Turning Over a New Leaf with My Turkish

I'll admit, I'm not the greatest at self study.  I have always enjoyed class structure and I find that I learn a lot with the motivation of class performance behind me.  With language learning it was no exception, my formal Turkish class did a lot to push me forward in my Turkish speaking and comprehension.  Yet this past semester I was working solo and, well, I didn't do much.  I tried, but I ended up devoting most of my energy to this blog instead - no complaints from me - I love writing on this blog.  However, I was a little disappointed with my speaking ability on this last trip to Turkey.  I had hoped I would be a little more conversant, but perhaps I just need more time and practice.

So I have been thinking about how to integrate more Turkish into my everyday life without having to actually sit down and study with pen in hand.  Aaron Myers talks a lot about these types of learning strategies over at the Everyday Language Learner blog, and a lot of his guidance helped me while I searched for appropriate Turkish learning materials in Turkey.

First, I wanted something I could read in Turkish, but perhaps with an accompanying English translation.  Dual language books are hard to find, and the ones I have found online are pretty pricey.  I think I found the best and cheapest option - and available to all that fly Turkish Airlines - the free in flight magazine.  Turkish airlines is a probably the best airline I have ever flown - internationally and here in the US.  The food is tasty, the seats are comfortable, and they give lots of free comforts to their travelers.  Their magazine is also high quality with many travel articles, interviews and Turkish recipes.  Bonus for Turkish learners - everything is in both Turkish and English.

Another great dual language resource is the Turquoise Diaries Blog as the author writes everything in English and Turkish!  What a wonderful idea.  I hope to one day be able to do the same. 

Next, I wanted to have listening material that I could pop into my car and radio at home.  We ended up browsing through a media store in the Istanbul airport before our flight and found some last minute treasures.  I ended up buying a set of 9 CDs of Turkish pop music.  I'm not a big "pop" music fan, but the lyrics are usually pretty easy to understand and it's great music for driving, and I've also found, for cleaning house.

I had hoped to also find a few good Turkish movies to bring back on DVD, but I found a cheaper alternative.  Actually, H. found a great way to keep watching all the Turkish documentaries we were enjoying while on vacation.  TRT has a website where you can watch all of the TRT channels and listen to public radio.   We became a fan of the TRT BELGESEL channel for all the great shows about travel and history in Turkey, but the other channels are great for Turkish news, children's shows and series also.  Note: if you are in Turkey this will not work for you - but lucky for you, you can just turn on the TV.  For us, watching through the internet is the best possible situation, since neither of us actually own a television anymore and we refuse to pay more for cable than all the other utilities combined. 

To watch TRT live online, just follow this link: http://www.trt.net.tr/Anasayfa/canli.aspx

You can also find other Turkish television shows at Dizi Izle http://www.diziizle.net/.

Well, I'm not sure that watching the occasional Turkish television, or listening to Turkish pop music and reading a few articles will really take me to the next level in Turkish, it's at least a good step forward.  I'm also trying to think of other ways to incorporate more Turkish into my daily life.  I've started going back and really studying the Turkish Word of the Day and accompanying phrase that is delivered to my inbox everyday.  I've posted some post-it notes around the house and labeled furniture to learn some basic vocabulary.   I'm also going to really push myself to converse in TURKISH with my Turkish fiance - it may sound so easy, but we've become accustomed to speaking in English and it is a bit of a challenge to switch to Turkish.

For those of you living in Turkey or studying Turkish, what helped you to improve your Turkish?  

Finding My Motivation Again at "The Everyday Language Learner "

Studying a language can be an exciting, exhausting and exhilarating experience.  There are days where it feels like it will be impossible to become fluent or to even be able to communicate well enough to buy a bottle of water.  Then there are days when you are feeling the rush as you understand a full conversation for the first time or you are able to communicate without doing simultaneous translations in your head.

When I began my Turkish language learning journey I started scanning the internet to find free or cheap resources that I could use to teach myself.  It surprised me how much I found.  There is quite a bit out there and in varying different forms to satisfy all types of learners.  I am putting together a list of these resources, which is posted as a separate page called "Turkish Language Resources" on this blog.

For now, I'd like to bring your attention to an excellent language coach.  Aaron Myers has created an amazing resource for self-directed language learners over at the Everyday Language Learner Blog, which covers a wide range of  language learning methods and self-directed language learning tools.  Aaron also spent some time living in Turkey and has a particular expertise in Turkish language tools. 

The blog banner for the EDLL site
(Copyright: Aaron Myers)

What I like about Aaron's writing is that he makes very clear recommendations for both starting and continuing the language learning process.  He does not sugar coat the difficulties or shy away from discussing the pitfalls - he gives an honest overview of his journey and what has and has not helped him and he provides some excellent guidelines for setting goals and planning your language learning activities.

