Publisher's Synopsis
Winnie-the-Pooh is the most popular children's book in the Friesland Province in the North of the Netherlands. Frisian is spoken by nine-hundred thousand people in Friesland Province, Groningen province and De Marne municipality.
There are also some speakers of Frisian in Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany.
An increasing number of native Dutch speakers in the province are learning Frisian as a second language. The people of Frisian are proud of their language and do not want it to be absorbed into Dutch. Over 70% of those in Friesland still speak Frisian. They have positive attitudes about their language.
Ishi Press has reprinted translations of Winnie-the-Pooh into 41 languages thus far. We have published it in Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Bengali, Bulgarian, Cebuano, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, Finnish, French, Frisian, German, Greek, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Sinhalese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Yiddish, Hindi, Urdu, Khowar, Kalasha and Latin. We have five more languages lined up.
This translation into Frisian is part of project to translate Winnie-the-Pooh into other languages. The idea is children need to learn to read at an early age and the best way to teach them to read is to provide reading materials that they find interesting. Children around the world laugh when they see Winnie-the-Pooh saying and doing silly things. Since Winnie-the-Pooh is the most popular children's book world-wide, translating this book into the different languages of the world will be conducive to teaching children to read in those languages.
The real original Winnie-the-Pooh teddy bear is now on display at the New York Public Library Children's Room on 42nd Street at Fifth Avenue along with other toys including the Tiger, the Donkey, the Piglet and the Kangaroo. Since Winnie-the-Pooh is the most popular children's book world-wide, translating this book into the different languages of the world will be conducive to teaching children to read in those languages.
