medizan → slanderer, gossiper, defamer
malpalan → backbiter, someone who spreads malicious rumor/gossip
bòs pentirè → painter, such as a house painter
planch silotèks → type of lumber used to make benches
Okipasyon l se mete yon kalte gwo kouch penti nwa sou bout planch silotèks.
His job is to apply a large layer of black paint on pieces of silotèks wood.
Apre, li pran pik, tonbe fè chimen, tras nan mas penti a.
Afterwards, he takes a pick, starts to trace a path in the blob of paint.
Depi premye jou m wè bòs pentirè a ap travay, ...
Since the first day I saw the painter work, ....
Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words
malpalan → backbiter, someone who spreads malicious rumor/gossip
bòs pentirè → painter, such as a house painter
planch silotèks → type of lumber used to make benches
Okipasyon l se mete yon kalte gwo kouch penti nwa sou bout planch silotèks.
His job is to apply a large layer of black paint on pieces of silotèks wood.
Apre, li pran pik, tonbe fè chimen, tras nan mas penti a.
Afterwards, he takes a pick, starts to trace a path in the blob of paint.
Depi premye jou m wè bòs pentirè a ap travay, ...
Since the first day I saw the painter work, ....
Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words
Sorry, it looks like it cut off right where I started to have trouble (I just wrote that first part for context). Let me write the rest:
ReplyDelete"Depi premye jou m wè bòs pentirè ap travay, m konn ki pwofondè limyè la chèche fè soti nan fon nwa l yo. Anpil fwa, se grap koukouy andezòd, plon gaye ki soti nan tablo l yo."
WOW! That's beautiful stuff. I hope I can translate the idea here:
Delete"Depi premye jou m wè bòs pentirè a ap travay",
"Since the first day I saw the painter at work",
"m konn ki pwofondè limyè l'ap chèche fè soti nan fon nwa l yo."
"I know what depth of light he's looking to bring out from the base of his darks (dark colors maybe)" (literally)
"Anpil fwa, se grap koukouy andezòd, plon gaye ki soti nan tablo l yo"
Many times, it's a bunch of chaotic fireflies, or buckshots that comes out in his paintings." literally
koukouy andezòd → disorderly/chaotic looking fireflies
plon gaye → buckshot, confetti, lead shot
[This is from 'Pase m yon Kou Foli,' which appears to be one of the more difficult novels of the Kolèksyon Souf Nouvo. It also appears to have been edited less rigorously, (Eg. "Lapli kontinze tombe.") All the same, I am not too far in it, but it seems like it will be a good story and has a interesting style.]
ReplyDeleteYes. I see what you mean.
DeleteIt looks like some part of it may be crude Creole too, where the meaning of some words is mostly known in the region where they speak it. Or it may be the type of Creole known to the older generation with either a regional or individual variation.
Either way, I really enjoy these style of writings. I did order some of the books of Koleksyon Souf Nouvo from the Haitian Book Centre (about 10 of them). It's been more than a month and I have not heard from them. I think that they may be shipping them from Haiti :)
Pase bon jounen
Yikes. I ordered something from there and it never came (but I believe my account wasn't charged). [Also, I sort of forgot about this, it might have been Libreri Mapou]. I was also trying to get them ship to Amsterdam.
DeleteNext time you or a friend visit Port-au-Prince, go to either the National Press (make an appointment/order in advance or prepare for a struggle to get someone to walk to the back room), or Libreri Lapleyad (La Pleiade) in Petionville.
DeleteYes. I thought about that. But I didn't want to wait too long. I guess that's what I'll have to do now. Thanks for the info:)
DeleteSince you liked it, here is the wider context:
ReplyDelete[the narrator is a new psychiatrist in a Haitian mental asylum]
"Nan tout pansyonè Lazil la, gen youn ki pa gen tit. M ap kouri sou yon mwa depi m antre an fonksyon, m wè l louvri bouch li sis fwa antotal. Chak fwa se pou l gwonde menm silab la: non. Senpman non san l pa pran tan leve je l pou gade sou ki pye moun k ap pale avè l la kanpe.
Medizan, malpalan Bòs pentirè. Okipasyon l se mete yon kalte gwo kouch penti nwa sou bout planch silotèks. Apre, li pran pik, tonbe fè chimen, tras nan mas penti a. Depi premye jou m wè bòs pentirè ap travay, m konn ki pwofondè limyè la chèche fè soti nan fon nwa l yo. Anpil fwa, se grap koukouy andezòd, plon gaye ki soti nan tablo l yo. Yon enfimyè ki la depi lontan di m li te di l yon jou se lespwa atis la ap chache nan lanmè lank. Tablo l yo se landwat lemonn. Poubèl kè ouvè Maniy. Dèyè fildefè Palestin. Nan fòs komin Wannda. Anndan kè Palè bidonvil lari kraze danjere Pòtoprens."
- Jean-Euphèle Milcé, "Pase M Yon Kou Foli" paj 22-23
I like the author's reference to the painter seeking to bring light out of a blob of black paint.
DeleteIt makes me think about the painter's state of mind.
Especially as he continues to write:
"Tablo l yo se landwat lemonn,"
"His paintings are the front facet of the world,"
"poubèl kè ouvè Maniy,"
"the rubbish in the hearts of the city of Manila,"
"dèyè fildefè Palestin,"
"behind the barbed wires of Palestine"
"nan fòs komin Wannda,"
"in the dead center of the neighborhood of Rwanda,"
"Anndan kè Palè bidonvil lari kraze danjere Pòtoprens."
"Inside the bidonvil palace on the dangerous broken streets of Port-au-Prince"
That's a lot of suffering and heartbreak.
This might just be a great read in Haitian Creole.