traduttore, traditore
An original work by Deniz Ibrahimzade, with Adriana Petkova, Melisa Gjoci, Ana Cardenas, Natalie Anashkin, Elnur Ibrahimzade, Irada Ibrahimzade, Ria Raj, Sara Moghimi
[ FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA / PALESTINE WILL BE FREE / FROM PALESTINE TO MEXICO / THESE BORDER WALLS HAVE GOT TO GO / WHAT DO WE WANT / CEASEFIRE / WHEN DO WE WANT IT / NOW / CEASEFIRE CEASEFIRE / IN OUR THOUSANDS IN OUR MILLIONS / WE ARE ALL PALESTINIANS / KHOSLA KHOSLA YOU CAN’T HIDE / YOU ARE FUNDING GENOCIDE / PALESTINE IS OUR DEMAND / NO PEACE ON STOLEN LAND / RESISTANCE IS JUSTIFIED / WHEN PEOPLE ARE OCCUPIED /
aşkım / my love [which my mother uses to refer to my father] / hər şeyim / my everything / bitanem / a piece of me [my father addresses me this way when i come home] / əzizim / my dear / sevgilim / my lover / ureyim / my heart [i call my cat this] / həyatım / my life / balım / my honey / gülüm / my rose / ciyərim / my liver / canim / my soul [i once taught a person i loved this. i regret it now.] / gurban olum / let me be your sacrifice [my grandmother always says this over video calls and my mother gets upset] / tatlım / my tasty / güzelim / my beauty / bebeğim / my baby / fıstık / my nut [my grandmother would call me this because she liked to joke my chin was full of hazelnuts] / bidenem / my only one / meymunim / my monkey [usually used for children] / gözüm / my eye / cücüm / my bug / topushum / my fatty / qardash / brother [you refer to anyone you respect in this way] / baci / sister [you refer to anyone you respect in this way] /
sound of cat purring /
she’s three years old and named after connie corleone from the godfather (1972) / she likes to sleep at the foot of your bed if she’s not curled up on your right shoulder / she destroys everything you knit as you knit it / she won’t let you go to the bathroom alone / there’s always one paw she puts too much pressure on when she sits on your stomach, crushing your intestines / you have an irrational fear that one time won’t be so lucky and she will send a nasty email the next time she walks over your keyboard / she watched you watch puss in boots: the last wish (2022) two times in the same month /
mi amor / my love / mi cielo / my sky / mi chula / my beautiful / mi reina / my queen / cariño / sweetie / mi alma / my soul / angel / angel / tesoro / treasure / mi luna / my moon / mis estrellas / my stars / mi vida / my life / guapo / handsome / mi corazón / my heart / querido/ dear / mami / papi / viejo / my old man / vieja / my old woman / mija / daughter / mijo / son / [gordo/a] / fatty for significant other / [compadre/comadre/carnal] / friend / [flaco/a] / skinny girl/boy for significant other /[jefe/jefa] / boss [parents] / [nena/nene] / kiddo or baby / linda / beautiful / muñequita / doll / mi media naranja / my soulmate or better half or my half of an orange / [chaparra/chaparro] / shorty / mi príncipe / my prince / mi princesa / my princess / [conejito/a] / little bunny / [changuito/a] / little monkey / cachetes / cheeks / [gusanito/a] / little worm / [pollito/a] / little chick / burbujita / little bubble / [precioso/a] / precious / paisa / compatriot / cuate / twin for friend / [hermano/a] / [brother/sister for friend] / [primo/a] / cousin for friend /
птичка / little bird / рыбка / fish / ласточка / swallow / мышка / mouse / мишка / little bear / [мася / масичка] / cutie / дорогая / dear / милая / sweetie / любовь / love /любимая / my love / душечка/ my soul/ красавица/ beauty/ неженка / tender/ солнышко / my sun/ звездочка / my star / куколка / doll / светик / light / кошечка / kitty/ лапочка / honey /
/ my love / عشقم / eshgham
/ my liver / جیگرم / jigaram
/ my love/ عزیزم / azizam
junam / جونم / my life [when someone calls me i reply with junam]
[khaharam/baradaram] / used confidentially or with love— my sister, my brother
nafasam / my breath
[banu/ banuuam] / lady, my lady: used as suffix /
omram / my life / jane delam— similar to junam/ life of my heart / dokhtaram / my daughter, sometimes i call my friends this condescendingly or lovingly / khanumam / my woman or lady— used like girlie / hame kasam / my everything [my grandma used this a lot]
hasti e man / my cosmos / ghalbam / my heart / khoshglam / my pretty / golam / my flower
roore / kid, kurdish-kermoonshahi [my great grandma used it often]
любов моя / my love / обич моя / my love / душа / my soul / скъпа / honey / сладур / cutie / щастие мое / my happiness / съкровище/ my treasure / злато / gold / бебенце / baby / слънчице / my sunshine/ звездичке / my little star / кукличка / doll / балонче / little balloon / джудженце / dwarf / зайче / bunny / слонче / little elephant / котенце / kitten / маймунка / monkey / пате / duckling / пиленце / chick / да мамо / your mother responds to you calling her mom by also calling you mom / да тате / your father responds to you calling him dad by also calling you dad / да лельо / your aunt responds to you calling her aunt by also calling you aunt /
