Who am I? Think again | Hetain Patel

Translator: Iris Xholi Reviewer: Helena Bedalli

Hetain Patel: (In Chinese)

Hetain Patel: (Ne Kinezce)

Yuyu Rau: Hi, I'm Hetain. I'm an artist.

Yuyu Tau: Pershendetje, une jam Hetain. Jam artist.

And this is Yuyu,

Dhe kjo eshte Yuyu.

who is a dancer I have been working with.

Ajo eshte nje kercimtare me te cilen punoj.

I have asked her to translate for me.

I kam kerkuar te perktheje per mua.

HP: (In Chinese)

HP: (Ne Kinezce)

YR: If I may, I would like to tell you

YR: Nese mundem, do te me pelqente te tregoja

a little bit about myself

pak per veten

and my artwork.

dhe artin tim.

HP: (In Chinese)

HP: (Ne Kinezce)

YR: I was born and raised near Manchester,

YR: Kam lindur e jam rritur prane Manchester,

in England,

ne Angli,

but I'm not going to say it in English to you,

por nuk kam per t'jua thene ne anglisht,

because I'm trying to avoid any assumptions

sepse po perpiqem te shmang ndonje supozim

that might be made from my northern accent.

qe mund te behen nga theksi im verior.

(Laughter)

(Te Qeshura)

HP: (In Chinese)

HP: (Ne Kinezce)

YR: The only problem with masking it

YR: Problemi i vetem ishte qe ta maskoja

with Chinese Mandarin

me Kinezce Mandarin

is I can only speak this paragraph,

eshte qe di te them vec kete paragraf,

which I have learned by heart

te cilin e kam mesuar permendesh

when I was visiting in China. (Laughter)

kur isha per vizite ne Kine. (Te qeshura)

So all I can do is keep repeating it in different tones

Pra, e vetmja c'ka mund te bej eshte ti perserisja me tone te ndryshme

and hope you won't notice.

dhe shpresoj qe mos kuptohej.

(Laughter)

(Te qeshura)

HP: (In Chinese)

HP: (Ne Kinezce)

(Laughter)

(Te qeshura)

YR: Needless to say, I would like to apologize

YR: E panevojshme te them qe i kerkoj ndjese

to any Mandarin speakers in the audience.

ndonje folesi te Mandarin ne audience.

As a child, I would hate being made

Kur femije, do ta urreja kur me detyronin

to wear the Indian kurta pajama,

te vishja nje pizhame kurta indiane,

because I didn't think it was very cool.

sepse nuk mendoja se ish i lezetshem.

It felt a bit girly to me, like a dress,

Me dukej pak si vajzeror, si nje fustan,

and it had this baggy trouser part

dhe e kish kete pjese paksa te fryre

you had to tie really tight

te cilen duhej ta lidhje vertete fort

to avoid the embarrassment of them falling down.

qe te shmangie sikletin e te renit.

My dad never wore it,

Babai im nuk e veshi me,

so I didn't see why I had to.

kshq nuk e shihja te arsyeshme ta vishja as une.

Also, it makes me feel a bit uncomfortable,

Gjithashtu, me ben te ndjehem pak ne siklet,

that people assume I represent something

kur njerezit mendojne se paraqes dicka

genuinely Indian when I wear it,

me te vertete Indiane kur e vesh,

because that's not how I feel.

sepse nuk eshte ashtu si ndjehem.

HP: (In Chinese)

HP: (Ne Kinezce)

YR: Actually, the only way I feel comfortable

YR: Faktikisht, e vetmja menyre qe me ben te ndjehem rehat

wearing it is by pretending

ti vesh ato eshte te shtirem

they are the robes of a kung fu warrior

sikur ato jane rrobat e nje luftetari kung fu-je

like Li Mu Bai from that film,

si Li Mu Bai nga ai filmi,

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

"Tiger i perkulshem, Dragua i fshehur."

