| Language | West-Vlaams |
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| Language Subtitle | Den Toren (Torre) van Babylon |
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| Year | 2002 |
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| Translator | Niklas Oberfeld |
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| Introduction | Dialect of the West Flanders, particularly the southwest region around Kortrijk and Ypers. The Brugge dialect is related. (Flanders, North of Belguim, Europe.) In the Middle Ages, the 'Germanic' countries shared a common 'Diets', out of which later evolved the 'middelnederlands' (middle Dutch) spoken in Flanders and the Netherlands. In the religion wars of the reformation, a protestant Dutch nation emerged, crafting a 'universal Dutch' language for administrative reasons. Bit by bit the 'Nederlands' replaced the different city dialects and became the one and only Dutch language. Not so in Flanders, where the official documents were crafted in the language of the successive rulers, leaving the common folk with their common dialects. As a result, different regions, sometimes even different cities, still have their own Dutch dialects. Today, Flanders' official language is Dutch. It is used as common trade and writing language spoken on television and written in newspapers, but the street-talk of the different cities is still alive with special words, expressions and grammatical particularities. This is a translation in the West-Flanders dialect spoken in the northwest of the country. |
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| Verse 1 | En in 't hele land was-t-er ene taale en alleen ma' nen paar woorden |
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| Verse 2 | En 't was toen zulder van Quedem /t'oosten afkwanem, da ze nen vlakte vonden in't land van shin-ar en al gunter bleven plakken |
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| Verse 3 | En ze zeiden tegen melkander:"Allé, we gaan wulder stene gaan maken en ze goe gaan bakken". En zo hadden ze stene voor mee te bouwen en specie voor mee te voegen |
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| Verse 4 | En ze zeiden tegen melkander:"Allé, we gaan wulder voor us nen stad gaan bouwen me nen torre derin tot in de wolken zo da we nen namen hen en da we nie over den eerde worden uteen gejaagd. |
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| Verse 5 | En den Here kwam naar bene'en en jen zag den stad en den torre da de mensen hadde gemaakt |
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| Verse 6 | En jen zeid-hem:"Beziet da nu. Da's iéne bende van mensen met maar iéne tale. En da's alleen mo 't begin van wa da ze bezig zin. Seffens kunnen zulder doen wat da zulder goesting in hen" |
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| Verse 7 | Allé, we gaan naar bene'en en we gaan hun taale gaan dooreen klutsen tot dat nen vent (de taale van) zin maat nie meer verstaat |
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| Verse 8 | En azo heet den Here zen uteen gejaagd al over heel den aarde. En ze zin gestopt met (nog) aan den stad te bouwen |
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| Verse 9 | En de stad heet 'em Babel gemoemd. Want aldaar heet den Here van al de mensen hun tale dooreen geklutst, en van daar heet 'em de mensen over heel den eerde gejaagd |
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| Interlinear Translation 1 | And in the whole land, there was one language and ONLY a few words |
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| Translation 2 | and it was when they arrived from Quadem/ the East, that they found a plain in the land of Shin-ar and remained stuck there |
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| Translation 3 | Rather then the verbatim, I used the verse from the 'American Bible Society' 'Today English Version' which reads: "They said to one another: "Come on, let's make bricks and bake them hard, so they had bricks and tar to hold them together" The translation reads: And they said to each other, "Come (on), we will make stones and burn them good". And so they had stones to build with and mortar to lay them/fill the spaces in between" |
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| Translation 4 | And they said to each other: "Come (on), we will build (for) us a city with a tower up to the clouds, so we can make ourselves a name and will not be hunted (driven) apart (all) across the earth" |
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| Translation 5 | As in verse 3, I choose the 'American Bible Society' 'today english version': and the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which those man had built" The translation reads: And the lord came down and saw the city and the tower that the men had built |
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| Translation 6 | As in verse 3 and 5: "And he said "now this are all one people and they speak one language. This is just the beginning of what they are going to do, soon they will be able to do anything they want." Translated to: and he said: "Look (at that). This is one band of people with just one language. And this is but the beginning. Shortly they will be able to do what(ever) they like." |
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| Translation 7 | Come (on), Let's go down and mesh up their language until a man will no longer understand (the language of) his friend |
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| Translation 8 | And so the Lord has chased them apart all over the world and they stopped building(continuing to build) their city |
