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juushikaTitle: Le Petit Prince / The Little Prince / jan lawa lili
Author: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Translator: Katherine Woods, Michael F., jan Sime
Published: 1943 (original and Woods), circa 2008? (Michael F.), 2016? (sitelen pona ver.)
Rating: 5 of 5
Page Count: 90
Total Page Count: 380,065
Text Number: 1423-4
Read Because: personal enjoyment and also reading in Toki Pona, ebook through the Multnomah County Library, paperback through the Wilsonville Public Library, sitelen pona version here
Review: I tried reading this in the Miquênia Litz English translation (the most readily available via my library) and it's atrocious, effectively unreadable, like it's never seen a copy editor.
I read this in the Katherine Woods English translation and really enjoyed it. I keep discovering that these whimsical, sad, beloved children's books are good—I had the same discovery when I finally read The Velveteen Rabbit, although The Little Prince better locates its flights of fancy and really sticks the landing. This develops beautiful, specific, evocative metaphors—petite, practical applications of the vastness of love; it's easy to read, but not facile. Coming to this as an adult reader (and with a Wikipedia article on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry) those metaphors feel more literal and transparent, but the context doesn't overwhelm the text, just complements it.
Then I read the Toki Pona translation by Michael F. (sitelen pona by jan Sime) and cried a lot. Reading in a language I was still learning, and one with an extremely limited vocabulary which necessitates that words have faceted, dynamic meanings, meant spending a lot of time with the text, feeling out the language, inhabiting each metaphor. The text rewards that investment. Texts often do, of course; and this particular investment-via-language-learning could be found in reading it in the original French as a non-native speaker, which I wish I'd done when I still knew some French. But the specific place I was in, of learning Toki Pona, of reading this in Toki Pona, was especially gratifying. The translation is flawed, but the process was productive, with the language itself a beautiful foil to de Saint-Exupéry's careful brevity.
mi lukin e lipu pi jan lawa lili lon tenpo pini mute. pini la mi kama sona e ni: toki ante ona li ike lili. nasin toki ona li nasa.
mi toki e lipu pi akesi pona tu la mi toki e ni: pona la mi lukin ala e lipu ni tenpo open kama sona pi toki pona. lipu ni li nasa lili. ken la mi ken sona ala e ona. ken la ona ken ike e kama sona mi.
taso ken la ni li lon ala. lipu pi jan lawa lili li ike sama. lipu pi akesi pona tu la lipu pi jan lawa lili li nasa mute. taso ona li ike ala e kama sona mi e nasin toki mi. tenpo open kama sona pi toki pona la mi sona lili e nasin toki pona e nasin toki ike. mi sona lili e toki pona a lon tenpo ni. mi wile kama sona e kon nimi. ni li suli nanpa wan.
lipu pi jan lawa lili la kon li ale. toki pona li jo e nimi mute lili. tan ni la nimi ona li wile suli li wile kon mute. sama la lipu pi jan lawa lili li jo e nimi mute lili e kon suli. sama la nimi ona li wile suli. ken la toki ante ona li nasa. taso kon ona li awen suli. mi wile sona e kon lipu ni la mi wile kama sona e kon nimi.
mi la kama sona pi lipu ni en kama sona pi toki pona li sama. kama sona tu mi li pona mute tawa mi. tan ni la toki ante ike pi lipu ni li ike ala tawa mi. mi wile e ni: jan ante li ante e lipu ni lon tenpo kama a. taso ante ni li awen pona tawa mi. ona li pona kin e toki pona mi.
I read jan lawa lili a little while ago. Afterwards I learned that the translation isn't great; it has atypical grammar.
When writing about akesi pona tu I said I was glad that I didn't read it when first learning Toki Pona because that translation is also a little weird. Maybe I wouldn't've been able to understand it; maybe it would have taught me bad practices.
But I could be wrong. jan lawa lili is flawed in similar ways; probably it's worse. But it didn't harm my learning or my grammar. When starting to learn Toki Pona, I didn't really know the grammar—good or bad. I barely knew anything! And what I really needed to know to start was the vocabulary and the essence of each word.
In jan lawa lili, "essence" is everything. Toki Pona has a small vocabulary, so its words must be powerful and multifaceted. Similarly, jan lawa lili is brief and its meaning is powerful—so its words must be powerful. Sure, the translation may be strange. But the essence remains, and to understand the book's essence, I also had to learn the essence of its words. Of Toki Pona's words.
Learning the book and learning the language doubled for me in a beautiful way. So the flawed translation doesn't bother me. I'd love to see it retranslated in the future! But I'm still grateful to the current translation, and it did its job of pona-ing me & my Toki Pona.
