turkish

  • The Turkish-French connection

    Written by Melissa on September 6th, 2010 in Turkish Language2 Comments
    The Turkish-French connection
    Although French was not technically my first language, it was the language I spoke at school from the age of five. When you learn a language as a young child, you develop an innate rather than a mechanical sense of how things work and how words fit together. Although I can’t particularly explain French grammar in any meaningful way, I know what sounds right and what doesn’t. And when I look at French words written down, I don’t have to think about how they would be pronounced – it just comes automatically, even if the spellings may look illogical to...

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  • Turkish-Greek Friendship Concert of Izmir

    Written by Valantis on September 2nd, 2010 in History, Living in Turkey3 Comments
    Turkish-Greek Friendship Concert of Izmir
    This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending a very special concert in Izmir. “Egen’nin iki yakasindan esintiler: Turkiye-Yunanistan Dostluk Konseri”, which translates to “Aegean’s two breezes on the Seashore: Turkish-Greek Friendship Concert”.  Combining the traditional musical styles of both cultures, the night was capped off with musical pieces sung together in both Greek and Turkish. After having discovered about the concert from the Greek Consulate in downtown Izmir, I was excited to tell my fiancé about the event.  Coming from a Greek background, and her being Turkish, the concert reflected one of the many beautiful aspects of our...

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  • Flying with Turkish Airlines

    Written by Valantis on April 29th, 2010 in Travel2 Comments
    Flying with Turkish Airlines
    I’ve never had a great experience with a national airline.  My memories of international travel have always been marred with a variety of incidences, thus I was only skeptical when the option of Turkish Airlines came up.  Luckily, my luck changed. Since May of 2008, I have traveled back and forth from the US to Turkey four times, including flights between Istanbul, Izmir, and Nevsehir.  It wasn’t until my third trip that I chose to go with Turk Hava Yollari (aka Turkish Airlines), due to having the cheapest flight deal online.  For $750 on a round-trip from New York City’s...

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  • Do you speak Turkish?

    Written by Valantis on April 15th, 2010 in Living in Turkey, Turkish Culture4 Comments
    Do you speak Turkish?
    “Turkçe biliyor musunuz?”  This is a question that is asked a lot…by me!  It’s a simply a must.  For all those yabancilar, you cannot go forward learning the language by being comfortable or procrastinating.  You must build up your studies, and then break yourself down in different situations, where you reflect on the vocabulary and sentence structures that worked and didn’t work. Going to Turkey for the first time in 2008, I returned with a clear goal.  I was determined to learn Turkish and return to Turkey having a respectable awareness of the language.  I remember explaining to a few...

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