In his most recent post, Aaron discusses how to make a plan that will lead you to your end goal.  He lays out the first few phases to get a learner on the right track. 

Stage 1 involves exploring available language learning resources, finding your learning style, working on immediate language needs and connecting with a native speaker.

The latter stages involve daily conversations with native speakers, reading some interesting material in the target language, developing vocabulary, working with a tutor and writing journal entries. 

I've been on the Turkish learning path for about 2 years now - at times spending around 10-15 hours a week studying and attending classes.  Now it's down to about 2-3 hours a week….

It's time for me to me to re-evaluate my progress and start taking action.  Aaron has a lot of posts that provide ideas on quick and easy language learning activities that, when combined, create an effective plan forward, for example:

40 Simple Ways to Learn Another Language 

Language Learning Tips: Extensive and Repeated Listening

10 Ideas for Learning a New Language Five Minutes at a Time

Also, for a great overview article of Aaron's strategy and useful links, check out:

The Six Pillars of Successful Language Learning

So what is my action step today?

I signed up (for the second time) for Aaron's Ten Week Journey course that consists of a series of emails that come each week and provide useful tips and encouragement for language learning.

(Which you can sign up for by clicking on "the ten week journey" image on all of his blog pages)

Just go to The Everyday Language Learner Blog and
click on this image to get signed up for Aaron's Ten Week Journey and get ready to be inspired!

I'm also going to spend some time this weekend putting together my plan for the next few weeks before I head to Turkey.  I plan on taking advantage of the month in Turkey to tune up my Turkish and expand my vocabulary, but first I want to be ready to go there.  Some review is definitely in order.

Do any of you have any ideas to help guide the language learning process?   Feel free to share ideas and experiences in the comments below.

Turkey Day inspires a linguistic research frenzy…

While learning languages and traveling to different countries, I have always been alert to the meaning behind the meaning of words.  I'm not a linguist by any means, but innate curiosity often drives many small research projects.

What a Turkey really looks like
(Image from: http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/)

The word "Turkey" is a prime example.  Now, here in the USA, Turkey might more popularly be known as the large bird that is roasted and carved every forth Thursday of November - rather than a country in the Middle East.  Although, with recent news the popular awareness of Turkey as a country has improved. 

Turkey - the country (above) vs. turkey - the bird (below)

 The coincidence of terms, "turkey" for a bird and "Turkey" for a country, sparked all sorts of cheesy jokes at last year's Thanksgiving celebration with my family.  The jokes were so bad they were good - so we all had a good chuckle. (Just a snapshot - "See, I can speak Turkey too 'gobble, gobble'.")

Yumm!

In all seriousness though, when and how did the bird native to North America come to be named Turkey?  And why in Turkey, is turkey (the bird) called hindi (which seems to be derived from the word for India, which is Hindistan)?

After doing a little research, I came to a blog, the hot word, that has a pretty good explanation... and since I have "Turkey Day" preparations to get to, I'll just re-post here:

"The former center of the Ottoman Empire isn’t exactly a breeding ground for the bird that we most closely associate with Thanksgiving. In fact, the turkey is native to North America.

So why do they share the same name?

First, let’s get the facts on the two turkeys.

Meleagris gallopavo is an odd-looking bird that is known for his bare head, wattle, and iridescent plumage. Like many species, the feathers of the male turkey are brighter than the female.

The republic of Turkey straddles Asia and Europe and has coastline along the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, and the Aegean. Its capital city is Ankara.

Here’s how they are related. In the 1540s, the guinea fowl, a bird with some resemblance to the Thanksgiving avian, was imported from Madagascar through Turkey by traders known as turkey merchants. The guinea fowl was also nicknamed the turkey fowl. Then, the Spanish brought turkeys back from the Americas by way of North Africa and Turkey, where the bird was mistakenly called the same name. Europeans who encountered the bird in the Americas latched on to the “turkey fowl” name, and the term was condensed simply to “turkey.” Turkeys have fared better than their guinea fowl relatives on the international scene, perhaps explaining why you probably have never heard of guinea fowl until right now.

The Turkish name for the bird is hindi, which literally means “Indian.” This name likely derived from the common misconception that India and the New World were one and the same."

Thus, I have my answer for both the English word "turkey" and the Turkish word "hindi".  

Wow - isn't the internet just wonderful sometimes?

Hope everyone has a happy Turkey Day tomorrow - whether to you that means Thanksgiving or just another day living in Turkey...

Getting back to it...

