Saturday, October 8, 2011

Signs around town

On a recent walk around town I snapped a couple of pictures. It's a beautiful sunny day in Baku today. I'll be sure to take more photos today and post later on. But for now, see if you can translate the following. English translations are given below each photo.


A very common sign around Baku


What does it mean? 
Meyvə və Tərəvəz
Fruit and veg


Another very common sign around town as the city's infrastructure is being improved.

What does it mean? 
Yolun təmiri - Road repair (literally road's repair / repair of the road)
Bakı Şəhər İcra Hakimiyyəti - Baku City Executive Authority (or Power)
Tərəfindən aparılır - It is being carried out from this side
Müvəqqəti narahatlığa görə üzr istəyirik! - For this temporary bother we would like to apologize.


On a fashion shop
Zərifliyi hiss edin! - Feel the elegance!


Common food take-away shop sign


Dönər - We call these donars (pronounced doughnairs) in Canada. I didn't realize why they had this name until I moved to Baku. In Azerbaijani it means the thing that turns. Donars are made from ground meat that is packed around a rod and then slowly turned by a gas flame.Tasty but calorific!
Çörəkdə - on bread or in bread
On a tiny read circular sign at the bottom you can see 24 SAAT AÇIK
I think this is Turkish for Open 24 hours. In Azerbaijani it should read 24 SAAT AÇIQ.

Very important word to know if you are feeling hungry.
Ərzaq - food (in the sense of provisions). This simple sign indicates that the shop is a convenience store. These shops sell bread, wine, water, milk, pasta, oil, chips, toilet paper - you name it. 
This is our local shop run by a lovely woman named Sevinj. Talking to her has really helped improve our Azerbaijani (me and my husband). My husband once made a mistake and asked for "toyuq su" (chicken water)  instead of "boyuq su" (big water)  so now that is a running joke with Sevinj, much to the puzzlement of other local shoppers!


Another fashion shop
Moda evi - Fashion house
This place offers orders, sewing, and rentals of dinner party type clothes. 
Not sure exactly what this means in practice, but in Azerbaijani this is how it is written:
Ziyafət paltarının sifarişlə tikilişi və kirayəsi

Stay tuned for more photos of signs around Baku!

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