| Manx | English | |
|---|---|---|
| Kegeesh er dy henney ’sy cholloo shoh dimraa mee braar ayrey da my ven enmyssit Illiam y Kaye, dooinney ooasle as kenjal hooar baase mee er dy henney. | A fortnight ago in this column I mentioned my wife’s uncle, called William Kaye, a noble and kind man who died a month ago. | |
| Rish shey bleeaney va mee gobbragh 'sy cheer cheddin as eshyn. | For six years I was working in the same country as him. | |
| Ec y traa shen, va’n cheer enmyssit Yn Rhodeish Hwoaie, agh nish, erreish da seyrsnys ve currit daue t’ee enmyssit Yn Sambia. | At that time, the country was called Northern Rhodesia, but now, after independence has been given to them it is called Zambia. | |
| Ayns Toshiaght Arree 1956 dettyl mee ersooyl voish Ellan my ghooie gys y cheer yoarree shid. | In February 1956 I flew away from my native Island to that foreign country. | |
| Laa feayr sniaghtee v’eh as daa laa lurg shen va mee gollish ayns Aerphurt Livingstone as giu lhune feayr ec y voayrd coontee ’syn aerphurt as, myr yiarragh Ned Maddrell, “Yn ollish roie sheese clash my hoyn.” | It was a very snowy day and two days after that I was sweating in Livingstone Airport and drinking very cold beer at the counter in the airport and, as Ned Maddrell would say, “The sweat running down the crack of my arse.” | |
| Va mee dy jarroo my yoarree ayns cheer yoarree, bunnys queig thousane meeilley voish Ellan My Chree, my lomarcan as gyn monney argid ayns my wallad as my ven faagit my yei ayns y thie v’er mayl ain ayns Kione Droghad. | I was indeed a stranger in a strange land, almost five thousand miles from the Island of my heart, alone, without much money in my wallet with my wife left behind me in the house that we were renting in Onchan. | |
| Hie mee ersooyl er y fa nagh row obbyr chooie erbee ry-gheddyn ayns Mannin ec y traa shen as va ny smoo na thousane deiney ’syn Ellan er y chooney-ashoonagh. | I went because there wasn’t any suitable work available in the Isle of Man at that time and there were more than a thousand men in the Island on ‘national assistance’ (the dole). | |
| Va ny deiney ass obbyr cliaghtey shooyl trooid Doolish ayns famman mooar as cowraghyn oc as scruit orroo “Ta shin laccal obbyr.” | The men who were out of work used to walk through Douglas in a long tail (line) with “We want work.” | |
| Cha dod mish jannoo y lhied as va mee skee jeh’n aght va dagh ooilley staartey lhieent. | I couldn’t do such a thing and I was fed up of the way every position was filled. | |
| Va mee myrgeddin laccal shilley elley jeh’n theihll vooar cheumooie jeh’n Europey. | I was also wanting to another sight of the the big world outside Europe. | |
| Va mee hannah er cheau kuse dy vleeantyn ’syn Injey as va reddyn feer voal dy jarroo ayns Mannin. | I had already spent a few years in India and things were poor indeed in the Isle of Man. | |
| Va’n Ghaelg ayns stayd atchimagh as ny loayreyderyn dooghyssagh ooilley geddyn baase nane lurg nane as cha row agh mysh shiaght deiney aegey gollrhym pene er mayrn as Gaelg flaaoil oc. | Manx was in a terrible state and the native speakers were all dying one after another and there was only about seven young men like myself left who knew Manx fluently. | |
| Cha row reddyn ayns cooish ny Gaelgey myr t’ad laa jiu. | There weren’t things in the matter of Manx as they are today. | |
| Va’n Cheshaght Ghailckagh meeiteil ayns Straid Walpole Doolish, as, myr dooyrt Bernard y Caine ec y chaglym bleeaney shoh chaie, yiarragh y tashteyder, | The Manx Language Society was meeting in Walpole Street in Douglas Va’n Cheshaght Ghaickagh meeiteil ayns Straid Walpole Doolish, and, as Bernard Caine said at the annual meeting last year, the treasurer would say, | |
