8 stories. 113 avatars.
Posted by Remya Padmadas on February 24, 2016Yamini Vijayan, Content Manager, StoryWeaver writes about the recently concluded Weave-a-Story campaign and how the collaborative spirit of a community helped 8 stories find their way to 113 translations of which 89 were in Indian languages.
For over a year before StoryWeaver was launched, our team was working on making existing Pratham Books' stories available on the platform. Pratham Books does have a fantastic collection of multilingual stories for early readers, and we were eager to make these easily accessible - digitally, and in a way that is super easy for our community to use, reuse and recycle. But all this was content that was already published (in print). Shouldn't a brand new platform like StoryWeaver also have brand new stories, we wondered.
And it was this, in a sense, that led us to the 'Weave-a-Story' campaign – a campaign rooted in ideas of inventiveness, diversity (in language) and collaboration. The campaign inspired 8 enchanting children's stories. For four of these ('It's All the Cat's Fault', 'Ammu's Puppy', 'दीदी का रंग बिरंगा खज़ाना' and 'चुन्नु-मुन्नु का नहाना') we requested illustrators to create fresh artwork. Three of the stories ( 'The Day it Rained Fish' , 'The Story of Stories' and 'துப்பறியும் துரை') were woven around sets of illustrations created for #6FrameStoryChallenge, a campaign aimed at building a rich image bank for StoryWeaver. 'Mangoes for Moidooty' was created by a community user, who had used existing Pratham Books illustrations to string together a rather charming story.
In fact, one of the things that got us really excited was that 'It's All the Cat's Fault' – the story that we launched with – was written by Anushka Ravishankar, a co-founder of Duckbill, one of the leading children's publishing houses in India. To us, her openness to contribute was a sign – of a sparkling future for an open-source story platform like ours (read more about the journey of Anushka's story here).
After the creation of these 8 stories, we reached out to the growing community of users and friends of Pratham Books to support the campaign by translating these stories into AS MANY LANGUAGES AS POSSIBLE. And once again, our community jumped right in and gave us enough reason to be eternally optimistic. We're delighted to say that as part of the campaign, we added languages such as Mundari, Sadri, Konkani, Khmer, Portuguese, etc. Today, you can find stories in over 30 languages on StoryWeaver and while we're thrilled to bits, we continue to be eager to add more in the hope that children across the world will be able to read good stories in languages of their choice.
We closed the 'Weave-a-Story' campaign on February 21st which was International Mother Language Day and what we'd like to share with you more than just numbers and figures is this: our growing realization that collaboration is truly at the heart of the work we do and without this, it wouldn’t be possible for us to do what we set out to do (“a book in every child’s hand”). Besides, the journey has been far more memorable and colourful with folk like you for company. So while this campaign is ending, we're really seeing it as a beginning, for StoryWeaver's collaborative efforts. So you – yes, you! - it's you who can help us transport these stories to children, so do stay with us and together, let's build a world of young, multilingual readers.
comments (2)StoryWeaver Spotlight: Priya Muthukumar
Posted by Amna Singh on September 28, 2018StoryWeaver Spotlight turns the light on Priya Muthukumar. Priya always dreamt of flying on her very own magic carpet! Yes, today she flies to several distant lands along with different people through her stories. Priya is a storyteller and educationist who connects with people across age-groups through her storytelling initiative (Storipur in Bangalore). She continues to dream, this time.. about a greener tomorrow! She has translated many stories to Tamil for Pratham Books including 'Goodnight Tinku' and 'What Did Priya Eat'. You can read her stories The Louse's New House and A Perfect Match on StoryWeaver.
Q: What is your personal relationship with language and/or translation?
I strongly believe that languages bring people together. Even though I am not a quick learner when it comes to different languages, I can really pause and admire the beauty in languages. As a translator, I make sure I have fun, reading the story out, singing it aloud, enacting it out...imagining how the story would appeal to different readers!
Q: When you have been given a story to translate what is the process , how long does it take ?
There is no strict process or pattern that I follow. Generally, when I receive a story, I read it a couple of times in an attempt to grasp the essence of the story. As I work with children, I narrate the story to them and I get thrilled, seeing their immediate reaction. After all these immersive experiences, I start my translation, keeping the emotions which the author had tried to express through the story. And I am a complete last-minute-person! I just can't start the task before the nth minute.
Q: What do stories bring through translation?
As a strong believer in the power of stories, I believe that we all need to read, tell and listen to more stories. The whole process becomes even more beautiful, when we use different languages. It could be foreign languages, regional languages or it could one's own mother tongue. Languages are windows to another culture. And through translation, stories and languages subconsciously take the reader to another world where things are similar yet, are different !
Q: How did you cultivate the skills needed to translate books for children?
