#mo chuid staidéir

[polysprachig]

20.10.2023 | The long and the short of it

*Currently translating excerpts from Shelley's Posthumous Poems (1824)*

Sometimes you can predict when a word is going to have its own column in the dictionary. Other times it can take you completely by surprise.

#appeal? really? #meanwhile i was shocked that 'vision' didn't come with an appendix #langblr #studyblr #percy bysshe shelley #british romanticism #translation #mo chuid staidéir

[briosca-sa-speir]

Theastaigh uaim mo scíth a ligean is m'intinn a scaoileadh beagáinín ó mo chuid staidéir, mar sin shocraigh mé ar rud éigin a léamh. Fuaireas an t-úrscéal seo i bhfolach i leabhragán, is dócha gur leabhar é a ndearna mo mháthair dearmad air. Ar aon nós, léigh mé é in aon anáil amháin agus anois níl aon deora fágtha agam le caoineadh 🤧

#the light between oceans #i'm emotionally compromised #leabhair speisialta #blagáil

[polysprachig]

14.02.2024 | why I learn languages

Updating and finishing my polyglot journal from 2020-2023 is going well, albeit at a leisurely pace. There are so many details to include and ideas pop into my head when I look at my studies in context--I like commenting on them: it highlights how much has changed in the way I think based off of what I have learnt and experienced throughout all of my projects and studies. Only now am I writing out my reasons for learning certain languages (the core ones), despite that this was the first section I allotted space to when I began this book, and while I would have liked to compare and contrast my skills and ideas at the start and the finish, I'm kind of glad that only the present is left to reflect on them in brief.

#polyglot things #langblr #studyblr #mo chuid staidéir #irish #gaeilge #and other languages

[polysprachig]

17.03.2024 | lá fhéile Pádraig sona daoibh and some borderline Merlin fanfiction in Irish ☘️🍄

*Currently learning to record and working on my reader voice—without dropping my mixed accent

Sometimes you plan to do something 4 years ago, then 2, and in the end you do it today. How long I thought it would take to improve my writing and translation skills before moving on to creative reading and how long it actually took differed quite drastically. But as I annotate the polyglot journal I started in 2020 (which is not the book pictured above), it's hard to feel like that's a bad thing, since I gave myself an appropriate amount of time to work on each stage of my projects at my current level without feeling the need to rush on to the next thing.

The audio here is cut from a set of blanket test recordings I made to test out some recording software, which is why it gives she-just-picked-up-the-text-and-started-reading-without-prep-time vibes.

Text in Irish and English below.

English translation shares the original sentiment but at a different register—as was my specific intention in this particular project.

Fadó, fadó chuaigh Merlin go Camelot.

Long before the days of yore and once upon a time Merlin went to Camelot.

Bhuel, shiúil sé chuig an gcathair agus teangacha a bhróg ag longadán anonn is anall agus é ar a bhealach ann.

Walked, rather, the tongues of his boots swaying back and forth as he made his way there.

Ní raibh ann ach stócach bocht thart faoin am sin agus ní raibh a fhios aige cén dóigh marcaíocht ar chapall a dhéanamh, agus ní raibh capall aige fiú!

He was only a young lad at that time and hadn’t the faintest idea how to ride a horse, but fortunately for him, he didn’t own one!

Ba bhuachaill deas is cairdiúil é Merlin. Bhí sé ard tanaí agus bhí gruaig dhubh, súile gorma, agus cluasa móra air.

A nice, friendly boy Merlin was, tall and thin with black hair, blue eyes and sizeable ears.

É sin ráite, níor éist sé le daoine eile ar chor ar bith – agus fadhb i gcroí an scéil seo a bheidh inti sin, déanta na fírinne.

Not that he used them to listen to anyone else – a truth which, I dare say, will be the problem at the heart of this story.

Mar sin féin, ní hionann sin ‘s a rá go raibh sé ag déanamh amaidí gach lá.

Be that as it may, he wasn’t one to make a complete fool of himself either.

