Saturday, April 6, 2019

translation - Translating a sentense from Swahili to English

So there's this sentence that people have been sharing on facebook that's in Swahili and requires a direct word to word translation to English. Superficially it seems like an easy translation but once you try it, it get really messy and every thing you try just doesn't sound right to the ear. So if figured you guys might help or have fun trying.




Kiswahili:




Mama, mimi ni mtoto wako wa ngapi




English:




Mother, I am child yours what number





Essentially what this statement is about a child wanting to know from his/her mother what position she's on of all her mothers children. For example there are nine children in your family and you are the fifth born but you don't know for some reason and you wanted to ask your mother how would you pose the question?



I have tried




Mother, I am your what born?
Mother, what number am I on your list of children?
Mother, of all your children I am what born?





Thank you I advance and my apologies if this is a stupid question.

No comments:

Post a Comment