In Other Words — Workbook Answers
You’ve tried the words.
Now look between the lines.
A companion to the translation exhibit workbook. Compare your discoveries, unpack a pattern, and see what changes when a poem travels into another language.
Spoilers ahead · Open only what you needUrdu
Two couplets. Two ways to carry their meaning into English.
These are suggested English renderings prepared for this companion. Your version may make different choices.
Subah hoti hai, shaam hoti hai
Munshi Amirullah Tasleem
Option 1 · Words and simplicity
Morning comes, evening comes;
And just like that, a lifetime ends.
Preserves the repeated phrasing and the finality of “tamaam.” Stays close to the words, with less musicality in English.
Option 2 · Rhythm and repetition
Dawn after dawn, dusk after dusk—
And a whole life passes.
Preserves the recurring cycle of mornings and evenings through rhythm. Takes more freedom with the wording and softens the finality.
Sabka khushi se faasla ek qadam hai
Javed Akhtar
Everyone is just one step away from happiness;
Every home is short of just one room.
A little experiment
Your name, in Urdu
Type your name in English to see a suggested Urdu spelling.
Your Urdu spelling will appear here.
This is a spelling suggestion, not a translation of your name’s meaning. Urdu spellings can vary with pronunciation. Try spelling an unfamiliar name as it sounds.
Swahili
Check your sentences, then compare two ways of translating the poem.
Build a sentence
I am reading
Ninasoma.
Ni + na + soma
I + present + read
The subject and tense are already in the verb. Mimi ninasoma also works; mimi makes “I” explicit.
I wrote to you
Nilikuandikia.
Ni + li + ku + andikia
I + past + you + write to
Here “you” means one person. Andika means “write”; andikia means “write to / for.”
We are writing to them
Tunawaandikia.
Tu + na + wa + andikia
We + present + them + write to
Here “them” refers to people. Wa marks the recipients; tu marks the people doing the writing.
Mimi Ni Mimi / I Am I
One poem. Two English voices.
By Alamin Mazrui. These are the opening five lines used in your workbook.
Reveal the literal translation
Workbook guide translation
They call me communist
They call me capitalist
They call me nationalist
And I am just a human being,
Why is that not enough?
This follows the wording closely: na becomes “and,” and tu becomes “just.”
Reveal the literary translation
English translation · Katriina Ranne
They call me communist
They call me capitalist
They call me nationalist
But I am human -
Why is that not enough?
“But” brings out the contrast with the labels. “I am human” is shorter and more direct than “I am just a human being.”
Words travel.
Credits matter.
Urdu couplets by Munshi Amirullah Tasleem and Javed Akhtar. The English renderings on this page were prepared for this workbook companion; they are not quotations from a published English edition. Original-text links are provided beside each couplet.
Mimi Ni Mimi / I Am I by Alamin Mazrui. English translation credited to Katriina Ranne by the Poetry Translation Centre. The workbook’s literal version follows the Centre’s guide translation. Only the opening stanza used in the workbook is shown here.
Swahili language references: University of Kansas Kiswahili lessons and the TUKI dictionary entry for “write.”
Exhibit and workbook companion by Mood Labs.