Las Aventuras de Alisia en el Paiz de las Maraviyas
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in Ladino

By Lewis Carroll, translated into Ladino by Avner Perez

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OUT OF PRINT: First edition, 2014. Illustrations by John Tenniel. Cathair na Mart: Evertype. ISBN 978-1-78201-061-6

Also available in Hebrew script!

“En akeya direksion,” disho el Gato, moviendo su pacha derecha, “bive un Bonetero, i en akeya direksion,” moviendo la otra pacha, “bive un Lievre de Marso. Vijita al ken keres: los dos estan lokos.”		“In that direction,” the Cat said, waving its right paw around, “lives a Hatter: and in that direction,” waving the other paw, “lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they’re both mad.”
“Ama yo no kero estar entre djente loka,” mensiono Alisia.		“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.
“Oh, esto no lo puedes evitar,” disho el Gato: “todos estamos lokos aki. Yo esto loko. Tu estas loka.”		“Oh, you ca’n’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”
“Komo saves ke yo esto loka?” disho Alisia.		“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.
“Deves estarlo,” disho el Gato, “o no avrias venido aki.”		“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn't have come here.”
Lewis Carroll es un psevdonimo: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson era el nombre real del autor i el era profesor de matematika en Christ Church, Oxford. Dodgson empeso el kuento el 4 de djulio de 1862, kuando viajo en una barka de remos en el rio Thames en Oxford djunto kon el reverendo Robinson Duckworth, kon Alice Liddell (diez anyos de edad) la ija del dekano de Christ Church, i kon sus dos ermanas, Lorina (tredje anyos de edad), i Edith (ocho anyos de edad). Komo lo vemos klaramene en el poema al prinsipio del livro, las tres djovenas pidieron a Dodgson ke les kontara un kuento; i sin gana, al prinsipio, este empeso a kontarles la primera version del kuento. En el livro ke finalmente fue publikado en 1865, existen munchas referensias a estos sinko personajes, ke aparesen medio-eskondidas a lo largo de todo el teksto.		Lewis Carroll is a pen-name: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was the author’s real name and he was lecturer in Mathematics in Christ Church, Oxford. Dodgson began the story on 4 July 1862, when he took a journey in a rowing boat on the river Thames in Oxford together with the Reverend Robinson Duckworth, with Alice Liddell (ten years of age) the daughter of the Dean of Christ Church, and with her two sisters, Lorina (thirteen years of age), and Edith (eight years of age). As is clear from the poem at the beginning of the book, the three girls asked Dodgson for a story and reluctantly at first he began to tell the first version of the story to them. There are many half-hidden references to the five of them throughout the text of the book itself, which was published finally in 1865.
Sovre tres aspektos diferentes topi gran interes en Alisia, i es por esto ke acheti el desfio de traduizir el livro al ladino. El primer aspekto konsierne mi formasion en matematika. Komo alguno ke izo su primer i segundo grado en matematika (antes de dirijirse a la kultura i a la literatura djudeo-espanyola), esto fasinado por la aktitud del matematisiano i lojisiano Carroll, ke trata de introdusir un lenguaje natural (el inglez) en el kuadro del lenguaje lojico formal. El rezultado es divertiente i prezenta un desfio para el traduktor ke trata de prezervar este elemento al traduizir el livro a otra lengua (en mi kavzo, el ladino).		From three different aspects, I found great interest in Alice, and accepted the challenge to translate it into Ladino. The first aspect is my mathematical background. As one who made his first and second degree in mathematics (before turning to Ladino culture and literature) I’m fascinated by the approach of the mathematician and logician Carroll, who is trying to put a natural language (English) under the test of formal logical language. The result is amusing and presents a challenge to the translator, trying to preserve this element when translating the book into another language (in my case, Ladino).
En segundo lugar, komo alguno ke anteriormente se okupo muncho de literatura de ninyos (komo eskritor orijinal i komo traduktor), admiro a Carroll por su aktitud revolusionaria en este kampo. Carroll troka el karakter didaktiko de la literatura de ninyos de su tiempo a traves de las parodias ke pone en la boka de Alisia. Tambien aki ay un desfio partikular para el traduktor. Kuando Carroll publiko Alisia, los kantes didaktikos orijinales eran bastante konosidos entre los lektores i el karakter burlesko era vizivle. Esto fue trokado, desierto, oy en dia, kuando el lector solo lo puede ver a traves de interpretasiones, komo la de Gardner The Annotated Alice. Kreo, dunke, ke komo traduktor, esto agora exentado de la nesesidad de topar artifisialmente un paralelizmo a este aspekto de relasion entre la fuente i la parodia. La parodia en si es divertiente i bastante efikas.		Second, as one who previously dealt a lot with children’s literature (both as an original writer and translator), I admire Carroll for his revolutionary way in this field. Carroll reverses the didactic approach that characterized the children’s literature in his time, through the parodies he puts in the mouth of Alice. Here, too, there is a particular challenge to the translator. When Carroll published Alice, the original didactic songs were quite familiar among readers and the burlesque character was visible. This was changed, of course, today, when the reader can see it only through interpretations, like that of Gardner’s The Annotated Alice. I think, therefore, that as a translator I am now exempt from the need to artificially find a parallel to this aspect of relationship between source and parody. The parody in itself is amusing and effective enough.
