# It's a small world!



## Eddie

This is the theme of a recent thread in the French-English forum. I thought it would interesting to expand on this theme in this forum.

To start things off, here are some equivalents in French, Italian, Spanish, and German:

French: Le monde est petit.
Italian: E un mondo piccolo.
Spanish: Muy pequeño el mundo es.
German: Diese Welt ist ja so klein.

How would it be said in some other languages?


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## Jana337

Czech: Svět je malý.
Slovak: Svet je malý.

Jana


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## JLanguage

עברית: זה עולם קטן.
Hebrew- Zeh Olam Katan


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## elroy

Arabic:

العالم صغير (Pronunciation: "Al'aalam sagheer")

Palestinian Arabic (colloquial):

Ma as'ghar id-dinya! (lit. How small the world is!)


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## belén

I would like to correct the Spanish, because  the way it is stated abovevdoesn't sound natural to me. The normal expression used is :

"¡Qué pequeño es el mundo!" or "¡El mundo es un pañuelo!" (literally the world is a handkerchief)

Catalan: "Qué petit és el món!" 

Cheers, Be


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## Camui

Japanese: 小さな世界 (chiisana sekai)


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## Lancel0t

In Filipino, "Ang liit ng mundo"


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## Silvia B

Just a little correction:

In italian we usually say 
"Il mondo è piccolo"

Bye!!


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## Zanos

Τί μικρός που είναι ο κόσμος!
Ti mikros pou ine o kosmos!
In greek..


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## araceli

Portuguese: O mundo é pequeno!


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## vesna

Slovene: Svet je majhen.


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## Whodunit

A correction for the German suggestion, Eddie:

Die Welt ist ja so klein.
The world is so small

You suggested "This world is so small".   

Another way to say the same thing would be:

Unsere Welt ist ja so klein
Our world is so small


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## redwine

its 'Qualati na nyng iatu' [in ancient spelling or in modern spelling, its 'Kalati na ning yatu'] in Pampango or Kapampangan as we call it, a dialect spoken in the north of the philippines.


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## Neko

Mandarin: 世界很小 shìjiè hěn xiǎo.

Oh okay, it doesn't like the upside down circumflex thingy, but that xiao's in the 3rd tone.


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## gorbatzjov

Dutch/Flemish: De wereld is zo klein. Better: "De wereld, mijn dorp" (the world, my village)


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## Merlin

Tagalog version/Philippines "Malit ang Mundo"


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## meili

Merlin said:
			
		

> "Malit ang Mundo"


I think what you want to say is _Maliit ang Mundo. - _Please check the spelling 
Another: (In case you have not noticed...) 


			
				Lancel0t said:
			
		

> "Ang liit ng mundo"


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## Merlin

meili said:
			
		

> I think what you want to say is _Maliit ang Mundo. - _Please check the spelling
> Another: (In case you have not noticed...)


Yap! My mistake. It should be:

Maliit ang Mundo.

Thanks for the correction!


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## redwine

or to be more emphatic,it could be:
Kay liit ng mundo....

actually, until now, i dont know how to use 'ng' and 'nang'....


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## alby

croatian : Svijet je mali


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## yasemin

turkish: dünya küçük


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## _sandra_

Polish:     *Świat jest mały * 

sandra


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## Elieri

Swedish : Världen är liten


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## Tisia

Persian: 
دنياي کوچکي است
_(Donyaye kuchaki ast.)_

Kurdish:  دونياييکي بچوکه
_(Donyayeeki bechuka)_

Finnish: Maailma on niin pieni.

Regards
Tisia


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## liv3000

In italian we use to say also:
"Com'è piccolo il mondo!" beside of "Il mondo è piccolo"


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## jazyk

In Italian there's also that common sentence: _Tutto il mondo è paese _(The whole world/Everybody is [our] village).

Jazyk


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## Whodunit

liv3000 said:


> In italian we use to say also:
> "Com'è piccolo il mondo!" beside of "Il mondo è piccolo"





jazyk said:


> In Italian there's also that common sentence: _Tutto il mondo è paese _(The whole world/Everybody is [our] village).
> 
> Jazyk


 
Interestingly, both versions are also very common in German: 

Wie klein die Welt doch ist!
Die ganze Welt ist ein Dorf.


