# I am native to everywhere



## Tchesko

*Já jsem všude zdejší  (c) J.Werich*
Hi folks,

For those of you who happen to be Czech, surely there is no need to explain the context. As for the others, let me just say this is a line from a _very _famous bedtime story, Byl jednou jeden král (Once upon a time there was a king). In the story, a good old (magically endowed) woman, upon being asked if she is native to the kingdom where the scene takes place, replies something like "I am native to everywhere".

However, I don't find this translation satisfactory. For me, "native" implies being born in a given place, which isn't the case in the Czech version: "zdejší" barely means you have been living in the place for some (reasonably long) time.

I was thinking of "I am local to/from (?) everywhere" but for some reason it sounds weird to me. I was also considering "I'm no stranger anywhere" but it doesn't stick enough to the original.

I'm also looking for the translations of this sentence into other languages (especially French, German, Spanish, Dutch...).

In German, I quite like "Ich bin überall heimisch" but maybe someone knows better (btw, is the word order correct?).

In French, I couldn't find any satisfactory translation whatsoever. "Je suis partout d'ici" is a nice oxymoron indeed, but I find it a bit misleading: for me, it would mean "no matter where I go, I (will always) come from this place" (i.e. always the same place, which is the exact opposite of what is meant in the Czech tale). As for "Je suis natif/native de partout", there is the same problem with the adjective as in English.

In Spanish, "Soy nativo/a de todos lados/todas partes" sounds right to me but I'm not very confident in my Spanish and there is still the problem with the etymology of "nativo".

I'm just a beginner in Dutch so I didn't even give it a try.


Any suggestions for any of these languages, and for all other languages you know?

(I'd be delighted to hear this sentence is a bit of a challenge in some languages...)

PS:
In Czech, "zdejší" is an adjective whose lexical root is the adverb "zde" (= "here" in English).
It is therefore an exact equivalent of the German word "hiesig" (based on "hier" = here).
A litteral translation of the Czech sentence would be "I am everywhere from here."


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## Jana337

German: Ich bin allerorts hiesig. - Copies nicely the Czech sentence, doesn't it? 

English: Hmmmm. I will think about it. Have you considered something with "at home"? I know, it gives the sentence a totally different flavor.


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## cherine

Hi,

This is indeed hard, specially that I don't speak Czech, so I can't claim I understood the exact meaning of the sentence. 

For this, I won't even try to translate it to Arabic  But I'd like to comment on the French translation you suggested. I'm not a native, but...


Tchesko said:


> In French, I couldn't find any satisfactory translation whatsoever. "Je suis partout d'ici" is a nice oxymoron indeed, but I find it a bit misleading: for me, it would mean "no matter where I go, I (will always) come from this place" (i.e. always the same place, which is the exact opposite of what is meant in the Czech tale). As for "Je suis natif/native de partout", there is the same problem with the adjective as in English.


"Je suis partout d'ici" doesn't make sense to me. But maybe my French isn't good enough. Maybe you wanted to say "Je suis partout _et_ d'ici"? 
Anyway, I thought about "Je suis de partout". I know it simply means "I'm from everywhere", but remember I didn't get the exact meaning of the Czech sentence.
(Second thought) What about "Chez-moi c'est partout" or "partout est mon chez-moi".

Maybe when/if we manage to find a good English translation, it will be easier to translate this sentence to other languages 

Edit: on a "third" thought, I'll dare an Arabic translation (confirmed by Jana's "at home"):
كل البلاد وطني 
kullu'l-biládi waTani
It means: all countries are my home.
Is it anywhere near the meaning?


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## Tchesko

Jana337 said:


> German: Ich bin allerorts hiesig. - Copies nicely the Czech sentence, doesn't it?
> 
> English: Hmmmm. I will think about it. Have you considered something with "at home"? I know, it gives the sentence a totally different flavor.


 
Well done for the German version! I especially like "allerorts". I had been considering "hiesig" but then for some reason I opted for "heimisch" instead.

I did consider "at home" for the French version ("chez moi") but rejected it. Like you said, "Já jsem všude doma" is totally different from "Já jsem všude zdejší".