ta ha synin / i’ll eat your eyes / syni jem / my eye / zemra jem / my very own heart / zemër / heart / shpirti jem / my soul / drita jem / light of mine / jetë / (mine) life / loqkë / sweetheart / fryma jem / you are the source of my breathing / bota jem / my entire world / sheqer / my sugar / gjaku jem / (mine) blood / lumi / (my) river / bebo or beb / my baby / dashuri / love / dashnija jem / my entire love / rrush / (mine) grape / pasunija jem / my entire richness- my treasure / vdeksha per ty / i’d die (in a second) for you / kanga jem / (my) song or song of mine—your voice sounds like a song / omelsinë / dessert of mine or sweetness of mine / drita e syve të mi / the light to my own eyes / unë jetoj per ty / i live for you / te kom gjithecka / you are everything to me / pikturë / meaning: you look (so beautiful) just like a painting /
meri jaan / translates to “my life” but is only ever used to refer to people. i most often hear this used parent to child, but i prefer to use it with [anthony/significant] others. / jaanu / variant of jaan that is used almost always between significant others. i’ve never heard a parent call their child jaanu / chotu / means small, usually romantic partners will use this term / [motu/golu] / means chubby or fat, almost always used for children (i think this term could be equated to the spanish term gordita/gordita) / [pyaaru/pyaari/pyaara] / derived from the word “pyaar,” which is one of the many hindi words for love / guriva / this means doll. my grandmother calls me this. /
[soniya/soniyo] / no clue how to translate this correctly. i’d guess beautiful/handsome / [raj(a)/(u)/rani] / king/queen. usually, a parent will call their child this. my cousins are twins (brother and sister and we have always called them raiu and rani. / chona / i actually have no clue what this translates to, but my mom has always called me it. / the following are usually used for children, but critically, it is not just used to refer to one’s own children. they are often used by elders to refer to younger people.
– beti/beta – my child [feminine] /my child [masculine]
– babu – my child
– bache/bacha – my child [i think bache is gender neutral, bacha is male]
ONE TWO THREE FOUR / OCCUPATION NO MORE / FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT / ISRAEL IS A TERROR STATE / THE PEOPLE UNITED WILL NEVER BE DEFEATED / GAZA, GAZA. DON’T YOU CRY / WE WILL NEVER LET YOU DIE / LOUDER, LOUDER, SAY IT MORE / NOT A CONFLICT, NOT A WAR / SDPD KKK / IDF YOU’RE ALL THE SAME / SETTLERS, SETTLERS, GO BACK HOME / PALESTINE IS OURS ALONE / THERE IS ONLY ONE SOLUTION / INTIFADA REVOLUTION / INTIFADA, INTIFADA / LONG LIVE THE INTIFADA / INTIFADA INTIFADA / INTIFADA / INTIFADA / IN / TI / FA / DA / INTIFADA
[ to shake off and free the dust from a cloth / resistance / uprising / liberation / to free palestine from apartheid / to free palestine from colonialism / to free palestine from occupation / to free palestine from the military regime / to free palestine / ]
translator, traitor
Deniz Ibrahimzade was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, speaks over seven languages, will make you a playlist, and has a deep-rooted fear that her cat only loves her because she does not have anywhere else to place her love. She also has a BA in Literature and Writing from the University of California, San Diego— where she currently resides. She is skeptical of the act of translation but finds herself unable to stop due to her background in languages.
Deniz orchestrated this project to collect terms of endearment found in other languages, working with other translators to assemble this piece. All translators currently reside in California and are immigrants or children of immigrants.
Translator’s Note:
The main language I speak, in addition to English, is Azerbaijani. When I find myself wanting to express love, I revert back to my mother tongue. I understand language through culture and its influence; therefore, because Turkic cultures often normalize expressions of love in comparison to Western ones, there are more terms of endearment to use when speaking to loved ones. This train of thought influenced this project of translation. I asked the closest people in my life the words they grew up hearing and the words they use with their loved ones— followed by the closest translation they could provide into English. This translation could not be limited to merely one or two words; the emotional connotation of the word was also translated. This was a method employed in hopes of bridging the gaps between terms one could consider “strange” in English, such as “ciyərim” meaning “my liver” from Azerbaijani.
There are a number of ways that this piece connects to the theme of “Speculative Worlds.” For example, there are a number of languages being translated into English— who are in conversation with one another through the main topic of endearment terms. The title plays with the idea of translation as a betrayal while the work itself does its best to counteract that by translating unconventionally. In addition to the translation of words, the emotional connection the author has to the word in their mother tongue is translated as well— for example with “[my grandmother would call me this because she liked to joke my chin was full of hazelnuts] for a translation of “fıstık.” This piece also tries to deconstruct the idea of language by introducing new ones: the purring of a cat as a language of love, or the chants heard at a protest as another.