Another xalq mahnısı - Dağlara çən düşəndə

I've started singing again with a new teacher - Konul. She is really teaching me the proper way to sing xalq mahnısı. I really love singing these songs, but the meaning can be difficult to decipher. Even locals that I have asked about lyrics have confessed that they don't understand some archaic words. I have gone to the dictionary for several in this song. However, even when the words are not difficult, the meaning can be elusive.

I.

Dağlara çən düşəndə,

Sünbülə dən düşəndə.

Ruhum bədəndən oynar bala,

Yadıma sən düşəndə.

nəq.

Yaylığı aldı yarım,

Boynuma saldı yarım.

Qıyğacı baxmaq ilə bala,

Könlümu aldı yarım.

II.

Səyyada bax səyyada,

Torun qurub qayada.

Toruna tərlan düşüb bala,

Kimsəsi yox oyada.

Fog descends on the mountains,

The wheat is ready for harvest.

You come to mind,

My spirit dances.

[OK, the image of falling works in Azerbaijani, but doesn't in English.]

My love took my scarf,

He put it on my shoulder.

He looked at me with his eyes half closed,

And stole my heart.

Look at the hunter,

He tied a net to a rock.

A bird was captured in the net,

There is no one to awaken.

I'm back - with more great resources

Apologies to followers of the blog. I have been so busy with the launch of the children's publishing house - üç alma - that I have had no time for the blog. Check out our books at 3alma.az! Another great way to improve your Azerbaijani - read to a child!

Today I will share some great new websites from the Ministry of Education. Please explore and send your comments.

educational videos

I am looking at others... Will post more soon.
Colleen

Yanıltmac - Tongue-twisters!

Thanks to an email from one of my regular and knowledgeable blog followers, I can share the following information:

Who knew? There is a word in Azerbaijani for tongue twister - yanıltmac. If you type the first part in Google Translate is translates as "misleading". Add the mac and it's tongue-twister.

1.     Aşpaz Abbas aş asmış, asmışsa da az asmış. (Abbas the cook has cooked plov but he has not cooked enough of it.)

2.     Mollanı əmmamələməlimi, əmmamələməməlimi? (Should we have the cleric wear a turban or should we have him not wear a turban?). Just a note, əmmamə is a noun from which you can make a verb əmmamə+lə+mək (to have someone wear a turban).

I am asking friends for their favorite yanıltmac. Watch this space!

FYI, it seems the top tongue-twister in English is still this old favorite:

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

My personal favorite is from the Calvin and Hobbes author, Bill Waterson:

How many boards

Could the Mongols hoard

If the Mongol hordes got bored?

How to use -dikcə

A colleague recently introduced me to -dikcə, but I'm not sure I fully grasp how to use it. Advice would be welcome!

Her example was: yedikcə yemək zamanı, which means something like time to eat and eat (or even - time to stuff our faces?)

Also she said you could do:

Qaçdıqca qaçmaq = run around? run and run?

Danışdıqca danışmaq = talk and talk?

The problem is, these words don't appear in the dictionary. Although, just by chance I found gəldikcə was listed = gradually, little by little, day by day.

Could you say...

Güldükcə gülmək

or

Çaldıqca çalmaq

Looking forward to some help on this one.

New resource

I just happened upon a new online resource. It seems quite good.

obastan 

It has an Azərbaycan Dilinin İzahlı Lüğəti.

More signs around town...

From the pool.

Those sounds I love to hate

I have been trying a new program for improving my fluency and pronunciation. My friend N is helping me to read aloud "Robinzon Kruzo" in an abridged translation from altun kitab. It cost a mere 2.00 manat. I will hope to share a bit more on this soon, but for now I must say it has underscored my personal difficulty with certain sounds in Azerbaijani. N prepared some sentences and word lists to help me improve. See below (troublesome words in bold). I hope to have a sound file to accompany them soon...

arı
Sarı arı məni sancdı.

ağrı

ağır
ağır idi. [say as though written ağıridi]

arığ

ağac
Bax! Bağda yaşıl ağaclar var.

axır
Mətbəxdə su axır.

axı
Axı sən dedin ki, gədərsən.

üzüm
Üzümdən tər axır.
Mən üzüm yedim.

özüm
Özümdən getdim.
Mən özüm yedim.

üstündə
yüz
yön
ona görə
ora-bura
camaatina

Azərbaycanda ana dili ad günü idi (1 Avqustda)

I was looking at BBC Azeri again to read more about the news in Azerbaijan and discovered an interesting "blog" item from a writer named Nərmin Kamal. It is an interesting article about the language as it is used today. Let's try to translate...

Nərmin Kamalın bloqu: Azərbaycan dilinin qüruru

Narmin Kamal's blog: Arrrgghhh! OK, now even the title is troublesome. It seems the exact translation of the title would be Azerbaijan's language's pride. Now, that just doesn't work in English. So I have settled on: The grandeur of the Azerbaijani language. 

