How much Turkish did I learn in 7 months? Traveling to Turkey

[@Thelinguist]

📲 The app I use to learn languages: tinyurl.com/33v6n6fx 🆓 My 10 FREE secrets to language learning: tinyurl.com/3x554ptj ❓Have you traveled to a country where your target language is spoken? Tell me in the comments!

[@Polina_Kiss_of_Languages]

Ben de Türkçe öğreniyorum. Çok teşekkür ederim Steve ve kolay gelsin!

[@Heller404]

Hello, if you ever need someone to do practice I can help!

[@merakli2022]

@@gentleman1231-k6d There are some people who do, like me. But it is important only in written language. But then again unfortunately quite a few Turks who use it wrongly all the time. But rules are rules and they are there for a reason. And I wish you a pleasant journey learning Turkish.

[@Isabella-linguistics]

Woah If somebody need to practice their Turkish do not hesitate to write to me!

[@yineLeyla]

@@gentleman1231-k6d 😂

[@merakli2022]

@@gentleman1231-k6d In formal language everyone has to play according to rules. Otherwise chaos ensues.

[@OghuricEnjoyer]

In a speech about Turkish, Johan Vandewalle, who stated that he sees the language as software and prefers to learn foreign languages ​​not only scientifically but also by living, expresses the uniqueness of Turkish with the following words: “If Chomsky had learned Turkish in his youth, then modern linguistics would have been shaped according to Turkish, not English.” Vandewalle’s following words about mathematics and Turkish are also very striking: “There can be mathematics in languages ​​other than Turkish. This is a situation that depends on the absence of unnecessary rules in the language, the ability to combine the rules and apply them without any limits. The structure of Turkish is like chess. A young child can learn the rules of chess in a short time. Then he can continue to play chess throughout his life and rise to a very high level. Although the rules are simple, the game is not simple. Accordingly, the rules of Turkish are simple and the opportunities to play are limitless.”

[@Thelinguist]

Turkish strikes me as particularly logical and systematic, almost mathematical. Yes, I think Chomsky's universal grammar, now largely debunked, was greatly influenced by the small number of languages that he spoke.

[@Dave.Mustaine.Is.Genius]

​@@Thelinguistoh me God sir :( I wish I knew yer trip to Turkey before.... I'd love to order ye coffee, cakes and have a conversatuon with ye, fer the duration of the available time that ye had ... Such a misfortune on me side. But of course, as we Muslims always say "Most probably there's a khayr even in this too" khayr; like, graces, blessings and fortunes that we don't know of yet, but that Allah knows of.

[@cayteetea]

👏🏻

[@Avernias]

Your Turkish pronunciation is impressive. Keep it up!

[@louscotr]

as I native Turkish speaker, I can tell you Mr Steven, you're pronunciation of Turkis really remarkable!

[@yineLeyla]

Abart abart, nesi remarkable ? Tamam deniyor çabalıyor ama asla Remarkable degil... El insaf, dürüst olalım ama dimi ? 🙄

[@Zuppazum61]

@@yineLeyla ortalama bi yabancıdan daha iyi

[@louscotr]

@@yineLeyla adam dilini 7 ayda anlıyor düşüncesini aktarıyor, türkçe gibi zor bir dili seni salsak 7 ayda ingilizceyi anlamazsın

[@yineLeyla]

@@louscotr Egitimli insanlara ortalama 6 ay yetiyor yabancı bir dili öğrenmeye. Ama bu şekilde kalkıpta methiyeler dizmek abartıdır, arkadaş ve siz belki türkçe konuşan yabancı insanları fazla görmemiş olabilirsiniz ondan kaynaklanabilir...beni sal bakiim 7 ay, sular seller gibi konuşurdum, arttırıyorum, hatta aksansız 🙊🙈😉

[@cenkakay3506]

@@yineLeyla telafuzu gerçekten iyi adam kelimeleri doğru söylüyor. Tabi ki cümleler mükemmel değil

[@enderyurt2801]

steve türkçeni dinlediğimde çok mutlu oldum.. harikasın.. bunun, bir çeşit dünya vatandaşı olma, bize değer verme, kapsayıcı bir yaklaşım gösterme gibi yönleriyle çok değerli olduğunu düşünüyorum..

[@Egitimci0]

Olum kes lan

[@MetehanMete_1]

Öğrenmeye olan bu tutkun muhteşem. Gençler için çok iyi bir örneksin.

[@yasemincoskun8021]

Videonuza rastladım, dilimizi öğrenme gayretiniz ve ülkemiz için övgülerinize teşekkür etmek istedim. Başarılar diliyorum.

[@Egitimci0]

Yasemin uzatma boş konuşma

[@balumfull]

Of all the places I've been Turkey has the best food!

[@ahmenenroute]

Dieses Thema musste zum Ausdruck gebracht werden. Die Türkei hat mehr Aspekte als man denkt. Danke fürs informative Video darüber.

[@darkseed2k9]

Could someone translate "Dieses Thema musste zum Ausdruck gebracht werden" to English? DeepL translates it as "This topic had to be expressed", but that's odd English. Does it mean something like "I have been waiting for this video" ?

