Sunsets
Update: Last week I talked to Madame MacDermott about my project and asked her a few questions about some parts I was having issues with. It was really helpful to have insight from someone much more experienced with the language. There are some tricky idioms I would not have gotten without her help. Merci Madame!
Here's another excerpt of my translation. It is actually the entirety of chapter six (some of these chapters are quite short).
There are still some bits that I'm working out but
I really like this chapter.
Ah! little prince, so I understood, little by little, your sad (depressed, melancholy) little life. You didn’t have a lot of time to entertain yourself except with the sweetness of sunsets. I learned this new detail, the fourth day, in the morning, when you said to me:
“I really like sunsets. Let’s go see a sunset...”
“But we have to wait...”
“Wait for what?”
“Wait for the sun to set.”
You seemed very surprised at first, and then you laughed at yourself. And you said to me:
“I’m thinking I’m still at home!”
Indeed. When it is noon in the United States, the sun, everyone knows, sets over (in) France. It would be enough to be able to go to France in one minute to attend (see) the sunset. Unfortunately France is much too far away. But, on your (oh-so) little planet, it’s enough for you just to pull your chair a few steps. And you watched the dusk (twilight) any time you wanted (desired, liked)...
“One day, I saw the sun set forty-three times!”
And a little later you added:
“You know... when one is really sad one likes sunsets...”
“The day of the forty-three sunsets, you were really sad?”
But the little prince didn’t respond.
Rebekah, this is the most interesting project that I have read about over the past few weeks. Last year, I read the book Candide, written by Voltaire, and there were many phrases and passages whose deep, profound meanings would have probably been lost if a simple, literal translation had been done. This year, someone at the synagogue that I go to spoke about Yiddish literature and read an excerpt from a Yiddish book. She read the majority in English, but she started out in Yiddish. Although I could not understand what she was saying, everything just seemed to flow, and she was grinning the entire time. This highlights the importance of translating with care and attention to detail. It is really cool that you are taking the time to translate a book from French into English, and I can’t wait to see your presentation.
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