I learned Swahili as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania. On a recent road trip that took me through Georgia, I thought I would stop by the Guidestones since it one of the few monuments in the world outside east Africa that has Swahili on it.
The English text is:
Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
Guide reproduction wisely — improving fitness and diversity.
Unite humanity with a living new language.
Rule passion — faith — tradition — and all things with tempered reason.
Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
Balance personal rights with social duties.
Prize truth — beauty — love — seeking harmony with the infinite.
Be not a cancer on the earth — Leave room for nature — Leave room for nature.
Here is a pic of the Swahili text:
In the first line, I see the word "BINAADAM", which is spelled "BINADAMU" (human, humanity) in Swahili dictionaries. The first spelling is more phonetic, which tells me that the person who wrote the translation is either a native speaker of Swahili or learned it at a young age. Adult learners like me learned the word by reading it, whereas a native or longtime speaker learned by hearing it.
Here's my translation line by line:
MAINTAIN HUMANITY UNDER 500 MILLION
ACCORDING TO THE NATURE OF THEIR SETTLEMENTS
GUIDE PARENTHOOD/REPRODUCTION WITH WISDOM
SPREAD HEALTH AND PROSPERITY FOR ALL
CONSTRUCT A NEW LANGUAGE TO UNITE HUMANITY
CALM DOWN PASSION - RELIGION - AND TRADITION
ALL THINGS WITH INTELLIGENCE AND REASON
PROTECT PEOPLE AND NATIONS WITH LAW AND THE JUSTICE OF COURTS
ALL NATIONS SHOULD RULE THEMSELVES AND SOLVE THEIR PROBLEMS IN THE WORLD COURT
LET GO OF TYRANNICAL RULERS
BALANCE THE RIGHTS OF PEOPLE AND NATIONS
TREASURE TRUTH GOODNESS AND LOVE
SEARCH FOR LASTING HARMONY/SYMPATHY
LET NOT THERE BE BAD SICKNESS IN THE WORLD
GIVE CREATION ROOM
GIVE CREATION ROOM
As you can see, there are some differences. With any translation, it's a good idea to have one person translate it into the target language, and then have another person translate it back. If the translation is good, it should be pretty close to the original when re-translated.
Some other random comments:
Goal 1 would require the death of over 90% of the people currently alive, so probably not a good idea.
Goal 2 is contradictory in the English version. The whole point of selective breeding is to reduce diversity by favoring some traits over others.
Language fascinates me because it is the only way one mind can know another.
I wonder how many other things have been translated incorrectly.
If I was going to leave a monument meant to last thousands of years with a message translated into several languages, I would write something simpler. My message would be:
REMEMBER THAT YOU WILL DIE
NO ONE KNOWS EVERYTHING
LIVE AND LET LIVE
THINK AND ASK QUESTIONS
TRY NEW IDEAS
BE VALUABLE TO OTHERS
KNOW YOURSELF
PURSUE KNOWLEDGE, FRIENDSHIP, AND MEANING INSTEAD OF FAME, WEALTH, AND POWER
NEVER MIX BEER AND WINE
SHARE AND ENJOY
Pretty standard stuff, really.
The English text is:
Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
Guide reproduction wisely — improving fitness and diversity.
Unite humanity with a living new language.
Rule passion — faith — tradition — and all things with tempered reason.
Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
Balance personal rights with social duties.
Prize truth — beauty — love — seeking harmony with the infinite.
Be not a cancer on the earth — Leave room for nature — Leave room for nature.
Here is a pic of the Swahili text:
In the first line, I see the word "BINAADAM", which is spelled "BINADAMU" (human, humanity) in Swahili dictionaries. The first spelling is more phonetic, which tells me that the person who wrote the translation is either a native speaker of Swahili or learned it at a young age. Adult learners like me learned the word by reading it, whereas a native or longtime speaker learned by hearing it.
Here's my translation line by line:
MAINTAIN HUMANITY UNDER 500 MILLION
ACCORDING TO THE NATURE OF THEIR SETTLEMENTS
GUIDE PARENTHOOD/REPRODUCTION WITH WISDOM
SPREAD HEALTH AND PROSPERITY FOR ALL
CONSTRUCT A NEW LANGUAGE TO UNITE HUMANITY
CALM DOWN PASSION - RELIGION - AND TRADITION
ALL THINGS WITH INTELLIGENCE AND REASON
PROTECT PEOPLE AND NATIONS WITH LAW AND THE JUSTICE OF COURTS
ALL NATIONS SHOULD RULE THEMSELVES AND SOLVE THEIR PROBLEMS IN THE WORLD COURT
LET GO OF TYRANNICAL RULERS
BALANCE THE RIGHTS OF PEOPLE AND NATIONS
TREASURE TRUTH GOODNESS AND LOVE
SEARCH FOR LASTING HARMONY/SYMPATHY
LET NOT THERE BE BAD SICKNESS IN THE WORLD
GIVE CREATION ROOM
GIVE CREATION ROOM
As you can see, there are some differences. With any translation, it's a good idea to have one person translate it into the target language, and then have another person translate it back. If the translation is good, it should be pretty close to the original when re-translated.