[@ahmenenroute]

@darkseed2k9 the translation from DeepL is correct. If i want a topic to be expressed, it also means i wait for this video. So yeah it could be

[@bremexperience]

I was in Türkiye during october as well, I knew next to nothing, I can say my turkish improved tremendously in the 23 days I spent there because outside of Istanbul and the touristic centers, turkish is pretty much the only language to go with :), great experience. 3900 km by car. Istanbul, Safranbolu, Ankara, Cappadocia, Konya, Antalya, Bodrum, Ismir, Pammukale, Çannakale ... and many more :) A game my girlfriend and I played a lot was "How do you say in turkish?" We are from Québec, and are francophones, the answer was phonetically almost exactly the same as in french but it was a turkish word. Great fun.... lots of new words we can't even forget! Kuaför, Ferforje etc. :)

[@Cussmem07]

Hope you enjoyed your stay, sir.

[@ebrutuncay6181]

Turkish has many words imported from French( thousands of words if I am not mistaken)

[@mr.amantes]

ı am turkish and ı didn't even go those places in my lifetime thats sad

[@bremexperience]

@@mr.amantes You should do it!

[@manonthesilvermountain5892]

wow man thats quite a trip. im from turkey but i still havent been to some of those places. and turkish does have lots of words from french. not as many as english, but still quite a lot.

[@TheTraWELLer]

Great job. I travel a lot and I never seen a country like Turkey.

[@NezihaKaya-z2d]

In what sense, can you elaborate a bit more?

[@classicbambi]

Harikasın Steve!!!!! Benim gibi dil öğrenmeye meraklı herkese ilham kaynağı olduğun için teşekkürler 🫶🏻✨

[@Poliglotovic]

Turkish is a great language, it’s not difficult, it’s just different and unique as for the grammar. Now I want to do more because of your experience, thanks for that!

[@hellohabibi1]

I think you're underestimating your progress, the part where you spoke Turkish sounds just like İlber Ortaylı, the writer of the books you've been reading of. Your passion made my day. Love the videos!

[@julinaonYT]

Im learning turkish at the moment and have 1 turkish friend to practice with, this video and lots of the comments has been inspirational and also help me remember points that i can use later on. Keep well!

[@DanteVale-b6g]

I hope İlber Ortaylı's books will not break your motivation to learn. Because İlber Ortaylı's style of writing is difficult even for native Turkish speakers. I don't recommend İlber Ortaylı's books to anyone who has not reached an advanced level in Turkish.

[@erhert]

You must be kidding.

[@MasteringStitches]

No it's not.

[@caner0210]

Even as a Turkish lad, I am even struggling sometimes listening to İlber Ortaylı's speech because of his way of speaking. He spreads the words out of his mouth over a long period of time.

[@Qwerka]

Sometimes it may be hard -regarding the terminology- but it, minimally, seems like you are cavorting too much.

[@evriniskur967]

Orhan Pamuk as well. Sentences stretching across long paragraphs...

[@bekirerenpeker2493]

İm turkish and your pronunciation is much better than any foreign learning türkish. Öğrenmeye devam et!

[@hellowehavecookies]

I'm from Turkey and it's always wonderful to see people interested in our language. To anyone saying they're trying to learn Turkish here, hit me up for any questions or just to chat! Turkish grammar may come across counter-intuitive to those used to Western/Northern European languages but it's pretty neat once you start thinking in the language. Also, don't be afraid of the verb conjugation table guys. Turkish is an agglutinative language, not fusional, so we just add different suffixes one after another. We have a plural suffix, a negative suffix, various tenses, the question particle, and suffixes for the subject: The table with a trillion forms in it is just combinations of those. Most of the time.

[@SwedenTheHedgehog]

@@hellowehavecookies My biggest struggle with learning Turkish will forever be ‘secondary clauses’! I understand the suffixes to make them, theoretically, but I can’t wrap my head around when to use which one and how to structure the sentence in my head. When should I use -DIK- and when should I use -(y)An? And is there a way to visualize/remember the sentence structure? @_@

[@misterwill3625]

@@SwedenTheHedgehogI’m studying Turkish too. I’ve recently seen -dik, but I haven’t seen -yan. Could you give two examples of yan. I’m not saying I can explain, but I’m curious about what you’re seeing because there are so many suffixes.

[@misterwill3625]

Türkçe güzel ama en sözlükleri ve en materyallar çok basittir. I can write basic sentences like that, but it takes me months to find material to explain how to say basic things like “the lady who lives here” or “when.” A lot of patience is needed to wait to discover the suffixes and remember them. A suffix dictionary with an example of how to use each suffix would be extremely helpful if it exists. Could you please let me know if such a dictionary exists? For example, the sentence, “I’ve been studying Turkish for seven months.” I saw a site that says that “for” = -den beri, but they don’t show examples. Perhaps, “Türkçe öğrenirimden beri 7 ay.” I must admit that your offer is very generous. Thank you.

[@SwedenTheHedgehog]

@@misterwill3625 One example with -(y)An is "Yürüyen adamı gördüm" = I saw 'the walking man' or "I saw the man which walks". There's no time information in the verb in this form, it just means "who/what/which is doing X". Example 2: "Sürüyen araba buraya geliyor" = That moving car is coming this way or literally "the car which is driving is coming towards here". My Turkish isn't perfect by any means, so I'm not sure how natrual these sentences sound to turks though, lol.

