For a few days, I have not moved further from the first Turkish checkpoint. Each day I have done a bunch of “dumbbell” exercises, using the icon for personalized exercises gathered from my weak points all over the topics covered so far. I think I am about ready to move onward, only more slowly.<\/p>\n
My current status is that inside our extremely\u00a0limited vocabulary and grammar, I can reliably translate from Turkish to English.\u00a0This is actually the extent of my aspiration. I have no interest in writing in Turkish, let alone speak them, although I may eventually do that if I follow a similar trajectory as I did when I learned English as my third language. When I left school, I could read books for older children and young adults, with a dictionary at hand. I read books. I read dozens of books, hundreds of books, bookshelves full of books, stacks of magazines, until I could no longer remember whether I had read something in English or in my native Norwegian. There are still many English words I can’t pronounce, but there are tens and thousands that I can understand and also reliably write, which I could not when I ended my formal education. So if I for some reason wanted to learn Turkish well, that is probably how I would do it. It is a lot easier to write a word when you have read it a few hundred times! For me, it is actually easier to learn the spelling first and the pronunciation later. This is because I am hyperlexic, the opposite of dyslexic. So not everyone will feel comfortable with taking the same path.<\/p>\n
I do think it is a good idea for anyone to stop and consolidate after a while, if the dumbbell exercises turn out to be too hard. It is a reliable sign that we have only had a guided tour of the language so far, and need to slow down and make it our own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I have taken a few days to consolidate my grasp on the very basics of Turkish. Slowed down as in not learning new words, not as in not doing exercises! Continue reading