Learning Turkish

Whilst on a family holiday in Turkey, my hubby and I decided to indulge in the offerings of entertainment. This included Turkish lessons. I mean why not! We have an unusual abundance of time, and frankly not a lot to do!

What I really enjoyed about this, was the little snippets of culture and people insights it offered.

Two little bits of trivia, I will share with you are:

There are two words for the word "old" in the Turkish language.

"Eski" means old in terms of a non living thing eg an object or a thing

"Yaski"  means old in terms of people and living things.

If I have mixed them up, I apologise. It was my first lesson.

It seems obvious to have different words for this, especially given the ancient history here and the need to describe things that are really really old.

The other explanation I liked was the word or rather words, for "Goodbye". There were two different terms. It depended on who was bidding the farewell and who was receiving it.

"Hoscakal".    It is the farewell from the one departing.

"Gule gule".  It is the farewell from the one who stays.

This seems more personal and involved than just a simple "bye". It means you have to be more aware of the parting, more present of the situation, than just uttering a word.

So after an hour of stretching my brain, I am now off to eat my "dondurma" and wish you an "iyi  gunler"