The Translation Matrix

42 translations of a single sentence. The deformation IS the data.

Languages

Family Groups

Writing Systems

Axes of Deformation

Indo-European — Romance

Lang	Translation
FR	Nos ennemis ne sont pas de mauvaises personnes. Ce sont de mauvaises idées.
IT	I nostri nemici non sono cattive persone. Sono cattive idee.
ES	Nuestros enemigos no son malas personas. Son malas ideas.
PT	Nossos inimigos não são pessoas más. São más ideias.
RO	Dușmanii noștri nu sunt oameni răi. Sunt idei rele.
CA	Els nostres enemics no són males persones. Són males idees.
LA	Hostes nostri non homines mali sunt. Ideae malae sunt.

Note on Latin: hostis carries the public-enemy / stranger semantics, not personal grievance (inimicus). The Romans distinguished what English collapses. Already the residue begins.

Indo-European — Germanic

Lang	Translation
EN	Our enemies are not bad people. They are bad ideas.
DE	Unsere Feinde sind keine schlechten Menschen. Sie sind schlechte Ideen.
NL	Onze vijanden zijn geen slechte mensen. Het zijn slechte ideeën.
SV	Våra fiender är inte dåliga människor. De är dåliga idéer.
NO	Våre fiender er ikke dårlige mennesker. De er dårlige ideer.
DA	Vores fjender er ikke dårlige mennesker. De er dårlige idéer.
IS	Óvinir okkar eru ekki vont fólk. Þeir eru vondar hugmyndir.
ANG	Ūre fēondas ne sind yfele menn. Hīe sind yfele þōhtas.
GOT	Fijands unsarai ni sind ubilai mans. Eis sind ubilōs mitōneis.

Note on Gothic / Old English: there is no native lexeme for idea in the Platonic-philosophical sense. þōht (thought) and mitōns (deliberation, intention) are the closest — neither is the static eidetic form. The sentence cannot be said cleanly without Greek loanwork.

Indo-European — Slavic

Lang	Translation
RU	Наши враги — не плохие люди. Это плохие идеи.
PL	Nasi wrogowie to nie źli ludzie. To złe idee.
CS	Naši nepřátelé nejsou špatní lidé. Jsou to špatné myšlenky.
UK	Наші вороги — не погані люди. Це погані ідеї.
SH	Naši neprijatelji nisu loši ljudi. To su loše ideje.
BG	Нашите врагове не са лоши хора. Те са лоши идеи.

Note: Russian and Ukrainian both elide the copula in the second clause and use the demonstrative Это / Це (“this/that is”) — the idea is pointed-to, not predicated. This is a different speech act: ostension, not assertion.

Indo-European — Indo-Iranian

Lang	Translation
HI	हमारे दुश्मन बुरे लोग नहीं हैं। वे बुरे विचार हैं।
UR	ہمارے دشمن برے لوگ نہیں ہیں۔ وہ برے خیالات ہیں۔
BN	আমাদের শত্রুরা খারাপ মানুষ নয়। তারা খারাপ ধারণা।
FA	دشمنان ما آدم‌های بدی نیستند. آن‌ها اندیشه‌های بدی هستند.
PS	زموږ دښمنان بد خلک نه دي. هغوی بد فکرونه دي.
SA	अस्माकं शत्रवो न दुर्जनाः सन्ति। ते दुर्भावनाः सन्ति।

Note on Sanskrit: भावना (bhāvanā) is closer to “cultivated mental construct / disposition” than the static Greek idea. The sentence becomes Our enemies are bad cultivated dispositions — which arguably is more philosophically precise than the original.

Indo-European — Celtic / Hellenic / Albanian / Armenian / Baltic

Lang	Translation
GA	Ní drochdhaoine iad ár naimhde. Drochsmaointe is ea iad.
CY	Nid pobl ddrwg yw ein gelynion. Syniadau drwg ydynt.
EL	Οι εχθροί μας δεν είναι κακοί άνθρωποι. Είναι κακές ιδέες.
GRC	Οἱ ἐχθροὶ ἡμῶν οὐκ εἰσὶν κακοὶ ἄνθρωποι· εἰσὶν κακαὶ ἰδέαι.
SQ	Armiqtë tanë nuk janë njerëz të këqij. Ata janë ide të këqija.
HY	Մեր թշնամիները վատ մարդիկ չեն։ Նրանք վատ գաղափարներ են։
LT	Mūsų priešai nėra blogi žmonės. Jie yra blogos idėjos.

Note on Ancient Greek: this is the only language in which the second clause is etymologically transparent — ἰδέα (the seen-form, from ἰδεῖν, to see) is native, and the sentence becomes nearly an axiom of the Republic: enemies are flawed instantiations of the form.

