During the workshop we wrote a multilingual poem. First, we all brought poems from our own countries that dealt with the topics identity, belonging or minorities, and we presented them to one another. Afterwards, we decided to write one ourselves to sum up the ideas we had about the power and meaning of language.

Each "poet" wrote in her own language and just translated the last sentence, so the next person knew a bit about the stanza before. But nobody was allowed to read the rest of what the others had written or to ask for the content. In the end, we translated our own words into English, and surprisingly – it made sense!

The power of words: Original version

Listen to our recording of the original version of the poem:

Photo: copyright E&M

The original text of the poem: we folded the paper so that each person only saw the final line of the stanza which had been written before theirs.

Die Macht der Worte

Bedeutet auch,

Dass keine Worte

Keine Macht bedeuten.

Başka dilde konușmak

Kelimeler

Bizi ne kadar özgürleștirir ya da sınırlandırır.

Kullandiğimiz kelimeler ne kadar güçlü.

Un sentiment atât de tangibil şi de violent că vreau să fiu ca voi,

Dar că vă urăsc şi că îmi sunteți străini.

Suntem asemănători, dar sunt diferenţe pe care nu le pot ignora,

There is a point where we start speaking different languages.

Cruzar montañas, pasar fronteras

Alcanzar los mares, tocar las estrellas

Caminar solos entre la multitud

Sentirnos uno por una razón.

Doch Worte können uns auch trennen.

Und Gründe liefern, warum wir nicht zusammen passen.

Sarrazins und Camerons

Haben in Worten eine mächtige Waffe.

Słowo staje się narzędziem zbrodni

Jednym słowem można kogoś zabić

Jak irytującą muchę gazetą

Tylko jedno słowo – kara i nagroda:

My word is ‚box', the lost and found box.

I've thrown in it a bunch of words,

Romanian ones that I have lost,

And British sayings that I've found.

Turn over to read the English version of the poem.

The power of words: English version

Listen to the English version of the poem, read by Wiebke Seemann:

The last line of each stanza is highlighted: this was the line which the next writer read before writing her own stanza.

The power of words

Also means

That no words

Mean no power.

Talking in other languages and words,

The power of words:

How free we feel, how limited,

To what extent the word we use is powerful?

Such a tangible and violent feeling that I want to be like you,

But that I hate you and I know that you are strangers to me.

We are alike, but there are differences I cannot ignore:

There is a point where we start speaking different languages.

Photo: copyright E&M

"There is a point where we start speaking different languages:" we present the poem.

Cross mountains, pass boundaries

Reach the sea, touch the stars

Walk alone among the crowd

But we all feel as a whole, for a reason.

But words can also tear us apart,

And give us reasons why we don't belong together.

Sarrazins and Camerons,

Have a powerful weapon in words.

A word can become a murder weapon.

With only one word, someone may be killed,

The same way a fly gets squashed with a broadsheet.

Only one word: the punishment and the reward.

My word is 'box', the lost and found box.

I've thrown in it a bunch of words,

Romanian ones that I have lost,

And British sayings that I've found. 

In cooperation with:

This project is financed with support from the European Union through the program YOUTH IN ACTION. The content of this project does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union or the national agency JUGEND für Europa and they cannot be held responsible for them.