Problems

Today we have a song that's 3/4 in Lingala and 1/4 in Acholi, Makambo, which gives the post its title. It was the soundrack of a movie I watched on my birthday, 24/3/21. I think I explained everything that followed about this song on the decipherment blog, so let's move on to the translations. Now, I figured Lingala and Acholi are two languages from different language families (resp. Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan(?)) which have probably been in contact and influencing each other for ages, with Acholi being in some sense the minor one, the most influenced one. I thought this situation was mirrored by Basque and Spanish (Spanish⟷Lingala and Basque⟷Acholi), so I wanted to make a translation Lingala→Spanish and Acholi→Basque. I finally got around to attempting it between 12:38 and 12:43 on 6/5/21, which is when I did the Spanish. Then I tried the Basque… and I couldn't do it. I don't have enough documentation for Basque. Not even an entry for "think", which is essential in translating "Think about me in Acholi!". I tried other languages in a similar relation to Spanish, from ex-colonies: Nahuatl was too underdocumented, I assumed Guarani and Maya were too, Tagalog grammar looked incredibly alien to me as explained on Wikipedia, Navajo was too underdocumented (couldn't even get "think ye!" translated), finally I tried Quechua, managed to come up with "yuyaychik", "think ye about", and then couldn't figure out how to inflect ñuqa "I" to the accusative, so I ditched the Spanish. I thought of Hindi and Tamil, but Tamil coverage on Wiktionary was so terrible I couldn't even figure out "think ye", so I went back to a previous idea of Arabic and Persian, but swapped Persian out with Urdu, and that is the end of it. Of course, Urdu would be the most influenced one, so Lingala→Arabic and Acholi→Urdu. 14:46-15:34 the same day is when I made those translations, with a tweak at 22:42 right after sending a mixed version to Asmā. In the meantime, I had decided to inject the Spanish into this mix, so prepare to see a different mix where Spanish is inserted as well. Any line I cannot include, I will report here. Actually, I realize I missed «Ngai na motema», which I render as «Yo con mi pecho» at 18:29 on 7/5/21 as I made the draft. Having trouble inserting the motema lines and the bandeko line, they aren't repeated enough times I'm afraid. Let's see… OK, I just added an extra verse, but at 18:32 as I finished doing that I thought changing corazón to pecho wasn't the best idea, and that alma was a better choice, time to implement the change. On the left, the mixed version, with Urdu and Arabic in their native scripts. On the right, all transliterated. Let's see!

O na makambo ee وا مع مُشْكِلَات Ngai na makambo ee أنا مع مُشْكِلَات Ẃun ẃupara ki leb Acoli ba, Lutuwa! لوگ میرے! Lutuwa, ẃun ẃuwek lueny! لوگ میرے, لڑنے بند کرو! ¡Qué problemas aquí! Hié éé éé ¡Qué problemas p'ra mi! (hié ééé) وا مع مُشْكِلَات Hié éé é éé أنا مع مُشْكِلَات میرے بارے میں سوچو آچولی میں! Lutuwa! لوگ میرے! (x11) O na makambo ee Ngai na makambo ee Hermanos chismeantes, ¡hey! ¡Qué problemas aquí! ¡Qué problemas p'ra mi! Ẃun ẃupara ki leb Acoli ba, Lutuwa! لوگ میرے! Lutuwa, ẃun ẃuwek lueny! لوگ میرے, لڑنے بند کرو! O na makambo ee أنا مع مُشْكِلَات ee ee ee Ngai na makambo ee میرے بارے میں سوچو آچولی میں! Lutuwa! لوگ میرے! Lutuwa, ẃun ẃuwek lueny! Hié éé éé Lutuwa! لوگ میرے! (x8) O na makambo ee أنا مع مُشْكِلَات ee ee ee O na makambo ee Ngai na motema Ẃun ẃupara ki leb Munu ba, Lutuwa! لوگ میریییے! Lutuwaaaa, ẃun ẃuwek lueny! Qué problemas aquí! Hermanos chismeantes, ¡hey! Problemas en el alma Yo y mi alma میرے بارے سوچو اجنبی بھاشا میں! لوگ میرے! Lutuwaaaaa! لوگ میریییے، لڑنے بند کرو! Lutuwaaaa, ẃun ẃuwek lueny! O na makambo ee Songisongi bandeko ee Likambo na motema ee اخواني ثَرْثَارِين، وا! و مشاكل القلب أنا وقلبي Ẃun ẃupara ki leb Acoli, Lok lutuwa! سوچو آچولی میں, لفظوں میں میرے لوگوں کے! O na makambo ee ee ee

O na makambo ee Wā ma`a muškilāt Ngai na makambo ee 'Anā ma`a muškilāt Ẃun ẃupara ki leb Acoli ba, Lutuwa! Lôg měrê! Lutuwa, ẃun ẃuwek lueny! Lôg měrê, laṛnê band karô! ¡Qué problemas aquí! Hié éé éé ¡Qué problemas p'ra mi! (hié ééé) Wā ma`a muškilāt Hié éé é éé 'Anā ma`a muškilāt Měrê bârě měṅ sôcô 'Âcôlî měṅ! Lutuwa! Lôg měrê! (x11) O na makambo ee Ngai na makambo ee Hermanos chismeantes, ¡hey! ¡Qué problemas aquí! ¡Qué problemas p'ra mi! Ẃun ẃupara ki leb Acoli ba, Lutuwa! Lôg měrê! Lutuwa, ẃun ẃuwek lueny! Lôg měrê, laṛnê band karô! O na makambo ee 'Anā ma`a muškilāt ee ee ee Ngai na makambo ee Měrê bârě měṅ sôcô 'Âcôlî měṅ! Lutuwa! Lôg měrê! Lutuwa, ẃun ẃuwek lueny! Hié éé éé Lutuwa! Lôg měrê! (x8) O na makambo ee 'Anā ma`a muškilāt ee ee ee O na makambo ee Ngai na motema Ẃun ẃupara ki leb Munu ba, Lutuwa! Lôg měrěěěê! Lutuwaaaa, ẃun ẃuwek lueny! Qué problemas aquí! Hermanos chismeantes, ¡hey! Problemas en el alma Yo y mi alma Měrê bârê sôcô 'ajnabî bhâšâ měṅ! Lôg měrê! Lutuwaaaaa! Lôg měrěěěê laṛne band karo! Lutuwaaaa, ẃun ẃuwek lueny! O na makambo ee Songisongi bandeko ee Likambo na motema ee 'Ixwānī ṯarṯārīn, wā! Wa muškilāt al-qalb 'Anā wa-l-qalbī Ẃun ẃupara ki leb Acoli, Lok lutuwa! Sôcô 'Âcôlî měṅ, Lafżôṅ měṅ měrê lôgôṅ kê! O na makambo ee ee ee