piątek, 14 lutego 2014

Cariad yn yr aer.../Love is in the air


y balŵn melyn mowr

petaset ti’falŵn melyn mawr
mi helwn y pinne bach allan o’r wlad
rhag ofn iti ymddangos yn yr awyr fry
wrth fod y pinne bach
yn breuddwydio’n chwyrn
am falŵn melyn mawr

mi helwn y pinne bach allan o’r fro
i fyd pell sydd mawr angen pinne bach
ac mi waharddwn bop melynbeth mawr
er mwyn iti gael bod yn haul
petaset yn digwydd disgleirio fry

ac ni wnawn mo dy glymu
â rhaff nac â chortyn main
ond mi fyddwn yn gofidio fyn enaid
mai cyrchu gwlad y pinne bach
y byddet yn siŵr o’i neud
petaset yn yn falŵn melyn mawr. 

gan Diarmuid Johnson


czwartek, 24 października 2013

Tell me how you treat your translator and I will tell you what kind of person you are

I did not really plan to write a review but I need to share a few thoughts after reading Travels with Kapuściński. Stories of 14 translators ["Podróże z Ryszardem Kapuścińskim. Opowieści czternastu tłumaczy"]. 
So far, I've read a few books by Kapuściński, but I was always so caught up in his descriptions of people, places, cultures that I have never thought about the author.

And who knows the author better than his translators, right? This book contains 14 stories told by the translators about their work and their impressions on Kapuściński. Each story is a piece of the puzzle and together they create a portrait of a friendly, kind, smiling and shy man who despite his workload, always remembered to thank his translators for their effort and was even sincerely interested in their everyday problems. A man who was always curious, always fascinated by the world around him. A man who was well-known but still was humbly admitting his mistakes and was actually listening to a translator, patiently replying to his/her e-mails.
In fact, this is a book about a perfect author-translator relationship! I knew it was possible in real world!

There is more... The stories also remind us that sometimes we can read good books in our mother tongue only because a translator was persistent enough to persuade a publisher they were worth publishing. Maybe we should more often pay attention to the translator's name in fine print? If only for a second.

It's a good read, especially for the translators who lost faith in their clients. 

czwartek, 10 października 2013

New beginnings for old things...

Llynedd, dechreuais i ddysgu yn yr ysgol am gyfieithwyr (O Saesneg i Bwyleg). Weithiau, roedd hi'n anodd. Weithiau, roedd hi'n hawdd. Ond, pob penwythnos yn ysgol o Dydd Gwener i  Dydd Sul oedd y peth caletach. Yn enwedig, pan oedd fy cymdogion mwynha ein pewythnos a chael parti tan 4 yn y bore...
Ond, nawr yr ysgol yn ol. Ac ar ol penwythnos cyntaf dw i'n casau Saesneg eto...
Dim syniad pam dw i'n talu i bod nerfus pob penwythnos ;)

piątek, 4 października 2013

Hydref

Hydref hapus i bawb!
Ces i'r haf brysur iawn a gobeithio fydda i mwy o amser yn Hydref. Amser i ddysgu Cymraeg a gwneud popeth neis. Gobeitho...
Mae'r dyddiau yn hyfryd a heulog ym Mhoznań. Mae'r amser perfaitth i fynd am dro i barciau ac edmygu lliwiau hydref. 



Nawr, gyda myfyrwyr ol yn y dinas, mae'r ynni am ddechrau pethau newydd yn ol hefyd.
Dw i'n meddwl bod hydref yn well i wneud penderfyniad na Dydd Calan. Mae'n debyg, rhywyn arall yn Stary Browar, cytuno gyda fi. Dyna'r ciwb mawr ble bobol yn ysgrifennu ble fyddan nhw wneud yn y dyfodol. 


Fy mhenderfyniad yn Hydref? Dysgu Cymgraeg.

PS Paid ag anghofio i gwennu heddiw! Diwrnod Gwenu Rhyngwladol Hapus!

czwartek, 27 czerwca 2013

who needs metro when we have legs...

Pwy sy'n angen metro pan gynnon ni coesau?

I hyrwyddo mynd am dro yn aml, gwnaeth bobol o Boznań yn creu map o Boznań, fel map metro, ond am gerddediad. Y syniad gwych - dw i'n meddwl. Dw i'n hoff o fapiau. A dw i' hoff o gerddediad hefyd ;) 
A mae'r enw yw neis "Tup tup"  - onomatopoeia am gerddiad (ond i  Gymru, fydd yr enw yn seinio fel "twp twp" :P) 

PS 
Y syniad yn dod yn wreiddiol o Hisbaen, o dre Pontevedra.

o www.ulepszpoznan.pl

Świetna inicjatywa ze strony twórców "Ulepsz Poznań", zachęcająca do porzucenia wszystkich możliwych pojazdów i środków transportu, poza własnymi nogami. Powstała poznańska mapa metra bez metra! I jaka kolorowa, prawie jak metro w Paryżu (tak, wiem, że prawie robi wielką różnicę). Ale cóż ja poradzę, że jestem wielką fanką metra i chodzenia. (O ironio!) Gdyby przy każdej "stacji" wydawano kawę na wynos, byłby to mój nowy poznański raj... 

Great idea borrowed from Spanish town Pontevedra was introduced in Poznań. It's a Poznań metro map. But there is no metro in Poznań, you may say. Indeed, there is not. But this is a beautiful  and colourful walking map, created by Mikołaj Musielak. And I love this idea as I'm a big fan of metro (don't ask) and of walking. No, those two are not mutually exclusive :) 



piątek, 21 czerwca 2013

Llusernau, haf a Sant John/ Noc Kupały

Sant Dwynwen - Cymru
Sant Valentine - Unol Daleithiau
a yn Gwlad Pwyl?

Yn traddodiadol yn Wlad Pwyl, Sant John yw'r patrwn o bobl sy'n cwympo mewn cariad. Dyn ni'n dathlu haf a chariad nawr.
Yn dinasoedd mwyaf, dyna Sant John ffeiriau ble ydych chi'n prynu bwyd traddodiadol o Wlad Pwyl, pethau neis o bren, gemwaith ac eraill. Dyna cyngherdd pob dydd ynystod y wythnos hon. Gwyl a phoethder (34 C).

Heno eto, bydd y digwyddiad cyffrous i ddechrau'r haf : Noson llusernau. Ar 10:00 o'r gloch (p.m), yn agos Pont Chrobry a Eglwys gadeirio byddwn ni'n "rhyddhau" miloed o lusern!

Gwelwch y video o lynedd:


It's summer! And it's also crazy hot in Poznan. Thermometers indicate 34 Celsius degree both day and night. Because of that my appartment is unliveable, so I gave up the idea of workibg at home and I hang out in places with air conditioners. It's so good that we live in the city centre and I am surrounded by cpmfy and cool (both meanings) cafes.
The beginning of summer is linked with St. John's Eve, also known in Poland as Noc Kupaly, which is traditionally the Polish equivalent of Saint Valentine's Day. In the past, girls were making flower garlands and they put them on the lake. Sometimes they put a candle in the midde. It was believed that the owner of tge garland which floated the fastest, was the first to get married. As it happens with the folk traditions, they were many variations of this game. Since few years in Poznan, we have adapted the traditions of releasing Chinese lanterns. Tonight, around 10 p.m. we are going to free thousands of them. It's so beautiful, magical, like being in a fairy tale... See the video from previous Nights of Lanterns in POZNAN.