| “Ta blein feer speeideilagh er ve ain nurree: Ta 4.16.3 ain ayns Banc Ellan Vannin.” | “We’ve had a very successful year last year: We have 4.16.3 in The Isle of Man Bank.” | |
| Erreish da shoh veagh ram bass voylley ayn. Yiarragh fer-oik ennagh elley ny Sheshaght, “Ta blein dy niartaghey feagh er ve ain”. | After this there would be a lot of clapping. The some other officers of the society would say, “We’ve had a year of ‘peaceful strengthening’ (consolidation?).” | |
| Tooilley bass-voylley, as eisht ragh dagh ooilley ghooinney gys e hie hene as gennalys ayns e chree. | More clapping, and then every man would go to his own house with a cheerful hear. | |
| Dy yannoo skeeal giare jeh skeeal liauyr va paart dy ghrogh-aigh er ve orrym pene as cragh er mooin cragh haink orrym ny yei, as va mee faagit gyn ping ruy ayns my phoagey as deeassee mee argid voish carrey mooar dou as ersooyl lhiam gys y chronk glass foddey jeh enmyssit Yn Africkey. | To cut a long story short, I had some bad luck myself and disaster on top of disaster came upon me after, and I was left without a ‘red penny’ (‘two pennis to rub together’ ) in my bag and I borrowed money from a great friend of mine and away I went to the far off green hill (‘greener pastures’) call Africa. | |
| Cha nel arrys rieau er ve aym dy jagh mee da’n cheer shid. | I have never regretted that I went to that distant country. | |
| Ta’n Africkey ny mooar-rheynn feer suimoil as aalin as tra haink my ven dy chummal marym mysh shey meeghyn erreish da’n traa rosh mish Yn Africkey huitt ee ayns graih rish y cheer myrgeddin as cheau shin shey bleeantyn maynrey cooidjagh ayns shen, bleeantyn nagh jeanmayd dy bragh jarrood as orroosyn ta shin dy mennick jeeaghyn er ash lesh taitnys. | Africa is a very interesting and beautiful continent, and when my wife came to live with me six months after the time I arrived in Africa she fell in love with the country too and we spent six happy years together there, years that we won’t ever forget and upon which we are often looking back with pleasure. | |
| Er my hon pene ta mee jeeaghyn er ash foddey ny s’menkey tra ta mee tayrn y faill aym nish ayns Mannin, fakin dy vel mee cosney y faill cheddin nish as va mee queig bleeaney jeig er dy henney ersooyl ayns eebyrtys! | As for myself, I am looking back far more often when I am drawing my salary now in the Isle of Man, seeing that I am earning the same salary now as I was fifteen years ago away in exile! | |
| Agh haink seyrsnys da’n cheer va mee gobbragh ayn as va mee eignit dy ynsaghey ooilley ny v’ayms mychione yn staartey aym da ny deiney doo dooghyssagh va keayrt dy row gobbragh foym as cha row obbyr erbee faagit da dooinney bane ny yei shen. | But independence came to the country I was working in and I was compelled to teach all I know about my job to the native black men who were once working under me and there was no work left for a white man after that. | |
| Myrgeddin va mee, erreish da shey bleeaney, goaill foddeeaght ny yei Ellan Vannin reesht as ayns Mee Ny Boaldyn 1962 hrog shin orrin as ren shin lesh Mannin reesht. | Also, I was, after six years, longing after The Isle of Man aigain and in May 1962 we got up and made (our way) towards the Isle of Man again. | |
| Er y laa shen dimraa mee ec y toshiaght tra va mee giu lhune feayr ayns Aerphurt Livingstone va mee skee as tooillit erskyn insh lurg yn jurnaa trooid y speyr as va mee bunnys er troggloo tra rosh mee Livingstone. | On that day I mentioned at the beginning when I was drinking cold beer in Livingstone Airport I was tired and extremely exhausted after the journey through the sky and I was almost worn out when I reached Livingstone. | |
| Ta Livingstone feer injil heese ayns glion yn awin Sambesi as she boayl feer cheh t’ayn dy jarroo. | Livingstone is very low down in the river-valley of the Zambeze River and it is a very hot place indeed. | |
