"Ground control to Major Tom...". It's a very pressing matter, in that it relates to my own amusement. I hope I have met Stack Exchange's quality question guideline rules. Thank you.
3 Answers
"Ground control" is (sur)tera direktejo and "(military) major" is majoro, and in both, the j is pronounced like the y in yes. However, it is better if the name Major Tom is pronounced as in English.
So the translation is Direktej' al Major Tom. ("dee-reck-tay al Major Tom")
If you want it entirely in Esperanto, use Direktej' al la Major'. The stress is normally on the second-last syllable of a word, but it doesn't move if the ending -o is dropped: major'.
Bazo al Majoro Tom
Terbazo al Major' Tom
Comparable - in a wide sence - with "base camp."
If you merge "zo-al" you get an interesting sound, just as "ground control" has interesting r-s. You could elide the final o in Majoro: Major' Tom.
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The most poetic way to translate a poem is to translate the whole poem. When you look at it this ways, the possibilities open up a bit. For example, since the first two lines are identical, you could take two lines to get the idea out.
Vokas vin la ter-staci'
Ni vokas nun al la Major'
My understanding is that Major Tom is not a real person so there's no reason you couldn't change the name to get it to work out.
Ter-staci' al la major'
Ni vokas al Majoro Tom
You could really call him anything you want.
I'm personally partial to Ter-Staci' - which is what I came up with after reading a few national language translations of the song.