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Translation - Turkish-English - mevlana'nın kısa bir beyiti

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Category Poetry - Culture

This translation request is "Meaning only".
Title
mevlana'nın kısa bir beyiti
Text
Submitted by hectorial
Source language: Turkish

Kişi kim olduğunu bilmek isterse, kimleri sevdiğine baksın.

Title
If a person wants to...
Translation
English

Translated by Mesud2991
Target language: English

If a person wants to know who he is, he should check out the people he loves.
Remarks about the translation
He --> he or she, she, they
Last validated or edited by lilian canale - 25 June 2014 16:48





Latest messages

Author
Message

21 April 2014 09:41

merdogan
Number of messages: 3769
Hi,
Can it be "who you are" ?

21 April 2014 10:41

Mesud2991
Number of messages: 1331
'If a person wants to know who you are' wouldn't match the second clause, I think.

21 April 2014 15:28

lilian canale
Number of messages: 14972
Hi Turkish experts,

Could anyone help us here, please?

CC: FIGEN KIRCI 44hazal44 Bilge Ertan

24 April 2014 14:19

merdogan
Number of messages: 3769
Dear Mesut,
I mean;
"If a person wants to know who you are, he/she should check out the people you love."

As you know,there is a proverb in Türkish like this;
"If a person wants to know someone, he/she has to check his/her friends."

24 April 2014 17:09

Mesud2991
Number of messages: 1331
Kişi (kendisinin) kim olduğunu bilmek isterse, kimleri sevdiğine baksın.

That's what I understood. But what you're saying might be true. The sentence has two meanings.

25 April 2014 08:49

merdogan
Number of messages: 3769
Yes,I know what you understood.

Maybe,we can use it (mine or yours) in reviews.

25 April 2014 11:03

Mesud2991
Number of messages: 1331
Fine by me. But it is very unusual to say "if a person wants to know who you are...". So I don't think that's what the speaker means. But as I said, it's fine by me.

25 April 2014 23:16

44hazal44
Number of messages: 1148
Hi,

I agree with Mesud's translation. It could also be understood as Merdogan said but I think "kiÅŸi" as subject refers more to the third person singular here.

26 April 2014 22:02

merdogan
Number of messages: 3769
Do you mean to unterstand yourself , you check out the people you love ? Is it possible if you are in love ?


27 April 2014 13:22

Mesud2991
Number of messages: 1331
Yes. As for the reason why "if a person wants to know who you are..." sounds strange, typically, no one gives you some advice on what other people should do with you. Someone might give you some advice on what you should do with other people.

Grammatically speaking, you're right, no question, but it sounds very odd, at least, to me.

We can rarely come across the context you're talking about. Anyway, we can handle the problem by making a note underneath the translation.

27 April 2014 13:11

FIGEN KIRCI
Number of messages: 2543
Hi,
I agree with Mesud's translation above and I think the meaning is 'Kişi (kendisinin) kim olduğunu bilmek isterse, kimleri sevdiğine baksın'.

Just an idea, but what if we use the word 'himself' here (although it is hidden in the source text):
"If a person wants to know himself*, he should look at the people he loves."
(*sometimes 'himself' is used to refer to a person without saying whether that person is man or a woman, that's why no need to add 'herself/she'.)