The People, As We Are Born, You Raise

Scan from a copy of Punch in my collection (1 June 1889)

Wherever you may be reading this in the world, you are probably aware that there will be a General Election in Britain on Thursday. I am not about to launch into a party political blogpost on behalf of this cause or that cause - those who know me will be quite aware of where my political sympathies lie - but I didn't want to let the occasion pass without some mention on News From Nowhere.

This election seems to be different to all the others I have known in that division seems to be a stronger theme than unity. Whether it is the division of Britain from Europe, or Scotland from England, or saints from scroungers: we seem to have become more any more obsessed by the narrowness of politics rather than its ability to be inclusive. So, as we prepare ourselves for our immediate political future I thought it was an opportune time to recall the opening lines of that most narrow and nationalist of songs, Land Of Hope and Glory.

Land of Hope and Glory, Mother of the Free,

How shall we extol thee, who are born of thee?

But let us not forget that we live in a diverse and culturally rich age, not to mention an age which has the benefit of machine translation. So let us subject those familiar lines to the cultural mincing machine and see what comes out the other end. I have translated the English into Welsh, the Welsh into Japanese, the Japanese in Maltese, the Maltese into Chichewa, the Chichewa into Icelandic, the Icelandic into Azerbaijani and finally the Azerbaijani back into English.

What you finish up with is this:-

Hope and glory of the world, women's rights,

The people, as we are born, you raise?

For me, it is a much more pleasing sentiment. Proof, if ever proof was needed, that diversity beats isolationism any day of the week.

For those who have an interest in such things, here are the various stages the translation went through:

English

Land of Hope and Glory, Mother of the Free,

How shall we extol thee, who are born of thee?

Welsh

Land of Hope and Glory, Mam y Free,

Sut y byddwn Dyrchafaf di, sy'n cael eu geni o ti?

Japanese

希望と栄光の国、自由の母、

どのように我々はあなたから生まれている人、あなたを賞揚？

Maltese

Tama u glorja tal-pajjiż, il-libertà ta 'l-omm,

Kif in-nies aħna li huma mwielda minn int, extol inti?

Chichewa

Chiyembekezo ndi ulemerero wa dziko, ufulu wa amayi,

Monga anthu timabadwa kwa inu, kukweza inu?

Icelandic

Vona og dýrð heimsins, réttindi kvenna,

Eins og menn, við erum fædd til þín, hækka þig?

Azerbaijani

Ümid və dünyanın şöhrət, qadın hüquqları,

Insanlar, biz sizə anadan kimi, sizə qaldırmaq?

English

Hope and glory of the world, women's rights,

The people, as we are born, you raise?