The cannon signals the time for the fast breaking meal to begin. The time from sunrise to sunset is long enough here but must be significantly longer at higher latitudes. So check Inuvik. Yes, sunset today at 23:50 followed by sunrise tomorrow morning at 5:52. But this is early in the Islamic (lunar) month. Fast forward to the end of Ramadan and the last night is a mere hour and thirteen minutes long. Probably few observant Muslims living in Inuvik, but fair deterrent for any thinking of moving there. Turns out I am not the first to spot the difficulty. Wikipedia is pleased to explain: “Although fatwas have been issued declaring that Muslims who live in regions with a midnight sun or polar night should follow the timetable of Mecca, it is common practice to follow the timetable of the closest country in which night can be distinguished from day”. A fatwa, despite ominous shades of death threats to the likes of Rushdie, being merely a legal opinion.
Becoming informed here is not a passive process, particularly for those who don’t speak Turkish. The government is fairly good at providing information, but naturally their releases are in Turkish. So the first attempts at translation we are treated to are often a bit of a mystery. Thus today we get the announcement regarding changes to the lockdown, still most often translated as curfew. “The meeting of the Council of Ministers is over. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kurdistan Region announced the decisions”. Sounds official enough. But the Kurdistan Region?! Have we wandered into a press release from the wrong country entirely? And what to make of this: “Failure to leave during the night until 15 o’clock was extended”? There’s also a list of “places that will be closed for up to 15 months” including, improbably, kindergartens, hairdresser, and picnic area parks”.
As with most ministerial announcements in translation, one might as well enjoy the humour and exercise patience. Better translations will follow along with glosses, accurate and otherwise. So in the next translation the Kurdistan reference has disappeared. The 15 o’clock night bit seems to have been a very strange attempt at saying there will still be a nine o’clock curfew. And the list of places closed for up to 15 months is the easiest to solve - read “up to [until] the fifteenth of the month [May]. Press releases like cryptic crossword clues.
Becoming informed here is not a passive process, particularly for those who don’t speak Turkish. The government is fairly good at providing information, but naturally their releases are in Turkish. So the first attempts at translation we are treated to are often a bit of a mystery. Thus today we get the announcement regarding changes to the lockdown, still most often translated as curfew. “The meeting of the Council of Ministers is over. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kurdistan Region announced the decisions”. Sounds official enough. But the Kurdistan Region?! Have we wandered into a press release from the wrong country entirely? And what to make of this: “Failure to leave during the night until 15 o’clock was extended”? There’s also a list of “places that will be closed for up to 15 months” including, improbably, kindergartens, hairdresser, and picnic area parks”.
As with most ministerial announcements in translation, one might as well enjoy the humour and exercise patience. Better translations will follow along with glosses, accurate and otherwise. So in the next translation the Kurdistan reference has disappeared. The 15 o’clock night bit seems to have been a very strange attempt at saying there will still be a nine o’clock curfew. And the list of places closed for up to 15 months is the easiest to solve - read “up to [until] the fifteenth of the month [May]. Press releases like cryptic crossword clues.
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