Non-English Art Glossing Thread

[rotting bones]

Gloss your favorite non-English works of art here.

Legends I have (lightly) covered in the Bengali thread so far: Abdul Alim (Ar Koto Kal), Salil Chowdhury (Amai Proshno Kore), Rabindranath Tagore (Jodi Tor Dak Shune Keu), Kazi Nazrul Islam (Bidrohi), Kabir Suman (Khodar Kasam Jan) and Anupam Roy (Ei To Ami Chai).

I wish I could get this kind of a glossed showcase of legendary Japanese artists. If someone has the expertise to do it for Japanese or any other non-English language (curious about Etgar Keret's use of Hebrew, e.g.), please go ahead and try it here. Your fluency will improve and you will be sharing local art with non-native speakers. With Neonnaut's improved Gloss My Gloss tool, there's barely any tediousness at all.

I am fluent in Japanese, but I have nowhere near the confidence and art literacy needed to pull this off. It would take me much more effort to do it even for Hindi, and I've at least heard of a wider range of Hindi artists than Japanese artists. Also, I'm not sure how much time I will get going forward. I'm already close to deadlines and it's making me nervous. In this thread, you are not committed to anything. Post when you feel like it.

[rotting bones]

No one else wants to give it a shot? My reading speed has improved significantly since I started the Bengali thread.

[Lērisama]

It's not that I don't want to, but that my German isn't good enough.

[Travis B.]

I don't know any languages (other than English) well enough to do so.

[rotting bones]

What do you think of requesting texts for others to gloss?

[zompist]

I could easily do something from Spanish, French, or Portuguese, but that might be boring.

Mandarin or Old Chinese if you prefer. Or Russian, but I think you already know that?

Quechua would require some work, but I could do some.

[rotting bones]

I could easily do something from Spanish, French, or Portuguese, but that might be boring.

Mandarin or Old Chinese if you prefer. Or Russian, but I think you already know that?

Quechua would require some work, but I could do some.

Quechua would be very interesting, thanks. I wish my book of Mesoamerican poetry had glosses. In Chinese, Drinking Alone Under the Moon by Li Bai struck me deeply. In Russian, iconic lines from Chekhov could be interesting.

To be honest, I would be happy with anything mutually unintelligible with English, even something close like Scots or widely known like Latin. The only time I left my own comfort zone was with that one paragraph of Lithuanian. I could probably do Japanese if I weren't terrified of deliberately difficult texts like poetry.

[Raphael]

I don't know any languages (other than English) well enough to do so.

Well, in my case, I do know German, but (there's always some problem, right?) I don't know how to gloss. That is, I don't have the proper linguistics knowledge.

What do you think of requesting texts for others to gloss?

How about this stanza from Erich Kästner's poem Die Entwicklung der Menschheit?

Sie hören weit. Sie sehen fern.
Sie sind mit dem Weltall in Fühlung.
Sie putzen die Zähne. Sie atmen modern.
Die Erde ist ein gebildeter Stern
mit sehr viel Wasserspülung.

I'd be especially interested in a gloss and attempted explanation of the puns in the first line.

[rotting bones]

Sie hören weit. Sie sehen fern.
Sie sind mit dem Weltall in Fühlung.
Sie putzen die Zähne. Sie atmen modern.
Die Erde ist ein gebildeter Stern
mit sehr viel Wasserspülung.

I'm nowhere near confident enough to attempt a gloss, but I'm reading something roughly like:

They hear wide. They see far.
They touch the universe.
They clean the teeth. They breathe modern.
The earth is an educated star
with lots of flushing.

lol Is this mitteleuropäisch humor?

[zompist]

To be honest, I would be happy with anything mutually unintelligible with English, even something close like Scots or widely known like Latin.

OK, let me start off easy with French. This is the text from this comic by Boulet.

French is highly gendered and I haven't indicated it all over; just take it that all the nouns have a gender. I've also often glossed a plural with a plural noun.

Not gonna put it in table form, sorry. The inflection is simple, it shouldn't be hard to follow. Also I lost patience with the phonemic transcription halfway through. The phonetics are often going to be simpler yet.

Entretien avec un Vampire
õtʀətjɛ̃ avɛk œ̃ võpiʀ
interview with a vampire

Vampire: Ceci est un authentique Stradivarius... offert par Antonio Stradivari en personne...
səsi e tœ̃ notõtik stʀadivaʀjus ofɛʀ paʀ ãtonjo stʀadivaʀi õ pɛʀsɔn]
this is a.M authentic Stradivarius / offered.M by Antonio Stradivari in person
This is an authentic Stradivarius, given to me by Antonio Stradivari himself.

