Turkish Translator: Şermin Aral
Turkish ACIM translator
My story with the Course goes back to 2011. The first time I heard about it was during a breathing seminar. Six months later I found it in a bookstore in one of my trips to Geneva. I remember thinking that it must be a very serious and difficult book to read which made me hesitate for a moment before I got it. For a couple of months, I couldn’t decide where to start. I first tried to read the Text thinking that that would be the proper way. It was very difficult to read, I didn’t understand a word and I was getting sleepy in every trial. Then I decided to start with the lessons. Somewhere through the second part of the Workbook, I discovered that if I translate the lesson before practicing it, I could more sink into the experience. So, I started translating each lesson day by day. However, the thought of not being able to read the Text was always bothering me. Then I decided to search for the Turkish version on the internet and I came across the website of Foundation for Inner Peace. I was amazed to see their translation program. I wrote a message to the Foundation to ask if they have any plan to translate the Course into Turkish.
After that I found myself translating and studying the Text. Since the beginning, I knew that this would be an adventure for me and it was and still is. When I started to grasp the core message of the Course for the first time, which happened while I was translating Chapter 13 as the trial translation for the Foundation, I felt as if everything turned upside down for me and funny enough the whole thing about life, world, myself, etc. made real sense. I felt like I found the answer to all my questions. So I dedicated myself to studying the Course through translating the whole thing over and over. I studied Ken’s (Kenneth Wapnick) teaching through his books, videos, and audios. Unlike the previous translators, I didn’t have a chance to meet him and work with him but I always felt his teaching next to me.
During and after the process of becoming the official Turkish translator, I truly had the support of all these incredible people in the Foundation for Inner Peace and the Foundation for A Course in Miracles. Right from the beginning they welcomed me like they knew me for ages. Maybe they did. Diane (Diane Brook Gusic) was very supportive and patient in answering my long lists of questions while I was reviewing the translated manuscript over and over. Also, four Course students appeared in my life at exactly the right time. They proved a big help in the editing phase. This whole process helped me to practice the Course in my relationships with them as well. Now while I’m writing all this, I clearly see how I was supported during the translation process and I feel grateful to everyone.
In the beginning, my sole purpose for translating the Course was to be able to study it. During the journey, especially after being in direct or indirect contact with the Turkish students, my purpose also became delivering the Turkish version properly. As I received the Course in English I had to give it in Turkish.
MUCİZELER KURSU
