These two weeks me and Ms. Hanife worked on more grammar and vocabulary. Turkish language has so many rules, that I usually get so confused which tense to use when. During these two weeks I learned when to use ending “-ip” on the verb. Basically, when you perform two actions at the same time, or one action immediately following another we use this tense. So for example if you want to say “I took my jacket and left home”, in Turkish it would be “Jaketim aldip, evimden ciktim”. First, I took my jacket and then I left home. I found this tense interesting and actually useful. More interesting thing is that you use the same “-ip” ending regardless of whether you are talking about yourself, 1 person or several, and then the other part of the sentence can be in present continuous, future tense or past tense. I also learned the difference in using “cunku” and “bu nedenle”, they both mean “because of” but you cannot use them interchangeably. For example, if you say “I want to talk to you because I think you misunderstood me” is when you use “cunku”, however if you wanna say “I think you misunderstood me and because of that I want to talk to you” is when you use bu nedenle. It may seem complicated at first, but when you understand it once, you will be able to apply it in conversations. Practicing this tense these two weeks, I feel comfortable using it and I do not think I might have any serious problems using this tense.
Me and Ms. Hanife also had a session when we read Turkish poems, and talked about Turkish culture. We read some popular poems that Ms. Hanife likes very much and that are not very hard to understand by a beginner/intermediate level students.
I have been talking to my language partner about Turkish culture/traditions to help me figure out what I should deliver my cultural presentation on. Right now, I am planning to talk about hookah and importance of hookah on Turkish culture. Last time I presented on Turkish coffee, and the audience enjoyed hearing about famous Turkish coffee and tea. Considering that hookah/nargila is very popular in Turkey I believe that this could be an interesting topic to do a research. Also, I could compare it to Bosnian culture where hookah is very popular. I talked to my language partner and she said that this could be an interesting topic and that hookah is more famous in certain parts of Turkey and less popular in other parts. I think it would be interesting to do a research on this and see why there is a difference and how significant that difference is.
So far, I like how my Turkish is improving. My Turkish friends say that I have improved a lot, and that always motivates me. However, we are covering a lot of complicated material and a lot of tenses so the more I learn I feel like the less I know. I wonder if I will ever be able to master this language and be able to speak it fluently. There are just so many exceptions and rules that you cannot simply learn by heart but pick up by using the language daily. This is challenging task for me, and that is why I actually like this language and I am determined to learn it no matter how hard it is. It may take me several years, but since i am really interested in the language, I think I can accomplish my goal.
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