Language
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Language reflects a people's culture and their innermost personalities. We've heard this repeated time after time and when I arrived in Marmaris, Turkey and begin to listen to Turkish, this statement proved true.
On first hearing Turkish, it's difficult to separate sounds into words. At the beginning all I heard was noise. Then the noise began to separate into words and I recognized that when someone said something to some else, the same phrases were tossed back and forth. By observing the situation in which I heard these utterances, I figured out what was being said. I then began to repeat what I'd heard and admittedly, I listened and spoke phonetically. "Afiyet Olsun" became "Lafayette Olsen" (bon appetit) and "Gorusuruz" ended up "the guru's shoes" (see you later). It was the beginning of a new adventure.
Turks just don't say "hello"; they divide it up into "Good Morning" (Gunaydin), "Iyigunlar" (good days), "Merherba" (general hello), "Iyiyaksamlar" (good afternoons) and "Iyigeceler" (good nights). Notice that the words are plural. Turks don't wish just one good anything, but lots of them!
I learned very early that the Turk is extremely thankful, polite and courteous. If asked, "How are you", the proper response is "Thank you" before saying anything else. And, they say it in the plural, "Tesekeler" -- Many thanks.
When I began to learn verbs I discovered that the verb to sit and to live are the same. This was explained to me that in bedouin days when people lived in tents, they also sat in tents. To the Turk it is the same thing. You sit where you live. Another bit of vocabulary which dates back to olden times is "Ciflik". As I traveled throughout the country I kept running into towns named Ciflik. I finally asked someone "why are there so many towns with the same name?" The answer: Ciflik is a farm and in days past travelers used farms as landmarks to get from one place to another. So they traveled from farm to farm.
I especially like the, "Gule gule"'s (phonetically it's a soft g - Gulay, gulay) which have many uses: for goodbye if used as a lone phrase or with additional words: gule gule git, gule gule gel. Which means have a nice trip going and returning. Then there's "gule gule kirlin" which is a nice thing to say when someone just comes out of the shower all fresh and clean. It means, "Get dirty again happily". Or, "Gule gule kullan" - when you give a gift, wish that it be used in happy days, with pleasure. If you sneeze, a Turk will tell you, "Cok yasa!" (Live long!) and you'll reply, "Sen de gor!" (May you live to see it). If someone hands you a letter and it is good news, they will say, "Gozun Ayden” which means "May it give light to your eyes."
The French "bon appetit" in Turkish turns into the equivalent of "May it be beneficial to you" (the Lafayette Olsen above which I still remember as a French Norwegian..) and if you wish to compliment the chef, you'll say "elinize saglik" or "health to your hands."
There are, of course, negative phrases in Turkish and if you hear someone being called a cucumber, it means "you stupid....". Olmaz means "absolutely not, no way, totally out of the question!"
One of my favorite phrases is spoken usually by men who, when strolling behind a pretty girl, say in a low voice, "Is that all yours!"
If I imply that you need to speak Turkish to visit this fascinating country, I have misled you. Most Turks speak English but when a visitor can utter a few Turkish words on occasion, it brings delightful, gracious smiles. You've tried. You care. Your efforts will be rewarded.
Follow your Instincts
It's commonly known that women's instincts are more developed and refined than those of the opposite sex. We often sense and act in certain situations for seemingly no logical reason, yet we are proven right in doing so, even when teased or felt to be foolish.
A woman travelling alone or even with a female friend today, is often prey in large cities, bazaar streets, airline terminals, or anywhere where people congregate. We don't have to be paranoid to be caught up in someone else's criminal actions. We just have to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
One way to avoid potential dangers is to use instinct, that small inner voice. Trust that "feeling". Listen to it. And act on it. Even if "it" feels foolish.
I rely on this sixth sense, whether it's merely crossing a street and suddenly becoming aware of the odd "feeling" of a stranger walking behind me, or an instance such as when I found myself in an elevator in a large hotel in Sri Lanka. I'd entered the elevator along with a male passenger and as I stood against the wall facing the door, for some reason I waited for the other person to press his floor button first. He paused, then pushed, seemingly at random, a number on the panel. Although my stop was below the floor number he indicated for himself, I pressed a higher number, not my own floor, to allow him to leave the elevator before me. I had no reason for behaving in this manner, yet I did. That "certain something" told me to let him leave the elevator before I did. Once he'd left, I continued to ride to the floor I'd indicated, then I walked the stairs to my proper floor. Later I learned that there had been a spate of robberies in that hotel.
In another instance, I was riding the London underground during an hour of little traffic. I sat facing the train's sliding doors when a young person boarded, carrying a duffel bag. The youth walked a short distance to the next set of train doors, stood facing them, and placed the duffel bag at his feet near a seat. At the next stop, he left the train but didn't take the duffel bag with him. At first, I thought I'd not understood what I'd seen. The time between his entering the train and leaving it was less than five minutes, so how could he have forgotten his bag? I "felt" that his leaving the duffel bag was possibly either a drug exchange (for someone else to collect at the next stop) or worse, a bomb. When the train stopped again, I left and entered the station, walked to a train official and told him what I'd seen. On instinct, without hard evidence to prove otherwise, I felt I'd diverted a possible, even dangerous incident.