| Ta’n chooid elley ny cheerey mysh kiare thousane trie erskyn ny marrey as foddey share dy vaghey ayn. | The rest of the country is about three thousand feet above the sea and far better to live in. | |
| Yn fastyr shen hie mee er etlan elley gys Salisbury, ard-valley ny cheerey ec y traa shen, raad va braar my ayrey ayn dy veeiteil mee ec yn aerphurt. | That afternoon I went on another plane to Salisbury, the capital of the country at that time, where my uncle (father’s brother) was to meet me at the airport. | |
| By whaagh eh clashtyn coraa Manninagh geam magh ec yn aerphurt ayns Gaelg “Kanys t’ou Bhoy?” | How strange it was to hear a Manx voice calling out at the airport in Manx “How are you, Boy?” | |
| Va paart dy Ghaelg ec my naim as v’eshyn gobbragh ayns Salisbury rish tree bleeaney jeig. | My uncle had some Manx as he was working in Salisbury for thirteen years. | |
| Va daa naim aym eisht, ’sy cheer shid braar my ayrey as Illiam y Kaye, eshyn dimraa mee heose. | I had two uncles then, it that country the brother of my father, and William Kaye, he who I mentioned above. | |
| Cheau mee yn oie marish my naim as lught-thie as moghrey laa ny mairagh hug ad lhieu mee dys thie cubbyl Manninagh voish Purt ny Hinshey. | I spent the night with my uncle and family and the morning of the next day they brought me to the house of a Manx couple from Peel. | |
| Va’n sliennoo oc Crellin. | Their surname was Crellin. | |
| Ec y traa shen va Salisbury lung-lane dy ghleashtanyn mooarey Americaanagh as gleashyanyn deyr Sostynagh. | At that tie Salisbury was full to the brim of big American cars and expensive English cars. | |
| Yinnagh oo fakin seyir-thie ny masoonagh goll gys yn staartey echey ayns Jaguar mooar as ny greienyn as jeshaghtyn echey ceaut er y toieag yerree. | You’d see a joiner or mason going to his job in a big Jaguarwith his tools and machines thrown on the back seat. | |
| Faagail Mannin voght ec y traa shen myr ren mish, v’eh gollrish goll gys cheu elley ny heayst! | Leaving the impoverished Isle of Man at that time as I did, it was like going to the other side of the moon! | |
| Hannee mee rish shiaghtin marish my 'ir vooinjerey ayns Salisbury ayns slyst y valley enmyssit “Mabelreign”. | I remained for a week with my male relatives Salisbury in a suburb of the town called “Mabelreign”. | |
| Va’n boayl shen keayrt dy row lesh Manninee as va enmyn Manninagh er paart jeh ny straaidyn. | That place had once been owned by Manx people and there were Manx names on some of the streets. | |
| Va boayl mooar eirinagh oc neesht enmyssit “Ellan Vannin”, bunnys cha mooar as Mannin hene. | They had a large agricultural place too called “Ellan Vannin”, almost as large as the Isle of Man itself. | |
| Daag mee y voayl shen as hie mee er y varroose my hwoaie dys ny meainyn coobyr queig keead meeilley ersooyl raad va Illiam y Kaye gobbragh er yn eaghtyr. | I left that place and I went on the bus north to the copper mines five hundred miles away where William Kaye was working on the surface. | |
| Va mish shirrey obbyr fo-halloo as fy yerrey hooar mee ee erreish da goll er ash dy scoill rish nuy meeghyn dy ynsaghey mychione meaineydys as bleaystey as poodyr as ram reddyn elley. | I was looking for work underground and I finally found it after going back to school for nine months to learn about mining and explosives and powder and many other things. | |
| Va’n turrys my hwoaie feer huimoil kiart ny hrooid yn ‘bush’ lane dy veiyn feie. Myr t’eh scruit ’sy Vible cheayll me yn lion buirrooghey. | The trip north was very interesting, right through the ‘bush’, full of wild animals. As it is written in the Bible, I heard the lion roar. | |
