Jick' Journey -- Romanian Appendix

JICK'S JOURNEY
Appendix -- Romanian Content
by Dennis Adams

CONTENTS:

• PART I: Brief Romanian Pronunciation Guide (Approximate English equivalents)

• PART II: Act 2, Scene ii: Jick - Vlad Scene with Romanian words (Diacritical marks and approximate pronuniciation.

• PART III: Otter Song -- Version in Jick's Journey with the Original Romanian Dirge (Translated by Dennis Adams)

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• PART I: Brief Romanian Pronunciation Guide (Approximate English equivalents)

Note: The accent marks do not indicate the stressed syllable of a word (this must be learned on a word-by-word basis). The marks distinguish the quality of one vowel or consonant from others
(e. g., a, ă, â ).

(a) Romanian diacritical marks (bold font style)

ă [pronounced "uh"]
â [pronounced "ooh" but without the rounding of the lips; a dark, "Slavic" sound]
î [same pronunciation as â]
ş [pronounced like the "sh" in "ship"]
ţ [pronounced like the "z" in "Mozart"]

(b) Other Romanian letters:

a [as in English "father"]

b [as in English "boy"]

c [Before a, ă,â, î, o and u, as in "cat," but without the aspirate "h" that follows the English consonant; Before e and i, like the "ch"in "church"]

ch appears before e and i and is pronounced as hard "c" ["cat" without aspiration].
d [as in "dock"]

e [as in "bed"]

f [as in "father"]

g [Before a, ă,â, î, o and u, as in "good"; Before e and i, as in "general"]

h stronger and"breathier" than in English
i [At the beginning or within a word, as in "elite"; single "i" at the end of the word is a brief semivowel like the "y" in young]; doubled "ii" at the end of a word as in "elite"]

j [as the "s" in "pleasure"]
l [as in "lamp"]
m [as in "mother"]
n [as in "next"]

o [as in "hope," but without the slight "w" sound at the end of the English vowel]
p [as in "pass," but without aspiration]

r [rolled, as in Italian, not as the French or English equivalents]

s [as in "sip"]

t [as in "tip," but without aspiration]
u [as in "pool," but without the slight "w" sound at the end of the English vowel]
v [as in "vessel"]
z [as in "zoo"]
k, q, w, y, and x appear in foreign loan words

(c) Romanian diphthongs

ai [as in "my"]

ăi [as in "my," but with an "uh" sound instead of the intial "ah" of the diphthong]
âi [as in "my," but with the â sound instead of the intial "ah" of the diphthong]
ea [like the "ya" in "yacht"]
oa [like the "wa" in "watt"]

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PART II: Act 2, Scene ii:
Jick - Vlad Scene with Romanian words (Diacritical marks and approximate pronuniciation.

[We hear a few notes of a wordless Romanian song sung by VLAD. Pheebes looks around, shakes his head and acts as though he’s grazing]

JICK: OW! [She reacts to a bug bite] What! [another bite] Ow! [more bites in rapid succession] Ow! Ow! Ow! Stop that!

[Pheebes slips away; Seera follows. Vlad sings faster and faster until he reaches full speed. Jick spins and swats in time to the song, until she spins off stage.]

JICK: [From the wings] Got you!

[Jick re-enters, dragging the now-visible Vlad with her, as if punishing a bad puppy]

NOTE: The Romanian words appear in bold font without their diacritical marks and are followed by their approximate pronunciation. See appendix for the words with their proper diacritical marks for vowels and consonants.

VLAD: [In Romanian] Nu, nu! Lasă-mă in pace! Lasă-mă în pace! Nu-m fă rău. {noo noo! LAH-suh mihn PAH-cheh. LAH-suh mihn PAH-cheh. Noom fuh RUHW.} -- [No, no! Leave me alone! Leave me alone! Don’t hurt me.]

JICK: [Puzzled, but still not letting go] What’s that jabbering?

VLAD: Eu vorbesc româneşte. Sânt un purice din Transilvania. Mă numesc Flea. Te rog! Lasă-mă in pace! {yehw vor-BESK ro-muhn-ESH-teh. sunt oon POO-ree-cheh deen trahn-seel-VAH-nee-ah. Muh noo-MESK Flea. teh rohg. LAH-suh mihn PAH-cheh.}-- [I’m speaking Romanian. I’m a Flea from Transylvania. My name is Vlad. Please! Leave me alone!]

JICK: You’re not making sense!

[Jick stomps and slaps at Vlad]

VLAD: Lasă-mă in pace! Lasă-mă in pace! {LAH-suh mihn PAH-cheh. LAH-suh mihn PAH-cheh.} -- [Then, with a heavy accent:] Please! Pearly Mouth! Leave me alone!

JICK: [Shocked, lets VLAD go; Vlad scuttles to the ground] Pearly Mouth!

[She thinks a moment, then rubs her front teeth with her finger, smiles knowingly. VLAD begins to sing an improvised chant.]