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| Translation 9 | As in verse 3, 5 and 6: The city was called Babylon, because there the Lord mixed up the language of al people and from there he scattered them all over the earth. Translation: And the city he called 'Babel'. Because there the Lord has mixed (up) the language of all people, and from there he has chased the people (apart) all over the earth. |
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| English Paraphrase 1 | The official Dutch would read: En in het hele land was er één taal en (slechts) enkele woorden |
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| Paraphrase 2 | En het was toen zij van Quedem/ het oosten kwanem, dat ze en vlakte vonden in het land van Shin-ar en daar verbleven |
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| Paraphrase 3 | En ze zeiden tot elkaar:"vooruit, laat ons stenen (maken en ze) bakken" en zo hadden ze stenen om mee te bouwen en specie om ze te voegen. |
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| Paraphrase 4 | En ze zeiden tot elkaar:"vooruit, laat ons (voor ons) een stad bouwen met een toren tot in de wolken zodat we een naam hebben en niet over de aarde worden uit elkaar worden gejaagd" |
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| Paraphrase 5 | En den HEER kwam naar beneden en zag den stad en de toren die de mensen hadden gemaakt |
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| Paraphrase 6 | En Hij zei :"Kijk, dat is een bende van mensen met maar één taal. En dat is slechts het begin van hun daden. Binnenkort zullen ze kunnen doen waar ze zin in hebben". |
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| Paraphrase 7 | Vooruit, we gaan naar beneden en we gaan hun taal verwarren tot een mens (de taal van) zijn vriend niet meer verstaat. |
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| Paraphrase 8 | En zo heeft den Heer ze uiteen gejaagd over de hele aarde. En ze zijn bouwden niet verder aan hun stad. |
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| Paraphrase 9 | En de stad heeft hij 'Babel' gemoemd. Want daar heeft de Heer de taal van alle mensen verward, en van daar heeft hij de mensen over heel de wereld (uiteen) gejaagd. |
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| Notes 1 | [taale]: 'taal' (language) was written as 'taale' with the characteristic ending for spoken proper words. In West Flemish, the long [a:] is commonly pronounced with a penchant towards the [o] as 'oah' so other translations might write the word as 'toale'. |
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| Notes 2 | [afkwamen]: afkomen literally arriving FROM ['t oosten]: The long [o:] typically pronounced with a penchant towards the [u:] as 'uwah'. Other translations might write the word as 'uuasten' [bleven plakken]: literally 'remained sticking' is a popular expression for staying longer than planned against one's intentions, but not against one's will. Typically you excuse yourself with [ik ben blijven plakken], 'I was kept glued' when returning late from a pub. |
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| Notes 3 | The verbatim "And [one] man said to his friend" would be translated as "En éne vent zeide tegen zen maate:", As above, 'maate' can also be written 'moate' [allé]: very popular expression. rather 'let's move, dudes' then 'come' [stene]: Typically, the long [e:] has a penchant towards a [i:e:] as 'eehegh' so 'stene' kan also be written as 'stieene' |
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| Notes 4 | [torre] for tower is very ancient and seldom used. More popular is the plain Dutch 'toren' (though pronounced in Flemish as 'tuaren' [eerde] , can also be written as [eirde] [gaan gejaagd zin] literally 'will be hunted' or 'shall be hunted' |
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| Notes 5 | [Here] in popular folk tales, the Lord is often referred to as 'our good lord', 'Onzen Lieven Here' If I were to tell the story as a campfire entertainment, I would start "En Onzen lieven Here kwan omlaag vanuit den hemel..." : "And [our-good-Lord] came down from the heavens..." |
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| Notes 6 | [beziet da nu]: popular expression, literally 'now look at that' [bende]: literally 'band' is used in the context of 'gang' like 'de Bende van al Capone' , the Gang of Al Capone, or to describe an unorderly, undisciplined group as in 'nen bende zuiperds', a bunch of drunkards. [goesting in]: literally 'liking-' or 'craving for' also used in 'doen waar je goesting in hebt', 'do what your craving is' for 'do your own mind'. |
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| Notes 7 | {gaan], [taale], [maate]: {a:} pronounced as 'owah' alternative written as [goan], [toale] and [moate] [We gaan] : The original uses WE will go in the form of pluralis majestatis. But common Flemish has very little use for polite forms, so I choose the 'we'-form as [We gaan] "we'll go" commonly translates as "let's go". [dooreen klutsen] : literally to mesh or mix up like in 'mixing the ingredients'. Other meanings include 'stirring up (a situation)'. 'rattling (a person)' or'making a mess(out of something)' |
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| Notes 8 | [here] as in verse 5, the popular tale would write "onzen Lieven Here" [uteen], [heel], [aarde] also written as [utiien],[hiiel] or [oarde] (see above) |
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| Notes 9 | [Babel]: [Here]: see above [eerde]: see above [dooreen geklutst]: see above |
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| Submitted By | Niklas Oberfeld |
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| Date Submitted | Friday, November 08, 2002 |
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| Date Edited | Friday, November 08, 2002 |
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| Date To Headline | Friday, November 08, 2002 |
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