El treser aspekto es tambien, en mi opinion, el mas importante i difisil: la kapachidad de traduizir ovras literarias i linguistikamente kompleksas komo Alisia en ladino, una lengua ke esta pedriendo kada vez mas su audensia de avlantes. Aunke esta lengua djudia importante ainda esta avlada, en sierta medida, por miles de personas, no se puede topar oy en dia ninyos ke son kriados en esta lengua. I por otra parte, la mayoria de los avlantes de la lengua, ansi komo munchos de sus investigadores, son prinsipalmente interesa­dos ​​por el aspekto popular de este lenguaje i por el riko folklor ke se kreo en el, inyorando kaje kompletamente la rika kreasion klasika en ladino. Komo investigador del Ladino, dediko gran parte de mis esforsos en el deskuvrimiento i la publikasion de ovras klasikas ke fueron eskritas en ladino a lo largo de sus kinientos anyos de existensia (al prinsipio en relasion kon la literatura ispanika i mas tadre komo lenguaje independiente). Ademas, en los ultimos anyos trati de enkorajar una mueva kreasion literaria orijinal en ladino ansi komo traduksiones klasikas en esta lengua (el punto kulminante de estos esforsos fue la publikasion de la primera parte de la Odisea kon una doble traduksion, en ladino i ebreo, por Moshe ‘ha-Elion i por mi-mizmo, 2011). Mi aserka­miento a la traduksion al ladino es disferensiado i diferente del purizmo de los eskritores i traduktores de la epoka de las Luzes de la segunda mitad del siglo XIX i prinsipios del siglo XX. Estos trataron de eliminar artifisialmente elementos linguistikos no ispanikos del Ladino i trokarlos por raizes i palavras tomadas del fransez i del kasteyano. Kreo ke estos elementos no ispanikos (ke forman kaje un kuarto de todo el vokabulario de la lengua!) son una parte integral i inseparable del Ladino, i son un komponente importante de su rikeza komo lengua independiente unika, i diferente del kasteyano. Los lektores ispanikos de esta traduksion podran distinguir fasilmente estas palavras i formas (algunas de estas muy bazikas) kompletamente diferentes de las ke se uzan en kasteyano.		The third aspect is also, in my view, the most important and challenging: the ability to translate literary and linguistically complex work as Alice into Ladino, a language that is increasingly losing its speaking audience. Although this important Jewish language is still spoken, to some extent, by thousands of speakers, you can’t find nowadays children who are raised in this language. And moreover, most speakers of the language, and not a few of its researchers, are primarily interested in the popular aspect of this language and the rich folklore that was created in it, ignoring almost completely the rich classical creation in Ladino. As a researcher of Ladino, I spend much of my efforts in exposing and publishing classic works written in Ladino throughout five hundred years of existence (at first in connection with Hispanic literature and later as independent language). Besides, in recent years I tried to encourage a new original literary creation in Ladino and classic translations into it (the highlight of these efforts was the publication of the first part of the Odyssey with dual Ladino and Hebrew trans­lations by Moshe ha-Elion and by me, 2011). My approach to translation into Ladino is distinct and different from the purism of the writers and translators of the Enlightenment period of the second half of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. They tried to artificially remove non-Hispanic linguistic ingredients from Ladino and substitute them by roots and words borrowed from French and Castilian. I believe that these non-Hispanic materials (comprising almost a quarter of the whole vocabulary of the language!) are an integral and inseparable part of Ladino, being an important component of its richness and wealth as a unique independent language, different from Castilian. The Hispanic readers of this translation can easily distinguish words and forms (some of them very basic) completely distinct from what is in use in Castilian.
En mi lavoro para esta traduksion, me bazi en gran medida en mi muevo Diksionario de Ladino de Internet (“Trezoro de la Lengua Djudeo-Espanyola (ladino) durante todas las Epokas—Diksionario Amplio Istoriko”) en el ke esto lavorando estos ultimos anyos. Este diksionario, el mas ancho en su kategoria, en leksikografia djudeoespanyola, kontiene aktualmente mas de 110.000 entradas. La importansia i la singularidad de este diksionario es ke kontiene diezenas de miles de sitasiones tomadas de la literatura djudeoespanyola, popular i klasika, de todas las epokas. Bazandome en este diksionario pudi realizar una traduksion bastante exakta del livro.		In my work on this translation I have relied extensively on my new Ladino Internet Dictionary (“Treasure of Judeo-Spanish [Ladino] Language Throughout the Generations—Historical Comprehensive Dictionary”) on which I am working in recent years. This dictionary, the widest of its kind in Ladino lexicography, currently contains over 110,000 entries. The importance and uniqueness of this dictionary is that it contains tens of thousands of quotes from Ladino literature, both popular and classical, of all ages. Relying on this dictionary I was able to do a fairly accurate translation of the book.
—Avner Perez Maale Adumim 2014		—Avner Perez Maale Adumim 2014