Tintin Forums

Hello, I'm a new member here.

I don't know if anyone has realised that the Arumbayas' (in The
Broken Ear and Tintin and the Picaros) language is actually English
written in a disguised form. I found it highly interesting and amusing! I hope I'm not writing something that has already been posted before...if it has, I'm sorry to take up space.

Note: I actually posted this message on the Tintin Yahoo! Groups earlier and with the help of "George", he was able to provide me with the parts of the "translations" that I couldn't figure out. Thank you very much George! I'm sure you are here on the Tintinologist.org forums. My nick on the Yahoo! Groups is four4seven7.

On page 52 of The Broken Ear, here are the words and
'translations'.
1. Owar ya? Ts goota meecha mai 'tee
--> How are you? 'Tis good to meet you matey.

2. Naluk. Djarem membah dabrah nai dul? Tintin zluk infu rit'h.
Kanyah elpim?
--> Now look. D'you remember the brown idol? Tintin's looking for
it. Can you help him?

3. Dabrah nai dul? Oi, oi! Slaika toljah. Datrai b'giv dabrah nai
dul ta'Walker. Ewuz anaisgi. Butiz'h felaz tukahr presh usdjuel.
Enefda Arumbayas ket chim dai lavis gutsfa gahtah'z. No mess in'h!
--> The brown idol? Yes, yes! It's like I told you. The tribe give
the brown idol to Walker. He was a nice guy. But his fella's took a
precious jewel. And if the Arumbayas catch him they'll have his
guts for garters.

4. Cohrluv ahduk! Ai tolja tahitta ferlip inbaul intada oh'l!
Andatdohn meenis ferlip ineer oh'l!
--> Cor luv a duck! I told you to hit the flippin' ball into the
hole. And I don't mean his flippin' earhole!

And on page 34 of Tintin and the Picaros,
1. Owzah g'rubai?
--> How's the grub?

2. Oozfa sek' unds?
--> Who's for seconds?

3. Ava 'n ip?
--> Have a nip?

4. Goh' blimeh! Wa' samma ta, li li li va?... Lem eshohya!
--> Cor blimey! What's the matter, lily-liver? Let me show you!

5. Sum in 'ksup wivit!
--> Something's up with it!

According to George, basically you have to read the lines out loud in London/Cockney accent, then you'll pick up what's said.

--
EDIT:
I humbly apologise! I just realised that all this info has already been published on this website by Mr Andrew Pilcher since 1999:
https://www.tintinologist.org/articles/arumbaya.html

Well, I'm glad I figured it out for myself before reading the article!

--
[Post edited by Moderator (marsbar). Combined two posts.]

Welcome to the group! Not to worry, fourseven - and as you say, you have the added satisfaction of having worked it all out without a crib-sheet!

Looking at the article, in a supplementary comment, Richard says that he doesn’t know of any similar thing in the French language version. I have a feeling that MT said at Greenwich that the French dialogue is actually a joke similar to the Cockney he used, and is a phonetic variation on Brussels patois. Anyone confirm this?

I think that this was also one of the areas where LL-C didn’t actually bother to translate, but would just write “Michael!” in the margin, and he would reel off the appropriate stuff - she did the same for Wagg’s tedious ramblings...

In 2004 the book 'Ketje gamin de Bruxelles' described Arumbaya in the French version as an 'erased writing' derived from the marollien, a Brussels' local language spoken in the author's family, thus associating Herge's childhood time and a secrete writing...

Thanks, yamilah - I’d forgotten what it was called.

Not so “secret” that other Brussels folk wouldn’t have recognised it, though; and if the Cockney analogy holds, then it’s also quite possible that those outside Brussels could follow it too.

Marollien is one of 10 recognised Belgian dialects listed by The Venice Commission: Gaumais, Champenois, Walloon, Picard, Letzebuerguesch, Ripuarish, Rhine-Maas Frankish, Brabantish, West Flemish, Marollien. Not really a secret then...

I think there is a translation of the original Marollien into French in Frédéric Soumois' Dossier Tintin, though I can't check because I don't have the book to hand.

What's interesting is that it does say more or less the same as the English version, so either the translators could understand it or (more likely) Hergé supplied them with a translation into French.

Ed

marollien, a Brussels' local language spoken in the author's family

Incidentally Herges Syldavian laguage is also derived from this Brussels speak, which is much like Flemish, and not the Slavic that is mistaken for it.

Indeed, there are so many cases where English words are disguised as exotic names in other languages. I saw one site's observations of this phenomena throughout the series. Here is the link to the first of several pages:

http://tintin.eugraph.com/tqsect/feature/names/index.html

I don't know if this site is authorized, but there is a wonderful and funny Tintin quiz there where you have to identify who's face is getting sprayed at.

I have noticed that in English versions of both The Broken Ear and Picaros, the Arumbayas speak English in a thick Cockney accent. Just sound out the words. This is when the Arumabyas are speaking Arumbayan language. I pretty much know what they are saying, but in The Broken Ear there is one place where I don't know what they are saying.
On page 52, frame 6, Chief Avakuki says:

"The brown idol? Oi, Oi! 'S like I told ya. The tribe give the brown idol to Walker. He was a nice guy. But his fellas took our precious jewel."

Whatever Avakuki says in that panel after the quote above, I can't figure it out.

Can anybody tell me what it says?

I believe he says something like "And after Arumbayas catch him they'll have his guts for garters, no messing!"

You might like to read the article Arumbabya Explained by Andrew Pilcher from our articles section.

In the comment of the article by Pilcher where the Arumbaya language is explained, Pilcher himself states that the only thing he still can't figure is where the Arumbaya name comes from.

Since the article does not allow a comment in this site I am posting it in this thread. (Moderator, can I make a comment on the article instead?)

The Broken Ear has as a historical background the 1932-1935 war between Paraguay and Bolivia in the Gran Chaco region. San Theodoros and Nuevo Rico representing either or a combination of Paraguay and Bolivia. Being from Paraguay myself I can comment a great deal about the historical circumstances in the war and will probably start a thread in the near future about the historical references of the Broken Ear album, but for now let me give a possible explanation for the Arumbaya name.

In the North-western region (Just in the Chaco region) of Paraguay there was a tribe of warrior natives called the Mbaya, who often used to prey on the more peace loving and more common Guarani natives. The Guarani would call this sub tribe of the larger Guaicuru nation the Mbaya, meaning "bad". Here is a wikipedia article about them http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbaya_people

I think Arumbaya name in the Broken Ear is possibly derived from the Mbaya people.