Turkish Language

Turkish is a very unique language in my opinion. It belongs to Altaic language family, which are basically languages spoken in Southeastern Europe and Western China. Since Turkish does not belong to the Indo-European language family, understanding the language will not be so easy for me. However, this short time that I have been studying Turkish I have begun to start pronouncing "c" as "j" whenever I read Turkish text. Turkish is a tricky language...

The Turkish language uses the Latin alphabet, which is the same alphabet we use for English. However, there are 6 more letters that play a role of vast importance in the language.

Aa
Bb
Cc -  As in j, in jump
Çç - As ch, in church
Dd
Ee
Ff
Gg
Ğğ - This letter is called the yumuşak (YOU-Moo-Shak) it is a "Soft g sound"
Hh
Iı - ( BEWARE this is not an i ) this letter makes a "uh sound"
İi
Jj
Kk
Ll
Mn
Nn
Oo
Öö - as in "eu"
Pp
Rr
Ss
Şş - as in "sh"
Tt
Uu
Üü - as in "uber"
Vv
Yy
Zz

Merhaba - Hello (MAre-Ha-BA)

Güle Güle - Goodbye (ghoul-lay ghoul-lay) This form of goodbye is said by the person that stays.

Hoşçakal - Goodbye ( Hosh-Cha-kawl) This form of goodbye is said by the person that leaves.

Lütfen - Please (Loot - Fen)

Teşekkür  ederim - Thank you (te-she-kewr e-de-reem)

Birşey değil - You're welcome (beer-shay de-eel)

Evet - Yes (e-vet)

Hayır - No (ha-yuhr)

Scholarships

Scholarships

Here are some other awesome State Department funded scholarships.

• National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y)

http://www.nsliforyouth.org

NSLI-Y is geared toward learning a critical foreign language.

NSLI-Y provides scholarships to high school students who are interested in learning,

- Arabic
- Persian
- Russian
- Mandarin
- Hindi
- Korean
- Turkish

Students may be placed in countries such as

- China
- Egypt
- Jordan
- India
- Korea
- Morocco
- Oman
- Russia
- Taiwan
- Tajikistan

To learn there given language

NSLI-Y offers full year and summer scholarships!

• Congress-Budestang Youth Exchange (CBYX)

http://www.usagermanyscholarship.org

CBYX is a State Department funded scholarships that sends students to Germany for a year.

NSLI-Y and CBYX are both full scholarship programs paid for by the Department of States. In each of these programs you will be assigned a host family and school, while being given the incredible opportunity to learn about a foreign culture and language.

I encourage you to apply you never know, like me, you may be spending a year in a foreign country.

Applications usually open up in late summer to early fall, probably in September...


Youtube and Google CBYX and NSLI-Y and you will find a lot more information.

YES-Abroad Turkey 2014-15

I am pleased to announce that I have been accepted to the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange Student (YES) scholarship program to study in Turkey for ten months. YES abroad is funded by the State department and the program in Turkey is implemented by American Councils and AFS. 64 other US students will be studying abroad in predominantly Muslim countries including, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Oman, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Macedonia, South Africa, Morocco, Ghana, Philippines, Thailand and of coarse Turkey.

Some possible cities I could go to are Aydin, Denizli, Gaziantep and Kayseri. I may be attending a public or private school were the primary language of instruction will be in Turkish. School typically runs Monday through Friday and from early September to mid June. Fortunately, Turkish language instruction will be provided during orientation and additional language instruction will be provided by Rosetta Stone program.

A variety of local cultural activities will be offered to me over the course of the year. Many activities will be focused on educational themes, such as using museums and places of worship to supplement information presented in schools and language classes. I will also have the opportunity to learn traditions and crafts such as Turkish folk dancing, paper marbling, and traditional music. Additional activities may include volunteering with organizations for children with disabilities or at orphanages and participating in extracurricular activates including sports and clubs.

Best,
Kyle