Sam Shalalo: Translator Welcome to my online portfolio. Zinda Magazine

Who Are The Assyrians?

 The Assyrians are the indigenous people of Mesopotamia and have a history spanning over 6700 years. Today, the Assyrians are the descendants of the ancient Assyrian Empire and one of the earliest civilizations emerging in Mesopotamia. Although the Assyrian empire ended in 612 B.C., history is replete with recorded details of the continuous persistence of the Assyrian people till the present time. Assyrian civilization at one time incorporated the entire Near East, most notably the area of the Fertile Crescent. The heartland of Assyria lies in present day Northern Iraq. The remains of the ancient capital of Assyria, Nineveh, lie next to Mosul in Northern Iraq.

The world 4.5 million Assyrians are currently dispersed with members of the Diaspora comprising nearly one-third of the population. Most of the Assyrians in the Diaspora live in North America, Europe, and Australia. The remaining Assyrians reside primarily in Iraq, Syria, Iran, Lebanon, and Turkey.

The Assyrians are not to be confused with Syrians. Although the name of Syria is directly derived from Assyria and the land was once a part of Assyria, the people of Syria currently maintain a separate Arab identity. The Assyrians are not Arabs, but rather have maintained a continuous and separate identity, language, and culture that predates the Arabization of the Near East. Until today, the Assyrians speak a distinct language,Assyrian or Syriac, the language spoken by Jesus Christ. As a Semitic language, the Assyrian language is related to Hebrew and Arabic but predates both.

Translations

I have known Sam Shalalo since his arrival in this country close to thirty four years ago.  Over this period of time it has been a great honour for me to have been involved with him in many different ways in the service of the Assyrian community in the Sydney region, especially in the field of Assyrian language and culture.

 

Sam Shalalo is competent and fluent in three languages:

 

            Assyrian   -      his mother tongue

            Arabic       -           the language of the country where he was born and brought up

            English     -      the language of his adopted country, Australia

 

His mastery of the Assyrian language was inspired by his love for his culture and heritage and helped along by his late father whose fluency in the Classical Syriac language was renowned throughout the Assyrian nation.

 

The foundation of his proficiency in the Arabic and English languages was mostly acquired during the five years he spent in the Baghdad College, a prestigious private high school run by the Jesuit Fathers in Baghdad until the early sixties of the last century. 

 

I have had the pleasure and privilege of reading samples of Sam Shalalo's translations from Arabic and Assyrian into English.  I would like to say without any hesitation that Sam Shalalo has achieved in his translation work all that which is considered to be the essence of the art of translation: conveying in the English language the feeling, thought and character of the work in the original language.  I believe that the English language, and hence the Australian culture, is the richer through the translations of Sam Shalalo.

 

Philip Darmo

Assyrian Australian Association

 

Come Down From The Moon Tell the man on the moon He'll have to come down soon The earth's the place to be You can take that from me. It's been nice to explore Yet I tend to deplore The easiness of life Without the lot of strife. Me, I'll stay on this earth For it's my only hearth You can go where you want Got the planets to shunt. Man can gain the whole globe Or pretend to be slob But what good will it do If your soul deserts you. So, my friend, come on down You can have your own crown Life's but a dream for us Don't waste it with this fuss. Sam Shalalo Copyright 2003 Sam Shalalo POETRY.COM Poetry.com