It's near sunset...

تنگ غروبه خورشید اسیره

می ترسم امشب خوابم نگیره

سیاهی شب چشماشو وا کرد

ستاره ی من تورو صدا کرد

باز مثل هر شب از دیده پنهون

یه مرد عاشق با چشم گریون

آواز میخونه از پشت دیوار

کی خوابه امشب کی مونده بیدار

چرا شب ما سحر نمیشه

گل ستاره پرپر نمیشه

تو شهر خورشید یه قصره نوره

راه من و تو امشب چه دوره

Gülümse kaderine!

Değer mi hiç? Boş yere küsme düşlerine!

İnan onun da yanına kalmaz. Bırak gitsin üzülme.

Hayat sevenlerin yanındadır, unutma.

Gülümse kaderine

Yak bütün fotoğrafları.

Ona ait bütün eşyaları.

Bu gece ümitlerini al koynuna.

Gün doğmadan unut insafsızı.

Kader buluşturdu, kader ayırdı.

O aşka inanmadı.

Sil gözyaşlarını, sakın ağlama.

O kalbinle oynadı.

Hayat sevenleri korur, ateşe atmaz.

Gülüm sana kıyamadı.

Yak bütün fotoğrafları.

Ona ait bütün eşyaları.
Bu gece ümitlerini al koynuna.

Gün doğmadan unut insafsızı.

Tarkan's solo rendition

Tarkan and Kibariye's duet

A beautiful poem from my Turkish reader - Türküm

Beş bin yıllık tarihim

Şarka, garbe ün saldı.

Ben ezelden fatihim,

Cihan benden nur aldı.

                                     Türk oğluyum, Türk dönmez,

                         Ayyıldızım hiç sönmez.

Atalarım uludur.

Miras bana şeref, şan.

Hürriyetle doludur

Damarlarınmdaki kan.

                                      Türk oğluyum, Türk dönmez,

                         Ayyıldızım hiç sönmez.

Bir ses der ki, "ileri!"

Benim de bu dileğim.

Dinliyerek bu emri

Hiç bükülmez bileğim.

                                      Türk oğluyum, Türk dönmez,

                         Ayyıldızım hiç sönmez.

Milliyetim, vatanım

Her bir şeyden üstündür.

Buna vardır imanım,

Eyam artık Türkündür.

                                        Türk oğluyum, Türk dönmez,

                           Ayyıldızım hiç sönmez.

- Sabrı Cemil

Expressing time in Uyghur

(1) The general order is from the bigger unit to the smaller unit. e.g. June 18th, 2001 is (miladi) 2001-yili 6-ayniņ 18-küni

(2) To express how long something lasted, use the word saət preceeded by a cardinal number: bir saət, yerim saət

(3) To express time on the clock, use saət + cardinal number: saət on ikki, saət toqquz...

Exampes:

Saət qançə boldi? - What time is it?
Saət altə boldi. - It's six o'clock.
Saət səkkiz yerim boldi. - It's half past eight.

(4) To express the idea of 'about' 'around' a certain time, use the plural suffix -lar/lər:

Mən saət üçlərdə bazarğa barmaqçimən.
'I want to go to the bazar at around 3 o'clock.'

(5) The idea of minutes is expressed as hour+din/tin... (minutes) ötti, literally 'it passed x minutes from x o'clock'.

Saət ondin çarək ötti. - It's a quarter past ten.

Similarly, to express 'at x minute past x o'clock' you have to use the perfective verbal adjective:

Saət üçtin ottuz toqquz minut ötkəndə yər təwridi.
'The earthquake happened at 3.39.'

Saət yəttidin on minut ötkəndə körüşəyli.
'Let's meet at ten past seven.'

(6) 'To x o'clock' is expressed with the dative case -ğa/gə/qa/kə and the verb qalmaq:

Saət tötkə bəş minut qalğanda körüşməyli.
'Let's meet at five to four.'

Saət altigə on ikki minut qaldi.
'It's twelve minutes to six.'

