International Translation Day

Every September 30th since 1953 (although "officially" since 1991) is International Translation Day, in honor of the Feast Day of Saint Jerome, the patron saint of librarians, scripture scholars, students, and of course, translators and interpreters. :-)

With that in mind, if you go over to Aramaic Designs and mention Translation Day, you'll get a fun freebie with any order. :-)

Peace,
-Steve

Ben Hur at the O2: The First Reviews Come In

Favorable

Wharf.co.uk:

A live action spectacular brings the iconic chariot race to life with an impressive sense of realism and excitement.

The Independent

It is an epic show beset by financial troubles and the scepticism of a great many nay-sayers, at one point it even seemed to producer Franz Abraham that it would never make it. But yesterday, Ben Hur Live's 46 horses, 20 lorries-full of sand and 140 doves thundered, rolled and flew into London for the first time.

Unfavorable

Guardian.co.uk

I'd hoped against hope that Ben Hur Live would deliver the holy grail of epic theatre – thrilling, large-scale live performance. But these gladiators get two thumbs down.

Telegraph.co.uk

If I have failed to mention any of the actors it is because none of them establish any personalities at all. And though the show may be called Ben Hur Live, I’m afraid it left me bored to death.

Additional Reviews

• BBC - List of other reviews.

Video:

• BBC - Video of the performance.

TIME Magazine Discusses The James Ossuary

The world of biblical archaeology was stirred in 2002 by the unveiling of a limestone burial box with the Aramaic inscription Yaakov bar Yosef akhui di Yeshua ("James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus"). Allegedly dating to an era contemporaneous with Christ, the names were a tantalizing collation of potentially great significance: James was indeed the name of a New Testament personage known as the brother of Jesus, both ostensibly the sons of Joseph the carpenter, husband of Mary. If its dates were genuine, the burial box — or ossuary — could well be circumstantial evidence for the existence of Jesus of Nazareth, a tenet supported only by gospels and scripture written, at the earliest, a generation after his crucifixion and, of course, by the faith of hundreds of millions through 2,000 years.

[...]

Their trial is still continuing. Many of the world's top archaeological experts have testified as both prosecution and defense witnesses in proceedings that already run to more than 9,000 pages. And while the original charges against the ossuary appear to have been popularly accepted as conventional wisdom, they seem to be headed for trouble in the courtroom. Judge Aharon Farkash, who has a degree in archaeology, has wondered aloud in court how he can determine the authenticity of the items if the professors cannot agree among themselves.

Read the rest here.

Peace,
-Steve

New Jewelry at Aramaic Designs

We're going to be filling out this section with new stuff in the very near future, but in the meantime, check out what is currently being offered. :-)

Peace,
-Steve

Confessing Affections With Turoyo

With the Meebo chat that I've implemented both here and at the Aramaic Designs webpage along with publicizing my email address, I've had my brain picked about a large number of fascinating things.

That said, I must admit what happened last week truly warmed my heart. :-)

A young woman, whom we will call "Ash" came by and shared the following with me:

My friend and I were having a great conversation and then he said "ko rohamnolakh" but would not translate. I have no clue as to what it means.

"Ko rohamnolakh" a very distinct grammatical pattern with unmistakable vowels. Her friend was a speaker of Turoyo, a rather unique dialect of Neo-Aramaic that is spoken by some 150,000-200,000 individuals worldwide.

It is an Aramaic language that retains a large number of older features (such a vocabulary and phonetics), while at the same time has become crafty by re-inventing some features that have disappeared from earlier dialects of Aramaic altogether (such as a true definite article).

Although I'm currently studying Turoyo, I don't speak very much of it; however, my knowledge of other Aramaic dialects, plus a grasp on Turoyo's grammar made it easy to twig onto what Ash's friend was trying to express.

The situation was rather sweet:

"Ko-rohamno lekh" is how a man says "I love you" to a woman in Turoyo.

So I immediately emailed her back, explaining my suspicions. At the same time, I gave her the following phrases so that she could pursue this linguistic exchange further. :-)

[Ash,]

Hi, I'm Steve Caruso and I'm the translator at Aramaic Designs. :-)

Just to re-iterate I believe "ko-rokhamno lakh" is "I love you" in Turoyo Neo-Aramaic.

Since we don't offer Neo-Aramaic dialects commercially (as the variance between them is rather extreme in some cases, making it difficult sometimes to pin down the exact nuances necessary) I've decided to give you a few phrases in Turoyo to help you out with this individual as a gift. :-) These are general enough responses that they should be understandable to any Turoyo speaker.

K-udh'ono. - I know.

Ko-fuhmono. - I understand.

Ko-rukhmono lokh ste. - I love you, too.

Kibokh tonat-la? - Could you say that again?

[...]

In either case good luck!

Peace,
-Steve

Not long thereafter, I received the following reply. :-)

That's awesome! :) Thanks so much for your help Steve!

I was able to use what you told me and it helped out lots! Haha, when I told him he was shocked and got a little embarrassed it was so cute! :) But now he is so shy! lol

[...]

Thanks again!
-[Ash]

And a mere two hours later, I received this:

Hey Steve,

My friend tells me to tell you,....

towdy ghalaby aly targamy

Take Care
-[Ash]

"Towdy ghalaby ali targamy" : "Many thanks for the translations." :-)


They say that French is the language of love...

Now, I beg to differ. :-)

Peace,
-Steve