Learning Turkish

Like having someone explain an integral function in calculus, the first time I heard the Turkish language spoken on an audio CD (“Learn Turkish the fast and easy way”, my ass…) I had a dull sense that this could mean something to someone, but it would probably never be important to me. Even when I started taking Turkish classes, it was hard for me not to feel a little like it was more of a novelty than something I would actually use. This proved somewhat true on my first trip to Turkey when I discovered that, as long as Danielle was always within earshot, I would never have to worry about saying much other than “Bir tane [insert snack of choice here]” (“I’d like one [snack of choice]”) or, “Afedersiniz, neredeyim?” (“Excuse me… where am I?”)

But, even giant novelty remote controls can still change the TV station, and much to the credit of my brilliant Turkish teacher, when I finally did move here I was actually able to get around the city pretty well on my own. From the grocery store to the ferry, I could ask directions and (sometimes) understand them, and even exchange basic pleasantries with the attendants in shops. The more time I spend exploring the city, the more words I recognize, and I can slowly regurgitate useful phrases that have finally stuck in my head after hearing them for the hundredth time. Sometimes, I even conjugate the verb.

It’s easy to laugh at myself as I try to learn how to speak, and when I think about the process of learning Turkish so many analogies come to mind. “Learning Turkish is like learning to play music: the more you practice, the more you the sounds are there before you even start to play.” “Learning Turkish is like riding a bike: as long as you can stop and start, you’ve got plenty of time in between to figure out where you’re going.” “Learning Turkish is like going through puberty: while you know that it’s all a part of growing, you wish no one was there to see it happen.”

But, I think that the best analogy I can think of is that learning Turkish is like being introduced to someone who shares all my same interests, but who is much (much) smarter than I am. Early in the friendship I stand there dumbly, desperately hoping that the other person at least thinks I’m keeping up with what they’re saying and occasionally I insert a word or two that is off-topic enough that they think I’m contributing something just a little over their head. The longer I keep up the façade, the more I learn and actually begin to keep up. While I still typically assume I don’t know what the other person is talking about, occasionally I’ll be in the middle of a conversation and about ten seconds after giving my semi-inane stock response, I’ll realize that I actually understood what they said, and I give the right answer: "Yes, I do have 0.50 TL." Then, just as I’m feeling so proud of myself for finally keeping up, they're realizing that I was faking it all along and switch easily to speaking English. But, at least now I have a little more knowledge, so the next time I meet someone, I can feel really smart as I pretend I knew this all along.