Useful vocabulary:

saət - hour
minut - minute
sekunt - second
yerim -half
çarək - a quarter

ötmək - to pass
qalmaq - to remain (to)

qaçan - when, what time
saət qançə boldi? - what time is it?

ətigən - morning
ətigən, çüştin burun, çüştin awal - before noon, morning
çüş - noon
çüştin keyin - afternoon
keçə - evening
axşam, kəçqurun - night
yerim keçə - midnight

Translation of 'Why are the flowers so red' into Uyghur

'Why are the flowers so red' or '花儿为什么这样红', one of the first Uyghur songs I heard when I was little. It was the theme song of a very popular Uyghur film called 'The Visitor To Tangri Tağ' or '冰山上的来客' back in the 50's. I haven't seen the film but I love the song. As famous as it is and as Uyghur as it sounds, the song doesn't have a Uyghur version - at least I don't know if it was adapted from a Uyghur original. I'm always of the opinion that Uyghur culture should be expressed in the Uyghur language. In the fields of literature and music where language is the principle means of expression, Chinese should never usurp the role Uyghur should act. I am convinced that the Chinese ignorance of the Uyghur Turkicness can be partly attributed to the prevalent Han chauvinism which is at the heart of any Chinese adaption or translation of Uyghur folk songs, which soon replaces the original Uyghur by only promoting the adapted versions. Whereas a lot of Uyghur songs have their originals, this one doesn't. I even suspect it was originally written in Chinese. I have been pondering over a re-adaptation back into Uyghur for a long time, and now I have know enough of the language, I've made a draft version. I've tried to be as poetic as possible with my current knowledge of the rhetoric of the language. But obviously it's crass and needs a lot of improvement. I should be ashamed of this attempt, even, and of the audacity of putting it up here for everyone to see. However, it's my first composition in the Uyghur language and I'm very excited. I'll come back to improve it once I've know more about the poetic tradition of not only Uyghur, but the Turkic languages as a whole.

قىزىل گۈل نېمەشقا قىزىل

كۆيدىگەن ئوتتەك قىزىل

ياشلىق قىنى بىلەن سۇغېرىنىدۇ

قىزىل گۈل نېمەشقا ساپ

ئاشىق بولغان ئايرىلماس

دوستلۇق ئىكەن ئىشق ئىكەن

The Latin transcription would be:

Qizil gül neməşqa qizil

Köydigən ottək qizil

Yaşliq qani bilən suğerinidu

Qizil gül neməşqa sap

Aşiq bolğan ayrilmas

Dostluq ikən işq ikən

The original Chinese is:

花儿为什么这样红

红得好像燃烧的火

它是用了青春的血液来浇灌

花儿为什么这样鲜

鲜得使人不忍离去

它象征着纯洁的友谊和爱情

I adapted it a little to make it sound more natural. I translated the 'flowers' as 'qizil gül' rather than 'güllər' because the number of the flowers is ambiguous. It could just be one and this special one is symbolic. And in Uyghur, a noun in singular can have a plural meaning as well. I chose 'qizil' because 1. it's easier to suit the rhythm of the song and 2. 'qizil gül' itself means 'rose', which indeed is a symbol for love, which the song sings about. Repetition of a word is rather common in Uyghur folk poetry and songs, so it's alright. In the second stanza, the first two lines in the original Chinese form an unbroken sentence: 'Why are the flowers/is the flower so fresh that no one would have the heart to leave them/it?' which is a fairly complicated sentence and wouldn't really be used in folk lyrics like these. Since Chinese is a rather compact language it sounds alright, but I'm not sure about Uyghur. I've never come across any complicated sentences in Uyghur folk songs, all of them being simple and direct. So, bearing that in mind and without knowing how to translate 'so... that', I broke the sentence down and translated it as 'Why are the flowers so fresh? Being in love, no one would part (with them).' The 'being in love' states the result of beholding the flowers and is a plausible reason for anyone's staying, although unspecified by the original lyrics. I actually rendered the line into a sentence without a subject. Subject-less sentences are really common in Uyghur, especially when it comes to expressing a general truth as in here 'being in love, one/you wouldn't leave them.' Could be me, could be you - anyone, in fact. The last line means 'They symbolise innocent friendship and love.' To be honest, you really wouldn't use the word 'symbolise', whatever it is in Uyghur, in a folk song. Therefore I chose the gerund of the word 'to be', 'iken' to carry out this metaphor. I left out the 'innocent' because practically it's the same word as 'pure', 'sap', which I used in the first line. It would be redundant anyway - if the flowers are pure and innocent, and they are friendship and love, then friendship and love are pure and innocent as well!

