Taner | Istanbul, Turkey

Taner works as both a translator and a reviewer, and he notes that reviewing takes an even keener attention to detail, in order to catch small mistakes. "Mistranslation can be deadly in some cases, one time I was doing the editing for the maintenance manual for a company that manufactures drilling machines, and the translation said, 'Make sure that this valve is turned to the end counter clockwise, but the translator wrote clockwise, if that went unnoticed and the manual was published like that, it could cause an explosion or injury if the valve was turned in the opposite end from what it should be."

"It's not as mechanical a process as some people might imagine it is," Taner says of translation. He works for a lot of tech clients, but has also translated several novels, including this series. 

Taner is also a musician, and for several years in the 1990s, he was in a popular band. "Language has many musical qualities, and in a sense when you work with literature it has similar characteristics to songs, like harmony with the words, having a bit of a musical background helps with observing such subtle differences and helps produce the kinds of translations that are not only accurate but sound good."

Scenes from the streets of Istanbul.

Blue hour in Istanbul.

Taner and his girlfriend invite me over for lunch, and put together a beautiful spread of Turkish cuisine, including a large selection of local cheeses from the market.

One of Taner's cats interrupts the game for a snuggle session...

And quickly makes a dive for the snack plate. "These cats are so spoiled," his girlfriend says with a laugh.