Annika Hoofdmann
Pyjama
Bün Ostfrees dat hört man doch
Bloot ik frag mi wo longe noch
Denn uns Platt kriegt immer mehr
Englisch worden impoteert
Kumms't in'd Kneip denn heet dat "Hi"
Gahs't na Huus denn segen se "Bye"
Und mien Nachthemd de heet "Pyjama"
Pyjama
All in Rich heet nu "Allright"
"Sugarbaby" heet mien Maid
Rock'n'Roll dat is'n Tanz
Und 'n Bulldog is mien Lanz
Flirten musst du mit dien Fruu
Damit du kriegst 'n Kiss up Schnuut
Und mien Nachthemd de heet "Pyjama"
Pyjama
All up Stee heet nu "Okay"
Und 'n Ratschlag is'n "Tipp"
Jo jetzt
Nee nu
Ik wull mien Lebens neet mehr prooten
Bün Ostfrees dat hört man doch
Bloot ik frag mi wo longe noch
Denn uns Platt kriegt immer mehr
Englisch worden impoteert
Kumms't in't Kneip denn heet dat "Hi"
Gahs't na Huus denn segen se "Bye"
Und mien Nachthemd de heet "Pyjama"
Pyjama
–Detlef Hoofdmann
But for how much longer?
I am East Frisian, obviously.
But for how much longer will I be?
Because our Low German is fading
English words have been imported
When I’m going into a pub
They greet me — “Hi”
They say “bye” when I leave.
And back at home not even my Pyjamas are Pyjamas anymore.
Everything is alright, is “alright”?
My love doesn’t love me anymore
And dancing isn’t fun anymore
And even my dog left me alone.
And back at home not even my Pyjamas are Pyjamas anymore.
Everything is okay, is “okay”?
Yes.
No.
Whatever, I will never ever speak again.
Because back at home not even my Pyjamas are Pyjamas anymore.
I am East Frisian, obviously.
But for how much longer will I be?
Because our Low German is fading
English words have been imported
When I’m going into a pub
They greet me — “Hi”
They say “bye” when I leave.
And back at home not even my Pyjamas are Pyjamas anymore.
—Translated from Low German by Annika Hoofdmann
I will never speak again
I am an East Frisian.
But I am asking myself, for how much longer still?
Because my Low German is fading.
More and more and more and more.
English words replaced Low German
When I’m going into a pub
They greet me — “Hi” instead of “Moin”
They say “bye” when I leave, instead of “Bit annermal”
And even back at home, not even my Pyjamas is “mien Nachthemd” anymore.
“All in Rich” is “alright”?
My love doesn’t love me anymore
She wants me to give up Low German
And dancing isn’t fun anymore
And even my dog left me because I don’t speak English.
And even back at home, not even my Pyjamas is “mien Nachthemd” anymore.
All up Stee, is “okay”?
Yes now,
Nee, nu.
Whatever, I will never ever speak again.
Because even back at home, not even my Pyjamas is “mien Nachthemd” anymore.
I am an East Frisian.
But I am asking myself, for how much longer still?
Because my Low German is fading.
More and more and more and more.
English words replaced Low German
When I’m going into a pub
They greet me — “Hi” instead of “Moin”
They say “bye” when I leave, instead of “Bit annermal”
And even back at home, not even my Pyjamas is “mien Nachthemd” anymore.
–Translated from Low German by Annika Hoofdmann
Many many years ago
(An erasure of my interview with Detlef Hoofdmann)
heavily influenced by dutch
very different
Northern Germany
it is their culture
our dialect
of LOW GERMAN!
dominant language
East Frisia
many …
many years ago…
they are
speak … s l o w l y …
mutually intelligible
—Annika Hoofdmann
Translator’s Statement
Detlef Hoofdmann is a German lyricist and musician. He was born in Osteel, Germany in 1963. He started his own business as an insurance broker in 1992. In 1988, however, he started a team called de Vagabunden for a local handball tournament. There, de Vagabunden performed a few Low German songs during the intermission. After a while, de Vagabunden became so successful that they were performing real Low German musicals outside a sports setting. These shows, especially “de Tiedmaschin 1 & 2” were performed in the auditorium of the Norden high school and were fan favorites. One focus of this musical group was to preserve the Low German language. Thus, they wrote Low German cover songs. Hoofdmann’s lyrics are lighthearted at nature, but they also serve as a tool to spread awareness of the decrease in Low German speakers (Hoofdmann 2025).
Just like any of de Vagabunden songs, the song “Pyjama” is a humorous song without deep meaning, but written in Low German. It was written during the change of the millennium to entertain. However, “Pyjama” directly addresses the decrease of Low German in daily life. The song has 5 stanzas. With two stanzas, the first and the last, being the “chorus” of the poem, the second one is a verse, the third one is a shortened version of the chorus, and the fourth stanza is a mix between a second verse and a bridge. The poem doesn’t always rhyme, but when it does, it rhymes in couplets. In the song, the singer talks to the listener and complains about how people use less and less Low German and instead use English and German.
