Bidxi
Cachesa, cachesa
ti bidxi' ludoo
ti bidxi' ruaangola
ti bidxi' nambó'
Latá', lataguuya'
lataguuya oh,
ti bidxi' luyaandi
cachese ludoo.
This poem is taken from one of Victor’s books for children.
Frog
Jump! Jump!
Frog skip the rope
Wide-mouth frog
Pot-bellied frog
Come, come and see
Come and see - look
Bug-eyed frog
Jump skip the rope
Having Victor at the workshop was absolutely invaluable. First off, he clarified that this was a frog, not a toad, as David had originally thought. Secondly, he explained that, this being a poem for children, the rhythm was of overwhelming importance.
As you can see, we veered away from the literal translation, for one of two reasons: Either Victor, via David, clarified the translation (as in ‘toad’ to ‘frog’). Or because we felt that the sound of the translation demanded the change; for example, the end of the second line of the second stanza, which in Zapotec is ‘lataguuya oh’, we changed the ‘oh’ to ‘look’ because ‘look’ conveys the sense of an exclamation, particularly when speaking to a child.
Although he doesn’t speak English, Victor listened very carefully to our translation and professed himself delighted with our version.
We also translated Victor’s poem ‘Moon’ in this workshop.
Toad
Jumps, that it jumps (1)
a toad on the cord
thick-lipped toad (2)
pot-bellied toad (3)
Come, come, come to see (4)
come, come, come to see
a toad with bug-eyes
that jumps in a straight line
(1) An exclamation, possibly ‘Jump, jump!’
(2) Dictionary lists ‘blubber-lipped’ as well.
(3) Dictionary also gives ‘paunchy’.
(4) In each appearance ‘come’ is plural.
Victor also made this translation of his poem into Spanish:
Sapo
Salta que salta
un sapo en la cuerda
un sapo trompudo
un sapo panzón
Vengan, vengan, vengan a ver
vengan, vengan, vengan a ver
un sapo con ojos saltones
que brinca el cordel