WE, THE PONTIC GREEKS, LOVE OUR LANGUAGE
Description: The Pontic Greek dialect has lost many speakers due to the expulsion of so many from the geographical area in which it used to thrive, the southern Black Sea coast. Our interlocutor Anatoli Karipidou suggests that the loss of a language means the loss of an entire world. Karipidou, well-known for her Pontic Greek translation of the two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer, The Odyssey and The Iliad, believes that nothing will be achieved if one only points out the loss of language. You have to do something: to speak it and teach it. She thus became one of the most active translators and teachers of Pontic Greek. The difficulties of dialect translation are not only an intellectual enrichment for her, but also a welcome distraction from the current crisis.
Cite as: Emís i Póndii θélome i ɣlósa mun – We, the Pontic Greeks, love our language; performer: Anatoli Karipidou; camera/ interview: Thede Kahl, Andreea Pascaru; transcription/ translation: Thede Kahl, Sotirios Rousiakis; editor: Valentina Paul; retrieved from www.oeaw.ac.at/VLACH, ID number: pont1253GRV0011a.
HOW I TRANSLATED "THE LITTLE PRINCE"
Description: Anatoli Karipidou has a passion for literature, language and teaching. In this interview she gives us insights into her Pontic Greek translation of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The book is well-known worldwide for its philosophical, in-depth content whereas the message touches not only grown-ups but also the very young audience, in this case, her pupils from the first grades. In this interview she emphasizes the way that little children perform and get into the shoes of the characters they play, an aspect she has joyfully contemplated since the early years of her career as a teacher. Theater seems to develop not only empathy for one another, it also acts as a method of learning by playing. While mixing real life stories and fiction, Anatoli hopes to initiate children into a rich way of thinking and living their lives through the language they inherited from their ancestors.
Cite as: O Mikrón o Príng'ipas – How I translated "The Little Prince"; performer: Anatoli Karipidou; camera/ interview: Thede Kahl, Andreea Pascaru; transcription/ translation: Thede Kahl, Sotirios Rousiakis; editor: Valentina Paul; retrieved from www.oeaw.ac.at/VLACH, ID number: pont1253GRV0012a.