A Poetry Project for Spreading Love
My contribution for Jk Mansi
Jk Mansi has asked those of us on Medium fluent in more than one language to participate in a poetry challenge. She’s posted a short verse in Hindi, translated it into English, and asked for translations into many other languages.
I’ve copied the original poem below, followed by her English translation, and then my (hopefully not entirely ham handed) French version.
Hindi
आगे के अँधेरे में
इक किरण सी दिखी है
और देखूं या ना देखूं
यही सोचती सी
खड़ी हूँ गुमसुम सी
Hindi alphabet
Aagey kay andherey mein
ik kiran si dikhee hai
aur dekhoon ya na dekhoon
yahi sochti si
khadi hoon gumsum si
English
In the darkness ahead
I have seen a ray of light
should I look or look away
wondering this
I stand here silent, undecided
French
Dans l’ombre en avant
J’ai vu un rayon de lumière
Devrais-je le regarder ou me détourner le regard
en me le demandant
Je me tiens debout, indécis.
French in rough English-phonetic spelling
The tilde character ( ~ ) represents a nasal closing. The u sound in French does not exist as a phoneme in English. It can be approximated by shaping the lips as if to say ee, then trying to force out an oo sound instead. The r sound in French can either be trilled as in Spanish or Italian, or shaped like an English r, though in standard Metropolitan French, it’s quite different and fairly impossible to explain. It’s not the over-emphasized guttural that most Americans think it is. The e sound is the neutral sound. It’s shorter and tenser than the English neutral, with a quality similar to the oo sound in the word look, though without the elongation. French words are always stressed on the syllables where words or phrases end. I’ve bolded where I would stress the syllables, though in two places, other French speakers might make different choices.
Daw~ lombr aw~ navaw~
Zhay vu u~ rayo~ de lumyair
Devray zhe le redarday oo me retoornay le regar
Aw~ me le demandaw~
Zhe me tye~ deboo, a~daysee
