I ordered four new translations of Le Petit Prince, two of which are in regional languages spoken in countries I have recently visited. I like to pick up such translations if I can find them on my travels, but as I knew from my past attempts to find a Zulu edition, they aren’t always in print at the time of my visits. In other cases, however, they may just be out of stock.
Kreol morisien. While I saw the kréol rénioné translation in Saint-Denis, I didn’t find the one in Mauritian creole in Port Louis.
Scots Gaelic. I did not see this anywhere during my trip to Scotland last year, and I visited a lot of bookstores.
Nynorn. This is an interesting edition, translated into a recreated version of the Norn language, that used to be spoken in the Orkneys and Shetland. Norn is an extinct language, and the translation–which I knew before I bought it–is an exercise in the hypothetical, or how the translators would imagine Norn if it had survived.
Ainu. A severely endangered indigenous language of Japan, here transliterated into the Roman alphabet. I have not been to Japan but I do collect translations that are in languages I am interested in, or interested in learning.
I could go on collecting translations for the rest of my life but restrict the versions I collect to the following criteria:
1) Translations in languages I speak.
2) Translations in languages I am interested in or would like to learn.
3) Translations in languages spoken in places I have visited.
4) Translations that have otherwise come my way, usually as unwanted library donations.