Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić is probably Croatia’s most famous children’s story writer. Her works have been compared to those of J.R.R Tolkien and Hans Christian Andersen. She was born in Ogulin in 1874 into a very well to do Croatian family. Her inspiration for writing fairy tales was the countryside around Ogulin and in particular the mountain of Klek. She was nominated several times for the Nobel Prize for Literature and her most famous work is a collection of stories published as ‘Croatian Tales of Long Ago’ based on ancient Slavic mythology. One of her most popular stories is ‘The Brave Adventures of Hlapić the Apprentice’ which along with the tales collection has been translated into many languages and enjoyed by children all around the world.
In honour of Ivana’s contribution to literature the town of Ogulin has been regularly holding a Festival of Fairy Tales and in late 2013 the Ogulin Tourist Board opened an interactive, multimedia visitor’s centre ‘Ivana’s House of Fairy Tales‘ to celebrate the life and work of Croatia’s greatest children’s writer.
I was very honoured to have been involved in the project as an English language proofreader for all parts of the centre, the interactive games and exhibitions featured inside as well as all the promotional material, brochures, books and DVD accompanying the project. It was a pleasure working with the translator Nada Kujundžić and the project management team at Muze d.o.o.
The visitor’s centre offers an array of exhibitions, workshops, state-of-the-art interactive games, touch-screen, multimedia installations all in order to stimulate children’s imaginations about fairy tales, myths, legends and tales as well as a memorial to Ivana’s life and her works.
** NEWS **
The Croatian Museum Association (HRMUD) awarded the visitor’s centre in Ogulin as the Best Permanent Museum Exhibition in Croatia of 2014 in Opatija on 10th October.
*****
The town of Ogulin has also created a Fairy Tale Route which winds through the town and its environs. The video below sums up superbly the whole atmosphere of the project. All-in-all it has turned the town into the Homeland of Fairy Tales, well worth a visit!
Ivana’s work is so popular that she even features in school yard graffiti – this is at the Podmurvice primary school in Rijeka 🙂
Ivana’s tale of Hlapić (ENG Laptich) the schoolmaker’s apprentice features is popular amongst children and features in many children playgrounds. Here in Turnić near Rijeka.
If you would like to visit Ogulin and Ivana’s House of Fairy Tales, the Fairy Tale Route or Plitivce Lakes you can contact Sabina Gvozdić at ogulintales.com. She is a very experienced storyteller and tourist guide who knows all about the region as well as the imposing mountain of Klek.
As I work as a Croatian to English translator and proofreader I spend great amounts of time reading a multitude of texts for all and sundry. From simple tourist brochure descriptions of resorts and campsites to intensive scientific and academic papers about language, the arts and history. Since starting in this business in 2004 I have seen and read some terribly and some excellently translated English texts but there are many errors, misspellings and grammar mistakes which translators from Croatian to English make which will instantly pinpoint them as not being made by a native English speaker, or that the text hasn’t even been checked by a native English speaker. Reading a well-translated text is a breath of fresh air but when I come across something which is considered to be “good enough” or written by a client’s relative who once lived in America then my enthusiasm drops and I ask myself “why do people bother?”. Sometimes it’s blatantly obvious that the translator hasn’t even bothered to use a simple spellchecking programme!!
Of course, there are differences between American and British spellings of certain words – an issue that some translators seem to be unaware of. I always use British English and if I am given a mixture of texts in different forms of English to proofread I will always confirm with the client which they prefer.
These kinds of issues can be avoided by editors, project managers or clients by supplying the translator (and subsequently the proofreader) with a style-sheet, or set of guidelines, which covers all the formatting, grammar, styling and language required to make all the texts, articles, submissions from writers and contributors et al. cohesive and unified. Since working in Croatia I have never been given a style-sheet.
Why don’t businesses, tourist associations, public institutions, industry etc. make it known who does their translations? Every publisher which I have worked with has…
A note to any editors, publishers and writers please, please, please do not allow your graphic designers to manually add English text to the layout of your publications – they are not translators and are not qualified to write – so many books, brochures etc. I have translated for have been ruined by stupid spelling mistakes, most of the time in heading and captions which ultimately look bad for me because my name appears in the “impressum” imprint and credits.
So, I decided to start a list of the most common mistakes – this will be an ever-increasing list as more examples pop up…
error – correction
“loose” – lose. „navodnice“ – “quotation marks”
“payed” – “paid”.
