Are YOU marching in the light of God?

January 2, 2006 6:54 PM

Can anyone translate a very simple song lyric into Hebrew and Arabic?

We sing (often) in our church a song called "Siyahamba," which translates into the phrase "We are marching in the light of God," repeated several times. We can currently sing it in Zulu, English, and Spanish; at some point, someone asked for it in Hebrew and Arabic, which we thought was a wonderful idea--unfortunately, we're too small to have anyone with those languages among us. Can anyone here help?

Exact word-for-word translation is less important than the rhythm/syllabication, I think, which is (in English):

We are marching in the light of God
We are marching in the light of God (x2)
We are marching, ooh
(We are marching, marching)
We are marching in the light of God (x2)

(The parenthetical is the bass/alto harmony line, which is different from the tenor/soprano line, with the "ooh.")

Other languages would be cool if anyone can contribute (I've been toying with the French), but the Hebrew and Arabic are my primary requests. Whatever language you offer, please include a clear phonetic pronunciation guide!

posted by dlugoczaj to Writing & Language (16 answers total)

Hebrew:

meetzuhdaynu (sorry, this is really weird transliteration) b'or hashem (x3)

meetzuhdaynu, (ooh)

meetzuhdaynu, (my conjugation-fu fails here)

meetzuhdaynu b'or hashem (x2)

And, no, I'm not.
posted by birdie birdington at 8:08 PM on January 2, 2006

Nous marchons dans la lumiere de Dieu
Nous marchons dans la lumiere de Dieu
Nous marchons, ooh
(Nous marchons, marchons)
Nous marchons dans la lumiere de Dieu
Nous marchons dans la lumiere de Dieu
posted by blue_beetle at 8:23 PM on January 2, 2006

Since the song is fairly simple, you should have good luck with automatic translations.
posted by blue_beetle at 8:26 PM on January 2, 2006

Im Gotteslicht marschieren wir
Im Gotteslicht marschieren wir
Wir marschieren, ooh
(wir marschieren, marschieren)
Im Gotteslicht marschieren wir
Im Gotteslicht marschieren wir

(German, which seems simultaneously appropriate and disturbing.)

Pronunciation note: Remeber that German "W"s are pronounced as English "V"s. Marschieren is probably best pronouned "mar-sheer'-en" (stress second syllable). "Gotteslicht" is pronounced "goh'-tess-liCHt" (where the CH is a gutteral sound hard to describe in English), emphasis on first syllable.

Second note: This is more accurately translated as "in God's light we march", but since the most important element is not that you're marching, but that you're doing it in the light of God, that's what I've chosen to emphasize. If you're a purist, just substitute "Wir marschieren im Gotteslicht" in lines 1, 2, 4, and 5.

Final note: I'm sure there's a German equivalent for "ooh", but I don't know what it is :)
posted by aberrant at 9:42 PM on January 2, 2006

Arabic:

Nahnu namshee fee nur Allah
Nahnu namshee fee nur Allah (x2)
Nahnu namshee, oo
(Nahnu namshee, namshee)
Nahnu namshee fee nur Allah (x2)

Note: the h's are pronounced with no vowel between them and the following n's. And yes, that is the word Arabic speaking Christians and Jews use for God.
posted by leapingsheep at 9:49 PM on January 2, 2006

Meetzuhdaynu would be "we marched," actually.