[@hellowehavecookies]

@@SwedenTheHedgehog Ok, so, I wrote this assuming you already have an intermediate level and used some grammar terms while writing. Please ask me to clarify any part that I explained poorly and tell me if you have any other questions or want more examples. Short answer: -(y)en creates a verbal adjective that means 'the person who does that'. For example: gülen çocuk → laughing child konuşan kadın → talking/speaking woman Kitabımı kaybettim. Kitabımı gören var mı? → I lost my book. Is there anyone who saw my book? (Kitap is book, kitabım is my book. Kaybetmek is to lose, görmek is to see. Gören is someone/anyone who sees or saw.) -dik is more complicated. It's almost never used alone as -dik but instead receives a personal belonging suffix just like 'kitabım' above. Personal belonging suffixes are added to nouns to say whose they are. With personal belonging suffixes, it's "-diğim, -diğin, -diği, -diğimiz, -diğiniz, -dikleri". It means "[person]'s-having-done-the-action-in-the-past". Think 'doing the action' is a noun and I use 'your doing of the action' or 'my doing of the action' similar to nouns. Onlarla gittiğimi nereden biliyorsun? → How do you know I went with them? (Lit. trans. 'From where you know my-having-gone with them?') Emin değilim ama Zeynep'in zaten bunları bildiğini düşünüyorum. → I'm not sure but I think Zeynep already knows these. ('Emin' is sure. 'Düşünmek' is to think. You can also use 'sanmak' 'to suppose' in this sentence both are fine.) The -dik structure also comes before the participle 'için', this time only with personal belonging suffix and without case marks. 'için' is a post participle that means 'because/for', but it's added after the sentence unlike the English words which are added before. For example: Her şey senin için. → Everything is for you. Pasta yapmak için süte ihtiyacımız var. → We need milk to make cake. Onları tanıdığım için sevmiyorum zaten. → I don't like them because I met them. ('tanımak' is to know someone as in to be familiar with them. If you're meeting someone, you can use the verb 'tanışmak'. 'Zaten' means already. You can use it while arguing with someone to mean 'you said x to support your point but it actually supports my point'. Or as an interjection while you're counting your own arguments. In this sentence, it means 'you said I should meet them to get to know and like them, but the reason I dislike them is that I know them to begin with'.) Btw, I said -dik is usually in the past but it can be used for present or general situations as well. It's just non-future. The future equivalent is -(y)ecek. Geleceğimi söyledim ama sanırım gelmeyeceğim. → I said I was going to come but I guess I won't come. ('sanmak' is to suppose, 'sanırım' is I suppose.) The more general and longer answer: English builds sub-clauses by analytical means. For example, 'I watched the movie that Alice recommended me'. Here, 'Alice recommended me' is basically an adjective that describes the movie, and I tie them by using the word 'that'. In Turkish, we don't have any such words. Instead, we add suffixes to the verbs that transform them into nouns, adjectives or adverbs. Those are called verbal-nouns (gerundials), verbal-adjectives and verbal-adverbs. The verb conjugations as you learn at the beginner level (verb root + tense + the subject, for example 'görmek → to see' 'gördüm → I saw') can only be added to the main verb of the sentence. All other verbs must receive one of those verbal suffixes in order to demote them to a sub-clause. Alice'in bana önerdiği filmi izledim. ('önermek' to recommend, 'izlemek' to watch.) -dik is an example of verbal adjective. For example: gördüğü şey → the thing he saw güldüğüm şaka → the joke I laughed at As you know, Turkish adjectives are very interchangeable with nouns. You can just use words like red, beautiful etc. in the sentence same as nouns. In that case, they mean 'red thing, beautiful thing' but you don't have to write 'thing'. Same goes for verbal adjectives. Verbals function as nouns/adjectives/adverbs within the sentence. Some verbal nouns (and adjectives) can receive case marks or personal belonging suffixes just like nouns. If you have a verbal noun that can take a subject, you do that by adding a personal suffix to the verbal noun. This is how you create sub-clauses that have a subject (as in 'the movie that Alice has recommended me'). If you write those subjects openly, they have to be in the genitive case (benim, senin, onun, Ali'nin etc.). yapmak → to do (dictionary form) yapma → doing (gerundial) yapmam → my-doing (gerundial with belonging suffix) yapmama → to-my-doing (gerundial with belonging suffix and dative case mark) Yüzme öğrendi. → He learnt swimming. Yüzme öğrenmek istiyorum. → I want to learn swimming. Yüzmeyi seviyorum. → I like swimming. (swimming in the accusative case) Gitmemi istedi. → He wanted me to leave/to go. (Lit. He wanted my-leaving.) Zeynep'in gitmesini istedim. → I wanted Zeynep to leave. (Lit. I wanted Zeynep's-leaving.) *Note: The -me suffix is both the gerundial suffix and the negative suffix. So: yapmamak → to not do yapma → doing (gerundial) Yapma! → Don't do!

