Learn a language by using Twitter

(Justin) Twitter is an extremely effective tool for learning language as it is designed, in part, to bring you closer to people around you. Twitter is international. The top tweeting cities in the world are Jakarta (Indonesia), and Tokyo (Japan). Istanbul is 12th. (Scroll down for a brief tutorial of how to get started.)

Just a few of MANY uses:
1. What are people in your neighborhood doing or talking about? Search by "location" to find people near you.
2. How would locals describe what I'm watching? Whether it's a sporting event or a soap opera, hundreds of others are tweeting about the same show you're watching. "How would a local describe this person's behavior?" Twitter gives you that gold.
3. What's in the news? Most newspapers and TV outlets post links to their stories as soon as they break. In Turkey, all the TV channels tweet when a new show is about to come on, giving you an easy TV Guide.
4. Potholes in your street? Broken playground equipment? Twitter gives you instant access to your city councilman, mayor, congressman, etc., even in foreign countries. (See story below.) Cities also post important legal changes and announcements on Twitter.
5. Like to shop? Many local malls and major chains use Twitter to advertise discounts, events, and to receive customer complaints.

I've used the "location" function to find people checking in from our neighborhood. One day I found a neighbor complaining to the Mayor about the road construction, which has made life difficult for us as well. I RT'd her complaint and added my own. Others joined in. The mayor responded that he didn't understand our complaint. This led to a fury of angry responses as other people who were following the conversation joined in, which I was copied on as my name began to be RT'd again and again. (Here's a snippet screen shot for proof):

I learned both how locals feel about the mayor and many new words for complaining about him and road construction in Ankara in general. I also made a new connection with neighbors.

I love using it for #2 above. For example, discovering that Turks didn't seem to like The Biggest Loser.
When I'm listening to a song on the radio and am not sure about the lyrics, I'll type a few words of the song into "search" and inevitably find someone tweeting the lyrics and completing what I couldn't understand.

The possibilities are endless. Tweets are 140 characters long so a person's thought has to be condensed or concise. This helps you think about forming similar thoughts in the language concisely. Turkish has some very long words and sentences so this is a good thought exercise.

Most apps also have a translation function, giving you a click-option to convert the words to English which sometimes saves you from having to look something up.

How do I start?
Many people go to Twitter.com, sign up, and then say "I don't get it." Twitter is not designed to be used through their website, you need to install/use an app on your computer or mobile device.
1. Tweetdeck is an easy-to-use program that allows you to easily organize your feeds into lists and see them by columns. You can see the same lists/columns on their website.
2. HootSuite is a website that also allows you to see your tweet lists in column format. I use HootSuite's app on my iPad/iPod. It has a built-in translation function as well.

Via your app or on the Twitter website you can create "lists," name them, and add specific people to them, organizing your feed. You don't have to follow someone to add them to a list.  The key is to organize people into lists so you don't get 1,000 people clogging your "home" feed.
Now, whenever you're exploring the website of a mall, newspaper, television channel, government, etc. look for the Twitter logo button on the page. Click it and select "Follow" to start seeing everything they post in your "Home" feed and/or add them to one of your lists. When you're watching TV and it displays the Twitter username of whoever is talking, use the "find user" function to display their tweets and to follow them.

I create lists of users by categories. I have a list of tweeters in Ankara that I follow, some of whom I've met personally, some I just like what they have to say. I have a Turkish news list with every newspaper and journalist I can find for instantaneous news updates. I have a weather list where tweets about my local weather show up. I keep a list of ex-pats tweeting in English about Turkey as well.

In the "search" area of your app, choose a word you want to search for, like "Ankara." This will show you all the instantaneous tweets containing "Ankara." When I see smoke in the distance I'll search for "yangın," (fire) "Ankara," or the name of the neighborhood I think it's in. I will save the search if I want to come back to it quickly for updates.

I have a saved search for "Birlik Mah" which displays tweets of people about or in our neighborhood. When I then look at that person's tweets I can figure out if he lives in the neighborhood and I add him to my "neighborhood" list.

Relating back to my last post, learning language is easy and fun when you incorporate it into things you already love doing. I interacted with neighbors, mayors, journalists, etc. via Twitter while I was in the States, and I've just continued that practice in Turkey.

