Comment on Viladimir van Wilgenburg's appearance on Roj TV show

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Jaff during one of his live radio talk shows on 101.5FM

I found the exclusive interview with the young Dutch man, Vladimir van Wilgenburg on Roj TV absolutely incredible. To me, success is not what one is good at doing, but what one is good at and enjoys doing, which is the first impression Vladimir was able to give to the viewers during his interview with Hesen Qazi on Ruwange. He was passionate about what he was talking about and was articulate in his responses and the points he was getting across.

I have to say that by the end of the interview, I had even greater appreciation for Vladimir than I did originally. I admired his commitment to doing what he likes and the fact that he is taking time away from his study and family; and instead, dedicating it to the Kurdish cause across the world, particularly in the Middle East where the majority of them are suffering.

In my opinion, the entire interview was very well-organized and well presented. I deemed the dialogue very inspiring and am almost certain that it has had great impact on many Kurdish as well as non-Kurdish viewers to really exert themselves and become educated about the discrimination, massacre, racism and genocide the Kurds have been facing for decades behind the scenes; at the hands of certain nation-states in the Middle East. I respect the fact that Vladimir has made the efforts to go that extra mile and break many barriers at least to be an echo of the Kurdish voice and struggle, if not the voice itself.

With myself being a newscaster and a radio talk show host, I also thought the presenter of Ruwange, Hesen Qazi, did a good job with respect to the nature and the order in which he asked the questions. I admired the fact that Mr.Qazi got somewhat personal with Vladimir by asking about his family and education life. It was interesting to know how Vladimir has been having the time to do what he does and loves doing and so forth; such personal questions create a stronger bond between the interviewee and the audience by allowing the audience to relate to the person and topics of discussion.

Although the interpretation/translation was done phenomenally from English to Kurdish, I did think; however, the interview should have been completely in English since Mr.Qazi seemed to speak English quite well, but with Kurmanji and Sorani dialects of Kurdish as subtitles at the bottom of the screen. To some extent, it was rather difficult to comprehend everything being said because of Vladimir's voice himself speaking in English and the interpretation being done in Kurdish, both at the same time. It was hard on the ear to distinguish and follow up with only one of the two languages when they were both quite audible. If it were done the way I have specified, more people would have been able to understand and tune in. Some Kurds only understand the Kurmanji dialect, but the interpretation was done solely in the Sorani dialect. At the same time, the English-speaking viewers would have been able to understand what was said more easily without difficulty, if it were subtitled Kurdish instead.

Bottom line, you have been doing a great job, Vladimir. I wish you all the success in life.

Source : http://vladimirkurdistan.blogspot.com