The article covers two main topics: 

Azərbaycan dilinin öz üstünlükləri və kəsiri, qüruru və qorxuları var.

"The Azerbaijani language has advantages and disadvantages, greatness and weaknesses."

So, what are the advantages? She seems to be saying that the advantage is that Azerbaijani is like a secret language that others don't understand - that is, workers can insult their boss with impunity because he doesn't understand what they are saying to him. (Did I understand this correctly? I assume he speaks English?) I must say I don't really get this. Things darken considerably when I try to translate “Ə düdük, bizdən yaxşı bilirsən?” Hey stupid [?], you know better than us? Well, check out what Dilmanc does with düdük. Can this really be? 

What are the disadvantages? Same as the advantage - other people don't speak it.

The weaknesses? Education in the mother tongue.

Greatness? That works of great literature exist and are still being written and published in Azerbaijani, despite racist comments from other cultures!

In this last section there is another sentence that is impossible for me to translate. 

"Yüz milyonlarla azərbaycanlı üçün Azərbaycan dili ev pijaması funksiyası yerinə yetirir."

What does this mean?? That millions of Azerbaijanis only speak Azerbaijani at home?

Someone help! Sometimes I despair of ever learning this language...

An experiment with Google Translate

Google featured some quotations from Nelson Mandela today. Not sure why, but I was interested to see that Azerbaijani translated appeared below for all but one of them. I decided to check if they were automatically generated from Google Translate or if they had been translated by a real person. In my opinion, they were translated by a person. Here is the evidence below. The English sentence, the translation given, finally the Google Translate version.

Opinions on the translations would be welcome.

No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion.

Heç kəs anadan olan kimi başqasına nifrət etmir, onun dəri rəngi, irs, və ya dininə göra.
[My colleague Arzu says that it should be - Heç kəs anadan olan kimi başqalarına onun irqinə, irsinə, və ya dininə göra nifrət etmir.]

Heç kim, çünki onun dəri və ya onun fon və ya onun dini rəng başqa bir şəxs nifrət doğuldu.
[Here the word for background is fon as in a background for a photo. The real sense is captured in the first translation - irs = heritage.]

People must learn to hate and if they can learn to hate they can be taught to love for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.

İnsanlar nifrət etməyi öyrənirlar, və nifrəti öyrənə bilsələr, sevməyi də öyrənə bilərlər, çünki insan urəyi üçün sevgi daha da təbiidir.

İnsanlar nifrət öyrənmək lazımdır və onlar nifrət öyrənə bilərsiniz əgər onlar onun əks çox insan ürək daha çox təbii gəlir sevgi sevgi tədris edilə bilər.

Education is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change the world.

Təhsil dünyanı dəyişdirmək üçün ən güclü siladır.

Təhsil biz dünya dəyişdirmək üçün istifadə edə bilərsiniz olan ən güclü silah.

For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.

Azad olmaq tək zənciri tökmək deyil, başqalarının azadlığını va hörmətini qazanmaqdır.

Azad olmaq üçün bir zəncir off tökmə, lakin başqalarına azadlığını hörmət və artırır ki, bir şəkildə yaşamaq sadəcə deyil.

The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time you fall.

Həyatda əbədən yıxılmamaq şöhrət deyil, hər zaman yıxılandan sonra qalxmaq daha böyük şöhrətdir.

Yaşayan böyük şöhrət düşən heç deyil var, lakin hər zaman yüksələn siz düşür.

More easily confused words

I'm back. I was talking to my friend H today and he mentioned a word for the plants that they make beach shelters out of - qamış. This is the word for cane, reed or rush - a kind of plant that grows in water. We called them cattails or bulrushes when I was a kid.

However, I made a mistake typing the word into Google Translate and instead wrote qəmiş. This is a funny word and a useful word if people are bothering you. This is what the dictionary has to say:

Bore, a pain in the neck. In other words, an annoying git. Someone who nags you.

Uses in sentences:

Qəmiş qoyma! Don't be annoying! Don't bother me!
Qəmişini çək!  Leave me alone! Get lost!

What I would like to know is, just how rude are these sentences? In English we could say "Stop bothering me." This is not rude. But then again, we could say "Oh just bugger off." This is decidedly rude. Then there is "Get lost!" Rather rude. And the famous f-word. So on a rudeness scale of 1 (not rude) to 5 (very rude), where would these expressions fall?

A conversation - with the sheep!

I found these two sheep in a lovely shop in Tbilisi recently. I thought they would be perfect for some Azerbaijani conversations. Here is the first recording...

