39

I am oficially 39 now, and I am too tired to write something  obscure enough to make me look like a wise man. I am just getting old. And old is old, not wise. I am sorry, the 38 years behind me didn't leave me any keys to share with  you. I still don't know why on earth we exist, but at least learnt not to think about such matters and just try to enjoy it while it lasts. Hmm, maybe I am not that dumb, even though this still does not make me a wise guy. So happy birthday to myself.

chicken translators

This picture was circulating online some years ago, helping our day with a great stock of laughter. In case you don't know Turkish and wonder what possibly the sign in English is trying to say, it is trying to say: "Grilled Chicken". Lost in translation? Well, you can say so.

Other than being mocked by the entire nation, the owner of this sign probably has another problem: i bet he still wonders why this big sign hasn't affected the number of visitors, especially foreign ones, even though he paid a handsome amount of money for it. So you see, there's also micro economic crisis going on here.

So, assume that you are taking some fancy class in college and your professor asked you in the exam: "Considering the fact that, this sign and all the alike are not isolated incidents but a clear sign of business going bad, what would be your suggestion to solve it?"

Now assume that one of your classmates answered: "We should teach everyone perfect English," and another friend of yours said: "We should make sure that business owners understand this very simple notion that hiring a professional service is not loss of money. Instead, it will help you boost your business."

So who do you think will pass the exam?

The author of an article I read almost six months ago seems to believe in the first answer.  She complains about the diminishing quality of English being spoken in her country.

At first, I thought that she was right. They and we need a better education for our children to learn better English. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But then, I started to feel that there's something wrong with the article which disturbs me somehow.

Then I figured.

Did I tell you that she is from Malaysia and the she complains about the quality of English being spoken in Malaysia? Do people who say "Let's makan" insted of  "Let's have a lunch," or some school kids who say "Let me pass away" while in fact they  wanted to say "Let me pass through", or a businessman who tries to attract tourists with a sign shouting "chicken translate" while in fact he simply meant "grilled chicken"  indicate a serious education problem?

I don't think so.

Why does a public figure say something like "Let's makan"? Why doesn't he say it in his own language if he is already surrounded with people who understand what "makan" is? Or, why do some school children even try to speak English in a non-class environment in a non-English speaking country?

Of course it is a good thing to know a foreign language well enough to make sure that you are giving the correct message. Or, it is even better if you hire a professional to do that for you, but why does it have to be perfect? Why are you supposed to speak English or any other second language as perfect as possible? As a matter fact,  is it even possible?

If you want to read the article I mentioned, it is here.

And if you wonder why the hell i laughed at the sign if i totally advocate not being perfect at English, well, I didn't laugh because the guy used wrong words. I laughed because he dared to think he can do the job himself if only he finds a dictionary.

So what I am saying is, let's learn a foreign language, actually, let's not stop there and learn a second foreign language, even a third one, yay, but let's not let it dominate our domestic education.

list of articles about Syria

Just for the sake of spreading the word, i will share some articles on the Syrian issue which you will probably never see in main stream media. I will update it from time to time but just don't expect a fully up-to-date list.

1. Syria’s “Liberated” Future: Ethnic-Religious Cleansing and Genocide, by Shamus Cooke
2. Washington Wired for War: Why Syria Could Spell World Catastrophe, by Finian Cunningham
3. Humanitarian Military Intervention in Syria? Who is Behind the Atrocities?, by Prof. Michel Chossudovsky
4. SYRIA: NATO's Next "Humanitarian" War?,  by Prof. Michel Chossudovsky
5. CONFIRMED: US CIA Arming Terrorists in Syria, by Tony Cartalucci
6. "Orwellian Ramifications" Begin to Unfold in Syria, by Ismail Salami

pattern, part 3

I really don't want to fill this blog with political posts but I just need to sum up two previous posts about this pattern I have seen in the political arena in Middle East.

As I said earlier, the incidents in Syria and Turkey's own PKK problem share similarities which can't be explained by coincidence. The methods, the support system, the way international media prefers to look at the matter, they're all the same.

And, if you widen the time span, you will see the exact methods in an earlier era.

Turkey has a lot of pressure coming from the international society to accept (at least to an extend) the allegations about the Armenian Genocide. While it is indeed very true that Armenians suffered a lot during the deportation, it is an hypocrisy to totally ignore the events which caused the deportation.

The methods Armenian guerilla groups used in late 1800s and early 1900s are exactly the same. They first started attacking and killing their own Armenian community. Just like Kurdish terrorists did in mid 80s. Actually, if you widen the time and geographic span, you'll see the exact same methods applied by Greeks and Bulgarians, too.

And why did they start killing their own people in the first place? Because they needed to eliminate any opposition within. They killed or scared to death anyone who opposed them, anyone who refused to provide  help.

All these events are not coincidentally similar but different movements. They all serve the same ambition to take control of the lands which were once controlled by the Ottomans.

Make no mistake. I am not one of those delusional neo-Ottoman fools who dream about building the empire once again. On the contrary, I wish everyone could have seen what a silly idea this is. I can see that it is a very bad idea and it adds more problems to the ones we already have.

So I think it is extremely important to see that all these incidents are not separate from each other but strongly tied together.