Learning Turkish?

Then you’ll need to write Turkish characters on your various devices – computer, tablet, smartphone and so on – even if it’s only for instant messaging!

And that can be a pain.

I’m writing this in English, on a computer with an Italian keyboard.

That doesn’t present a problem, as I’m used to it.

But when I switch to the TR (Turkish) keyboard option, via the icon in the Windows 10 taskbar at the bottom of the screen, weird things happen!

In particular, I can never find the apostrophe or the full stop. And my i loses its dot, appearing lıke thıs ınstead.

So this is what I plan to do about it…

Where are the Turkish characters on my keyboard??

First I have to make sure that I’ve added the Turkish keyboard to whichever device I want to use to write with.

If you haven’t, Google how to do that…

Then I make sure I’ve actually selected the right keyboard, which isn’t usually hard but is easy to forget.

What I should see then, when I type (irrespective of what’s actually written on the keys), is something like this:

And now?

Now, what I plan to do is print out that image and keep it by my computer as I study, highlighting the characters that give me trouble as I go.

For instance, the i (second from right on the third line), and the apostrophe (2 + shift).

Already, writing this has helped me learn the location of those two, along with the comma (,) and full stop (.)

Go me!

So now it’s your turn.

Merhaba!

Today we’ve added ten new, FREE Turkish conversation lessons to the club site, bringing the total to twenty (yirmi!)

Choose a topic that interests you as the basis for speaking practice with a Turkish-speaking friend or teacher.

For example, ‘Siz kimsiniz?‘ (Who are you?), which is all about, well, you (sen, or siz, the polite and plural form.)

The first two questions are:

Sizin kız ya da erkek kardeşleriniz var mı yoksa tek çocuk musunuz?
(Do you have any sisters or brothers, or are you an only child?)

ve (and)…

Aileniz sizin için ne kadar önemli?
(How important is your family to you?)

You can have fun, and get some useful practice, working out the meanings BEFORE you use them for speaking and listening practice.

We’re deliberately not providing English translations, though Google will doubtless be able to help you with any words you don’t know!

Another interesting topic from the new set of ten is ‘Hiç bunları yaptınız mı?‘

Have you ever been drunk? Written a poem? Ridden in an ambulance?

Tell us about it!

Twenty lessons, say an hour of preparation and an hour of speaking practice for each one, that’s kırk saat (forty hours) of interesting language study, ücretsiz (free of charge).

İyi çalış!

Around twenty-five years ago, I lived for a while in Turkey.

I did a ‘Tourist’s Turkish’ course before leaving, and to my surprise I enjoyed it.

In the end, I stayed in Turkey for three years and picked up the language rather well, I thought (though I never learnt to read or write it, which is hard!)

But then in the mid-nineties I left to work elsewhere, and since then I’ve gradually forgotten what I knew, which is a shame, don’t you think?

So join me as I have another go at the language.

I’ll post links here to whatever useful resources I find lying around on the internet.

And pehaps the occasional article with useful tips…