rebecca soble

About a week ago, Emrah borrowed a Playstation from a friend, with a few games, and we’ve been playing together when we both have free time at the same time. There’s a football (soccer/futbol) game which I tried and failed pathetically at. Ronaldinho I am not. There’s a road racing game which I did minimally better at - at least there’s only one araba to control as opposed to 11 futbolcu. The game I was the most hesitant about was Resident Evil 4, since the box warns about blood/gore/intense violence and its name isn’t exactly warm-fuzzy. But it has actually turned out to be the most fun. In addition to the constant zombie/monster/satanic cult member/insect killing, the game also has lots of puzzles to figure out, a mapped area to find your way through, and lots of details like managing equipment, finding treasure, and of course saving a helpless blonde girl. The graphics are very good and there’s a lot of variety in the surroundings, though the predominant colors are brown and gray and it always seems to be night.

Technically I’m only watching, because I intensely don’t want to have the controller in my hand, maniacally (and fruitlessly) pressing buttons and wiggling the joystick while being virtually pummeled to death by zombies. Instead Emrah is in full control of the controls and I’ve become the official “Resident Evil 4 English-Turkish Translator”. And thus have I acquired a whole new unexpected turkish vocabulary. I have permanently memorized the words for ammunition and gun, and I can now use the verb “to die” in several forms - past (dikkat et, o ölmedi! / be careful, he didn’t die!), present continuous (bence o ölüyor, vurma, mermini harcamama / I think he is dying, don’t shoot, save your ammunition), conditional (ölürsen nereden tekrar başlayacağız? / if you die, where do we start from again?). It also helps me practice translating things quickly, because time is often crucial. But with my limited vocabulary, I take liberal license. For example:

“To allow access, the lion requires a sacrifice be given” ends up being “Aslan bir şey istiyor” / “The lion wants something”

“He who takes the chalice will be cursed” = “Bardağı alarsan, pişman olacaksin” = “If you take the glass you will regret it”

“When two moons become one, passage will be granted” = “kapıyı açmak için iki ay lazım” = “to open the door, you need two moons”

From a perpetually sarcastic evil-guy-in-charge: “How nice to see you again, though I’m surprised you’ve survived this long. It’s been lovely to have you as our guest but now you must prepare to die” = “O seni sevmiyor” = “He doesn’t like you” (I can’t translate sarcasm.)

Emrah doesn’t seem to care how accurate my translations are, as long as I can figure out which ammo goes with which gun. So in addition to translator, I am also now official munitions expert. I’m not sure how transferable that skill will be…