Author: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Translator: Katherine Woods, Michael F., jan Sime
Published: 1943 (original and Woods), circa 2008? (Michael F.), 2016? (sitelen pona ver.)
Rating: 5 of 5
Page Count: 90
Total Page Count: 380,065
Text Number: 1423-4
Read Because: personal enjoyment and also reading in Toki Pona, ebook through the Multnomah County Library, paperback through the Wilsonville Public Library, sitelen pona version here
Review: I tried reading this in the Miquênia Litz English translation (the most readily available via my library) and it's atrocious, effectively unreadable, like it's never seen a copy editor.
I read this in the Katherine Woods English translation and really enjoyed it. I keep discovering that these whimsical, sad, beloved children's books are good—I had the same discovery when I finally read The Velveteen Rabbit, although The Little Prince better locates its flights of fancy and really sticks the landing. This develops beautiful, specific, evocative metaphors—petite, practical applications of the vastness of love; it's easy to read, but not facile. Coming to this as an adult reader (and with a Wikipedia article on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry) those metaphors feel more literal and transparent, but the context doesn't overwhelm the text, just complements it.
Then I read the Toki Pona translation by Michael F. (sitelen pona by jan Sime) and cried a lot. Reading in a language I was still learning, and one with an extremely limited vocabulary which necessitates that words have faceted, dynamic meanings, meant spending a lot of time with the text, feeling out the language, inhabiting each metaphor. The text rewards that investment. Texts often do, of course; and this particular investment-via-language-learning could be found in reading it in the original French as a non-native speaker, which I wish I'd done when I still knew some French. But the specific place I was in, of learning Toki Pona, of reading this in Toki Pona, was especially gratifying. The translation is flawed, but the process was productive, with the language itself a beautiful foil to de Saint-Exupéry's careful brevity.
mi lukin e lipu pi jan lawa lili lon tenpo pini mute. pini la mi kama sona e ni: toki ante ona li ike lili. nasin toki ona li nasa.
mi toki e lipu pi akesi pona tu la mi toki e ni: pona la mi lukin ala e lipu ni tenpo open kama sona pi toki pona. lipu ni li nasa lili. ken la mi ken sona ala e ona. ken la ona ken ike e kama sona mi.
taso ken la ni li lon ala. lipu pi jan lawa lili li ike sama. lipu pi akesi pona tu la lipu pi jan lawa lili li nasa mute. taso ona li ike ala e kama sona mi e nasin toki mi. tenpo open kama sona pi toki pona la mi sona lili e nasin toki pona e nasin toki ike. mi sona lili e toki pona a lon tenpo ni. mi wile kama sona e kon nimi. ni li suli nanpa wan.
lipu pi jan lawa lili la kon li ale. toki pona li jo e nimi mute lili. tan ni la nimi ona li wile suli li wile kon mute. sama la lipu pi jan lawa lili li jo e nimi mute lili e kon suli. sama la nimi ona li wile suli. ken la toki ante ona li nasa. taso kon ona li awen suli. mi wile sona e kon lipu ni la mi wile kama sona e kon nimi.
mi la kama sona pi lipu ni en kama sona pi toki pona li sama. kama sona tu mi li pona mute tawa mi. tan ni la toki ante ike pi lipu ni li ike ala tawa mi. mi wile e ni: jan ante li ante e lipu ni lon tenpo kama a. taso ante ni li awen pona tawa mi. ona li pona kin e toki pona mi.
I read jan lawa lili a little while ago. Afterwards I learned that the translation isn't great; it has atypical grammar.
When writing about akesi pona tu I said I was glad that I didn't read it when first learning Toki Pona because that translation is also a little weird. Maybe I wouldn't've been able to understand it; maybe it would have taught me bad practices.
But I could be wrong. jan lawa lili is flawed in similar ways; probably it's worse. But it didn't harm my learning or my grammar. When starting to learn Toki Pona, I didn't really know the grammar—good or bad. I barely knew anything! And what I really needed to know to start was the vocabulary and the essence of each word.
In jan lawa lili, "essence" is everything. Toki Pona has a small vocabulary, so its words must be powerful and multifaceted. Similarly, jan lawa lili is brief and its meaning is powerful—so its words must be powerful. Sure, the translation may be strange. But the essence remains, and to understand the book's essence, I also had to learn the essence of its words. Of Toki Pona's words.
Learning the book and learning the language doubled for me in a beautiful way. So the flawed translation doesn't bother me. I'd love to see it retranslated in the future! But I'm still grateful to the current translation, and it did its job of pona-ing me & my Toki Pona.
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Date: 2021-11-01 02:31 am (UTC)