My Turkish? n THE Tulips of Hatice n Baddin

Hazia asked me about my turkish language learning…idham wondered how long it took me to learn turkish.. i am sure many of u wondered the same as well…

The last time i took a flight to Malaysia many years ago, there was this Japanese girl who stayed in Turkey for 3 months to learn Turkish… her pronounciation n command of turkish at that time was… so-so.. not too good n not too bad.. she had that japanese accent as she spoke turkish….

I think for us Malysians, our tongue is a bit more flexible..maybe perhaps if we r malays, we may have difficulty in pronouncing the letters…ü n ö… but if u r a chinese, that woudnt be a problem at all…coz the *nu* pronounciation in *nu peng you* is the same as ü in turkish…

My personal thought is.. if u really work hard to study the language.. it will take u one month to learn the theory.. an done month to do the practical….it is not so difficult to learn..

Back to the basic question…

*How long did it took met to learn turkish?*

Dont be suprised if my answer is *NEVER*! Hahahahah

I must be joking right? U may wanna say..but.. our Mr. Idham said that *i spoke fluently that it sounded melodious*…

True… i converse in the language… true…i can make conversations in turkish at ease…

But…looking at the grammar… it is far from perfect… looking at the sentences… i may have used the not so suitable n perfect word at times… looking at the pronounciation.. i may have the Malay accent in my turkish..looking at the structure…it may become jumbled up esp when i am tired..

But why?

Didnt i write 2 entries on the turkish language a few months back?
Didnt i finish reading that *turkish grammar* book just to write that second article of the turkish language entry?
Am i not coming from a language major?

Why is it then.. my answer is never? Am i too stupid to learn the language??? Or is it the language is hard to learn..

No. The language is quite easy to learn..

I would call it… *Resistance*…*Subconscious Self protection*

It all goes back to the the early days of my coming here…

It is always assumed that i would have to learn to speak turkish. It was/is only logical of course since i would be living in turkey. I made no objection on that. In our early days, Halil asked me whether i wanna go to a turkish language course.. At that time, we couldnt afford such a course. But if i said yes, he would find a way to send me anyway..i declined his offer..i told him i would learn on my own. ..

Was i lying? Perhaps partially….

Little did i know… being in a new country… being in a cultural shock where everything was so different…created a shell of protection in me…When everything around me spells turkish (the food, the people, the language..everything).. my iner self was crying… *MALAY! MAlaySiAN!*.. I was desperately trying to preserve myself… I couldnt cook Malaysian food for the reason that i didnt /dont know how to cook our food… the ingredients were hard to be found… n on top of everything..everybody eats turkish food.. it would not be logical for me to feed Halil our food which i didnt know how to cook in the first place…

My iner self found language as the solace…the language i speak.. the accent i am familiar with… ..resulting, this self defence against the turkish language…..Türks speak a lot.. they love to socialize… they can chat for hours n hours without getting bored….in those times, my resistance towards the language made me *shut down*….i perfected my skills in turning myself *off* from the sound around me…face smiling… mind somewhere else… sound: off…:0)

Looking back.. it was silly i suppose.. but i think it was my own personal way of NOT getting into everything too much… it was difficult as it already was trying to adjust to a new life… a new culture… new faces….i just couldnt take the burden of the language ..it was getting too much…

Halil bought a turkish book for me to learn.. but that book… i only opened the few pages…

But then…Hatice came. Resisting the language seemed a bit illogical coz she would need to speak the tongue of her father.. the country she is residing. I slowly started to open my mind a bit to accept the turkish language.. (stil resisting inside)… ..no books.. i was just listening to the people speaking n trying to obsorb the meaning…(it was mentally tiring)..

U can say… i learn the turkish language together with Hatice…:0).. And guess what? İf i donot know anything… a word of something in turkish.. ..i will just ask Hatice the meaning of that word. And she knows them all…..she has the perfect turkish accent n pronounciation..

I made it clear to my kids that because i am a foreigner, i may not know the meaning of some words in turkish.. if such a need arise, i will tell them the words in english n later once the father is at home, we will ask him the turkish meaning.. So far our arrangement is working for each of us..n Hatice has another job as well… her job is to teach baddin turkish! Hehehe..she still needs to work in the patience department.. but i wont be suprised at all if one day she decides to be an educator like her father n uncles n auntie n grandpa…. She has the vocation for it….even at the age of 6.

Like i said… i have NEVER learned Turkish yet…. İ learn thru listening to the people.. .. i do not say that i speak turkish until the day i have perfected the components of the language in the production of THE PERFECT language coming out of my tongue…

Yes.. i know Turkish. Yes. I converse in turkish.. but do i Speak it? Nope… and i dont think i will either ever… am just too lazy to sit down n go back to those days where i need to analyse the language components by components….i will let my daughter n son do that :0)

Remember that Hatice n Baddin planted something during the last school holiday? Well… these r the development of the plant… Syikin…these pictures r esp for u (and the rest of u all of course :=)

The early bloomer remşnds me of Hatice… and the late bloomer reminds me of baddin….Slow or late.. it doesnt matter…both bloom in their own sweet time… Enjoy!

P.s Hatice's bed n the book shelve will NOT come on Friday! The Carpenter said that it will only be ready by Monday...!! I feel so sad for hatice... she is counting the days for her bed to come. Now she has to waitsome more!.. Simah..over n out for the Weekend!

Happy International Ladies Day!

Thank You for hopping by...Hope to see u again the next time.