are you sleeping
bratecmartin
english
icelandic
language
latin
liang zhi lao hu
lyrics
meistari jakom
quare dormis
Is there any other song you know of in more languages than this one?
By isasice
@isasice (2015)
Iceland
November 16, 2006 9:33am CST
In Iceland we call it Meistari Jakob, in Danish it's Mester Jakob, in Finnish it's Jaakko kulta and in English, Are you sleeping.
I have this song in 23 languages and wonder if you have more to add.
Here are a few versions.
Icelandic:
Meistari Jakob, meistari Jakob
sefur þú, sefur þú?
Hvað slær klukkan, hvað slær klukkan?
Hún slær þrjú, hún slær þrjú.
English:
Are you sleeping, are you sleeping,
brother John, brother John?
Morning bells are ringing, morning bells are ringing
Ding dang dong, ding dang dong
In Dutch
Vader Jacob, Vader Jacob
Slaapt gij nog, slaapt gij nog
Alle klokken luiden, alle klokken luiden.
Bim, bam,bom, bim, bam, bom.
In French
Frére Jacques, frére Jacques
Dormez vous, dormez vous
Sonnez les matines, sonnez les matines,
Ding ding dong, ding ding dong.
Other languages I have the lyrics for are: Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, German, Italian, Spanish, Portugese, Polish, Czheck, Thai, Vietnamese, Turkish, Mandarin, Croatian and latin.
Do you know of any others? Is your language included in here?
Every kid in Icelad knows this song and everywhere I have been in the world, people of all ages know it. It is quite fun at international parties when everyone is singing the same song in different languages.
2 responses
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
19 Nov 06
Esperanto? that is the sort of obscure question that I would ask, so much so that I could not resist the temptation to find out.
According to an entry in Wikipedia the Esperanto version goes:
Frat’ Jakobo,
Frat’ Jakobo,
Cu en dorm’?
Cu en dorm’?
Iru sonorigu,
Iru sonorigu,
Bim, bam, bom.
Bim, bam, bom.
I set out in the hope of finding this, but was amazed to discover that it really did exist.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
16 Nov 06
Strangely I know this song in French but not in English.
I imagine that a lot of popular songs, mainly the traditional ones, are sung in numerous languages although I can think of no examples.
Several of the more popular operatic arias have no doubt been translated widely, but I rarely encounter more than 4 or 5 versions.
I know that it is cheating to a degree, but how about "Happy Birthday".
1 person likes this