[@ellinadaily]

Your level of Turkish is fantastic, Steve, congratulations! Very impressive🎉

[@microso9889]

I have seen this in Turkish speaking foreigners: The emphasis characteristics in Turkish are different from almost all languages in the world. Except for some proper nouns, there is no increase or decrease in emphasis anywhere in words and sentences, the emphasis moves steadily throughout the word and each sound has almost the same emphasis. The same applies to sentences, we usually do not pop a word unless we want to imply it. That is why I see European speakers pop any sound due to accent when speaking Turkish. For example, in the video, the word history is read as "tArih" but in fact you need to read it steadily as "tarih". Turkish is a very easy language to learn, but very few foreigners are successful in this stress, so for example, someone who can speak German professionally looks like a native, while someone who has professional knowledge of Turkish easily gives away that they are a foreigner

[@julinaonYT]

Thank you, your comment has helped me with turkish

[@brrkbtl]

Good point. The only problem when foreigners speak Turkish is they assume they should be stress on certain syllables , but we usually do not stress any syllable . There are sometimes some Words that has stressed syllables ( moslty loanwords ) but we Turks never get them right 😅 for example the word ‘ laik ‘ does not have strsss but most people say ‘LAik ‘ . There are many Words like this:)

[@microso9889]

@@julinaonYT 🥰

[@seroksank8136]

As a Turkish who has recently moved to Canada, I’m so thrilled that you started learning Turkish! Fingers crossed for my French learning journey 😅

[@albertmousquetaire4128]

Bonne chance ! 😉

[@bremexperience]

French is easy, it is pronounced as it is written! ;)

[@zintar]

​@@bremexperience💀

[@koreanhalaymaster]

@@bremexperience LoL :)))

[@adelia1841]

@@bremexperience Tell me about it, I study French language at the univercity for 4 years I still couldn't learn it decently lol 😂

[@cicolas_nage]

i was in istanbul only in july and i already want to go back. it's truly a magical place (if you can ignore all the pushy vendors)

[@lunarbike]

I am sorry on behalf of them. We are in a deep economic crises and everybody trying to survive...

[@InfiniteBeach101]

@@lunarbike Are you from Istanbul? There's always been pushy vendors in touristic parts of the city.

[@Cu_198]

​@@InfiniteBeach101yok siz batililar kendi bı boj sanan cok cahillersiniz ülkenin ekonomisi kötü her ülkede olan şeyler Fransızları neyse biz İngiliz sanmıyoruz hristiyan olmalarına ragmen

[@mustafabaris9681]

I am from Ankara, Turkey. When I was 18 years-old I went to Portland , USA and I could speak little English when I first got there but in 2 years time I became fluent in English .. Then when I was 27 years-old I went to Shenzhen, China and spoke no Chinese but in two years I became fluent in Chinese.. Now I am 47 years-old , speak three languages fluently ( English, Chinese and Turkish ) and next year will go to Argentina to improve my Spanish ( I could speak some Spanish now ) and I am sure after two years I will become fluent in Spanish .. So what is the secret you may ask ? It is understanding the difference between learning a language and acquiring a language ..Every time I wanted to learn a foreign language, I chose the acquiring method through immense amounts of listening and repetition in the beginning then I put my ego aside and started speaking ( after 6 months ) even though I made many mistakes speaking but did not care ..

[@abeer8733]

Amazing!

[@marcksuarez]

Bravo! I learnt english german by myself Im a native Spanish speaker though. Colombian.

[@utkuy1537]

Your Turkish is fantastic. Your pronunciation is very easy to understand, not tiring to listen to at all. Congrats. One little detail: a common mistake that those who speak Arabic make in Turkish, you can never start a sentence with "mümkün". Like in your sentence at 11:40 - Always put that word after an action verb: yapman mümkün, gitmeniz mümkün, etc.

[@byailen]

Right? It's especially great for such a short time like 7 months. Also the grammatical rules of his native language are the complete opposite of ours.

[@utkuy1537]

@@placebo_7505 olsun, ben beğendim şefim

[@hellowehavecookies]

​@@placebo_7505 Tabii ki anadil seviyesinde Türkçe konuşmuyor ama konuştuğu seviye mükemmel. Çok fazla kelime biliyor, tanıştığı insanlar ve oteldeki deneyimlerinden tut Orta Asya ve tarihe kadar bir sürü konuda kendi duygularını ifade edebildi. Hal eklerini de çoğunlukla doğru kullandı. Bir de yabancı dil anlamak, konuşmaktan daha kolay. Anladığı seviye şu an büyük ihtimalle baya yüksek.

[@julinaonYT]

Thank you for your comment about Mümkün, i am learning turkish and i will be very careful about it.

[@TheGkslzky]

Your pronouncation is above avarage Mr. Kaufmann, bravo!

[@placebo_7505]

I bought Lingq. I came across this video. It was a great source of motivation for me. If people can talk like this in 4 months, then great things can be done in 1 year. Thanks Steve

[@maymunistahli502]

He is a polygot, his brains is well-trained and open-minded to switch and he crafted great techniques. It is not only about application or websites, i am a polygot myself. You need around 2 years for his level of speaking in Turkish, maybe more.

