Red Fish Blue Fish

[Mahorfeus]

Wow, to be honest I was not at all aware that Dr. Seuss isn't a huge thing internationally. I grew up with his books, this being among them, of course. It makes perfect sense though, and I suppose it is just something I never bothered researching - never had a reason to.

It might be a stretch for the book to be on a list of things Lilly might have read as a child, but it was a cute little story. There's no point being too nitpicky about it.

[ProfAllister]

I think the only story of his I actually know is that of the Grinch - and that mostly because of the Jim Carey movie.

I'm so sorry. Really, I am. At least that one wasn't quite as bad as the movie for "The Cat in the Hat."

Here in the U.S., he's pretty big. I first learned to read on the "Easy Reader" series he started. My very first book wasn't Seuss, but his were the most memorable. Also had a few cartoons in which he played an integral role. Definitely going to share them with my children.

He really isn't that well known in non-english speaking countries.

That really shouldn't be surprising, but it is something that we take for granted. Like Shakespeare, it really loses something when translated out of the original language. This is probably most evident in "Fox in Socks"

A selection, in English, then in my (incompetent) attempt to translate it to German:

Fox
Socks
Box
Knox

Knox in box.
Fox in socks.

Knox on fox in socks in box.

Socks on Knox and Knox in box.

Fox in socks on box on Knox.

Chicks with bricks come.
Chicks with blocks come.
Chicks with bricks and blocks and clocks come.

Look, sir. Look, sir. Mr. Knox, sir.
Let's do tricks with bricks and blocks, sir.
Let's do tricks with chicks and clocks, sir.

In German:

Fuchs
Socken
Schachtel
Knox

Knox in Schachtel.
Fuchs in Socken.

Knox auf Fuchs in Socken in Schachtel.

Socken auf Knox und Knox in Schachtel.

Fuchs in Socken auf Schachtel auf Knox.

Kuekens mit Ziegelsteins kommen.
Kuekens mit Bauklotzen kommen.
Kuekens mit Ziegelsteins und Bauklotzen und Uhren kommen.

Sehen doch mal, mein Herr! Sehen doch mal, mein Herr! Herr Knox, mein Herr.
Spielt wir Stunten mit Ziegelsteins und Bauklotzen, mein Herr!
Spielt wir Stunten mit Kuekens und Uhren, mein Herr!

Apologies to anyone who can read German.

Of course, in fairness, Scotland is generally English speaking. I'm sure Seuss has some sort of showing in non-U.S. English-speaking countries.

[Guest Poster]

Yeah, the word soup is probably a very good reason why he's not quite that popular abroad. (though it's still possible he's known in the UK...I wouldn't know) I doubt he's used in Japan (Lilly's home country) for that reason. I suppose the Satou's imported the book as an early way to teach Lilly English.

[Mirage_GSM]

Fox in socks

To be honest, even the english version looks like it is barely a step over the teletubbie's language.
When I was young I was mostly read stories from "Grimm's fairytales" and by Astrid Lindgren, a swedish author who is probably the most influential children's book author in German speaking countries. Much like Seuss seems to be in the US.
When I was six years old, I started reading the Famous Five series by Enid Blyton, the Three Investigators - back then still the German translations - and similar works.

[ProfAllister]

Fox in socks

To be honest, even the english version looks like it is barely a step over the teletubbie's language.

Well, in fairness, Fox in Socks was essentially meant to be a massive tonguetwister. Therefore, it is by far the most unfair depiction of what's lost in translation. Conversely, it highlights one of Seuss's key tools, that of rhyme and rhythm, which appears in most every book, and is part of the reason his work is effective. As stated, these are really "learning to read" books, with the simplest being aimed at 3 and 4 year olds. A limited vocabulary is to be expected.

Furthermore, there's the cultural context. Seuss wrote "The Cat in the Hat" more or less on a bet. A short history is here. Essentially, many educators were fed up with the insipid writing of the reading primers of the time. The most notorious of these reading primers was Fun with Dick and Jane.

A selection from Fun with Dick and Jane:

See it Go

"Look," said Dick.
"See it go.
See it go up."

Jane said, "Oh, look!
See it go.
See it go up."

"Up, up," said Sally.
"Go up, up, up."

And, for comparison, the opening lines of "The Cat in the Hat":

The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play. So we sat in the house All that cold, cold, wet day.
I sat there with Sally, we sat there we two. And I said, “How I wish we had something to do!” Too wet to go out and too cold to play ball. So we sat in the house. We did nothing at all. So all we could do was to Sit! Sit! Sit! Sit! And we did not like it. Not one little bit.