“informations” – “information” (there is no plural in English)
“then/than” – “onda/nego” year format: 2014. – 2014 number format: 1.212.459,25 – 1,212,459.25
“divers” – “diverse”. “We arrive at 2pm and meet Your friend…” – “your” or “you” are never used with “Y”, unless to start a sentence. English does not have the formal “vi” or “Vi” as Croatian does.
“sadržaji” – in tourism is not “contents” it’s “facilities” or “activities” or “features”
“advices” – “advice” (there is no plural in English)
“manifestacija” – “event” – never use “manifestation” in text about tourism.
“ponuda” – Yes it means “offer” but try to use a word more imaginative: “choice”, “selection”, “attraction”….
“bogat” – another word overused in tourist texts.
“gastronomija” – use “cuisine”, “culinary” or just “food”. “uživati u” – not “enjoy in” just “enjoy”
“izdanje” – only if referring to a book or something published/issued – not an event!
“this” = singular – “these” = plural
“that” = singular – “those” = plural
“analysis” = singular – “analyses” = plural
“accommodations” = never plural, a mass noun – always used as”accommodation”
Sveti Jakov(b) – is not St Jacob – he is St James.
“relacija” – when concerning travel it is “route” or “line” not “relation”.
“We took a walk in the nature” – no, no, no just “nature”!
“tridesetih godina prošloga stoljeća” – “1930s” – not “the 30s of the past century”
Wien – Vienna
Beograd – Belgrade
slatka voda – is not “sweet water” it’s “fresh water”
“after job” – “after work”
MORE TO COME……
Simple tips:
1) always use an English language keyboard setting
2) always use a spellchecker
3) always ask a native English speaker to check your text if you’re not sure 🙂
Legendfest is a three-day festival of myths, legends, folklore and live performances held every year in the small hilltop village of Pićan, in Istria, Croatia. During the festival the village becomes the backdrop for storytellers, children’s workshops, live theatrical shows, local food, arts and crafts and concerts, which draw on the rich traditions and history of Istria. Visitors have the chance to go back in time and experience anything from medieval poetry to ancient myths in the picturesque setting.
Each year the festival has a different theme. I have written and performed at Legendfest since 2011. The theme for 2011 was pirates – and so myself as author, Cyborgix 4E75 as composer and musician, Miki as orchestral composer and Jasmina Jazzy as performer, wardrobe and make-up manager, put together the audio/visual piece “Captain Morgan’s Hidden Treasure”. I played the ghost of the Caribbean pirate Captain Morgan (yes, him from the brand of rum) who, as legend says, visited the province of Istria, settled and established the real-life village of Mrgani (meaning the “place of the Morgans”). The myth recalls how he had buried his last stash of gold and treasure nearby. Our 15 minute performance was his story and how he had returned from the spirit world to Istria to uncover the location of his buried treasure after 300 years.
Performing as the ghost of Captain Morgan
Cyborgix 4E75 – composer, arranger and musician on keyboards
Jasmina Jazzy played the seductive spectre
In our performance we were joined by Alen Tibljaš – one of Croatia’s most respected drummers, who added some extra drama to the composition. The show was held in the tiny chapel of Sv. Mihovil on the outskirts of the village of Pićan situated at the top of the surrounding cliffs – the perfect location for our dark tale of ghostly pirates and treasure.
Alen Tibljaš added atmospheric percussion
At the end of the performance, which closed the festival on the last evening, many of the festival’s other performers came and joined us for pirate revelry and choruses of “Fifteen men on a dead man’s chest. Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of rum. Drink and the devil had done for the rest….” The audience thoroughly enjoyed it!
You can listen to the studio recording of “Captain Morgan’s Hidden Treasure” here:
The theme for Legendfest 2012 was witches, wizards and goblins and so we delved into Istria’s rich heritage of myths, legends and folklore and wrote, composed and produced a new concept and performance – “Legend From Istria”. Based upon tales of Istrian gods I played Stribor, son of Svarog – The God of Wind and I narrated the terrible story of good versus evil to take back the land of Istria which had been conquered by the Underworld demons of Bjesomar and Morana played by Cyborgix 4E75 and Jasmina Jazzy.
Pićan’s tiny chapel of Sv. Mihovil was the perfect setting for our dramatic show
Svarog summoned up the help of Slavic gods Perun – the God of Thunder and Gerovita – The Master of War to defeat the two devils in a final cataclysmic battle scene which would see peace return to the beautiful land of Istria. … you can listen to the epic story below 🙂
Our excellent costumes, make up, lasers and dry ice enhanced the performance
Once again we closed the festival programme after midnight on the last day, leaving the audience enthralled.
