Hi everyone,
I hope you`re enjoying the second act of Brian Friel`s masterpiece "Translations". Let me know what you think. What did you think of this week`s poem?
See you in class.
Olivier
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
About Me
- Olivier P.
- I am an English teacher at Collège Édouard Monpetit in Longueuil Québec. I am currently working on a Student project that will allow a group of Language Arts students to visit Lowell Massachussetts during the Jack Kerouac Literary Festival. I created this Blog to encourage a discussion on Jack Kerouac and the students` adventures "On the Road".
Hello,
ReplyDeleteEven if I hate to read plays (and I may have to repeat it a few more times =) ) I didn't hate reading the second act of Translations. I finally began to understand the piece, and I liked the way characters evolve.
What I like most about the play and the poem we read last week, is that it talks about the irish language! In irish, the imperative form of the verbs can be used with all the 3 persons, in both numbers, so the language itself seems cool :)
I also liked the fact that the poem and the piece are related. It makes it easier for us to understand the poem, which I liked a lot.
I'm really loving this second book. I kind of wished this story was the longest book and KotFQ would have been shorter. I have a hard time seeing how everything will settle itself in the few remaining pages because it feels as if I only read the beginning of a book, not 2/3 of it.
ReplyDeleteAs for the poem, I didn't like it (what a shocker). I just loath poems more and more as time goes. However, this poem was the newest we read. Written in the 70's, the vocabulary felt much closer to us, but I really disliked the how it was displayed.
I just finished TRANSLATIONS and I have to admit that I loved it. I enjoyed reading a play althought it was confusing at some points. In genereal the lines are short and easy but there's a passage which includes many characters and I was completely lost reading it (end of Scene 1 of Act 2, p.59-60). Maybe we could read it in class?
ReplyDeleteI have not much to say about the poem except that in fits well our ''theme'' of the moment which may be translations, or the end of a language, replaced by another more... powerful? I dislike poems.
Marianne
I really enjoy the second book. Much much better then the first one. The only thing is that sometimes it's hard for me to make good conections between the actions and the characters, but I'm doing good with the book anyway.
ReplyDeleteI didn't really like this week's poem because I didn't like the message. The only thing I liked about it is the language more accessible for me, rookie-English-reader.
See you on Friday
Oh my! I really enjoy reading Translations! Sometimes their sense of humor or the way they replied is just so funny! Oh yeah, last week, we talked about the characters being hadicaped, but the more I read, I don`t find them hadicaped... I think they`re pretty normal.
ReplyDeleteThen the poem. The only thing I liked about the poem is the structure. Is composed with short verses, and if you take the sheet further and look, it`s like a thin colum... or a stick. Or it`s only me having illusions....
Angela
The second part of Translation becomes easy to understand, and it is quite interesting. I can’t wait to finish the book. There still some words that I’m confused about; however, that is not a big problem to continue reading. I pretty like plays and pieces; moreover, I always read it aloud. It helps me understand better the story and characters.
ReplyDeleteThe poem of this week was a little difficult, but I feel closed to the writer. I am also learning a language, so I somehow can understand why he dislikes learning another language. However, that was long ago. Now I am quite enjoy of leaning. I like the way that author writes, pair paragraph and compare themselves as animals.
Florence Chiang
Translation is great. I love it so far. Short and fun, must be great to see as a play!
ReplyDeleteI still wait to a poem that truly gets to me. I feel very distant to english poetry at the moment. I don't mean that these poems aren't well done, but I don't feel like I can appreciate them to their fullest when I am evaluated on them. English is not my priority, either, so maybe that has to do with it.
Simon, I totally agree with all you've said about the poems! I feel exactly the same and I don't know what else I could add.
ReplyDeleteFor the book, I don't like the fact that they are always (well,there's a little exaggeration from me here) speaking in Irish and the story can be confusing if you read it like a book, because you don't look at who's speaking.
Firstly, I freakin' love your comment Eve. Oh my! You are so funny talking everyday about your find! You seem so happy finding finally it!
ReplyDeleteI've finished Translation Sunday night and .... I LOVED IT! Really interresting play (I love reading plays!) and it was obviously easiest to read as KotFQ. More clear, more funny, more interresting. And I think (I'm just thinking about it at the moment) that everyone is enjoying it because the main subject (languages) is in our interest.
As Catherine said, maybe the publisher could had put the English words in italics to help the reader understand which moment they are speaking in Irish and which moment someone is speaking in English. It would be a nice and a good approach.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteOkay, Okay, I take back what I said about last week. I didn't say that Translation was bad, I simply sait it wasn't my style to read plays.
