The World Agenda: My Opinions in Body Language
Claire Berlinski, Ed. ·
Nov 4, 2010 at 10:14am
I just got back from speaking on Dünyanın Gündemi, a local news show. The name of the show means "World Agenda." Although I'm speaking in English, I'm being simultaneously translated into Turkish. So I'm afraid most of you will have to interpret my views about the midterms, the Tea Party, the future of NATO, Turkish-American relations and the Iranian missile threat through the juxtaposition of the images on the screen and my body language. It's surprisingly easy to do. It's also much funnier than I realized it would be as I was speaking.
If you listen closely, by the way, you will hear me talking about Ricochet.
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Sep '10
Re: The World Agenda: My Opinions in Body Language
Claire - serious question: how close is the Turkish language to modern Greek?
Sep '10
Re: The World Agenda: My Opinions in Body Language
Your hand gestures say (to me):
Big, big mushroom cloud.
Oct '10
Re: The World Agenda: My Opinions in Body Language
You are very expressive with your body language, Claire. I found it a bit strange when the translation didn't sync with your gestures.
Sep '10
Re: The World Agenda: My Opinions in Body Language
I think she would be very intimidating to an interviewer who is the least bit unsure of themselves.
Re: The World Agenda: My Opinions in Body Language
You know this is going to lead to another 90+ comment thread on your necklace, right?
Also, I liked that in the caption to the video I see you are "Yazar Claire Berlinski." I have no idea what that means, obviously, but I like it. Half "yoga" and half "czar". Long live Yazar Berlinski!
Jul '10
Re: The World Agenda: My Opinions in Body Language
Nice burkha, Claire.
Re: The World Agenda: My Opinions in Body Language
Not whatsoever, totally mutually unintelligible, completely different language families. Turkish is part of the Ural-Altaic language family (or I thought it was, until a debate about this erupted on my Facebook page--the case against the claim looked plausible to me, but I'm not sufficiently expert to say.) They say Turkish is distantly related to Finnish.
May '10
Re: The World Agenda: My Opinions in Body Language
Sure. They're like neighbors, right? Finnish?
Re: The World Agenda: My Opinions in Body Language
Ursula Hennessey: You know this is going to lead to another 90+ comment thread on your necklace, right?
Also, I liked that in the caption to the video I see you are "Yazar Claire Berlinski." I have no idea what that means, obviously, but I like it. Half "yoga" and half "czar". Long live Yazar Berlinski! · Nov 4 at 10:38am
It means "writer." I'll settle the debate on the necklace now; it's the Jewel of Limited Government.
Re: The World Agenda: My Opinions in Body Language
That poor translator. For those who aren't Inanç, simultaneous Turkish-English translation is a nightmare because the sentence structure is completely reversed. You have to wait to hear the whole sentence before you begin translating. And no, my Turkish is absolutely not good enough to do live television in the confidence that I'd handily come up with the Turkish phrase for, say, "write-in ballot." (In fact, I've got no idea how you'd say that. Inanç? Oy yazdı, maybe?)
Re: The World Agenda: My Opinions in Body Language
Pseudodionysius
I think she would be very intimidating to an interviewer who is the least bit unsure of themselves. · Nov 4 at 10:36am
Except that I'm actually way smaller in person than I look in the movies.
May '10
Re: The World Agenda: My Opinions in Body Language
I doubt I could pull off even English-to-English translation. I'll never understand how people can talk and listen simultaneously.
Oct '10
Re: The World Agenda: My Opinions in Body Language
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
...come up with the Turkish phrase for, say, "write-in ballot." (In fact, I've got no idea how you'd say that. Inanç? Oy yazdı, maybe?) · Nov 4 at 11:04am
Well, to be honest, I had to do some digging in Google to find a proper translation for "write-in ballot" and I don't think there is one. A few of the Turkish pages that have information about Lisa Murkowski left the expression untranslated and called her a "write-in aday" (write-in candidate). Others simply avoided using the term.
Funny Fact: Typing ""write-in ballot" translation turkish" into Google points to this very page.
Re: The World Agenda: My Opinions in Body Language
Has there ever been a write-in ballot in Turkey, I wonder? Man, I would not want to imagine how that would go. (Not that we've done such a great job of it in Alaska that we can afford to be especially haughty.)
You know, it didn't occur to me until tonight that Turkish observers might be confused by the term "Tea Party" and would understand this as the rise, literally, of a new political party. I perhaps should have explained the history of the phrase better.
It's interesting to think of all the words I wouldn't have been able to come up with in Turkish. Even more interesting to consider the possibility that there is no good translation for them. "Grassroots," for example. Is there a real translation of that idea, Inanç? I should know that. I should really know that. The answer might have some bearing on the failure of my efforts to start a grassroots campaign for better construction standards here.
Re: The World Agenda: My Opinions in Body Language
Hmm. Yazma oyu? That still doesn't quite get it, though. Oh, and Claire, the Uralo-Altaic hypothesis is, I think, considered passé by linguists, which of course doesn't mean that Turks won't continue to greet Finns and Hungarians as long-lost cousins (and vice versa).
Re: The World Agenda: My Opinions in Body Language
"Grassroots"...maybe "halk" ("popular")?
Re: The World Agenda: My Opinions in Body Language
The Jewel of Limited Government? Oh yeah, the Koh-i-Norquist.
Oct '10
Re: The World Agenda: My Opinions in Body Language
Claire Berlinski, Ed.:
You know, it didn't occur to me until tonight that Turkish observers might be confused by the term "Tea Party" and would understand this as the rise, literally, of a new political party. I perhaps should have explained the history of the phrase better.
It's interesting to think of all the words I wouldn't have been able to come up with in Turkish. Even more interesting to consider the possibility that there is no good translation for them. "Grassroots," for example. Is there a real translation of that idea, Inanç? I should know that. I should really know that. The answer might have some bearing on the failure of my efforts to start a grassroots campaign for better construction standards here. · Nov 4 at 1:00pm
I think it's safe to assume that most Turkish people aren't familiar with the Boston Tea Party. I can see how it can be confusing.
As for "grassroots", I guess this is another term that has equivalent in Turkish as a campaign adjective. I could be wrong of course. Can't say I'm very knowledgeable about political terms.
Edited on Nov 4, 2010 at 5:21pmOct '10
Re: The World Agenda: My Opinions in Body Language
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
Except that I'm actually way smaller in person than I look in the movies. · Nov 4 at 11:13am
In which case Peter Robinson must be positively tiny.
May '10
Re: The World Agenda: My Opinions in Body Language
EJHill
Sure. They're like neighbors, right? Finnish? · Nov 4 at 10:53am
and japanese/Korean/Mongolian too.