© Chris Port, February 2011
English Sunrise Haiku
Let the minds of men
awaken; let the sunrise burst
and love tilt the earth
I won’t bore you with the details here, but one aspect of my action research thesis is ‘lost and found in translation’.
One of the (many) depressing disasters of British education is that dullwits have taken ‘literacy’ to mean ‘literal’ rather than ‘literate’. Have you ever tried to communicate with a ‘literal’ person? It’s a disaster. They’re boring. Very boring. Unimaginative, pedantic, and prone to wilful misunderstanding. They’re the opposite of imagination. They strangle native wit and humour. If we continue to promote these people to captaincy, we’re sunk.
Poetry is a wonderful idiom for communication because it is not literal. It appeals to the imagination, finding unusual ways to see the world. This is the key to a ‘problem-solving’ approach. Borrowing heavily from Brecht’s V-Effekt, and Ionesco’s English Primer (who’d have thought it, the political and the absurd?) I’m experimenting with using online translation programmes to develop ‘an artistic laboratory research methodology’. What’s that? Oh never mind, let’s just get to the translations…
Below are the ‘raw’ google translations of a quixotic ‘Donkey Marty’ haiku into various languages. Usually I would then fiddle around with the syntax to find a synonymous idiom. This time, I’ve left the translations literal rather than literate. Sometimes the result is a shuddery mangling of meaning; sometimes its just amusingly inept; sometimes its more poetic and unusual than the original. Please feel free to offer different (or more competent) translations… And remember, ‘explosions’ can be peaceful!
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Korean Sunrise Haiku
남자의 마음을하자
자각, 일출 버스트를하자
그리고 지구를 기울 사랑
When a man's heart
Awareness, and let a burst of sunrise
Love and the earth tilt
* * * * * * * * * * * *
German Sunrise Haiku
Lassen Sie den Köpfen der Menschen
wecken, lassen Sie den Sonnenaufgang platzen
Liebe und Neigung der Erde
Let the minds of the people
arouse burst let the sunrise
Love and affection of the Earth
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Dutch Sunrise Haiku
Laat de geest van de mensen
ontwaken, laat de zonsopgang burst
en liefde tilt de aarde
Let the spirit of the people
awakening, let the dawn burst
Tilt and love the earth
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Malayan Sunrise Haiku
Biarkan fikiran manusia
membangunkan; membiarkan meletup matahari terbit
dan cinta cerun bumi
Let the human mind
develop, let the rising sun explode
and love the earth slopes
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Ukrainian Sunrise Haiku
Нехай умах людей
розбудити, нехай схід вибух
і любов нахилу Землі
Let people's minds
wake up, let east explosion
love and tilt of the Earth
* * * * * * * * * * * *
French Sunrise Haiku
Que l'esprit des hommes
réveiller, laissez l'éclatement de la lever
et l'amour inclinaison de la terre
That the minds of men
wake up, let the bursting of the lift
love and inclination of the earth
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Slovenian Sunrise Haiku
Naj glavah ljudi
prebudijo, naj sončni vzhod počil
in ljubezen nagib zemlje
Let people's minds
wake up to sunrise burst
and love the earth tilt
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Vietnamese Sunrise Haiku
Hãy để cho tâm trí của đàn ông
đánh thức, để cho nổ mặt trời mọc
và tình yêu nghiêng trái đất
Let the minds of men
wake up, let it sun
and love the earth tilt
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Arabic Sunrise Haiku
السماح للعقول الرجال
توقظ؛ السماح للانفجار شروق الشمس
والحب ميلان الأرض
To allow the minds of men
Awaken; to allow the explosion sunrise
Love and tilt of the Earth
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Italian Sunrise Haiku
Lasciate che la mente degli uomini
desti, lasciare che il burst alba
inclinazione e amore della terra
Let the minds of men
awake, let the dawn burst
inclination and love of the earth
* * * * * * * * * * * *
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