Since the key to language learning is exposing yourself to as much "comprehensible input" as possible, one fun way to do that is movies. Justin prefers to find local Turkish movies with Turkish subtitles so he can see the words while he listens to comprehend. A few movies have given us some insights into the culture. Our current "recommended viewing" list:
1. Aşk Tutulması ("Eclipse of Love"). You can watch the entire movie on YouTube without subtitles; the overly dramatic expressions and the universal love story needs little translation. A man has to choose between his love for his favorite football club (Fenerbahçe) and his girlfriend. You can also get some pictures of middle-class Turkish life here, including the football fanatacism. Joni loved everything but about the last 15 minutes. We recommend it as a light-hearted romantic comedy.
2. Neşeli Hayat ("Cheerful Life"). This is Justin's favorite Turkish movie, and favorite Christmas movie of all time. It gives a glimpse of life among people who move from village life to a big city to make a living and how they bring their social structures with them. It illustrates the importance of family, honor, and the fact that everyone owes money to everyone else-- it's part of ordinary life here. It has a great message about honor and doing the right thing. Joni missed a lot of this one since it was Turkish words with Turkish subtitles - her language isn't good enough to hear it yet, especially with their village accents. We'd recommend this one to those with intermediate Turkish.
3. Başka Dilde Aşk ("Love in Another Language"). This is one of the few movies made about people with disabilities finding acceptance in Turkey. A deaf young man falls in love with a beautiful woman and they have to figure out how to communicate, as well as how to live under the scorn of their friends and family. This is also a more "typical" Turkish movie with multiple subplots going in different directions and an inconclusive ending. The acting in the movie is quite good, and it of course makes you think about the difficulties of finding acceptance with a disability here.
Honorable Mention: New York'ta Beş Minare ("Five Minarets in New York). This is actually one of the top-ten most watched Turkish-produced movies of the last 16 years. It stars Danny Glover and Gina Gershon and the movie is split between Turkey and New York, Turkish and English. It's an entertaining action drama with an overt message about moderate Islam (and the U.S. government's treatment of it), and it contains some subtle symbolism that illustrates the tension between religious life and secularism here in Turkey. The acting isn't great and many of the scenes are quite unrealistic, so it's not a "classic," but if you're interested in Turkey then you might check it out.
Justin gets most of the movies from the 2 Lira ($1.10) bin at a local store, so they're not always critically acclaimed; we could easily list Turkish movies we don't recommend. But YouTube and other easy-to-find places online are a treasure trove of free Turkish films that you can stream in their entirety free on-demand. It's a convenient way to learn language and culture.
Showing posts with label disabled. Show all posts
Showing posts with label disabled. Show all posts
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Monday, April 30, 2012
Plight of the Disabled in Turkey
(Justin) I haven't been posting as much as I should about my work with Kifas. But one thing I do every day is check Twitter for tweets in Turkish about the disabled or wheelchairs. Every day there is a story that is RT'd to raise consciousness about the plight of the disabled. This weekend there were two stories of particular interest:
There was an examination (ÖMSS) for disabled people in order to get jobs as public servants. Over 60,000 people took the exam, but only about 3,000 will be chosen. However, the real scandal was that many of the government buildings where the test was given had multiple stories with no elevators or wheelchair ramps. The news showed people struggling up stairs, or being carried, or worse. The exam apparently allowed about one minute per question but several of the disabled couldn't write that fast. The name of the exam is also offensive to some as the non-politically-correct word for "disabled" (özürlü) is in the title of the exam. It was nice to see the outrage about this on Twitter, at least.
In another story, what one reporter called a "tragic comedy," a walking bridge was built over a road in Trabzon in which one side has an easy-access ramp for wheelchairs and strollers while the other side of the bridge only has a set of steep stairs. The news showed people in wheelchairs being pushed across and carried down the stairs and parents struggling wıth theır strollers. One wonders how the engineers did not think about this.
Daily you read tweets of people in the subways who can't get up because the elevator is broken, etc. It's difficult here. One source of encouragement is the growing number of advocacy groups harnessing social media to unite around causes and network together. The government and a large number of local charities also show increasing concern. But there is much work to be done.
There was an examination (ÖMSS) for disabled people in order to get jobs as public servants. Over 60,000 people took the exam, but only about 3,000 will be chosen. However, the real scandal was that many of the government buildings where the test was given had multiple stories with no elevators or wheelchair ramps. The news showed people struggling up stairs, or being carried, or worse. The exam apparently allowed about one minute per question but several of the disabled couldn't write that fast. The name of the exam is also offensive to some as the non-politically-correct word for "disabled" (özürlü) is in the title of the exam. It was nice to see the outrage about this on Twitter, at least.
In another story, what one reporter called a "tragic comedy," a walking bridge was built over a road in Trabzon in which one side has an easy-access ramp for wheelchairs and strollers while the other side of the bridge only has a set of steep stairs. The news showed people in wheelchairs being pushed across and carried down the stairs and parents struggling wıth theır strollers. One wonders how the engineers did not think about this.
Daily you read tweets of people in the subways who can't get up because the elevator is broken, etc. It's difficult here. One source of encouragement is the growing number of advocacy groups harnessing social media to unite around causes and network together. The government and a large number of local charities also show increasing concern. But there is much work to be done.
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