European Day of Multilingual Blogging – Reunion Creole

Yesterday was European Day of Multilingual Blogging which gives bloggers a chance to highlight the multilingual dimension of the internet.  The idea is to feature one or more languages on your blog that you don’t normally use (thanks to Christine Schmit and J. Scott of  Word to Deeds for indirectly bringing this to my attention). So, here, a day late, is my small contribution – the Aesop‘s Fable The Fox and the Crow in Reunion Creole (it’s not been translated by me – see here for source). Note that as a mainly spoken language Reunion Creole does not have a universally accepted writing system; I’ve chosen to print using the ‘KWZ’ writing system, so-called because it makes strong use of the letters K W & Z. Other systems called Tangol and Lekritir 77 also exist.

Lo Korbo ék lo Ronar

Konpèr Korbo, anlèr inn pyédbwa,
Té tyinbo dan son bèk in formaz.
Konpèr Ronar, ki té anbèt son bous,
La di ali paroli-là :
« Wopé ! Adyé, Misyè Korbo.Ou lé byin zoli ! I arsanm ou lé gadianm !
M’i manti pa, si out santé
Lé parèy out plim,
Ou lé lo Payanké lo bann zabitan dann bwa-là. »
Lo Korbo ki antann sa, i santi ali tarzé ;
Epi pou amont son zoli vwa,
Li rouvèr gran son bék é li kit son manzé sapé.
Lo ronar i kap ali, épisa i di : « Mon bon Misyé,
Aprann aou tout tarzèr
I viv soupléyan sat i akout ali :
Lamontraz-là i vo byin inn formaz, somanké. »
Lo Korbo, k’na ont épi lé pérdi,
La ziré, soman tar minm, k’i ginÿ arpi trap ali.

An illustration of the fable of the Fox and the Crow (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For more posts on Creole(s) and/or Reunion see these links:

• 7 facts about Reunion Creole
• Mauritian Musings
• House invasion
• Books about Reunion and worldwide literature
• Glossary of some useful words in Reunion Island

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