[QUOTE] Originally posted by K-2: *
What's **taseer* in English?
Like they say in Pakistan "Don't eat a lot of peanuts/pinenuts/walnuts (dryfruit) as their taseer is hot" aur chehray par danay nikal A-ayN gay
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It means the underlying effect. e.g. shell fish = aphrodisiac.
The word "hot" (garm) in your example wasn't as discriptive an explanation in Urdu. "hot" signified getting the blood pressure up, which would in turn (sort of) heat up the body, i.e. more temporary energy.
There are quite a lot of non-accurate word usage in our old (old wife) tales.
^^ Faisal, I think haalaaN key is better used in that context.
Hatta ke signifies some sort of a limit... I don't think "even" can be translated to "hatta ke"... I agree with Tofi's original two meanings for the word.
Unless letuz is asking the meaning of the word "even" in an arithmetic context :) in which case I dunno.
Ramish means Araam, Aasaish, Khushi in Urdu. It’s English equivalent is comfort(?), luxury, and if we take it in the sense of Khushi then I guess Felicity makes a better translation than say Happiness.
Funnily enough, it also means Naseehat and Salah (as in Salah mashwara). I just don’t understand how can something mean Araam, Aasaish, Khushi and also Naseehat and Salah (in the sense of mashwara again!) at the same time. I don’t remember any particular time in my life when a lecture or advice resulted in felicity for me:hehe:
And it also mean SurooN ka mail (not in the sense of daak). So would it then be correct to translate it as a Symphony? Maybe not. At the very least it seems like a kind of harmony of SurooN, and I dare not translate it as it looks like another pun to me.
Oh my foolish heart, what's the matter with you
Is there really a cure for this maladie (of love).
A famous Ghalib gazal.
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Thank you. I know my Ghalib! Translating him however is very tricky. I once tried to translate something by him, and my friend said, "even Ghalib sounds lame when translated!" Somehow, the translations never really convey the greatness of our poets like Ghalib and Iqbal.
Unfortunately you are right. Translations rarely capture the essence of what the poet is trying to say. If you think Ghalib is difficult to transalte, try Momin my friend. He is almost impossible to translate. Try this couplet:
Haal-e-dil yaar ko likhu kyon kar
Haath dilse judaa nahin hota.
^ Well, that one is really tough, sorry, my translating skill are not upto it. And what about this couplet of Momin:
Tum hamarey kissi tarha na huwey
Warna duniya maiN kya nahi hota
I really like this one. I went to a book fair, and saw Ghalib's Diwaan with English translation. I couldn't read beyond a few couplets, it was disgustingly poor. I mean, translating anything from one language to another is tricky, poetry is even more so, but Ghalib! He is not for everyone to translate. Ghalib is divine. Although, it is a shame he will never make it to number one in my list, that place is reserved for Iqbal forever :-)
Should really stop talking about poetry, before H. gets mad.
I believe 'crazy heart' is a more appropriate translation of dil-e-nadaaN. At any rate, this is how I have been translating it for years. What do you think?
Your translation is as good as mine. BTW do you know that Ghalib composed most of his shayari before he was 18 years old? And in fact, jaananewale (I am not one of them) say that he never composed anything of the same quality after he was 18. When he was older, he was far too occupied with getting a pension so he could survive.
Antoher fact: The gazal in which the sher you quoted (and I) was the one that Ghalib liked so much that he said he was willing to trade all his shayari for that one gazal.
MM, its ' bohat paa-par bailnay (to roll something, in this case roti) partay hain'
I believe its sort of an analogy. Paa-par bailna , koi mushkil kaam karna.
So paa-par bailna signifies some sort of endurance, a difficult job.
For example, if you wish to attain a goal you'll have to face hardships and those hardships are akin to paa-par bailna.
Faisal bhai, I believe that 'hata-kay' sets a limit and "even" does not do justice to this word. Hata-kay, yahan tak kay seems to be setting a limit. I believe that 'until or 'to the extent' seem close to this ...
Eventhough= halankay (can we safely use 'although' here too)