The other day I was on the phone with my friend Sewran. We were talking about how reading out loud helps both of us, me with focusing and her with pronunciation. As soon as I hung up, I grabbed the first book within reach and went to the bathroom to read aloud.

A young man should spend around three to five minutes there, right? No, not me. In my case, an interesting language, Turkish, echoed through the walls. It is still a strange sound in Spanish territory, not quite belonging but curious enough to make itself heard. My neighbours probably thought I had lost my mind. The poor woman next door couldn’t understand a single word and, by now, has stopped trying to make sense of me.

I kept reading, and at some point I thought, why not record this? So I did. It became my late afternoon activity. To my dear non-Turkish-speaking readers, you can find the English subtitles, hopefully. The text I read is a short story from 1944, written by the poet Orhan Veli. It tells the story of a man reflecting on unemployment, which is also its title. İşsizlik means “unemployment” in English.

Enjoy.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alibarany.substack.com