Thuig sé rudaí praiticiúla, mar shampla: ná bí i do shuí ar do thóin nuair a bhuaileann tú le díbheargaigh sa choill, ná hól uisce as an áit naofa agus rudaí mar sin.

He knew such practical things as not to sit on his arse when he happened on bandits in the forest, not to drink water from a sacred well and things like that.

Cé gur thuig sé é sin, rinne sé a rogha rud freisin.

Still, Merlin was rather prone to do as he pleased.

Tugadh am crua dó, ach b’fhearrde sé é gan dabht. 

It nearly always made his life more difficult, but what great test of character that turned out to be.

Chaith sé éadach glan buanfasach. Éadach donn a bhí i gceist den chuid is mó, ach bhí léine ghorm is scaif dhearg iontach deas aige freisin.

He wore clothes which were clean and durable and mostly brown to my recollection; yet he did have a blue shirt and a wonderfully lovely red scarf as well.

Ní raibh ach mála beag amháin aige chomh maith le pocán fíona, a luasc nuair a ghlac sé gach céim, agus éadach olla áisiúil ar chodail sé air. 

With him he carried only a small rucksack, a wineskin which rocked to and fro as he took each step, and a handy, woollen blanket to sleep on.

Bhí sé an-ghaofar nuair a chuaigh Merlin thar na sléibhte ar an mbóthar gainimh, ach mhothaigh sé an ghrian ar a aghaidh. Bhí sé te go leor.

A strong wind blew as Merlin traversed the mountains on the sandy road, but the sun on his face shone warm enough.

Bhí lá breá geallta don lá, rud a rinne radharc an tírdhreacha i bhfad níos áille.

The day was proving, as promised, to be a fine one and that made the view of the landscape even more beautiful.

Bhí féar glas agus rosáin bheaga ag fás taobh le cosán an tsléibhe, crainn ghiúise ina sheasamh ar charraigeacha na n-aillte, sruthanna beaga sneachta ag soilsiú ar cheann an tsléibhe agus néalta geala ag síneadh go bun na spéire.

Green grass and small shrubs grew along the mountain path, fir trees towered on the rocky cliffs, little streams of snow glistened on each mountain peak and bright clouds stretched as far as the eye could see.

Ní fhaca sé Camelot fós agus bhí tinneas cosa air, ach níor chuir sé sin moill air.

He could not yet see Camelot and his feet grew weary, but his pace never slowed.

Le fírinne, bhí an-dúil ag Merlin sa turas mór agus bhí sé sásta, is dócha. 

Truth be told, the journey was quite enjoyable for Merlin and he was generally content to be on it.

#happy st patrick's day everyone #its basically a frame by frame description of the first few seconds in ep 1 #with a narrator #langblr #studyblr #mo chuid staidéir #irish #gaeilge

[polysprachig]

21.10.2023 | 04/06 translations complete

Currently shifting into post-translating mode

Not entirely certain how coherently I can share this news, but I've finally finished translating the Zueignung of Goethe's Faust, Teil 1 into English ottava rima stanza!! 🍾💐🧿 Even though I still have the defense of the translation choices and clarification of my translation aims to write, I feel so elated I can't even describe it. 🥰

#*screams internally* #now the only two translations remaining are shelley and byron #and my mind is ready but my hand is already cramping at the thought #🤷🏻‍♀️ #anyways #mo chuid staidéir #translation portfolio #langblr #studyblr #polyglot things

[polysprachig]

07.12.2023 | Feeling elated, and belated kaló mína to everyone 💙🧿

*Finished translating Mary Shelley's Preface to P. B. Shelley's Posthumous Poems*

A weight has been lifted off my shoulders (not that it was a truly a weight to begin with, only a long road travelled). There's simply so much to be done in the last weeks of the year that I'm relieved to see another one of my aims duly met, while also grateful for all the wonderful lessons about the art of translation that I've learnt along the way. (:

#langblr #studyblr #translations #translation portfolio #the full portfolio still requires some remaining effort before its completion but im happy regardless #mo chuid staidéir #polyglot things

[polysprachig]

11.04.2024 | outrage and (/at) punctuation and crass editing

Currently writing translator's notes

When it comes to using different editions of classic novels in language and literature classes I am usually quite flexible. One of the benefits of one-on-one is that we can simply read the divergent texts, pursue the topic within reason and move on.