To tell you the truth, I have to say that I love this book even though it's plays. The more I read, I more I get attract by the setting, the storyline, how the characters evolve and so on.
I hope that only the teacher will read this comment, but as manly as I try to be, even romance gets to me. I like the relationship between Maire and Yolland.
What else can I say??? I also like the way about how the characters replied to each other.
Another fact made a major impact on me is the main subject which is LANGUAGES. Although my entire existence shoudn't be in this program, languages will always remain to something I have an interest. Besides, I like the fact that the poem and the book are related.
Finally, I wish Translation was a lot more longer. I don't feel like the story is coming to a end though we have read the two third of it.
To sum up, a great book with various themes like language, history, humor, romance, war (maybe later), the everyday normal life and so on. I really enjoyed it (the storyline is lovely and I think it's also pretty cute at some events, and perhaps dramatic in the last part)
I think it's long enough. I make up for my poor comment last week and the other before.
Anoine Després
Holy crap, such a epic fail, I made a mistake on my name.
ReplyDeleteANTOINE DRSPRÉS
Just, by the way, Antoine, you made ANOTHER mistake in your name xD In your family name, this time.
ReplyDeleteOk, well, Translations is really a good book. I like it very much. And it's WAY better when you're reading it out loud! That's what I did just now, in the bus on my way back home (yeah, in the bus, out loud haha). It makes the reading even more enjoyable. You should all try it at least once xD No, seriously. I'm not kidding about that. =P I hope we'll do this in class, just as last week.
As for the poem, I only have one thing to say: it's very well-chosen, for what we are into now. It has the same theme as the play we're reading. Which helps us to have a more complete idea of the Anglicisation of the Irish. That's all.
Ariane
Hi guys ! I have to say that I love the theme that seem to play an important role in both Translations and last week's poem " A grafted tongue" , which is the assimilation of a tongue being replaced by another one. It can relate to Quebec's history of the British invading us ! I sometimes find harsh to understand and visualize every action that occurs in Translations, because I am a visual person, and the action goes fast, so I am sometimes confused ! As for the poem, I enjoyed the verse : " To grow a second tongue, as harsh a humiliation, as twice to be born."
ReplyDeleteIt shows us how being forced to forget our own identity in order to learn a new language can be difficult.
This is still my favourite book of the three. It's a nice subject, I feel like I can relate in some way. Demonizing the British and all... :P
ReplyDeleteNah, I mean, staying strong as a culture when clearly a force more powerful is trying to repress, dominate, assimilate you.
I was a little disappointed by the poem this time. I think I liked it better last year.
I enjoy reading the end of the second part of the book; it was romantic between the lieutenant and Maire. I had not seen it coming. I also like the humoristic side of the book. It makes it amusing and interesting. The author uses a type of humour that I appreciate to read.
ReplyDeleteÉmilie Bégin-Galarneau
I really like Translation, it so easy to read and understand. (compared to KOTFQ) Maybe because I'm more interested in the subject, languages. Anyway, I love reading it, I hope next book will be as interesting as this one.
ReplyDeleteI loved that the poem was sort of related to the book, even if I don't really enjoy this type of poems.
Sabrina
The second part of ``Translation`` was easier to understand and, particularly after reading a book like ``Kiss of the Fur Queen`` I really enjoyed it, it's clear, short, effective. I thought it was funny that Owen enjoys changing every names of the places, a work in which he puts lots of effort, and that Yolland, who shouldn't, wants to preserve the Irish names because he like theirs sounds and their significances. And the scene between him and Maire was really cute!
ReplyDeleteJany
This week reading was so easy to read. There are less characters that take part in it. I particularely liked the moment when Owen has to traduce the conversation between Maire and Yolland. Owen got crazy with that.
ReplyDeleteThe poems was not ordinary in the way it is written. The subject is easy to figure out but the reading makes me choke.
Mathieu Bussières
I enjoyed both the poem and the act that I totally didn't read in class! Just kidding... though, I truly did enjoy reading both of them. It is very refreshing compared to KotFQ which seemed like a burden to read, while this I look forward to reading (by "this" I mean "Translations," sorry if I'm all over the place with this comment!)
ReplyDeleteAs for the poem, I love tongue twisters. Even though this isn't really one, you can't read it super fast (despite Nicolas' glorious attempt) which obliges you to take the time to appreciate the sounds and structure of the poem. Anyways, I'll stop here before I get too fanboy haha...
J.W
Pretty interesting and way better than Kiss of the fur Queen, but the story does not seems to have even begun really and we are already done trough the 2/3 of the book.
ReplyDeleteDavid Boucher Dagenais