#maryq

[barbarapicci]

#Streetart: "#TheBrothersKaramazov" by #MaryQ @ mary_kudasheva in #StarayaRussa, Russia, for #PageofhistoryFestival @streetart_page_of_history More pics at: https://barbarapicci.com/2021/10/07/streetart-maryq-staraya-russa-russia/ #arte #art #graffiti #murals #murales #arteurbana #urbanart #muralism #muralismo #cultureisfreedom #artisfreedom #curiositykilledtheblogger #artblogging #photooftheday #artaddict #artistsoninstagram #artcurator #artwatchers #artcollectors #artdealer #artlover #contemporaryart #artecontemporanea https://www.instagram.com/p/CUvPyaqgl4h/?utm_medium=tumblr

[barbarapicci]

#Streetart by #MaryQ @mary_kudasheva in #Gothenburg, Sweden, for #gbg400år @artscape_festival More info at: https://barbarapicci.com/2021/06/23/streetart-maryq-gothenburg-sweden/ #arte #art #graffiti #murals #murales #arteurbana #urbanart #muralism #muralismo #cultureisfreedom #artisfreedom #curiositykilledtheblogger #artblogging #photooftheday #artaddict #artistsoninstagram #artcurator #artwatchers #artcollectors #artdealer #artlover #contemporaryart #artecontemporanea https://www.instagram.com/p/CQeXcePFnzM/?utm_medium=tumblr

[lccpcalbania]

6 Ways to have fun learning Albanian

For the arrival of Group 18 in Albania (Mire se vini Grupi 18!!), the LCC worked to collect suggestions for ways to have fun learning Albanian. Here they are below:

Alayna and Erich: Tongue twisters!! They test your pronunciation and are devilishly difficult. Kupa me kapak, kupa pa kapak. Shaboni shkoi ne Shkoder, shiti Shamine shume shtrenjt, shtatmije e shtateqinde e shtatedhjete e shtate.

Jackie: Miming! If you’re communicating and don’t know a word, miming can be a fun way to try and get your point across and learn a new word.

Jon B: When I take a bus/furgon trip, I sometimes play a little game. I try to translate everything I see - on street signs, buildings, ads, etc. I write down the words that I don't know in a journal and translate them later. It's fun to see if I can get through a trip, knowing all the Shqip/Albanian I see along the way.

Mary: Make a fool of yourself! I make a fool of myself all the time, mixing up words and then laughing at myself with Albanians. It’s a great way to create bonds and when you learn the correct word or phrase, it’s much harder to forget it.

Mark: I like playing games, whether sidewalk games with kids or chess or old men or Murlan with anybody, any age. You quickly have to learn the vocabulary to keep up, especially with kids.

Miranda: Writing poems! It stretches your vocab, even if you’re just doing a little haiku, and there’s a beautiful finished product when you’re done.

Use one or use all, these are tried and true ways of learning some valuable words while also having fun.

[lccpcalbania]

I live in the apartment of a retired English teacher and his wife. They recently moved to the capital to be closer to their children, but continue to store many of their belongings here – including his vast library. (Which, of course, I love.) The books mostly date from the communist era and include gems such as this title page:

MENDIMI TERORIK I SHOKUT ENVER HOXHA PËR KULTURËN DHE LETËRSINË PËRPARIMTARE BOTËRORE

Theoretical Opinion of Comrade Enver Hoxha on Progressive World Literature and Culture

The book continues to quote the “eminent scholar” Comrade Enver Hoxha (who, remember, was the communist dictator from 1944-1985) throughout the rest of the book. But in addition to Albanian literature, my landlord’s library also includes translations of world literature – many unrecognizable by their Albanian-ized titles alone, due to transcription.

I am constantly amused by the Albanian transcription of foreign words, especially those from English, for two reasons: one, because it often renders the words incomprehensible to English readers, and two, because it usually makes better sense in the end. In English, we have a multitude of silly rules which govern pronunciation; in Shqip, every letter makes the same sound, always. It makes pronunciation wonderfully easy for students of Shqip and wonderfully miserable for students of English. See if you can decipher the titles and authors that follow. (Answers follow at the bottom.)

