Amelia Fielden

Found in Translation:
Episode A, Morocco, Scene 2, 1971

My husband’s counterpart in the Embassy of Japan goes on “home leave” to Tokyo. As instructed by his Ambassadress, he returns to Rabat with a wife. Though tertiary-educated, Misako speaks just a little English, and as yet no French. Shopping here, where Arabic and French are the official, and the only widely-spoken, languages, is very difficult for Misako. I feel obliged to take her to the souk and act as her interpreter.

sheep carcasses
milk dipped from iron buckets
spice mounds
oranges, pomegranates,
the swish of kaftans

First, the butcher’s stall. Misako tells me in Japanese what she wants. I explain in French to the bilingual boss. He instructs his apprentice in Arabic how the beef should be cut. After checking with Misako that it has been sliced  to her satisfaction, I express our thanks in French and in Arabic.

years studying
all those foreign languages...
arigatou, merci, shukran, 
and on we go 
to the French bakery

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About the Author

Amelia Fielden is Australian. She is a professional Japanese translator and a keen writer of traditional Japanese forms of poetry in English. Her most recent collection is These Purple Years (Ginninderra Press, 2018).

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