(Justin) In my last post I mentioned the importance of soaking in "comprehensible input" in learning a language. I've been studying Turkish for over a year, about 6 months in the U.S. and 6 months here. (I chronicled how I was studying in the U.S. in this post). My basic belief in learning language is that you should simply incorporate language learning into the everyday activities that you love. If you love to cook, start using some Turkish recipes and watch Turkish cooking shows. If you love to watch sports, learn the terms and watch how others talk about sports on Twitter in your language.
I love to watch and read the news, no matter where I am. The news is very tough, requiring a lot of vocab. I also started working in a factory shortly after arriving here, so I needed another range of vocab. I had noticed that some of the polyglot bloggers I read focused more on building vocabulary than anything else, some shun studying grammar altogether. So, I needed some tools to help me understand what I was hearing very quickly and that meant tailoring my studying to quickly build vocab. The good news is most of these tools are available in ANY language you want to learn!
Note: Most of the activities/tools below will greatly enhance your reading and listening comprehension. I prioritized that over speaking, at least initially.
(I came into Turkish with the advantage of having previously learned a good bit of Azerbaijani, another Turkic language. So Turkic vowel harmony, some of the grammar, and a good bit of vocabulary. However, while there are many Azeri-Turkish cognates, most have different spellings or pronunciation so I basically set out to re-learn everything.)
First, reading and writing:
1. The "backbone" of my Turkish learning is the Foreign Service Institute's guide (free), which is like 800 pages of Turkish instruction designed for U.S. diplomats and Peace Corps. It provides plenty of sentence examples with dozens of hours of mp3s so you can hear the phrases, dialogues, etc. I'm not one to leave grammar learning to osmosis or deduction, I wanted to learn it fast and the FSI course provides simple explanations and examples to help me out. I like having a place to look up something if I'm struggling with understanding, and the FSI guide is it. (I'm only just now almost completely through it.) Weakness: Not a great source of new vocab.
FSI Guide: Free (many languages available), GoodReader app for reading and making notes, highlights, etc. on PDFs on my iPad: $4.99.
2. I started using Busuu.com about a year ago, and just finished the Turkish modules last month. Busuu is a site where you learn vocabulary, have your writing exercises corrected by native speakers, and find people to chat with. You can learn 3,000+ words from doing the exercises and paying attention to all the example sentences and dialogues. If you pay for the site you can also download more audio mp3s, and have your voice recordings critiqued (I didn't pay). I set a goal to do 4-5 units a week.
Busuu: Free.
3. How do I keep up with all the new words I'm learning, particularly if I'm not immersed in an environment where I hear those words all the time? (It supposedly takes 160 exposures to a word to remember it)
That's where Anki comes in. Anki is a free, open-source flashcard program that stores your words in the cloud for syncing across devices or access on the web. Designed for daily use, it has an algorithm that shows you words you know well less frequently than words you struggle with. I set mine up to require that I type/spell each word correctly in Turkish. Anki became the one thing that I do EVERY day, I refuse to "break the chain." I have about 27 categories to separate the words (Household, Office, Vegetables, Events, military words, etc.)
I think I average somewhere around 10 new words every day. Some words that are only used in formal paperwork I may never see/hear in normal life. But Anki keeps it somewhat fresh in my "iceberg" so that when I do see it, I'm thankful to know it. (Ran into this at a doctor's office last week when I was handed a 50-question questionnaire to fill out).
Anki: Free. The iPad app is $20, and I bought it because I don't want to "break the chain" when I'm traveling.
4. In January, I discovered LiveMocha which is a free site like Busuu except focusing more on phrases/sentences and with audio submission exercises with every unit as well. It's invaluable to have your writing and speaking critiqued by natives.
LiveMocha: Free.
5. Recently, I've started using Lang-8.com to journal and write longer-form Turkish, which native speakers correct for me. This is awesome for writing explanations, stories, testimonies, etc. You can also download your text and corrections into EverNote, which is fantastic.
Lang-8 and Evernote: Free.
6. About the time we arrived, YouVersion put out a Turkish Bible translation for free for their app. This allows me to read a text parallel English and Turkish, and obviously learn a lot of vocab.
YouVersion app and website: Free.
7. Many Turks use MSN Messenger on their home and workplace computers. I have a few Turkish friends that I chat with at work (if they're not busy).
MS Messenger: Free
8. Twitter! Turkey is very much on Twitter, and I use it to find people in our neighborhood who are complaining about the same things I am, find deals at local stores, follow the news headlines, and even interact with the Mayor and other city authorities. (I might write a separate post on just this.)
9. Children's books. There are some free websites and some in the iTunes store. I tend to pick up cheap paperbacks for 1-2TL. I'm currently reading a condensed version of Robin Hood (about 5th grade level). For heavier books, there are websites with open-source books (like Agatha Christy novels) in Turkish for Kindle, Nook, etc.