Finally, the English translation of the song (from the Uyghur):

Why are the flowers so red,

Red like burning fire?

They are watered by the blood of youth.

Why are the flowers so fresh?

No one in love would part with them

- They are friendship, they are love.

Uyghur grammar lessons- NUMBERS!!!

Finally we got down to this...

1   bir                                 20   yigirmə                          10,000   tümən
2   ikki                               30   ottuz                           1,000,000 milyon
3   üç                                  40   qirq
4   töt                                 50   əllik
5   bəş                                60   atmiş
6   altə                                70   yətmiş
7   yəttə                             80   səksən
8   səkkiz                           90   toqsan
9   toqquz                         100  yüz
10 on                               1000 miņ


Ordinal numbers in Uyghur are pretty jokes. You just attach -inçi to everything, all the way through. There isn't even vowel harmony to worry about!

Uyghur grammar lesson - perfective verbal adjective

Suffix -qan/ğan/kən/gən is used to form the perfective verbal adjective that corresponds to the Chinese -lede adjectives. In English it's a bit complicated because there doesn't exist one single common way of expressing this idea. But with the analogy of the present verbal adjective -digan, which normally translates as -ing, the perfective can be understood as 'having done...'. So when you use this structure in Uyghur, it is as if you could say 'the having laughed man', or 'the having left bus'. Sounds far better to say 'the man that laughed/has laughed' or 'the bus that has left', but English is cumbersome with the lack of a similar structure.

Sometimes English is less wordy, but less precise. For example, - bolğan is usually translated into an adjective in English: xapa bolğan adəm 'angry man' (lit. 'having become angry man'). In a lot of cases as in this one, 'present' concepts are actually expressed through 'past' means. This is not unique to Turkish, though. English does not have a clean-cut perfective. In languages that do, e.g. Greek and Persian, actions in the past tense have a present implication. If you 'have become angry', you are angry at the moment because the action of becoming was momentary. It happened, you reached the stage, and the stage of anger continues in the present.

More examples:

xapa bolğan əpəndi
angry having-become mister
'an angry gentleman'

tünügün bu yərgə kəlgən kişi
yesterday this place-to having-come person
'the person that came yesterday'

xoş degən awaz
good-bye having-said voice
'voice saying good-bye'


This form of the verb can end a sentence, but it remains non-personal, unless followed by the verb 'imək' (to be) in the past tense to specify the subject.

Tünügün telefon qilip degən idim.
Yesterday phonecall making having-said I-was
'I said it on the phone yesterday.'

Mən kutupxaniğa barğan.
I        library-to   having-gone
'I went to the library.'

Xuda asman bilən yərni yaratqan.
God   heaven with earth having-made
'God created the heaven and the earth.'

And finally, guess what? This 'adjectival form' can also be used as nouns! You can add suffixes such as -da and -liq to it to make funky words:

Nan yeginim yoq.
bread having-eaten-my there-isn't
'I don't have bread or anything to eat.'

Şundaq degəndə...
thus     speaking-at
'When saying this...'

Uniņ kəlgənliki, bizgə paydiliq idi.
His having-come-ness-his we-to beneficial was
'It was good for us that he came.'

