Publishing and Translation Symposium Held at SAMU

A symposium titled “Stations of the Texts: Publishing and Translation” was held at Samsun University. Organized over an online platform in cooperation with Samsun University Turkish Language and Literature Department and Thought and Art Center (DÜSAM), the symposium consisted of two separate panels.

The first panel of the symposium titled “Publishing”, moderated by Kaan Kurt, started with Müge Gürsoy Sökmen’s speech titled “Why Independent Publishing is Necessary”. Sökmen reminded us that these days when we are facing a big problem, we need to make room for free and fair thought, read, research, discuss and cooperate so that the world does not disappear. He emphasized that independent publishing is one of the important channels to achieve this.

The second speech of the panel was given by Selim Karlıtekin with his speech “The Gap That Cannot Be Closed With Translation”. Karlıtekin started his speech by saying “What I want to talk about today is the issue of taking responsibility for the book that is published.” Karlıtekin also touched upon the process of publishing theses written at universities in Turkey and said that many introductory books translated into Turkish can be written by academicians in Turkey. However, he emphasized that for this, a connection between university, academy, and editorship should be established.

The third speech of the panel was Ayşegül Utku Günaydın’s speech titled “Book Editor in the Art, Craft, and Trade Triangle “. Günaydın started her speech by saying “Today, the fact that this panel is divided into two, that one panel focuses only on translation, and that two presentations in this panel are mainly on translation literature shows us something. Because we can say that translation publishing is the backbone of publishing in Turkey. At this point, I thought it might be good to talk about editing.” Mentioning the arts, crafts, and commerce aspects of editorial work, Günaydın also touched upon the translator-editor relationship. Günaydınfinished her speech by saying that independent publishers are a haven for readers and quality books and that the reader should position herself well in order to maintain good publishing.

The “Publishing” panel ended with Barış Özkul’s speech titled “Translation Publishing”. Drawing a general framework for translation activities from the Ottoman period to the present, Özkul finished his speech by stating that Turkey has been going through a period of conservatism lately and that translation activity was inevitably affected by this. The first panel ended after the question and answer session.

The “Translation” panel of the symposium, moderated by Kaan Kurt, started with Emine Ayhan’s speech on “Translation and Editing of Shakespeare in Turkey”. Saying that Shakespeare has been the subject of new editions and new editions by many editors since the early 1700s, even in her own language, Ayhan said “In fact, many studies on Shakespeare, on the period and the area surrounding it, tell us that Shakespeare needs to be translated again. This needs to be constantly updated.” Emine Ayhan said that the most common clichés she encountered during translation were: “Aren’t you very localized?” and “Isn’t it so obscene?”

The second speech of the “Translation” panel was given by Armağan Ekici with his speech entitled “Oğuz Atay in Foreign Languages”. Ekici started his speech by saying “I will summarize the adventures of an author I love very much abroad.” He said that to date, Oğuz Atay’s books have been translated into German, French, Dutch, Italian, Albanian and Georgian. In his speech, Armağan Ekici focused on the translations of Sevin Seydi and Fulya Peker.

The “Translation” panel continued with Murat Erşen’s speech titled “Philosophy and Untranslatability: Praise for Translation”. Starting his speech by saying that the ratio of translated books to books published every year in Turkey is 50%, Erşen said that this situation has some meanings. Murat Erşen said that translation is important in the translation and publication of foreign, and unknown books. Erşen also said, “When I say Praise to Translation, what I mean is the possibilities of language and the expansion of the world of meaning through translation, and what is meant by untranslatability is the emergence of problems in translation, otherwise everything can be translated.”

Elif Okan Gezmiş made the last speech of the “Translation” panel with her speech titled “How Does Speaking/Not Speaking Turkish Affect Our World of Thought?” Talking about the process of psychology becoming a branch of science, Elif Okan Gezmiş also touched upon psychology studies in Turkey. Gezmiş continued his speech by talking about how the theorists in the history of psychology chose the terms and said, “We need to integrate the knowledge of psychology into Turkish and translate it into Turkish. Because I think that only in this way can we become a part of our world of thought and produce local knowledge in this way.”

After the question and answer session after the second panel, Samsun University Rector Prof. Dr. Mahmut Aydın made a speech of thanks. Prof. Dr. Mahmut Aydın said, “I would like to express my gratitude to the publishers working in Turkey’s most respected publishing houses and our translators who have translated many texts into our language for participating in this program organized by our university. Our programs on translation and broadcasting will continue at regular intervals. We will also be happy to host you in Samsun.”

After the speech of thanks, the symposium titled “Stations of the Texts: Publishing and Translation” ended.