The following text is an English translation of the introduction to Lo que somos. Taller de traducción colectiva árabe-triqui, a booklet soon to be published by El Colegio de México in Mexico City and edited by Beatriz García Fuentes and Shadi Rohana. It is followed by poems translated between Arabic and Triqui during the collective translation workshop held in Oaxaca, Mexico, in May 2025.
The two poems translated into Arabic and Triqui are the result of a collective translation workshop between the two languages held on 17-18 May 2025 at the Casa de Cultura in the community of San Adrés Chicahuaxtla, in the state of Oaxaca, the Mexican southeast. The workshop was organized by the recently established José S. Helú Chair for Arabic Language and Culture (Cátedra José S. Helú de Lengua y Cultura Árabes), based at El Colegio de México in Mexico City, in collaboration with the Juan de Córdova Library and the Triqui Collective (Colectivo Triqui), a long-standing group dedicated to preserving the indigenous Triqui language through community work, education, book production and translation into and from Triqui.
The workshop’s main goal was to bring two geographically and culturally distant languages closer through literary translation. With this aim in mind, two poems were selected for collective work during the workshop. The first, مريم غزة, (“Maryam of Ghazza”), written by the Palestinian poet Ibrahim Nasrallah, a long poem from which ten verses were selected for translation into Triqui. The second poem CHRĒJ HUÍN (“What I am”), was written in Triqui by Marcos Sandoval, a poet and promoter of Triqui culture from San Andrés Chicahuaxtla.
Both poems emerge from the historical, emotional and contemporary realities experienced by their respective peoples: Palestinians and Triquis. The first poem responds to–while also denouncing–the absence of real peace for the Palestinian people, who have endured decades of colonization and impunity since the Nakba, as the Triqui Collective perceived in their translation of the poem’s opening verse. The second poem, draws from the cultural sources of the Triqui people, flowing through their songs and worldview, transmitted across generations and sustaining their identity and communal cohesion.
The poems were translated by members of the Triqui Collective together with graduate students of Middle Eastern and North African Studies the Center for Asian and African Studies Center at El Colegio de México. The translation project invites readers to reflect upon the genocide and destruction currently taking place in the Gaza Strip, which also recalling the historical experiences of dispossession and violence suffered by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas more than five centuries ago. At the same time, the poems call for people to rise and walk again upon the earth, pointing toward the cultural sources that sustain this journey.
Collective translation poses its own challenges, particularly when it comes to integrating different perspectives and modes of reading. At the same time, the workshop allowed us to work directly with our communities and to deepen our understanding of the structures of both languages and the cultural and political contexts in which they are spoken and written. In this process, Spanish functioned as a bridge language, facilitating dialogue and enabling us to examine each word and verse in the source texts with care.
We hope this exercise in linguistic solidarity and poetic hospitality will open a space for the discovery of other cultures and bring closer–through translation–the realities experienced in distant places.
From Arabic to Triqui: fragments of “Maryam of Ghazza” by Ibrahim Nasrallah
MARYAM GAZA
(NUGUAN’ NAGUI ÑÛNJ)
SA GACHRÛN: IBRAHIM NASRALLAH
Nu gīrì’ nì’hiaj ñûnj gā nìn gimàn ñûnj riña hio’ó nan
Nu gīrì’ nì’hiaj da’nîn nī nu gīrì’ nì’hiaj da’nínt
Gatāj Maryam riña Rihiâ
Nùhuin saj hua nìn mân nej sa ata rūhuà ni’in ñûnj gunîn sò’ huînt ñan’ānj an
Nī huā nìn’ â’nïnjt arâj sun ni nej aga’ aché yātà’a da’ dugahuij ñûnj nda gisîj nī nakāj ñût nimân ñûnj
Ô’ nī sa nasà’ a’min a’ngaj, diga’ñu’un nī rân’an nuj
Giri’ nì’hiaj a’ngô guìi gā nìn gimàn ni sanī nej dà’nïnj ñûnj giri’ nì’hiaj sañuun
Dín chre hua gi’hiát nga gàchin guyumàn sañuun riñan ñûnj, nī dínt chre ga gi’hiát nga giran’ nûnj sañun nùkuaj
Dín gahuin ngà gisîj dugahui’ ni nej dūguì’ ñûnj, dín ga ngà gàchin gīran’ sāñū ñûnj
Dín gahuin ngà gisîj dugahui’ ni nej dūguì’ ñûnj, dín ga nga ran’ sāñūn ñûnj màn ñûnj
Dín ga ngà gaguâj ñûnj
Dín ga ngà nu gāguāj ñûnj
Nu gīrì’ nì’hiaj ñûnj gā nìn gimàn ñûnj riña hio’ó nan
Dàj rû’ nu gīrì’ nì’hiaj Jesus, sanī tun ñûnj, nè kú ñûnj gi’hiaj na’nïnj si, riña do’ó ñûnj anà’huìj ñûnj nà’nïnj ñûnj nej
Nu gīrì’ nì’hiaj ñûnj gā nìn gimàn ñûnj riña hio’ó nan
Dàj rû’ nu gīrì’ nì’hiaj yiñánt Jerusalén nī yuman’ gè huin man dàj rû’ gè profetâ Muhammad ngà Korân
Nu gīrì’ nì’hiaj ñûnj gā nìn gimàn ñûnj riña hio’ó nan
Translated to Triqui by Adolfo Ramírez Rosas, Beatriz Adriana Fuentes García, Fausto Sandoval Cruz, Fidel Hernández Mendoza, José Manuel Hernández Fuentes, Juan Vázquez Ramírez, Lea Elisama Dolores Domínguez, Marcos Sandoval Cruz, Serena Margarita López Ramos y Yesenia Bautista Sánchez, members of the Colectivo Triqui of San Andrés Chicahuaxtla, Oaxaca.
