Translating the Self in Erasmus Journey: State of Constant Questioning
When I first learned about Erasmus, there was a version of me waiting to be transformed into someone new. The values added by different cultures, religions, and countries have shaped me into who I am today. At the same time, it provided me with a sense of awareness and the habit of questioning. I believe the experience and perspective I gained there are significant. I want to share them with you. Once, while sitting with a Taiwanese friend, we started talking about sensitive topics. She explained the problems they were facing in their country. The moment I realized the sensitivity of this topic for them, I began to choose my words carefully and tried to look at the matter from their perspective. I understood more clearly that a piece of information can be interpreted in many ways. It shed light on a complete blind spot for me and taught me that such different viewpoints could exist.
Regarding the process of adaptation, they say you become a different person in a different language. During my time there, I opened myself up to different cultures and perspectives. I can say that this helped me adapt more quickly. For example, I stopped questioning why supermarkets closed at 5 PM. That was the fun part of my experience. The most significant factor in my adaptation was taking Hungarian classes. At first, I did not want to take them at all because it was a language I had never heard in my life. However, I can now say that I have reached a level where I can manage my daily life. I could finally communicate with people at the supermarket, in restaurants, cafes, and even at the local market. I can say that immersing myself in the language further localized me within that country. I started complaining less about the place where I lived and began to think more like a local. To be honest, I feel as though I have developed a Hungarian version of myself. As Wittgenstein said, “the limits of my language mean the limits of my world.” If I had never learned the local language, perhaps I would have never met this version of myself. While traveling through countries, I was constantly comparing my existing knowledge with the information I acquired there. I could say that my mind was in a continuous state of translation. While walking the streets of Slovakia, I came across a street artist. As I was looking at his paintings, he approached me. He asked where I was from and other typical questions. Although his English was not very good, he told me about the stories behind his paintings. Then he asked where else I had traveled, and I showed him my photos. He started giving me information about the places I had visited. I tend to do brief research on the places I am going to visit beforehand. In fact, if there is no English explanation in some places, I refer to the Turkish sources. I was surprised by something while talking to the man. It was that the histories of the places I visited differed in some points from those found in Turkish text. After that, I started looking at all kinds of sources while traveling. I even began to question the language used in translations. Although that moment was surprising and somewhat embarrassing for me, it taught me an important lesson. I needed to step outside the boundaries of my own language.
I hope these words encourage others to take action. Always keep your mind and your willingness to learn open as you go. Over time, new experiences transform you into someone else, and that person is better than the one before. I would like to end my writing with this quote: “A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimension” by Oliver Wendell Holmes.
AI Use
AI was used only for the translation and semantic improvement of a few specific sentences.
