Turkish

When I found out that out that I had gotten then NSLI-Y scholarship to live in Turkey I was asked primarily, why Turkey? but also a lot about the language. What language is spoken there? Is it written in the western or Latin alphabet? What does is sound like? Not many people outside of Turkey know how to say hello, or goodbye as they do in Spanish, Italian, or German. The reason of course being that it is mainly only spoken in Turkey, a country still working its way up to its full potential. So I thought I might explain a little about  the language, and my reasons for learning it.


Though Turkish is the official language of only Turkey and one of the official languages of Cyprus there are over 77 million people worldwide who speak it as a first language.There are concentrated speakers in Kosovo, Macedonia, Greece, Bulgaria, and Germany which is home to many Turkish immigrants. Also in countries such as Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan dialects of Turkish are spoken. Though Turks push for their youth to learn English they remain proud of their language and the evolution it has undergone to become what is is today. In 1932 Atatürk kind of redid the language, getting rid of a lot of Arabic loanwords and changing the alphabet to the Latin one, (great for me!) though there are still quite a few Arabic words used today.

As for why I decided to learn this somewhat unusual language I have a many reasons yet I am still not 100% sure. I loved Turkey the last time I was here and almost went as an exchange student my junior year, but chose Spain instead.. I probably would have jumped at the chance to learn any new language, and I wanted to take a gap year so when this opportunity presented itself it seemed pretty perfect. I believe that there is a lot to be gained from learning a new language and Turkey is a pretty extraordinary country to do so in. Through learning a country's language it is possible to connect  with the people and culture in a pretty unique way. There is so much about this place and people that I have become very fond of that it would be challenging to put into words. Also just speaking Turkish as a foreigner, especially as an American, Turk  are automatically impressed and excited.

When this year ends, my dad wants to know if I will be able to put the language I have labored over learning to any use, if I will be able to apply it to my job or future plans. I have no idea. I love the idea of having a job that I can use both Turkish and Spanish, but I don't know.  I'm not even sure I will be able to continue studying it. I do know though, one day I will live here again. Probably not in Adana, but Istanbul, Izmir or Antalya are all tempting choices. Though even if I don't manage to make it a big part of my life, I feel in no way that any of this year is being wasted.

So, as a final bit I am including a brief Turkish lesson, if you would like to know how these things are  pronounced (or at least our attempt at pronouncing them correctly,) check out my the podcast my friend Rebecca and I made, you can get to the link a couple posts down.


Merhaba- Hello
Hoşçakal and güle güle- goodbye
Görüşürüz- see you later
Teşekkür ederim- thank you
Sağol- another way to say thank you
Günaydın-good morning
İyi günler- good day
İyi akşamlar- good afternoon
İyi geceler- good night (İyi means good)

Göüşürüz!