1). Shumë zhurmë për asgjë – U. Shekspir  (shumë – much; zhurmë – noise; për – for; asgjë – nothing)

2). Udhëtimet i Guliverit – Xhonatan Suifti  (udhëtimit – travels; i – of)

3). Rob Roi – Ualltër Skoti

4). Xjen Ejr – Sharlotë Brontë

5). Pigmalioni – Gj. B. Shou

6). Përallat e Kanterbërit  – Xhefri Çoseri     (përallat – tales)

7). Panairi i Kotësive – Uilljam M. Thekeri    (panairi – fair; i – of; kotësive – vanities)

1). Much Ado About Nothing – William Shakespeare; 2). Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift; 3). Rob Roy – Walter Scott; 4). Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë; 5). Pygmalion – George Bernard Shaw; 6). Canterbury Tales – Geoffrey Chaucer; 7). Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray.

[lccpcalbania]

To Each Their Own (and Other Idioms)

I’m always fascinated by local idioms. Where do they come from? Why do some vastly distant and different languages share idioms? Why are they so weird? Consider the quintessential English idiom “to kill two birds with one stone.” The same expression exists in shqip: me një gurë, vras dy zogj. (With one stone, I kill two birds.) Does this expression, clearly a reference to the ancient equation less work + more protein = evolutionary fitness, exist across the world? It turns out, it does! Some cultures use similar metaphors (two birds with one arrow; two flies with one swat), but from England to Albania to China you’ll find folks trying to “kill two birds with one stone”…as morbid as that seems.

Other times, idioms are similar across languages but differ because of rhyming, alliteration, or cultural norms. In English, we say “live and learn;” the Albanian version is actually a little rhyme: Sa ta rrosh, do te mesosh. (As long as you live, you learn.)

Lastly, there are always idioms, unique to a language, that sound strange to outsiders. For example, the common Albanian expression peshku qelbët nga koka (a fish rots from the head) makes no sense to me. Can’t a fish rot from the tail? In this case, the idiom refers to corruption beginning at the top of the hierarchy; although it could be argued that corruption is just fishy in general.

The most valuable idiom I’ve learned is the perfect response to the dreaded question, “Which do you like better, Albania or America?” How can you succinctly explain that there are pros and cons to both countries? Just use s’ka pyll pa dera – there’s no forest without pigs!

[lccpcalbania]

Ismail Kadare

Poet, historian, and Man Booker International Prize-winner Ismail Kadare is Albania’s best known modern author. His first novel, Gjenerali i ushtrisë së vdekur (General of the Dead Army), was an international success and was included in Le Monde‘s 100 Books of the Century. Published in 1963, it tells the story of an Italian general, sent to reclaim the bodies of his country’s slain soldiers twenty years after the conclusion of WWII. Another international success, Prilli i thyer (Broken April), exposed international audiences to Albania’s continued struggle with blood feuds. Fans of To Kill a Mockingbird and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn will enjoy Kronikë në gurë (Chronicle in Stone), a semi-autobiographical novel set during the occupation of Gjirokaster (Kadare’s home city) by the Italians and Germans during 1940-1945.

“I couldn't get to sleep. The book lay nearby. A thin object on the divan. So strange. Between two cardboard covers were noises, doors, howls, horses, people. All side by side, pressed tightly against one another. Boiled down to little black marks. Hair, eyes, voices, nails, legs, knocks on doors, walls, blood, beards, the sound of horseshoes, shouts. All docile, blindly obedient to the little black marks. The letters run in mad haste, now here, now there. The a's, f's, y's, k's all run. They gather together to create a horse or a hailstorm. They run again. Now they create a dagger, a night, a murder. Then streets, slamming doors, silence. Running and running. Never stopping.” 

(Kronikë në gurë)

Kadare claimed political asylum in France in 1990, where he lives to this day. Although subject to criticism for his cooperation with the communist regime of Enver Hoxha, Kadare emphatically stated at that time that “dictatorship and authentic literature are incompatible. The writer is the natural enemy of dictatorship.” The recurring theme of his novels, how the past affects the present, serves as a fascinating lens through which to view Albanian society today, and continues to provide new insights into what the future may bring for Kadare’s beloved country.