The Mangghuer language belongs to the wider Mongolic language family. However, prolonged contact with the Sinitic family has left a lasting effect on the language. While most of the vocabulary and grammar remain Mongolic in origin, the phonology of the language has become a lot more similar to Mandarin than it is to Mongolian.
The Mangghuer speakers live in Minhe country, which lies in the north-west of China. Minhe belongs to Qinghai Province, lying on its easternmost point. The Yellow River marks the border between Qinghai and neighbouring Gansu Province.
This area is called the Qinghai-Gansu Sprachbund, and contains many languages: Chinese, Mongolic, Turkic and Tibetan. These have all had centuries of contact with one another, and thus many of the languages here are more similar to their neighbours than they are to members of their own families elsewhere.
According to the Census taken in 2000 AD, Mangghuer has around 150,000 speakers, though this number may include speakers if similar dialects.
Originally, I did not warm to this language very quickly. It’s not that exotic. Indeed, I describe it as standard Eurasian.
This changed, and I gained a greater appreciation for it. The catalyst for this is that the passage contains 11 (+1) proper names – Abram (+Abraham), Yahweh, Lot, Haran, Sarai, Canaan, Shechem, Moreh, Bethel, Ai, and Negeb – all of which I translated from Hebrew into Mangghuer.
This is the most of any passage so far.
New Jerusalem Bible:
1. Yahweh said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your kindred and your father’s house for a country which I shall show you;
2. and I shall make you a great nation, I shall bless you and make your name famous; you are to be a blessing!
3. I shall bless those who bless you, and shall curse those who curse you, and all clans on earth will bless themselves by you.’
4. So Abram went as Yahweh told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.
5. Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had amassed and the people they had acquired in Haran. They set off for the land of Canaan, and arrived there.
6. Abram passed through the country as far as the holy place at Shechem, the Oak of Moreh. The Canaanites were in the country at the time.
7. Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, ‘I shall give this country to your progeny.’ And there, Abram built an altar to Yahweh who had appeared to him.
8. From there he moved on to the mountainous district east of Bethel, were he pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built an altar to Yahweh and invoked the name of Yahweh.
9. Then Abram made his way stage by stage to the Negeb.
Mangghuer:
1. Benir keliku Zhadadu, ‘Qini ghazhersa a qini kaoxujunlasa a qini adani gersa ma bi qimei naoghanini ghazherji;
2. ma houni qimeidu shuguoni asiraku, ma qimei nudulinu, ma qini daodani shuguotakuniaŋ; muni nududu sao!
3. Qimei nuduliku koŋni nudulinu, ma qimei nudusa kerlaku koŋni kerlanu, ma jiarensasisa qimeidu ghazherni saokuniaŋ.
4. Benir ganni keliku Zhada yaolaŋ, a Munsi yaolaŋ. Zhadadu giushiwuge nian baŋ a Xidunsa yaolaŋ.
5. Zhada ganni bieri Xusuni a diaoni kao Munsini a yiguanaŋ ma koŋsini Xidunda weiliesaŋni barilaŋ. Ghazherji Hudoru yaoku – ghazher Hudoru rijiaŋ.
6. Zhada ganni bieri Xusuni a diaoni kao Munsini a yiguanaŋ ma koŋsini Xidunda weiliesaŋni barilaŋ. Ghazherji Hudoru yaoku – ghazher Hudoru rijiaŋ.
7. Benir naoghala Zhadadu baoku keliajiaŋ: “Asiranu huni nini ghazherni”. Ganni baosaŋni Benirdu Zhada alani tidu zhaŋhajiaŋ.
8. Tiŋsa Gereŋdani mieshi wuladu yaoku gerni sighajiaŋ ma Gereŋda khuonuo a Ayi mieshi. Tidu alani Benirdu zhaŋhaku daodani Benir daodajiaŋ.
9. Zhada amaji yaoji rijiaŋ. Bai.
King James Bible:
1. Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
2. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
4. So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
5. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.
6. And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.
7. And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.
8. And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.
9. And Abram journeyed, going on till toward the south.
May this translation help you grow closer and further into God. Amen.