Uyghur lesson - Parlaq mehmanxanisida

Dialog A



(telefon)

Kenji: Wəy !
Mehmanxana xizmətchisi: Wəy ! Yaxşimusiz?
K: Taksi buyrutmaqçi idim.
M. X.: Saət qançidə?
K: Ətə ətigən saət altidə.
M. X.: İsmiņiz nemə?
K: Kenji.
M. X.: Siz hazir qançinçi yataqta?
K: Səkiz yüz üçinçi yataqta.

Dialog B

Kenji: Taksi kəldimu?

M. X.: Saət qançigə buyrutqan?
K: Saət altigə.
M. X.: Mən bir təkşürüp baqay.

Dialog C

Kenji: Qandaq boldi?

M. X.: Saət altigə bizniņ başliq buyrutqan iken.
K: Hə meniņ ismim yoq mu? Tünügün telefon qilip degən idim.
M. X.: Kəçürüņ. İsmiņiz nemə?
K: İsmim Kenji.
M. X.: Woy ! Yaponluqlardimu “Kenji” degən isim barmu?
K: Nemə dediņiz?
M. X.: Memanxanimizniņ başliğiniņ ismimu Kenji.
K: Şundaqmu??

Dialogue A

(on the phone)
Kenji: Hello!
Hotel employee: Hello! How are you?
K: I want to book a taxi.
HE: At what time?
K: Six o'clock tomorrow morning.
HE: What's your name?
K: Kenji.
HE: And what's your room number now?
K: I'm in Room 803.

Dialogue B

Kenji: Is the taxi here yet?
HE: What time did you book for?
Kenji: Six o'clock.
HE: I'll check it up.

Dialogue C

Kenji: How was it?
HE: Our manager booked it for six o'clock.
K: Hey don't you have my name? I told you on the phone yesterday.
HE: I'm sorry. What's your name?
K: My name is Kenji.
HE: Oh no, are Japanese people all called 'Kenji'?
K: How do you mean? (lit. What did you say?)
HE: Our hotel manager is called Kenji as well.
K: Ah is he??

Sözlük - Vocabulary

xizmətçi: employee

təkşürmək: to check, to verify, to investigate

başliq: manager

The Music of Turkish - Maureen Freely on the Turkish language

Maureen Freely is now the official English translator for the books of the Turkish Nobel writer Orhan Pamuk, published by Faber & Faber in the United Kingdom. The prestige of the publisher usually indicates the prestige of the work, and in this case, the translation. Maureen is an American who grew up in Istanbul and can be counted as a bilingual in English and Turkish. I came across her translation of Pamuk's 'Kara Kitap' ('The Black Book') while sheltering myself from the rain in Borders this afternoon and I felt inspired reading the her Afterword to the book. I had spent the whole afternoon in the Oriental Institute Library reading about Turkic languages. She talked about the characteristics of the Turkish language and the difficulty of translating from English to Turkish:

'... the vogue among Turkey's leading writers for the devrik cümle. This is a sentence - usually a very long sentence - in which words appear in an order different from that ordained by custom and practice, and cascading clauses create a series of expectations that are subverted by the verb at the very end. The poet Murat Nemet-Nejat has described Turkish as a language that can evoke a thought unfolding.'

'The accepted view, especially among bilingual Turks, is that the translation should pay close attention to the sentence's "inner logic". This might also be described as its architecture - the elegant way in which the various parts reflect one another and together, reflect the mystery that must never be coarsened by words; the games with voice and tense and the imaginative melding of different epochs and places in sentences that may be admired at length like pictures in a museum.'

'All too often, the grand allusive flourishes are lost on readers accustomed to the simpler and more straightforward logic of English. The passive becomes cumbersome and even obfuscating... Mesmerizing lists of verbal nouns begin to grate on the nerves. The tenses are robbed of their nuances, and the graceful unfolding of cascading clauses becomes an ungainly procession of non sequiturs. The verb that should have been the twist in the tail appears so early it robs the long sentences of its suspense, so that, instead of gaining momentum, each sentence seems to double back on itself. It's not just the meaning that gets muffled, it's the music.'

