Learning Turkish language, Turkçe

Ohh..cool...we touched 17,897 pageviews today!! I love number 17. My jersey (for Volleyball and Softball) was 17. And it always brought good luck to me and my team, Yee Haaa !! Stay tuned...I shall write on Turkish Belly dancing in my next Post... Ahaaakkkk.....

Thought I'd write about Turkish language today, lest I forget, after leaving her for sooo longgggggg.

Turkish language, Turkçe is not an old language. The language that you hear them speak today was actually 'created' by Kemal Ataturk. It was a gradual change that Ataturk painstakingly undertook and ended with a 'new' 90,000 new vocabularies. After borrowing and modifiying from the French, German, English and some Arab languages, finally in about 1934, a new Turkish language was born, as so was surnames.

Thereafter, all Turks must use and adopt this language, irrespective of their ethnic origins. Any other languages are to be undertaken privately if anyone so wish but a Turk must only speak Turkçe and nothing else. The Turks are aware that Turkish language is one of the most difficult languages in the world and they would be really happy and appreciative if they see that you, a foreigner, can speak Turkçe. You get brownie points...and might get away with many many things. Trust me on this...I'd managed to get out of some sticky situations by simply conversing in Turkçe with them.

 Apart from the usual 26 alphabets that we have, Turkçe has an additional 6 characters that warrant special mention and require special Turkish keyboard, which I did not have. So, most times, when I wrote something in Turkçe it is not exactly right without these special 6 alphabets. But they are not difficult to comprehend, it's just a matter of pronouncing them properly.

For a tourist, just remember that there are 2 types of c,g and s. Normal g,c and s is pronounced as'g',  'k' and 's' respectively. However, whenever g,c and s become 'soft g, c and 'soft s' ( ç,ğ ş )  with an additional subscript below it, it becomes "ch" and "sh" respectively. While the g become silent and would enhance the sound of the preceding alphabet. It all sounds 'Greek' to you? C'mon....it's not all that bad... really !!

The difficulty arise in making  sentences because all the nouns are brought to the front, followed by verbs and adjectives. As such, you can't simply translate from Turkçe to English and vice versa using Uncle Google. What this means is...when they talk, you'll have to listen until they finish the whole sentence to know who did what and why! My Swiss-German friend said that this is also the case with German language. And...according to her, that is why Turkish (and Germans) are good listeners as compared to the French or Italians! She said that, you can interrupt a French or Italian talking because you can already guess what they were going to say from the beginning of the sentence. Hmm? Good point there, eh?

Don't ask me why because that's how it is...I've even argued with my tutor who simply could not understand why it was done that way,too. Ohh my tutor....yes...I think I tortured her enough during the class but she was a good tutor. Thank you Duygu! Though we are still trying to figure out why the Turks say "drinking cigarette' instead of "smoking cigarette". I suspect it went back to the nargile or 'shisah" era.

Turkçe do not have any reference to male or female. Nonetheless, it's a very interesting language. Sentences are normally long and if you watched the news on the telly, you can see how breathless the newsreader became after reading the news. To catch up for time, they had to speak very fast.

For me, I think I can ace a written Turkçe examination but when it comes to oral and practical test, I'll fail miserably. The Turks speak in a very harsh and deep voice and they they tend to swallow the words when they speak. A recipe for disaster for 'hard at hearing" me. Boy....they do have big and deep voices. Even their children have deep voices and do not shriek like normal kids. So in the end, I just told the Turks to listen to me and not the other way around. After all, they're supposed to be good listeners, yes ???  

OK...more on Turkce in my next postings. I shall leave you with my archive (collections) of Edirne, the city where Fetih The Conqueror started from on his journey to conquer Constantinople (now Istanbul). I will write about that too...so do stay tuned !!!!

The magnificent Selimiye Camii in Edirne. This is one of the masterpieces by Great Mimar Sinan (Sinan the Architect)

It's amazing to note that, even though there are more than 70,000 mosques across Turkey, the wonder of each and every mosques are so unique and is always being appreciated by the locals as well as tourists. The locals love their mosques very much and it forms a big part of their lives, not just a place to worship Allah but also as a place to share a picnic with their family members.
Selimiye Camii, Edirne

As the post rightly says, this is not a graveyard. rather, it's an exhibit of various forms of tombstones that could be found all over Turkey. Historically, headgear played a very important role during the Ottoman era. The position and status of an officer is evidence by his headgear. That explains the various designs of headgears that could be found during the Ottoman period. Likewise, a tombstone (of an officer)  in Turkey, is a replica of the headgear of the said Officer. So, it's quite easy to identify the rank of the owner of the tombstone just by looking at it.

Interesting and intriguing tombstones of officers of past era...

A Graveyard replica beside The Selimiye Camii, Edirne

Inside Selimiye Camii. The hanging lights and the red carpet would remind us of The Blue Mosque. However, the tiles here are not as blue as The Blue Mosque. But it still is as spectacular! Just as the Blue Mosque, The Selimiye Camii is still being used until today, centuries after it was first constructed !!

A wonderful detail on the  main quarter dome of Selimiye Camii.

Another view inside Selimiye Camii with its distinctive red carpet.

At first we didn't know what this was. But we did noticed that many people were going towards this little corner and at times, it caused quite a commotion inside the mosque

Turned out that, this is a place where people (believers) would drink up the water from this little 'cistern' while they make a wish. It was believed that if you drank the 'sacred' water while making a wish, your wish will come true. I did not try it so I didn't know how far true are this. But anybody is welcomed to visit, go inside the mosque and drink (and make a wish) from this cistern. May all your wish come true.....

If you took 15 minutes, sit down and just look around you while you are inside this mosque, soon enough you'll begin to understand and appreciate what a great architect, Sinan was.

Captivating and mersmerised..... who knows  what you will find here ?????

Beautiful...... don't you think so? 

Ohhh.... look at those tiles..... it's even nicer in real life, this photo do not do justice to it. I'm so sorry about that !

Sadirvan, the place to take ablution, or you cleanse yourself before you pray. This is right in the middle of the courtyard of the Camii. And the structure is made of natural marble. Incidently, Turkey is famous for its yellow, brown and gold marble as well as multi colored Onyx. The marble and Onyx of Turkey are prized possession and it's not uncommon to see them in huge panels adorning walls of great hotels all around the world.

The Sadirvan

Edirne in my hands