Romance by Valter Hugo Mother “Our Kingdom” wins version in mirandês

ANDm statements to the agency Lusa, the translator of the work, Alcides Meirinhos, member of ACLM, said that the work began in 2018, extending until 2022, and will be entitled “L Nuosso Reino”.

This edition will be presented on September 18 as part of the Mother Language Day celebrations.

“ This publication aims to affirm the mirandês as a language capable of welcoming and recreating contemporary literature, approaching one of the most recognized voices of the Portuguese literature from a language with historical roots particularly linked to the transmontano territory ", Alcides Meirinhos, to Lusa.

“Our Kingdom” is part of the National Reading Plan for secondary education and the edition of the mirandese translation takes place when the 30-year career of the writer Valter Hugo Mãe is marked.

Alcaides Meirinhos said that the main difficulty in translating this work was the adaptation of the linguistic terms of the Mirandês Plateau to the coastal terms that are used by Valter Hugo Mãe.

“ The great difficulty was the adaptation of the terminology that characterizes the coastal region to the countryside. That is, everything that is linked to the shoreline like beach, tides... Here the work was to adapt the landscape of Miranda Land to the coast, with regard to the connection to the sea ", explained.

“Our Kingdom”, originally published in 2004, is Valter Hugo Mãe’s debut novel. Focused on an 8-year-old child, who seeks a response from God, it allows a possible portrait of the distant and poor Portugal at the end of the dictatorship of the New State, while demonstrating the timelessness of the learning process, in which “every day is an effort to prove the miracle of being someone”.

For Alcides Meirinhos, “the Mirandese language is able to describe the world, as it alone knows how to do and adapt to any concept and any linguistic reality”.

Alcides Meirinhos also recalled that there are already other prominent texts that are translated into the Mirandese language, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, published in the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO), as well as texts from the Diary of the Republic.

The Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, also in a translation of Alcides Meirinhos, is another of the documents available in the Mirandese language and will have its public presentation on 17 September.

With mirand translation there are also seven Asterix comic book albums and one of Tintin's adventures.

“Message”, by Fernando Pessoa, “Os Lusíadas”, by Luís Vaz de Camões, and “The Four Gospels”, among other texts, also have a version in the Mirandese language.

The Mirandês was officially recognized 27 years ago, by law 7/99, which made this language the second official in Portugal. Approved on September 17, 1998, this law came into force on January 29, 1999.