Well today is my son Malachi’s 6th birthday so I will borrow a bit of a lesson from my observations of his learning of Turkish.  He has done quite well and amazes me with his ability to take in the language, process it and use it effectively.  We are no longer constantly amazed, but one observation that I notice and knew would be the case for all kids, is his ability to approach language learning without shame or fear or the thought of embarrassment.  It is this reckless abandon that I think we must all strive to step into as we learn language.  Linguists talk about something called the affective filter.  This encompasses all those things listed above and the “higher” the filter is, the bigger a barrier it is to effective language acquisition.  Children tend to have very low affective filters.  So, the tip of the bi-week is to become like a child.  Leave the pride behind.  Come to grips with the fact that we as language learners will be the town clown – for a while.  Good luck on the journey and remember, don’t take yourself – or your mistakes, gringo accent, or cultural faux pas - too seriously.   

I have updated the Ingilizce Dinlemek page and changed the name to Engish4Turkey.  I think it will be a great site for the exchange of ideas and for Turks to find a good, interesting and fun source of comprehensible input for helping them learn English.  I have also connected this page and that one in the hopes that Turks will come here to record their answers for our narrow listening site on the new Türkler İçin page.  As well, you can shoot over to the Native English Speakers page of English4Turkey to record an answer to one of the questions posted there.  If you are living in Turkey, just add that fact to your introduction.  I think it should be a great place for Turks to go to find good, quality listening material, but it will only be good, if we take the opportunity to share our opinions, values and thoughts to the questions posted there.  Be the first!  Head on over and participate. 

Would you give 60 seconds to help a Turkish friend learn a little English?  To help your Turkish friend learn a bit more about your home culture?  Well, of course it may take a bit more than 60 seconds, but I am excited by the prospects of a new website dedicated to producing narrow listening files for Turkish English language learners to access nd use.  You can be a small part of this by checking out the Native English Speakerpage and contributing a bit yourself. As of now the page is called Ingilizce Dinlemek.  Not too exciting so if anyone has a suggestion for a better name, please let me know.  Kolay gelsin.

The University of Texas at Austin and Brigham Young University have teemed up to produce a fantastic site called Cultural Interviews with Turkish-Speaking Professionals.  There are literally hundreds of short video interviews with Turkish professionals and executives talking about: professional activities, negotiation practices, courtesy, and stereotypes.  The Turkish is very clear, they speak quite slowly and really well.  As a source of narrow listening it can’t be beat.  Everybody is talking about the same topics!  Check it out today!  And a huge thanks to this website for our first real narrow listening files.  We are slowly getting recordings together here, but don’t yet have enough to put a narrow listening file together.  It is coming though!  For now, check out this great site.  Just click on the tabs at the top and then click on the person you want to listen to.  Each video is accompanied by the transcript of what they are saying as well.  Happy Listening!

A friend told me yesterday about Ankara based Radio Shema.  They have a great round up of podcasts that you can listen to from their site or download.   The show names and descriptions are in both English and in Turkish, but all that I sampled were broadcast only in Turkish.  It looks to be a great source of Turkish listening. 

As well, I am currently working on adding another page to the website to house other listening files like podcasts, audio books, speeches and sermons.  Check back soon.  Or click on the RSS feed button and you will get the notice when I bring it online. 

As well, I have added a facebook share button up there too. Spread the word.

This one comes from Dwight Gradin of the PILAT training course and is one I really love.  I love it for a couple of reasons.  First, it has no limits.  You can use it any where, anytime, with little preparation and at any level of language learning.  Second, it gives you the chance to hear a lot of different ways to say the same thing.  We all realize that too often we learn a set phrase for a situation and then use it to death.  Dumb/Smart questions offer the possibilities of hearing the many ways native speakers might answer the same questions.  In many ways, dumb/smart questions are a “live” version of ‘narrow listening’ as featured on this site.  So how does it work?  Basically you start with a question you already know the answer to.  Then ask a native speaker the question and listen to their answer.  For example:  Walk down the post office.  Walk around the corner from the post office and then ask the first person you meet, “Excuse me, but could you tell me where the post office is?”  Thank them and then pretend to go in that direction.  Then find your next victim.  Ask them the same question.  Listen to their answer.  Now go to the other side of the post office, or further away.  Repeat it over and again, listening to how people answer. Are there basic patterns?  Some special expression that is routinely used?  Another way to use dumb/smart questions is in strategic shopping.  I needed a new watch about a year into my time here.  I gave myself an extra half an hour and then stopped at every store that sold watches as I walked home, asking the same questions to each merchant.  By the time I stopped and shopped for a watch at my sixth or seventh store, I was feeling much more confident and had a better understanding of what was going on, the names of watch parts, and how sales people sell watches. 


In the initial stages of your learning, this can really help boost your listening comprehension.  Later, it can be a way to widen the scope of the language you use.  I have been stopped and asked directions twice in the last week.  Both times I felt like my Tarzanca was on full display.  This week, I plan to head out with my PAN notebook and ask directions a lot and write down the many ways that people give them to prepare myself for giving directions next time. 
 

Other topics:  a common known fact in the nations history; how something (that you know about) at the Pazar works;  reactions to current world events; a recap of the match (the one you watched last night); about procedures at your child’s school (to other parents);

 
Dumb/Smart questions do what I think we need to work hard to do in all of our language learning – they give us a chance.  When the pump is primed, things flow more smoothly, quickly and it sticks.  Good luck!

My language helper recently showed me the Ekşı Sözlük online dictionary.  A bit like wikipedia, the dictionary allows community members to contribute to the ever expanding list of words as well as changing meaning of words.  It is also a bit of an almanac as you can look up historic dates, names, places and find it all with a bit of the flare that each individual contribute adds to the site.   Here is the 25th entry for the word Genç:

15 - 25 yaşları arasında, kot pantolon altına converse ayakkabı giyen insan. 

What a terrific definition!  Mark it in your favorites and enjoy.

Two new handcrafted audio files have been added to the Istanbul page.  Check them out.  We are still waiting for the first submission from one of our listeners. Be the first!  We are waiting.

  Pronunciation is an important part of any language.  Often we sell ourselves far too short for far too many mythical reasons and give up early on improving our pronunciation.  It is of course not the end all of language learning, but I think for all of us, a goal to not sound “harsh” to the native ear is one we should work toward and can achieve.  One way to remove some of the frustration of that working on pronunciation can bring is to set aside set times for dedicated pronunciation practice.  In these times, you will not concern yourself in the least with comprehension or communication.  You are just working on training your tongue and your mind to the new sounds of the language.  Don’t set aside a lot of time, but 5-10 minutes of dedicated work on the sounds of the language will really help you fine tune and give yourself a lot of focused practice with out the worry of feeling like you are not understanding everything.  In linguists terms it will help reduce your “affective filter.”  In some ways it is sort of like basketball.  In junior high we did left handed lay-up after left handed lay-up in practice so that it soon became natural.  When game time came around, it was more natural and I scored more points.  Our tongues and minds need the same sort of repetition so that they too can begin to feel natural.  Below is a link to some practice drills and other ideas that you can do in your focused pronunciation practice time with friend or language helper. 

I was working on some pronunciation issues today and came across the fourteen different ways that the /sh/ sound is made in the English language. 

shoe   sugar    issue    mansion    mission    nation    suspicion    ocean    nauseous    conscious    chaperon    schist     fuchsia     pshaw  

It sure makes one glad for the simplicity of Turkish spelling!    Long Live the Ş!