Creating comprehensible input in Turkish (or any language) for free

(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.

Review: The Everyday Language Learner's Guide to Getting Started by Aaron Myers

(Justin) I've never met Aaron Myers, but he lives in Istanbul with his family and we communicate by email and blog. Aaron is a language coach, helping motivate others toward fluency. He's given Joni and me ideas that we've incorporated into our learning. Aaron's e-book is a good place to get started as an independent language learner.

You'll notice we've added links on the right to language resources we use heavily, as well as polyglot bloggers like Aaron who are always talking about published research, tips, and tricks related to language learning. I'd recommend adding them to your feed reader.

Language is a journey. Aaron chronicles his attempts to learn a few languages and gives pointers from his successes and failures. He emphasizes three principles:
1. "Input Control": Focus on creating comprehensible input.
2. "Multiple Entry": Find multiple ways to engage with the language.
3. "Integrated Review": Find quick and easy ways to review. 

Getting as much "comprehensible input" as you can is perhaps the most important key to language learning. (I'll talk in a future post about ways I create comprehensible input for Turkish on the cheap.) Live input, recorded input, all are important. His favorite example is Dora the Explorer, a cartoon which uses simple language, visually demonstrates everything, and repeats key words multiple times. It's a cartoon form of total physical response (TPR) used in most ESL classrooms in the U.S.  Check out his post "25 Ways to Find or Create Comprehensible Input."

Multiple "touches" are needed. Aaron cites an article stating that in order to learn a new word you need to encounter it 160 times. True or not, the more exposure the better. In my own economics classroom I had a goal of six "touches" per major topic. I'd mention it in lecture, assign online homework, assign an article reading, assign a discussion post, until I had covered the topic six different ways. In language learning, you similarly need to find as many ways to practice writing, reading, listening, and speaking new concepts as possible. As much balance to those four you can provide the better.

"In learning languages, there is no end." You have to find ways to keep reviewing what you've learned. Flashcards, intentional practice of certain grammar forms, etc. Aaron gives some ideas and resources for using a language helper for all of the above.

I bought this book primarily to support what Aaron is doing but also to find new ideas and resources that I hadn't tried yet. I wasn't disappointed. If you've always wanted to learn a language but didn't know how to really learn it, I recommend starting with Aaron's book, spending some time on his blog (He's got a great collection of links for multiple languages.), and signing up for his 10-week email course.

Vacation, Part 9: Boat Tour & Fish Dinner

Here is the ninth and final installment of our vacation blogs. I hope you've enjoyed seeing so much of Turkey and learning about our experience! To see the first 8 blogs in the series, click here and here.

Since we only had 1 day in Amasra, we kind of wanted to get an overall tour, so we decided to take a tour boat around the whole area.

This wasn't our boat, but ours looked pretty much like this.

We had to wait around on the pier quite a while before the boat left (Like many other forms of Turkish transportation, the boat didn't have a specific departure time - they just wait until they feel like they have "enough" passengers.), but we enjoyed sitting in the shade and watching the people.

There was a lot of activity along the shore with food vendors, swimmers, and fishing boats going in and out!

The boat left from the side of the peninsula that has the free beach, and our jaws dropped at how PACKED it was! We were so thankful to have discovered the less-crowded beach first!

It did have the cool floating slide and trampoline park, though. I'm sure Elias would've loved to check that out!

Then the boat just toured around the whole peninsula, and we really enjoyed seeing the beautiful sights!

Then we went to the restaurant across from our hotel for one of Amasra's famous fish dinners. Justin and Elias split some fried calamari and fried catfish, which they both found delicious. I'm trying to eat a little healthier, so I got a salad,

Fancy!

And broiled fish.

Um, yeah, that's a whole fish with skin, bones, & all. This is pretty much the only way to get non-fried fish here, so if you're squeamish (like me), you just have to get over it.

So we really enjoyed our day in Amasra, and we're thankful to have seen such a beautiful place! In the morning, our bus left before any of the restaurants were open for breakfast, so we packed a picnic breakfast and ate overlooking the beach.

We're so thankful to have had this opportunity to rest, refresh, and see more of Turkey!

Vacation, Part 8: The Beach!