Everybody loves to sit in the sun, sip a great cup of coffee and watch the world go by, no more so than in the city of Rijeka – European Capital of Culture 2020, and the history of this habit stretches back to the beginning of the 18th century.
In Europe cafés first appeared in the south of the continent. By 1570 Venetian merchants brought coffee to Venice along with tobacco. In the second half of the 17th century the first cafés were opened, and soon Milan, Turin, Genoa and other Italian cities followed the trend. Around 1760 there existed more than 200 cafés in Venice alone. Vienna is probably the best known European city for its cafés, and the opening of the first Viennese café, called “Hof zur Blauen Flasche” (“House under the Blue Bottle“) was related to the Turkish siege of Vienna in 1683. Cafés became the places which captivated with their smell, comfort, warmth and all the activities which go along with drinking coffee such as reading the newspapers, playing cards or billiards, pleasant conversation and intellectual debates. Cafés became centres of social life.
Coffee most probably arrived in Rijeka following the examples of Venice and Vienna cafés, because as early as 1719 the Habsburg Emperor Charles VI declared Rijeka and Trieste as free ports, which at the same time also meant that the delivery of colonial goods could be made without Venetian intervention.
Records show that the first café was opened in 1715 in Rijeka by Tommaso Bianchi and Florio Maruloni, who were settlers from the Swiss province of Grigioni (Graubünden, Grischun, Grisons). It was located in the house named Domus Aurea, near the old council building in today’s Koblerov Trg.
The Ana Minak – a typical clipper boat used for the transport of coffee and tea.
Most imports of coffee to the Rijeka region were connected with the establishment of the Trieste-Fiume Company (1750) and its successor the Privileged Company of Trieste and Fiume (1775-1804), whose branch in Rijeka imported, amongst other things, great amounts of coffee and tea from Amsterdam, Nantes and Bordeaux. At the beginning of the 19th century the Rijeka entrepreneur Andrija Ljudevit Adamić participated in trade with overseas countries, importing tobacco, coffee and cocoa as well as other goods. These were goods imported from Central and Southern America.
Not much is known about the cafés, café service or interiors of those times today, although there is more information about the public houses, hotels, guesthouses and inns. Dominik Teleki von Szek states that in Rijeka in 1794 there were seven cafés and that they were the centre of social life.
The local shipyards of Rijeka, Istria and the Croatian littoral were involved in the construction of fast sailing ships, so-called barque-clippers, which were used for the transport of perishable goods, tea and coffee. At the end of the 19th century the main traffic in coffee to the Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire came through Rijeka’s ports.
Caffe Al Risorgimento
The entrepreneurial spirit of Rijeka’s people in this period can be seen in the opening of coffee roasting establishments in the city, because coffee was transported here as raw beans from Asia and South America as well.
In Sušak several private companies operated which were involved in the import of colonial goods, which were imported directly, without intervention from the countries of origin. Josip Smerdel had a company, established in 1886, which also had a coffee roasting house. His shop sold the roasted and unroasted coffee brands of: Minas, Santos, Salvador, San Domingo, Perla Portorico, Liberia, Guatemala and Cuba Speciale, which clearly pointed to the diversity of the origins of the coffee. This was very similar to the selection of coffees which the Haramija-Mikuličić company also offered.
The interior of Josip Smerdel’s shop in Sušak.
Ljudevita Jelušića coffee shop, Kastav
After the division of Rijeka and Sušak at the beginning of the 1920s, a group of wholesalers was organised in Sušak and it founded the First Sušak Joint Stock Trading Society, which brought together a range of entrepreneurs involved in import-export. It was here that coffee found its place. Along with the usual flow of imported coffee from overseas, the society adapted its business operations to the emerging situations and connected itself with the Franck factory in Zagreb and with Kolinska in Ljubljana selling its coffee. Besides selling coffee it also sold coffee substitutes such as Rosil from figs, Kneipp from barley and Seka from chicory. The Haramija-Mikuličić roasting house sold coffee blends under the names of Mercantilna, Domaća, Stolna Melange, Imperial Melange and Haramika.
In the second half of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century there were numerous known cafés: Caffé Europa, Caffé Maritimo Mercantile, Caffé Centrale, Caffé Schenk (later Caffé Degli Specchi), Caffé Orient, Caffé Grande, Liburnia, De la Ville, Fiumara, Panachoff, Adria, Quarnero, Grande, Patriottico, Commercio, Panny, Specchi, Fiume Risorgimento, Apolo, Secession, Europa, Marittimo and Venezia.
