Description: This book is a multi-language collection comprising over fifty translations of the poem 'Lenga di mama' ('Mother Tongue') by Curaçao-born poet Hilda de Windt Ayoubi, published here alongside three additional poems each providing a different perspective on the mother tongue.
Brief description: Pieter C. Muysken (+ 2021) was born in Bolivia but grew up in the Netherlands. He was a Professor of Linguistics at the universities of Amsterdam, Leiden, Nijmegen, and Stellenbosch, South Africa. As the winner of the Bernhard Prize, Prix des Ambassadeurs, the Spinoza Prize, and many other awards, he is considered one of the greatest, most diverse linguists of the time. He has over 230 publications to his name and his life-long research on Ecuadorian Quechua culminated in the book El kichwa ecuatoriano: Orígenes, riqueza, contactos (2019).
Review Quotes:
The literary world focuses mainly on dominant European languages, mainly English, and rarely gives space to less spoken languages, certainly not creole languages; That is also why this book is unique in the literary world. Hilda de Windt hopes that this book will also put the cultures and languages of the many translators in the spotlight., Herman Deceuninck, Esperanto Magazine