Some other random comments:
Goal 1 would require the death of over 90% of the people currently alive, so probably not a good idea.
Goal 2 is contradictory in the English version. The whole point of selective breeding is to reduce diversity by favoring some traits over others.
Language fascinates me because it is the only way one mind can know another.
I wonder how many other things have been translated incorrectly.
If I was going to leave a monument meant to last thousands of years with a message translated into several languages, I would write something simpler. My message would be:
REMEMBER THAT YOU WILL DIE
NO ONE KNOWS EVERYTHING
LIVE AND LET LIVE
THINK AND ASK QUESTIONS
TRY NEW IDEAS
BE VALUABLE TO OTHERS
KNOW YOURSELF
PURSUE KNOWLEDGE, FRIENDSHIP, AND MEANING INSTEAD OF FAME, WEALTH, AND POWER
NEVER MIX BEER AND WINE
SHARE AND ENJOY
Pretty standard stuff, really.
6 comments:
The translation makes perfect sense to me as a Native speaker. There are so many Swahili dialects and the Swahili dictionary only uses the one colonialists picked for us.
Some words like CANCER were only introduced into the Swahili language the other day and spelt KANSA.
It is not 'BAD' Swahili. It is native.
Hi. I am also a native Swahili speaker from Kenya. The translation is correct. The person who translated the text into Swahili was probably speaking it word for word during translation. Trust me when i say it is most definitely correct. There are two dialects in Swahili i.e Swahili Sanifu and Swahili Mufti. They don't sound the same during active speech but convey the same message.Your translation of the message from Swahili to English is quite literal but i'd expect that from some one who read it from a book.
selective breading can actually *increase* diversity. Just look at dogs, they come in every size imaginable. Some would consider dogs to be the ultimate in evolutionary bio-diversity amongst mammals.
Humans: Americans (88.8kg), South Koreans (68.6kg)
Indonesians (158cm), Montenegrins (183.4cm),
Dogs: Chihuahua (2kg, 20cm), English Mastiff (88kg+, 76cm+)
By comparison alone human diversity is in dire need of selective breading.
This translation is spot on.
Swahili is a derivative of local Bantu languages at the East African Coast and Arabic. As such, Binadam (alt. Binaadam, Binadamu, Binaadamu) is in the style style of Bin (fathers name) that is common in Arabic, e.g. Usama bin Laden the most famous example these last few years.
The nasab (نسب) is a patronymic or series of patronymics. It indicates the person's heritage by the word ibn (ابن "son", colloquially bin) or ibnat ("daughter", also بنت bint, abbreviated bte.). Ibn Khaldun (ابن خلدون) means "son of Khaldun"
It goes to follow, Bin Adam / Bin Adamu denotes the humnan race as children of Adam, the first man in Islam inspired Arabic.
The speaker would say Binaadam / Binadam / Binaadamu dependent on whether they have a Bantu, Arabic of purely Swahili leaning. The Bantu influence tends to end words with a vowel (binaadamu).
This translation is spot on.
Swahili is a derivative of local Bantu languages at the East African Coast and Arabic. As such, Binadam (alt. Binaadam, Binadamu, Binaadamu) is in the style style of Bin (fathers name) that is common in Arabic, e.g. Usama bin Laden the most famous example these last few years.
The nasab (نسب) is a patronymic or series of patronymics. It indicates the person's heritage by the word ibn (ابن "son", colloquially bin) or ibnat ("daughter", also بنت bint, abbreviated bte.). Ibn Khaldun (ابن خلدون) means "son of Khaldun"
It goes to follow, Bin Adam / Bin Adamu denotes the humnan race as children of Adam, the first man in Islam inspired Arabic.
The speaker would say Binaadam / Binadam / Binaadamu dependent on whether they have a Bantu, Arabic of purely Swahili leaning. The Bantu influence tends to end words with a vowel (binaadamu).
Whether the translation is accurate or inacurate, the message contained therein is disgusting. They are not God to determine how many people should live on earth.
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