Do you know Afrikaans? You could help this brother a lot!

[Ipecac]

Hello!

First, I apologize for coming out of the blue, but I'm convinced that with a little bit of your time you will be able to make a big difference for me!
I am planning on doing a video-reading of 'The Little Prince' in several languages and I have so far found as many versions of the book as I needed... except for the Afrikaans one, which can't be bought and brought to where I live for less than 50$

So, if someone (like you!) just cared to translate into Afrikaans the fragment I wanted to read in that language, it would work as good as anything for me! It's only these 43 words:

[The night had fallen. I had let my tools drop from my hands. Of what use was now my hammer, my bolt, or thirst, or death? On one star, one planet, my planet, the Earth, there was a little prince to be comforted]

And, in fact, you wouldn't even have to write it down: if you could just record an audio file with you reading that fragment in Afrikaans it would work wonders as well and it would probably take you less time.

In any case, I hope you find the time and willingness to help me and, please, note also that I would gladly lend you a hand with anything related with Spanish, French, Italian or Portuguese that you may need now or in the future.

Thanks many in advance for your attention!

[tec0]

[The night had fallen. I had let my tools drop from my hands. Of what use was now my hammer, my bolt, or thirst, or death? On one star, one planet, my planet, the Earth, there was a little prince to be comforted]

Google Translate

Die nag geval het. Ek het laat my gereedskap laat val van my hande. Wat gebruik was nou my hamer, my bout, of dors, of dood? Op die een ster, een planeet, my planeet, die Aarde, was daar 'n klein prins om getroos te word

My Translation

Dit het nag geword , ek het my gereedskap laat val van my hande. Nutteloos was my hamer, my bout, of dors of dood? Op die een ster, een planeet my planeet, die Aarde was daar ʼn klein prins om getroos te word.

I am not a pro or anything like that but it "sounds" about right... I am sure someone better then me will be more helpful to you. I hope it helps...

I introduced a word "Nutteloos" that is appropriate “in my opinion” that helped the flow and helped with its meaning. For this reason I kept the Google translation handy that you can compare them.

[sterne.law@gmail.com]

Ill give it a go, if only to test my afrikaans.

Die nag het gedaal. Ek het my gereedskap laat val. (Die vereedskap het van my hand geval)
Wat gebruik was nou my hamer, my bout, of dors of dood.
Op die een ster, een planeet, my planeet, die Aarde, was daar 'n klein prins om getroos te word

[tec0]

Ill give it a go, if only to test my afrikaans.

Die nag het gedaal. Ek het my gereedskap laat val. (Die vereedskap het van my hand geval)
Wat gebruik was nou my hamer, my bout, of dors of dood.
Op die een ster, een planeet, my planeet, die Aarde, was daar 'n klein prins om getroos te word

Much better then my try

[sterne.law@gmail.com]

The English itself seems somewhat incorrect. "Of what use now"???
And there are mixed tenses.
Now, of what use was my hammer....

[league_of_ordinary_men]

How about this,

Die nagstilte het oor die aarde gedaal. Ek het my gereedskap laat val. My hammer en skroef is nou van geen waarde, so ook nie dors of om te sterf nie. Op my planeet, my ster wat aarde genoem word is n klein prinsie wat vertroos moet word.

[Ipecac]

Wow, I hadn't expected to have even different (apparently) correct translations, thank you all, this makes me very happy!

I will try and record it afterwards and post the result so that you can have something of remote interest as a payback (aka "laugh at me")

The English itself seems somewhat incorrect. "Of what use now"???

Yeah, it's not the most common way of phrasing it, yet methinks it's still grammatically correct: prep + interrogative particle is a thing in English, as heard on, f. ex., 'from where are you calling me?'

[AndyD]

I'd agree the English is grammatically corrent but sounds a bit old fashioned or deliberately flowery. It might also be a somewhat over-literal translation from the French that the story was originally written in.

Incidentally you should maybe look at translating into Afrikaans directly from the French original, translating from a translation is likely to produce a result of less quality.

[adrianh]

naai ou league oudtjie, djy is af die kjaap en djy skryf so mooi soos n tik pyp op n koue aandtjie.. ik gaan my kinnertjies daar stuur by djou dat hulle hulle se lesse kan gaan leer...naai, djy is sommer duidelik...

Anyway, you've got a nice way with Afrikaans words..

[sterne.law@gmail.com]

Uitstekend League!

[league_of_ordinary_men]

Thanks guy's hahaha

[Ipecac]

I took a bit from each translation to maximize your efforts

...and here it is my try:

http://www.goear.com/listen/b06ff1f/kleine-prins-me

D... d... do understand it?

I think I somehow managed to begin speaking in Afrikaans and end in Dutch.

[tec0]

I took a bit from each translation to maximize your efforts

...and here it is my try:

http://www.goear.com/listen/b06ff1f/kleine-prins-me

D... d... do understand it?

I think I somehow managed to begin speaking in Afrikaans and end in Dutch.

Yes only because I can speak Dutch

[Blurock]

[The night had fallen. I had let my tools drop from my hands. Of what use was now my hammer, my bolt, or thirst, or death? On one star, one planet, my planet, the Earth, there was a little prince to be comforted]

Google Translate

Die nag geval het. Ek het laat my gereedskap laat val van my hande. Wat gebruik was nou my hamer, my bout, of dors, of dood? Op die een ster, een planeet, my planeet, die Aarde, was daar 'n klein prins om getroos te word

My Translation

Dit het nag geword , ek het my gereedskap laat val van my hande. Nutteloos was my hamer, my bout, of dors of dood? Op die een ster, een planeet my planeet, die Aarde was daar ʼn klein prins om getroos te word.

I am not a pro or anything like that but it "sounds" about right... I am sure someone better then me will be more helpful to you. I hope it helps...

I introduced a word "Nutteloos" that is appropriate “in my opinion” that helped the flow and helped with its meaning. For this reason I kept the Google translation handy that you can compare them.

Agreed teco. Nutteloos is descriptive of the useless tools. I do however think one should structure the sentence a little different. Here is my humble attempt:

Die nag het gedaal. Ek het my gereedskap laat val. Van watter nut was my hamer, my skroef, of dors of dood nou? Op 'n ster, 'n planeet, my planeet; die Aarde, was daar 'n klein prins wat getroos moes word.

OR

Die nag het gedaal. My gereedskap het uit my hande gegly. Van watter nut .....etc etc

[tec0]

Agreed teco. Nutteloos is descriptive of the useless tools. I do however think one should structure the sentence a little different. Here is my humble attempt:

Die nag het gedaal. Ek het my gereedskap laat val. Van watter nut was my hamer, my skroef, of dors of dood nou? Op 'n ster, 'n planeet, my planeet; die Aarde, was daar 'n klein prins wat getroos moes word.

OR

Die nag het gedaal. My gereedskap het uit my hande gegly. Van watter nut .....etc etc

When I looked at it I figured that I must try and change as little as possible. I end up thinking this but only placed the above...

Here is my original first try.

Met son ondergang het ek my gereedskap lat glip van my hande. Nutteloos was my hamer, my skroewe, dors of dood. Op die ster, die planeet my planeet die aarde was daar ʼn klein prins wat getroos moes word.

as you can see it is closer to what it must be but just to many changes.