In 1920 in Sušak a cooperative was founded of innkeepers, barkeepers and café owners in order to represent their rights in the town and district of Sušak. The cooperative consisted of around 100 members which in 1933 paid 10 dinars each for their membership. Amongst the first cafés in Sušak were the Caffé Europa and the Narodna Kavana.
The Cafe Bristol
The same building in 2014
During the 1960s the new Yugoslav society, thanks to the specifics of the political regime, there developed a special consumerism concerning coffee and its drinking in special places. Work meetings without coffee were unimaginable, and one of the main skills of business secretaries was the art of making the morning coffee. The whole atmosphere was complemented with a shopping trip to Trieste, if for nothing else than just to drink a cup of coffee.
The crisis or the so-called economic stabilisation of the 1980s was marked with a shortage of coffee, which gave additional reasons for a trip over the border and the “smuggling” of coffee.
The traditions of those first cafés were upheld by popular cafés of the second half of the 20th century: Učka, Triglav, Narodna Kavana, Kontinental, Union, Istra, Neboder, Gradska Kavana, Rječina, Slavica, Sport, Korzo, Zora, Žabica and their names still evoke pleasant memories and rich nostalgia.
Everything you’ll need to know about visiting Croatia’s third largest city – what to see, what to do, where to stay, where to eat, fashion, music, history and culture, transport, beaches and of course shopping.
I contributed to new and updated reviews of sights and places to visit.
‘Only Fools and Horses’ is incredibly popular in Croatia and is broadcast on national television under the title ‘Mućke’ – loosely translated as meaning ‘wheelers and dealers’.
All episodes of Mućke are available on DVD.
Rijeka’s city football team supporters Armada have adopted Delboy, Rodney and Uncle Albert as beacons of hope.
Graffiti near Krnjevo, Rijeka – “This time next year we’ll be champions”
Rijeka – European Capital of Culture 2020 has a long tradition in shipbuilding. Many of these photographs are by the great photographer Viktor Hreljanović. More about the SMS Szent Istvan here
‘Isušena kaljuža’ – rare cover of first edition from 1957
Janko Polić Kamov – ‘Isušena Kaljuža’ (English ‘The Dried Out Mire’)
I am very fortunate to be given an original first edition of this book, intact with its dust jacket – which is very rare to find.
Kamov wrote the manuscript for his novel from 1906-1909, but it was not published until 1957, many years after his death.
In the opinion of many literary critics it is the best Croatian novel ever written.
In Mladen Urem’s book ‘Janko Polić Kamov, Dora Maar i hrvatska avangarda‘ (Janko Polić Kamov, Dora Maar and the Croatian Avant-garde) (ISBN 953-6700-06-9) (2006) one chapter is dedicated to the relationship between Antun Gustav Matoš – a leading Croatian modernist writer and contemporary of Kamov’s – and the architect Josip Marković (1873–1969), the father of Dora Maar – born as Teodora Marković (1907-1997), the painter, photographer and Pablo Picasso’s muse and lover.
For more than 10 years he researched the genealogy of the Marković family; Dora Maar and her father the architect Josip Marković who was the illegitimate son of Kamov’s father Ante Polić and Barbara Marković. The long time friendship between Antun Gustav Matoš and Josip Marković, plus links with the Croatian politician Stjepan Radić reveal a deeper link between Matoš and Janko Polić Kamov. It is most likely that Josip told Matoš the story of his own origins and of his true father, although this would never be acknowledged publicly, various events and correspondence signify the links. From the entire study it can be assumed that in 1903, whilst the young Janko Polić Kamov was demonstrating in Zagreb against the Khuen government he spent several months in prison, where he became acquainted with Stjepan Radić and from him he learnt that he had a half-brother the architect Josip Marković. Janko’s brother Nikola Polić in ‘Iskopinama’ (‘Excavations’)(1953) describes how the young Janko was searching for when and where his father’s martial infidelity took place by correspondence with his parents. Many of the family’s documents and correspondence have been lost, and so it is difficult to reconstruct the actual events which acted formatively on Kamov and his literary work. Nevertheless, everything that is available to us to shows the obvious connections and contact between these people.
Pablo Picasso and Dora Maar (born Teodora Marković) by Man Ray
From this recent research connections between Janko Polić Kamov and Picasso’s lover Dora Maar have been uncovered and the new information has prompted a new analysis of Kamov’s life and works (many of which are semi-autobiographical) clarifying many details from which can be seen that he was one of the most significant writers of his time, about whom, unfortunately, the international audience has had little opportunity to discover.
