fandomhigh | Creature Languages, 02/09, Period 3

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Creature Languages, 02/09, Period 3

"You have now learned to speak, if haltingly, in Dragon, Rat and Spider. Those are all difficult tongues, with rich histories and their own quirks -- from the choppy vowels of Spider, to the crooning of Rat, to the rhyming of the dragons. I applaud your sincere efforts to learn.

Today, I would like for each of you to pick a so-called nursery rhyme and translate it into the Creature language of your choice. I trust that you will have no problems in finding appropriate substitutes for words that may not be on your vocabulary sheets."

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Hand in your translations here. I'd prefer no two people did the same poem and language.

"All Around the Mulberry Bush"
Aka-"Pop Goes the Weasel"

In Dragon.

//All around the berry bush
The monkey persued the weasel.
The monkey thought it was quite a rush.
The weasel explodes.

A coin for a skein of thread.
A coin for a needle.
That's what humans do with their horde.
The weasel explodes.

Up and down a main thorough-faire.
In and out a very old drinking establishment named after a bird of prey.
That's what humans do with their horde.
The weasel explodes.

Half a measure of cheap rice.
Half a measure of a sweet substance similer to molasses.
Two great tastes that taste great together.
The weasel explodes.//

Pippi thinks maybe she should have gone with Rat.

((ooc: Not, "The weasel is burninated"?"))

[[ooc: The weasel goes "pop" not "sizzle". :)

Re: Assignment, Creature, 02/09

swerval_zero - 2006-02-09 18:24 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Assignment, Creature, 02/09

strongestgirl.livejournal.com - 2006-02-09 18:25 (UTC) - Expand

Dream frowns as he takes the poem. "Your translation of "mix it up and make it nice" is rather ... impressionistic, Miss Longstocking."

"I think,"

/Two great tastes that taste great together./

"Sounds better then,"

/Add one to the other and force them to be pleasant./

"And also is more true to the intent of the original lyric."

Re: Assignment, Creature, 02/09

game-of-you.livejournal.com - 2006-02-09 18:35 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Assignment, Creature, 02/09

strongestgirl.livejournal.com - 2006-02-09 18:38 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Assignment, Creature, 02/09

game-of-you.livejournal.com - 2006-02-09 18:44 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Assignment, Creature, 02/09

strongestgirl.livejournal.com - 2006-02-09 18:45 (UTC) - Expand

((ooc: o.k., the constant repetition of "The weasel explodes." just had me snickering hopelessly by the end...))

"How Many Miles to Babylon?" in Spider.

//How many nights' travel to First-Among-Cities?
Sixty nights and ten.
Can I get there by wax's flame?
Yes, and back once more.
If your eight feet are clever and quick,
You can get there by wax's flame.//

It's a bit short. Zero could do another one if Professor Dream wants.

((ooc: Nursery rhyme chosen because the mun loves Diana Wynne Jones.))

Dream thinks the poem is perfect. "Babylon was very important to Spider culture," he notes.

"Hey Diddle Diddle" in spider

Hey, diddle, diddle,(this is in English)
//The meowing creature and the string instrument,
The moo animal jumped over the moon.
The tiny barker made a show of mirth
To watch such play,
And the plate ran away with the eating utensil//

Paige also thinks rat might have been better

Dream makes no comment as he takes Paige's paper, but he agrees that it would have had a better flow in Rat.

Re: Assignment, Creature, 02/09

the4thsister.livejournal.com - 2006-02-09 17:55 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Assignment, Creature, 02/09

game-of-you.livejournal.com - 2006-02-09 18:03 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Assignment, Creature, 02/09

the4thsister.livejournal.com - 2006-02-09 18:06 (UTC) - Expand

Mary Had a Little Lamb (http://www.zelo.com/family/nursery/littlelamb.asp), in Rat.

//Mary had a small baby sheep,
small baby sheep,
small baby sheep.
Mary had a small baby sheep,
Its fur was white as snow.

Everywhere that Mary went,
Mary went,
Mary went.
Everywhere that Mary went,
The baby sheep was sure to ~~went~~ go.

It went with her to the place of learning one day,
Place of learning one day,
Place of learning one day.
It went with her to the place of learning one day,
Which got Mary in trouble.

It made the small humans laugh and not work,
Laugh and not work,
Laugh and not work.
It made the small humans laugh and not work,
To see a baby sheep at the place of learning.//

Cordy shrugs and hands it in.