Et derrière vous, un authentique Toulouse-Lautrec, du temps où nous allions ensemble à Pigalle !
e dɛʀjɛʀ vu œ̃ notõtik tuluz lotrɛk dy tõ u nu zaljõ õsõblə a pigal
and behind you / a.M authentic Toulouse-Lautrec / of.the time where we go.IMPFV-1p together to Pigalle
And behind you, an authentic Toulouse-Lautrec, from when we would go together to Pigalle.

Boulet: Whaaa!

Ça aussi ça m'épate avec vous autres les vampires...
sa osi sa mepat avɛk vu zot le võpiʀ
that also that 1s.DAT amaze with you other-PL the vampires
That's another thing that amazes me about you vampires.
Nouns have no case, but pronouns have accusative and dative forms.

On a toujours l'impression que vous étiez toujours avec les personnes les plus intéressantes de chaque époque !
õ a tuʒuʀ læ̃pʀɛsjõ kə vu zetje tuʒuʀ avɛk le peʀsɔn le ply zæ̃terɛsõt də ʃak epɔk
one has always the impression that you be.IMPFV-2p always with the person-PL the most interesting-F-PL of each epoch
We get the impression that you were always with the most interesting people of each era.
In the past only, there is a special imperfective tense. In writing the simple past is used for the perfective (il parla = he spoke), but in speech the "past perfect" has taken over this role (il a parlé).

...En revanche ce sont presque toujours des trucs d'il y a cent ans ou plus...
õ ʀɛvõʃ sə sõ pʀɛsk tuʒuʀ de tʀyk di ja sõ tõ u plys
in revenge that be.3p almost always of.the.M.PL things of it there has hundred years or more
However, it's almost always things a hundred years old or more...
Worth noting that in writing you get the plurality and gender from the endings, but in speech you can mostly get it from the preceding articles. Singular [lə võpiʀ], plural [le võpiʀ].

Vous avez arrêté de collectioner ? Vous ne fréquentez plus de célébrités ?
vu zave aʀɛte də kolɛksjõne vu nə fʀekõte ply də selebrite
you.PL have-2p stopped of collect / you.PL not frequent-2p more of celebrity-PL
Did you stop collecting? You don't hang out with celebrities any more?


Vampire, at a concert: Taylor ? Bien sûr que je suis dans le public, je n'allais pas manquer Coachella, tu penses !
Taylor / well sure that I be.1S in the audience / I not go.IMPFV-1s not miss Coachella / you.S think.2s
Taylor? Of course I'm in the audience. I couldn't msis Coachella, what do you think!
French uses the 2p vous for politeness, 2s tu for informality. Note that Boulet and the vampire use vous for each other, while Taylor and the vampire are on a tu basis.

Spectator: Allons, allons, j'adore la Californie !
go.2p go.2p / I adore.1s the California
Omigod I love California!

Taylor Swift: Oh Edward ! Je suis si heureuse que tu aies pu venir !
oh Edward / I be.1s so happy.F that you.S have.SUBJ.2s can.PASSPART come
Oh, Edward! I'm so happy you were able too come!
There's also a separate subjunctive.

Vampire: C'était un plaisir ! Et maintenant j'ai plein de... bracelets d'amitié pour ma collection !
it be-IMPFV-3s a.M pleasure / and now I have.1s ful of / bracelets of friendship for my.F collection
It's a pleasure. And now I have many... friendship bracelets for my collection.

(back to the interview) Cette époque est... décadente. Nous les vampires ne sommes attirés que par les formes d'art les plus pures !
this epoch is decadent.F / we the.PL vampire.PL not be.1p attracted that by the forms of art the.F.PL more pure.F.PL
This era is... decadent. We vampires are only attracted by the purest art forms!
Rather than a superlative, French uses the definite article + the comparative. (plus pur = purer, le plus pur = purest)

Boulet: Je me demande à quoi ressemblera votre collection dans 200 ans !
I 1s.DAT ask to what resemble-FUT-3s your.PL colleciton in 200 years
I wonder what your collection will look like in 200 years!
An appearance of the separate future tense.

200 ans plus tard...
200 years more late
200 year later...

Vampire: Et là, c'est mon poster de "La revanche de Broly", dédicacé par Toriyama en personne.
and there / that is my.M poster of the revenge of Broly / dedicated.M by Toriyama in person
And there is my poster of "The revenge of Broly", signed by Toriyama himself.
I can't find the particular reference, but this is from Dragon Ball Z.

Boulet: Oooooh !

Vampire: Et dans cette vitrine, mon set Yu-Gi-Oh "Dragon Blanc Aux Yeux Bleus"
and in this.F showcase / my.M set Yu-Gi-Oh dragon white to.the.M.PL eye.PL blue.M.PL
And in this glass case, my Yu-Gi-Oh set, "White Dragon with Blue Eyes."