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## Tchesko

cherine said:


> Hi,
> 
> This is indeed hard, specially that I don't speak Czech, so I can't claim I understood the exact meaning of the sentence.
> 
> For this, I won't even try to translate it to Arabic  But I'd like to comment on the French translation you suggested. I'm not a native, but...
> 
> "Je suis partout d'ici" doesn't make sense to me. But maybe my French isn't good enough. Maybe you wanted to say "Je suis partout _et_ d'ici"?
> Anyway, I thought about "Je suis de partout". I know it simply means "I'm from everywhere", but remember I didn't get the exact meaning of the Czech sentence.
> (Second thought) What about "Chez-moi c'est partout" or "partout est mon chez-moi".
> 
> Maybe when/if we manage to find a good English translation, it will be easier to translate this sentence to other languages
> 
> Edit: on a "third" thought, I'll dare an Arabic translation (confirmed by Jana's "at home"):
> كل البلاد وطني
> kullu'l-biládi waTani
> It means: all countries are my home.
> Is it anywhere near the meaning?


 
Thanks!
"Je suis partout et d'ici" is not what I wanted to say.
However, I find that the solution "Je suis de partout" is an elegant one, even if it doesn't retain the original pun (the contradiction between "všude" = "everywhere" and "zdejší" = "from here"). Anyway, it would fit in the scene:
- "Et toi, qu'est-ce que tu fais là ? Tu es d'ici ?"
- "Je suis de partout !"

"Chez moi c'est partout" and "partout est mon chez moi" reflect the antithesis that can be found in the Czech version and they also convey the idea of dwelling that is present in the word "zdejší". However, they are not very elegant and they wouldn't fit very well in the scene.

I'm afraid I can't speak a bit of Arabic so I have to trust you entirely here! 
The Czech sentence doesn't refer exclusively to countries. It means rather something like: "Every place is my home." (Bear in mind she is a magical woman - thus, every place is accessible to her!)


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## HKK

Dutch: Ik ben overal van hier. The literal translation sounds quite well in Dutch, most of all in colloquial language.


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## wsxxsw

Italian.

The translation is: Sono nativo di ogni luogo.  But it doesn't sound good.

Interpretations:

- Sono nato ovunque
- Provengo da ogni luogo
- Le mie origini non hanno frontiere
- Le mie origini non hanno confini.  _That's better! _


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## brau

*Catalan*:

literal: "Sóc nadiu de tots els llocs"

better: "Jo sóc de tots els llocs"


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## HKK

wsxxsw said:


> - Le mie origini non hanno confini.  _That's better! _



That one's great


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## Woland

I
Romanian : Nu sunt străin nicăieri. (I'm not a stranger everywhere)
Originile mele n-au graniţă (My roots have no border)


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## J.F. de TROYES

cherine said:


> Hi,
> 
> This is indeed hard, specially that I don't speak Czech, so I can't claim I understood the exact meaning of the sentence.
> 
> 
> Anyway, I thought about "Je suis de partout". I know it simply means "I'm from everywhere", but remember I didn't get the exact meaning of the Czech sentence.
> (Second thought) What about "Chez-moi c'est partout" or "partout est mon chez-moi".


 
I was also thinking about these kinds of expressions : " Je suis de partout" and more warmly "Je me sens partout chez moi" with he idea of feeling at home everywhere.


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## Dr. Quizá

In Spanish it's sometimes heard "soy ciudadano/a del mundo" ("I'm a World citizen") yet it seems in that context it would fit better something like "soy de todos sitios y de ninguno" (~"I'm from all places and from no place as well"). "Nativo" is a somewhat formal word I'd avoid right there.


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## badgrammar

In French I would suggest something with a construction using "origine" or "originaire"/

Je suis d'origine de tout part
Je suis originaire de tout part
Mes origines sont partout dans ce monde

Any other ideas based on that construction?


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## Outsider

Given the information and the suggestions posted so far, the two best translations into Portuguese seem to be:

_I am from everywhere:_ Sou de toda a parte.
_I am at home everywhere:_ Estou em casa em toda a parte.


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## Jana337

Italians, how's "io sono di dappertutto"? Absurd, I know, but it needs to sound a bit loopy.


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## betulina

brau said:


> *Catalan*:
> 
> literal: "Sóc nadiu de tots els llocs"
> 
> better: "Jo sóc de tots els llocs"



And what about "Jo sóc de tot arreu", Brau? "De tots els llocs" doesn't sound very idiomatic to me.


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## brau

betulina said:


> And what about "Jo sóc de tot arreu", Brau? "De tots els llocs" doesn't sound very idiomatic to me.


