I always have respect for people who speak multiple languages. Those multi- linguists speak languages with more ease than they read or write them. I love languages because they are like riddles which you have to decode step by step. That’s why I especially like getting to know a new language. It is something in the feel of the sounds. The phonetics . I love the sounds of the language of romantic French . I simply adore the Gothic Latin, the cultured Japanese language and the cocky Irish language. I relish the sound of the gruffy Germans and the sweet sounding Thai language. A word or a sentence could mean differently and have different sounds to it. Sometimes, it is just a case of lost in translation.
Take the English sentence : “Let’s go back to Kuala”
In French it’s translated to “Revenons à Kuala”
In German it’s translated to “Lass uns zurück nach Kuala”
In Latin it’s translated to “Venite ad Kuala”
In Javanese it’s translated to “Ayo padha bali menyang Kuala”
In Maori it’s translated to “Tatou ka haere hoki ki Kuala”
In Tagalog it’s translated to “Ipaalam sa amin bumalik sa Kuala”
In Japanese it’s translated to クアラへ戻る “Kuara e modoru”
In Italian it’s translated to “Torniamo a Kuala”
In Turkish it’s translated to “Kuala’ya geri dönelim”
In Dutch it’s translated to “Laten we teruggaan naar Kuala”
In Hindi it’s translated to “aaie ham vaapas kuaala par jaen”
In Swahili it’s translated to “Hebu kurejea Kuala”
In Spanish it’s translated to “Volvamos a Kuala”
In Irish it’s translated to “Lig dúinn dul ar ais chuig Kuala”
But the one I love the best of all, when it is translated to the Perak language, simply put as:
“MOH BALIK KUALE”
So, in whatever language, let’s come together to be at the #OBW2017!