We were so excited about going to the beach! Elias had never been to a saltwater beach, but he has seen them on shows and he'd been talking about wanting to go to one. There were actually two beaches at Amasra on opposite sides of the peninsula, and we were fortunate that our hotel was on the less crowded one. (Come back tomorrow for shots of the other one!) Here's a view of our beach from out on the water.

We think this beach wasn't as crowded because it wasn't free, but we thought it was worth paying 15TL (appx $8) to rent the umbrella and chairs for the day. We brought a little bucket/shovel set, and Elias LOVED playing in the sand!

The same people who rented us the umbrella & chairs also had a menu we could order lunch from, and they delivered it to us right on the beach!

Then we hit the water! We had heard that the water of the Black Sea was very cold, but it was just cool. It was actually perfect for swimming in since the weather was so hot!

This is the first time Elias got in the water and the only time you'll see him with his feet touching the bottom. As much as he loved playing in the sand on the shore, he REFUSED to let his feet touch it in the water!

So I carried him out to the deeper water...

...and he floated in his floatie! Win!

It's always interesting in Turkey to see the great variety of people. At the beach, we saw ladies in bikinis, but we also saw fully-covered conservative ladies also enjoying their swims. As Justin mentioned previously, many Turks don't know how to swim, so we saw a large number of adults wearing floaties and water wings to stay safe! (Not pictured: The middle-aged man who was rescued while drowning and had to be taken to the hospital.)

We absolutely loved the beach and were so thankful for the opportunity to visit! Check back later for the final (finally!) installment of our vacation blogs where we take a boat tour around the peninsula and enjoy the famous fish dinner!

Vacation, Part 7: Amasra

Leaving Safranbolu, we took a bus 2 hours north to the Black Sea coast. We visited the town of Amasra, which a friend had recommended as having a great beach. She was right!!!

Our first view of the Black Sea out the bus window

Amasra is such a beautiful place! I've never seen anything like it! Justin said it reminded him a little of Venice.

The Black Sea coast is famous for its fishing, so we saw lots of these fishing boats in action

Amazing cliffs and rock formations right on the coast

 

View from our hotel room. We stayed at the Mızıka Pansiyon, and recommend it. Tell the owner we sent you!

The pictures don't do it justice - the water was so clear and blue!

Amasra is definitely a tourist town, though. Everything was quite expensive, and they kept much later hours than usual. Places didn't open until 10am, and we could hear people out partying on the street below us LONG after we went to bed! This is why we chose to only spend one day there instead of our whole vacation!

A tourist market, selling souvenirs and toys

Elias enjoying corn on the cob from a street vendor

Amasra is also full of amazing history. Just like we've seen in the rest of Turkey, the historical sites just blend right into daily life. The historic Amasra was an important port used by Phoenicians, Greeks (it's mentioned in the Iliad), Romans, and of course the Ottomans. The fortress ruins in the picture below date from the Byzantine era. Pedestrians and cars squeezing through fortress walls and cobblestone streets.

The fortress ruins in the above picture were built by the Byzantines and Genoese.

 

This is the museum's courtyard. The museum contains marble statues of Roman emperors and Ottoman artifacts.

People swimming and sunbathing off the ruins. The pictures don't do justice to the clear blue water.

Vacation, Part 6: Safranbolu Luna Park

Click to read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

The last thing we did in Safranbolu was visit a little carnival area. Many cities in Turkey have a public "Luna Park" like this one where you just pay per the ride you want (3 TL, or $1.60). There were rides & games, and Elias loved it!

We went in the early evening, about 4:30 or 5, and we were some of the only people there. Turks generally run on a much later schedule than we do. So Elias was able to enjoy having the rides and play area all to himself!

Elias loved this little train ride! In the video below, you can hear him blowing the whistle, it sounds like a siren.

There was a play area with slides, obstacle course, and ball pit. Those are always Elias' favorite!

His first time ever riding a carousel! He loved it! In this photo, he's saying "Giddyup, horsie!"

Then we went to a nearby park for a picnic dinner. Turkish parks often have adult exercise equipment alongside the children's play equipment, and you usually see kiddos enjoy playing on both. Elias really liked this particular machine with spinning seats; he was proud of figuring out how to climb on and off it by himself.

The weather in Safranbolu became increasingly hot as the days went on. We were eager to find a cold sea to swim in...