[LordDarknus]

"Hey, shrimp. What's up?" She said cheerfully.

"I was reading this," Lilly started to explain holding up her book. Even though she couldn't do anything more than listen to her books at this point, she always referred to it as reading. "But I didn't understand some of the words."

This was a really good story,

Maybe some of the 'troubled' relation between the parents and the children should have been given weight, it could have been like, Akira mulling over how bad her parents are, then wondering about her few good memories together, before they moved away, naturally, Akira starts to remember the first time Lilly drew something.

She remembers how both melancholic, and happy a moment it was. And felt the epitome of bittersweetness as she watched Lilly take their drawing to their mother.

Years later, Hisao and Lilly receive the letter from Lilly's parents, and are puzzled by the drawing, and end up actually asking Akira about it, Akira can barely say anything, forced to admit she was wrong and that their parents did indeed love Lilly. The story fades out as Akira tries her best not to cry.

...maybe that's a little bit cliché, but I think that would've worked better a bit.


Anyway, still, Good Job Oddball.

Sorry I didn't post on this earlier.

[Oddball]

While I appreciate the advice, that just isn't the story I wanted to tell. That's a bit too neat and a bit too obvious.

[LordDarknus]

Sorry I took so long again to reply,

While I appreciate the advice, that just isn't the story I wanted to tell. That's a bit too neat and a bit too obvious.

Oh ok, I was just thinking that maybe some more focus on Akira would have been perfect, you know, with the whole yin-yang thing balanced out?

Red Fish, Akira's red eyes, Red Oni, Active dislike for family...

Blue Fish, Lilly's blue eyes, Blue Oni, Passive and respectful of family...

And then there's the whole east and west thing, with the many many eastern paintings of red and blue coloured Koi-fish, and even a Koi festival in Japan (koinobori), all of that versus Dr. Seuss, which is western. (not to mention that Lilly and Akira are half-western, half eastern too)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koinobori


..yeah, maybe I'm overthinking it, but I suppose the ambiguous ending has a more profound, realistic ring to it.

Anyway, still, I like it.


(By the way, in Koinobori, Ithink the black fish represents the father, the blue fish the mother, and the red one the first son. So... yeah.)

(Also, if I'm not mistaken, there's a line "Oh my, Oh my, Oh dear, Oh dear!" in the 'One Fish Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish' story, so that's even more fitting of Lilly given how she often says that)

[Oddball]

(Also, if I'm not mistaken, there's a line "Oh my, Oh my, Oh dear, Oh dear!" in the 'One Fish Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish' story, so that's even more fitting of Lilly given how she often says that)

That's a remarkable coincidence that I'm going to claim was intentional.

[LordDarknus]

(Also, if I'm not mistaken, there's a line "Oh my, Oh my, Oh dear, Oh dear!" in the 'One Fish Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish' story, so that's even more fitting of Lilly given how she often says that)

That's a remarkable coincidence that I'm going to claim was intentional.

YOU EVIL EVIL GENIUS!


(I checked, it's actually "Oh me! Oh my!", twice.)

Also; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh_Me_Oh_My


Delicious links here!;

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index ... 519AAfWPxn

http://worleygig.blogspot.com/2008/02/o ... -fish.html


Heck, I'm just going to reproduce the whole text, for sake of convenience;



One fish, Two fish, Red fish, Blue fish,
Black fish, Blue fish, Old fish, New fish.
This one has a little car.
This one has a little star.
Say! What a lot of fish there are.
Yes. Some are red, and some are blue.
Some are old and some are new.
Some are sad, and some are glad,
And some are very, very bad.
Why are they sad and glad and bad?
I do not know, go ask your dad.
Some are thin, and some are fat.
The fat one has a yellow hat.
From there to here,
From here to there,
Funny things are everywhere.
Here are some who like to run.
They run for fun in the hot, hot sun.
Oh me! Oh my! Oh me! oh my!
What a lot of funny things go by.
Some have two feet and some have four.
Some have six feet and some have more.
Where do they come from? I can't say.
But I bet they have come a long, long way.
we see them come, we see them go.
Some are fast. Some are slow.
Some are high. Some are low.
Not one of them is like another.
Don't ask us why, go ask your mother.

Say! Look at his fingers!
One, two, three...
How many fingers do I see?
One, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
He has eleven!
Eleven! This is something new.
I wish I had eleven too!

