[Originally written March 3, 2012]
So instead of being a good, productive student and getting some homework done at the beginning of my Spring Break week, I’m cruising through YouTube video results I get from typing “Turkish alphabet.” I don’t plan to start studying the Turkish language until after this semester gets done–way too busy–but I can’t help being curious….below are just some of the videos I’ve found so far:
(An aside: Indeed, the Turks in Turkey speak Turkish–not Arabic. It’s okay to not know because this is something that many Americans don’t think about. Yes, Turkish has many borrowed words from Arabic and other languages, but now you’ve been enlightened, so please don’t assume that all Middle Eastern/Muslim countries speak Arabic!)
Strange videos:
Consists of distracting pretty background music and strange talking heads that remind me of the Canadians from South Park.
Warning: very catchy song, yet worthless to learn the alphabet.
Helpful videos:
The simpler, the better.
Definitely the best I’ve found thus far!
I guess my main point of this post is to encourage you to use your resources when you want to learn something. YouTube is a surprisingly good place to begin to learn another language and even to supplement what you might be learning formally. For instance, while I was taking Italian my first three semesters at Grand Valley, I watched clips of Disney movies dubbed in Italian and Italian children’s TV shows; not only was it entertaining but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I could catch. Hopefully I can reach that level to an extent before I embark for Turkey.
Do you have any other language tips or tricks that have helped you learn or review a language?
Turkish Musings 
Hi Hayley! I just started using Live Mocha to get back into my Italian. A lot of it is free and pretty straight forward. They have Turkish too.
Oooo! I’ll have to check that out. Thank you!
[…] a lot more time into preparing than most. She debated whether she would wear a headscarf, started learning Turkish on her own, and even got a pen pal. Hayley is now in her fourth week in Ankara and though […]