 
"De tot arreu" was the first thing I thought, but it didn't fit to me in this case. I would only use "de tot arreu" when speaking about things spread all over the place or things along those lines. "De tots els llocs" didn't totally convince me, but it was the best thing I could come up with (if not "*Jo no conec fronteres*", but that's probably too free), and to me it sounds more idiomatic than "de tot arreu", but... oh well, you know.  (why do we always end like this? ).


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## betulina

brau said:


> "De tot arreu" was the first thing I thought, but it didn't fit to me in this case. I would only use "de tot arreu" when speaking about things spread all over the place or things along those lines. "De tots els llocs" didn't totally convince me, but it was the best thing I could come up with (if not "*Jo no conec fronteres*", but that's probably too free), and to me it sounds more idiomatic than "de tot arreu", but... oh well, you know.  (why do we always end like this? ).



 Ok, then it's just that we understand it in a somehow different way. "de tot arreu del món" would sound fine to me in this case. Tants caps, tants barrets!


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## dn88

Maybe in *Polish* it would read:

_Wszędzie czuję się jak w domu. (I feel at home everywhere.)
Jestem obywatelem świata. (I am a citizen of the World.)

_dn88


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## Tchesko

dn88 said:


> Maybe in *Polish* it would read:
> 
> _Wszędzie czuję się jak w domu. (I feel at home everywhere.)_
> _Jestem obywatelem świata. (I am a citizen of the World.)_
> 
> dn88


 
I would be _really _disappointed if there was not a literal translation of the Czech sentence into Polish. 
In Slovak for example, you can say: "Ja som všade zdejší", which is an exact equivalent of the Czech version "Já jsem všude zdejší".

Thanks anyway!


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## werrr

Tchesko said:


> I would be _really _disappointed if there was not a literal translation of the Czech sentence into Polish.


“Ja jestem wszędzie tutejszy.” is the Polish word for word translation, I guess.


> In Slovak for example, you can say: "Ja som všade tunajší", which is an exact equivalent of the Czech version "Já jsem všude zdejší".


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## Tchesko

werrr said:


> “Ja jestem wszędzie tutejszy.” is the Polish word for word translation, I guess.


 
Thanks for your translation and for your correction of the barbarism I committed against the Slovak vocabulary. I did Google the word with a Slovak context and obtained several results, which made me think it was correct. Some Slovaks seem to make the same mistake as I do (shame on them, and on me too)!


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## dn88

werrr said:


> “Ja jestem wszędzie tutejszy.” is the Polish word for word translation, I guess.



It would be understood, but it sounds somewhat clunky.


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## kusurija

Lithuanian:
Aš esu visur vietinė[fem.]/vietinis[masc.]
This IS precise translation with the same sense, not approximatelly as were e.g. _Wszędzie czuję się jak w domu. _(dn88: excuse me for citation )_- _Visur jaičiuosi kaip namie...


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## kusurija

Lithuanian:
..další varianty: 
Visur esu čionykštė[fem.]/čionykštis[masc.].
Visur esu čiabuvė/čiabuvis.
(čionai - tady/henc/tu/tuto)


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## jonquiliser

In Swedish.. well, I suppose you could say "jag hör hemma överallt" ("I belong to everywhere"). Seeing one of the suggestions for Spanish, "Soy ciudadan@ del mundo", I thought of "världsmedborgare" which is a frequently used word.


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## Lopes

HKK said:


> Dutch: Ik ben overal van hier. The literal translation sounds quite well in Dutch, most of all in colloquial language.



Actually, to me that sounds really strange. I'd say "Ik kom overal vandaan" (I'm from everywhere), or maybe "ik voel me overal thuis" (I feel at home everywhere)
"Ik ben van.." seems to me like a Flemmish construction, I use to say "ik kom uit..."


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## HKK

You're right Lopes, it's not standard Dutch. But "van hier zijn" sounds very "van hier" to me if you get what I'm saying It sounds cosy and inclusive.


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## macta123

In Hindi :
"Mai sab jagah ka vasi hoon " OR " Main sarvavyapi hoon "

In Malayalam : Njan sarvavyapi aaNu


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## kusurija

日本語 (Japanese):どこでも私はここの人です。Dokodemo watashiwa kokonohito des. (As I'm not native Japanese, somebody may correct me).


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## alex.raf

*Persian:*
Hameh jā vataneh man ast همه جا وطن من است


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