A new song came to me the other day. I’d been thinking of writing something in a made up language, and spent some of last week speaking to myself in made up words. The words were all open syllables (consonant plus vowel) and most were two syllables.<\/p>\n
I wrote the song down and sent it to my singer-songwriter friends. One of them put it into Google Translate, which identified the language as Chichewa<\/a>, a Bantu language spoken mainly in Malawi.<\/p>\n These are the original words with their Chichewa meanings (according to Google Translate):<\/p>\n Oba mmta uku kitu (Bow and find something) Oba mmba undu fitu (Be very serious) Kula tupa muta pitu (Eating discarded) I then played around with the words until they all meant something in Chichewa, and came up with the following:<\/p>\n Oba mpa katu kitu (Pray for nothing) Oba mba undu fitu (Pray now and then) Kula tupa muta pitu (Eating discarded) So I accidentally managed to write a song in a language I don’t know at all. It may be mostly nonsense, but it’s sort of meaningful nonsense.<\/p>\n Do any of you speak Chichewa? If so, is this a good translation?<\/p>\n Have you ever written some nonsense like this, and found that it meant something in a language you don’t know?<\/p>\n This sounds like something from the brilliant YouTube channel Translator Fails<\/a>, on which songs, and sometimes other things, are put through Google Translate too many times and become thoroughly mangled. Here’s a recent example:<\/p>\n
\nTika kuta dupa fu (Tika walls dupa fu)
\nFitu mmdu bapi kati (What is the difference between)
\nTaku mipa untu li (Taku barrels)<\/p>\n
\nTepu pimi mmdu ku (Tape pima mmdu to)
\nKata tifu uko kibi (Cut off live)
\nBifu bafu taku ni (The bath tub taku is)<\/p>\n
\nKatu tiku lafu lu (We are already dead)
\nLipa lupa pula puli (Pay the pula plum)
\nTalo tilu lopa mi (So this is the story of my life)<\/p>\n
\nTuka kuta taku du (Exit the walls)
\nFitu mbu bapi kati (Where’s the mosquito repellent)
\nTala mipa untu li (Color your bodies)<\/p>\n
\nTafu pima ndu ku (Find out how to)
\nKata tifu uko kibi (Cut off live)
\nBifu bafu tata ni (The master bath complex is)<\/p>\n
\nKatu tiku lafu lu (We are already dead)
\nLapa lupa pula puli (The family is raining)
\nTalo tilu lopa mi (So this is the story of my life)<\/p>\n