New Leaf Nominations for January 2019 • Lost in Translation: Other Tongues

[issybird]

Originally Posted by stuartjmz

My apologies for missing your intent - had I parsed it correctly I could have nominated something that fitted better. Are poetry anthologies eligible for nomination?

Not to worry. As posted above, people are free to interpret themes as they will and the ideal theme admits the possibility of lateral thinking. Yours is not the only English-language nomination and it was obviously popular.

Anything is eligible; have at it. Things to consider are availability, price, length and general appeal.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by stuartjmz

My apologies for missing your intent - had I parsed it correctly I could have nominated something that fitted better. Are poetry anthologies eligible for nomination?

Don't panic. The themes can be interpreted as the nominator pleases. (My suggested theme - Out of this world - originally aimed at sci-fi, but only received two unambiguously sci-fi nominations. Whereas the school theme ended up voting in book that was arguably sci-fi, so go figure. )

I don't think there are limits on the type of book you can nominate, other than the general expectation that it will be available and appreciable on an e-ink ereader. This counts out a book I really want to nominate - a picture book, The Arrival by Shaun Tan - but poetry should be fine.

ETA: Oh, issybird beat me to it. Oh well, leaving it here anyway.

Thank you issybird!

This nomination is close to my heart, because I was ecstatic when I discovered that it even existed. Hindi and Urdu are/were a digraphia, but despite their closeness, Urdu was long revered as the more poetic of the two. For me, Urdu's nastaliq is insanely gorgeous, the most beautiful script I know of, but I can't read a single letter. So discovering an anthology of Urdu poetry in devanagari (which I can read), with both Roman transliteration and English translation, was a joy. To share that joy, I nominate Celebrating the Best in Urdu Poetry

[issybird]

Originally Posted by stuartjmz

Thank you issybird!

This nomination is close to my heart, because I was ecstatic when I discovered that it even existed. Hindi and Urdu are/were a digraphia, but despite their closeness, Urdu was long revered as the more poetic of the two. For me, Urdu's nastaliq is insanely gorgeous, the most beautiful script I know of, but I can't read a single letter. So discovering an anthology of Urdu poetry in devanagari (which I can read), with both Roman transliteration and English translation, was a joy. To share that joy, I nominate Celebrating the Best in Urdu Poetry

Very intriguing; thank you. For me, discovery is a huge part of the nomination process.

I did a little rooting around and it seems to be the various Amazons only with the exception of Kobo India, where it's only about US$3.

[issybird]

I'm going to third The Leopard.

[Bookpossum]

Originally Posted by issybird

I was checking my OverDrive libraries for this and one has it. In Spanish! Surely that would count for a twofer? Not for me, alas. Minor rant: The book cover had the author's name and Kitchen. But when I tried to check it out, I got a warning telling me the book was in Spanish and asking if I still wanted it, which was helpful. But why isn't it called La Cocina?

I can go one better! My library has several Yoshimoto titles - translated into Chinese! (We have a growing population of Chinese immigrants in this part of Melbourne.)

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

I can go one better! My library has several Yoshimoto titles - translated into Chinese! (We have a growing population of Chinese immigrants in this part of Melbourne.)

Which Chinese? Having many friends who speak Sinitic languages (and they are languages, often not mutually intelligible) other than MSM/Putonghua, from Cantonese to Min to Hakka, I always seek clarification on this point.

[Bookpossum]

Originally Posted by stuartjmz

Which Chinese? Having many friends who speak Sinitic languages (and they are languages, often not mutually intelligible) other than MSM/Putonghua, from Cantonese to Min to Hakka, I always seek clarification on this point.

Well, the written Chinese characters can be read by both Cantonese and Mandarin speakers, which is why I didn't say the books were in Mandarin! However, I think most of our newer settlers are Mandarin speakers.

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

Well, the written Chinese characters can be read by both Cantonese and Mandarin speakers, which is why I didn't say the books were in Mandarin! However, I think most of our newer settlers are Mandarin speakers.

English and Fiji Hindi belong to the same language and use the same script, that doesn't mean that someone who reads one can automatically read the other. The same is true of members of the Sinitic language family. Cantonese also has characters not used in MSM. The myth that there is one universal written Chinese is very resilient, sadly

[Bookpossum]

That’s interesting to know. I must have misunderstood this in conversation classes in English for migrants learning the language - which could well be the case as of course the students’ English was of course limited.

[Greg Anos]

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[issybird]

There's about a day-and-a-half left for nominations, whether they be firsts, seconds, or thirds.

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

That’s interesting to know. I must have misunderstood this in conversation classes in English for migrants learning the language - which could well be the case as of course the students’ English was of course limited.

My apologies if I seemed a little overly tense about this, my reactions may have been coloured by interactions with non-MSM speaking Chinese friends who feel VERY passionately about this, and also by regular reading of Dr Victor Mair's frequent lengthy posts on matters Sinophone on the excellent languagelog site.

[Bookpossum]

Thanks stuartjmz - I did feel a bit put down! It occurred to me also that the person who was (I thought) telling me this was of course a Mandarin speaker, and as is often the case with a member of a large majority, she may not even have realised that there were other written languages.

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

Thanks stuartjmz - I did feel a bit put down! It occurred to me also that the person who was (I thought) telling me this was of course a Mandarin speaker, and as is often the case with a member of a large majority, she may not even have realised that there were other written languages.

That is how the PRC government wants it to be: "One China, One Chinese" They are working hard to crush all languages other than MSM, whether Sinitic languages like Hakka, Cantonese, Min, Wu etc, or others like Uygur