“‘Whit an eedjit!’ / ‘Quén bièsse!’, can Walloon echo Scots?”

After an amused comment on the different perceptions of varieties in the use of English as expressed on the cover of translated books, the paper focuses on what is involved in the translation of Scots English, contrasting the situation when the text is entirely in Scots (in this case poems I translated for a bilingual anthology) and the self-conscious contrast of Scots and Standard English in Liz Lochhead's play Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off. As it is a play, so meant to be performed, and as the relation of Scots to English is historically very similar to that of Walloon to French, I argue for the local introduction of Walloon forms, but since Walloon is hardly understood any more (contrary to Scots), the text has to make sure that French doubles up what is said in Walloon.