مريمُ غزّة
(مُقتطَفات)
إبراهيم نصرالله
(The following 16 verses from a poem by Ibrahim Nasrallah were selected for the purposes of the workshop. The full version of the poem can be read in Al-Quds Al-Arabi, 31 January 2024, https://www.alquds.co.uk/3294102-2).
١. السّلامُ على الأرضِ ليسَ لَنا
٢. ليس لِابني أَو ابنِكِ
٣. مريمُ قالَت لِمريمِ
٤. السّلامُ لِأعدائِنا يا إلهي
٥. ولِلطّائراتِ، ولِلموتِ يهبُطُ، لِلموتِ يَصعَدُ
٦. لِلموتِ يحكي، ويكذُبُ، يرقصُ
٧. السّلامُ لِغيري وغيرَ صِغاري
٨. لِلصّمت بعدَ مجازرِنا، لِلصّمتِ قبلَ مجازرِنا
٩. لِلصّمتِ بعدَ مجازرِنا، لِلصّمتِ بينَ مجازرِنا
١٠. ولِلصّمتِ إنْ نحنُ كُنّا صرخنا
١١. ولِلصّمتِ إنْ نحن كُنّا صمتنا
١٢. السّلامُ على الأرضِ ليسَ لَنا
١٣. لا لِيسوعَ الذي قامَ من دمِنا، ثمَّ من لحمِنا، ثمَّ من أرضِنا وقياماتِنا
١٤. السّلام على الأرضِ ليسَ لَنا
١٥. لا لِقدسِكَ العاليةِ بالنبيِّ وقرآنِنا
١٦. السّلامُ على الأرضِ ليسَ لَنا
From Triqui to Arabic: “CHRĒJ HUÍN” by Marcos Sandoval
في الحياة أكون
ماركوس ساندوبال
وأنا أمشي إلى المدرسة أتخيّل نفسي أجري في سبيل جدّاتي القديمات.
حيث تطأ قدماي أعرف أنهما تطآن ما وطِئن.
هنّ حافيات، تقول الذاكرة، وأنا منتعلة حذاء رياضي.
الزمن يغيّرنا، لكن أمّنا الأرض دائمًا تجذّرنا.
خطاهن تطالب بأن يجذّرني علمهنّ أيضاً.
صرن فراشات يكتبن أحلامهن.
بأوتاد جدتنا غاءا اصطدن النجوم لتشكيل السّدى بها.
بهذه السّدى أستمتع.
فراشة تتجدد، في الحياة أكون.
قال الأجداد: للاحساس أغنية الاحساس.
وهكذا، ومع تأرجح القلب، يا ترى: على أي تلّة شوقي موجود؟
وعلى أي سبيل تمشي خطى الذي سيجذّرني؟
أي غطيطة ستجمعنا لنصير واحداً؟
وها أنذا،
ما زلتُ اللوحة القماشية التي نسجتها الجدات بالنّول.
وها أنذا،
ما زلت يرقة وفراشة.
التحوّل داخلي.
دون أن أكف عن أن أكون أثر جداتي القديمات.
Translated to Arabic by Diego Hernández Galván, Edgar Daniel Maldonado Juárez, Paula Fernández Rojas Sánchez and Paula Rosado Ayala, students of Arabic at the Centro de Estudios de Asia y África, El Colegio de México, under the guidance of Shadi Rohana.
CHRĒJ HUÍN
SA GACHRÛN: Marcos Sandoval
Nanï̂n ruhuâj nga huāj nan’án hue’ digi’ñúnj,
Nanï̂n ruhuâj sisī achê ñan gaché nej yuguan’ân,
Ñan hùa nī, ni’ín sisī dakô aché ñan guru’man yi’î nej sachīj dan,
Ga chre dakó ni, tāj nuguan’ nâ, ñùnj ‘nï̄nj ganïnj tenis,
Diû nadunâ ñùn’, sanī Ña’ānj hio’òj o āta man ñùn’ nenï̀n’ diû.
Da’nga’ dunâj ni tna’nga riñanj sisī sa chrūun guchrūj ni tna’huēj ra yi’í.
Sa ganï̂n ruhuâ ni nata’ ni, si chrēj yahuìi gida’a ni.
Dâj rô’ nikïn’ atï’ï ngà chrun yináan gi’hiaj yugu’ûn’ Ga’aj, nī huê dan gi’hiaj ni ngà gu’ ni yináan,
Riñan ñan gu’ ni yináa nahuin nihià’ ruhuâj,
Nahuin ‘ngō yahuì nàkàa, nī huê danj huín.
Nej yî’ gatāj, ngà nanï̂n rô’ nī chra’ nanï̂n rûhua ruguñu’ūnj,
Yi’ì dan, ngà ‘hiaj gītsi ruhuâ nimânj nī anï̂n ruhuâj
¿Danè’ dākan huāj sa nūn ruhuâj gà’ ûn’?
¿Ahuin chrēj riñān uchrūj yi’î sa nùkuaj ruhuâj gà’ ûn’?
¿Ahuin nga rūgûñu’ūnj da’ nī nāhuin nugua’àn ñûn’ gà’ ûn’?
Huê nan né,
‘Ngo man gurugui’ riñan si yīnànj yugu’ûn’ huín.
Nī huê nan né,
Hué huin lúu, hué huin yahuìi,
Dàj rô’ nadunâ yahuìi, dan huín,
dadin’ chrēj guchrūj nej yugu’ûn’ narikî sa nùkuaj ruhuâj.