گۈل زاراڭزا - Gülzaraņza

ئىشىگىڭدىن ئۆتتۈم مەن گۈل زاراڭزا تەرگىلى

گۈل زاراڭزا باھانىسىدا سەن يارىمنى كۆرگىلى

ئالما ئانارگۈل شاخى سۇلمىغىچە قايرىلماس

چىن يۈرەكتىن سۆيگەن يار ئۆلمىگىچە ئايرىلماس

جان يارىم ئىشقىڭ يامان سارغىيىپ بولدۇم سامان

سارغايتىپ سامان قىلما ھالىڭنى يامان قىلما

مەن نەگە بارالايتىم بوينۇم قىلدى باغلاقلىق

يار بىلەن كۆرۈشكەندە يات ئادەم پايلاقلىق

ئۇ كوچىدا سەن بولساڭ بۇ كوچىدا مەن بولاي

ئانار گۈلى سەن بولساڭ يوپۇرمىغى مەن بولاي

جان يارىم ئوتىڭ يامان سارغىيىپ بولدۇم سامان

سارغايتىپ سامان قىلما ھاىڭنى يامان قىلما

I went through your door, flowers from your garden for to pick
By picking flowers from your garden, you my darling for to see
Apple and pomegranate branches shall not bend for want of water
My darling loving with a sincere heart shall not part with me till death
My beloved, your love is a curse, consuming me like straw
Do not torture the poor straw, spare your strength and life


Where am I able to go with my body tied up?
I am meeting my beloved, but a spying stranger is curious
If you are on that road, I shall choose the same to tread
If you be a pomegranate flower, I shall be its adorning green
My beloved, your flames are a curse, consuming me like straw
Do not torture the poor straw, spare your strength and life

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR3cTVSGbzA

دوپپام باشىمدا - Doppam başimda

ئوي ئويلايسەن ئوي ئويلايسەن ئويچىمىدىڭسەن

تاغ باغرىدىن كېلەلمەيسەن قويچىمىدىڭسەن

قويچى بولساڭ قويلارىڭنى بىرگە باقايلى

ئىشچان يارنىڭ يۇرەكىگە ئوتلار ياقايلى

ئاق بېلەگىم بويلارىڭدا دوپپام باشىمدا

ئون بەش كۈنلۈك تولۇن ئايدەك تۇرىسەن قاشىمدا

ئىگىز ئىگىز تاغ باشىدىن سېرىلدىم تۈزگە

قىزىل گۈلنىڭ غۇنچىسىدەك ئىگىلدىم سىزگە

مەيلى بىلىڭ مەيلى بىلمەڭ مەن كۆيدۈم سىزگە

ئوتىڭىزدا ئۆلۈپ كەتسەم ئۇۋالىم سىزگە

ئاق بېلەگىم بويلارىڭدا دوپپام باشىمدا

ئون بەش كۈنلۈك تولۇن ئايدەك تۇرىسەن قاشىمدا

Doppam başimda, or 'I'm wearing my doppa' (lit. my doppa is on my head), a joyful Uyghur love song. It immediately became one of my favourites after I heard it for the first time because it sings about the doppa, the beautiful square scullcap worn by the Uyghurs. In Chinese it's referred to as 'the little floral Uyghur cap' which I always wanted to put on my head when I was little. It's more elaborate and less religious than the Hui cap (called the 'Hui prayer cap' in Chinese). When I go to Uzbekistan or Uyghuristan, the first thing I'll buy is a doppa!

Divâne âşık gibi

Divâne âşık gibi da dolanırım yollarda

Kız senin sebebune kaldum İstanbullar'da

Baban beni babamdan da bir kerecik istersin

Allah'ın emri ile gelinim olsun desin

Sar belune belune da Karadeniz kuşağı

E kız sende dermisun alsam habu uşağı

Yüksek dağın kuşuyum da selviye konacağım

İste beni babamdan vermezse kaçacağım

Al şalım yeşil şalım da dünyayı dolaşalım

Al şalım yeşil şalım da dağları dolaşalım

Sen yağmur ol ben bulut Maçka'da buluşalım

I am like a madman in love, wandering in the streets

Oh girl, for you I stayed in Istanbul

If only your father asked me from my father once

'By God's will, let her be my daughter-in-law'

Wrapping Karadeniz belt around your waist

Girl, would you say 'If only I had taken this boy?'

