As one of the largest and oldest bazaars in the world, the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is an icon of Turkey and is a major tourist destination for travels from around the world. Bargaining and etiquette when shopping at the Grand Bazaar are important cultural factors to consider when shopping there. In my presentation, I think it would be interesting to talk about the history of the Grand Bazaar and the cultural influences that have contributed to what it is today, as well as bargaining culture and the things that one can expect when going to the Grand Bazaar. New vocabulary on this topic might include bargaining phrases, names of the different types of vendors/objects to buy (jewelry, antiques, textiles/carpets, etc.), and basic introduction phrases ("Hi," "How are you," etc.). A lot of the special vocabulary I've covered (introductions and different types of stores), but I would like to modify my language learning plan to incorporate more specific vocabulary. A new objective for my learning plan is to learn how to bargain in Turkish and learn phrases for buying things.
Sources:
https://www.theguideistanbul.com/grand-bazaar-guide/
https://theistanbulinsider.com/how-to-bargain-like-a-pro-in-istanbuls-grand-bazaar-and-elsewhere/
https://turkishtravelblog.com/grand-bazaar-istanbul/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8Jp42z_Ai4 (Tour guide gives tour of bazaar, talks about some important words and the culture of the bazaar)
http://famouswonders.com/istanbuls-grand-bazaar/ (Covers the history of the Grand Bazaar)
Comments
Your presentation was very intriguing and made me want to go try and bargain at the bazaar. You seemed to already have a very good grasp of some of the necessary vocabulary, and you communicated these words and phrases effectively.
This is a really interesting and culturally important topic. You did a good job identifying the necessary vocabulary and I think most of those terms and phrases will be very helpful in your Turkish learning overall because they are used in various situations.
This is a fascinating idea, Claire! One thing that I encountered during my 2011 travels in the Grand Bazaar is that the merchants often switched to different dialects, and sometimes even different languages entirely, e.g. Kurdish, Farsi, Arabic, etc., to communicate strategies amongst themselves whenever I tried to negotiate in Turkish. All the same, negotiation is a crucial skill in any language!