- Seventh Cultural Post: Attitudes about Family in the Target Culture
Turkish culture is a collective culture, therefore family plays an immense role in one's life. Family's opinion is very important for Turks and they consider their families as their number one treasure. Unlike English, Turkish has separate words for uncle and aunt from mother's or father's side. It also has words for elder sibling, elder brother and sister etc. There are also a lot of authentic expressions that show how close Turkish families are. Ciğerimin köşesi-“The corner of my liver” is used when referring to someone very dear, Nazar de ğmesin -“May you not be touched by the evil eye” is used when wishing someone to eb protected from the evil; Allah analı babalı büyütsün-“May God let him/her grow up with both a mom and dad” is used when wishing a newborn a happy life etc. I think these expressions reflect how close families can be and how dearly each family member cares about the other. The negative thing about families, however, is that family members like to "get their nose" into other family members' businesses. They like intervening in each other's personal life, they like to talk about everything their relatives do etc.
Nevertheless, close families are a part of Turkish culture, and this closeness ahs been praised by Turkish people for centuries.
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