch a flight. They are late and one of them is worried they may miss the flight:
- فكر ميكني برسيم؟
- اگه تو ترافيك گير نكنيم آره.
- حالا نميشه يك كم تندتر بري؟
- نميشه. دارم آببنديش ميكنم.
In this part, we are going to examine translations already done and see how WE would translate them were we in the translator’s shoes. We suggest that you read the translation first and see how much you build a relation with it, how much it affects you, and if it is understandable enough. Then read the English text and assess how much it changes your viewpoint of the story. In the end, post your comments - be them the strong or weak points of the translation or suggestions for a different translation.
We start with the World’s Shortest Stories, edited by Steve Moss, and translated by Asadollah Amra’ee.
داستان شب
وقتي دوباره واردِ اتاقِ خواب شد گفت: "عزيزم مواظب باش پُر است."
به تختهيِ بالا سرِ تخت تكيه داد: "براي زنت گرفتهاي؟"
"نه، خيلي اتفاقي گرفتهام. يك حرفهاي استخدام ميكنم."
"من چطورم؟"
صدايي در آورد: "خيلي باهوشي، اما كدام خري زني را اجير ميكند كه مردي را بكشد؟"
از مگسك خيره شد و لب را با زبان خيس كرد.
"زن تو."
Bedtime Story
“Careful, honey, it’s loaded,” he said, re-entering the bedroom.
Her back rested against the headboard. “This for your wife?”
“No. Too chancy. I’m hiring a professional.”
“How about me?”
He smirked. “Cute. But who’d be dumb enough to hire a lady hit man?”
She wet her lips, sighting along the barrel.
“Your wife.”
