Star Spangled Banner in Farsi

!سلام بچه ها


Recently, I've been listening to some Iranian songs to get more accustomed to hearing quickly spoken Persian. I've also been translating some of the lyrics and uploading them here. As an exercise in translating English to Persian, we thought it'd be cool to translate America's national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner.

The translation isn't exact because of the nature of the language used in the anthem, but it's pretty close:

بگو آیا می توانی با نور سحر ببینی
ما چه با غُروُر خواندیم در نور آخر گُرگ و میش؟
 
نَوارهای پهن و ستاره های روشن چه چیزی را
از میان جنگ خطرناک روی دیوار تماشا کردیم
که داشتند با افتخار پرواز می کردند؟
 
و نور قرمز موشک ها انفجار بمب ها در هوا
از میان شب اثبات کرد که پرچممان هنوز آنجا بود

بگو آیا آن پرچم پر ستاره هنوز پرواز می کند
بر فراز کشور آزادی و خانه شُجاعان؟

Useful Vocabulary:

 غُروُر - Pride
نور - Light
گُرگ و میش - Twilight (This literally means Wolf and Sheep. It's a very Persian way of saying a mixing of dark and light)
نَوار - Stripe
پهن - Broad  
ستاره - Stars
روشن - Bright 
از میان - Through, amongst 
جنگ - Fight, war 
خطرناک - Dangerous, perilous
افتخار - Honor
موشک - Missile
انفجار - Explosion, burst
بمب - Bomb
اثبات - Proof
پرچم - Flag
آزادی - Freedom
شُجاعان - Braves

Persian Comparative

Using the comparative in Persian is really quite simple! The notes in this post outline how to form comparative sentences, and also provide a few additional vocab words. I apologize if some of the light ink is hard to read!

 

 

 

Conditional Sentence Practice

A month ago I uploaded some notes that provide a high level overview of the rules and structures for conditional sentences in Persian. Here are some additional examples I wrote for practice.

 

 

Ahmadinejad Interview

One more thing I'd like to post today in addition to the song Ye Dokhtar and it's lyrics. Last week, former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave an interview in Iran where he reflected on his time in office. Soheil found a section that he thought encapsulated the interview, not to mention Ahmadinejad's attitude, very well.

رئیس‌ جمهور یادآور شد: ما تنها دولتی هستیم که به راحتی در تمام اجتماعات مردم وارد می‌شویم و این کار را بدون هیچ دغدغه‌ای انجام می‌دهیم. من خیلی راحت وسط مردم می‌روم ‌و مثل ماهی که وارد اقیانوس می‌شود، کیف می‌کنم. همه را دوست داریم و نمی‌توانیم دوست نداشته باشیم و من فکر می‌کنم ‌این فرهنگ دوباره در کشور ما احیا شده است. این فرهنگ در میان ما ایرانیان وجود داشته و خانواده‌ها در میان خود مسائل را حل می‌کردند و نمی‌گذاشتند کسی زمین بخورد اما در حال حاضر فاصله افتاده و باید این موضوع به صورت کامل احیا شود

Basic Translation:

The president noted: We are the only government that easily enters entire communities of people, and we do this work without any concern. I am very comfortable going in the middle of people (amongst the people), and like a fish entering the ocean this pleases me. We love all, and we are unable not to love (double negatives are allowed in Persian), and I think this culture has been resurrected/restored again in our country. This culture has existed between we Iranians, and families solved issues among themselves, and they didn't allow people to fall, but distance has fallen (between families) in present times and we should restore this issue to full form.


After reading this interview, I was reminded of a Persian word Soheil taught me: پر رو
The transliteration of this word is por roo. Por means full, and roo refers to the Persian word for face. It essentially means full of oneself, cocky, arrogant, etc. I'm sure after reading that excerpt you can understand why the word came to mind!




  

Ye Dokhtar

!سلام

Today I thought I'd upload a popular Iranian song instead of a grammar lesson or newspaper excerpt. The song is called Ye Dokhtar, and it refers to Neda Agha-Soltan who's death during the 2009 Iranian election protests was widely chronicled.

They lyrics also mention Iran's Green Party and 2009 reform candidate Mousavi.

