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kuş

English translation: Bird language

03:06 Nov 25, 2009
Turkish to English translations [PRO]
Linguistics / Student Survey
Turkish term or phrase: kuş
Term appears in a respondent's answer on a university student survey. Under "general information," in answer to the question about what language the respondent speaks at home, the student has written, "kuş dili." This follows his answer, "New Guinea," to the question, "What country do you consider home?" All surveys are in Turkish and were answered by Turkish university students. I think the response is a joke, because "Bird language" can either refer to a type of pig Latin or is a popular culture reference (in Turkey). I know that New Guinea has hundreds of languages, but I don't think any of them are called "kuş dili." Does anyone have any idea how best to translate this term?
Rachel Lauber
Local time: 13:22
English translation:Bird language
Explanation:
"Kuş dili" can be translated as a "bird language" or maybe "eggy peggy". However as it is quite clear that the responded made a joke, I think it does not matter which one you choose. "Bird language" is a sound between whisteling and singing. Some people do this in the street and in addition they sell some piece of papers with a message of the day. The responded has a really good sense of humor:)
Selected response from:

Eva Koseoglu
Türkiye
Local time: 20:22
Grading comment
Very helpful! Thank you!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +3bird language
Ali Sinan ALAGOZ
5 +1gobbledygook
Ali Bayraktar
4 +2Eggy-Peggy
Bee Baran
4 +1pig Latin
Bee Baran
4Ubbi dubbi
Güzide Arslaner
4Bird language
Eva Koseoglu


  

Answers


38 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +1
gobbledygook


Explanation:
as for the answer to the question "What country do you consider home?" it is also a joke, and IMHO it can be translated as "Mars"

Ali Bayraktar
Türkiye
Native speaker of: Native in TurkishTurkish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Tim Drayton: My understanding is that 'kuş dili' is rule based; it is Turkish with certain standard phonological alterations introduced. As such, it is not 'gobbledygook', which refers to incomprehensible jargon.
4 hrs
  -> Do you think that he refers that? I mean, that he can speak a language with a rule? I don't think so, he used this expression exactly in the same meaning with "Martian Language". Kuş dili also has the meaning "not any language"
agree  Salih YILDIRIM: Indirectly, I buy your clarification Mr.Bayraktar
2 days 11 hrs
  -> Teşekkür Ederim. Mutlu Bayramlar Dilerim.
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43 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Ubbi dubbi


Explanation:
kuş dili is an artificial language and it is intended not to be comprehended by the public, by adding some prefixes or suffixes to the words, which is considered to sound like a bird. "gibberish" or "eggy-peggy" might be options but it's "system" is most similar to ubbi dubbi.

And the joke is not a very fashionable and intellectual one, you can be sure...

Güzide Arslaner
Türkiye
Local time: 20:22
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in TurkishTurkish
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55 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +3
bird language


Explanation:
As you have gathered the answerer is only messing about. It's used as a slang term in Turkey, so I'd use 'bird language'.

Ali Sinan ALAGOZ
United Kingdom
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in TurkishTurkish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Tim Drayton: Probably needs to be accompanied by an explanatory footnote.
4 hrs
agree  Mehmet Hascan: The answer was definitely a piss-take.
8 hrs
agree  Nigar Mancini
1 day 9 hrs
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42 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
Eggy-Peggy


Explanation:
Another alternative to pig Latin.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 46 mins (2009-11-25 03:52:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

In "kuş dili":

original sentence - Bence Eggy-Peggy kuş dili için iyi bir karşılık.

kuş dili sentence - Begencege egeggypegeggy kuguş digiligi igiçigin igiyigi bigir kagarşıgılıgık.

I used this one: http://www.nedirnedemek.org/araclar/kus-dili-ceviricisi?meti... (:

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2009-11-25 04:07:51 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

And again, I selected the wrong confidence level. That should have been "very high".

Example sentence(s):
  • Mary had a little lamb / Meggary heggad egga leggittle leggamb.

    Reference: http://www.laits.utexas.edu/hebrew/personal/language/codes/e...
Bee Baran
Australia
Local time: 03:22
Native speaker of: Turkish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Selcuk Akyuz
5 hrs
  -> Thank you.
agree  Salih YILDIRIM: Iyi Bayramlar
2 days 11 hrs
  -> Teşekkür ederim, iyi bayramlar.
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24 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
pig Latin


Explanation:
This really seems to be a joke. And I think "pig Latin" would be the best translation.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 44 mins (2009-11-25 03:50:33 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_Latin):

The usual rules for changing standard English into Pig Latin are as follows:
In words that begin with consonant sounds, the initial consonant or consonant cluster is moved to the end of the word, and "ay" is added, as in the following examples:
beast → east-bay
dough → ough-day
happy → appy-hay
question → estion-quay
star → ar-stay
three → ee-thray
In words that begin with vowel sounds or silent consonants, the syllable "ay" is added to the end of the word. In some dialects, to aid in pronunciation, an extra consonant is added to the beginning of the suffix; for instance, eagle could yield eagle'yay, eagle'way, or eagle'hay.[citation needed]
Transcription varies. A hyphen or apostrophe is sometimes used to facilitate translation back into English. Ayspray, for instance, is ambiguous, but ay-spray means "spray" whereas ays-pray means "prays."

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 9 hrs (2009-11-25 12:18:28 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Let's correct this. It is not the best "translation", but the best "cultural equivalent". Agreed.

Bee Baran
Australia
Local time: 03:22
Native speaker of: Turkish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Ali Sinan ALAGOZ: I don't think this directly refers to any culture reference in Turkey as it's actually in relation to English language.
12 mins
  -> Well, it's the closest one. Maybe Eggy-Peggy?
agree  Tim Drayton: This is the best 'cultural equivalent'.
4 hrs
  -> Thank you.
agree  Selcuk Akyuz
5 hrs
  -> Thank you.
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10 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Bird language


Explanation:
"Kuş dili" can be translated as a "bird language" or maybe "eggy peggy". However as it is quite clear that the responded made a joke, I think it does not matter which one you choose. "Bird language" is a sound between whisteling and singing. Some people do this in the street and in addition they sell some piece of papers with a message of the day. The responded has a really good sense of humor:)

Eva Koseoglu
Türkiye
Local time: 20:22
Native speaker of: Native in SlovakSlovak
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Very helpful! Thank you!
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