Bump! Bump! Bump!
Did you ever ride a Wump?
We have a Wump with just one hump.
But we know a man called Mr. Gump.
Mr. gump has a seven hump Wump. So...
If you like to go Bump! Bump!
Just jump on the hump of the Wump of Gump

Who am I? My name is Ned
I do not like my little bed.
This is no good. This is not right.
My feet stick out of bed all night.
And when I pull them in, Oh, Dear!
My head sticks out of bed up here!

We like our bike. It is made for three.
Our Mike sits up in back, you see.
We like our Mike, and this is why:
Mike does all the work when the hills get high.

Hello there, Ned. How do you do?
Tell me, tell me what is new?
How are things in your little bed?
What is new? Please tell me Ned.
I do not like this bed at all.
a lot of things have come to call.
A cow, a dog, a cat, a mouse.
Oh! What a bed! Oh! What a house!

Oh dear, oh dear! I cannot hear.
Will you please come over near?
Will you please look in my ear?
There must be something there, I fear.
Say look! A bird was in your ear.
But he is out. So have no fear.
Again your ear can hear, my dear.

My hat is old, my teeth are gold.
I have a bird I like to hold.
My shoe is off, my foot is cold.
My shoe is off, my foot is cold.
I have a bird I like to hold.
My hat is old, my teeth are gold.
And now my story is all told.

We took a look. We saw a Nook.
On his head he had a hook.
On his hook he had a book.
On his book was "How to Cook"
We saw him sit and try to cook
But a Nook can't read, so a Nook can't Cook.
SO...
What good to a Nook is a hook cook book?

the moon was out and we saw some sheep.
We saw some sheep take a walk in their sleep.
by the light of the moon, by the light of a star;
They walked all night from near to far.
I would never walk. I would take a car.

I do not like this one so well.
all he does is yell, yell, yell.
I will not have this one about.
When he comes in I put him out.
This one is quiet as a mouse.
I like to have him in the house.

At our house we open cans.
We have to open many cans.
and that is why we have a Zans.
A Zans for cans is very good.
Have you a Zans for cans? You should.

I like to box. How I like to box.
So every day I box a Gox.
In yellow socks I box my Gox.
I box in yellow Gox box socks.

It is fun to sing if you sing with a Ying.
My Ying can sing like anything.
I sing high and my Ying sings low.
And we are not too bad, you know.

this one, I think, is called a Yink.
he likes to wink, he likes to drink.
He likes to drink, and drink, and drink.
the thing he likes to drink is ink.
The ink he likes to drink is pink.
He likes to wink and drink pink ink.
SO...
If you have a lot of ink,
you should get a Yink, I think.

Hop, hop, hop! I am a Yop
All I like to do is hop,
From finger top to finger top.
I hop from left to right and then...
Hop, hop! I hop right back again.
I like to hop all day and night.
From right to left and left to right.
Why do I like to hop, hop, hop?
I do not know. Go ask your Pop.

Brush, brush, brush, brush
Comb, comb, comb, comb
Blue hair is fun to brush and comb.
All girls who like to brush and comb,
Should have a pet like this at home.

Who is this pet? Say! He is wet.
You never yet met a pet, I bet,
As wet as they let this wet pet get.

Did you ever fly a kite in bed?
did you ever walk with ten cats on your head?
Did you ever milk this kind of cow?
Well, we can do it. We know how.
If you never did, you should.
These things are fun, and fun is good.

Hello, hello. Are you there?
Hello! I called you up to say hello.
I said Hello.
Can you hear me, Joe?
Oh no, I cannot hear your call.
I cannot hear your call at all.
This is not good, and I know why.
A mouse has cut the wire, goodbye!

From near to far, from here to there,
Funny things are everywhere.
These yellow pets are called the Zeds.
They have one hair upon their heads.
Their hair grows fast. So fast they say,
They need a haircut every day.

Who am I? My name is Ish
On my hand I have a dish.
I have this dish to help me wish.
When I wish to make a wish
I wave my hand with a big swish swish.
Then I say, "I wish for fish!"
And I get fish right on my dish.
So...
If you wish to make a wish,
you may swish for fish with my Ish wish dish.

At our house we play out back.
We play a game called ring the Gack.
Would you like to play this game?
Come down! We have the only Gack in town.

Look what we found in the park in the dark.
We will take him home, we will call him Clark.
He will live at our house, he will grow and grow.
Will our mother like this? We don't know.

And now, Good night.
It is time to sleep
So we will sleep with our pet Zeep.
Today is gone. Today was fun.
Tomorrow is another one.
Every day, from here to there.
funny things are everywhere.



If I had thought of this, it would have been... much more Rinny, than what you did.

Good On You, Oddball!