Here is a link to the song. The lyrics, with translation, are below.


یــــه دختــــر تو تــراس روبـرویی
یــه شال سبــــــز و هـر روز میتکونه
یـــه شال سبــــــز و ساده که غروبا
پــــر از خــاکســــتر آتــش فشونــه

پـــــــر از خاکســــــتر آرزوهایــــی
که هر روز روی قلبش گَر میگیرن
پر از خاکســـتر خوابــای خوبــــی
که هرشب تو نگاه اون میمیــــرن

همین چند وقته پیش رویاشـــو توی
خیــابون بـــی بهونه سر بریـــدن
همیــشــــه راه پــــروازشو بسـتن
همیشـــه رو خیالش خـــط کشیـــدن

بـــراش مـــرده و زنــده فرق نداره
سیاست بازا پــیـــرا و جــــوونــــا
همش دنبــــال قهرمـــــان مـیگرده
میونـه شاعــــــرا آوازخــــونـــــا

رو دیــــوار اتـــاقـش چنتــا عکـسه
هدایـت ، کاف کــا ، فرخــزاد ، مایـکل
یــــه عکـــــس خاتــــمی چنتــا مدونا
یه عکس تام کروز یـه عـــکس فیدل
براش مـــــرده و زنــــده فــرق نداره
همش دنبـــــال قهرمــــان میـــگرده

براش مـــــرده و زنــــده فــرق نداره
همش دنبـــــال قهرمــــان میـــگرده

همش دنبـــــال قهرمــــان میـــگرده

نــمیدونه کــه تنـــها تـوی آیــــنه
بایـــد دنبــــال قــهرمــان بــــگرده
هنـــوز بـــاور نـــداره که با دستاش
جهانی میشه ســاخت ، بی ظلم و برده

یــــه دختــــر تو تــراس روبرویـی
شبـــا کنسرت فریـــادش بــه راهــه
صداش میگیره از بـس غصـــه داره
نمیشه دیدش از بـس شــــب سیاهه

ولی زنگ صـداش میـپـچـه هــرشب
تو شـهری که چـراغاش رنگه خــــونن
دیــگه چـــند وقــتـــه که حتـــی چراغِ
چـهـارراه ها میترســن "سبــــــز" بمونن

میـــخواد یـاد تــموم شـــهر بــمونــه
بــهـاری کـه یــکی بــرگـاشـو دزدیــد
درخـتــی کــه قـرنـتـیـنـه شــد آخـــــر
تو فصــلی که زمین بـرعکس میچرخید

صــداش لـــبریز حـــرفـای نـگفتس
سرش لبــریــز صد آتــش فشونــه
یـــه دختــــر تو تــراس روبرویــی
یـه شال سبــــــز و هر روز میتکونه
یـه شال سبــــــز و هر روز میتکونه
یـه شال سبــــــز و هر روز میتکونه


a girl in the opposite terrace
waves a green shawl every day
a green and simple shawl that at sunset
 is full of volcanic ashes
full of ashes of the wishes
that burn on her heart daily
full of ashes of the sweet dreams
that die in her eyes every night

not long ago her dreams
were beheaded on streets unduly
her flying route was always blocked
her imagination has always been crossed off
alive or dead is the same for her
politicians, the elderly, or the youth
repeatedly she’s in search of a hero
among the poets or the singers

on her room’s wall are some pictures of
Hedaayat, Kafka, Farokhzad, Michael
one picture of Khatami, some of Madonna’s
a picture of Tom Cruise, one from Fidel

 alive or dead is the same for her
 repeatedly she’s in search of a hero
she doesn’t know that in the mirror alone
she should quest a hero
she still does not believe that by her hands
a world can be built without tyranny and slaves


a girl in the opposite terrace
has a concert of cries nightly
her voice gets lowered due to many sorrows
the night’s darkness hides her to be seen
but the timbre of her voice is resonated
in a city with lights the same color as the houses
some time later even the traffic lights
at junctions are scared to turn green

she wants to remember the city
the spring whose leaves were stolen
and a tree that finally got quarantined
in a season in which the earth was rotating conversely

her heart full of unsaid words
her head full of hundreds of volcanoes
a girl in the opposite terrace
waves a green shawl every day