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:
[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
what a neat story, thanks for posting. 🙂
I totally enjoyed this. Many thanks for posting 🙂