I think what interests me most about Turkish culture is its history. As a prospective history/Global Studies: Middle East major, this makes sense, but I also just enjoy learning about it because there is so much to learn about in the Anatolian/former Ottoman region. Language and linguistic knowledge definitely play a part in engaging with Turkish history because not only has there been a really interesting amalgamation of languages to create the Turkish language we know today, but to know Turkish history by Turkish scholars is extremely valuable to me. I think it would be interesting to look into the change in language that accompanied the governmental/structural change of Turkey between the early 20th century to now. Additionally, since Turkey is a hub for archaeologists (as I hope to be), knowing the language would be not only helpful, but crucial. To engage in this interest, I’d definitely need specific vocabulary because, based on the archaeology class I’m taking now, archaeological terminology is not in the general vocabulary. Other parts of the culture I’d like to explore are the cuisine and architecture. Both require a basic knowledge of Turkish to understand what you are ordering or seeing, but are remarkable even without that background.
I have definitely included learning about Turkish history and eating Turkish foods in my learning plan, but I hadn’t really thought about architecture or archaeology before. Although I am interested in the latter two as much as I am the former, I think pursuing those would be a little too ambitious, as I’m even a little concerned about my current learning tasks. I’ve also seen other people wish to dive into the different dialects of their target languages, but I think I need to have a strong grasp of standard Turkish before looking into different vernaculars.
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