I’m an avid follower of other cartoonists and their creations and Mo Willems is one of those.  His simple drawings and humorous writing have garnered many a fan across America.  Now, there will be many a fan in Mainland China.  Or will there…?

On his Blog, Willems shows four of his new books in simplified Chinese.  It is from his Piggie and Elephant Series.  In Chinese it says: 小猪和小象系列 （xiǎozhū hé xiǎo xiàng xìliè）”Piggie” is translated as “Piglet” and the Chinese dictionary  doesn’t know how to translate “little Elephant!”

The first book is 第一次派对 (dì yī cì pàiduì) The English is “I’m Invited to a Party.” The Chinese translated title is “The First Party”.  I haven’t read the book but I wonder if it is the first party that Piggie has been invited to…?

The second book is 你的头上有只鸟 (nǐ de tóu shàng yǒu zhǐ niǎo) The English and English translation are pretty much the same: “There’s a Bird on your Head.”  That one looks interesting.

The third book is 我要飞 (wǒ yào fēi) Again this book’s English and English translation are slightly different. The English name of the book is “Today I will Fly” but the translation is just “I Will Fly” or “I Want to Fly.”

Finally the last book is “我的朋友难过了“ (wǒ de péngyou nánguò le) which is pretty much the same in the English name of the book and translation: “My friend is sad”.

But the best is the transliteration of his name.  English: Mo Chinese: 莫 (mò)
English: Willems Chinese: 威利姆斯 (wēilì mǔ sī) Pronunciation: WAY Lee Moo Si
Before his name though, it says “美”(měi) which tells the reader that the author is from America.

Translated by 舒杭丽 (Shū Hánglí) It would be fascinating to hear what the translator says about the series.

Here is an excerpt from the write up on the Publisher’s website and my rough translation.
在”小象小猪系列”图画书里，莫·威利姆斯介绍了两个可爱有趣的主人公：一头乐观有时却 粗枝大叶的小猪，和一头悲观谨慎的小象。
In the series of Little Elephant and Piglet drawing book, Mo Willems introduces two cute and interesting masters: An optimistic but sometimes crude and careless little pig, and a pessimistic and cautious little elephant.

小象总是很小心小猪却不是。小猪总是乐呵呵的，小象却不是。
Little Elephant is always careful but Piglet is not.  Piglet is always cheerful and confident but Little Elephant is not.

小象总是思前想后，小猪就很轻松啦。小象和小猪是最好的朋友。他们截然相反的性格让他们不停地争吵，然后彼此谅解。
Little Elephant is uptight about everything and Piglet is relaxed.  They are best of friends.  They have completely opposite natures and never stop quarrelling, but end up understanding each other.

The kicker though is that the book is only only 13.80 RMB or Chinese money.  That comes out to a total of $2.02 which is a bargain.  But on Amazon you can buy them for $8.99.  Which one are you going to buy?

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 5th, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under 2009, Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.