It's a small world!

Discussion in 'All Languages' started by Eddie, Jun 18, 2005.

  1. Eddie

    Eddie Senior Member

    Nassau County, NY
    USA - English
    This is the theme of a recent thread in the French-English forum. I thought it would interesting to expand on this theme in this forum.

    To start things off, here are some equivalents in French, Italian, Spanish, and German:

    French: Le monde est petit.
    Italian: E un mondo piccolo.
    Spanish: Muy pequeño el mundo es.
    German: Diese Welt ist ja so klein.

    How would it be said in some other languages?
  2. Jana337

    Jana337 Senior Member

    Czech: Svět je malý.
    Slovak: Svet je malý.

  3. JLanguage Senior Member

    Georgia, US
    USA: American English, Learning Hebrew and Spanish
    עברית: זה עולם קטן.
    Hebrew- Zeh Olam Katan
  4. elroy

    elroy Motley mod

    Chicago, IL
    American English, Palestinian Arabic

    العالم صغير (Pronunciation: "Al'aalam sagheer")

    Palestinian Arabic (colloquial):

    Ma as'ghar id-dinya! (lit. How small the world is!)
  5. belén

    belén Ex-Moderator

    Spanish, Spain, Catalan, Mallorca
    I would like to correct the Spanish, because the way it is stated abovevdoesn't sound natural to me. The normal expression used is :

    "¡Qué pequeño es el mundo!" or "¡El mundo es un pañuelo!" (literally the world is a handkerchief)

    Catalan: "Qué petit és el món!"

    Cheers, Be
  6. Camui Senior Member

    Spain / Spanish
    Japanese: 小さな世界 (chiisana sekai)
  7. Lancel0t

    Lancel0t Senior Member

    Philippines - Filipino/English
    In Filipino, "Ang liit ng mundo"
  8. Silvia B

    Silvia B Senior Member

    Italy - Italian
    Just a little correction:

    In italian we usually say
    "Il mondo è piccolo"

  9. Zanos Senior Member

    Τί μικρός που είναι ο κόσμος!
    Ti mikros pou ine o kosmos!
    In greek..
  10. araceli moderadora

    Buenos Aires
    Argentine, Spanish
    Portuguese: O mundo é pequeno!
  11. vesna Senior Member

    Ljubljana, Slovenia
    Slovenia/ Slovene-Spanish-English-French
    Slovene: Svet je majhen.
  12. Whodunit

    Whodunit Senior Member

    Deutschland ~ Deutsch/Sächsisch
    A correction for the German suggestion, Eddie:

    Die Welt ist ja so klein.
    The world is so small

    You suggested "This world is so small". :)

    Another way to say the same thing would be:

    Unsere Welt ist ja so klein
    Our world is so small
  13. redwine

    redwine Junior Member

    L'Asie aux asiatiques
    its 'Qualati na nyng iatu' [in ancient spelling or in modern spelling, its 'Kalati na ning yatu'] in Pampango or Kapampangan as we call it, a dialect spoken in the north of the philippines.
  14. Neko New Member

    France, English, French
    Mandarin: 世界很小 shìjiè hěn xiǎo.

    Oh okay, it doesn't like the upside down circumflex thingy, but that xiao's in the 3rd tone.
  15. gorbatzjov Junior Member

    Belgium, Dutch/French/English
    Dutch/Flemish: De wereld is zo klein. Better: "De wereld, mijn dorp" (the world, my village)
  16. Merlin Senior Member

    Philippines - Tagalog/English
    Tagalog version/Philippines "Malit ang Mundo"
  17. I think what you want to say is Maliit ang Mundo. - Please check the spelling :)
    Another: (In case you have not noticed...) :)
  18. Merlin Senior Member

    Philippines - Tagalog/English
    Yap! My mistake. It should be:

    Maliit ang Mundo.

    Thanks for the correction!
  19. redwine

    redwine Junior Member

    L'Asie aux asiatiques
    or to be more emphatic,it could be:
    Kay liit ng mundo....

    actually, until now, i dont know how to use 'ng' and 'nang'.... :(
  20. alby Senior Member

    croatian : Svijet je mali
  21. yasemin Senior Member

    Turkey, Turkish
    turkish: dünya küçük
  22. _sandra_

    _sandra_ Senior Member

    Poland - Polish
    Polish: Świat jest mały

  23. Elieri Junior Member

    Swedish : Världen är liten
  24. Tisia Senior Member

    Iran, Persian, Kurdish, English, Finnish
    دنياي کوچکي است
    (Donyaye kuchaki ast.)

    Kurdish: دونياييکي بچوکه
    (Donyayeeki bechuka)

    Finnish: Maailma on niin pieni.

  25. liv3000 Senior Member

    italian italy
    In italian we use to say also:
    "Com'è piccolo il mondo!" beside of "Il mondo è piccolo"
  26. jazyk Senior Member

    Brno, Česká republika
    Brazílie, portugalština
    In Italian there's also that common sentence: Tutto il mondo è paese (The whole world/Everybody is [our] village).

  27. Whodunit

    Whodunit Senior Member

    Deutschland ~ Deutsch/Sächsisch
    Interestingly, both versions are also very common in German: :)

    Wie klein die Welt doch ist!
    Die ganze Welt ist ein Dorf.
  28. panjabigator

    panjabigator Senior Member

    غریب الوطن
    Am. English
    Hindi: /sa.nsaar chhoTaa hotaa hai/
    Urdu: /duniyaa chhoTii hotii hai/
    Panjabi: /duniyaa chhoTii hu.ndii hai/
  29. linguist786 Senior Member

    Blackburn, England
    English, Gujarati & Urdu
    In my mind, "hotii" (/hotaa/hotai) is used for when things "tend" to be something. For example, "bhaartiy bachey chhotay hotai hai" (Indian children are (OR: "tend to be") small).