I'd conjugate it to "we are marching" myself, but I can't figure out which binyan it's in. Anyone?
posted by needs more cowbell at 10:17 PM on January 2, 2006

Navajo:

Ne-He-Mah Tehi Bi-Chi-Ol-Dah Coh-Ah-Ghil-Tlod
Ne-He-Mah Tehi Bi-Chi-Ol-Dah Coh-Ah-Ghil-Tlod(x2)
Ne-He-Mah Tehi
(Ne-He-Mah Tehi Tehi)
Ne-He-Mah Tehi Bi-Chi-Ol-Dah Coh-Ah-Ghil-Tlod(x2)

*may not be exact
posted by I Love Tacos at 10:58 PM on January 2, 2006

Well, Hashem literally means 'the Name', which is a specifically Jewish way of referring to God. If you want "god" in the general (which is also used in Hebrew for the Hebrew God specifically) it's Ha-El

If you want the text to be closest to spoken, everday Hebrew, "we are marching" is "Anakhnu Tzo'adim". Slightly more literary is "Tzoadim-anu"; it fits better with your rythm, too. An Israeli pop song would use the former; a hymn, the latter. 'Meetzuhdaynu' is incorrect -- it's not even a word (Hebrew is my first language).

This is my best rendition. The stressed syllables are in caps.

TZO-uh-dim AH-nu, beh-OR ha-EL (x3)
TZO-uh-dim AH-nu, ooo
TZO-uh-dim AH-nu, TZO-uh-dim,
TZO-uh-dim AH-nu, beh-OR ha-EL (x2)

I'll look around for a mic and see if I can upload a wave of me reading this aloud.
posted by ori at 11:41 PM on January 2, 2006

mp3 link. might not work behind a firewall. and no, i'm not, either: i'm sitting in the light of my livingroom.
posted by ori at 11:55 PM on January 2, 2006

I have no answer for the poster, but I do have a suggestion for future answerers. Perhaps it would be a good idea to include a (fairly) literal translation back into English, especially for very different languages (from our own) like Hebrew, Navajo, etc. I like what aberrant did in explaining the German fairly precisely -- though, of course, it wouldn't have been too hard to figure that or the French out, since they're similar enough to languages I know. But Navajo... different story.

Anyway, I think it helps to know the translation choices people made, both for my own interest and for ease in helping other people (who might also know the language and disagree with your analysis) understand why you used certain words. Cf. how ori discusses his thoughts on the earlier Hebrew posts.

Interesting thread.
posted by SuperNova at 12:21 AM on January 3, 2006

I should have pointed out that when I said the h's are pronounced, I was referring to the h's in nahnu. The sh's in namshee are pronounced as in share.

it would be a good idea to include a (fairly) literal translation back into English

That's fun. It means:

We [travelling by foot, usually walking, but it's also used for marching] in light God.
No "to be" or "of" in Arabic. These things are understood in context.
posted by leapingsheep at 4:42 AM on January 3, 2006

The German ch aberrant is trying to describe is like the ch in the English loch, as in Loch Ness.
posted by leapingsheep at 4:44 AM on January 3, 2006

Russian:

Маршируем при Божьем свете
Маршируем, маршируем,
Маршируем при Божьем свете

marshiROOyem pri BOZH-yem sv(y)et(y)i
marshiROOyem, marshiROOyem

where the y's in parens indicate the preceding consonant is palatalized, which means it's pronounced with the tongue high and forward so that it sounds to the English-speaking ear (so to speak) as if there's a y in there; the t should almost have a tinge of ts or ch.

(Literal meaning: we are marching in God's light.)
posted by languagehat at 6:07 AM on January 3, 2006

Actually, I wouldn't bother using my navajo translation. It's a bit cheeky.
posted by I Love Tacos at 7:42 AM on January 3, 2006

Actually, I wouldn't bother using my navajo translation. It's a bit cheeky.

Then why did you post it? See this part just below the comment box?

Please limit comments to answers or help in finding an answer. Wisecracks don't help people find answers. Thanks.
posted by languagehat at 9:18 AM on January 3, 2006

Dutch

Wij marcheren in het licht van God
Wij marcheren in het licht van God (x2)
Wij marcheren, ooh
(Wij marcheren, marcheren)
Wij marcheren in het licht van God (x2)

Here is a selflink of a wav file on how you pronounce it.

And yes, I do.
posted by kudzu at 10:16 AM on January 3, 2006