Anyway, it's much too hot out to think long or complicated thoughts, so I've turned again today to children's poetry, and in particular, to poems about cats (after all, I still have this now-not-so-stray kitten in my apartment). Cats are quite beloved and popular in Ukraine. When I first moved to site and was reading kids' books to improve my language skills, a preponderance of these books were about cats. My favorite was a book about two girls who, through sheer power of wishing hard enough, managed to turn themselves into cats for a day and have some pretty remarkable adventures.
Today's poem about cats is by Emilia Satalkina. It's actually somewhat difficult to find information about her; most of it is in Russian rather than Ukrainian, and I needed to use Google Translate to get anything in English. From what I can understand, she is Russian but grew up in Kyiv from a very young age. It is where she studied, and gained an appreciation of Ukrainian language and culture. She has worked both as an editor and as an author, publishing many children's books and poems - largely in Ukrainian. This little poem about "cat language" is simple and sweet, which is exactly why I picked it today!
Мурмунявська мова
Емілія Саталкіна
Я цікаву мову знаю.
- А яку? – спитаєш ти.
Ту, що нею розмовляють
В цілім світі всі коти.
Не японська, не іспанська…
Що? Англійська? Теж не та!
Зветься мова – мурмунявська.
Ой, яка ж вона проста!
«Няв» - це значить «хочу їсти»;
«Няв-няв-няв» - «іду гулять»;
«Мур» - на ручки хочу сісти»;
«Мур-мур-мур» - «лягаю спать».
«Няв-мур-мур» - «ходив у гості,
Там котлетки їв смачні».
«Мур-мур-няв» - «залиш мій хвостик,
Дуже боляче мені».
Щоб несли коти і киці
Радість, затишок у дім,
Мурмунявській мові вчиться
Треба змалку нам усім.
Purrmeownish
Emilia Satalkina
I know an interesting language.
Ah, which one? You're sure to ask.
The language that is spoken
By all of the world's cats.
Neither Japanese, nor Spanish.
Perhaps English? No, it's not.
This language is "purrmeownish".
It's the simplest one we've got.
"Meow" - means "I want to eat";
"Meow-meow-meow" - "I'm going to go wander";
"Purr" asks "on your lap - a seat?";
"Purr-purr-purr" - "it's time for slumber";
"Meow-purr-purr" - "I had tasty cutlets,
over with the neighbors";
"Purr-purr-meow" - "Let go of my tail!
Ouch, that really hurts".
To bring to cats and kitties
joy and comfort in the home,
We must all learn purrmeownish
We this duty own!
My own translation again this time. It was quite an interesting little task translating "мурмунявська мова"! Муркати (murkaty) is the Ukrainian verb "to purr", while "няв" (nyav) is how you say "meow" in Ukrainian. So - the name of this poem, translated literally, is something like "purrpurrmeow language", but I decided to get a little creative.
And now for by far the funniest video of this first half of 30 Days of Ukrainian Poetry:
Cheers to two weeks of ups and downs, classical poets and modern-day ones, and everything from wistful ponderings to profound heights of emotion to silly poems about cats. I can't wait to see what the rest of the month has in store!
The contents of this blog reflect my views and experiences only and not those of the Peace Corps or the governments of the US or Ukraine.
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