"Deyinzo is the Rat for "children," Miss Chase," Dream says. "But thank you, this is fine work."

To help make amends for his refusal last week to speak to Ratso, Walter turns in Taffy Was a Welshman (http://www.zelo.com/family/nursery/taffy.asp) in rat.

//Person-Named-for-Chewy-Sweet was a human-who-talked-with-a-mouthful-of-peanut-butter,
Person-Named-for-Chewy-Sweet was a forager;
Person-Named-for-Chewy-Sweet came to my nest
And foraged a piece of beef.

I went to Person-Named-for-Chewy-Sweet's nest,
Person-Named-for-Chewy-Sweet was not in it;
Person-Named-for-Chewy-Sweet came to my nest
And foraged a sheep bone.

I went to Person-Named-for-Chewy-Sweet's nest,
Person-Named-for-Chewy-Sweet was not in;
Person-Named-for-Chewy-Sweet came to my nest
And foraged a silver pin.
I went to Person-Named-for-Chewy-Sweets nest,
Person-Named-for-Chewy-Sweet was in;
I took up a heavy thing
And threw it at his head.//

"Very nice, Mr. Dornez. You could have kept the English "Welshman," though of course it may be offensive to some."

Re: Assignment, Creature, 02/09

walter-n-wires.livejournal.com - 2006-02-09 18:47 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Assignment, Creature, 02/09

strongestgirl.livejournal.com - 2006-02-09 18:56 (UTC) - Expand

In English:
Fee! Fie! Foe! Fum!
In Rat:
//I smell the blood of someone from England.
I do not care if he is alive or dead.
I will smash his bones into a fine powder to bake some bread for myself.//

Victor decides to try "Hush a Bye Baby" in Dragon.

//Stop squaking, egg
Up in your nest
The blowing wind
Will disturb your rest
When the perch busts
The nest will fall down
Down goes the egg
Down to the ground//

Blair hands in his dragon translation of The Five Little Pigs (http://www.zelo.com/family/nursery/fivelittlepigs.asp)
This small porcine went to purchase goods
This small porcine stayed in his neighborhoods
This small porcine was carnivorous
This small porcine was poverty-ous
This small porcine engaged in whines futile
on the journey to his domicile

Three Young Rats With Black Felt Hats (http://www.zelo.com/family/nursery/felthats.asp)

Translated into Rat:

//Three young people with black fur hats,
Three young quk-quk with white nest material foot coverings,
Three young brk-brk with curling tails,
Three young evil fangs with hoods,
Went out to walk with two young snorters
In shiny-soft vests and horse-colored fake furs,
But suddenly it chanced to rain
And so they all went home again.//

It's Raining, It's Pouring (http://www.zelo.com/family/nursery/raining.asp), in Dragon

//It rains. It rains a lot.
The aged man snores
He struck his skull
And he slept
And on morning he could not stand.

Rain, rain, leave;
Come again next day
Small// Johnny //likes playing.//

She'd quickly given up on trying to make it rhyme, but she thinks it sort-of works for Common Dragon.

Xander's ... possibly a little less comboobulated than he was when he entered the room.

As evidenced by the translation he did eventually hand in.

Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater, in Rat

//Euphemism, Euphemism,
Fragrance of the female human person,
Had zucchini,
Of I mate with and not to maintain.
It in the covers of the zucchini which they put and,
Maintained much well there.//

He's really better than this. He is. He's motivated for learning Rat, after all.

__
{For the record? English to French to Dutch to English to Italian to English, with 'female human person' and 'mate with' substituted for equivalents. It did the zuchinni all on its own, or at least it stalled on 'zucca' and I translated it the rest of the way.} *cough-editstobefunnier-cough*

[[holy crap that was hilarious.]]

Sakura makes a face. Nursery rhymes. This presented a problem.

She tries anyway, first translating an old Japanese nursery rhyme into english, then translating it to Dragon. The result may or may not be entirely different from the original nursery rhyme.

Stark translates "Baa baa black sheep" into Rat.

//Sheep noise, sheep noise, black sheep
Do you have any sheep fur?
Yes leader, yes leader
Three carrying things full
One for the man in charge
One for the woman
And one for the male child
Who lives at the other end of the street//

Jake turned in his translation of Hickory, Dickory, Dock in Dragon.

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