In need of Finglish (Farsi) translation.

September 8, 2009 2:34 PM

In need of Finglish (Farsi) translation. Original text inside.

I received the following text:

"Doustan dametoun garm. Be man vaghean khosh gozasht. Hafte khoubi dashte bashid."

Can someone offer a quick translation?

posted by pantheON to Society & Culture (4 answers total)

Not sure about the first sentence; dustān would be 'friends,' dametān (colloquially dametun) would be 'at you (plural),' and garm is 'warm,' but I can't make them add up.

The rest means "I had a good time. Have a good week."
posted by languagehat at 2:59 PM on September 8, 2009

("Writing & language" would have been a better category, by the way.)
posted by languagehat at 3:00 PM on September 8, 2009

Yeah the first sentence doesn't make sense to me. Dametun could also be "near you", but there's no verb in that sentence, so it doesn't work.

languagehat's translation for the rest is fine.
posted by azarbayejani at 3:27 PM on September 8, 2009

Best answer: "damet garm" (دمت گرم) is an idiom. It literally means you are telling the person to have "warm breath," and it's a way of figuratively expressing appreciation for the person (i.e. you're glad they're alive and breathing). Seems to be one of many farsi idioms in which you appreciate a person by commenting on their physiology (their breath, their liver, etc...) It's pluralized to "dametoun" because the speaker is addressing plural "friends," so it takes the "y'all" possessive.

So the first sentence is basically telling the friends that they're awesome. And I also agree with languagehat's translation for the remainder. So overall, the text translates to:

Friends, may your breath be warm. I really had a good time. Have a good week.
posted by neda at 9:22 PM on September 8, 2009 [1 favorite]