Paljas extract translation 1

[Extract from this exam paper.]

For a PRINTABLE VERSION of this translation, click HERE.

Die landskap is die Karoo. The landscape is the Karoo.

ʼn Uitgestrekte, eenselwige, eensame omgewing met gannabos, skaap en koringlande.

 A vast, isolated, lonely environment with gannabush, sheep and wheat fields.

En dansende lugspieëlings. And dancing mirages.

Deur die middel van hierdie landskap loop ʼn grondpad en ʼn spoorlyn, en langs die spoorlyn is ʼn spoorweghalte. Through the middle of this landscape runs a dirt road and a railway line, and next to the railway line is a railway stop.

Dis skaars ʼn halte. 

It's hardly a stop.  (or….. It's scarcely a stop.)

Dis ʼn perron, ʼn sinkwagkamer en -kantoor, ʼn watertoring, ʼn paar bloekom- en peperbome, ʼn paar vervalle skure, ʼn laaiplek vir diere, ʼn windpomp en ʼn spoorweghuis met ʼn wye voorstoep. 

It's a platform, a train waiting room and office, a water tower, a few eucalyptus and pepper trees, a few dilapidated barns, a loading bay for animals, a windmill and a railway house with a wide front porch.

Dis die soort plek waar treine nie stop nie. It's the sort of place where trains don't stop.

Die plase is groot en die naaste plaasopstal sowat vyf kilometer weg. The farms are large and the nearest farmstead about five kilometers away.

ʼn Klompie kilometer suid van die halte is ʼn kleinerige dorp met ʼn paar winkels, ʼn koöperasie, ʼn klompie huise en ʼn massiewe kerk. A bunch of kilometers south of the stop is a small town with a bunch of, a cooperative, a few houses and a massive.

ʼn Uitgestrekte Karoolandskap. A vast (stretched out) Karoo landscape.

 Dis net ná dagbreek. It’s just after daybreak.

Op die oostelike horison is ʼn stoomtrein onderweg met sy swart rookpluim duidelik sigbaar teen die lug. On the eastern horizon, a steam train is on its way with its black plume of smoke clearly visible against the sky.

Hendrik en Katrien se slaapkamer. Hendrik and Katrien’s bedrooom.

Die eerste oggendlig val deur die venster. The first light falls through the window.

Katrien klim uit haar enkelbed en maak klein Willem toe wat in dieselfde bed lê. Katrien gets out of her single bed and covers little Willem, who is lying in the same bed.

Sy sit ʼn oomblik vir die vertrek en kyk – ook vir die slapende Hendrik op die enkelbed oorkant haar. She sits for a moment in front of the room and looks - also at the sleeping Hendrik on the single bed opposite her.

Die lig val effens oor sy gesig. The light falls slightly on his face.

In die kombuis het Katrien die koolstoof klaar gepak en sy steek die vuur aan met ʼn stukkie papier wat sy in die kersvlam maak brand. In the kitchen, Katrien has finished packing the coal stove and she lights the fire with a piece of paper which she lights in the candle flame. (NOTE: steek … aan is “to light” like “strike on [fire]” and “maak brand” literally means “make burn”)