Friday, February 04, 2011

And now it's time for some birfday wishes! In bad Dutch! YAY!

O, wat zijn wij? Heden blij!
Tara is jarig, Tara is jarig
O, wat zijn wij? Heden blij!
Tara is jarig in onze rij

OK, my friends who actually speak Dutch can stop laughing hysterically now. I had to suss out these lyrics knowing only how to sing the song phonetically and understanding literally half a dozen words in Dutch, and I pretty much gave up on the second verse (which, if I remember my great-grandma's translation correctly, involves asking God to bless and spare the birthday child for yet another year). You get extra credit points if you can follow it up by singing "Lang zal zij leven," which is what we do in our family.

That's right, it's Tara's birthday today. (No, she is not literally in my family line as the song has it, but she is a good friend.) Hmm. What to get for the lady who has everything but time? What, indeed.

No, I'm not gonna tell you here! Would spoil the surprise. Honestly. mutta mutta.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Now it gets really funny when you try to pronunciate the words :)

Soozcat said...

Oh gosh yes, my pronunciation is probably horrific. Eh well.

tlchang said...

Um - can some of us with *no* knowledge of Dutch have a translation...? (I so appreciate the thought, heh...)

Soozcat said...

Oh, what are we? Very happy!
Tara is born, Tara is born
Oh, what are we? Very happy!
Tara is born in our [family] line

(Lin, is this more or less accurate?)

tlchang said...

Very fun. :-) (and thank you).