VLAD: De vidra vreau să cânt, măi măi! {deh EE-drah VRAYW suh kint MUH-y MUH-y.}

JICK: I want … to sing … about the otter!

VLAD: Haida! Nerule, hai Nerule! {HIGH-dah. NEH-roo-leh, HIGH NEH-ru-leh.}

JICK: Nerus! Hey, Nerus!

[Vlad begins teaching Jick “The Otter Song,” to the tune of the opening theme of Georges Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody Number 1. Very haltingly at first, she sings the English translation of each line after VLAD sings the Romanian. With each line, JICK’s sung delivery is more fluid and confident.]

VLAD: Ah, foiae verde, frumoşică! {ah fw-AH-yeh VEHR-deh froo-moh-SHEE-kuh.} -- La la la la la la la.

JICK: Oh ... green leaf … fresh leaf … tender … little … leaf. La la la la la la la.

VLAD: Vidra ştie apele. {VEE-drah SHTEE-eh AH-peh-leh.} -- La la la la la la la.

JICK: The swift brown otter knows the way to swim. La la la la la la la.

VLAD: Noaptea şi clar de lună … {NWAHP-the-ah shee clahr deh LOO-nah.}

JICK: In the nighttime, under moonlight …

VLAD: Apele, vadurile. {AH-peh-leh vah-DOOHR-ee-leh.}

JICK: All along the fords and rivers.

VLAD: Haide! Ca să tu nu te-nece. {HIGH-deh!kah suh nooh te-NEH-cheh.}

JICK: Follow – unless you want to drown.

BOTH: Follow, or you’re going to drown.
In the nighttime, under moonlight, La la la la la la la,
Under moonlight, in the nighttime,
La la la la la la la.

VLAD: And ... te poartă la izvoare ... {teh PWAHR-tuh lah eez-VWAH-reh.}

JICK: Otter brings you to the cool springs …

VLAD: Să te răcoreşti până-n coate ... {suh teh ruh-koh-RESHT PUH-nuhn KWAH-teh.}

JICK: To refresh you, up and down …

VLAD: Tu te speli de fiori de moarte ... {too teh spell deh fyohr deh MWAHR-teh.}

JICK: Cooling your arms with blooms of death,

BOTH: Cooling with blooms of death.
In the nighttime, under moonlight,
La la la la la la la,
Under moonlight, in the nighttime,
La la la la la la la.

[Vlad and Jick continue to dance while singing the song in English, duet]

JICK: Can we do that again? Could I stand on your feet this time?

VLAD: [Laughing/Speaking again] Iată, poftim. Cum vezi, poti să m-înţelegi. {YAH-tuh pohf-TEEM. koohm VEHZ pohts suh mints-ehl-EDGE.}

JICK: [Paraphrasing him] Yes, I see. I really can understand you. – But why should I have any more trouble understanding you than the other animals?

VLAD: Ascultă, Faţa de Piersică. {ah-SKOOHL-tuh FAHT-sah deh pyehr-SEE-kah.}

JICK: [Offended] Peach Face? [She rubs her face and realizes VLAD was complimenting her in his own Vlad’s manner.]

VLAD: Da, da. {dah dah} -- Yes, yes. Listen, Peach Face. Soft One. I am not – mai dificil să {my dee-FEE-cheel suh.} – not any more difficult to understand than those others. It is that your. . .your understanding of me needs growing – needs to grow.

JICK: [Surprising herself by responding in Romanian] Oh, t-înţeleg foarte bine! {oh tints-eh-LEG FWAR-teh BEE-neh.}

VLAD: [Laughing] Oh, you do, do you? So, you understand me – foarte bine {FWAR-teh BEE-neh.} – completely? Hm? How do you understand me? Willow Hair, what am I?

JICK: Why, you’re a nasty old Vlad. And you have an even nastier bite.

[She bites him.]

VLAD: Ai! [Then laughs.] Fair enough – I love blood, live on it, swim in it, breathe it and breed in it. Ahhhh, Peach Face, nothing else? What else is – un purice {oohn POOH-ree-cheh.} – a Vlad?

JICK: [Starts to say something, then doubts herself] Well, I can’t say. I really don’t know. – I’m sorry.

VLAD: It was what you can call – unjust – uh – unfair question. How could you possible know the answer?

JICK: Well, let me try. You’re strong.

VLAD: Da. {dah.} -- Yes.

JICK: You can move faster than anything I’ve ever seen.

VLAD: Ba da! {BAH dah.} -- [Yes, indeed!]JICK: You’re hard to smush.

VLAD: I know. But you slapped hard enough!

JICK: [Thinking hard] You’re small.

VLAD: Ah, văi de mine! {ah VUH-y deh MEE-neh.} Alas! So, too, are you.

JICK: You are! [Stomps feet]

VLAD: I wasn’t contradicting you, just bemoaning my fate. My size is small, tiny. But my story is very, very big.