Well, this is something which I am learning, book by book. As a translator, I am very much on the learning curve. Being a Tamizh translator, reading Tamizh newspapers and books (translated and original ones) also help me. My conversations with my father in Tamizh on history, archaeology,literature, politics, almost everything under the sky also enables me to hone my skills.
Q: Does being a storyteller help your translation process?
Emotions, however subtly expressed are the 'pulse' of stories, according to me. This is a valuable lesson which I've learnt from my storytelling experiences, so far. Hence, I make sure while translating, to convey the same emotion into my work from the original story. Intonation/ voice modulation are essential aspects of storytelling, hence stories with varying 'sounds' delight me. I make sure that these sounds are more 'realistic' in the translated versions. Besides, once I translate, I read it aloud or narrate the story to different groups of listeners, to check if my translation has kept the original essence alive.
Q: What was the experience of translating a children's book like?
My first translation was for 'The Missing Bat'. I found it challenging and I remember calling up my father, asking people, cross-checking if my Tamizh equivalents for the English words were right. After working on few translations, now, I feel more confident and I am keen on learning the nitty-gritties involved in translating and also writing for chilldren.
Q: What is the toughest thing about translating from English to TAMIL? How do you navigate through words or phrases to translate?
Some words are unique to certain languages. The English language is no exception. To find exact equivalents for certain words has been challenging. In such cases, finding a word in translation close to the original is one of the options. Sarcastic overtones, jokes while translating need that extra attention. Pronunciation of names is also something I check before translating.
Q: How do you feel when your translation reaches a child?
Absolutely thrilled!
Q: How else do you think we can join hands to take more stories to more children in more languages ?
Simply by continuing to do the good work which Pratham Books and StoryWeaver is already doing. Probably, we could add more stories from History and mythology too.
Q: What type of person do you think makes a good translator for children's books?
Besides the language skills, as in any field of work, a willingness to learn and an open-mindedness would help. And anyone who has the spark, the sense-of-wonder children are born with, can always work magic with children's literature including translation!
Q: Do you have any advice for anyone who would like to become a translator?
Hmm...continue to be passionate! Read more, listen more and write more.
Seeds of Curiosity
Posted by Remya Padmadas on February 29, 2016Welcome to day 2 of #WonderWhyWeek! Today's book is 'Let's Go Seed Collecting' by Neha Sumitran and Archana Sreenivasan and guest edited by Bijal Vaccharajani. Join Tooka, Poi, and their best friend Inji the dog, as they go around collecting seeds. The adventure begins when the three friends meet Pacha the tamarind tree.
After you read the story why not step outside and take a walk around the neighbourhood to see how many trees you can spot? Plus, here are a few super fun activities to try!
ACTIVITIES
Tree 20 Questions
Resources
● Blank visitings cards
● Cellotape
● Markers
● Timer
How to play
● Write down the names of trees and plants on blank visiting cards.
● Divide the group into batches of 4-5 children each.
● A volunteer from the group will come up and choose a card without seeing what’s written on it
● Stick the card to the volunteer’s forehead without letting them see the name of the tree.
● The volunteer returns to their group. Everyone else in the group can see the name of the tree.
● The volunteer then begins to ask questions about their plant. The team can only answer yes or no. Egs Do I produce an oil? Am I fruit bearing? Do I grow in India? The volunteer has to guess which tree he is in 20 questions or in under 90 seconds.
Hopping Corn
You’ve heard about pop corn what about hopping corn? This experiment makes corn hop up and down repeatedly in a container for over an hour. It’s so much fun to watch!
Resources
• A clear glass container
• Popping corn
• 2 1/2 – 3 cups of water
• 2 Tbsp. of baking soda
• 6 Tbsp. of white vinegar
• Food colouring (optional)
What to do
● Fill the glass container with water and add a couple drops of food colouring.
● Add baking soda and stir well until it has completely dissolved.
● Add a small handful of popping corn kernels.
● Add the vinegar and watch the corn start to hop up and down!
This is a terrific way to work on measurement concepts, listening skills, and practising patience too!
The science behind it
When the baking soda and vinegar combine, they react to form carbon dioxide (CO2) gas. The gas forms bubbles in the water which circle around the corn kernels. The bubbles lift the kernels up to the surface and when they get there they pop and the kernels sink again. The “hopping” continues until the vinegar and baking soda have finished reacting.
Seed Search
Resources
- Printed Word Searches
- Timer
- Highlighter pens
- Divide the group into teams give them a pre-printed word search or crosswords with a seed/plant theme. The first team to finish in 10 minutes gets a prize!
Here are some links to ready made word searches
- http://www.havefunteaching.com/worksheets/word-search-puzzles/plants-word-search-worksheet
- https://www.teachervision.com/tv/printables/seedsword.pdf
- http://www.education.com/worksheet/article/seeds-seedlings-word-search/
Do you have ideas of your own for seed themed activities? Share them with us in the comments section below or on Twitter or Facebook.
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