Turkish language learning tools

As we journey through Turkey we will chronicle what we're doing for language learning.  I chronicled a few of my techniques here and here when we were in Moldova and I was working on my Russian. Since June, I've been working daily through some Turkish materials that I find really helpful. We're in a small U.S. town without frequent access to native speakers, so I have to be creative. I've recently stumbled across Aaron Myers' The Everyday Language Learner blog that has reminded me that it's important to share what we're learning to encourage others.

Here's my current lineup of tools:
1. The Foreign Service Institute Turkish Basic Course.  These old materials were used by U.S. State Department personnel and are a goldmine. Two comprehensive textbooks (PDFs), dozens of hours of accompanying audio examples (MP3), and a Turkish graded reader (PDF) for additional literary challenge.

I read the FSI textbook on my iPad and iPod via the GoodReader app. This allows me to write notes, highlight, bookmark, etc. right onto the PDF file. I listen to the mp3 on my device as I go, so my tablet has become a critical language tool.

2. Busuu.com.  Busuu is a free language learning site that features the ability to have your writing exercises graded by native speakers (I, in turn, grade others' English work) and to have interactive chat as well.  The exercises are primarily good for building vocabulary. It is not a good teacher of grammar, it assumes you have something to help you understand.  Premium access gives you the ability to download audio files, have speaking practice, and more, but it's too expensive for me to find worth it.
I find it invaluable to have my writing corrected and improved by native speakers.  Busuu also has a couple related apps in the iTunes store.

3. Anki flashcards.  Anki is a free, open-source flashcard program. I like Anki because it allows me to see a word in English and type the answer in Turkish. You can customize with graphics, audio, etc. and it syncs across various platforms including HTML5 (as a web app).  It has a nice algorithm for determining the frequency of how often you need to see a word.  

4. Turkish television and radio. WWiTV provides a list of plenty of Turkish channels that stream online. These can also be found using the moTV Free app for iOS. eCNBC plays movies and NBC sitcoms in English with Turkish subtitles. The nice thing is that I can pause every frame if I want to in order to record new phrases or think about the translation. I've always found soap operas to be great language tools since they use simple language, pause often for dramatic effect, and repeat ideas over and over.  There are plenty on these channels.

Children's cartoons are also helpful and fun since I am familiar with some of the PBS counterparts that have been translated to Turkish, like Caillou.  You can find many of these on YouTube, and I use keepvid.com to download them onto my computer and transfer them to my iOS devices.

Radyo is an app that contains hundreds of Turkish radio stations that stream live over the web.  It also features a chat room while you listen, which is a great way to see how Turks interact in an SMS-style environment. My favorite radio stations are SlowTurk and Radyo SlowTime because, you guessed it, the music is slow and the words are fairly clear. Radyo allows you to record music and there are some I will listen to again and again to get the meaning.  Popular videos are often uploaded to YouTube so I can keepvid them as well.

5.  Other iOS Apps.  Google Translate is handy via web browser or as an app along the way.  But for the iPad I find the Sözlük Dictionary to be great as well as Zargan, both of which give examples of the word used in common phrases. The downside is you have to have an internet connection to access these.  3,000 Turkish verbs is good as a reference, and there are others, like Turkish Test, for more offline practice.  Plenty of Turkish newspapers have apps, as do the English-language ones like Today's Zaman. I'm not reading Turkish newspapers much yet except for the occasional headline and to see what is of interest.

6. Kutsal Kitap. There are various websites and apps that allow us to access this book and compare text easily across languages. Joni worked to create our own handy version for iBooks, so it is also good offline practice.  While this is "high Turkish" it's great to take something we read in English and learn its equivalent in Turkish. It's definitely a vocab-builder.

I greatly look forward to using language helpers in Turkey and getting back to using other resources like the Lexicarry. Oh, and the whole immersion thing. But for now, this is what I have to work with. There are other websites and resources out there but the above are the ones I find most efficient for my purposes.  You can see that my mobile devices are now a crucial part of my language toolkit.