The Roman dialect was “given” by the teacher Nimet İlon Gök, who comes from Tonia of Trabzon, through her book entitled “Paramythâ sa Romeika”. It is a book that includes classic fairy tales translated into the Pontic dialect.
“Mothers like me, who come from the Black Sea region and speak Romani, will now be able to read a few fairy tales to their children in their mother tongue,” says Nimet Ilon Gyok in an online interview with APE-MPE.
Nimet Ilon Giock’s path to self-knowledge began when she became a mother as she lulled her children to Roman glosses and read them fairy tales while simultaneously translating them into the Roman dialect, her mother tongue that kept her within and to indoctrinate her children, “ from cradle’, to the culture of her ancestors. She herself, in her teenage years and even at school, tried not to disclose her Pontic origin and the fact that she also knows another language.
“My dream was to go to university, I had ambitions to do things with my life and I thought it would stop me from progressing in my professional life. But the moment finally came when my soul and memories “spoke” and I thought that my children should know their roots and so I took the first step towards publishing a book of fairy tales in the Pontic dialect”, he says, noting that her friends who faithfully preserve their language and culture played a positive role in this.
“The book, which has just been released in Turkey, contains translations/metaphors in the Roman idiom of Tonia, of four classic fairy tales of world literature, rescuing for the first time, another evidence of the popular culture of Pontus”, the researcher tells APE-MPE linguist Vahit Tursun who dedicated his life to saving the Pontic dialect and encouraged Nimet to publish the book.
“When I realized that our children should have books in the language of their grandparents, I was looking through friends in Greece for fairy tales in the Pontic language… But even if they were found, I would not be able to read the fairy tales in Greek letters and I thought then: to make a translation ( in Turkish letters) in the Pontic dialect the fairy tales I love. So Pinocchio is now speaking my mother tongue because this smart, universally loved boy now knows Roman too,” says Nimet Ilon Gyock jokingly.
Asked if she has tried to write her own stories or fairy tales in the Pontic dialect, she says: “I tried but I have stopped for now. Maybe I’ll continue it. I want to make a book of Roman lullabies, along with a few stories from my childhood regarding the daily life of the family in the Black Sea region.”
Medicinal cannabis: Administration has begun at the Papageorgiou Pain Clinic
Pispirigou trial: Manos Daskalakis testifies for Malena and Iris [Βίντεο]
Lent Basket: Launches March 13th – Here’s What’s Included, What Will Happen to the Easter Basket
#Pinocchio #speaks… #Pontic