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## panjabigator

Hindi:  /sa.nsaar chhoTaa hotaa hai/
Urdu:  /duniyaa chhoTii hotii hai/
Panjabi:  /duniyaa chhoTii hu.ndii hai/


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## linguist786

panjabigator said:


> Hindi: /sa.nsaar chhoTaa hotaa hai/
> Urdu: /duniyaa chhoTii hotii hai/
> Panjabi: /duniyaa chhoTii hu.ndii hai/


In my mind, "hotii" (/hotaa/hotai) is used for when things "tend" to be something. For example, "bhaartiy bachey chhotay hotai hai" (Indian children are (OR: "tend to be") small).

To translate "It's a small world!", I would say: /sansaar kitnaa Chotaa hai!/ (lit. "the world is so small")

Tell me if you disagree - it could just be me!

Following my pattern, my translations would be:

*Hindi:* संसार कितना छोटा है! _[sansaar kitnaa Chotaa hai!]_
*Urdu:* دنيا كتنى چهوٹى ہے! _[duniyaa kitnii Chotii hai!]_
*Gujarati:* સંસાર કેટલુ નાનું છે! _[sansaar ketlu naanu Che!]_


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## panjabigator

I agree.  Your use of kitnaa does make it sound better.


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## Etcetera

Russian: Мир т*е*сен / Mir t*e*sen (literally, "the world is small").


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## deine

Lithuanian:

Pasaulis mažas

or

Koks mažas pasaulis


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## Maja

In Serbian:

Svet je mali / Свет је мали!


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## Lillita

*Hungarian:*


_Ez egy kis/kicsi világ._ ~ literally: It's a small world.
When you say it upon meeting, say, your next-door neighbour abroad, we usually say:
_Milyen kicsi a világ!_  ~ literally: How small the world is!
However, if it is only a simple statement, we say:
_A világ kicsi._ ~ literally: The world is small.
Cheerio!


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## daoxunchang

Neko said:


> Mandarin: 世界很小 shìjiè hěn xiǎo.
> 
> Oh okay, it doesn't like the upside down circumflex thingy, but that xiao's in the 3rd tone.


To make it more like an exclamation: 世界多lit, much/好lit. good. You can refer to the usage of the German word "gut" for emphasis /真really小啊!
P.S. What do you mean by "it doesn't like the upside down circumflex thingy"? And you use "but" in giving the tone of xiao. I can't quite get your idea. Thank you


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## tanzhang

In Tagalog:

Mundong maliit - World that is small
Daigdig na maliit - the world that's small
maliit na daigdig - " "
ang kaliitan ng mundo - the smalness of the world
maliit ang daigdig - the world is small


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## Henryk

Hungarian: Kicsi a világ.
Estonian: Maailm on väike.
Finnish: Maailma on pieni.

You should have checked them by native speakers, though.


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## teentitans

Native language in the Eastern Asia: Gamay nga kalibutan.


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## awanzi

Silvia B said:


> Just a little correction:
> 
> In italian we usually say
> "Il mondo è piccolo"
> 
> Bye!!



Or "Com'è piccolo il mondo!"


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## doman

Vietnamese:

*"Thế giới thật nhỏ bé !"* - How small the world is !

When we've met someone we thought we've never met again, we said:

*"Ồ, trái đất hình cầu !"* - Oh, the Earth is a ball.


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## Abbassupreme

Tisia said:


> Persian:
> دنياي کوچکي است
> _(Donyaye kuchaki ast.)_
> 
> Kurdish: دونياييکي بچوکه
> _(Donyayeeki bechuka)_
> 
> Finnish: Maailma on niin pieni.
> 
> Regards
> Tisia


 
The Persian translation sounds far too formal!  I think that, colloquially, it would sound better to say "What a small world!" In transliterated, colloquial Persian that would be: "Che donyâye kuchiki!"


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## Mac_Linguist

In Macedonian:

*Светот е мал!* (_lit._ "The world is small!")


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## dn88

_sandra_ said:


> Polish:     *Świat jest mały *
> 
> sandra



I would rather say "Jaki ten świat mały!" (to express my surprise).


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## ulcer

In Chinese we would say "这世界真小啊"

Cheers.


