The Owl and the Pussy-cat - to be translated into Tongan

[pimpoapo]

Hi,

I'm looking for a translation of the Owl and the Pussy-cat by Edward Lear on behalf of my friend who is making a collection of this poem in as many languages as he can, just for fun. He's 97-year-old and this hobby gives him a great pleasure.

The Owl and the Pussy-cat

I

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!'

II

Pussy said to the Owl, 'You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?'
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.

III

'Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?' Said the Piggy, 'I will.'
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.


He started about a year ago and we managed to get it in more than 40 languages so far. Because we are running out of resources I decided to ask help from communities who dedicated to different languages.
It doesn't need to be a professional translation.

Here's a website that I started to set up to share all the translations that we've got so far. Some of them was made by poets but most of them just by friends or people who we run into in different places (waiters of the local restaurant, nurses from hospital, etc). They did the best they could and they just did it for fun and because they wanted to add their own language to this collection.

http://pimpoapo.itrello.com/bompa/

The site is under construction, at the moment just a flash version available.

Here is the list of the languages that we've got so far (01/04/2008):

Afrikaans, Basque, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, Estonian, Finnish, French, Frisian, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Irish Gaelic, Korean, Kyrgyz, Latin, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malagasy, Norvegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazilian), Romanian, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog (Pilipino), Thai, Turkish, Welsh

If you could translate it into Tongan that would be a great help for us.
For exchange I always mention who did the translation at the end of the poem and if you wish it can be linked to your website or email address.

Thanks again for anyone who will help us.

-=Pimpoapo=-

[Wine thshortstop]

Have your received a Tongan translation of "The Owl and the Pussycat" yet? I am not listing Tongan as one of my "fluent" languages* in Unilang, so unfortunatley I cannot undertake a translation.
If not translated yet, the project might be suggested by writing to:

Prof. ʻI. Futa Helu
ʻAtenisi University
P O Box 220
Nukuʻalofa, TONGA

Tongan is his native language. He is fluent in Tongan and English. Among his favorite authors are James Joyce and Ogden Nash; so he does not limit himself to the most "translatable" authors; (not much that is "literary" gets translated into Tongan, anyway.) He might be too busy, or not in good enough health, to undertake it; he might, however know of someone who could.

My own translations of "unlikely texts into "unlikely" languages is limited to translation of some modern texts -- for fun -- into Latin.
If able to update my Unilang profile, I would list English as my native language, Latin, French and Spanish as the languages in which I am "fluent". Then, in the next category: Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Tongan, Hawaiian, Hawaiʻi Creole (aka "Hawaiian Pidgin") and Classical and Biblical Greek. In the "Basic" category: German, Russian, Modern Greek. Maori, and Tahitian. "Interested in": to mention only the ancient languages, includes Akkadian, Aramaic, Hebrew, Hittite and Phoenician.
(I am not able to get these languages into an update of the profile, because what usually happens is that any language I click on get put through, but it cancels the language previously clicked on. E.g, when I add "Spanish" to the "fluent" category, it cancels "French." There is the opposite effect of this, too, in the "Interested in" languages: If I add insert "Aramaic" it may carry "Aragonese" and "Asturian" along with it. Are others having this difficulty? It might explain the seemingly unlikely combinations of languages that manhy members are "interested in", and the huge quantity of them.

With best wishes,
Roland F. Perkins (Wine thshortstop)

[pimpoapo]

Hi again,

I just would like to update the address of the site where all the translations for this poem are available:

http://www.bompa.org

I had to change it because free hosts come and go, but at least this address will be permanent, doesn't matter which hosting company I use.

-=Pimpoapo=-

p.s.: Wine thshortstop thanks for your suggestion, I haven't try it, I might do it later if no one replies in this topic.

[Bufo_periglenes]

Hi! Are you still looking for a Tongan translation? I thought I might try it, since I'm learning the language, and it would be a fun exercise.

[pimpoapo]

Hi,

Yepp we're still waiting for someone who could help. Thanks in advance,

-=pimpoapo=-

[Bufo_periglenes]

I'm working on the translation. I'll probably have it done by the end of January, since it's a bit of a stretch for me. Kilisimasi fiefia! (Merry Christmas!)

[kahihi'o]

Planet Tonga might be a good place to ask for a translation. http://forums.planet-tonga.com/

[Habbakuk]

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