JICK: [Delighted] You have a story? I love stories. Tell it!

VLAD: De accord {deh ahk-OHRD} – all right, but it is not a happy story. A long time ago, back home in Transylvania, I was proud. All fleas were proud. Mighty hunters of păduchi {puh-DOOHK} – lice and furnici {foohr-NEECH} – ants and so many other insects who feared us. Fleas held – you know, games – we jumped up and down for days without stopping and – how we hopped – înalt! înalt! {un-AHLT un-AHLT} – high, high, high into tree limbs and down again with such speed! Ah! Those were the days before matchbox and circus. Can you imagine? A creature so noble as me, trapped on a sideshow circuit!

JICK: I believe you! I really do – but you had me spinning back there.

VLAD: Hah! I was only playing with you then. But things changed in Transyl-vah-nia, our dear, beloved homeland. Bad, bad things happened. Rats came out of the sunrise. Thousands of rats – brown, black, red, dirty, bad, cesspool-swimming brine-drinking rats!

JICK: Euooooo, rats! Did they eat fleas?

VLAD: Nu, mai rău! {noo my RUHW.} No, worse! They tricked us. Said Transyl-vah-nia was an ugly place. Liars! The rats said the land where the sun falls was a beautiful place for fleas, with many ants. Many louses. Many more good small things to hunt, to eat. “Why don’t you come with us,” they said. ”We’ll take you there on our backs!”

JICK: Oh, Vlad! What fun!

VLAD: No! The rats lied! Disaster for fleas and for Two-Legs like you . . . especially for Two-Legs like you! Everywhere the rats go, Two-Legs died, all of them. Sick, sick, blistering-bubbling sick, and after bad days sick, they die. So many of them. Why, I did not know. But the rats were to blame. They laugh and gossip and then move on to more Two-Legs’ lands. And more Two-Legs died. Many more.

JICK: So, what did you do?

VLAD: I leaped from my rat one day and went fast to the Two-Legs. To warn them about the rats. “Pericol! Pericol!” {peh-REE-kohl peh-REE-kohl.}-- I yelled, “Danger, danger!” ... [End of Romanian words in Act 2, scene ii.]

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• PART III: Otter Song -- Version in Jick's Journey with the Original Romanian Dirge (Translated by Dennis Adams)

(a) Otter Song

[in Jick's Journey]

Hai! Green leaf, fresh leaf,
Tender little leaf.
La la la la la la la.The swift brown otter
Knows the way to swim.
La la la la la la la.
In the nighttime, under moonlight,
All along the fords and rivers.
Follow – unless you want to drown.
Follow, or you’re going to drown.

Hai! In the nighttime, under moonlight.
La la la la la la la.Under moonlight, in the nighttime.
La la la la la la la.
Otter brings you to the cool springs,
To refresh you, up and down
Cooling your arms with blooms of death,
Cooling with blooms of death.Hai! In the nighttime, under moonlight.
La la la la la la la.Under moonlight, in the nighttime.
La la la la la la la.

(b) Original Romanian Dirge (Posted on several Romanian websites, including http://www.rostonline.org/rost/ian2005/lovinescu_bocet.shtml ) -- English translation by Dennis Adams

Bocet (Lament)

"Seara va-nsera
(As evening falls,)

Gazdă n-ai avea

(You will have no host)

Şi-ţi va mai ieşi
(But the otter,)

Vidra înainte

(Who will lead you forth.)

Ca să te-spăimânte

(She will keep you on your guard)

Să nu te spăimânţi

(Lest you take fright.)

De soră s-o prinzi

(Take her for your own sister,)

Că vidra mai ştie

(For the otter knows best)

Seama apelor

(The way of the waters)

Şi a vadurilor

(And of the fords,)

Şi ea mi te-a trece
(And she will take you forth)

Ca să nu te-nece

(Lest you drown.)

Şi mi te-a purta

(And she will bring you)

La izvoare reci

(To the cool springs)

Să te răcoreşti

(Where you will cool yourself)

De mâini pînă-n coate

(All along your arms)

De fiori de moarte

(With flowers of death.)

Şi-ţi va mai ieşi

(And also ahead of you)

Lupul înainte

(The wolf will rush forth)

Ca să te-nspăimânte

(To keep you on your guard.)

Frate bun să-l prinzi
(Take him for your dear brother,)

Că lupul mai ştie
(For the wolf knows best)

Seama codrilor
(The way of the forests)

Şi-a potecilor
(And of the paths.)

Şi el te va scoate
(And he will take you forth)

La drumul de plai
(On the steep path,)

În dealul cu jocul
(Gamboling over a hill,)

C-acolo ţi-e locul
(For there is your place)

În câmp cu bujorul
(In a field bright with peonies,)

C-acolo ţi-e dorul.
(For there is the place of your yearning.)"

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