Sometimes in order to reach a goal it's necessary to just begin - whether or not the timing is perfect, and whether or not we are ready.  That was how I began this blog: I just began.  It was probably almost the worst timing as, at the time, I was preparing myself for a big exam, while trying to work hard and focus on my research.  The timing was horrible and I knew I wouldn't be able to devote myself to consistent writing or to studying Turkish and all the other things I set out to accomplish with this blog.  Yet, if I hadn't begun then, perhaps I would have never started this blog.  While I don't think the world would be worse off without my blog or really miss it at all (there are millions of blogs out there by now and I fully realize that mine is just a speck at this point), I think I would be worse off without writing this - or at least that is how I like to think about it.  Throughout the stress of the past month or so, I kept thinking "once this is all over, I can start writing on my blog!"  Focusing on the blog and studying Turkish gave me an extra surge of motivation to work hard and get over the necessary career hurdle.

Finally - over the hurdle!

So here I am - I passed my exam, I made progress on my work.  Now I can use my free time for some of the things that bring me additional joy in life, things that inspire me and interest me on a very different level from what pushes my career forward and, at the end of the day, pays the bills.

Here is what I have done so far to get back in the game with my Turkish:
1) I got back into contact with a group that offers Free (yes FREE!) Turkish classes at my university.  I just had the first class of the semester tonight and it was a good intro back into speaking Turkish.

2) I found a conversation partner to meet with once a week so that I can speak more.  I think this will be a big help and I'm really excited to get started tomorrow!

3) I spent last night revisiting some of the free services online such as Babbel and LingQ and working through a couple exercises, as well as reviewing what I have previously done.  It's kind of like taking your computer out of sleep mode - from that low power state to revved up and ready to process new material.  After reviewing I feel like I remember more of what I learned last year and I feel ready to learn more!

Babbel has some free and pretty fun Turkish vocab lessons

So here I am - ready to learn, ready to enjoy this language learning process and once again ready for my nightly lingo-cultural immersions in to the Turkish world.

There is definitely more to come - so stay tuned!

Hoşçakal!

Language: Turkish Word of the Day

Studying in smaller increments may work on some days when the mind feels fresh and engaged, but for me, when I tried to study Turkish in the middle of work, I found it challenging to switch from a work related task.  I was looking at vocabulary and suffixes, but my head was still firing in Excel mode.  It didn't work out so well.  Then there were the days that I simply forgot that I wanted to study and kept myself busy doing other things.  On those days I remembered to open my Turkish book after the sunset, once my "real" work was off my mind and at that point in the day I am semi-comatose anyways, so studying a language isn't really a good option. 

However, one small thing that has helped me everyday is the Turkish Word of the Day.  You can sign up here, on the Transparent Languages website.  Every morning I get an email with the word of the day and a rather complex sentence to put the word in context.  There is a recording to hear how the word and sentence is pronounced.  It's a pretty good tool for a lazy language learner.  On those days when I already know the highlighted word I spend more time trying to understand how the sentence was put together.  It's a fun little exercise while I'm eating my toast and drinking coffee.  I suggest you try it!

http://www.transparent.com/wotd/today/turkish.html

    

Language: Learning Turkish in 15 Minute Bursts

In my experience, language learning is often an accessory to a full and busy life.  People that are motivated to study a new language and expand their mind do not sit around the rest of the day watching reality television (or insert any other mindless, time-wasting activity), they are busy with work, school, family, travel and hobbies that enrich and enhance their life.  So how can we fit in the daily 30min or hour to study a new language?

I've been asking myself this question for the past couple weeks - without doing anything to answer it.  So now that my brainstorming has slowed to a drizzle and I have no other excuse, I am taking action.  Maybe some nights I will feel inspired to study Turkish once I get home from my job of studying science.  More often than not I will probably want to put the studying aside, cook a nice dinner and relax a bit.  So I thought of an alternative - something that will help me check the Turkish studying off my to-do list before I even step back into my apartment at night.  I found several free online resources that have lists of the top 100 and 1000 most commonly used Turkish vocabulary.  I plan to go through the top 1000 list and write down the words that I am not familiar with.  I will start by trying to study and memorize 10 words a day.  If I am super motivated, perhaps I will even put these new words into a proper sentence.  Creating context for new vocabulary is a great way for deeper learning.

Instead of sitting down and working on this all at once, I plan to use short breaks during the day - 15min during my mid-morning coffee, 30min during lunch, 15min after my afternoon "my brain is going to explode from thinking too hard" moment.  There is my hour!  Without scheduling the one hour study session, and probably with more focus than I would have if I sat down to study for one hour straight.

One week trial - ready, set, go!


Resources for Turkish Vocabulary:
Top 1000 Turkish words
100 Most Common Turkish Words

This website also has a lot of basic Turkish words and phrases:
http://www.ielanguages.com/turkish.html
Even more Turkish words:
http://www.turkishclass.com/turkish/vocabulary/vocabularyMain.php