I will be a bird of high mountains perching on a cypress tree

Ask me from my father, if he disagrees, I will run away with you

My red shawl, my green shawl, let's wander around the world
My red shawl, my green shawl, let's wander on the mountains

You be the rain, I be the cloud, let's meet together in Maçka

*Very famous folk song from the Black Sea (Karadeniz in Turkish) area of Turkey. It is a dialogue between a boy and a girl in love who want to marry each other. The Karadeniz belt is a traditional item of clothing in that area, and Maçka is a town in the Black Sea region. The region is rainy throughout the year, which helps understand the metaphor of rain and cloud.

Here are two interpretations, the traditional by Erkan Oğur and İsmail Demircioğlu, and the modern by Doğa İçin Çal.

Uyghur grammar note - Present adjectival verbs

One thing beautiful about Turkic languages is that virtually every verb can be made into an adjective that derives from the verb root, and put in front of a noun to modify it, so that ideas are accurately and economically expressed where Indo-European languages have to employ wordy subordinate clauses.

The suffix -i/ydiğan is added to the verb root to form the adjectives that refer to actions in progression or about to take place (See? If this were a Turkic language, I would have said, 'actions in progression or about to take place referring-to adjectives):

bar- (to go)
Qumulğa baridiğan aptobus
Qumul-to going bus
'The bus that goes to Qumul'

bil- (to know)
Uyğur tilini yaxşi bilidiğan adəm
Uyghur language good speaking person
'a person who speaks good Uyghur'

oqu- (to read)
məktəptə oquydiğan kitab
school-at being-read book
'the book which is studied at school'

işlə- (to work)
zawutta işləydiğan işçi
factory-at working worker
'worker that is working in the factory'

iç- (to drink)
içidiğan su
drinking water
'drinkable warter'

kül- (to laugh)
Bu külidiğan iş əməs.
this to-be-laughed-at work is-not
'This is no laughable matter.'

de- (to say)
Yənə deydiğan gəp barmu?
again to-be-said speech are-there
'Do you have anything else to say?'

bər- (to give)
balamğa bəridiğan soğat
boy-my-to giving present
'the present I am giving my son'

As can be seen the meaning of such adjectival verbs is not strictly defined and should be interpreted in any way that makes sense. They are non-personal and can be either passive or active.

Uyghur grammar note - Question words

who         kim?                            why                                  nemə üçün? nemişqa?
what       nemə?                         how                                  qandaq?
where     qəyərdə?, nədə?   how much, how many   nəççə? qançə?
when      qaçan?                        which                               qaysi?

Uyghur lesson - Döņköwrüktə

Dialog A

Kenji: Bu nemə? Yəydiğan nərsimu?
Rəyisə: Yaq. Yəydiğan nərsə əməs. Sopun.
Kenji: Uni nədə yasaydu?
Rəyisə: Kuchada.
Kenji: Awuçu? 
Rəyisə: Hə u öpkə-hesip. Uyğurlarniņ yərlik tamiqi.

Dialog B

Kenji: Bu yərniņ ismi nemə?
Rəyisə: Döņköwrük. Bu yər uyğurlarniņ muhim soda mərkəzliriniņ biri.
Kenji: Hə şundaqmu.
Rəyisə: Bu əņ yeņi wə əņ çoņ bazar. İsmi Dabaza.
Kenji: Woy! Bu yərdə Kentaki bilən Karrefur bar ikənğu?
Rəyisə: Əlwəttə.

Dialog C

Rəyisə: Bu soda saray qandaq ikən?
Kenji: Bək çoņ ikən. Nərsilərmu köp ikən.
Rəyise: Bu qandaq nərsə biləmsiz?
Kenji: Oyunçuqmu?
Rəyisə: Yaponiyidə yoqmu? Bu böşük.
Kenji: Nemə? Müşük?

