filiz+topcu-task+translations

==== Ben bir yazarım. Kitap yazmak benim meslegim, tabi ki de bundan daha fazla. Aynı zamanda omur boyu surecek olan tutkum ve arzumdur ve bunun degisecegini hic sanmiyorum. Fakat soylemem gerekirse, son zamanlarda hayatımı ve kariyerimi etkileyen garip bir sey oldu ve bu garip sey bu isle ilgili olan tum iliskimi yeniden gozden gecirmeme neden oldu. Bu garip sey son olarak yazdigim ve ‘Ye, Dua et, Sev’ diye isimlendirdigim bu ani kitabiyla ilgili, onceki kitaplarimin aksine, dünyada patladi ve cok buyuk bir sansasyon haline gelerek, uluslararasi en cok satan kitap oldu. Bunun sonunda, gittigim her yerde insanlar bana bahtsizmisim gibi davraniyorlar. Cidden bahtsiz, bahtsiz! Insanlar simdi endiseli bir sekilde yanima gelip "Bir daha asla bu kadar zirveye cikmayi basaramamaktan? Butun hayatin boyunca yazmaya devam edecek olup, hicbir zaman yine herkesin ilgilendigi bir kitap ortaya cikaramayacak olmaktan korkmuyor musun?" diyorlar. ====

==== Biliyorsunuz bu guven tazelemektir. Fakat, hatirladigim, 20 yil once, yani ben gencken, insanlara ilk olarak yazar olmak istedigimi soylemeye basladigimda, ayni sekilde kotu tepkilerle karsi karsiya geldim, bunun disinda, tabi daha kotusu olabilirdi. Ve insanlar “Hicbir zaman basarili olamamaktan korkmuyor musun? Reddedilme duygusunun seni asagilamasindan korkmuyor musun? Butun hayatin boyunca bu becerinin ustunde calisip ve bundan bir sey dogmayacagini/kazanilmayacagini gormekten ve yikilmis hayallerinle olmekten, kaybetmis olmanin verdigi yangindan korkmuyor musun?” diye soruyorlar. Biliyorsun iste, ve bunun gibi daha cok seyler. Ehueheh ( gulme sesi) ====

==== Biz yazarlar, boyle bir unumuz var iste, fakat sadece yazarlarin degil, her turden yaratici insanlarin gorunurde boyle bir unu var, buyuk olcude ruhsal dengesizlikleri olduğu icin. Yapmaniz gereken tek sey, sadece 20. yuzyilin korkunc olum sayisina bakmak, cok gorkemli yaratici zekalar, erken yasta olduler ve coguda bunu kendisi yapti. Fakat sozlere gore intihar edenlerden biri, doganin ona verdigi armaganlar sayesinde basarili olamadi, bilirsiniz iste. Norman Mailer, olmeden hemen onceki son roportajinda "Her kitabim beni biraz daha oldurdu" dedi. Hayatinizin isi ile ilgili siradisi bir ifade yapmak, bilirsiniz iste. Fakat bunu soyleyen birini duydugumuzda gozumuzu bile kirpmiyoruz, cunku bunun gibi seyleri cok duyduk ve yaratici olmanin ve aci cekmenin dogustan birbirine bagli oldugunu, sanatciligin sonunda bir kedere neden olacagi kavramini bir sekilde tamamen icsellestirip, kabul ettik. ====

==== This was the best task that we did in the translation class. I like the topic very much and it was really interesting. Because this was a speech made a little bit confusing and challenging. Having a little back knowledge of this talk would be somehow better. I used word to word and sense to sense translation in this task. Some words that were used in the English text did not have the exact meaning in target language which is Turkish. The time filters that were used in this text made it more challenging to translate it to Turkish. This text was not only formal but also informal in some ways. For example while the speaker was speaking we should be able to transmit his feelings to the reader of the target language. I sometimes did not use the exact word that was in the source text, because it would give a different meaning. So I did not use the exact vocabulary in some cases. ====

Ciplakli Village
In the Ciplakli Village where credit cards and cash have no access, the peasant women provide their daily needs through exchange in stead of paying money.

Connected to Kars’s Selim town, the peasant women of Ciplakli village do their shopping with an exchange method, they give goose, chicken, egg to the grocery and they fairly live the times of history when there was no money invented. The children give eggs to get chips and bubble gum, but the women of this village meet their house needs by giving goose, chicken and egg. The Ciplakli village’s peasants earn their life with agriculture and farming, state that they don’t always find money, and meet their needs with the exchange method for centuries.

Sevginaz Yilmaz, who is living in Ciplakli village, went to the grocery having a goose in her hand. The grocery in exchange for his owning made a strict negotiation with the owner of the grocery Dudan Gunes. Having sold her goose for 70 million Sevginaz Yilmaz, blamed that cattle’s don’t make money nd said: “I brang the grocery a goose and I will do my shopping. Our staff doesn’t make money; we bring a cow to the animal bazaar and force it to sell for 2 thousand. People like me will meet their needs by exchanging goose, when they don’t find money.

