In Turkish, it is really difficult to translate some phrases because some of them could be classified as idioms, but some of them are just one word. The words have special meanings and are not used in any other words. Some words come from Arabic, but Turkish culture is effected by Islamic culture.
Hoşgeldin: This word is said by the owner of the house or place when someone comes to their properties. It may be translated as “good you come”.
Hoşbulduk: This word is said by the person who comes to someone’s property to the owner of the house or place. This means “we found ourselves good here” and is a kind of response to Hoşgeldin.
Maşallah: This word is Arabic and directly taken from Arabic because it has the name of Allah (God). When someone sees a great thing or a person, s/he says Maşallah to them as “Wow! That’s great!”. Continue reading Some Phrases That Will Make You Crazy →

Learning a new language is a process and has different branches to improve (writing, listening, reading, speaking). Experts suggest different types of techniques to advance your skills for the listening. Listening songs is the most enjoyable part of learning a new language. People who learn Turkish should listen Turkish songs with Turkish subtitle or without subtitle instead of listening them with English subtitles. Today, I have collected some funny and great songs from traditional ones to popular ones in the near history. I hope you can both enjoy the songs and practice your Turkish listening skills. Continue reading Practicing Turkish by Listening Songs →

This week, I would like to write about the cities that I lived and their culture. I was born in Izmir, which is one of the biggest cities in Turkey and has almost 4.4 million population. This city is considered one of the most beautiful cities in Turkey because it has historical places and sea. Karsiyaka, Alsancak and Konak are ones that are the most popular places in Izmir. I spent nine years in this great city.

Then, I moved to Siirt which is a small city in the southeastern part of Turkey. There is not that much historical and cultural places there. The reason why we moved there is that my mother was from there. I did not like at the first time when we moved there because it was a small city and there was not that much opportunity for being social. After living in Siirt nine years, I started to love this city almost the same as Izmir. It is hard to find some pictures about this city, but I find show you an example about it. Continue reading Eight Cities that I Lived →

Turkish Tea

This week, I am going to introduce some delicious foods from Turkish culture. When we compare to the United States’ culture, there are huge difference in terms of foods. Turkish cultural values last from the Ottoman Empire. Maybe the name of the country has changed, but the culture is mostly the same, especially traditional food.

Let’s start with breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal within the day. Instead of drinking coffee in the mornings, Turkish people prefer to drink Turkish tea. Actually, Turkey is biggest tea drinking country in the world. (Additional info: 10 Biggest tea drinking countries)

Continue reading Another Reason for Going Turkey: Turkish Cuisine →

Merhaba

Learning a new language is not that hard when we compare it to fifteen years ago since technological devices and the Internet help people to practice with visual contents. In today’s world, speaking English is not that big issue for non-native speakers. The world expects that people should know a third language beside their native language and English. For native English speakers, personal development is popular for them even though some of them consider that they are already world citizen as they know English.

Continue reading Second and/or Third Language →

The Republic of Turkey

In my project, I was planning to do something in technology, but I changed my mind yesterday. I generally do not want to prepare something related to my country or language. However, it is a great opportunity to prepare a guide for people who want to learn some Turkish words. For this reason, I am planning to enrich this website as a manual for those people. Continue reading Discovering Turkey →