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Jenny Friedrich-Freksa,
Editor-in-Chief „KULTURAUSTAUSCH“
In 2007 the magazine KULTURAUSTAUSCH announced an international competition, called: „the world’s most beautiful alphabet“. The competition was also communicated by DEUTSCHE WELLE, Germany’s oversea broadcaster. 2.500 people from 58 countries sent their favourite words in their native language to us. A judging panel then selected the prettiest entries. They assessed the originality of the word, its cultural characteristics and the explanatory statement.
The winner was awarded with a journey to Berlin.
I would like to present some of the words that reached us from very different places in the world.
Ben zhu (Chinese: dumb)
It sounds like the French word „bonjour“, yet it actually means “dumb”, or “pig.”
(Fei Ning, China)
Madala (Hausa: Thank God)
You can say “madala” at almost every opportunity: when you’re happy, when you’ve had a good meal, when you meet a friend, relative or neighbour. You also say it if your are newly wed. After a good rest you first say “madala”. If you have enough money, if it rains, or if you have a good imam in your mosque or when you read the Quran: you always say “madala”.
(Mala M. Kebbeh, Gambia)
5th Prize
Zmrzlina (Slovak: Ice Cream)
Zmr-zli-na: It starts with the substantially ponderous “zmr”, chilly like ice crackling in a snowy night. This syllable might be uttered by a freezing tongue that quivers with “brrrr.” But once warmed up, it is followed by a gentle “zli” rolling over inside one’s mouth, like vanilla ice cream melting on a sunny summer’s day and evoking memories of childhood when one could cuddle up in a mother’s arms. And indeed the word ends with an suspicious “na“, with the most feminine suffix of all, with a round “a”, feminine and tender.
What a contrast to the harsh “ice,” which, in spite of its shortness, is mouthed quickly. One is reminded of black ice, car accidents and emergency doctors. Hence, “zmirzlina” should be Germanized, if only someone were able to pronounce it.
(Lucia Novak, Slovakia, lives in Germany)
Why did we announce this competition?
In 2007 a total of 330 partners of science, culture, economy and politics participated with more than a thousand events during the so-called „Year of Science 2007“ in Germany which was organized by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in cooperation with an initiative called "Science in dialogue". Under the slogan "Human Sciences. The ABC of mankind" several competitions, lectures, readings, expositions and performances took place. Our language competition was also part of this „ABC of mankind“.
What we wanted to do was finding a competition idea which gets to the heart of language: to think about what you really love about your native language.
I see this competition as a good example for cultural education, some of the key issues of the Institute I work for.
Culture and Education are basic elements of human being. They are closely linked, you cannot look at one without regarding the other one as well. Education is mixed up with cultural elements, with cognitive, creative, aesthetic, sensual, emotional and social abilities.
I would say our competition was focusing on people’s creative and sensual abilities.
But in order to deal with culture you need education as well – in a sense of cognition, of recognizing and exploring social interpretation patterns.
Cultural education means an active examination of art or culture.
It became clear very soon for us that we wanted to have a game or competition where people do something by themselves. And that we wanted them to think about their own culture, in this context: to think about their own language.
It is a fact that people of different nationalities and cultural backgrounds are living together in modern societies. Cultural education becomes a chance for assuring oneself of the own identity on the one hand and becoming aquainted with other cultures on the other hand.
This was the second idea of the competition: to have a publication making it possible for people to read these very personal regards on words and language from other people and other cultures. We printed this publication in German. Too bad: we did not have enough money to print it in English as well.
But when we started with this “world’s most beautiful alphabet“ we had no idea that it would become such a success. We had no idea that so many people would participate and that we would get so much media attention, not only in Germany but in many countries abroad.
I will give you two more examples of entries:
Gegenwart (German: Present, Presence)
„Gegenwart“ became my favorite word the moment I felt challenged to defend it against the accusation of being ugly and unmotivated. A friend who spoke a Romance mother tongue had started this by remarking rather incidentally that she thought the German word “Gegenwart” was awkward and peculiar. Contrary to the derivatives of the Latin “praesentia”, which all manage to capture the essence of what is being said, she felt the German “Gegenwart” was lacking clarity of any kind. She pondered on the purpose of the preposition “gegen” (which means “against”). And why the “wart” as a second element? She knew of the “Torwart”, meaning goal keeper, and the “Platzwart”, meaning green keeper. But surely this couldn’t be the “wart” in “Gegenwart.”
I promised to resolve. And now I owe my favorite word to my efforts at bringing light into the darkness of “Gegenwart.” The subsequent dictionary research revealed “Gegenwart” to denote not only what one encounters to be, but also what one encounters to have become. It is in fact the objectionable “wart”, a derivative of “werden” (to become) and related to the Latin word “vertere”, which bestows the “Gegenwart” upon its dynamic, creative touch.
(Gabriele Diewald, Germany)
Hu Lu (Chinese: Snoring)
I think the Chinese word “hu lu” is the funniest. It simply means snoring.
This word sounds exactly like the noise of your breath while you are sleeping. Maybe you’ll disagree, maybe you don’t even like this word, because snoring can really bug other people at night.
But ultimately, “hu lu” isn’t exclusively about annoyance. A loud “hu lu” indicates that you’re sound asleep. When my mom’s tired from her exhausting job, she likes to do “hu lu” while asleep. I once eavesdropped on my mom’s “hu lu” and suddenly found that this sound isn’t a bugging noise but really something beautiful and very fetching. There was a steady Up and Down, once it fell silent, then it increased again. The rhythm was vivid and the beat was clear. Listening attentively to my mom’s “hu lu” made me realize how beautiful it sounded.
Can you hear it too? “Hu lu, hu lu, hu lu”….
(Lan Wang, China)
Second Prize
Back to cultural education:
When we see cultural education in a complex sociopolitical context, this means that cultural education has to perform the task to enable people to understand and to develop their own cultural identity – through sensual or aesthetic practice or through active reception.
These are the two elements we focused on in the competition: the aesthetic practice of writing and the reception of other texts and also the reception of personal preferences of people from foreign cultures.
ultural education becomes essential in a world that grows together. Only if you know your own cultural identity you can be open to the cultural identity of others.
It was beautiful to see how much fun „the worlds most beautiful alphabet“ was for so many people.
Before I come to an end I would like to present the winner word of this special alphabet:
Yakamoz (Turkish: reflection of moonlight on water)
My favourite word “yakamoz” means reflection of moonlight on water. I can’t add anything to that. It is simply beautiful that there is one word which captures this phenomenon.
(Rana Aydin, Turkish, lives in Belgium).
First Prize
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Round table № 3 Written languages