VOA标准英语2009年-Kurdish Language Making Inroads in Turkish

By Dorian Jones
Antalya, Turkey
30 October 2009 

 
Turkish Kurdish women wave traditional headscarf celebration of Kurdish New Year in city of Diyarbakir, 21 March 2009 
Decades of simmering tensions between Turkey and its large Kurdish population have recently shown clear signs of relaxing, a change that was on visual display at this month's Golden Orange Film Festival in the Mediterranean¹ city of Antalya. Some of the films in competition this year were in the Kurdish language, an event that would have once been illegal in Turkey. But there are still tensions over the Kurdish minority's cultural identity.

One film at this year's Golden Orange Festival showed the execution of a Kurdish couple in front of their children by Turkish secret police. The scene comes from the film, Min Dit, which details Turkey's so called "dirty war" against Kurdish separatists. The story is told through the eyes of the two surviving children of the couple who were killed. But what proved to be most controversial aspect of the film is not its subject, but the language.

The film was shot in Kurdish, a language that was banned in public in Turkey until 1991 and was only allowed on state television in 2004. Although Kurds make up about one fifth of the population, films in the Kurdish language are virtually unknown. For Turkish kurdish director Miraz Bezar the decision of the Antalya film festival to choose his film for its national competition came as relief.

"When we did the film we just didn't know where or when its going to be shown in Turkey. Because when we wrote and shot it we just did not know would Turkey be that far to show it. because its very paradox², on one way they allow kurdish tv on state television. On the other side they forbid kurdish parliamentarians to talk in their mother tongue. So we did the first step to shoot it in kurdish and theme that is taboo³. And yes you need someone to follow you, to support us in a way just to show it. And we were happy that did it. so I was really relieved," he said.

Both the film's subject and its language proved controversial.

This woman shouts at Bezar's news conference that he is dividing our country. She called him a disgrace.

While the film's first screening at the festival saw many people walking out in protest, while much of the remaining audience applauded.

Speaking at the end of film the comments were positive. This man's view was typical. "Its a very important film, this man says, especially for peace in Turkey. He says most of the Turkish people think that the is no Kurdish mother language. They think its just a few little words but not a language. But, he says, this film shows the language, and like Turkish people, there are Kurdish people," he said.

But Min Dit was not the only film at the festival to deal with country's Kurdish taboo.

One documentary explores the plight⁴ of a teacher who is desperately⁵ trying to teach Kurdish children, but most don't understand a word of Turkish, the language used at the school. The seemingly impossible task is shown in the documentary "On The Way to School", by Ozgur Dogan and Orhan Eskikoy.

The film follows the trials and tribulations⁶ of Emre Aydin, a young and enthusiastic teacher sent to the predominantly rural Kurdish southeast to teach. For Dogan who is Kurdish it was story that had to be told.

"Our biggest expectation is to start a discussion over this film," he says. He says Kurds view education being taught in their native language as a basic human right. He says the problem is that both the students and the teachers are victims. He says, when he started school at seven, he only spoke⁷ Kurdish and it was difficult for both the teachers and students, a fact he says that he wanted to reflect in the film.

In the documentary, Aydin explains to his mother how difficult teaching is and that he is exhausted⁸. Those telephone conversations which appear throughout the film make it easy to empathize with the teacher, along with his desperate efforts to communicate with the children.

The documentary is purely⁹ observational and critics say its avoids being didactic, helping¹⁰ to broaden its appeal.

And that approach was rewarded at the festival with the directors winning best first new film. That success was broadcast live on Turkish TV. The documentary is now being screened in cinemas across the country. Observers say the emergence¹¹ of kurdish in Turkish cinemas, will help to finally end the country's taboo over its Kurdish identity.

1 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

2 paradox   

n.似乎矛盾却正确的说法；自相矛盾的人(物)

参考例句：

• The story contains many levels of paradox.这个故事存在多重悖论。
• The paradox is that Japan does need serious education reform.矛盾的地方是日本确实需要教育改革。

3 taboo   

n.禁忌，禁止接近，禁止使用；adj.禁忌的；v.禁忌，禁制，禁止

参考例句：

• The rude words are taboo in ordinary conversation.这些粗野的字眼在日常谈话中是禁忌的。
• Is there a taboo against sex before marriage in your society?在你们的社会里，婚前的性行为犯禁吗？

4 plight   

n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定

参考例句：

• The leader was much concerned over the plight of the refugees.那位领袖对难民的困境很担忧。
• She was in a most helpless plight.她真不知如何是好。

5 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

6 tribulations   

n.苦难( tribulation的名词复数 )；艰难；苦难的缘由；痛苦

参考例句：

• the tribulations of modern life 现代生活的苦恼
• The film is about the trials and tribulations of adolescence. 这部电影讲述了青春期的麻烦和苦恼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

9 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

10 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

11 emergence   

n.浮现，显现，出现，（植物）突出体

参考例句：

• The last decade saw the emergence of a dynamic economy.最近10年见证了经济增长的姿态。
• Language emerges and develops with the emergence and development of society.语言是随着社会的产生而产生，随着社会的发展而发展的。