Deciphering unknown languages with Michele Gorini

OK, so what is going on here? The title lists three different language possibilities, and one is a three-language mix! Well, we've got a bit of a mess here. So, let me go down the path I actually went. I started by randomly finding something about Mbube being the original of "The lion sleeps tonight", so I looked up the lyrics and found augendweise and Genius , but also this Miriam Makeba video , which didn't match the lyrics like at all. So let's look at the lyrics, matched with the translation at augendweise, and analyze them: Njalo Ekuseni Uya Waletha Amathamsanqa Yebo! Amathamsanqa Mbube Uyimbube Uyimbube Uyimbube Uyimbube Uyimbube Mama We He! He! He! He! Uyimbube Mama We We We We We We Uyimbube Uyimbube Kusukela Kudala Kuloku Kuthiwa Uyimbube Uyimbube Mama Every Morning You Bring Us Good Luck Yes! Good Luck Lion You're A Lion You're A Lion You're A Lion You're A Lion You're A Lion, Mama! Hey! Hey! He...

Today we have an Albanian traditional song suggested to me by my advisor. So I originally found this video . I looked for the lyrics on 5/5/21, and found tekste shqip and tekste shqip #2 , two different lyrics for two different versions. And then I looked at the video, and it was yet different, so I even had to turn to Quora for help transcribing it . And then I went to lyrics translate and found #1 and #2 , both of which have since extensively changed due to my activity. In fact, #2 is how I finally found a video matching #1 as well as tekste shqip #1. Because I apparently was completely blind to the video on tekste shqip :). There are also another two versions, given by Gavagai in a comment to lyricstranslate #1 , which I also give below. But let me get the originals down below, with their original versions (linebreaking readjusted for the post) and the rectified versions by me in the right column. Translations will come after the analysis, and also my own text, a sort of combinati...

Today we have another song that gets its analysis moved from the translations blog. It is the Swahili song Malaika , "Angel". And you get it bilingual because the original post was bilingual Italian-English :). Italiano English Ora vediamo di analizzare questa canzone parola per parola e dare una traduzione letterale. Andiamo un verso alla volta, e dentro i versi una parola alla volta. «Malaika, nakupenda malaika» (ripetuto due volte): "Malaika", "angelo", ovviamente si parla della destinataria della canzone; "nakupenda", da na-, prefisso del presente, + -ku-, infisso di oggetto di seconda singolare (= te), + -penda, "amare", quindi "ti amo", ove il soggetto "io" è da dedursi dal fatto che manca il prefisso del soggetto, che a quanto ne so si può omettere solo se è ni- (io) - oltre ovviamente che dal contesto della canzone. Quindi «Angelo, ti amo, angelo», da cui il titolo del post. "Ninge...

So on my birthday we watched a movie, I shazammed the soundtrack, and found it was Makambo, by Geoffrey Oryema . I looked up the lyrics and found them on Rockol . I give those below, on the left, with my amendations from comparing with the video on the right. O na ma kanguwe O na ma kanguwe O na ma kanguwe Ni na ma kanguwe U lu pa la ki lé ba tu li ba lu kuwa Lu kuwa Lu kuwa u lu we (we) Lu kuwa u lu we (we) O na ma kanguwe Hié ééé Ni na ma kanguwe (ééé) O na ma kanguwe Hié ééé Ni na ma kanguwe U lu pa la ki lé ba tu li ba (Lu kuwa) x 21 O na ma kanguwe Ni na ma kanguwe Zandi zanbi ba lé koé Ni na ma kanguwe iééé O na ma kanguwe U lu pa la ki lé ba tu li ba lu kuwa Lu kuwaaa Lu kuwa u lu we (we) Lu kuwa u lu we (we) O na ma kanguwe Ni na ma kanguwe (ééé) U lu pa la ki lé u lu pa lu kuwa U lu pa la ki lé ba tu li ba lu kuwa Lu kuwaaa Lu kuwa u lu we (we) (Lu kuwa) x 21 O na ma kanguweééé Ni na ma kanguweééé O na ma kanguwe Ni na motena U lu pa la k...

We also have, on the same day as Zulu Your Love, a Haitian Creole song called Pa ret ap domi , "Do not keep sleeping". When I originally worked on it, it wasn't on Youtube yet, so the translation post Time to work together didn't include a video, and moreover only 2 verses were found in what I had, not the 4 of the video. I have since asked Quora for a transcription, but I know from experience Haitian Creole questions can take forever to get an answer, so I'm waiting. That said, let me copypaste the intro of that post, analysis included, into here, and lighten it over there. But first, the lyrics and Google translation (OMG how horrible that translation is :) ). The lyrics I had actually included a couple errors, which have been straightened in the below lyrics. I will not put the translation together because I'm too lazy :). * Pa ret ap domi, zanmi mwen Leve tet ou gade Gade soley la wa wè Ki le li fè Pa ret ap domi, zanmi mwen Leve tet ou gade G...

After the longest of times, today we have a Zulu/English song, Your Love , which I randomly found as a translation request at lyricstranslate . So I answered the request, and then translated it to Italian , and will be posting that next Tuesday. I will give you the lyrics with the Google translation as a start, and then analyze the Zulu parts, ignoring the English, and the clearly meaningless "Rapapa". [Verse 1] Sengijahile ukuthi sphinde thina sibonane Angeke ngize ngiphile Ngaphandle kokutholuthando kuwe Nhliziy' iswele nokuxuma baby iz' ifike kuwe [Pre-Chorus] (And I won't lie lie lie lie lie, yeah) (Your Love is Blind blind blind blind blind) (And I won't lie lie lie lie lie, yeah) (Your Love is Blind blind blind blind blind) [Chorus] Rapapa, rapapa Rapapa, rapapa Rapapa, rapapa Rapapa, rapapa Rapapa, rapapa Rapapa, rapapa Rapapa, rapapa Rapapa, rapapa Rapapa, rapapa Rapapa, rapapa (And I won't lie lie lie lie lie, yeah) (...