Polat: Ülüşkün biz Ğərbi Tağ'qa əmgəkkə barduq. U yərdə tağqa köçət tiktuq.
Alim: Ğərbi Tağ nədə, yiraqmu?
Polat: Ançə yiraq əməs, bu yərdin aptobus bilən bir saətlik yol.
Alim: Köçətni qandaq tiktiņlar?
Polat: Bəzi sawaqdaşlar köçət toşudi. Bəzi sawaqdaşlar orək kolidi. Yənə bəzi sawaqdaşlar köçətlərgə su quydi. Adil, Qəysər wə mən üçimiz topa toşuduq.
Alim: Çarçidiņlarmu?
Polat: Həə, biraq çarçaş hes qilmiduq. Çünki bu qetimqi əmgək köņüllük həm əhmiyiətlik boldi. Sawaqdaşlar herip-çarçaştin, capadin qorqmidi. Tağniņ mənzirisi bilən hawasi sawaqdaşlarğa bək yaridi. Ular öziniņ əmgiki bilən təbiətniņ qoynidin huzurlandi.
Alim: Əmgək saət qançigiçə dawamlaşti?
Polat: Çüştə məktəpkə qaytmiduq. Çüşlük tamaqni bir dehqaniņ öyidə yeduq. Tamaqtin keyin dawamliq əmgək qilduq. Saət tötkiçə işliduq.
Alim: You weren't in your room two days ago, where did you go?
Polat: We went to work in West Hill. We planted trees there.
Alim: Where is West Hill, is it far?
Polat: Not that far, it's an hour's bus ride. (lit. From that place by bus it's an hour's way)
Alim: How did you plant the trees?
Polat: Some people (lit. classmates) transported the trees, some dug holes and some watered the trees (lit. some poured water to the trees). Adil, Qaysar and I the three of us transported earth.
Alim: Did you get tired?
Polat: Yes, but we didn't feel tired. Because this time the work (lit. this time's work) was enjoyable (lit. happy) and meaningful. The classmates were not afraid of the fatigue and the hardship. They liked the scenery and the weather on the hill very much (lit. the hill's scenery and the weather pleased them very much). They enjoyed their own work and being surrounded by nature (lit. the embrace of nature. This is such a Chinese way of saying things. I don't think it'd come up in the book if it hadn't been compiled to fit the Chinese taste).
Alim: When did you work until (lit. When did the work last until)?
Polat: We didn't go back to school at noon. We had lunch (lit. noon food) in a farmer's house. After lunch we kept on working until four o'clock.
Sözlük - Vocabulary
ançə yiraq əməs: not that far
əmgək: labour, work
əhmiyətlik: meaningful
bu qetimqi: this time (adj.)
tağ: mountain
təbiət: nature
topa: earth, soil
toşumaq: to transport
tikmek: to plant
capa: toil, hard labour, hardship, suffering
çarça: fatigue
çünki: because
dawamlaşmaq: to last, to continue
dərəx: tree
saətlik: hourly
qorqmaq: to be afraid of, to be scared of
qoyun: embrace
quymaq: to pour
kətmek: to go
kolamaq: to dig
köçət: sapling, young tree
mənzirə: scenery
huzurlanmaq: to enjoy
herip-çarçaş: toil, labour, suffering
hes qilmek: to feel
orək: hole
ülüşkün: the day before yesterday, to days ago
yaramaq: to please, to suit
*Sorry guys for putting up such a communist dialogue. Well, it's from the textbook I got in China. I eliminated the last bit of the dialogue because it was obscenely, ridiculously and obnoxiously communist. It was basically about this girl getting praised by everyone because she had excellent performance in planting trees. Typical model-making of any communist regime. I also modified one bit of the dialogue to make it sound less absurd. In the original, when Alim asked Polat if they were tired, Polat gave a confident 'No'. As everyone knows, in any communist regime labour is considered to be honorable and works saints. An ideal communist worker, or labourer, should not fear hardship or feel tired. Feeling tired is a sign of weakness and people are suspicious of anyone that complains about workload and will readily accuse them of evading the labour and their responsibilities, which is, of course, deemed as a threat to production and therefore to progress. However, it is an absurd wishful thinking to expect anyone not to feel the fatigue of labour. People are not machines.
A sworn opponent of communism and of the cultural genocide the Han Chinese inflict on the Uyghurs, I find the double assimilation (to Han culture, reflected by certain structures as seen in the dialogue, and to communism) exemplified by the fictitious dialogue absolutely repulsive. The dialogue insinuates that it is one episode of what would be the ideal life under the peaceful, 'harmonious', Han-dominated communist regime. Yet the book is not without value. In fact the communism in the book is far more attenuated compared to other textbooks (not that there are many) published in China. It teaches one a lot of useful words and structures; grammar and phonology are presented in a clear and user-friendly way. In fact I think it's the first Uyghur textbook in China to give a thorough, yet step-by-step overview of the language. And most importantly, the writer of the book is a native Uyghur. So the quality of the language (except for some adjustments made to suit the Chinese habit of talking) is guaranteed. Despite occasional communist elements here and there I think I'll continue with this book and publish lessons from it here.
We can only make do with what we have in want of better books in the West, or in China, perhaps.
Many language learning books contain a "subliminal" message. In Turkey, the books I used to learn Turkish had a "ULTRA PAN-TURK NATIONALIST SECULAR" message, with readings about Atatürk, Aymatov, Anitkabir, and typical Turks with huge mustaches that go to work while their wife is cleaning and cooking, and when its time to be at home, he plays popular Anatolian melodies with his baglama for his children.... All I wanted was to learn Turkish, but this course also wants to make me a Turk, lol.
ReplyDeleteAlso, while checking some books Ka's mum uses to teach French, some of the texts were discussing very French things such as the laicite, women having university degrees, etc... I think all these things are pretty useless when it comes to learn a language, but useful at the same time to understand the culture of the place. It is telling you the do and do-nots.
Nevertheless, in my book of Persian, there was no ideology explained directly or indirectly, it plainly taught Persian. I was very surprised, I must admit. Nevertheless, all the female cartoons were wearing hiyab, haha.