[@placebo_7505]

@maymunistahli502 If you are a polyglot, can you give me a couple of really useful tactics? For example, how should I do intensive training?

[@maymunistahli502]

@@placebo_7505 everybody is different, if you are really passionate about languages, after years of experience, you find the best methods for yourself, mine is entirely different than his. I start with simple sentences and build up from there. I start with simple daily sentences and add conjunctions and linking words and try to make the sentences as complex as possible gradually. I also write a really complex sentence and ask chat gpt about specific reasoning for that usage and try to write similar sentences for myself, i write down every word that I don’t know during this process. In order for someone to use my method efficiently, you need to have elite level grammar knowledge in at least one language. Even if it is your native language, if you are not familiar with the math of grammar deeply, my method wouldn’t work.

[@johnsemenza145]

Really great examples of your speaking ability. Perfectly paints the picture

[@illuyanka-]

Steve, it’s awesome to see your progress in Turkish! I still remember the few lessons we had back in 2019-each one was so much fun and inspiring.

[@georgios_5342]

Omg this is so relatable. I also confuse uzun and uzak a lot 😂 Tebrikler Steve Bey Türkçen çok gelişmiş

[@egeurgenc673]

very impressive steve. when you were talking english you clearly are a westerner and had the mannerisms but when you spoke turkish you somehow turned in to a turk all of a sudden. so funny how speaking a different language does that. btw you vocabulary and pronounciation is very good!

[@SecAk-nyc]

It was a great video that I enjoyed and got some good advices about how to learn Turkish language and history. Very informative video, Thanks

[@cnrsz8435]

your pronunciation feels so natural, congrats

[@ozge1dursun]

I love the way you use "yok", the way we do in Turkey, as in, meaning, "no".. and you doscovered Ilber Ortayli. Your tutor also sounds great

[@andrefiord2357]

I am currently in Marmaris for a month. Started my turkish language journey back in May. I use my own app, which I designed and created.

[@David-b4l]

What is the name of your app?

[@pouriazada]

Oh dear, İlber Ortaylı is authoritative alright! I understand the premonition about people who are too popular but he's the real deal. He probably knows about 7 or 8 languages and he's a very erudite historian, studied under some of the greatest Ottoman historians in his youth and the scope of his knowledge is unmatched; I follow the "public square" of 5 languages and am quite familiar with some of their public intellectuals (English, German, Turkish, Arabic and Persian-speaking countries) and there's nobody like him in any of these countries. He's like a walking library of congress.

[@doxo9423]

I am literally about to cry and super amazed by your interest and effort you put in for this language, world needs more people like you, curious and hardworking!! 😊

[@kursatoz.9988]

As someone who has lived in Türkiye and tried to learn English for 20 years, I congratulate you. The shortest way to learn a language is courage, not being afraid to make mistakes, and lots of practice.

[@GabinoPerez-ix1jk]

thanks for creating lingQ

[@Nnuuraksoy]

Thank you for coming and spreading info about Turkiye. I am glad that you are learning Turkish. I hope one day I will be polyglot,too.

[@nemo23.24]

Steve Amca, Türkçen çok iyi çok güzel telaffuz ettin bravo 👏👏

[@賴文茹-y1w]

Fabulous trip Reminds me of a film "around the world in 80 days"

[@MuratHocaOnlineTurkish]

I have been teaching Turkish to foreigners for 20 years. I'm writing doctoral thesis about this. I taught more than 4000 students (more than 70 nationalities). Learning a foreign language isn't difficult if you have motivation, a good teacher, native friends, good books (course books and special story books). You should watch tv series, films, television and listen songs too.

[@cayteetea]

Your Turkish accent is perfect Steve😍 hatta " fevkaladenin fevkinde"

[@ganbare8658]

I adore your joy and excitement to make yourself understood. It's a feeling like being a child back again, keep it up and my wishes you never lose it!

[@yusra5100]

It's nice to see my favorite youtuber and linguist in my country 😊♥

[@leo240-p5i]

Türkiye çok beğeniyorum. Çanakkale çok güzel bir yerdir.

[@Doruk-tl7sb]

İnsanların ülkemize gelip dilimizi öğrenmesi ne güzel. We are trying to learn your languages too :)

[@ozlemgokce1291]

Şahanesin Steve ! İnsanlığa çok güzel bir örneksin. Ve bana yabancı dil öğrenme yolunda çok güzel bir ilham oldun.

[@kateelizabeth8391]

This good man really inspire me to keep me on my track, thanks a lot! from Panamà.

[@abeer8733]

This was so much fun to watch! Enjoyed the turkish conversations and also the interesting historical insight!

[@cerenerturk6895]

Bu video beni inanılmaz mutlu etti, Türkçe öğrenmene çok sevindim. Telafuzun çok iyi. Tebrik ederim🎉 ❤❤❤ bolca kalp kalp

[@erenal456]

Im really happy about the care youre giving to learn our language, i hope you can learn more and speak like a native one day❤

[@HakanAras]

Kendi çabasıyla birşeyler öğrenen insanlara hayranlık duyuyorum.

[@tugberkcamdere]

I am so surprised that your pronunciation was so good, sir. You always amaze me with your ability and dedication to languages, even though I already knew you'd do a perfect job on it. You're an example to the community.

