Update: Ahmadinejad Translations

by Tara Overzat

I have received some criticism over the assertions in my Ahmadinejad post yesterday. I would like to address the translation issue.

1. “Israel wiped off the map.”

Part of a good translation is taking idioms from one language and finding a corresponding idiom in the receiving language. Ahmadinejad said the following, according to the website AntiWar.Com (http://www.antiwar.com/orig/norouzi.php?articleid=11025):

“Imam ghoft een rezhim-e ishghalgar-e qods bayad az safheh-ye ruzgar mahv shavad.”

With verbatim English translation next to it, looks like this:

Imam (Khomeini) ghoft (said) een (this) rezhim-e (regime) ishghalgar-e (occupying) qods (Jerusalem) bayad (must) az safheh-ye ruzgar (from page of time) mahv shavad (vanish from).

So we are left with, “The Ayatollah Khomeini says the regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time.” Seeing as we don’t say anything so permanent (completely vanish from time, as in never existed?) in English, the idiom chosen for the translation was “wiped off the map.” This yields, “The Ayatollah Khomeini says the regime occupying Jerusalem must be wiped off the map.” What regime “occupying” Jerusalem? The city is the capital of the legitimate state of Israel. As such, this was translated to “Israel.” As an aside, quoting Khomeini, with his dictatorial ruling and his extreme religious views that stripped Iranians of their rights, is questionable at best.

2. “Holocaust never happened.”

I have not been able to find the quote of what Ahmadinejad actually said (or did not say) and I welcome feedback from anyone who can find it. However, I think it is important to keep in mind that the International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust, a gathering of Holocaust deniers, was held in Iran two years ago and cheerfully attended by the Iranian President.