Dissertation help

[plankje]

Hey everyone,

First of all, I'm new to this forum, as I need some help for my Master dissertation.
I'm writing about the translations of the new words Roald Dahl created in three of his books ('The BFG', 'Charlie and the chocolate factory' and 'Charlie and the great glass elevator'). One of the target languages, and thus translations, I describe is Afrikaans. Unfortunately I've never studied it, but that doesn't seem to be that problematic, as I'm a native speaker of Dutch. The only problem I have, is in deciding whether the translations in Afrikaans are existing or invented words.
I would really appreciate it if I could get some help every now and then about some words I can't define.

Thanks a lot!

[Copperfield]

Hi Plankje,

I'm not an expert in Afrikaans but spent some time in South Africa and speak a little bit of Afrikaans. The person that can help you is André ( a native speaker) that frequents these forums regularly.

The guy that translated Charlie and The Chocolate Factory into Afrikaans .. Charlie en die Sjokoladefabriek is Kobus Geldenhuys. He has an email address where you might be able to ask him some questions if you really get stuck.

See his website for details:

http://www.jnweb.com/translation/

I hope you find what you need. Good luck.

[andre]

Hi Planje

I will gladly help where I can. The books have been beautifully translated into Afrikaans. I actually have a cope of BFG (Die Groot Sagmoedige Reus).

[plankje]

Thanks in advance
As soon as I've got some words, I'll post them here.

[plankje]

Hey!

I've got some words, which I absolutely don't understand (could be that they are just new words :s):
goeters
skinnerbekke
bekommervol (is it an existing word?)
opstopper (with the meaning of 'supper')
uitflerts ('Dis daarom dat jy vreesaaklige end sal hê as jy hier uitflerts.')
darie ('Dis 'n raai-raai-riepie darie')

(I can give the page numbers or so if you need them.)

More will follow...

And one more question, would any of you want to check my wordlist (when it's finished) and tell me whether I've classified the words correct (and thus as existing or new words)?

Thx,
Plankje

[andre]

Hey!

I've got some words, which I absolutely don't understand (could be that they are just new words :s):
goeters
skinnerbekke
bekommervol (is it an existing word?)
opstopper (with the meaning of 'supper')
uitflerts ('Dis daarom dat jy vreesaaklige end sal hê as jy hier uitflerts.')
darie ('Dis 'n raai-raai-riepie darie')

(I can give the page numbers or so if you need them.)

More will follow...

And one more question, would any of you want to check my wordlist (when it's finished) and tell me whether I've classified the words correct (and thus as existing or new words)?

Thx,
Plankje

Easy! Some of these words are simply an "informal" version of as "real" word, while others are the creation of the translator.

goeters - things (the actual word is goed or goedere, but is used in this way in informal language.
skinnerbekke - people who gossip, official written form is skinderbekke, but is generally pronounced without the d. (Skinder = to gossip, bekke = mouths, usually used to refer to the mouths of animals, but also in an insulting manner referring to people's mouths.)
bekommervol (is it an existing word?) = translator's creation. It means to be very worried. Official version - bekommerd. Bekommer is the verb, so a direct translation of bekommervol would be "to be full of worrying".
opstopper (with the meaning of 'supper') = hm, interesting use of word if it means supper in the book. Opstopper means to hit someone, give him a punch (gee hom 'n opstopper). But it also means taxidermatist. If you say it has the meaning of supper in the book, it does make sense, the intention is probably that the translator meant the person stuffed himself with food.
uitflerts ('Dis daarom dat jy vreesaaklige end sal hê as jy hier uitflerts.') It means splash, flirt, loose flap. Uitflerts would then mean to leave in a flapping manner. BTW, vreesaaklige is also the translator's creation. Vrees = fear, aaklig means horrible. The normal way would be to say vreeslike, but the translator merged the two words to get vreesaaklige.
darie ('Dis 'n raai-raai-riepie darie') - informal form of daardie (that, as in that person, daardie persoon). A direct translation of the sentence would be: It's a riddle that. (raai = guess, raaisel = riddle, riepie is, well, just a word which goes well with raai-raai, it doesn't actually mean anything )We do have the tendency to sometimes throw away letters in pronounciation.

I'll gladly check your list when you're finished.

[plankje]

Thanks for your reply, Andre, your comments are really helpful!

[plankje]

My list is finished. Can I send it to you by e-mail or something?

Greetz

[andre]

My list is finished. Can I send it to you by e-mail or something?

Greetz

You're welcome. Click on the little envelope to the right, and you can e-mail me.

Regards

Andre