[@undomiel86]

Tebrikler Steve, dil öğrenmeye meraklı herkes için bir idolsünüz 🙌

[@ananasbozukdaily]

Much respect and greetings from Turkey

[@cigdemkarasu3336]

I met an American family in Eugene, Oregon. They had moved to Germany with their 4 children. There they were learning German, also creating a Calendar, based on their Church's teachings. They happened to live in an apartment building where a Turkish family resided. They became friends. And in one year both the husband and the wife had learned almost perfect Turkish. Their children had learned it in a shorter time span, playing with the Turkish Children. Learning languages is a magical thing.

[@anastasiianowakowska9200]

First time I went to Turkey after just one month of studying on Duoliingo, so I had a very limited vocabulary, but at least some basics. My husband and I went to Turkey to walk the Lycian way (530 km walking trail from Antalya to Fethiye), so I used my language to start conversations with people (saying that the food is very good for instance), ask for directions or ask the price of things. Lycian way goes through a lot if villages, so you need some Turkish because many people would not speak any other language at all. My experience from the first time was quite frustrating - I would ask for directions and then would have no idea what the reply meant :D But still, local people appreciated my efforts to communicate and were very friendly and helpful, signalling with hands, sometimes taking me by the hand and leading to the places I inquired about. That was that time I fell in love with Turkey and knew I HAVE to come back. My second time coming to Turkey was several months after our first visit. I was learning Turkish on Clozemaster and compled top 100 and top 500 most common words collections on Clozemaster. There was a big difference for me in terms of comprehension and my ability to communicate compared to the first time. We walked the same Lycian way, only in other direction. Again, we went through many villages and I was able to engage with people better, although of course to a limited degree. On several occasions, people would offer to give us a ride, and I understood that to start conversation while we hitch-hike, I need to have some ready-made phrases under my belt. For example, tell a bit about me, that I am from Ukraine, my husband is Polish, we live in Poland; we first came to Turkey last autumn; we liked it very much because of nature, people, weather, history; Lycian way is amazing, people are very friendly and helpful, etc. This had a great effect, people really appreciated the fact that I was speaking Turkish. There were lots of acts of kindness, where they were riding us extra few km just to deliver us where we needed, gave us great tips. Many times you go through some garden and people come out and treat you with some fruits - the level of cordiality and hospitality was something I have never seen in any country before. It was still difficult to understand many of people’s replies, but we managed somehow. The third time I visited Turkey was after doing a lot on Clozemaster and some significant work on LingQ. We went to Northern Turkey to hike around some areas, we were thinking Küre Dağlar. Our first day of travel, the driver in the bus (dolmuş) treats us to tea on one of the stops along the way. We understood this trip is going to be different. Our plans to walk in the local mountains were not approved by the locals (there were lost of interaction with the locals - you go into every shop to buy some bread for instance, and they ask you who you are, what you are doing here and WHY are you here). Many said that hiking and camping in the mountains is dangerous because there are bears. They were really surprised that someone would just arrive to their region to wonder around in the mountains. So they directed us to the coast (Inebolu) and said that walking there would be safer. But honestly, it was almost not possible to walk around in Northern Turkey, as a car would invariably stop and offer to give us a ride. Of course we would agree because that would mean real conversations with locals and real adventure. Like from the last times, I had some ready topics about ourselves, our experience in Turkey, what we are doing here. And then I had questions about wildlife, are there any bears, wolves, other animals in the forest, sharks int he sea, do they hike in the forest, etc. And then the conversation would flow from there. My Turkish is in no way good. It is maybe some upper beginner conversational level with a lot of errors and not following the protocol. For example, if I did not hear something, instead of polite “efendim?” (“Say that again”) I would most likely say “ne?” (What?) So you’ve got the style :) But nobody was actually correcting me - people understood what I meant and were completely fine with my broken Turkish. Then, the communication is not just you saying pre-prepared phrases. You need to listen and understand what they are talking back to you. Sometimes I understood the entire sentence, sometimes only some part of it. You need to give a sign that you follow the conversation. You can ask about things that you did not understand, or just give a sign that you understood another part. Repeating some of the words that the person said back to them helps. For example, they are lying something like, “camping in the mountains by yourself can be very dangerous because of the bears”, you say, “yes, bears, very dangerous”. I feel that being a beginner in a language, it is not as important to be able to speak a lot, but just to listen and understand something and then express that understanding. And the conversations led to the most amazing experiences. Locals were so hospitable and appreciative of our efforts to speak Turkish that they very often would invite us to their homes, or to eat with them in a local cafe, or to drink tea. One time we were invited to stay at a home, and we ended up with the lovely couple for 2 days. We are still in contact with them and hope they will visit Poland one day. What I wanted to say is that I am completely in love with Turkey. The level of hospitality, openness and trust of people is something I have never experienced before. And speaking Turkish language surely helped to develop some of the friendships or at least express our appreciation and admiration of their culture. And of course, the best way to practice the language is to go further from the touristy centres, to the places where tourists rarely go - then interaction with real people starts. There is still so many things to explore there in terms of history and archeology. But for me the most interesting thing is not sightseeing but a contact with people, and you will get a lot of that if you move away from the busiest touristy places and instead of pre-arranged trips just wonder around the streets. Turkish language, being hard to learn for a Westerner, gives you a great return on your efforts as people do not take for granted your speaking their language, they really appreciate that you put time and effort in knowing their culture more.

