A Poem and the Pictograph - Feb, 2001


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This is an EL experimental page with English and Japanese.

Continuously from last month, I chose a child's poem which I liked in Native American Indian Young People's Pages. The author is an American Indian girl, Patricia Joudain in Red School House, grade 6.

先月に引き続き、こどものうたをご紹介します。アメリカインディアンの小学校6年、パトリシア・ジョーダンちゃんの作品で、 このウェブサイトで見つけました。彼女にとても同感です。

Original poem:
If I could be a thing,
I would want to be a drum.
That way I could give our people pleasure
to dance, sing, and listen to my beat.

The Japanese translation
もしなにかになれるなら、わたしは太鼓になりたい
そうすればみんなに、踊り、うたい、
わたしの鼓動をきく楽しみをあげられる

: dance, : sound, : wave, : mouth

EL translation:


{gc (preposition),53(situation)}: under/in the condition/situation of (~の条件/状態なら)
{38 (creation),15 (recognition)}: supposition (かりに)
{gd(d-verb),58(possible)}: can become/do (なれる/できる)
: (it's not real, but) if (the subject) could become/do ...
(here, a noun is following, so the verb means 'become the noun'. When the subject of the verb is not the same to the subject of the sentence, use definition brackets bundling the sentence of 'if ...', and put it after the proposition{gc,53}.)(もしかりに~になれるなら)
02 (one) 50 (thing)
(subject indicator) {34 (pronoun),62(behind)}: I ( Since it's not in front of the sentence, it needs the indicator here to show it's the subject of this sentence )(私は)
{gd (d-verb),55(want)} {{28(surface),64(shock)}(beat) {{36,42}(sound),50(thing/tool)}}(drum): want to become a drum (Later 'drum' might be given a simplified single character, but now not so many kinds of tools and things are ready yet) (太鼓になりたい;太鼓の一文字は未定)
gc (preposition) {01,34}( that: showing something in the topic ) 14 (way): that way: 14 also can be compounded with gc, meaning 'through the situation'(その方法で)
{ge (e-verb),58(possible)} {{44,68}(happy),56(action)} (pleasure):
can make (somebody) have a pleasure (~を楽しませることができる)
{41(movement),{44,56}(entertainment)}: dance, to dance( with a verb symbol )(ダンス)
{{39,04}( mouth ),42(a part of 'sound')} (voice/vocal) {44,56} (entertainment):
song/sing (with a verb symbol)(声のエンターテインメント:うた)
{{36,39}(ear/hear),09( intangible thing )} {gc,21}(to): listening to(~をきくこと)
gb (conjunction): and(そして)
{28,64}(beat)
{{33,36}(frequency)),42(wave)}(rhythm): beat( including the rhythm )(打たれるリズム:鼓動)
(31): indicator to show the one(s) who actually become(s) the situation of the e-verb in the sentence
{{34,62}(my),27(plural): our (私たち)
{65(person),27}: people
: our people (われらの民を)

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