Honour the Past & Celebrate the Present

The Chinese Lunar New Year on February 7th is fast approaching and while it is a good time in Vancouver to catch the vibrant celebrations at Sun Yat Sen, the holiday itself is full of meaningful purpose.

It is a time to acknowledge our family and pay respects to the generations that have come and gone before us. Chinese New Year reminds us that we are never alone, but the essence of our past family is still with us as we go through our lives. The New Year’s feast makes room for our ancestors by setting them a symbolic place at the dinner table. The celebration that follows lasts 15 days, each day marked by symbolic activities to welcome good fortune for the upcoming year.

Prepare for the New Year by giving your home a thorough clean and decorate with red. On the 7th, invite family over for dinner and share stories of your ancestors’ contributions to your present lives. Give children red envelopes stuffed with money (a loonie will do). Then head on down to Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens on February 10th and join in on the fun.

There are many meaningful details in the 15 days of Lunar New Year celebrations. You can learn more here!

C’est la vie!

A terrific source of cultural insight into French speaking Canada is ’C'est la vie’ on CBC Radio. To mark the occasion of their 10th anniversary, host Bernard St Laurent is re-playing past episodes, so in case you haven’t had the pleasure of listening, you can catch up.

One moment of note was hearing Leonard Cohen’s “A Thousand Kisses Deep” as Michel Garneau’s lovely French translation played along. Check out C’est la vie on CBC Radio 1, 7:30 on Sundays (PST). Can’t wait ’till Sunday? Down-load a pod-cast from the CBC website!

Childhood Sans Frontières

As a child, there were several books that made an impression on me. Of those books a number were translated into English. One of my favorites was “The Hockey Sweater.” This is great tale about a young guy whose mother mistakenly orders him not just the wrong hockey jersey, but the rival hockey team jersey! The original version by Roch Carrier is in French, but I got to read it in both French and English, and I can report that I was doubly entertained. What luck, that both Francophones and Anglophones got to delight in that very Canadian of stories.

Among the nearly one hundred awards that recognize the best in Canadian children’s literature there has only been one award for Canadian translators of children’s literature.* This award has been listed as “on hold” since 2004.

According to its website: “This award, administered by the Children’s Literature Service of Library and Archives Canada, was established to promote the dissemination of children’s literature by rewarding the translators who have introduced young readers, both English- and French- speaking, to the culture of children’s literature of Canada, in the two official languages.”

It’s difficult to imagine that this award is less relevant now. If anything, we need more awards like it. What about awards for Canadian translations of Chinese, Punjabi, or Hindi children’s books? – just to name a few.

In order to remind ourselves of the importance of translated children’s literature why don’t you let us know about your favorite children’s book that was originally published in a language other than English. Then, we will post a Top 10.

If you have any trouble remembering the title or author of your favorite children’s book, Terry Clarke, CBC’s own “special children’s book sleuth” might just be able to find it for you. You can get the information for that intriguing resource by clicking on this link.

*From the awards list at the Canadian Children’s Book Centre

The Bee is coming!

Because language is not just our business, but also our passion, Michelle is once again volunteering as a judge for the Vancouver Regional’s of the National CanSpell Spelling Bee.

The CanSpell Bee is where eight to eleven year-old word enthusiasts test their spelling mettle in hopes of winning a trip to the National Bee in Ottawa.

It’s tough competition with automatic disqualification for any misspelling, and emotions run high. But the kids are resilient, well prepared and super savvy.  Many of them ask careful questions before answering, like:

“May I have the etymology of the word?” and “Can you use that in a sentence, please?”

Just their desire to try makes them all winners in our eyes.

A fun study tool is Katherine’s Wide World of Words. Here, Katherine Barber, Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Oxford Dictionary showcases the ‘Word of the Day’. Today’s word is:

intercalate (In TURCA late) : to insert (an extra day etc.) into a calendar, e.g. Febrauary 29, into a leap year.

(Who knew you could do that???)

 The Vancouver Regional Bee is an event not to be missed, especially if you are a word enthusiast like us. The event is being held at the Orpheum Theatre March 9th, 2008.

All the best to this year’s entrants as they prepare for the BEE!