How to Translate Turkish -- Part II

O tarihe kadar olan kanun ve teamüle aykırı olarak vezir-i azam tayin edilen İbrahim, devlet işlerinde tabii acemi olduğu için kendisine divan usul ve kaidelerini öğretecek birisi lazım olduğundan Piri Paşa zamanında tezkirecilik eden, fazl u kemali ve kaleminin kudreti ve divan işlerine vukufu cihetiyle gerek Yavuz Sultan Selim ve gerek Kanuni Sultan Süleyman tarafından sevilen Celal-zade Mustafa Bey bu işe memur edilmistir.

Translating long sentences calls for some imagination and ingenuity on our part. And while we certainly want to make use of the simple translation techniques we learned for shorter sentences, we also need to do a translation 'pre-pass' on the long sentence to break it up into logical phrases and clauses that we can more easily work with. So, starting at the front and working towards the back, we'll snip off phrases and clauses and set them aside in sequential order -- whenever we encounter:

• a verbal construction on it's own (like, the participle eden), or
• a preposition on its own (like cihetiyle), or
• a combination verbal construction followed immediately by a 'preposition' (like olduğu için)...

1. O tarihe kadar olan...
   (that is/was) until this time in history...
   Comments:
   1) We snipped this phrase because we hit a verbal construction on its own, olan.
   2) We need to recall from what we learned about simple translations, that olan (a present participle) 'links' with the following word (or word phrase) in the sentence -- which, in this case, is...

2. ...kanun ve teamüle aykırı olarak...
   (being) contrary to law and tradition
   Comment: We snipped this one because we hit olarak (a verbal construction) on its own. And olarak links to the next word (or word phrase) which is...

3. ...vezir-i azam tayin edilen...
   who was appointed Grand Vizier
   Comments:
   1) And we snipped this one, because we hit edilen (a verbal construction) on its own...
   2) Remember our history lesson above? It was Ibrahim who was appointed Grand Vizier, wasn't it? So this phrase can only refer to him -- not the gents who show up later in sentence.
   
   As an extra confirmation, we need only recall that
   edilen (a present participle) 'links' to
   the next word in the sentence, Ibrahim...
   So (in the backs of our minds)
   we are (just) beginning to be able to string these
   phrases/clauses together now, meaningfully.
   Aren't we?

4. ...İbrahim, devlet işlerinde tabiî acemi olduğu için...
   Ibrahim, because he was rank amateur in the workings of state
   Comments:
   1) We snipped this one because we hit olduğu için (a verbal construction followed immediately by a 'preposition')...
   2) The only favour the author of this difficult sentence has done for us English-speaking readers is to 'nail' Ibrahim as the sentence's subject. He's done that with the purposeful placement of the first comma of the sentence -- a dead give-away that the word preceding that first comma, Ibrahim, is the subject. This is a common 'device' that Turkish authors use to 'spot-light' the subjects of their long Turkish sentences -- and it may reward us to remember that.
   
   Turkish authors are very stingy
   when it comes to using punctuation marks,
   (like commas, for instance).
   So when they do use them, we pay a lot of attention!
   

5. ...kendisine divan usul ve kaidelerini öğretecek birisi lazım olduğundan...
   because of it being necessary that someone would teach him the 'divan' methods and rules
   Comments:
   1) We snipped this one because we hit olduğundan (a verbal construction followed immediately by a 'preposition' --
   the suffix, -dan)
   2) Ibrahim could not teach himself the 'divan methods and rules', so at this point -- the sentence begins to shift to information about someone who could teach him...
   3) Notice how the -dan suffix means because of in this instance. Click to see another example of this and Other examples of the (too) many uses of -den/dan...

6. ...Piri Paşa zamanında tezkirecilik eden...
   who was a secretary in the time of (Grand Vizier) Piri Paşa
   Comment: This one got snipped because we hit eden (a verbal construction on its own)...

7. ...fazl u kemali ve kaleminin kudreti ve divan işlerine vukufu cihetiyle...
   on account of his knowledge of the divan workings and his clerical office ability and because of his virtue and maturity
   Comment: We snipped this one because we hit cihetiyle (a 'preposition' on its own)...

8. ...gerek Yavuz Sultan Selim ve gerek Kanuni Sultan Süleyman tarafından sevilen...
   who was loved both by Sultan Selim The Grim and Sultan Süleyman The Magnificent
   Comments:
   1) We snipped this one because we hit sevilen (a verbal construction on its own)...
   2) Notice how the repeated gerek (which means necessary, needed when it's not repeated) is used to mean both .. and, in this case -- as it fronts the two proper nouns, Yavuz Sultan Selim and Kanuni Sultan Süleyman.
   When it fronts more than two nouns/phrases it means whether...or -- as in, Gerek ben feryat edeyim, gerek siz feryat edin, gerek o feryat etsin, hepimiz dondurma için feryat ederiz. Whether I scream or you scream or she screams, we all scream for ice cream...

9. Celal-zade Mustafa Bey bu işe memur edilmiştir.
   Mister Celal-zade Mustafa was entrusted with this job.
   Comment: We snipped this one because we hit edilmiştir (a verbal construction on its own) -- which happens also to be the end of the sentence, of course.

And, we suppose you could moosh those phrases and clauses around in an attempt to preserve the loooonnng sentence structure for the English translation. If you did that you might end up with something like...

Ibrahim, who was appointed Grand Vizier contrary to the law and tradition (that had been accepted) up until this time, (because he) was a rank amateur in the workings of state, and because of it being necessary that someone would teach him the divan method and rules, Celal-zade Mustafa Bey who was a 'secretary' in the time of (Grand Vizier) Piri Paşa and who was loved both by Sultan Selim The Grim and Sultan Süleyman The Magnificent on account of his knowledge of the divan workings and his clerical office ability and because of his virtue and maturity, was entrusted with the task of this job.

Ah, yes. Tha's much nicer, now...
Innit?