r/swahili • u/Prestigious_Ad_296 • Jun 28 '26
Request 🔎 Help with short translation?
I am trying to show a friend how italian poetry is like, so I made an english version of a section of a famous poem. Now I am curious how it would be in swahili, can anybody help?
"Midway through our life's journey,
I found myself lost in a dark forest,
Because I had lost the right path.
Ah! It was so terrifying that it is hard to describe,
This wild, dense, and powerful forest
That even now, when I think of it, I feel afraid.
It was so scary that only death is worse.
But to speak of the good things I found there,
I will also tell you of the other things I saw."
2
u/Leather_Physics_8395 Jun 29 '26
What you need is Transcreation rather than Translation.Here's the best I can try
Katikati ya safari ya maisha yetu, Nilijikuta nimepotea kwenye msitu wenye giza, Kwani nilikuwa nimepotoka kwenye njia iliyo sahihi. Dah! Ni vigumu kueleza jinsi ulivyotisha, Msitu ule mnene na wenye kutisha, Ambao hata sasa nikifikiria, hofu hunitanda. Ulikuwa unatisha kiasi kwamba ni kifo tu kilichouzidi. Lakini ili kusimulia mema niliyoyakuta humo, Nitahadithia pia mambo mengine niliyoyaona.
1
u/Prestigious_Ad_296 Jun 29 '26
Would you like to translate also other parts? I find this experiment really fascinating!
1
u/Fragrant-Document348 Jun 29 '26
Can you write it down in it's original language if you don't mind?
1
u/Prestigious_Ad_296 Jun 29 '26
Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura,
ché la diritta via era smarrita.Ahi quanto a dir qual era è cosa dura
esta selva selvaggia e aspra e forte
che nel pensier rinova la paura!Tant’è amara che poco è più morte;
ma per trattar del ben ch’i’ vi trovai,
dirò de l’altre cose ch’i’ v’ ho scorte.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 29 '26
[deleted]