Between the two world wars the works of Janko Polić Kamov were rarely printed. Initially these were his Sabrana djela – Collected Works (including his novel ‘Isušena kaljuža’ – ‘The Dried Out Mire’, written from 1906-1909) and printed for the first time in 1956-1958.
Only in the last 20 years has he gained international recognition and his works have been translated into other languages: English, German, Italian, Spanish, Catalonian and French. The novel ‘Isušena kaljuža’ – ‘The Dried Out Mire’ has been translated and published into Italian and should soon be published in German but has never been translated into English.
More about Kamov and Dora Maar here (in Croatian).
‘Zwischen Fluch und Toleranz’ – German translation, 2009. ISBN 978-953-6700-21-9. Translation by Igor Šimonić.
‘Southerly Thoughts and Other Stories’ – an anthology of short stories by prominient Croatia authors featuring Kamov’s ‘Sorrow’. Published in Rijeka 2005.
‘La Palude Disseccata’ (‘Isušena kaljuža’ – ‘The Dried Out Mire’) Campanotto Editore, Italy 2009. Italian translation by Rosalba Asino.
Grand Street (New York) literary magazine no.58, 1996. Featured Kamov’s short story ‘Freedom’ and intro by Mladen Urem
‘Blasfemia’- by Edicions ‘96, Valencia, 2011 Catalonian translation.
ISBN 978-84-92763-65-8.
‘Akzente’ influential German (Munich)literary magazine no.4 from 2007 featured ‘Sorrow’ (‘Trauer’)
‘Selection of Short Stories and Poems’ – Intro by Mladen Urem. Published in Rijeka/Zagreb 1997. ISSN 0351-0611
‘Partisan Review’ American (Boston) literary magazine. Issue 1/1998 featured Kamov’s ‘Freedom’.
Issue 2/1999 featured ‘Sorrow’.
‘La Fiumanella’ literary magazine published in Rijeka in 1921 featured ‘Pjesma nad pjesmama’ – ‘La Canzone delle Canzoni’
‘Schreibheft’ – German literary magazine no. 64 – 2005 featured Kamov’s Freedom’ (‘Freiheit’)
‘La Bestemmia’ /’Psovka’ – dual Italian/Croatian language edition published by Campanotto Editore in 2005.
Pablo Picasso and Dora Maar (born Teodora Marković) by Man Ray
Dora Maar (born Teodora Marković) by Man Ray
Janko Polić Kamov – Članci i feljtoni pisma 1958. Sabrana djela IV, with original dust jacket.
‘Misaonost Janka Polića Kamova’ – Mariaj Brida 1993 ISBN 953-6066-04-1
An original collection of Kamov’s novellas and essays. Published in 1938 by Hrvatske Književne Naklade Neovisnih Književnika, Zagreb. Editor Ljubo Wiesner.
The City of Rijeka erected a statue of its famous pavement writer – Janko Polić Kamov.
In 2010 the Croatian post office (Hrvatska pošta) issued a series stamps featuring eminent Croatian writers, composers etc. The 3 kuna 10 lipa stamp commemorated the 100th anniversary of Kamov’s death.
U potrazi sam za sponzorstvom ili drugim oblikom financijske potpore kao i prikladnog izdavača (za tisak knjige ili e-book verzije) kako bih završio svoj prijevod svih djela Janka Polića Kamova. Na prijevodu sam njegovih djela s hrvatskog na engleski jezik radim od 2012. godine. Tijekom tog procesa stvaram jedinstveni rječnik fraza i arhaičnih riječi koje Kamov koristi u svojim djelima, kao odraz i osobnog autorskog stila ali i vremena u kojem je pisao. Taj bi se rječnik mogao koristiti od strane budućih prevoditelja zainteresiranih za ovo značajno razdoblje hrvatske književnosti.
Molim vas, kontaktirajte me ako ste zainteresirani.
I am looking for sponsorship or funding and a suitable publisher (printed or online) in order to complete my translations of all of Kamov’s work. I have been working on translating his works into English since 2012. During this process I am compiling a unique glossary which could be used by future translators interested in this important period of Croatian literature.
naftalina ADULTS ONLY! is an astonishing online, listenable, downloadable music collection of old Yugoslavian/Croatian records and radio shows, LPs, singles and even B-sides from all decades. An veritable online jukebox!
naftalina ADULTS ONLY! onlajn muzej punoljetnih pjesama
The London Calling Stand Up Comedy Show comes back to Croatia June 2012
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