Translation Works

I was enjoying reading magazine and listening to music this morning when Hakkam came to my compartment. He shoved to me the poem 'Negaraku Terbilang' by Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and asked me to translate the whole length of it. Man, what a jolt to the brain on such an idyllic class-less morning like this. After reading the poems a few time my fingers starts to pound the keyboard and here's the result:

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Walking through the sprawling city,
Gazing at the spiralling colums, reaching to the clouds
Nation pride blazing in my heart
So far the nation has gone

Reeling back to my youth
Era without arches, skyscrapers
Only the chirps of birds at fields abound
But rich with humanity
Rich of forgiveness and love
Rich of helping hands
Among thousands of unsung heros

There's challenges across
The world rushing with turbulence
Bounty for the fast
Leftovers for those who lag
We choose moderation over absolute
Variety over solitude
Trust over suspicion
Sharing over domination
Moving forward with our own mould
Preserving heritage
Preservng traditions

Here, at this land
We weave skyscrapers with purity of humanity
We weave the vision of Alfred Nobel with poems of Rumi
Nurturing the tree of peace
Emnating music of love across the land
In the quest for glory
Knowledge, Compassion, Virtue

Negaraku Terbilang by Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Translated and adapted by Firdaus Ibnu Ariff

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The translation took me a record 20 minutes to finish but of course there's flaws here and there as I never write poems anyway. A Kamus Dwibahasa Dewan would surely help to improve it a lot though. The translation method is line by line except the last line which I replace it altogether with my own motto. Instead of 'Cemerlang, Gemilang, Terbilang' (actually I need the above mentioned dictionary to translate this) I replaced it with 'Knowledge, Compassion, Virtue' - a fusion of two motto of institution I've been and where I am now. SMART motto is 'Ilmu, Ihsan, Bestari' - which I translated to 'Knowledge, Compassion, Smart'. Meanwhile IIUM is touted as Garden of Knowledge and Virtue. Then I just mixed it up, tehee. :D

No offense intended with the changing of the last line, so don't shoot me - I'm just a student having fun here. Surely I'll change it to 'Cemerlang, Gemilang, Terbilang' in English sooner or later. If I'm not mistaken there's an ad in the paper which translate the CGT tagline, anyone care to share it? Meanwhile lay down your verdict for this translation, feedback welcomed!

*Suddenly popped up in my mind to translate the eJAD to English - such an amusing thought.