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The children’s rhyme about the coronavirus Is There Something in the Air? (Che cos’è che in aria vola?), written by Roberto Piumini, one of Italy’s most beloved children’s authors, has been translated into Quichua* by Gabriel Torem, member of the Argentine Association of Translators and Interpreters (AATI).
*A point of clarification regarding the name of the language: Argentinean Quichua is the variety used in the translation, as opposed to Quechua, which is in fact a term that refers to a family of languages.
Gabriel Torem is a linguist and a translator of several European languages and Quichua. He is the author of Yanasuspura, a DIctionary and Introduction to Santiagueño (Argentinean) Quichua, and Don Quijote, Sancho Panzaan Nisqasninkuna (Don Quixote’s statements in Santiagueño Quichua). He has translated from Quichua into Spanish José Antonio Sosa’s Pallaspa Chinkas Richkaqta (Gathering What Is Going Lost). From AATI, the Argentine Association of Translators and Interpreters, coordinates the collection Ethnodiscourses in Aboriginal Languages, a bilingual collection that has so far prepared bilingual books in Spanish and three aboriginal languages.
¿Imataq paan anaq pachapi?
Noqa mana reqsipuni.
¿Mana rinchu yachay wasipi?
cha saa rimapukuni.
Suk virus qori umanpi...
mana qapaq kanmi
mana qaripas kanmi...
¿Imataq amora ka lawspi?
Utulitita kan, ancha utulita
Qaanaaspaqa ñawiykiwan,
microscopiopi uyaykita
churanayki tiyan.
Ka qarisitu venenasun
kuyurispa, kuyurispa,
satipusus, cheqnipusus
mayllapichus lloqsipusun.
Wayramuyuspa, mana qaakun,
nataq, manchachinaan,
guerriaaykuspa tukukun
noqanchispura yaykunaan.
Noqanchis kaypi tiyanchis:
noqa, qam, kuska kanchis sinchis.
Nisuyki: tukuy noqanchis
cha supayt' saqeyta atinchis.
Achisnaaspapas,
achiy marqaykipi,
pay mana paananpaq
qam inanki, noqa inanipas
Lloqsispaqa, utqa voliakuy
makisniykita mayllakuy
sapa kuti, sapa punchaw
qayna, qaya, kunan punchaw
Yakuan, jabonniwan mayllay
sumaq, sinchi, allimitay
Chayna, ka supayqa
yakuwan karuman renqa.
Mamayki, tataykipas
mayllachunku voliakuspa.
¡Ari a! niy, inaptinkuna,
Niy "allita inanki qamkuna".
Ama chomkaykichu, makiykiwan
simiyki, senkayki, ñawisniykita:
atinkipas kachun, uyaykita
mana chomkakunayki tiyan
Yanasuswan tinkunakuspa,
karu karupi kutiy:
kusikus tiayta atinki
mana tiyaspa ancha kuska.
¿Muchas, marqas? Ama qoqoychu:
Cha qarisitu tiyaptin,
chaymanta atinki, ¿manachu?
Tata Yaya munaptin.
Picha apinpas suk mascarata,
mana carnaval kanqa,
manapas suk suwa kanqa
amoq suwasunanpaq qamta.
Suk sumaq mascara kan
samanta waqaychanapaq:
cha saqra qarisitu
mana aapi lloqsinanpaq.
Cha supay tiaptin,
¡pucha! aapi purispa,
yanasuy, noqa ishtantin,
wasiypi rini, manchaspa.
Ancha alli inaranku:
yachay wasita wikcharanku
cha supay mana aanankama,
mana onqonaaykukama.
¿Yanasus, ayllusniyki?
wasinkunapi wikchakunku.
Paykunawan qam tiyanki,
pantallapi, rimachinki.
Alli munaspa, atinki,
karumanta tiyayta.
Manaraq muchas ni marqas,
ancha achqata rimayta.
Ancha munaywan rimay,
cha munaywan tarpoq ina.
Tarpunki rimasqaykita,
qonki picha munasqaykipaq.
Noqa, qam, noqanchis,
munas, qaaspa, yachaspa,
suk punchaw atipasunchis
cha supay cheqnikoqta.
Suk punchaw atipasunchis,
ka saqra, lasaq, onqota.
Chaymant' kuska yachasunchis
kutis kusispa kawsayta.
