On Having a Turkish Roomsource

[Pete Minassian]

One of the greatest privileges that I have here is my "roomsource" (combination of roommate and resource) who is from Turkey. I don't think that there is a day that goes by that I do not here the Turkish language. However, this is also a great difficulty. While he is an infinite source for information, any questions that I might have - he can answer in a heartbeat - I sometimes get on his nerves with all the questions that I ask him.

The goal, however, is to be able to ask him the questions in Turkish, thus being able to practice my speaking and enhance my comprehension in daily conversation. I think that will make for a great way to assess my progress throughout the semester. I mean what better way than to develop my speech in such a way that I am able to ask Yigit (my roomsource) questions in Turkish about other Turkish things? Sounds like a plan to me! But I also think that if I am consistent with this journal idea, and I will be purchasing one tomorrow, then I can just have him proofread over my grammar, and WHOOSH, I can correct my mistakes.

It is not going to be easy to just start writing without any formal studies of vocabulary, so I think I will stick with Rosetta Stone for a while and a whole lot of flashcards that will enable me to get the vocabulary down. Then I will be able to put rudimentary sentences together.

Time is key this week. Seems as though as the semester continues, I simply run out of the time needed to dedicate to learning Turkish. I'll try to keep it small at first, maybe a half-hour a day (kinda like practicing piano), then build up from there.

And so it begins...