Translating Amparo Dvila's "el Huesped" Into Vaakre: Part 1

Translating Amparo Dávila's "el huesped" into Vaakre: Part 1

first four paragraphs woo! I'm putting the Vaakre first, then the spanish it's translated from for comparison, then notes.

Vai, ank xakahcet alpe wektay par ue-al amer ne taelmek. Ne duae kehf ne atkone vai amer retuef-tarie. 

Egao-wek, ya aurs ne duae suadr arre wek-ponuc-vai, aurs neadr ayasai eee ne va ji-enfiretchne. Par ne duae ne taele eriead vikah tiore, alpe bihlce evtroe vai, xa kahcet dai xa ank tal ne. Egao-wek, ne taelmek vai nijke-ut vai - saúra e yamawa e vai va ahkahrer dai ánk, eee xa kehf xa gaos vai. Ne egao-wek taelmek ae xa dai libire*, e ae xa adurabayo tal aetrester par aeto.

(*so-so-do melody attached)

Dai nuc’yelum par linme, evtroe ue-al par wektay ane. Cikravpre dleram, fahriyn.  Hrap nuc eyrs sltiashr, vikah bayon ee xa hvetsl, evtroe vackuras nokbayo ya csilore - vikah vai e meire. 

Ne vitaele bilhce reasein fahriyn limuygul. Nishmuya egae-wek ue-al amer, palltei ne duae xa vai tal ue-al vai, par vikah puinoh. Dai xa ateirwe airmee; ne esah valiyhauh e pulihrk. “Retuef-al feinehr tauszo” ne duae dai, ci’prav nartatro eee evtroe nuc tal airmee. “Ta esah bilhce ya ne vai, ee ke kaena ta va erhas…” ank ne dai ne duae dai par ue-al xareactui. Ue-al vai ne taelmek.

~~~~

Nunca olvidaré el día en que vino a vivir con nosotros. Mi marido lo trajo al regreso de un Viaje.

Llevábamos entonces cerca de tres años de matrimonio, teníamos dos niños y yo no era feliz. Representaba para mi marido algo así como un mueble, que se acostumbra uno a ver en determinado sitio, pero que no causa la menor impresión. Vivíamos en un pueblo pequeño, incomunicado y distante de la ciudad. Un pueblo casi muerto o a punto de desaparecer.

No pude reprimir un grito de horror, cuando lo vi por primera vez. Era lúgubre, siniestro. Con grandes ojos amarillentos, casi redondos y sin parpadeo, que parecían penetrar a través de las cosas y de las personas.

Mi vida desdichada se convirtió en un infierno. La misma noche de su llegada supliqué a mi marido que no me condenara a la tortura de su compañía. No podía resistirlo; me inspiraba desconfianza y horror. “Es completamente inofensivo” —dijo mi marido mirándome con marcada indiferencia. “Te acostumbrarás a su compañía y, si no lo consigues…” No hubo manera de convencerlo de que se lo llevara. Se quedó en nuestra casa.

~~~

Translation choices:

First off I'm not starting the entire piece with a proper tonesetting, because if I wrote it out we would have a paragraph straight of "vai vai vai vedrai vai vedrai tihas" and nobody wants that. A single vai works in this case.

This is... primarily Balkour vaakre, for no other reason than I prefer writing it, and this is my stress relief translation. As such, ci'prav is used in place of cikravpre, and second-person-pronouns are geography-ized, and a few other things like that.

The guest is a "ue-al" second person for a couple reasons - first off being the... vague sort of communications disconnect between Northern and Eastern Balkour? They aren't fighting but there's a bit of historical separation, so a Northern storyteller might emphasize the distant ominous nature of the guest by using an overly-formal (double-emphasized) Eastern You. [the husband's use of "ta" clues us in that they're Northern Balkour]

duae for the husband instead of a more formal laume, one part because it's a more Balkour term, and one part because we're starting this story with a general... not-fully-hostility to the guy? Bear with me, okay I'm emphasizing the thematic difference between the husband and the stranger at the start by using the more endearing term for the husband at the start of the story, this will change.

Taelmek for the house as opposed to Virechek to emphasize that the house doesn't feel like the speaker's proprietary domain.

what else... the "libire" with so-so-do melody is reference to the Coupatre paier, so it's not saying the town is literally sickly but that it's just slowly fading into unpassable territory.

There's probably more but I can't think of it, so that's all for this installment!

(Obviously I am not doing the google translate "word for word translation" translation)

-Jakxy

weird anti ideology finally leaking out into the mainstream

gay month approaches so I’m going to do some more pride flag dragons so comment or tag some suggestions for me

People will be like "Why do you hate communicating with people" and then be very selective in responding to the points that I make about that. Let me clarify.

I hate communicating because I do not want to be perceived. In relation to any words. At all. Death of the author me immediately.

I don't hate my body, I don't hate anything about my perception, but I want any and every word I say to be taken out of context and spun through the wash of the void before it makes it to anyone else's mind.

I am begging you to misunderstand me. I am getting on my knees and pleading for my life that you take any word from my mind with the skepticism of a questionable AI response and with the over-analysis of a vaguely sapphic poem from ancient history.

On. my. fucknig. knees.

PSA for new tumblr users!

This place is a message... and part of a system of messages... pay attention to it!

Sending this message was important to us. We considered ourselves to be a powerful culture.

This place is not a place of honor... no highly esteemed deed is commemorated here... nothing valued is here.

What is here was dangerous and repulsive to us. This message is a warning about danger.

The danger is in a particular location... it increases towards a center... the center of danger is here... of a particular size and shape, and below us.

The danger is still present, in your time, as it was in ours.

The danger is to the body, and it can kill.

The form of the danger is an emanation of energy.

The danger is unleashed only if you substantially disturb this place physically. This place is best shunned and left uninhabited.