National Cheng Kung University linguists on Wednesday released a bilingual version of Grimms’ Fairy Tales in German and Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), complete with voice recordings accessible via QR code.
Grimms’ Fairy Tales, a German collection of about 300 stories published in the 19th century, has been translated into more than 100 languages worldwide.
Hoklo is now joining the list thanks to a project spearheaded by Tan Le-kun (陳麗君), an associate professor in the university’s Department of Taiwanese Literature.
The project, funded by the Rotary Club and with Avant Garde Publishing as printing partner, aims to translate children’s books into Hoklo to promote language education.
The fairy tale collection is the first in the series, to be followed by bilingual versions of French, Japanese, Russian, Vietnamese and US classics, among others, the university said.
“If language is a vehicle for culture, then writing is a repository for its dissemination,” Tan said.
Hopefully, the availability of literature can help Hoklo take root as a language and to no longer be treated as mere source material for slang, she added.
The book features favorite stories, including “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Rapunzel,” “Cinderella,” “The Frog Prince” and “Hansel and Gretel,” in Chinese characters and Roman script.
Each story has a QR code link to a recording of a professional reading the story in Hoklo.
Chiu Wei-hsin (邱偉欣), a doctoral candidate in the department who studied at a German university for another doctorate, in biology, translated the volume.
In the world of Chinese writing, saturated with rewrites and adaptations, most of the works people encounter diverge from the original, he said.
Chiu said he wanted to create something as close as possible to the German version so that readers could feel the spirit of the original, while also giving play to the creative translation ability of Hoklo.
The illustrator of the book, Aya Kondo, lives in Japan and is the granddaughter of renowned Hoklo expert Ong Iok-tek (王育德).
It was a pleasure to be involved in meaningful work related to Hoklo, Kondo said, adding that she cannot wait for the next collaboration.
A video allegedly featuring retired general Kao An-kuo (高安國) calling on Taiwanese military officers to surrender to China and overthrow the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government has sparked outrage and calls for him to be charged with treason. The video, titled “A message to Taiwanese military officers,” allegedly shows Kao saying: “I call on commanding officers of our military troops to stand up for Chinese nationalism, to take up this duty under heaven’s mandate to save Taiwanese from oppression and terrible suffering.” Dressed in military fatigues and a beret, the lieutenant general called on officers to overthrow the “fraudulent DPP regime,”
‘NOT IMPOSSIBLE’: Acceptance to the UN would end the nation’s troubles, but it would be impossible to achieve without US backing, Legislative Speaker You Si-kun said The US might recognize Taiwan if war breaks out in the Taiwan Strait, Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫堃) said yesterday while discussing politics with former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). Speaking on Chen’s program on Smile Radio, You reminisced about his agrarian childhood, studies, the founding of the Democratic Progressive Party in 1986 and his eight years as Yilan County commissioner. Chen’s appointment of You as premier in February 2002 marked several firsts, as he was Taiwan’s youngest premier, as well as the first from a farming background and first democratically elected county leader to hold the office. Asked to share his views on
ONLY EXCEPTIONS: The mayors of the two largest cities voiced concerns over hidden cases, while all other local governments are to follow eased CECC guidelines All local governments, with the exception of Taipei and New Taipei City, are to allow dine-in services at restaurants after the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Friday announced that it would on Tuesday lower a nationwide COVID-19 alert to level 2. The center on July 8 allowed the resumption of dining at restaurants nationwide — despite keeping the alert level at 3. At the time, this prompted all cities and counties, except Penghu Country, to keep local dine-in bans in place. Following Friday’s CECC announcement that COVID-19 prevention measures would be further relaxed, the Taipei and New Taipei City governments
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday rejected the claim Beijing has been making about Taiwan’s status, while thanking US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman for raising concerns about Taiwan during her meeting with Chinese officials. Sherman met with Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) on a visit to Tianjin on Sunday and Monday, with Wang urging Washington not to infringe on China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Taiwan is part of China, a fundamental fact that would never change, and China has the right to take any action needed to restrain Taiwanese independence, Wang said, urging Washington to abide
RSS