(Music)

(Muzike)

Okay.

OK.

So my artwork is about identity and language,

Pra, arti im eshte rreth identitetit dhe gjuhes,

challenging common assumptions

duke sfiduar supozime te rrenjosura

based on how we look like or where we come from,

bazuar ne pamjen qe kemi ose origjinen tone,

gender, race, class.

si gjinia, raca, klasa sociale.

What makes us who we are anyway?

Kush na ben ne ata qe jemi?

HP: (In Chinese)

HP: (Ne Kinezce)

YR: I used to read Spider-Man comics,

YR: Dikur lexoja librat komik te Njeriut Merimange,

watch kung fu movies,

shihja filma me Kung Fu,

take philosophy lessons from Bruce Lee.

dhe merrja mesime filozofie nga Bruce Lee.

He would say things like --

Ai do te thoshte--

HP: Empty your mind.

HP: Zbraze mendjen tende.

(Laughter)

(Te qeshura)

Be formless, shapeless, like water.

Ji pa forme, pa konture, si uji.

Now you put water into a cup.

Tani, mbushe nje gote me uje.

It becomes the cup.

Uji behet gota.

You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle.

Hedh uje ne nje shishe dhe uji behet shishja.

Put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot.

Hidhe ne nje cajnik e behet cajniku.

Now, water can flow

Pra, uji mund te rrjedhe

or it can crash.

ose mund te perplaset.

Be water, my friend. (Applause)

Jini si uji, miqte e mi. (Duartrokitje)

YR: This year, I am 32 years old,

YR: Kete vit, mbush 32 vjec,

the same age Bruce Lee was when he died.

kaq vjec ishte edhe Bruce Lee kur nderroi jete.

I have been wondering recently,

Kohet e fudnit kam vrare mendjen,

if he were alive today,

se cfare keshille do te me jepte sot

what advice he would give me

rreth ketij fjalimi TED

about making this TED Talk.

po te ish ende gjalle.

HP: Don't imitate my voice.

HP: Mos e imito zerin tim.

It offends me.

Me ofendon.

(Laughter)

(Te qeshura)

YR: Good advice,

YR: Keshille e mire,

but I still think that we learn who we are

por une vazhdoj te jem i mendimit se ne mesojme kush jemi

by copying others.

duke kopjuar te tjeret.

Who here hasn't imitated their childhood hero

Kush nga ju ne salle nuk e ka imituar heroin e tyre te vegjelise

in the playground, or mum or father?

ne kendin e lojerave, ose mami e babin?

I have.

Une e kam bere.

HP: A few years ago, in order to make this video

HP: Disa vite te shkuara, ne menyre qe ta beja kete video

for my artwork, I shaved off all my hair

per artin tim, une rruajta floket

so that I could grow it back as my father had it

ne menyre qe ti rrisja si te babait tim

when he first emigrated from India

kur emigroi per here te pare nga India

to the U.K. in the 1960s.

ne UK, ne 1960-en.

He had a side parting and a neat mustache.

Ai i kish te ndara anash dhe mbante mustaqe.

At first, it was going very well.

Ne fillim, gjithcka shkonte mire.

I even started to get discounts in Indian shops.

Fillova te marr edhe ulje cmimi ne dyqanet indiane.

(Laughter)

(Te qeshura)

But then very quickly,

Por me pas, shume shpejt,

I started to underestimate

fillova te mos e vleresoja shume

my mustache growing ability,

faktin qe mustaqja ime rritej shume,

and it got way too big.

dhe u be shume e gjate.

It didn't look Indian anymore.

Nuk dukej me mustaqe indiane.

Instead, people from across the road,

Sakaq, njerezit nga trotuari tjeter,

they would shout things like --

do te bertisnin me sa kishin ne koke--

HP and YR: Arriba! Arriba! Ándale! Ándale!

HP dhe YR: Arriba! Arriba! Andale! Andale!

