Ready to get started with Watermelon Party?
The trick for translating a book is to take it one page at a time! Breaking up this project into bitesize pieces will make it easier to complete and will allow time for rest and reflection.
The heart of this project is empowerment. A translation of a book creates a new edition, which means the translator becomes a co-author. We want to empower people — and especially children — to not only explore languages, but to become co-authors of an inspirational story.
How to translate a book using language exploration:
PHASE I
Step 1: Understand the content by reading the story through.
Step 2: Choose a language to explore. Begin by giving your child three options: a language they know, a language they want to learn, or a language they want to create.
Step 3: Learn about that language.
Here are some questions that will help guide the exploration: What are the building blocks of that language? Is it made of letters, pictures, or symbols? Is it a tonal language or a pitch-accent language? Where did the language originate, what culture is it from? How old is the language?
PHASE II
Step 4: Map the chosen language to the English letters and words in the story.
Step 5: Arrange the translated words into the sentence structure that matches the language. You have the option to write the translations directly onto each page, under the sentences in the book!
Step 6: If it helps, you can check your work using a translation app or the help of a fluent speaker of that language.
We recommended people use a notebook throughout the process to document their experience, examine any findings, and discover what this project teaches them along the way.
Don’t forget to share your completed project with the world!
Join the Global Movement!
Are you ready to share your completed project? Our goal is 300 language translations! It will be amazing to see how many languages we can complete around the world.
- It’s time for show and tell! Share pictures or a video of the translated book to your preferred social media account. Explain the steps you took to translate the book and what you learned.
- Important: Include the two project hashtags when you post! This will create a global repository of translations.
How to create the hashtags:
- #watermelonpartybook
- Add the language you used to the end of #watermelonparty.
For example: #watermelonpartyspanish #watermelonpartyjapanese and so on.
That’s it! A couple of easy steps and you’ve helped us make this party epic.
If you don’t use social media, you can email Green Bamboo Publishing and we can publish your project on our website or to social media on your behalf.
