The best part of my language learning was the work I did with Haktan, my language partner. I started the semester with four other women who were taking the course for personal interests but I ended the semester with only one woman. The fact that many people dropped the class was a bit discouraging, and even though this meant that I had more one-on-one time with Haktan, it changed the classroom dynamic.
We met on a weekly basis, on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9:00am to 10:00am. The reason I particularly enjoyed the time in the classroom was because it was difficult to allocate the same amount of time every day to learning on your own; therefore I ending up practicing my language less regularly but for larger amounts of time. I do realize that this is not the best way but it is easier to learn in a formal classroom setting compared to alone in your room or the library. It is less awkward and if I had any questions, I had someone who speaks fluently available to help me. Haktan taught many different aspects of the language, from vocabulary to conjugations, by providing me with visual aids and handouts. The most useful part of the learning process was the role-playing since we had to enact real life situations. Haktan put on a lot of focus on making the material we learned useful to real life situations. This was good because now when I go back to Turkey, I feel like I am more equipped to communicate with others and better understand the culture. Discussing different aspects of the Turkish culture with Haktan was interesting since he is quite conservative compared to most Turkish people I met and befriended while in Turkey.
Overall, the process of learning Turkish was more difficult than I anticipated. While looking back at my learning plan, I have accomplished a lot but I did not meet all my goals. I can understand overall meanings of sentences but I wish I knew more specific vocabulary words on their own. I reached my interpretive reading goal since I am able to read everything in Turkish, even if I cannot understand it all. My speaking goals were met, but I still struggle with some letters that are similar but different from letters found in the English alphabet.
This semester was very interesting and I hope to continue my language learning outside the classroom by returning to Turkey one day!
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