A Poetry Project for Spreading Love
My contribution in Dutch to Jk Mansi
आगे के अँधेरे में
इक किरण सी दिखी है
और देखूं या ना देखूं
यही सोचती सी
खड़ी हूँ गुमसुम सी
Aagey kay andherey mein
ik kiran si dikhee hai
aur dekhoon ya na dekhoon
yahi sochti si
khadi hoon gumsum si
English
In the darkness ahead
I have seen a ray of light
should I look or look away
wondering this
I stand here silent, undecided
Dutch
In het donker, voor mij uit
zag ik een straal licht
Kijk ik er naar of kijk ik er van weg
Terwijl ik mij hierom verwonder
Sta ik hier in stilte, besluiteloos
Bwahaha- trying to explain pronounciation… I can’t help to think your project is the best birthday gift ever- all those people around the world struggling to wríte how a word sóunds :-D
Happy birthday/ Hartelijk gefeliciteerd.
So here we go- Everything between ‘( )’ are the words or part of words as they sound in English.
In (in)
Het (hat, at, rat)
Donk- (as in; donkey.)
-Er ( as in; er-ror)
Voor ( as in; ‘door’ but then with the soft and stretched V of Victory or Victim)
Mij ( this might be a bit hard- native English speakers will perhaps have some trouble to pronounce the Dutch -ij… it will all sound like -ai as in; cold aiscream/a great laife/Yes, ai do marry you):-D
Uit ( likewise- there are no English words that have the pronounciation of -ui-. You could try to say ‘out’, but then with two fingers in your nose.. go ahead, give it a try..)
So now we have;
*In het donker, voor mij uit
You’re doing great- carry on…
Zag ( Z as in; ZZZulu, you know- from that Alpha/Bravo/Charlie- alphabet, A as in; after, but then you cut the ‘a’ short – don’t say aaaaafter, just keep it short and simple- a/fter.. Then the G [oh horror. We are such a gross human race if it comes to the G – yet, here we go; this ‘G’ is not a gentle ‘g’ as in; gentle, g-spot, geriatric. Nor the shorter g as in; great again, Google, gross.. You will [*sigh*..] more or less have to abundantly clear the lower parts of your throat like you do when you have a cold fever in winter. Yeah, go ahead, cough it up, there you go- yuk- that was a góód -G-, well done!)
My respect if you manage to do so without throwing up ;-)
Oh, come on- it’s not thát bad, your just not used to it…carry on…
Ik ( as in; relic, without the -rel-)
Een ( Un- as in; un-fortunate, un-informed)
Straal ( Str as in; street, but here you try not to pronounce that typical ‘w’. English speakers always say st-w/reet….or, for example…..st-w/rawberry….or st-w/range… So, here we go; st-rrrrrrrr…. No! Stop! I said; nót pronounce the ‘w’… You know what; practice in front of a mirror, maybe that’ll help. Yeah, good on y… No!! It’s an ‘r’, rrrrrrr, like in ‘shiverrrrrrrr’ not as in w/Roger or w/Rabbit or w/race on a wocket to Maws…[*sigh…riter gets a bit fwustwated about the inability of english speakews to pronounce a simple ‘r’..]
-breath in..breath out – Ok, carry on you all, you’re doing gwreat!
aa as in the formentioned a-fter, but now you use the prolongued version- aaa/fter, L as in; light, liquid, lazy)
Licht ( L as in; light, I as in; in, irritate, insubordination. CH is with the same clear-your-throat-technique as the formentioned G)
That gives us; Zag ik een straal licht [we’re getting there- don’t give up hope yet. Does your throat hurt already…??]
Kijk ( K as in; kids/kindergarten, ij – we’ve been there/done that, [no really- it’s not an aaaiiii, nor an aye, nor an eye, it’s closer to a like, but without the ai, perhaps it’s closer to ICE… hm, no, spike. Mike…hike….dike…? No..no…that’s with that darn ‘-ai’ too….dammit, can’t you just simply say -ui-or -ij- or -ei-….How hard can it be!!
You know what- better give it up. Just accept that you’re a native English speaker and you’ll live and die without ever decently and properly pronouncing -ij- it’s allright, there are worse things in laife…..eeehhh, i mean-life..] You’ll end this word again a short K, which gives you -KIJK. [not KAIK- oh come on now- you’re not some dull mumbling Facebook-user! You’re an intelligent Medium contributor. It’s- ‘kijk’… not kaik/koik/kuik…](*Grmbl*)
Ik ( yeah, the same one as before, with the ‘relic’)
Er ( as in; er-ror)
Naar ( you know what- pronounce the -aa- as in; AAAAAAHHHHH, he’s gonna kill me…. That’ll give you a better -aa-)
Of (with the short ‘o’ from ‘off’ and the short ‘f’ of ‘of’- bwahaha)
Well, you are all very intelligent Medium writers and readers, no doubt you can manage the rest. For those who find it difficult…
…check Google translate!
Jk Mansi, thank you for the prompt. I am tagging Tatiana Reuter Ferreira , hoping she will have some spare time to make a Portugese version.
I loved the poem, it really touched me and I’m looking forward to your next poem. Feel free to tag me in.
