Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Hindi Lesson 4: Why Raj Will Never Have A Girlfriend

This is a conversation between Pratap and Raj, the youngest of the Kumar children. I've gotten to the point where I can understand the gist of the conversation in context, although I'm unclear as to the subtle differences between तुम थिक हो, क्या हाल है, and आप कैसे है -- besides, of course, that आप is more formal than तुम.

प्रताप: हेलो राज, क्या हल है? सा थिक है?
राज: ह, सब थिक है। और अप कैसे है?
प्रताप: मई भी अच्चा हु, सुक्रिया। ऋषि ओर संगीता कैसे है?
राज: ऋषि अच्चा है, लेकिन संगीता अच्छी नही है।
प्रताप: क्यो? क्या बात है? क्या व बीमार है?
राज: नही, वह नाराज़ है क्योकि... क्योकि अप याहा है!
प्रताप: अच्चा? यह बहुत बुरी अत है! पर संगीता क्यो परेसान है?
राज: मालुम नही। लार्की है, ना?

This, translated, becomes:

Pratap: Hello, Raj. How are things? Is everything well?
Raj: Yes, everything is well. And you are well? (Help me out on this one... in the last lesson "kaisa" meant "what is it like," and so literally would this be "and what are you like?")
Pratap: I'm good too, thank you. How are Rishi and Sangeeta... like????
Raj: Rishi is good, but Sangeeta is not good. (There's that "accha" again.)
Pratap: Why? What's the matter? Is she ill?
Raj: No, she is angry because... because you are here!
Pratap: Really? (This time the text gives "really" as the translation for "accha." This word must mean just about anything it wants to mean. ^__^) This is a very bad matter. But why is Sangeeta upset?
Raj: I don't know. She's a girl, no?

On behalf of women everywhere, let us band together to beat the crap out of Raj.

And why, by the way, is Sangeeta upset that Pratap is here? (I'm not peeking ahead at the story.) Is she angry because she finds herself forcibly attracted to him? Or is it more along the lines of "she'd like Pratap to stop continually trying to catch her coming out of the shower?"

Only time will tell...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The word 'kaisa' could probably be better translated as 'how'. In the current example, 'app kaise ho' translates to 'how are you'. In your previous lesson, it could have been, 'how was that?'

Beth Loves Bollywood said...

I love that you're getting into the Pratap drama. I'm just finishing chapter 1.

And "Part Time Hindi Speaker" is a great user name!

Blue said...

Part time Hindi speaker: Thanks. That makes a lot of sense. Why doesn't the book just say that?

Beth: Years of grad school have taught me to deconstruct everything. Pratap does not get a reprieve. ^__^

Anonymous said...

Glad to be of assistance. Sometimes translation books get too literal and miss the forest for the trees. As for the achcha thing, it is a very versatile word... primarily used to say 'Good' but also variously 'Ok' (with the head waggle), 'I see' (when dragged out), 'Really?' (when used in conjunction with raised eyebrows), 'Alright' (repeated twice in succession) and so on.

Beth - Never thought anyone could be such an ardent Bollywood fan.