(Laughter)

(Te qeshur)

HP: Actually, I don't know why I am even talking like this.

HP: Faktikisht, as nuk e di se pse po flas keshtu.

My dad doesn't even have an Indian accent anymore.

Babi im nuk ka as theks indian tani.

He talks like this now.

Ai flet keshtu tani.

So it's not just my father that I've imitated.

Pra, nuk eshte se kam imituar vetem babain.

A few years ago I went to China for a few months,

Disa vite me pare, shkova ne Kine per disa muaj,

and I couldn't speak Chinese,

dhe nuk mund te flisja fare gjuhen Kineze,

and this frustrated me,

c'ka me nervozonte se tepermi,

so I wrote about this and had it translated

kshq e shkrova kete gje dhe e perktheva

into Chinese, and then I learned this by heart,

ne Kinezce dhe e mesova permendesh,

like music, I guess.

sikunder bejme me muziken do thoja.

YR: This phrase is now etched into my mind

YR:Kjo fjali eshte ngulitur tashme ne mendjen time

clearer than the pin number to my bank card,

me forte sesa kodi i bankes sime,

so I can pretend I speak Chinese fluently.

ndaj mund te shtirem sikur e flas shkelqyeshem Kinezcen.

When I had learned this phrase,

Kur e mesova kete fjali,

I had an artist over there hear me out

kisha nje artist ne krahe per te me degjuar

to see how accurate it sounded.

se sa mire e artikuloja ate.

I spoke the phrase, and then he laughed

E thashe fjaline e ai qeshi

and told me, "Oh yeah, that's great,

e me tha, "Oh, po shume mire,

only it kind of sounds like a woman."

vetem se me tingellon pak si femer."

I said, "What?"

I thashe, "Cfare?"

He said, "Yeah, you learned from a woman?"

Ai tha, "Po, ti ke mesuar nga nje grua?"

I said, "Yes. So?"

I thashe, " Po. Edhe?"

He then explained the tonal differences

Me pas ai me shpjegoi diferencat dhe vecorite ne ton

between male and female voices

mes zerit mashkullor e atij femeror

are very different and distinct, and that I had learned it very well,

dhe qe une e kisha mesuar mire,

but in a woman's voice.

por me nje ze femre.

(Laughter)

(Te qeshura)

(Applause)

(Duartrokitje)

HP: Okay. So this imitation business

HP: OK. Atehere, ky biznesi i imitimeve

does come with risk.

i paska rreziqet e veta.

It doesn't always go as you plan it,

Nuk shkon gjithmone sipas planit,

even with a talented translator.

edhe me nje perkthyes te talentuar.

But I am going to stick with it,

Por do ti qendroj kesaj,

because contrary to what we might usually assume,

sepse ne kundershtim me ate qe mund te hamendesojme,

imitating somebody can reveal something unique.

te imituarit e dikujt mund te nxjerre ne pah dicka unike.

So every time I fail

Pra, sa here deshtoja

to become more like my father,

te isha si babai im,

I become more like myself.

behesha me shume vetvetja.

Every time I fail to become Bruce Lee,

Sa here qe deshtoja te isha Bruce Lee,

I become more authentically me.

behesha me autentik.

This is my art.

Ky eshte arti im.

I strive for authenticity,

Une kerkoj gjithnje origjinalitet,

even if it comes in a shape

edhe neqoftese ky i fundit vjen ne nje forme

that we might not usually expect.

qe nuk para pritet.

It's only recently that I've started to understand

Eshte vetem kohet e fundit qe kam filluar te kuptoj

that I didn't learn to sit like this

qe nuk e kam mesuar te qendruarit ulur keshtu

through being Indian.

ngaqe jam Indian.

I learned this from Spider-Man.

Kete e mesova nga Njeriu Merimange.

(Laughter)

(Te qeshura)

Thank you.

Faleminderit.

(Applause)

(Duartrokitje)