By Filiz Topcu

My comment on this task:

Translating this text was very hard and for me I think it was the hardest task. It was again an interesting topic. Choosing the right word was very hard because this kind of culture was a little bit far from me. For example the word ‘’takas’’ was a little bit confusing and it was hard to decide whether I should choose ‘’exchange’’ or something else, or should I explain first what it is. The word ‘’ciklet’’ was confusing to and English does not have such a word. We can see ciklet, as chocolate or bubble gum or even candy, so I translated it as ‘’bubble gum’’. It was also not a formal text. However it was easy to understand it in our native language (SL) it was hard to transmit the messages that it gave into the target language. I used both word to word and sense to sense translation in this task.

Translation of Saftirik pages from 22 to 25

Page 22

Actually, I suppose I am glad that my plan about being involved in the easy group does not work.

I saw two children were reading the book named ‘someone says cee’ holding it upside down. I don’t think they were joking.

Saturday

Yesss, the first week at the school is over, I have slept all day long.

Most kids wake up early in the morning on Saturdays and they watch cartoons or something. I am not that that kind of a child. At the weekends I don’t leave the bed until I can’t stand the smell of my breath.

Page 23

Unfortunately, my dad wake up at 6 a.m. no matter what is the day. He doesn’t understand why I don’t want to enjoy my day as a normal person on Saturdays.

I went to Rowley’s that I had nothing to do.

Rowley is my best friend technically, but it depends for sure.

I used to keep away from Rowley’s since the first day at school, because he did something bad annoyed me.

Page 24

At the end of the day, we were taking our stuffs from the cupboards and Rowley came and said ‘shall we go to our home and play?’

I have told him million times that we should say ‘hanging out’ instead of saying ‘playing’ as we are at the secondary school now. But he always forgets despite all the warnings.

Since I started to secondary school I have been careful with my image but I should try hard as I have been with Rowley.

Page 25

I have met Rowley since they moved to our street couple years ago.

His mom bought him a book named ‘The Ways of Making Friends at the New Neighborhood You Moved Lastly’. And Rowley came to us and he tried to practice the things he learned from the book.

Rowley: knock knock!

Me: what?

Rowley: thermos!

Me: Sorry?

Rowley: thermos sometimes makes laugh a person.

Me: what?

I guess I felt sorry for him at that day and I decided to hang out with him.

Actually, being friend with Rowley is fun, because I try all the practical jokes on him that Rodrick makes me.

By Filiz Topcu

My comment on this task:

I have heard about his book before but I never thought that I would translate it one day J I did not know what was going on before the 22nd page so it was a little bit confusing to figure out what was going on in the book. Its language was very easy both to understand and to translate; it was also an informal text. The most confusing time was the phrase “Biri Cee Dedi” I did not know the exact usage of this phrase in the target language and I directly translated it, but I knew that it is wrong because the reader will not understand what I mean there.

Bizim English

Today, a student who has been dealing with English in one way or another way, is still not able to make a good sentence, which is a result of prevalent education in Turkey, they cannot put two words together about his or her own life, education, background or fields of interest. It is such that, even English speakers completing their education in foreign language education schools, for example; ‘Üsküdar İskelesi’, ‘Babıali Yokuşu’, stone, like prayer beads don’t know Turkish life styles words. A student trying to learn English via classical methods, should consider these words closely, Faculty of Business Administration, school principals, diplomas, payment, government office, fee…etc, words that he or she has never seen, like giraffe, pig, or Big Ben clock tower, will never be the first coming words in their life’s that they have to learn. For instance, among the words over 2000 which are aimed to be taught in the English classes that are at least two hours a week, through the elementary education, the words like ‘Republic of Turkey’, ‘moon and the star’ (Turkish flag symbols), ‘Ottoman Empire’, and ‘Muslimism’ which are necessary when a student try to tell about his/her culture, are not encountered, although the words which are not directly related to his/her culture or his/her life, are often encountered. As a result of this Turkish people, when meeting a foreigner, hardly talk about the topics related to them. It is debatable whether the lack in the education is one of the reasons that Turkey has not been introduced internationally for years.

To prevent the alienation of students and their giving up on learning foreign language, we think that the problem can be solved by using the education equipments which are originated from Turkey in the Turkish education institutions. Apart from the equipments which are originated from the U.S. and the U.K., although they have been in Turkey for years, it is natural that the foreign experts could not know the needs of Turkish students as well as a native teacher. It is because of not being able to understand the students’ life styles and their ways of understanding due to cultural differences, the education equipments prepared by these experts cannot be useful for Turkish students’ successes arising from their life styles.

By Filiz Topcu

My comments on this task:

This was a really hard and difficult task because for me it was also hard to understand the Turkish version. This task had long sentences in it, difficult vocabulary items and also difficult structures. In some sentences I used formal language and in some sentences I used informal language while translating this task. It is important to know the culture to understand a translated text, however in this task I could not figure out if I should leave some words like ‘’Uskudar Iskelesi, Babiali Yokusu or Ay Yildiz in its original version or not. However I could also have the opportunity to give a little bit information for the readers maybe in brackets. This was a formal text. Giving the meaning was much more important in a text like that.