Dialogue A

Kenji: What's this? Is it food (lit. eat-thing)?
Rayisa: No. It's not food. It's soap.
Kenji: Where is it made (lit. Where do they make it)?
Rayisa: In Kucha.
Kenji: And that one?
Rayisa: Oh that is öpkə-hesip, local food of the Uyghurs.

Dialogue B

Kenji: What's this place called?
Rayisa: Döņköwrük. This is one of the important commercial centres of the Uyghurs.
Kenji: Ah alright (lit. is it like that?).
Rayisa: This is the newest and the biggest bazar. It's called 'Dabaza' (Chinese name for the place, which means 'Big Bazar').
Kenji: Wow! This place even has Kentaki and Carrefour!
Rayisa: Of course.

Dialogue C

Rayisa: How's this department store (lit. commercial palace)?
Kenji: It's very big. There are a lot of things.
Rayisa: Do you know what this is?
Kenji: Is it a toy?
Rayisa: Don't you have it in Japan? This is a cradle.
Kenji: What? a cat?

Sözlük - Vocabulary

sopun: soap

nədə: where

yasamak: to make, to manufacture

yərlik: local

tamaq: food

isim: name

muhim: important

soda: commerce

mərkəz: centre

əņ: most

bilən: and, with

əlwəttə: of course

soda saray: commercial centre, shopping centre, department store

nərsə: thing

köp: many, much

bilmək: to knoü

oyunçuq: toy

Yaponiye: Japan

böşük: cradle

müşük: cat

A man's origin and heritage

المرء من حيث يثبت لا من حيث ينبت

 ومن حيث يوجد لا من حيث يولد

'A man belongs to where he settles, and not where he grew up; where he is now, and not where he was born.' - Ancient Arabic proverb

What thou lov'st well is thy true heritage.

                                                                                - Ezra Pound

Uyghur lesson - Ayrodromda

First lesson from Eling Eling!. I hope my readers enjoy it as much as I did.

Dialog A

Mulazimətçi: Yaxşimusiz? Belitiņiz?
Kenji: Mana.
M: Bu ikki nomur oxşaş əməs.
K: Nemə? Qaysi nomur?
M: Bu nomurlar.
K: Apla. Kəçürüņ.

Dialog B

Alim: Çamidinimni tapalmidim.
Mulazimətçi: Bu chamadançu?
A: Yaq, bu əməs.

Dialog C

Kenji: Kəçürüņ! Bu sizniņ çamidiniņizmu?
Alim: Həə. Buçu?
K: Hə, bu meniņ.
A: İkkisi bək oxşaş ikən.
K: Şundaq.

Dialogue A

Security guard: Hello. Your ticket?
Kenji: Here.
S: These two numbers aren't the same.
K: What? Which numbers?
S: These numbers.
K: Oh dear. I'm sorry!

Dialogue B

Alim: I can't find my luggage.
Security guard: Is it this bag?
A: No not this one.

Dialogue C

Kenji: Excuse me! Is this your suitcase?
Alim: Yes. And this one?
K: Oh this is mine.
A: They look very similar to each other.
K: Yes.

Sözlük - Vocabulary

ayrodom: airport

mulazimətçi: security guard

belət: ticket

mana: here, over here

nomur: number

oxşaş: same, identical

əməs: is not, değil in Turkish

nemə: what

kəçürüņ: excuse me, sorry

çamadan: luggage, suitcase

bək: very

şundaq: so, in this way, yes

Eling Eling!

I found a fantastic book on Uz Translations. It's Eling Eling!, a Uyghur textbook in Japanese. After browsing through it I immediately decided to switch to it because it is modern, the dialogues are less fake and more lively, and above all, it's not communist. I know I can trust it. From now on I'll post lessons and exercises from that book.

Sometimes you gotta LOVE the Japanese!