I regularly visit lernu.net, where there are free Esperanto courses. Esperanto was created by L.L. Zamenhoff in order to be everyone's second language. It is incredibly easy to learn and is spoken by over one million people worldwide.
Give the poem a read, and you may even recognize some words.
Vi estas tre ebria.
Vi trinkis ekscesa ejlo.
Via edzino ekkoleros.
Ŝi eksedzinigos vin.
Mi havas ekskuzon.
Mi eksplikos ke mi ekmalsatis,
kaj mi trovis taverno escepta.
Tie estis eksterlandano
de la Ekstrema Oriento.
Li rakontis epopeo belega.
Mi ekvojagxis poste li finis.
Ne. Evidente nevera.
Nur apologio estos bona.
Esprimu via domaĝo.
Diru ke vi eraris.
Elpetigu ŝin:
"Havu korfavoron sur mi!"
Elbe, ŝi pardonos vin.
You are very drunk.
You drank excesses of ale.
Your wife is gonna be angry.
She is gonna divorce you.
I have an excuse.
I will explain that I got hungry,
and I found an excellent tavern.
There was a foreigner
from the Far East.
He told a beautiful epic poem.
I left right after he finished.
No. Obviously false.
Only an apology will be good.
Express your regret.
Say you made a mistake.
Implore her,
"Have mercy on me!"
Maybe, she will forgive you.
I translated a poem into Esperanto back in April, in the first week of my blog. You can check it out here.
*28 Aug: Added to Poetry Pantry #64
*28 Aug: Added to Poetry Pantry #64
Thanks for the translation; forgiveness is tough in any language.
ReplyDeleteROG, ABC Wednesday team
Cool! I loved learning about this language that I didn't know existed!
ReplyDeleteInteresting to compare the lines. Esperanto is a wonderful idea.
ReplyDeleteRoger - Forgiveness does take practice.
ReplyDeletePaula - I'm glad you learning something!
Joy - I certainly like it :-)
I had no idea Esperanto was still being practised.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to be based mostly on Romance languages:-)
jabblog - The root words are largely from Latin and Greek roots. The construction of meaning is more like Turkish. For example: bela = pretty, -eg- = very, belega = beautiful. Also, because each part of speech has a specific ending, word order can be arranged in any way which feels most natural for the writer without changing meaning. This adds greatly to the ability of people with different grammar constructs in their native languages to more easily communicate.
ReplyDeletewhat smart word play.
ReplyDelete:)
I like the Esperanto version, even though I don't understand it without your translation (although "Mi havas ekskuzon" is a phrase I'll keep handy for future use..)!
ReplyDeleteThe overlaying of the different language roots and cultures somehow adds to the poem - with Turkish, Latin and Greek you're drawing on the ancient Mediterranean world and using these great cultures in harmony rather than conflict - it's great.
Cello - thanks
ReplyDeleteP-d - I love playing with and practicing my Esperanto. It's kinda fun to say, too, because of all the vowels.