Features / Laureen gives The Gruffalo a dialect makeover
A SHETLAND dialect translation of the one of the most popular children’s books of the last 20 years has been published.
Writer and author Laureen Johnson has put a local spin on The Gruffalo, which has sold over 13 million copies since being released in 1999.
The book, written by Julia Donaldson, has been translated into four new regional variations – Shetland Scots, Orkney Scots, Dundonian and Doric. The Shetland book, released by publishers Itchy Coo today, features Axel Scheffler’s original illustrations.
The process of translating the book took around a “couple of weeks from start to finish”, Johnson said. “The trickiest thing about it was that you had to rhyme. The lines have to have a rhythm and ends have to rhyme.
“It was a privilege to work on it. It’s lovely to see the finished book – it’s exactly the same thing, but the words are in Shetland.”
Johnson added that the local dialect is something she doesn’t want to see trail off anytime soon.
“Everybody has to learn to speak English, but I would like people to sound like Shetland folk when they can,” she said. “I think the ideal is to be bilingual.”
An excerpt of the 32-page paperback reads: “Come a peerie bit farder untae da deep, dark forest, an fin oot whit happens when da fly peerie moose comes face ta face wi Kattyugl da owl, a sliddery snake an a hungry gruffalo…”
The Gruffalo, which tells the story of a mouse going on a journey through woods, has previously been translated into 58 different languages.
Johnson will be signing copies of the book and reading excerpts at the Old Library Centre in Lerwick on Saturday (24 October) between 2.30pm and 3.30pm.
It’s not the first time the New Shetlander co-editor has translated a popular book into Shetland dialect. In 2012 she gave Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland a local makeover.
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