    To translate "It's a small world!", I would say: /sansaar kitnaa Chotaa hai!/ (lit. "the world is so small")

    Tell me if you disagree - it could just be me!

    Following my pattern, my translations would be:

    Hindi: संसार कितना छोटा है! [sansaar kitnaa Chotaa hai!]
    Urdu: دنيا كتنى چهوٹى ہے! [duniyaa kitnii Chotii hai!]
    Gujarati: સંસાર કેટલુ નાનું છે! [sansaar ketlu naanu Che!]
  30. panjabigator

    panjabigator Senior Member

    غریب الوطن
    Am. English
    I agree. Your use of kitnaa does make it sound better.
  31. Etcetera

    Etcetera Senior Member

    St Petersburg, Russia
    Russian, Russia (St Petersburg)
    Russian: Мир тесен / Mir tesen (literally, "the world is small").
  32. deine Senior Member

    Lithuania - lithuanian

    Pasaulis mažas


    Koks mažas pasaulis
  33. Maja

    Maja Senior Member

    Binghamton, NY
    Serbian, Serbia
    In Serbian:

    Svet je mali / Свет је мали!
  34. Lillita

    Lillita Senior Member


    • Ez egy kis/kicsi világ. ~ literally: It's a small world.
    • When you say it upon meeting, say, your next-door neighbour abroad, we usually say:
      Milyen kicsi a világ! :eek: ~ literally: How small the world is!
    • However, if it is only a simple statement, we say:
      A világ kicsi. ~ literally: The world is small.
    Cheerio! :)
  35. daoxunchang Senior Member

    Chinese China
    To make it more like an exclamation: 世界多lit, much/好lit. good. You can refer to the usage of the German word "gut" for emphasis /真really小啊!:)
    P.S. What do you mean by "it doesn't like the upside down circumflex thingy"? And you use "but" in giving the tone of xiao. I can't quite get your idea. Thank you:)
  36. tanzhang Senior Member

    PHILIPPINES - Tagalog and English
    In Tagalog:

    Mundong maliit - World that is small
    Daigdig na maliit - the world that's small
    maliit na daigdig - " "
    ang kaliitan ng mundo - the smalness of the world
    maliit ang daigdig - the world is small
  37. Henryk Senior Member

    Germany, German
    Hungarian: Kicsi a világ.
    Estonian: Maailm on väike.
    Finnish: Maailma on pieni.

    You should have checked them by native speakers, though.
  38. teentitans Banned

    Filipino/American English
    Native language in the Eastern Asia: Gamay nga kalibutan.
  39. awanzi Senior Member

    Gent - Oost-vlaanderen
    Italy, Italian
    Or "Com'è piccolo il mondo!"
  40. doman

    doman Junior Member

    Vietnam, Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)

    "Thế giới thật nhỏ bé !" - How small the world is !

    When we've met someone we thought we've never met again, we said:

    "Ồ, trái đất hình cầu !" - Oh, the Earth is a ball.
  41. Abbassupreme

    Abbassupreme Senior Member

    California, U.S.
    United States, English, Persian
    The Persian translation sounds far too formal! I think that, colloquially, it would sound better to say "What a small world!" In transliterated, colloquial Persian that would be: "Che donyâye kuchiki!"
  42. Mac_Linguist Senior Member

    English and Macedonian
    In Macedonian:

    Светот е мал! (lit. "The world is small!")
  43. dn88 Senior Member

    I would rather say "Jaki ten świat mały!" (to express my surprise).
  44. ulcer New Member

    China/ Chinese
    In Chinese we would say "这世界真小啊"

  45. morisca New Member

    USA, spanish, arabic, english
    "aldunia sghaireh " en arabe
    "el mundo es un panuelo" la forma correcta en castellano.
  46. AkErBeLtZ Junior Member

    Euskara; Euskal Herria
    "Ze txikia den mundua!" in Basque.
    - Hau bai mundu txikia!
    - Ze mundu txikia!
  47. khan-sheik kimberley New Member

    Republic of Korea and Korean
    Korean: 세상 참 좁군.
  48. Encolpius

    Encolpius Senior Member

    well, well, I wish I knew if everybody just translated the sentence literally or idiomatically.:rolleyes:
    It's a small world = used to express surprise at meeting an acquaintance or discovering a personal connection in a distant place or an unexpected context
    So the correct Hungarian translation is ONLY: Milyen kicsi a világ!
  49. Holger2014 Senior Member

    In German, we can use a similar construction to express surprise: Wie klein die Welt doch ist!
    - wie = 'how'
    - klein = 'small'
    - die Welt = 'the world'
    - doch ~ 'though'
    - ist = 'is'

    ... but very often you can hear this version: Die Welt ist klein! [surprised intonation](as in English: 'The world is small!')
  50. ShayminLover New Member

    English - Canada
    I have a whole bunch of languages here.

    Esperanto: Ĝi estas malgranda mondo
    Icelandic: Það er lítill heimur
    Romanian: E o lume mică
    Thai: มันเป็นโลก ที่มีขนาดเล็ก (Man pen lok thi mi khnad lek)
    Sundanese: Leu dunya leutik
    Irish: Tá sé ar domhan beag
    Kazakh: Бұл шағын әлем (Bul şağın älem)
    Belarusian: Гэта маленькі свет (Heta malieńki sviet)
    Ukrainian: Це маленький світ (Tse malen'kyy svit)
    Igbo: Ọ bụ obere ụwa
    Somali: Waa duni yar

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