Bayram

Bugün bayramdır, amma kim qeyd edir?

Böyük mərhələ

I've been sharing my slow progress with Azerbaijani and all things musical and food-related over the years. And I've just noticed my stats are close to a milestone:

Pageviews all time history

99,831

Whoa! How does one celebrate 100,000 hits? 

Highly recommended

Best sun-dried tomatoes in the world!

Socca, so Yummy!

Finished product. Çox dadlıdır!

Socca

This is a tasty, healthy alternative to pizza. See steps below. Let's see if I can explain this in AZ.

Noxudu bir az qızart.

Xırçılda.

Şadarala.

Duz, istiot, keklik otu, və sarımsaq əvalə et.
Və sonra su və bir az zeytun yağı.

Qoy qalsın, iki saat üçün.

Summer in Baku

It's summer in Baku! Lovely fresh fruit and veg. Tonight it will be tezə qarğıdalı and socca. Socca recipe to follow.

Corn on the cob - what is this in Azerbaijani?

Pictured here is the lovely Ruzi Market on Qutqaşınlı kücəsi.

Great little shop and very friendly staff. Highly recommended!

Where do they find these words?

Trying to make sense of some new items on BBC Azeri. Where do they find these words?!

Avstarliya sakini olan həmin qadın bir evdən digərinə köçərkənsaatlarla intensiv iş görməli, şkafları yığışdırmaq üçün bəzən uzun müddət əyilərək hərəkətsiz vizyyətdə oturmalı olub.

The Avstarliya I assume is a mistake for Avstraliya. But what the heck is köçərkənsaatlarla? Not in any dictionary that I have. And vizyyətdə? Do they mean vəziyyət? 

And here's another:

Avropa Oyunları: Azərbaycan idmançısının diskvalifikasiyası

Diskvalifikasiyası? What does it mean? Are they just making up these words?

dərzi isarə

Two new words here - şuba və dublyonka. The latter is definitely Russian but was translated by Google. The former sounds Azerbaijani but was not translated. A friend tells me it means fur. Dublyonka is sheepskin.

Tomorrow's bayram

Tomorrow there will be planes flying in formation over Baku, with the 3 colors of the flag streaming behind them. But what is this bayram called? It's known by two names. Both are a bit difficult.

Silahlı qüvvələrin yarandığı gün
And
Ordunun yaranması günü

But most people say: Ordu günü

Much easier to say and remember.

And another sign

So what exactly is a köz ət dönər? The doner part comes from turning since the meat turns around as on a spit. (Back in Canada I had no idea why a doner was called a doner!) but why köz? This is the word for embers or cinders so I am assuming that a real barbecue or manqal is used rather than the usual gas fire. But how to translate into English?

Another sign in Baku

This ad is on the side of an avtobus dayanacaq. But what does it mean? Together we are stronger? Notice that the company, Nar, is a rəsmi tərəfdaş - official partner - of the Baku Games.

Words I can never remember

I was telling my taxi driver a story this morning and found myself searching for certain words that I always seem to have trouble with. Now some people recommend the use of images that you associate with the sound of the word, but which have no meaningful connection to the word's sense. For example, I use to think of a guy in a kilt with an sad face scoring a goal. Məksəd...

There's a name for this mnemonic device but I have forgotten it! I'll look it up later. (Apparently it is just "image mnemonic") At the moment I write this while walking on a treadmill. Which I recently learned is called an elektron qaçış zolağı.

So back to some words that are hard to remember.

To wake up - oyanmaq

Actually now that I look at it it has the sound like YAWN so that should be pretty easy to remember.

Next one -

Colleague - həmkar

I always want to say peşkar (which is kind of related - professional). So I will imagine a colleague - won't say who - driving a car shaped like a ham. Ok, I will say! My colleague Matt who has a crazy imagination and is working on a go-cart video game!

See how easy this is? Actually I think it would drive - no pun intended - you crazy to think of something like this for every word in a new language. But for those stubborn words, it does help. More soon!

Indi hovuza getməliyəm və orda telefon olmaz!

Ramazan

The holy month of Ramazan has begun. It is so interesting to talk to people who are fasting. They are so positive and energized by the experience. To all of my friends who are fasting:
Allah orucunuzu qəbul etsin!
Xeyirli Ramazanlar.

New signs in Baku - can you translate?

I suggest: Responsible pedestrians obey the rules of the road.

Ata sözü

Had several interesting conversations lately about the Azerbaijani language. Lots to share. I'll start with this new couplet of ata sözü -

Dişin ağrıyır,

Çək, qurtar!

Qonşun pisdir,

Köç, qurtar!

My translation - 

If you teeth hurt, pull them and be done with it!

If your neighbors are bad, move and save yourself from them!

Şur muğamı

Time to start recordings. I am in the middle of learning Shur Mugham. It is interesting and challenging - especially the Shur Fa - halfway between fa natural and fa sharp (bekar and diyez).

So, let's begin. Opening parts: Bardaşt and maye plus şur şanas, busalik and bayati türk.