The translation process itself was fairly easy because I speak Low German. I talked to my dad a lot because I had to interview him and ask him questions about our heritage language, Low German, and then again because he also was my language mentor. However, my dad lives in Germany, so the different time zones were a little difficult to manage. I’ve talked about Low German with him before, most of the time asking him to teach me a little. But the interview was something completely different from that. He basically summed up Low German history for me, from Low German-speaking settlers in Russia and Iowa to variations in dialects. During that interview I’ve learned a lot about the historic and cultural context of Low German. Another thing involving my dad was the poem I translated. There is almost no Low German poetry out there, and if there is it’s a children’s nursery rhyme written in a dialect that has nothing to do with the dialect of Low German we speak — East Frisian Low Saxon. So I went through the archive of songs de Vagabunden made and picked the one I liked the most. I chose that song because it just fit so perfectly — A song about Low German and the decrease of its speakers.
For my different translations I wanted to focus on the despair of the speaker in my first translation, and on the decrease of Low German speakers in the second translation. However, at first my translations weren’t really connected to the original song, because they were very short and more of a separate poem with a similar idea, rather than being translations. That was an issue I had to fix. I completely rewrote both poems, but kept the original ideas that I wanted to focus on. At the beginning of this project I thought translation was all about accuracy, but now I believe it is also about translating the mood and vibe of the original text. I read an article about the South African language Nluu, and this quote from the article stood out to me. It’s a quote about how different languages offer different approaches. Different languages have different words and idioms that are unique to their historic context, and I believe that is what makes languages so beautiful.
”When you look at the African languages, you learn that they help communicate different perspectives on life, relationships, spirituality, the earth, health, humanity," (Fihlani)
I remember speaking German to a friend from southern Germany and throwing in a bit of Germanized Low German, without realizing she had no idea what I was talking about. My sister told me similar stories, but in her case her friends actually spoke low German, just a different dialect of it. Low German just has some words that are adorable and encapsulate the spirit of the language and its speakers. The Low German word for Bumblebee is “Plüschmors” which literally translates to “Fluffy butt” and “Huulbessen”, which translates to “Crying broom” in English. Or a very honest approach to the equality of every person is the phrase “De is ok mit’n bloot Mors up de Welt kummen!” Which translates to “He also came to Earth with a naked butt” which just means “He is nothing better than us.” If these expressions and words are lost, a way of looking at the world is lost. I mean, who looks at a bumblebee and thinks: “This is an insect, it’s fluffy, and it has a big butt, I will call it ‘Fluffy butt’.”?
Another quote that I found accurate is about Ivorian singer Marla, this quote talks about how mixing languages can make a unique new language.
“Her words were mostly French, but the Ivorian slang and English words that she mixed in made a new language.” (Peltier)
I think this is true for many low German speakers as well. I’ll talk in German and then throw in words like “Harrijasses” (wow), “Katt” (cat) or “achtern” (behind), so this is very relatable for me. While I personally don’t think I’ve created a new language by doing this, I would say it’s my own dialect of Standard German. And I think this also is of benefit for Low German, because even if the language were to go extinct, at least some words would survive.
All in all I don’t think my relationship to my heritage language has changed that much, but I’d say I am now much more aware of how present it actually is for me, because I add tiny bits of Low German into my German conversations, and I am surrounded by it in the area where I live.
When I interviewed my dad about our heritage language we had a nice chat, but it was a little slow at times because I had to translate his answers into English, and the English questions into German. For my erasure poem I decided to emphasize my connection to Low German, so everything directly connected to Low German starts with a capital letter, to symbolize this. I stylized words that are not part of my relationship to my heritage language, to be “farther away” like the word “dutch”, which is indented, while the parts of my heritage language that are closer to me are not. I also stylized the words to look like their meaning, as best as I could. For example, … s l o w l y … and intelligible.
My takeaway from this experience is that Low German is part of my culture, as I am constantly surrounded by it at home. I live in East Frisia, I hear it daily and even if I don’t always realize it, I speak it too, because I add tiny bits of Low German into my German dialogue. I really hope to become a little better at Low German and spread awareness about it, perhaps through writing about it or even starting a blog, because honestly, it is a very cool and interesting language. For example, in Low German a speaker can state something, but phrase it as a question to practically force their conversation partner to agree or disagree with them. The past tense is also significantly different from standard German, because while both of these languages use “have” or “be” as a helping word, German uses the prefix “-ge” in front of these words and Low German doesn’t. The sentence “I ate an apple” would be “Ich habe einen Apfel gegessen” in German, but in Low German it would be “Ik heff een Appel eten” and not “Ik heb een Appel gegeten”. This makes Low German a unique language. Emotions are also not as strong as in German or English. While English only has “I love you” German has both “Ich liebe dich” and “Ich hab dich lieb”. “Ich hab dich lieb” here literally means “I hold you dear”, but Low German only has “Ik heff di leev”. However, this also goes for negative emotions. “I hate you” and “Ich hasse dich” mean the same thing and are very straight forward, and Low German has the germanism “Ik haat di” but it is not the original way of expressing hate towards someone. That would be “Bi di hebb ik nix bi”, which would translate to “I can’t find anything I like about you”. This may be influenced by the Hanseatic and rather straightforward trade culture Low German was originally used for.
Works Cited
Peltier, Elian, and Hannah Reyes Morales. “How Africans Are Changing French — One Joke, Rap and Book at a Time (Published 2023).” The New York Times, 12 December 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/12/world/africa/africa-french-language.html?unlocked_article_code=1.HE8.hhWh.vtxD2McA_hrm&smid=url-share. Accessed 2 June 2025.
Pers. comm. Detlef Hoofdmann, May 2025
Fihlani, Pumza. “Trying to save South Africa's first language.” BBC, 30 August 2017, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-39935150. Accessed 2 June 2025.