After School - Week 2

Hello everyone! We have already left the second week of the uni! This week, I felt extremely exhausted because I didn't get a chance to get a proper rest after IAPTI conference. I dropped one of the courses I was most interested in, namely Making of a Film because of my tight schedule. I hope to be able to register myself in it in one of the following semesters. Okay, without further ado, let's start!

Course Insights

This Monday was International Translators' Day, and to honor the day, my department hosted a symposium on specifically interpreting and its cognitive aspect both Monday and Tuesday (which caused me to miss my another favorite course--Medieval and Early Modern Iberia). I'll start by sharing insights from the symposium.

• Bart Defrancq, one of the panelists, introduced an intriguing concept: 'weaker mental representation.' This refers to the idea that what we hear tends to stay in our minds longer when it's in our mother tongue. This notion challenges—or has the potential to challenge—one of the longstanding, widely accepted practices in interpreting: that it's generally preferable to interpret from your B language into your A language.
• He also emphasized that, rather than fixating on the emotional limitations of machines or AI, we should focus more on the legal aspects when it comes to advocating for our roles as human interpreters.
• Speaking of legal aspects, I attended my Court Interpreting class for the first time this week (I missed last week's session while traveling to Bursa for the conference). It was reassuring to hear the professor explain how our language skills—such as pronunciation and word choice—can deteriorate under pressure, sometimes even to the point of stuttering when we're being judged. Why reassuring? It explains why I’m not always the most rhetorically gifted when I find myself in a foreign setting.
• We also analyzed how criminals speak, both in news reports and on a prominent TV show that focuses on solving crimes. In some cases, people speak—or just make noises—for the sake of speaking. It's fascinating to observe the difference between truly communicating and merely making noise.
• I found the job of court interpreters to be truly challenging and definitely traumatizing. They often have to face criminals who have just committed serious crimes like murder or rape, interpreting their words. In one instance, an interpreter was slashed on the ear and neck with a razor blade. The attacker aimed to cut his carotid artery out of anger because the criminal wasn’t present, but the interpreter (who was naturally tasked with conveying the defendant’s words in the first person, which is a score part of the interpreting job). The family, overwhelmed with emotion, lashed out at the interpreter instead.

• When I used to think of Europe, I didn’t include the Ottoman Empire. However, my perspective changed after my History class. The Ottoman Empire was right next to Europe, with territories on the continent itself. It's not like the Philippines or other further countries, right? In some ways, the empire influenced Europe, while in other instances, it was viewed through the lens of Orientalism. Nevertheless, the Ottoman Empire as a part of Europe, both historically and geographically.
• People often assume that Turks migrated to the Balkans from Anatolia, but in reality, there was a significant Turkish population in the north, such as those in Romania, who came from the north.
• Consistent wages and providing food to government officials are modern practices. Back then, such systems didn’t exist. We sometimes overestimate the strength of traditional states, but in some ways, they were weaker than modern states.
• In Translation Theory, we discussed how translation is marginalized in some countries, like the UK, where turning to translated works is not common and such translations are quite limited. This reminded me of what director Bong Joon Ho said: 'Once you overcome the one-inch barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many amazing films.

WTR - What to Read

I've just finished reading Tatar Çölü. It wasn’t exactly a page-turner, and I think it could have been shorter. In my humble opinion, though, a movie adaptation could work perfectly. Today,  I've just picked a book from the library called "The Language Myth: Why language is not an instinct". It turned out more academic than I expected, so I am not sure yet whether I'll read the whole thing or not, as I'm already buried in academic papers from the classes. I'll give myself a week to read as much as I can.

WTW - What to Watch

I was indecisive between the movies, Loving Vincent and The Peasants as both of them employ the painted animation technique. In the end, I chose The Peasants. Visually, it was stunning, but I found the storyline quite depressing.

Anything New?

There’s something truly magical about discovering the meaning of your name through the stories of strangers from different cultures. I’ve witnessed a few people uncover the meanings of their names or other interpretations while traveling, and I’ve even helped two people discover the meanings of their names. During the IAPTI conference in Bursa, I met many Latinas, and two of them, separately, shared that they once had the name 'Betulia' in Latin America, although it's becoming less common. Interestingly, there’s even a boxer named Betulio! While the name isn’t very common, I still loved this version of my name. One of them kept calling me Betulia, which I found flattering! I did a little research on its etymology and meaning. It can be explained as a composite word built from 'betulah,' meaning virgin, which aligns with the very meaning of my name, "chaste".