[@baconboi37]

As a Turkish native, İyi iş Steve, başarılarının devamını bekliyorum! Türkçe öğrenmeye çaba gösteren nadir yabancılardan olduğun için seni tebrik ediyorum!

[@williamhehemann3887]

Incredibly inspiring video and message, Steve! I'm glad you were able to reward your learning efforts with a trip to Turkey. Cheers from Poland!

[@rbursuk1]

Your pronunciation shocked me in a good way. 👏👏

[@aynursultanova5728]

Turkce konusmaniza kalbimi biraktim ❤ ilk turkce konustugunuz video ile arasinda cok cok buyuk bir fark var :) so so impressive ❤

[@sigma55555]

Dear Steve, first if all congrats. It's not a compliment but the reality: you're speaking it bloody perfect comparing to the time spent on it. Let me inrease the bet, you're speaking it in more approriate and understandable way than many natives. I hope you keep going. Cheers!

[@ncroc]

I must say your Turkish accent is surprisingly good. I guess you have the talent.

[@منبو-و1ز]

انا اتابعك من الجزيرة العربية اتمنى لك الصحة والعافية دايما

[@ovguozbenonal4207]

Azminizden dolayı sizi tebrik ediyorum. Bulduğunuz ve okuduğunuz Türk yazarlar da kendi alanında uzman ve takdir edilen kişiler. İyi bir bilgilendirme olmuş videonuz. Bana da yeni bir dil öğrenmek için ilham vermiş oldunuz teşekkürler.

[@anarchowizard]

you're doing great Steve! Harikasın!

[@bsgoc]

it was a joy to watch this video as a native speaker.. i wish you all the best, mr. kaufmann. by the way your turkish is quite impressive !

[@doga3441]

Hey Steve, loved your video. Your Turkish is great especially as you learnt most of it through online resources. Your speaking in Turkish reminded me of one American expat turned Turkish standup comedian (Jan Forman).

[@mcanskywalker1758]

The man, The myth and The legend himself .. It’s a bit late but welcomED to our country 🇹🇷 As far as I concerned, it was quite a journey for you. I wish i could met you when you had arrived here in the first place. It would be awesome experience for me to meet someone who is able to speak multiple languages because I’m a master student in german language and literature. Clearly I work on learning language and learning methods and that’s something that you can help with me when it comes to share experience face to face however next time it’s 🙏😅

[@Lord_Genghis_Khan]

İlber Ortaylı, very good choice! Your accent and prononciation is really clear and close to accurate actually. With lots of speaking i believe as you get fluent you would be able to speak very well the accent and pronounciation is not really easy for any people that not speaks a turkic language because it belongs to a complete different language family, same for us being not so accurate to pronounce other languages. But im really surprised to see someone whos not a Turkic person being able to say words such clear. Generally its the "ı or I" word that is hard for other people confusing with "i".

[@adelia1841]

As a Turkish, I want to say I'm glad to see that more and more people are getting eager to learn our language, history and culture. I appreciate your effort. Başarılar dilerim.

[@akiine1]

As a Turk**

[@adelia1841]

@@akiine1 same thing

[@akiine1]

@@adelia1841 no they are not. "as a turkish" is just grammatically wrong.

[@adelia1841]

@@akiine1 Then good thing that I'm not a grammar professional. Most people in Turkey use "Turkish" when speaking English, it is a habit of mouth. Besides many of the foreigners don't recognize the word "Turk" at first.

[@akiine1]

@@adelia1841 I don't mind! Its just a mistake, just because a mistake is a mouth habit doesn't make it right.

[@kamilyenice7859]

Bravo Mr. Kaufmann, your Turkish is already pretty impressive! Quite inspiring indeed!

[@alibalbars812]

as a native Turkish speaker, your pronunciation is on another level

[@UnrulyParsley]

takdire şayan çalışmalarınız için sizi tebrik ederim. (I congratulate you for your admirable work.)

[@sirinaydin8786]

That's amazing, Steve!

[@memomoto990]

You are doing great Steve. Turkish is not an easy language for English speakers, vice versa. Congratz!

[@savasnacar3740]

Your Turkish is amazing! I wish I could get some conversation with you…

[@stepheng9607]

My experience of trying to use a language on holiday is that you encounter three types of people. The first is far too busy and uses English back at me. The second is appreciative of your efforts and will help. The third is when someone doesn't realise you are a tourist and just asks you something in their native language.

[@LeonardBlyx]

Interesting fact about Turkish is that it invokes personality through emphasis and tonality. So when a foreigner studies Turkish under a tutor, very often they adopt the personality with it as well. For example I can tell that your tutors (or the mix of them) were kind, caring, compassionate and gentle.

[@Dreamhousedream]

Your speaking is impressive bravo!

[@alaneldira9578]

I started to learn English 3.5 years ago however I couldn't have enough progress in my English when I consider your Turkish .you are nearly fluent, your pronunciation is better than many Turkish. Seni tebrik ederim ,başarın bana ilham veriyor.

