Carpe Diem Vernacular, with a twist #1 the old pond
furu ike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto
the old pond;
a frog jumps in —
the sound of the water
© Basho (Tr. R.H.Blyth
Our task is to translate this poem – except if you use a translator the poem ends up saying the exact same thing because furu ike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto is the english version – so first I used a translator to change it back to Japanese Romanji .
古 池;
カ エ ル に ジ ャ ン プ-
水 の 音
Then I tried a variety of translators and these were the most coherent.
The old pond
mosquito catcher flops down
the sound of water
pond
during the campaign
the sound of water
Using still another translator the Japanese and English translation
古い池;
カエルのジャンプ-水の音
Old pond; Jumping frog-the sound of the water
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So my translation- with one of the translators the only word that actually translated was ancient, so I think I will chose that word. I loved the” mosquito catcher.” Flops down or jumping or a combination
ancient pond
the mosquito catcher jumps
the sound of water
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Now my own ideas just imagining the scene.
forgotten pond
startled frog jumps
with a splash
algae covered pond
the sound of the frog
ducking into water
You give us an awesome insight in the way you create your haiku Dolores. I like to see (and read) the grooming proces in your post. Your own interpretations are really something.
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Thanks
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BRILLIANT!!!
Love the way you show up the shortcomings of mechanical translators and then give us your perfect own interpretation. such fun.
Wonderful approach. Wish I had thought of it.
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Reply thanks! Glad you enjoyed. 🙂
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A well created transformation expanding the philosophy of the old pond !!!
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Thanks very much,
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https://rajkumarmilan.wordpress.com/2016/02/05/old-pond/
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I enjoyed your post.
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O thank you !
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This is a great post Dolores … it game me a whole new take on the “old pond” 🙂
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