We often think that listening to our inner voice is just plain paranoia or that we'll be thought of as neurotic. I simply don't care. I'll obey my instincts every time.
On first hearing Turkish, it's difficult to separate sounds into words. At the beginning all I heard was noise. Then the noise began to separate into words and I recognized that when someone said something to some else, the same phrases were tossed back and forth. By observing the situation in which I heard these utterances, I figured out what was being said. I then began to repeat what I'd heard and admittedly, I listened and spoke phonetically. "Afiyet Olsun" became "Lafayette Olsen" (bon appetit) and "Gorusuruz" ended up "the guru's shoes" (see you later). It was the beginning of a new adventure.
Turks just don't say "hello"; they divide it up into "Good Morning" (Gunaydin), "Iyigunlar" (good days), "Merherba" (general hello), "Iyiyaksamlar" (good afternoons) and "Iyigeceler" (good nights). Notice that the words are plural. Turks don't wish just one good anything, but lots of them!
I learned very early that the Turk is extremely thankful, polite and courteous. If asked, "How are you", the proper response is "Thank you" before saying anything else. And, they say it in the plural, "Tesekeler" -- Many thanks.
When I began to learn verbs I discovered that the verb to sit and to live are the same. This was explained to me that in bedouin days when people lived in tents, they also sat in tents. To the Turk it is the same thing. You sit where you live. Another bit of vocabulary which dates back to olden times is "Ciflik". As I traveled throughout the country I kept running into towns named Ciflik. I finally asked someone "why are there so many towns with the same name?" The answer: Ciflik is a farm and in days past travelers used farms as landmarks to get from one place to another. So they traveled from farm to farm.
I especially like the, "Gule gule"'s (phonetically it's a soft g - Gulay, gulay) which have many uses: for goodbye if used as a lone phrase or with additional words: gule gule git, gule gule gel. Which means have a nice trip going and returning. Then there's "gule gule kirlin" which is a nice thing to say when someone just comes out of the shower all fresh and clean. It means, "Get dirty again happily". Or, "Gule gule kullan" - when you give a gift, wish that it be used in happy days, with pleasure. If you sneeze, a Turk will tell you, "Cok yasa!" (Live long!) and you'll reply, "Sen de gor!" (May you live to see it). If someone hands you a letter and it is good news, they will say, "Gozun Ayden” which means "May it give light to your eyes."
The French "bon appetit" in Turkish turns into the equivalent of "May it be beneficial to you" (the Lafayette Olsen above which I still remember as a French Norwegian..) and if you wish to compliment the chef, you'll say "elinize saglik" or "health to your hands."
There are, of course, negative phrases in Turkish and if you hear someone being called a cucumber, it means "you stupid....". Olmaz means "absolutely not, no way, totally out of the question!"
One of my favorite phrases is spoken usually by men who, when strolling behind a pretty girl, say in a low voice, "Is that all yours!"
If I imply that you need to speak Turkish to visit this fascinating country, I have misled you. Most Turks speak English but when a visitor can utter a few Turkish words on occasion, it brings delightful, gracious smiles. You've tried. You care. Your efforts will be rewarded.
Follow your Instincts
It's commonly known that women's instincts are more developed and refined than those of the opposite sex. We often sense and act in certain situations for seemingly no logical reason, yet we are proven right in doing so, even when teased or felt to be foolish.
A woman travelling alone or even with a female friend today, is often prey in large cities, bazaar streets, airline terminals, or anywhere where people congregate. We don't have to be paranoid to be caught up in someone else's criminal actions. We just have to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
One way to avoid potential dangers is to use instinct, that small inner voice. Trust that "feeling". Listen to it. And act on it. Even if "it" feels foolish.
I rely on this sixth sense, whether it's merely crossing a street and suddenly becoming aware of the odd "feeling" of a stranger walking behind me, or an instance such as when I found myself in an elevator in a large hotel in Sri Lanka. I'd entered the elevator along with a male passenger and as I stood against the wall facing the door, for some reason I waited for the other person to press his floor button first. He paused, then pushed, seemingly at random, a number on the panel. Although my stop was below the floor number he indicated for himself, I pressed a higher number, not my own floor, to allow him to leave the elevator before me. I had no reason for behaving in this manner, yet I did. That "certain something" told me to let him leave the elevator before I did. Once he'd left, I continued to ride to the floor I'd indicated, then I walked the stairs to my proper floor. Later I learned that there had been a spate of robberies in that hotel.
In another instance, I was riding the London underground during an hour of little traffic. I sat facing the train's sliding doors when a young person boarded, carrying a duffel bag. The youth walked a short distance to the next set of train doors, stood facing them, and placed the duffel bag at his feet near a seat. At the next stop, he left the train but didn't take the duffel bag with him. At first, I thought I'd not understood what I'd seen. The time between his entering the train and leaving it was less than five minutes, so how could he have forgotten his bag? I "felt" that his leaving the duffel bag was possibly either a drug exchange (for someone else to collect at the next stop) or worse, a bomb. When the train stopped again, I left and entered the station, walked to a train official and told him what I'd seen. On instinct, without hard evidence to prove otherwise, I felt I'd diverted a possible, even dangerous incident.
We often think that listening to our inner voice is just plain paranoia or that we'll be thought of as neurotic. I simply don't care. I'll obey my instincts every time.
