Istanbul was Constantinople...
First of all, it is still snowing! Here are some pictures...
But on another topic, I am thinking about studying Turkish. Turkish is currently a language that the State Department wants foreign service officers to speak. So if you can speak it at even a basic/intermediate level, then you get lots of bonus points... enough points that I would finally get "the call" to join the foreign service. There are other languages that get you bonus points too but speaking any of them would require learning a new alphabet, which I am not opposed to doing, but which would take extra time. Somehow I also feel like speaking Turkish is, well, German. There are lots of Turkish people in Berlin. Maybe I would get an extra falafel in my sandwich if I spoke Turkish to my local Doener Kebab guy;-)
Feeling a bit happy and smug about this decision, I had been singing along to The Might Be Giants all weekend. My visions of having a cool posting in Istanbul and being close to Europe were crushed a bit today when Jennie informed me that Turkish is also spoken in Iraq (well I knew that), Iran and Azerbaijan. But Azerbaijan could be cool too, right!? Isn't Baku on the top of your vacation list?
First things first, find a class.
I'll keep you posted...
posted by Erin @ 12:16 PM
8 Comments:
Interesting thoughts. Bonus points for referencing the They Might Be Giants song.
CJS
bonus points to you for using the term bonus points in an entry about getting bonus points;-)
Istanbul çok seviyorum. Turkçe zor, ama enteresan. I hope you do take Turkish! -Mango
I understood two of those 7 words, I think I am well on my way;-)
oh my goodness Erin, I hope you get posted in Azerbaijan! You do know that I have always wanted to honeymoon in Baku, right? So, i can check out the sites in advance while visiting you! Good luck with the turkish -- do whatever it takes to get you a posting, the State Department needs you!!!
AB :)
I was surprised to hear you are interested in studying the Turkish language! Our daughter, Katelyn learned the language when she was an exchange student in Istanbul, a city she fell in love with. Anyway, she said to tell you that Turkish is much easier to learn than German which she also studied. The vocabulary is much smaller than German or English. Good luck in finding a class or tutor! Love reading your blogs!!
Mrs. R.
Hi Mrs. R,
Much easier than German... I'm sold!! Thanks for continuing to read the blog. Hi to Dr. R too:-)
Oh, with all due respect, I don't think Turkish has less words than English or German! That sounds a bit fishy/Eurocentric to me (I tried googling on the subject but couldn't find any evidence either way).
I found the language fun to learn--and yes, you can get away with less vocabulary b/c I think Turks are more tolerant of/amused by foreigners attempting to speak it. But it has words of European, Arabic and Asiatic origins--so don't underestimate it. -Mango
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