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25th translation contest: "Alien first impressions" » English to Somali » Entry by Abdulkadir Qorane Suleiman


Source text in English

Translation by Abdulkadir Qorane Suleiman (#31351) — Winner

Imagine dining in a European capital where you do not know the local language. The waiter speaks little English, but by hook or by crook you manage to order something on the menu that you recognise, eat and pay for. Now picture instead that, after a hike goes wrong, you emerge, starving, in an Amazonian village. The people there have no idea what to make of you. You mime chewing sounds, which they mistake for your primitive tongue. When you raise your hands to signify surrender, they think you are launching an attack.

Communicating without a shared context is hard. For example, radioactive sites must be left undisturbed for tens of thousands of years; yet, given that the English of just 1,000 years ago is now unintelligible to most of its modern speakers, agencies have struggled to create warnings to accompany nuclear waste. Committees responsible for doing so have come up with everything from towering concrete spikes, to Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”, to plants genetically modified to turn an alarming blue. None is guaranteed to be future-proof.

Some of the same people who worked on these waste-site messages have also been part of an even bigger challenge: communicating with extraterrestrial life. This is the subject of “Extraterrestrial Languages”, a new book by Daniel Oberhaus, a journalist at Wired.

Nothing is known about how extraterrestrials might take in information. A pair of plaques sent in the early 1970s with Pioneer 10 and 11, two spacecraft, show nude human beings and a rough map to find Earth—rudimentary stuff, but even that assumes aliens can see. Since such craft have no more than an infinitesimal chance of being found, radio broadcasts from Earth, travelling at the speed of light, are more likely to make contact. But just as a terrestrial radio must be tuned to the right frequency, so must the interstellar kind. How would aliens happen upon the correct one? The Pioneer plaque gives a hint in the form of a basic diagram of a hydrogen atom, the magnetic polarity of which flips at regular intervals, with a frequency of 1,420MHz. Since hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, the hope is that this sketch might act as a sort of telephone number.
Qiyaas adigoo cunto ka cunaaya caasimada qaarada Yurub aadna aqoon luuqada maxalliga ah. Kabalyeerugu waxa uu ku hadlaa Ingiriis aad u yar, laakiin markaad adeegsatay hab kasta oo suuragal ah waxaad awood u yeelatay inaad baakada tusmada cuntada ka dalbato wax aad garanayso, si aad u cunto iskagana bixiso lacagta. Meeshaas ka sokoow hadda qiyaas, adigoo dhumay kadib markaad socod aaday, kuna soobaxay, tuullada Amazonian oo ay kajirto gaajo. Dadka halkaas ku nool wax fikrad ah kama haystaan cidda aad tahay. Marka aad ku dhawaaqdo cod baaq ah, waxay ku qaldaan codadkii dadyoowgii hore. Marka aad gacan haatin sameyso si aad isku dhiibto, waxay u maleeyaan inaad weerar soo qaadayso.

Xariir aan lahayn macno la isla fahmo waa wax adag. Tusaale ahaan, goobaha Lagu curiyo shucaaca waxaa qasab ah in sidooda lagu dhaafo muddo tobanaan sano ah; dhanka kale, waxaa la ogyahay in Ingiriiskii lagu hadli jiray 1,000 sano kahor aysan maanta fahmi karin dadka ku hadla kan casriga ah. Wakaaladuhu waxay ku dhibtoodeen inay sameeyaan digniinada ka dhanka ah qashinka nukleerka. Guddiyadii ka masuulka ahaa arintaan waxay la yimaadeen wax kasta oo ay ugu horeeyeen hab dhismeedka wareegyada qashinka nukleerka, illaa "Digniinada" muddada dheer ee Edvard Munch, iyo wax ka badelka nidaamka hidaha dhirta si ay u soo saaraan buluug digniin ah. Midkoodna ma muujin caddeyn damaanad qaadaysa mustaqbalka.

Qaar kamid ah isla dadkii ka shaqeenayay fariimahaas digniinaha qashinka nukleerka ayaa sidoo kale qayb ka ahaa caqabadaha waawayn: xiriirka nolasha ka baxsan dunida.
Kani waa ciwaanka mawduuca buugga cusub “Luuqadaha looga hadlo meelaha ka Baxsan Dunida”, ee uu qoray Daniel Oberhaus, oo ah wariye ka tirsan Wired.

Waxba lagama ogga qaabka dadka malo-awaalka ah macluumaadka u qaadan doonaan. Labo qalab oo xogta aruuriya oo la diray horaantii 1970yadii oo ay la socdeen 10 iyo 11 cirbixiyeen, iyo labo dayax gacmeed, waxay muujiyeen dad qaawan iyo khariirad qalafsan si loogu eego waxyaabaha dhulka—gaarka u ah, laakiin sawiradaas waxaa laga dheehan karaa in dadka aan dhulka ku nooleyn ay wax arki karaan. Maadaama fursadaha dayax gacmeedkaan oo kale lagu heli karo aysan badnayn, idaacadaha warbixinada dhulka, oo adeegsanaaya xawaaraha iftiinka, ayaa u badan inay macluumaad helaan. Laakiin waa in loo waafajiyo sida dhulka loo waafajiyo oo kale oo sax ah, si ay u noqdaan nooc hawada ku safra. Sidee dad ku nool meel aan ahayn dhulka u noqon karaan dad jira? Tilmaamaha cirbixiyeenada dayax gacmeedka waxay muujinayaan sawiro jaantus oo aasaas ah laguna qaaday curiyaasha hydrogen, baaxada magneetiga oo ku warwareeganaysa xiliyada caadiga ah, ayadoo lagu haynaayo cabirka 1,420MHz. Maadaama hydrogen uu yahay curiyaha ugu badan aduunka, waxaa lagu rajo wayn yahay in sawirkaan noqon karo sida lambarka taleefoonka.


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