[@CouchTomato87]

I always find it interesting that when speaking English, Turks use the word “Turkish” to refer to Turkish people. The word is actually the same in English and Turkish: Turk (not Turkish)

[@alaneldira9578]

@CouchTomato87 you are complately right, I think it is difference of gramer, we use Turkish people in English, but for other nations there is not difference, for instance Greek people- Greeks, indian people- indians, Dutch people - Dutchs. Perhaps it is comfusing. Moreover we have many French words in Turkish language also English language have the same words but pronunciation is very different so changing the word's pronunsiation is tough for me.

[@CouchTomato87]

@ Yes it’s always hard with a foreign language! To make it easy, these are the only people in the world that have a name different than their adjective in English: Turks (Turkish), Poles (Polish), Brits/Britons (British), Scots (Scottish), Spaniards (Spanish), Swedes (Swedish), Danes (Danish), Finns (Finnish), and Mongols (Mongolians also works though)

[@nakruf]

I am quite impressed with your level of Turkish, sir! We would love to host you again as a country

[@elsvanhage1072]

Dear Steve, thanks for the update, nice to see you and your wife in beautiful Turkish surroundings, however, did you visit Gobekli Tepe!!!!!????? That must be utterly fascinating! Bye bye!🌹

[@leonardocampos5524]

You are a legend!

[@JosephZhaed]

Here is a demonstration! Hope this helps someone... Turkish: Türkçe'den İngiliceya ya da İngilizce'den Türkçe konuşmanın en zor kısımlarından biri, dendiği gibi, iki dilin zıt yönde çalışması. LITERAL Translation: From Turkish to English or English to Turkish speaking the hardest one of the, said as, opposite direction works. English: As said, one of the hardest parts of speaking Turkish to English or English to Turkish is because the two languages work in opposite ways.

[@ethemsadkozgur5659]

such a great video, pronunciation pretty great too.

[@NezihaKaya-z2d]

Wow, very impressive! Even your pronunciation is excellent 👌 😊

[@fireballpitpat8713]

Steve I think you should finish Greek as both cultures have similar aspects. Love turkey as a Greek even though our hard history

[@SevilayKeskin-u7j]

Yes, especially Western Anatolian culture has similarities Greek culture. As a Turk, I love Greece too and go there. Charoumenes meres!

[@yagmur.198]

inanilmaz iyi bir Türkce aksaniniz var, tebrikler

[@ahmethakantozlu1389]

As Turkish, our children had hard time to learn English because of the major differences. When I was in highschool my english teacher said to me that I have to think in English before I speak. Because if I speak without thinking, I use Turkish as a base. When you use Turkish as a base you make lots of grammatical errors. So, all I can say to new Turkish learners, think Turkish. You have to proggrame your brain.

[@Hallelujah666]

Hey Steve, I am a Turkish guy who lives in Chicago & it was fun to watch your video. Umarım iyi ögrenebilmissindir dayicim. Sana basarılar diliyorum. It was funny (in a good way) speaking you Turkish. You are doing great.

[@ArdaKaraduman]

çok güzel öğrenmişsiniz, tebrikler !

[@DenizKomando1963]

Türkiyeden selamlar ! 🇹🇷

[@SandlerSays]

I can say that your Turkish is really good. Although Turkish is spoken by a large group of people, it is very diverse. Even though I am a native speaker, I may not speak pure Turkish because I am influenced by different language.i speak arabic, french, german and spanish. it affects your pronunciation a lot in turkish just because it is really pronunciation dependent language. I appreciate your effort and wish you continued success.

[@warsawiconic]

Very good progress Sir! Spot on pronunciation!

[@gageracer]

Randomly got a recommendation for this channel and this video. Thank god for that! You've mentioned you are in Vancouver, let me know if you would like to practice speaking more!

[@yalcnaltunel3809]

I am also Turkish this guy speak better than many Turkish people believe me

[@reinn1]

aksanınız gerçekten çok iyi yurt dışında yaşayan bir Türk konuşması gibi geliyor kulağa

[@mr_p_]

Türkiye, kurucusu Atatürk olan Orta Doğu ve Balkanlarda topraklara sahip 3 tarafı denizlerle çevrili olup kendine ait bir tane iç denizi ve eşsiz güzellikte iki boğaza sahip olan kıtalararası bir ülkedir. Bayrağı al bayrak ve dili Türkçedir. Türkçe, 90 milyonun üzerinde kişinin konuştuğu, oldukça zengin ve güzel bir dildir. Dünya üzerindeki stratejik konumu sayesinde Türkiye, her zaman yabancıların ilgi odağı olmuştur ve ayrıca Türkiye, Orta Doğu coğrafyasında bulunmasına rağmen Arap, Yunan ya da Gürcü değildir ve dilimizde Arapça, Farsça, Fransızca gibi yabancı dillerden geçmiş kelimeler olsa da dilimiz bu dillerle benzerlik göstermez. Bize bu ülkeyi emanet ettiği için ulu önder Mustafa Kemal ATATÜRK'e teşekkür ediyorum. 🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