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## morisca

"aldunia sghaireh " en arabe
"el mundo es un panuelo" la forma correcta en castellano.


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## AkErBeLtZ

"Ze txikia den mundua!" in Basque.
Also:
- Hau bai mundu txikia!
- Ze mundu txikia!


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## khan-sheik kimberley

Korean: 세상 참 좁군.


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## Encolpius

well, well, I wish I knew if everybody just translated the sentence literally or idiomatically.
It's a small world = used to express surprise at meeting an acquaintance or discovering a personal connection in a distant place or an unexpected context
So the correct Hungarian translation is ONLY: Milyen kicsi a világ!


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## ger4

dn88 said:


> I would rather say "Jaki ten świat mały!" (to express my surprise).





Encolpius said:


> Milyen kicsi a világ!


In German, we can use a similar construction to express surprise: _Wie klein die Welt doch ist!_
- _wie_ = 'how'
- _klein_ = 'small'
- _die Welt_ = 'the world'
- _doch_ ~ 'though'
- _ist_ = 'is'

... but very often you can hear this version: _Die Welt ist klein!_ [surprised intonation](as in English: 'The world is small!')


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## ShayminLover

I have a whole bunch of languages here.

Esperanto: Ĝi estas malgranda mondo
Icelandic: Það er lítill heimur
Romanian: E o lume mică
Thai: มันเป็นโลก ที่มีขนาดเล็ก (Man pen lok thi mi khnad lek)
Sundanese: Leu dunya leutik
Irish: Tá sé ar domhan beag
Kazakh: Бұл шағын әлем (Bul şağın älem)
Belarusian: Гэта маленькі свет (Heta malieńki sviet)
Ukrainian: Це маленький світ (Tse malen'kyy svit)
Igbo: Ọ bụ obere ụwa
Somali: Waa duni yar


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## apmoy70

Greek:

*«Τι μικρός που είναι/πού'ναι ο κόσμος!»* [ti miˈkros pu ˈine o ˈkozmos] (uncontracted), [ti miˈkros ˈpune o ˈkozmos] (contracted) --> _how small the world is!_

-Adj. *«μικρός, - ρή, -ρό»* [miˈkros] (masc.), [miˈkri] (fem.), [miˈkro] (neut.) < Classical adj. *«μῑκρός, -ρὰ, -ρόν» mīkrós* (masc.), *mīkrằ* (fem.), *mīkrón* (neut.) --> _small, short, little_ (with obscure etymology).
-Noun *«κόσμος»* [ˈkozmos] (masc.) < Classical masc. noun *«κόσμος» kósmŏs* --> _order, propriety, good behavior, ornament, world-order, world, inhabited world_ (PIE *keNs- _order_ cf Skt. शंसति (śam̥sati), _to praise, extol_; Lat. cēnsēre). We use it in the vernacular as the generic name of the people surrounding us (e.g. in a concert), or the inhabited world.


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## Dymn

belén said:


> Catalan: "Qué petit és el món!"


Well, I'd rather say:
_Qu*e* petit *que* és el món!_
'How small the world is!', lit.: 'That small that is the world'


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## 810senior

Japanese:
小さな世界chiisana sekai : (a) small world
なんて小さな世界だろうnante chiisana sekai darou : How small the world is! (literal translation: *I wonder what I would call this small world*)


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## DearPrudence

Eddie said:


> French: Le monde est petit.





belén said:


> I would like to correct the Spanish, because  the way it is stated abovevdoesn't sound natural to me. The normal expression used is :
> 
> "¡Qué pequeño es el mundo!" or "¡El mundo es un pañuelo!" (literally the world is a handkerchief)
> 
> Catalan: "Qué petit és el món!"





liv3000 said:


> In italian we use to say also:
> "Com'è piccolo il mondo!" beside of "Il mondo è piccolo"


In *French* too we are more likely to say
"*Comme/que le monde est petit !*" (literally: _How small the world is!_)


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## spindlemoss

The Welsh idiom's the same as lots of other languages: *Mae'n fyd bach* (is-he world small).


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## mataripis

Tagalog: Bilog ang Daigdig ( Mundoh). Dumaget: Deyeg on Sansenokoben.


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