This past two weeks I reviewed a lot of vocabulary with my language partner. I learned words such as agac (tree), alkol (alcohol), araba (car), baba (dad), balik (fish), banka (bank), bay (male), bebek (baby), bilet (ticket), bilgisayar (computer), cami (mosque), ceviz (walnut), canta (bag), cay (tea), defter (notebook), doktor (doctor), dolap (cabinet), ekmek (bread), elma (apple), ev (house), fare (mouse), findik (hazelnut), inek (cow), jilet (razor), kafe (café), kahve (coffee), lale (tulip), limon (lemon), makas (scissors), masa (table), oda (room), otel (hotel), para (money), petrol (oil), piyano (piano), polis (police), radyo (radio), saat (clock, hour, watch), sac (hair), sandalye (chair), soru (question), and sorun (problem).
It was difficult to learn new vocabulary because I am not yet at the level where I can use these new words in context in a conversation. I did an exercise in my packet where I would fill in the missing letters to interactively think about these words. My language partner prepared a game in which there were pictures and words and I would have to match the picture with the Turkish word for the picture. I found this game particularly helpful because I am an extreme visual learner. I would also find myself attempting to learn the words by seeing commonalities between languages I already know.
I also reviewed places around the world. I learned that London is Lonra, Egyspt is Misir, Italy is Italya, China is Cin, Russia is Rusyia, America is Amerika, and Turkey is Turkiye.
I also took a quiz last week. It contained vocabulary, and common phrases and conversations we had learned. A common conversation would start with “Merhaba!” and the other person would respond with “Merhaba!”. If someone says “Nasilsin?”, they are asking if you are well. You would respond with “Tesekkur ederim, iyiym. Siz nasilsiniz?” which means Thank you. Are you well as well? If someone says “Memnum oldum” which means nice to meet you, you would respond with “Ben de memnum oldum” which means I am pleased to meet you as well.
One interesting thing I learned about was stereotypes in Turkey. I watched a youtube video with my language partner regarding stereotypes. I learned interesting stereotypes such as people think that many people in Turkey ride camels. I asked my language partner about this stereotype and she said that people may associate Turkey with camels because they believe that most of Turkey is a dessert. Also, because of the majority religion in Turkey, people think of the country as very traditional and not modern. Therefore, many people associate Turkey with camels when in fact, there are not many camels in Turkey.
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I am unsure if this link to a Quizlet set works for people who have not been invited, but you may find it useful for the vocabulary you are learning. Most of it is from İstanbul Türkçe. If it doesn't work, then I would recommend making those flashcards you like yourself on Quizlet, which allows you to add photographs as well.
https://quizlet.com/class/7080611/
On Camels. Did you know about camel wrestling? Apparently it is a thing in Turkey. It is worth noting that these are Bactrian camels and not the same as those of Arabic speaking lands, pointing to a pan-Turkic heritage stemming from Mongolia. Turkish history and culture, however, is more centered around the horse, at. Until the maturation of the martial use of gunpowder, Turks were renowned for their mounted archery. For over 700 years, they were hired as mercenaries, kept as slave soldiers, and staffed armies because of this military advantage.