| Tra rosh mee yn meain raad va “Naim Illiam” gobbragh, va mee slane rooisht argid, as, agh son eshyn as e chaarjyn veign er ve “er y skeerey” myr yiarragh ny shenn Vanninee! | When I reached the mine where “Uncle William” was working, I was completed skint, and, but for him and his friends I would have been ‘on the parish’ (destitute) as the old Manx would say! | |
| By ghoillee eh dy gheddyn obbyr ayns ny meainyn ec y traa shen er y fa dy row ram argid ry-gheddyn as va deiney ass dagh ooilley heer fo’n ghrian rouail mygeayrt voish meain dy veain, shirrey staartaghyn. | It was difficult to find work in the mines at that time because there was a lot of money to be had and there were men from every country under the sun wandering around from mine to mine, looking for jobs. | |
| Hooar mee obbyr fy-yerrey as va mee currit da’n scoill reesht, fo-halloo, raad dynsee mee mooarane goaill stiagh chengey ny mayrey ny deiney doo, chengey ta foast ayms dy bollagh, chengey ta mee cha flaaoil ayn as ta mee ’sy Ghaelg ain. | I finally got a job and I was sent to school too, underground, where I learnt a lot, including the native tongue of the black men, a language I still know, a language I am as fluent in as I am in our Manx. | |
| Cha dod shin jannoo nyn obbyr fegooish y ghlare shen, er y fa nagh row Baarle erbee ec ny deiney doo. | We couldn’t do our work without that language, because the black men didn’t know enough English. | |
| Dy jarroo va ram chengaghyn goll mygeayrt y moom as bwooise da Jee, va rieau gioot aym son chengaghyn as ny keayrtyn veign loayrt ass queig chengaghyn ayns un oor heese y veain! | In fact, there were many languages going (spoken) around me and, thank God, I always had a gift for languages and sometimes I would speak in five languages in one hour down the mine! | |
| Hoshiaght va mee cur ram Gaelg mastey ny chengaghyn shen! | At first I was putting a lot of Manx amongst those languages! | |
| Ayns ynnyd jeh gra, "Ine 'ndaba wena enza lo?" yinnin geam magh da fer doo, “Cre’n fa t’ou jannoo shen?” as yinnagh eh blakey orrym goaill yindys er shen va mee gra rish! | Instead of saying, “Ine ’ndaba wena enza lo?” I would call out to a black fellow, “Why are you doing that?” (in Manx) and he would stare at me amazed at what I had said to him! | |
| Ta ny deiney doo feer ‘skeetagh’ myr yiarragh ny Manninee as by haittin lhieu cosney fys mychione dagh ooilley ghooinney bane, raad t’eh cheet voish, yn ennym echey as dagh ooilley nhee fod ad feddyn magh. | The black men are very ‘skeetagh’ (gossipy) as the Manx would say, and they take pleasure in gaining information about each and every white man, where he was coming from, his name and everything they can find out. | |
| Keayrt dy row va daa Ghaelgeyr Albinagh gobbragh marym, daa ghuilley voish Ard Nave ayns Ellan Eeley. | Once there were two Scottish Gaelic speakers working with me, two boys from Ardnave in the Isle of Islay. | |
| Va’n ennym oc Mac Eachern. | Their name was Mac Eachern. | |
| Loayragh shin ’sy Ghaelg dy mennick as veagh ny guillyn doo goaill ard-yindys dy chlashtyn shin. | We would often talk in Gaelic and the black boys would be very surprised to hear us. | |
| Va fys oc dy row eh ghlare feer yoarree, as ny s’anmey harragh ad hym, gra “Bwana, ine lo mashobo ka wena na ma-bwana lapa. Ine lo chalo wena kaluma?” (Hiarn, jeh cre’n kynney ta shiuish as ny chiarnyn elley cre'n chengey ta shiu loayrt ry-cheilley?”). | They knew that is was a very foreign tongue, and later that would come to me, saying ““Bwana, ine lo mashobo ka wena na ma-bwana lapa. Ine lo chalo wena kaluma?” (Lord, of what kin (tribe) are you and the other lords, what language are you speaking to each other?) | |
| By ghoillee eh dy jarroo dy chur baght daue er Ellan Vannin as Ellan Eeley! | It was difficult indeed to give them a view of the Isle of Man and the Isle of Islay! | |