What about listening? For listening, I have four activities:
1. Turkish movies with Turkish subtitles. These range from 2-10TL in stores, and if you're crafty, the deaf community has created Turkish subtitles for hundreds of movies if you know where to look online.
I watch these movies repeatedly, it allows me to hear the language, see all the words, see the culture, and learn plenty of new vocab. I prefer to watch it with English subtitles only after I've gone over the Turkish and think I get it. (There are also foreign movies dubbed into Turkish with Turkish subtitles, but you miss out on culture.)
2. Kids shows and cartoons. There are about 40 Turkish channels that broadcast free online, with about 5 children's channels playing mostly international favorites (Caillou & other PBS shows, Scooby Doo, Transformers, etc.).
Some of these shows are designed to teach kids basic language and are a goldmine. Let's Go Pokoyo is the best show I've found for beginners (it was originally designed for Spanish kids to learn English). When you graduate up to Caillou you feel really proud of yourself.
I also use Keepvid.com to download YouTube clips of shows onto my iPad to watch on demand. (Free)
3. I submit my corrected writing exercises from Busuu, LiveMocha, and Lang-8 to Rhinospike.com, where a native speaker records an audio mp3 of it. I then download the text and mp3 onto my mobile device and I have it on demand. If there's a story or testimony I want to tell someone, this is the best way to do it. Lang-8 Rhinospike: Free.
4. Watching the news! I said above that I love doing it, so at 6:30 every evening you'll find me in front of the TV watching a few local news broadcasts (Turkey has about 20 channels that broadcast news, some 24/7) with a notebook in hand to write down new words. The news here can be sensational, meaning they broadcast the same traumatic clip over and over so you get to hear words again and again. They also transcribe much of the background dialogue. Free!
5. Listening to sermons. A few local fellowships have downloadable mp3s where you can listen to teaching or preaching, story-telling, and give you plenty of spiritual vocab. These are great for long bus rides and are free.
6. Turkish music and non-subtitled Turkish movies. There are hundreds of
Turkish music channels that stream for free online, these are good just
to have in the background whenever I'm cleaning or whatever. It's also culture.
Music videos are also on YouTube and there are some websites that
translate the lyrics to English if you want it. There are also a large
number of popular Turkish movies, in their entirety, on YouTube. I
generally pick ones that friends recommend.
How about speaking? It's very important! Obviously all the above can use up a lot of hours at home, so you have to force yourself to get out there and speak correctly.
1. I used Busuu and Livemocha to find conversation partners I could speak to on those sites or on Skype. Mixxer is also a free social network designed specifically for that purpose. If you don't want to pay your helper, you'll likely have to trade English time for the language you want.
Skype: Free.
2. When we moved to Turkey I put an ad on CraigsList and found a language helper that I met with for a while. In Ankara, the cheapest language helper is about 20 TL ($11)/hour. When I started meeting with a helper I went through the Lexicarry, a book of pictures designed to learn language by talking about everyday activities. I've used the Lexicarry for 3 languages now, highly recommend it. Going through these pages with a native speaker will help your listening and thinking skills.
Lexicarry: $14.99 used on Amazon. Supplements on the website are free. You can create your own Lexicarry by finding free clipart and graphics online, drawing your own pictures, etc.
3. Real life, because we live here! We now rely on Turkish for anything we do, so I look at every outdoor activity as a language adventure. It's a chance for me to practice what I'm learning from all of the above.
You may notice that for most of the above, you don't have to live in the country! Plenty of polyglots around the world reach a high level of fluency without leaving their house. The internet is an amazing thing.
That said, I still don't get enough speaking practice. When I was working at Kifas, I had to have high-level conversations regularly that pushed me. My best recommendation for listening/speaking practice is to move in with a Turkish family, if possible.
Other Turkish-specific sites I use often:
Some are linked on the right. One GREAT resource is the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Deep Approach to Turkish Teaching and Learning. It is a curriculum that requires watching video clips and doing exercises with them, they've also transcribed many of the clips. Each module also has grammar explanations in English (these take forever to load).
The University of Texas has a site featuring interviews with Turks on various topics, many of which are also transcribed into Turkish for reading.
The key ingredient to all of the above is "touches." You should be reading, writing, speaking, and listening as much as possible to remember words and grammar quickly. The more you incorporate activities you love (cooking, sports, twitter, etc.) into your language learning the more you'll love it.
These are some great resources! I began learning Turkish the "traditional" way -- that is to say in a classroom focused heavily on grammar where I used Turkish every day for about an hour -- but have since tried other methods. I've found immersion really is the best way to do it. Learning this way just requires that you be fearless, willing to fail, and (in my case) absolutely forced to use the target language (and perhaps some creative charades when you run out of words).
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing all your cool tips, tricks, and resources with us all!