Why do I find it so hard to express myself, when I am trying to translate something from Hindi to English or Gujrati to English or Tam to English :))
The other day I was trying to explain what my blog name "Dil-e-Nadan" meant. Some of us agreed on "Thoughts of the heart" the other better one was "The heart is innocent". Innocent, innocence still does not seem to be a good enough substitution Nadan. It is something more.
Maybe it is just that English is more of a matter of fact language where as Indian languages having been influenced by Sanskrit, Urdu and Farsi are more poetic.
Similarly, with songs, some English songs are just not "song - like". You can sing them once someone puts a tune, beat to it, other times they are just jarring and one has to go through the lyrics to understand what the singer is trying to sing. Hindi/Gujrati/Tam songs are not like that, you can hum them, sometimes just speak them and it sounds poetic. Of course not all Indian movie songs :)
Do you have a word/song you can think of which is like that?
Monday, April 18, 2005
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4 comments:
Lets not be unfair to the English language now, for my share, I offer "lilting", "felicitous", "harmony", "melancholy", "vicissitudes", "zephyr" as words that sound like music to my ears!
I think it appears that way to you because we/you have not given the same attention to english music as we have to indian music !
I think language is as liberating as it is limiting..that's why it's easier for someone who's multi-lingual to appreciate beauty in words, in other cultures, in others' thinking. Sometimes though, we can never find words in any language to translate an experience..
dude kamal,
cool blog man... very interesting thought !!
I agree with you partially in that english is a funny language and not all words in indian languages can be aptly translated...
however only SOME english songs are jarring and non-decipherable...Try listening to
"Its My life" by Bon Jovi
"I am with you","Complicated" by Avril Lavigne
good lyrics... easy to follow...
Also I feel that the words and the meanings of any native language is derived from the culture and way of life... like for example - a cheap buy in india would (atleast colloquially), mean a "good deal"...where as here, cheap has a more negative connotation - something like a poor quality good..... people here use "inexpensive" for a less priced item... so i guess every language has got its quirks if you will... just have to accept as is and appreciate the intrinsic beauty without trying to translate and go bonkers... :)... Please feel free to counter this, as this is only my opinion....
cheers mate !!
arun
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