| Cha jinnagh ad cred]al er chor erbee dy row chengaghyn elley ayns Goal Vooar agh y Vaarle! | They wouldn’t believe at all that there were other languages in Great Britain except English! | |
| Cha jinnagh ad credjal dy row yn seihll runt. Smooinee ad dy row grian noa girree gagh laa as eayst noa gagh vee as yn shenn ghrian as yn shenn eayst er nyn stroie boayl ennagh raad va “Lesa” cummal. | They wouldn’t believe that the world was round. They thought that there was a new sun rising every day and a new moon every month and the old sun and the old moon were destroyed somewhere where “Lesa” was living. | |
| Va “Lesa” yn ennym oc er Jee. V’ad credjal myrgeddin dy row awin vooar roie neese ny hrooid ooilley’n Africkey voish Lunnin as cha dod ad toiggal yn faarkey, ny rio, ny sniaghtey edyr. | “Lesa” was their name for God. They were believing that there was a great river running up through all all of Africa from London and they couldn’t understand the ocean, or ice, or snow at all. | |
| Tra va enney ny share oc orrym v'ad gra rhym dy row mee ny vreageyder fuilltagh son ginsh daue skeeallyn myr shen. | When I knew them better they were saying to me that I was a bloody liar for telling them stories about that. | |
| Foddee dy row mee far enmyssit “Breagagh” oc! | Maybe I was nicknamed “Breagagh” (“Liar”) by them! | |
| Va far-ennym er dagh ooilley ghooinney bane as va’n far-ennym ayms “Kabemba” ta shen dy ghra, “Eshyn as tushtey echey jeh’n ghlare ain”, er y fa dy row mee feer flaaoil ’sy chengey oc er y fa dy ren mee studeyrys dowin urree as er y fa dy row mee sheer vriaght son focklyn nagh bione da’n chooid smoo jeh my cho-obbreeyn, adsyn nagh row wheesh dy huim oc er chengaghyn as v'ayms. | Every white man had a nickname and my nickname was “Kabemba”, which is to say, “He who was learning of our language,” because I was very fluent in their language because I made a deep study of it and because I was forever asking for words most of my co-workers didn’t know, those who didn’t have so much interest in languages as I had. | |
| Ayns ny pabyryn naight ta shiu lhaih ram boghtynid mychione “apartheid” as y lhied as yn drogh-ghellal ta ny deiney doo geddyn voish ny deiney baney ’syn Africkey. | In the newspapers you read a lot of nonsense about “apartheid” and such and the bad deal the black men are getting from the white men in Africa. | |
| Ta me goaill rish dy vel ny Hollanee ’syn Africkey Yiass feer chreoi er ny deiney doo agh raad va mish gobbraghey va shin ooilley feer choardit as va ram caarjyn aym mastey feallagh doo dooghyssagh ny cheerey. | I admit that the Dutch in South Africa are very hard on the black men, but where I was working we were all getting on very well together and I have many friends amongst the native black people of the country. | |
| Va shin gobbragh ry-cheilley fo-halloo ayns danjeyr as dorraghys as ny smoo na un cheayrt ta mee er nakin fer doo cur sheese e vioys son fer bane, as fer bane cur sheese e vioys son fer doo. | We were working together underground in danger and darkness and more than once I have seen a black man give up his life for a white man, and a white man give up his life for a black man. | |
| Son shen as ooilley va charvaal mooar eddyr ny kynneeyn er y fa dy vel ny deiney doo foast cheet magh ass yn eash-chloaie as ta shinyn er chur daue chellveeish as gleashtanyn as jough lajer as cha s’oc cre dy yannoo lesh ny reddyn shoh, ooilley currit daue ayns jeih blein as tree feed.[1] | For all that, there was a big chasym between the races because the black men are still coming out of the stoneage and we are giving them television and cars and alcohol and they don’t know what to do with these things, all given to them in seventy years. | |
|
[1] jeih blein as tree feed] ‘seventy years’ — the expected word order would be
[tree feed blein as jeih].
| ||
| (ry hannaghtyn) | (to continue) | |