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9. Kalivaar (Ming Ray)
Text
Te zu voleja voleje tusé tokan rute hi, riidu moohe zhoodé hi. Hushé ni sozhe resha so no fé okevoleja guulhé. Fasin, tuke ha huje zu so ku fole. Nanete se hi, so uude zhooli ote hi so ti zu rutelhela pa hape hi, hushe hi, “Josa, Halishasana Hiju, resha o hi, o nu fé supa nona sé ti retoon loneso, so fasinezé ti zu guulhon vareer Voota Riito udino hela.”
Backtranslation
The fire is burning well as I write, but I see poorly. Some friends were talking and six matches¹ were used². We sit together and do not move afterward. I am tired and because my translator and I want to sleep, I say, “Please, my friend Halishasana Hiyu, the passengers had been [here] for six whole hours³, and we will arrive at the white valley eater⁴ the day after tomorrow.”
1 lit. “little fire sticks”, possibly also translatable as “twigs” or “logs”
2 lit. “ended”
3 the original text modifies “six hours” with a word translated as “to the extent that”, which does not make sense here. As such, I attempted to convey in other words what I thought was the author’s intent: a sense of incredulity at the length of time.
4 It is unclear whether this is a place name. Furthermore, the literal translation of “eater” is “one who eats”, also leaving much ambiguity.
Additional notes: Based on the morphological information given, wuSmoj has no indicators for definite or indefinite nouns. For the translation these were inferred on context.
Aside from syntax differences, the sentences saw no significant deviation from the wuSmoj.
Grammar
none