This is what Pinar means in Turkish. In fact, I have three names. Raife Duru Pinar. First one is my grandma’s name. An old, rare Turkish name. I have heard it only two more times in my entire life. Grandma and I were born on the same day. May 6th. Like our names and birthdays, we shared many things in our lives, until she passed away and left a void.

‘Duru’ means clear, which my father wanted to call me. My mom wanted ‘Pinar’. So they called me both: Duru Pinar, Clear Spring Water.

I was born in Istanbul. In 1998 I went to Germany to stay only for 1 year to learn German. Fast forward, I now have a PhD in Computational Linguistics and I dance the Argentine tango. I had planned for none.

I am a researcher in essence and a curious person by nature. People matter to me. So do different cultures. I have lived in Turkey, Germany, Italy, USA Spain, Switzerland and to a certain extent in Sweden. I embrace diversity and different mindsets. I am experimental. I like risks, changes, and challenges. I continuously question the current state of things. My goal in life is to make a difference. For the better.

That is why this blog. If only even one person in this world feels inspired, relieved, questioning, encouraged, curious, calm….because of what I share here, I will be happy and peaceful. Now and when I am no longer around.

What I Do

My academic education started with English language and literature as I always loved books and the playful surprises of the human language. Later, when I left home to discover the big world, I also discovered the world of logic. I found peace in the calmness of rational thought.  I loved it so much that my academic education ended with a PhD in computational linguistics.

I was a curious child and I liked to create things. I asked many questions, danced ballet and painted. It happened naturally that I became an academic researcher and eventually ended up in computer science. This way, I could continue asking many questions, and then help create the solutions. Arts, books and dance still help me inspire myself and others at work. At the same time, my rational and pragmatic mind loves to deliver simple, working technology to people to solve their problems.