# Hindi: I can only teach you not to bow your heads before anyone, even at the cost of your life



## katesophia333

Ghandi is my hero, and I want to get one of his quotations tattood on my right shoulder. How would one translate "I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one, even at the cost of your life" into Hindi?


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## BP.

Ghandi who? Do you mean M.K. Gandhi?

And are you sure such a long sentence isn't going to hurt a little? Or that your right shoulder might be a little small for all of it?

Anyway a Hindi translation in an Urdu script should go like: 
میں آپکو کیول یھی سکھا سکتا ھوں کی کسی کے آگے بھی سر نہ جھکایں، چاھے آپکو آپکی جندگی سے کیوں نہ ھاتھ دھونے پڑیں۔.

If you don't like this script you may wait for real Hindiphones' responses who could give you the Devanagri equivalent. 

Happy tattooing.


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## katesophia333

Yeah that's who I mean. hahaha I'm open to any kind of script available  Thanks a lot


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## cufnc

I can't read Urdu script and I'm not smart enough to translate that articulately, but if you wrote that out in roman script, i'd be happy to give it to you in devanagri.


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## panjabigator

جندگی??  Why didn't you write <zindagii>?


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## Illuminatus

میں آپکو کیول یھی سکھا سکتا ھوں کی کسی کے آگے بھی سر نہ جھکایں، چاھے آپکو آپکی جندگی سے کیوں نہ ھاتھ دھونے پڑیں۔

is <_main aapko keval yahee sikha sakta hoon ki kisii ke aage bhee sar na jhukaaein, chahe aapko aapki zindagi se kyon na haath dhona padein>

_I will make three changes:

1. Changing the position of the word _Bhee_.
2. Changing the aapki to apani. <Aapko aapki> is clumsy, and I think even prescriptively wrong.
3. De-nasalizing the last word. <Padein> is wrong, as haath is singular here.

Finally, 
<_main aapko keval yahee sikha sakta hoon ki kisii ke bhee aage sar na jhukaaein, chahe aapko apani zindagi se kyon na haath dhona pade>

_In Devanagari,मैं आपको केवल यही सिखा सकता हूँ कि किसी के भी आगे सर न झुकाएं, चाहे आपको अपनी ज़िन्दगी से क्यों न हाथ धोना पड़े|


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## panjabigator

Would you not change the <sar> to <sir> in Hindi?  That's definitely a difference between languages (like jeeraa and zeeraa).


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## Illuminatus

Yeah, I had contemplated it but then let it remain. We often use it in poetry/other stylized speech. This one qualified. Oh, so is _this_ one an _official difference_, and not _dumming down_?

<sar kaTaa sakte hai.n lekin sar jhukaa sakte nahii.n>


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## BP.

Illuminatus said:


> I will make three changes:
> 
> 1. Changing the position of the word _Bhee_.
> 2. Changing the aapki to apani. <Aapko aapki> is clumsy, and I think even prescriptively wrong.
> 3. De-nasalizing the last word. <Padein> is wrong, as haath is singular here.
> 
> े|



1- Agree entirely. The _bhi_ should be moved before _aagay_.

2- I think that's how we did in Hindi. In Urdu I'd definitely say _Aapko apni_.

3- _haat.h_ itself is plural for _haat.h_. ھاتھ دھونے پڑیں is an expression meaning 'to loose'.

PG, she asked for Hindi, hence _jindagee_.

About the _sar_ vs _sir_ thing, I'd been thinking for opening a thread for that. Let's take it there.


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## BP.

Illuminatus said:


> <sar kaTaa sakte hai.n lekin sar jhukaa sakte nahii.n>



This is more concise yet more rhetorically effective and poetic. You can still trim the _sar jhukaa_ from the middle.

What's the _shuddh_ Hindi word for _laykin_?
_laykin_ comes _most probably_ from Arabic and _magar_ from Persian.


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## Illuminatus

Please do not give me credit for that line!

That is from the lyrics of a very famous patriotic song.

<apni aazaadi ko hum hargiz miTa sakte nahii.n,
sar kaTaa sakte hai.n lekin sar jhukaa sakte nahii.n>

The shuddh Hindi words for Lekin are kintu/parantu


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## panjabigator

Illuminatus said:


> Yeah, I had contemplated it but then let it remain. We often use it in poetry/other stylized speech. This one qualified. Oh, so is _this_ one an _official difference_, and not _dumming down_?



I would say an official difference.  Never met an Urdu speaker who said <sir>.  And I don't agree with the prior discussion of dumming down.

An alternative to <zindaagii> is <jiivan>.


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## panjabigator

katesophia333 said:


> Ghandi is my hero, and I want to get one of his quotations tattood on my right shoulder. How would one translate "I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one, even at the cost of your life" into Hindi?



Just curious, are you chosing Hindi because it's the national language of India or because of Gandhi?  Though Gandhi supported Hindi (as Hindustani), I don't believe he (or Jinnah) spoke it very well.  This quote was probably given in English.


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## katesophia333

I want it because it is the national language of India.


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## Faylasoof

BelligerentPacifist said:


> About the _sar_ vs _sir_ thing, I'd been thinking for opening a thread for that. Let's take it there.



We can always discuss this but why not look at Platt's dictionary first!

According to him _sar_ comes from Pahlavi (_sar_) and Zend (_sara_), while _sir _comes from Prakrit with a Sanskrit root. So this difference is _old_.


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## Faylasoof

panjabigator said:


> Though Gandhi supported Hindi (as Hindustani), I don't believe he (or Jinnah) spoke it very well.  This quote was probably given in English.



   Yes, Gandhi did support the idea of a common language, then called Hindustani = middle register Urdu, but with the sole use of the Nagri script for official purposes. His Hindustani was better than people think and he could certainly say a lot more than Jinnah, who at best could utter a few sentences in a heavy Gujarati accent. The latter preferred English to even his mother tongue, Gujarati. He struggled with that too!

  While no mention has been made of ‘The Third Man’, Nehru was most at ease and spoke impeccable, high register Urdu. Not that surprising, despite the fact that he was sent to Harrow Public School (UK), as in his house they spoke Urdu and his father, Motilal Nehru was also well versed in both Urdu and Farsi language and literature. He would even have scholarly discussions with members of my family.

  All three would have most likely failed the Modern Hindi exam!


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