Turkish
While we were in İstanbul I had high hopes that my Turkish would improve a great deal. However, for the most part I was quite disappointed with how little Turkish I actually got to use. Initially my confidence was knocked quite a bit as people did not understand simple things I was saying such as asking for coffee and tea in a cafe. But I soon realised that this was simply because Turks do not understand the idea of putting milk in tea and simply did not believe I wanted to say what I was saying!!!
The other problem was that every Turk I spoke to either was far better with English than I am at Turkish or was simply someone I would buy something from. However I soon realised how poor my accent is and how badly I pronounce Turkish words. The sounds, especially vowel sounds, are very different than English. But generally the Turks are very patient and only too willing to help. Most days I went into the bakery and asked for "bir tane normal ekmek lütfen" (one normal bread please) and after a few times I wouldn't get served until I said it correctly which involved the man in the shop bearing his teeth at me demonstrating how to roll the 'r' at the end of "bir"......quite amusing at times :)
Right at the end of our time there we went out to Woodstock where we met some Turks in a more laid back environment. Unfortunately it was too loud to do much talking and it is a pity this happened so close to returning home. But by the magic of social networking we have kept in touch and the fruits of this have paid off already. But I do think I need to go back to Turkey before long so that I can properly practice my pronounciation and ability to understand when people speak to me - it is these areas that I really need to improve if I am to get significantly better with this language.
The other problem was that every Turk I spoke to either was far better with English than I am at Turkish or was simply someone I would buy something from. However I soon realised how poor my accent is and how badly I pronounce Turkish words. The sounds, especially vowel sounds, are very different than English. But generally the Turks are very patient and only too willing to help. Most days I went into the bakery and asked for "bir tane normal ekmek lütfen" (one normal bread please) and after a few times I wouldn't get served until I said it correctly which involved the man in the shop bearing his teeth at me demonstrating how to roll the 'r' at the end of "bir"......quite amusing at times :)
Right at the end of our time there we went out to Woodstock where we met some Turks in a more laid back environment. Unfortunately it was too loud to do much talking and it is a pity this happened so close to returning home. But by the magic of social networking we have kept in touch and the fruits of this have paid off already. But I do think I need to go back to Turkey before long so that I can properly practice my pronounciation and ability to understand when people speak to me - it is these areas that I really need to improve if I am to get significantly better with this language.