I am pleasantly surprised with how much I have learned from Turkish so far. Listening to my PanOpto recording, I listed a lot of goals I had that I thought were way too idealistic and impossible to achieve. I did not think I was going to reach a good number of them properly. I have actually achieved a lot of those goals already, though! I know how to introduce myself, know the numbers of the Turkish alphabet, etc. because of the same sources I listed in my recording and learning plan. Using those sources, my language partner, Turkish music, the website resources I listed, the Turkish textbook I am using, the Turkish dictionaries I listed, etc., as I had planned to actually helped me in achieving a good amount of my goals.
A huge part of my language learning that has undoubtedly helped is the repetitive exposure to and usage of Turkish. Hearing Turkish music and singing along (or getting the lyrics stuck in my head), going through the Turkish textbook with my language professor and fellow Turkish learners, studying the vocabulary and grammar, doing all of these several times a week has culminated into actual understanding of what I am studying, no matter how basic of Turkish it is. I want to continue this track in order to achieve my communicative competence, as I believe it is helping a lot. I do, however, want to gain knowledge of colloquial understandings in Turkish as Brown noted, in order for me to interact not only in the Turkish language itself properly, but in my actions and mannerisms while speaking to a Turkish person or being in Turkey as well. To do this, I want to finally achieve getting to know a close Turkish pen pal. I also want to connect with members of the Turkish-American community if possible.
Comments
Hi Azin! I have to say I think you came a long way with your Turkish learning as well! I definitely know what you mean about listing goals that were basically impossible to achieve in one semester, but I think we learned so much. I really liked how Hocam Merve helped incorporate colloquial Turkish into our learning every once in a while because, like you said, it will probably help in your (OUR) interactions if (WHEN) you (WE) visit Turkey.
Also, although I know talking to your pen pal was daunting, it seemed like it really helped your conversational skills, and while I appreciate Veli and my conversations, it seems like you got more out of yours.