...Et là c'est une authentique Switch de 2020. Un petit Mario Kart ?
and there that is a.F authentic Switch of 2020 / a.M little.M Mario Kart
And there's an authentic Switch from 2020. A little Mario Kart?

Boulet: C'est quoi ce singe tout moche dans le cadre, là ?
it is what that monkey all.M ugly.M in the.M frame there
What's that ugly monkey in the picture there?

Vampire: Disons juste que je suis personellement allé à la Silicon Valley pour bouffer le connard qui me l'avait vendu !
say-1p just that I be-1s personal-ADV went to the Silicon Valley for eat the asshole who 1s.DAT 3s.OBJ have-IMPFV-3s sold
Let's just say that I personally went to Silicon Valley to eat the asshole who sold that to me.

I haven't indicated it, but French often has slang substitutions for words. Here, notably bouffer for manger 'eat', truc for chose 'thing'. However, the vampire generally speaks more formally than Boulet (or Taylor Swift), which makes his occasional colloquialisms more amusing.

[rotting bones]

Thank you for this and the new conlang. I look forward to going through both.

[Raphael]

Sie hören weit. Sie sehen fern.
Sie sind mit dem Weltall in Fühlung.
Sie putzen die Zähne. Sie atmen modern.
Die Erde ist ein gebildeter Stern
mit sehr viel Wasserspülung.

I'm nowhere near confident enough to attempt a gloss, but I'm reading something roughly like:

They hear wide. They see far.
They touch the universe.
They clean the teeth. They breathe modern.
The earth is an educated star
with lots of flushing.

lol Is this mitteleuropäisch humor?

Yes, that's a pretty good translation! Compare my translation of the whole poem here: https://www.verduria.org/viewtopic.php?p=96563#p96563

I assume it was meant to be a bit amusing, but not laugh-out-loud funny. It does, of course, tell us something about which technologies were the hot new things everyone was talking about at the time the poem was written.

[rotting bones]

Yes, that's a pretty good translation! Compare my translation of the whole poem here: https://www.verduria.org/viewtopic.php?p=96563#p96563

I assume it was meant to be a bit amusing, but not laugh-out-loud funny. It does, of course, tell us something about which technologies were the hot new things everyone was talking about at the time the poem was written.

Thanks. So Fernseher is a pun?

[Raphael]

Thanks. So Fernseher is a pun?

In that poem, it is.

[sasasha]

I might try this, with a Georgian poem by Niko Gamelauri “ბიბლია მაქვს, და რწმენა კი არა” (‘I have a bible, but no faith’). Thanks to my Georgian teacher Aleksandra for providing some inspired teaching materials.

Line by line, when I have time, and I make no guarantees of accuracy... but I think it’s a helpful exercise.

ბურთი თუ მაქვს, მოედანი არ მაქვს,

/ˈburtʰi

ball-NOM

tʰu

if

makʰʷs,

1SG.SUBJ-3SG.OBJ-have.INAN-PRES.3S

ˈmoedani

square/field-NOM

ar

not

makʰʷs/

1SG.SUBJ-3SG.OBJ-have.INAN-PRES.3S

If I have a ball, I don’t have a field.

[Raphael]

Are we still allowed to suggest passages that others might try their hands at? If so, gloss this:


Seit dem Tag an dem die Aktenhauptverwertungsstelle Nord
Mich per Einschreiben aufforderte: "Schicken sie uns sofort

Einen Antrag auf Erteilung eines Antragformulars
Zur Bestätigung der Nichtigkeit des Durchschriftexemplars
Dessen Gültigkeitsvermerk von der Bezugsbehörde stammt
Zum Behuf der Vorlage beim zuständ'gen Erteilungsamt"

[rotting bones]

Are we still allowed to suggest passages that others might try their hands at? If so, gloss this:


Seit dem Tag an dem die Aktenhauptverwertungsstelle Nord
Mich per Einschreiben aufforderte: "Schicken sie uns sofort

Einen Antrag auf Erteilung eines Antragformulars
Zur Bestätigung der Nichtigkeit des Durchschriftexemplars
Dessen Gültigkeitsvermerk von der Bezugsbehörde stammt
Zum Behuf der Vorlage beim zuständ'gen Erteilungsamt"

Postmodern art? :p

[rotting bones]

Line by line, when I have time, and I make no guarantees of accuracy... but I think it’s a helpful exercise.

Sounds interesting. I will be following this too.

[Raphael]

Postmodern art? :p

No, the best-known part of the lyrics of a well-known comedy song about dealing with bureaucracies.