English words of "The Internationale".
Nancy Condee
condee+ at pitt.edu
Sun Feb 25 17:31:38 UTC 1996
I believe the official Soviet version avoids it in English. If I may
back up a line ("My nash, my novyi mir postroim: / Kto byl... etc."):
We'll change forthwith (!) the old conditions
And spurn the dust to win the prize.
For the _Internationale_ buffs out there (yes, both of you!), other
languages handle it this way:
German: Wir waren nichts, jetzt sind wir da!
Mongolian: Unen bat zhyrmyg togtoono!
French: Nous ne sommes rien, soyens tout!
Esperanto: ne nul, sed cio estu ni!
Albanian: Boten e re ne vent te saj!
Note: the order cited above does not necessarily reflect the anticipated
path of world revolution, but you never know.
On Sun, 25 Feb 1996, Loren A. Billings wrote:
> Would anyone out there know a standard English translation of the
> following line from the anthem "Internatsional"?
>
> Kto byl nikem tot stanet vsem.
>
> (Yes, I'm aware of the irreverent spoof of it: Kto byl nikem tot stal nichem.>
> Thanks again, --Loren Billings (billings at mailer.fsu.edu)
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