Fancy a bit of homophonic translation for a laugh?
It doesn’t sound funny, but it actually is, and very clever. I have to admit to not being great at languages, although I’m ok at singing in foreign languages which is a bit weird (had to sing in Latin, French, German, Italian, Afrikaans and English in my final singing recital at college). However, you don’t need to be that good at languages to enjoy homophonic translation.
I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but have a go at reading the following poems- but you need to read them aloud. It’s even better if you can get someone else to read them to you. Don’t worry about the translation – just listen to the sounds – and then tell me what you think!
Here are a few examples:
“German”:
Liter mies muffelt
Satan atü fällt,
Hie Dinge kurz und weh.
Sehr Kämme Piks beide
Ente satt Daunen bei Seide.
Unfrei den mies muffelt, oh weh!
“French”:
Un petit d’un petit
S’étonne aux Halles
Un petit d’un petit
Ah! degrés te fallent
Indolent qui ne sort cesse
Indolent qui ne se mène
Qu’importe un petit d’un petit
Tout Gai de Reguennes.
“French”:
Georgie Port-régie, peu digne en paille,
Qui se dégeule sans mais. Dame craille.
Où haine de bouées ce qu’aime a tout plié:
Georgie Port-régie règne. Ohé.
Hope you enjoy this. Oh, and I just have to ping Gill Andrews for this one.
#languages #sounds #funny
