Re: Translating from a conlang into a conlang

On Mon, 19 Apr 1999, Boudewijn Rempt wrote:

> I present a text in Northern
> Colloquial Charyan with interlinear glosses.
I admit that I have an unfair advantage, having known the text in
Charyan and Dutch for years; but I'll try not to use what I already
know.

> The text:
With my translation (that I will give in full as well as interlinear
at the end) and comments on the process.


> Xipu!
Lhyp!

I put the knob on Valdyan and tried to hear the sound that a very
ripe fruit makes when it hits the ground. The voiceless lateral
fricative seemed to do the job best. "Splat!"

> Manxuri penerar
Badin gulynayt!

Easy, though I had to find a word for "plum" in the Spare Roots File.
"The plums are falling".

> Sero
Ine

Valdyan has no high grade honorific pronoun for the first person,
only a general-purpose honorific pronoun for the second person. I did
use an emphatic pronoun here, which is not strictly necessary for
syntactic purposes, to express "as for me, I..." or "I for one..."

> t'erneno beryakari yashnar
iran moch farinenas chalenan

This is where it becomes difficult. The normal Valdyan way to say
"I'm fourteen years old" is either _iran zaran relyinen amran_ "I'm
living in my fifteenth year" or _iran moch relyinan amrenan_ "I've
lived fourteen years"; if someone says that she's lived fourteen
springs, people will be tempted to ask what she did in summer, autumn
and winter. _Farinas_ "spring" is a new compound, a use for the
participle at last: "greening" from _farina_ "to become green", _lea
farinat_ "spring is beginning". "I've seen fourteen springs".

> Yan t'eheranmamen t'imti esero u?
Ei! Culea i bastean a bychesat?

I put the exclamation at the beginning, because at the end it would
be too much like "..., eh?". _Culea_ "who" has no masculine form,
even though it's perfectly obvious that a male is being looked for.
_Bycha_ "to demand" has the inceptive aspect and present tense: she's
expecting it to happen any moment. "Oh! Who is going to demand the
heart from me?"

> Galla esero ka chenam ye bangu
Had in craz so cach

Easy, though I couldn't do anything with the nominalizing particle
("topic marker", Boudewijn?) and had to get _cach_ "thick" from the
Spare Roots File. It means "growing thickly, closely planted" rather
than thick in itself - this girl has a lot of hair, but the
individual hairs may be fine. It's also used of dense woods and of
the town of Ildis where the streets are so narrow that one can jump
across the street from one upstairs window to another. "My hair [is]
black and thick".

> "Sero laya", Yudirza yetashmerzo
Doparne ine cunie laynynat

There's some ambiguity here: either the big sister says that she
(herself) is pretty, or that her little sister is pretty. The
Valdyan, unintentionally and fortunately, also has it. _Doparne_
could also mean "big brother", by the way. _Cunie_ "pretty" is a new
word from the Spare Roots File. "My big sister says I'm pretty".

> P'a ajir avaneranmamen sero
Ei, salei i ryleset!

_Salei_ "someone" is the masculine form (the common-gender form is
_salea_). _Ryla_ (from the Spare Roots File) "to court" is irrealis,
and has the inceptive aspect; this is a wish, and she's not sure that
it will be fulfilled. "Oh, for someone to court me!"

> Tima lyn sero lodha manve.
Norenin lastinin hune abruve.

_Noren_ "cherry" and _lasten_ "flower" (here in the collective
plural: "blossom") are new words from the Spare Roots File. "Because
I'm as beautiful as cherry blossom".


Lhyp! Badin gulynayt!
Ine iran moch farinenas chalenan.
Ei! Culea i bastean a bychesat?
Had in craz so cach
Doparne ine cunie laynynat
Ei, salei i ryleset!
Norenin lastinin hune abruve.


Abbreviations:

nom   nominative
acc accusative
gen genitive
abl ablative
s singular
p plural
1 first person
3 third person
PRS present
IRR irrealis
PERF perfective
INC inceptive
Q question particle
EQ equative
AUG augmentative


lhyp  badin      gulynayt
splat plum-nom-p fall-PRS-3p

ine iran moch farinenas    chalenan
I   ten  four spring-acc-p see-PERF-PRS-1s

ei  culea i  bastean     a bychesat
oh  who   me heart-acc-s Q demand-INC-PRS-3s

had  in craz  so  cach
hair my black and thick

doparne     ine cunie  laynynat
AUG-sibling I   pretty say-PRS-3s

ei salei   i  ryleset
oh someone me court-INC-IRR-3s

norenin      lastinin      hune    acunie
cherry-gen-p blossom-abl-p because EQ-beautiful



            Varsinen an laynynay, saraz no arlet rastinay.
                     irina@rempt.xs4all.nl (myself)
     http://www.xs4all.nl/~bsarempt/irina/frontpage.html (English)
    http://www.xs4all.nl/~bsarempt/irina/backpage.html (Nederlands)