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Turkish 112 Cultural Post 2
One thing I was introduced to by Sezgi’s friends was the eye and bad energy in Turkish culture. The eye (nazar) is supposed to block bad energy or spirits. When you feel that someone may be jealous of you, you secretly scratch your bum to block the jealousy. Also, when someone is nice to you or you like other people you pull your ear, kiss twice and knock on wood. I learned these things no because we were having a cultural lesson, but simply because they were used so commonly in their interactions. If I go Turkey I will know if I have said something nice to someone or offended them based upon what they do next. If someone scratches their bum I will know I have said something wrong or offended them. If someone pulls their ear, kisses, and knock on wood, I know that they like me and have good energy.
Turkish 112 Cultural Post 1
Today I met three of Sezgi’s Turkish friends and I learned so much about the culture. I don’t think I would have came across these things on the internet. First of all, two of her friends were both named Marve. And whenever you have two people with the same name it is good luck, so you stand in between them and make a wish. The second thing I learned was that women, typically older, will spit on you if they like you. It is considered good luck, wards off the evil eye, and is considered flattering. Also, when meeting an older person, or addressing your grandparents. It is considered respectful to kiss their hand and then place their hand on your forehead. I think all of these little things about the culture are so important to know.
Recorded Hi, my name is Joora and Bye in Turkish.
My interest in Turkish language and culture comes from the relationship I have with a girl I met here in the U.S. who is from Turkey. After spending time with her and becoming really good friends, her constant references to the beauty of her home country and the traditions that make up her culture I became intrigued and wanted to know more. Being that it is the last semester of my senior year and our school offers a Turkish class, I figure there is no better time than now to make the most of this opportunity and to begin enriching my knowledge of the Turkish language and culture.
During this semester, I hope to foster a basic knowledge of the Turkish language by learning greetings, key phrases like "how are you" and "what is your name", and pronunciation so that I can read Turkish letters. By the end of this semester, I would like to be able to have small conversations that would allow me to communicate with natives and navigate through the country for whenever I plan to visit.
In the past, I have studied Spanish and I have always found that I am very critical of myself when I make little mistakes and insecure when speaking the language in front of others. By learning to teach myself a new language, Turkish, I hope to let go of the insecurities and to build more confidence not only in my ability to speak another language, but in my ability to independently teach myself new knowledge. I am working on becoming more independent and solving problems on my own without immediately having to ask for help when I am confused about something and by participating in this self-directed language course I hope that I will be able to work towards my goal of independence. While working together in groups has always been my comfort zone, I realize that in life we will not always be working with others and there will be situations when we are left to figure out a problem on our own. In order to accomplish these goals I plan to utilize skills that best suit my learning style. I am a visual learner, so I believe that repeatedly looking at vocabulary words and watching youtube videos will be a successful learning strategy for me. Additionally, I find it very helpful to make associations between a words meaning and the way that it might be spelled or pronounced. This technique allows me to better remember what a word means simply by looking at it or listening to the way it sounds. With these techniques, I will be able to immerse myself in the Turkish language and culture in the hopes of learning and growing more as a person.
I am interested in learning Korean because many of my close friends are Korean and I would like to be able to communicate better with them. Often times, I feel left out when my friends are talking in Korean and they also wish that I speak Korean. Furthermore, since I have become close to my friends’ families, I would also like to be able to converse with their parents. I feel that if I speak Korean to the elders, it would be more respectful. I wish to converse daily in Korean with my Korean friends so that I can keep on improving my Korean outside class. In this semester, I hope to be able to make a simple conversation with Korean elders and also with my Korean friends.
Born and raised in Indonesia, as a Chinese-Indonesian, my first language is Indonesian. My grandparents immigrated from China to Indonesia, so Mandarin was their first language. My parents used to be fluent in Mandarin when they were little, but now they are starting to forget many words because they barely speak Mandarin anymore. However, being labeled as Chinese-Indonesian, my parents still insisted me to learn Mandarin.
So when I was in middle school, I learned Mandarin for 3 years. I struggled a lot in speaking Mandarin because it has 4 different tones and many words of the same meaning are only differentiated by the tone. Because I rarely converse in Mandarin, I started to lose interest in learning Mandarin. I learn best when I can apply what I learn into my daily life. Through that learning style, I hope that I can continue to be interested in the language. My learning style is best suited with practical learning activities. I want to talk to my language partner as if he/she was my friend and we are just having a casual conversation like I would with my friends. Looking the FIRE model, I value practical knowledge. I want to learn through experience (actually having conversations with Koreans) rather than just memorizing vocabularies. I believe that speaking Korean regularly will help me to improve and retain the things that I learn. When I started to learn English I had a completely different experience. I really enjoyed learning English because I actually speak English in my daily life with my friends and teachers. That way, I was able to apply what I learn and continue to improve my English inside and outside of class.
I received formal education in Spanish from 2nd grade until freshmen year of college, so I have a strong background in language learning from a relatively early age. However, I never felt like the structure of these courses was conducive to actually gaining the skills necessary in order to reach proficiency in a language. For instance, I did not feel it was helpful to learn vocabulary words that were not relevant to me, and I wish I could've focused on the areas that were. I did like some of the different activities involved in class, such as learning about different Spanish cultures and conversing with other students. Based on the FIRE model, I would say I am a factual learner, so it will be important for me to set a detailed language learning plan and stick to it. I am naturally good at memorizing information, but I would like to improve my speaking skills and need to focus my plan toward this desire.
