Cowboy Jesus!

It's brilliant!

I looked at the book preview on Amazon. I found the approach promising: First, what you expect: Just punishment - and then: The Jesuanic message. Actually, it's just like in the Bible: It's written..., but I tell you; simply formulated a bit fresher and cleverly aimed at a younger audience. If you are interested in a German or French edition of these two booklets, please contact me by private message.

Thank you very much, Benziger, for taking the time to look, the comments and the offer. I speak French, but German, not really. I will write to you when I decide to take it to that level. I may just do it, actually. Thank you for the idea. I did one other children's book in about seven languages. It didn't prove successful and only complicated matters when it cam to royalty splits. Still, it was an interesting experience. This one, though, with the subject close to my heart, is worth it.

I knew you were very sensitive and I will send my review to you first for your approval before I post it. Don't worry! Unfortunately beacuse I can only read for short periods or go on the comp for a short while I'm very slow at the moment and have still not finished hulseys book about the Holocausr. However I think my flu is on the way out then I'll be quicker!

Larika, thank you so much. That puts my mind, and soul, at rest.

Benziger, I was thinking about it just this morning after I started to seriously consider translation. My boy in the book is a hick boy, from a hick town, who speaks slang, funny slang, that only works in English. His language changes when he speaks about Jesus. It's very subtle, and I think. beautiful. But I doubt it would translate well into another language, because slang is very particular to one area. Example, French people here do not find French slang from France amusing at all. I assume it would be the same with various German speaking countries.

Fortunately having lived in the US for many years so I understand slang. In my early years in the UK my mother insisted I spoke "properly" and wouldn't have tolerated my using slang. Also in my primary years I went to a private boarding school and then at 11 years I got into the Grammar School as I passed the 11+ exam. (In the UK Grammars were academic Schools whre only a small percentage of chidren were accepted.) In both school I heard very little slang. The Grammar Schools were virtually done away when it was argued that the grammar school system was divisive and that the system led to a waste of talent in those that fail the exam at age 11. It was argued that there was an adverse psychological effect on pupils when considered failures at such an age. Unfortunately the Secondary Modern schools where pupils went if they failed the 11+ were of a very poor quality, so it is certainly fairer today with our Comprehensive schools. Nowadays youngsters don't use slang, but certainly have their own language. Sometimes on Facebook, even though they are using English, I have no idea what they are talking about.

The play on words with the language of a hick town probably doesn't work 1:1, as there has only been a real capital city in Germany for about 30 years, so mainly provinces all over the country - the same in Switzerland (with 26 capitals ).

But that's exactly why it doesn't simply need a translation (remember what I wrote about localisation above). In our country, school authorities often use cultural mediators instead of translators to get better results. The question is: Can one write a text that makes sense to the pictures, that is coherent and works in the new language area? "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was also translated into German and the Negro slaves speak accordingly in the translation, even though there were never any (German-speaking) Negro slaves in Europe...

Perhaps the pictures contain original American allusions that are simply overlooked in Europe because they are irrelevant or interpreted differently there. Can this be absorbed by a good translation? Formulated in such a way that in the end the book works, is correct and the message remains the same? This can rarely be said from the perspective of the original language, but much more from the point of view of the new language area. I see possibilities how this could work in German, for example. You see: I formulate carefully. Because the work with language is craft and not a quick botch-up. I made the offer because I see opportunities. These are not guarantees.