Semitic

Lang	Translation
AR	أعداؤنا ليسوا أناساً سيئين، بل هم أفكار سيئة.
HE	האויבים שלנו אינם אנשים רעים. הם רעיונות רעים.
ARC	בעלי דבבין דילן לא אנשין בישין אנון. רעיונין בישין אנון.
AM	ጠላቶቻችን መጥፎ ሰዎች አይደሉም። መጥፎ ሐሳቦች ናቸው።

Note on Arabic: فكرة (fikra) covers idea/notion/concept, but the verbal root ف-ك-ر is “to ponder, to reflect” — the idea is what is thought, an event-noun, not a static eidos. Subtle, but it shifts the metaphysics.

Sino-Tibetan, Japonic, Koreanic

Lang	Translation
ZH	我们的敌人不是坏人，而是坏的思想。
YUE	我哋嘅敵人唔係衰人，而係衰嘅諗法。
LZH	吾敵非惡人也，惡念也。
JA	我々の敵は悪人ではない。悪い思想だ。
KO	우리의 적은 나쁜 사람이 아니다. 나쁜 생각이다.
BO	ང་ཚོའི་དགྲ་བོ་ནི་མི་ངན་པ་མིན། བསམ་བློ་ངན་པ་ཡིན།

Note on Classical Chinese: eight characters. 吾敵非惡人也，惡念也。 The compression is not loss — it is a different theory of predication. 念 (niàn) is the mind-event, the arising-thought, not the static idea. The translation is structurally accurate to the Buddhist substrate.

Austronesian / Austroasiatic / Tai-Kadai

Lang	Translation
ID	Musuh kita bukanlah orang jahat. Mereka adalah gagasan yang buruk.
TL	Ang ating mga kaaway ay hindi masasamang tao. Sila ay masasamang ideya.
VI	Kẻ thù của chúng ta không phải là người xấu. Họ là những tư tưởng xấu.
TH	ศัตรูของเราไม่ใช่คนเลว พวกเขาคือความคิดที่เลว
KM	សត្រូវរបស់យើងមិនមែនជាមនុស្សអាក្រក់ទេ។ ពួកគេជាគំនិតអាក្រក់។

Turkic / Uralic / Caucasian / Isolates

Lang	Translation
TR	Düşmanlarımız kötü insanlar değil. Onlar kötü fikirler.
AZ	Düşmənlərimiz pis insanlar deyil. Onlar pis fikirlərdir.
KK	Жауларымыз — жаман адамдар емес. Олар жаман идеялар.
UZ	Dushmanlarimiz yomon odamlar emas. Ular yomon g'oyalar.
FI	Vihollisemme eivät ole pahoja ihmisiä. He ovat pahoja ajatuksia.
HU	Ellenségeink nem rossz emberek. Rossz eszmék.
ET	Meie vaenlased ei ole halvad inimesed. Nad on halvad ideed.
KA	ჩვენი მტრები ცუდი ხალხი არ არიან. ისინი ცუდი იდეები არიან.
EU	Gure etsaiak ez dira pertsona txarrak. Ideia txarrak dira.

Africa (beyond Semitic)

Lang	Translation
SW	Maadui zetu si watu wabaya. Ni mawazo mabaya.
YO	Àwọn ọ̀tá wa kì í ṣe ènìyàn búburú. Èrò búburú ni wọ́n.
ZU	Izitha zethu akusibo abantu ababi. Ngimibono emibi.
HA	Maƙiyanmu ba mugayen mutane ba ne. Mugayen tunani ne.

Americas / Pacific

Lang	Translation
NV	Nihaa naashʼaʼii éí doo diné dootłʼizhgi átʼéégóó da. Ntsáhákees dootłʼizhgi átʼé.
QU	Awqanchiskuna mana mana allin runakunachu. Mana allin yuyaykunam kanku.
NCI	In toyāōhuān ahmo tlahuēlilōqueh tlācah. In tlahuēlilōqueh tlamatiliztli.
HAW	ʻAʻole nā ʻenemi o kākou he poʻe ʻino. He mau manaʻo ʻino lākou.
MI	Ko ō tātou hoariri ehara i te tangata kino. He whakaaro kino rātou.

Note on Quechua: the language grammatically marks evidentiality (-mi = direct evidence, -si = hearsay, -chá = conjecture). The translator must choose a stance on how the speaker knows enemies are ideas. English permits the assertion without commitment. Quechua does not.

Note on Navajo: there is no native count noun for “idea” as a discrete object. Ntsáhákees (thinking, the process) substitutes. Enemies become flawed processes of thinking, not flawed objects. The metaphysics shifts from substance to process.

Constructed / Liturgical

Lang	Translation
EO	Niaj malamikoj ne estas malbonaj homoj. Ili estas malbonaj ideoj.
JBO	lo bradi be mi'a cu na'e xlali remna .i lo go'i cu xlali sidbo