But when a poetic treatise has been gutted of its original context and its typographical origins so altered as to mar the syntactic relations between the very concepts being proposed, the end result is not a mere question of slight discrepancies but a devolution of the highest philosophical and linguistic expressions into complete and utter drivel.

#if you need to read shelley's defence of poetry make sure that the words Reason and Imagination are capitalised in the first paragraph #otherwise you're screwed #the norton edition is 💯🔥💘 #romanticism #percy bysshe shelley #lord byron #polyglot things #translator things #langblr #studyblr #mo chuid staidéir #whatever manuscript the print out uses is criminally incomplete

[polysprachig]

17.10.2023 | The artist and society

Currently reading Oscar Wilde's De Profundis

Lost in thought at the fact that Wilde would ask Douglas to write him personally in the second paragraph rather than 'publish my letters without permission or to dedicate poems to me unasked', bringing up a whole slew of questions regarding personal correspondence and the public artist, even as the piece reads crafted, like it is conscious of possibly meeting more eyes than just Douglas's alone.

#how certain was wilde that this text would be published in his lifetime? afterward? #langblr #studyblr #victorian literature #mo chuid staidéir

[polysprachig]

19.10.2023 | Left behind in the memory

Currently translating Percy Bysshe Shelley's Posthumous Poems (1824), Preface by Mary Shelley

I didn't plan to translate prose for this portfolio, but Mary Shelley's eloquent and heart-wrenching biographical note on her late husband leans so heavily on the poetical that to not translate it together with the excerpts is unthinkable.

#these texts are so heavy i can't even tell you #no adjectives are strong enough to describe the range of emotions in this text #langblr #studyblr #translation #mo chuid staidéir

[polysprachig]

16.10.2023 | Spooky lessons for spooky season

Currently teaching an excerpt from Jonathan Harker's Journal, Chapter 2

Butternut squash soup and lesson reviewing before class time. The likelihood that I will tire of reading about this man's descent into gothic imprisonment decreases every time I read it.

#langblr #studyblr #how many times is too many #gothic fiction #dracula #sunset from the other day because the atmosphere was 🦇🏰🎃 #mo chuid staidéir #obair atá ann

[polysprachig]

Hey, I was wondering what kind of stuff goes in a polyglot journal? I've seen you mention it before and it seems like something I'd be interested in!

Your Merlin Irish recording was really cool btw, I've never heard Irish spoken before and I could read along to you speaking easily!

Thanks for the message, anon!

About the polyglot journal:

At the start of 2020 I decided to write down what I was doing to learn languages in a central location for two reasons: 1 because in 2019 I secretly took five months of lessons in Greek before living with my family in Athens for the summer and realised that—apart from loving to make cryptic allusions to the studies I'm doing which nobody knows about—I would need to record my efforts if I wanted to expand this way of learning to other languages, and 2 because I was dissatisfied with online polyglot content during New Years Resolutions season which I found too generic in discussing how polyglots learn languages.

The notebook basically contains a variety of details about the polyglot projects I have worked on since 2020, my learning philosophy, approach, struggles, revised methodology and timeline, and project elements such as vocab lists, grammar charts, reading lists, and reflections on my efforts.

I'm currently working on finishing it while typing it up, and I plan to share it once it's complete. (:

#answered anon #anon asks #qs #mo chuid staidéir #polyglot things #my polyglot studies #langblr #studyblr

[polysprachig]

03.02.2024 | left again to commentary

At the end of the last year I read through the first part of my polyglot journal and filled in the gaps with whatever missing details and reminisces I could. I'd like to spend more time completing the rest of it without planning, just reading, reflecting and writing.

#polyglot things #langblr #studyblr #mo chuid staidéir #the period im currently reviewing has basically no notes for it and im just like is this what i meant when i said ill take it easy this year #smh