Human body - the long list

I am still going through the Azerbaijani courses on Memrise. Most recently I started a human body list. It is really extensive. If I have to go to the doctor - no time soon I hope, I am sick of doctors! - I will have a lot of medical vocabulary at the ready. Of course I already know the basic body words for eyes, ears, etc. And after breaking my wrist I am very familiar with bilək! However, there were many new words in this list for me. OK, who knows when you will ever have to use the word spleen. But imagine the surprise of people if do happen to throw that into a conversation. Ay daaa! Mənim mədəm agrır, yoxsa bəlkə mənim dalaqım? Great conversation starter, eh?

I would encourage people to go to the website to take this course. I didn't find any mems, so I tried making up a few of my own. Of course, I didn't need one for diş əti - whoa! that's pretty obvious. And nəfəs borusu (breath tube) for bronchus is obvious as well. But dalaq? I imagined venting my spleen at Dal U (my old alma mater). And oynaq (joints)? It's very close to oynamaq and my husband certainly uses his joints when he dances! See how easy this is? Once you start creating mems you just can't stop! Try some yourself with this list from Memrise.

Human body 

baş

head

 

burun

nose

qulaq

ear

alın

forehead

göz

eye

qaş

eyebrow

 

göz qapağı

eyelid

kirpik

eyelash

sima

face, image, personality

  

yanaq

cheek

ağız

mouth

dodaq

lip

diş

tooth

  

diş əti

gum, gingiva

  

damaq

palate, roof of mouth

  

çənə

jaw

  

sırğalıq

earlobe

  

boyun

neck

  

peysər

back of the neck

  

gicgah

temple

  

çiyin

shoulder

  

qol

arm

  

dirsək

elbow

  

bilək

wrist

  

ovuc

palm

  

barmaq

finger, toe

  

dırnaq

nail, hoof

  

dəri

skin, leather

  

sinə

chest

  

tük

body hair

  

qarın

belly, abdomen

  

kürək

back, shoulder-blade

  

bel

waist, shovel

  

qurşaq

waist-band, girdle

  

ayaq

leg

  

diz

knee

  

bud

hip, thigh

  

baldır

calf, shin

  

topuq

ankle

  

pəncə

foot, claw

  

daban

heel

  

sümük

bone

  

əzələ

muscle

  

vətər

tendon, sinew

  

oynaq

joint

  

tüpürcək

spit, saliva

  

damar

vein

  

zülal

protein

  

ürək

heart

  

qara ciyər

liver

  

ağ ciyər

lung

  

nəfəs borusu

bronchus

  

mədə

stomach

  

dalaq

spleen

  

böyrək

kidney

  

bağırsaq

intestine

  

onurğa

spine

  

qabırğa

rib

bağ

ligament, lace, garden

Vocabulary

Time to look at a few new and useful words. I went swimming with a friend today at the Kempinski. It was totally deserted. Maybe because the wind speed today was an incredible 16 mps! Very strange weather for a sunny day in June. The lifeguards told us to use the lower pool. It was too windy for the ground-level pool. But even the lower level pool had choppy water. The wind blew my friend's sandals into the water. The lifeguard fetched them. She said "Why didn't yours blow in." "They are heavier than yours," was my reply. Famous last words. They went in as well and had to be fetched out. Finally I went for a swim and then one of my towels blew in. OK, time to give up. We decided to go for lunch. I was impatient to go and was urging my friend to hurry. This is when she introduced a new word - yubanmaq. She translated it as "being late or behind schedule".

For example:
Tez gəl! Yubanma!
or
Taksi artıq gəlib. Biz hələ yubanırıq.

So Yubanıram = Gecikirəm

Have you ever eaten səbzi? It is delicious. Greens and lamb. Beh beh beh! Here's a very nice recipe in Azerbaijani with pictures. It has spinach, coriander, and green onions, plus something called kəvər. No one has been able to tell me what this is in English, but it is certainly tasty. We used to eat this in Lebanon as well in something - if I recall correctly - called muhiya. Strangely enough, we had lunch at a Lebanese restaurant today - Beyrut. I highly recommend the place. Authentic Lebanese cuisine and a good place to practice your Azerbaijani with the friendly waiters.

One last random vocab - özünü aparmaq - to behave. I will try to make some sentences for this soon...

Here they are:

Rafiq! Sənin artıq 15 yaşın var amma ozünü lap uşaq kimi aparırsan! 

Rafiq! You are already 15 years old but you behave like a child!

Sabah sən Arzu ilə görüşənda belə hardasa məktəbdə özünü elə aparmalısan ki, o heçnə anlamasın ki, sən onu heçdə xoşlamırsan.

Tomorrow if you meet Arzu at school, you must behave in such a way that she won't realize that you don't like her.

Özünü hər barədə düzgün aparan qadın - əsl xanımdır!

The woman  who knows how to behave in any kind of  situation is a real lady!