I was impressed when I realized how much me and Ms. Hanife covered this semester. I have been taking Turkish for 3 semesters and even though I have always been an overachiever, I never thought we could actually cover this much in such a short period of time. It may seem that we only covered a lot of material, but I actually understood everything that we covered and I am pretty much confident that I can use it in my daily conversation with my Turkish friends. Not only does my language partner says that I have improved but my Turkish friends are very much impressed and when they see me they hardly ever speak to me in English, they keep speaking to me in Turkish. This is very motivational because I feel that they believe I have enough Turkish knowledge to be able to understand whatever they are telling me, and I do indeed, I do understand most of what they speak but I find it much harder to actually express myself in Turkish. I believe that it is like that for any language, it is much easier to understand the language that is being spoken to you, than actually speak it and form sentences using the right grammar and vocabulary. I find it especially hard with Turkish language, considering the fact that there are just so many tenses, and rules, and exceptions that you have to be careful and pay attention to. Looking back at how little I actually knew, I basically knew only present continuous and now I am able to use some advanced grammar/tense in Turkish such as reporting tense, then some tenses that do not even exist in English. I found it particularly difficult to understand rules and tenses that do not exist in English or Bosnian. Me and Miss Hanife would spend much more time on such tenses than on some rules that are more less similar to the languages that I speak. At the beginning of this semester when my language partner told me that we should finish the book we were using last semester (which is really intense and detailed) I did not believe that it could happen, especially because the material in following chapters was getting tougher and harder. But we were determined and we worked hard on accomplishing our goal, and last week when we actually finished the book, I was just so impressed and happy that I just could not believe it. I just wish I could take Turkish language next semester as well, but since I am graduating in May that may seem impossible. I wish I had taken Turkish from my freshmen year. If I had been taking Turkish language from my freshman year, I wonder how much I would have known now. I am pretty sure that I would be pretty much fluent, considering that in only 3 semesters I have accomplished this much. My language partner said that the book we used is for intermediate students and definitely not for the beginners. I like how me and Miss Hanife focused a lot on communication which helped me become more confident speaking in Turkish. Before, I used to not speak up in Turkish because I thought I would not be able to form sentences correctly, or that I would make some huge, silly mistakes, but working with Miss Hanife really helped me boost my Turkish confidence and I do not have this fear anymore. That is what my Turkish friends also realized and pointed it out to me. Even though our biggest source of learning Turkish was the intermediate book, I have also used other sources, mostly Turkish TV shows, music, news. Biggest help was definitely my language partner who would correct my mistakes, explain the material whenever I found it confusing and hard, practiced with me, and communicated in Turkish with me. The most rewarding achievement for me is my satisfaction that I have improved my Turkish, that I became more confident speaking it and being able to understand my Turkish friends and talk to them. Even though I know that I do make mistakes when I speak in Turkish, I am sure that I make less mistakes now compared how much I made last semester. I am a kinesthetic learner, I learn the best through hands on experience. So basically, when I learn vocabulary, the easiest way and most efficient way for me to memorize the words is by writing them down, repeating them and rewriting them again. When it comes to learning how to pronounce Turkish words/letters, the best way for me is watching Turkish TV shows and listening to songs. One of my goals was also to learn more about Turkish culture and I sure have accomplished this. I did a lot of research on Turkish culture just to find out the most interesting topic for my Turkish presentation, and when I found out the topic that I wanted to research further, I spent a lot of time learning about it, preparing the presentation which gave me a better insight into Turkish culture.
Overall, I believe that this was a very beneficial class for me, and working with my language partner Miss Hanife was very helpful and enjoyable. Everything was going smoothly and scheduled right at my pace. Whenever I thought we were going too fast or when I did not understand something, I would always spend more time on that particular material until I understand it completely, and this was really helpful for me. Thus, we were not rushing to cover all the material just to go over it, but we made sure that everything we cover I understand. By working hard every week, and by being motivated and determined we were able to finish the entire book.
I only wish I could continue taking Turkish and working with Miss Hanife. However, I am graduating so it seems impossible. I will have to work on my own now. I believe I have a really strong base, I can continue building strong vocabulary, learning new grammar/tenses and of course keep communicating with my Turkish friends and visit Turkey in the near future.
Overall, I am really happy with how much I improved, and I believe that this class was extremely helpful for me not only that it helped me learn Turkish language, but learn more about Turkey in general, learn about its tradition, culture and people.
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