Hanging out in a village
yavru baby animal, e.g. lamb
civciv baby chick (yeah, cutest word ever, pronounced 'jeevjeev')
şam hurma 'sun date'? does anyone know what this is in English?
koyun sheep
çoban shepherd
kavun melon
tohum seed (also the word for semen/sperm)
yaramaz naughty, useless (applied to children, in my observations)
gelin bride
düğün wedding
Having a phone stalker
bilinmeyen numara unknown number
açma don't answer your phone (literally, 'don't open')
At some point during the endless calling, I was played a recording that said that if I wanted to meet, I should answer the phone, and if I didn't want to meet, I should not answer the phone. My stalker was overestimating my Turkish comprehension skills, because it took two listenings to understand, by which point I had apparently already indicated I wanted to meet.
Watching a Turkish dizi (ridiculous soap opera)
öldüren tutku fatal passion
engelli with obstacles, difficult
sakin ol calm down
gerçek masallar true stories
Watching Turkish news
üflemek to blow out (as in, there was a fire, and it 'blew out' the roof)
çatı roof
Conversing about politics and the upcoming election
adalet justice
asıl foundation, base, source
Totally recognizable from Arabic. e.g. My dad is Canadian, welakin min asıl New Zealand (but originally from New Zealand). A word I use way too much in Turkish is aslında (actually, or 'at the source').
çoğul majority
oy kullanmak to vote
kabul etmek to accept
dernek association
üye member
acemi inexperienced
yolsuzluk abuse, misuse (literally 'way-without-ness')
This last was used to reference the event on December 17th, when dozens of AK Party officials were arrested for corruption, money laundering, and bribery. I was in Cappadocia that day, and my Turkish friend there bought a stack of newspapers including this:
I'm faced with the same question in Japan right now... how to retain, how to retain? If you come across some new technique, let me know. I've been skipping the laborious flash-card making step in favor of just studying the words wherever I've recorded them, and focused my time on making some connection to the word, it's sounds and letter, so that it will stick to something in my brain. The disadvantage is that I'm not sure if it gets you the automatic recall that flashcards do. Instead of, "I need the word for source-->asil!" It's more like, "I need the word for source---> it reminds me of the word for honey and rhymes with muscle--->asil!"
ReplyDeleteHey, Alaina. I am glad we are in the same boat. The personal connection method--I totally know, and I totally agree about the (sometimes hilarious) drawbacks. I am working through different ideas and techniques. One idea is that maybe I need to learn more slowly; like, make it stick, or don't even bother. Bah, we'll see. I just posted more on vocabulary.
DeleteHey, I just wanted to update you that I did make flashcards today to help me study for a test. They were very rudimentary cards with different verbs written on them, and then I practiced the grammar/usage by sorting the cards based firstly on which particles they take and then on transitivity. I think this use of flashcards really works for me. It's visual, it's active, it's challenging, and it almost feels like a game.
DeleteHey, I've been thinking about vocabulary retention a ton, so I'm so happy to see you update the conversation.
DeleteAfter you pointed out that just studying the word where it's written is a technique, I realized that it works pretty well for me. The thing is, I have to spend some time staring at the word, and thinking about it in different ways (How does it sound? What similar words do I know? Does it remind me of any words from other languages? Do I like it?).
I've also started using Anki (computer-based flashcards). Pros: it's fast to make cards, fast to review. Cons: I need my computer; I miss the physicality of cards, and the ability to do what you did–play with them in different ways. In short: still figuring it out.
P.s. You have a TEST?
Just immerse! No need for flashcards. Live the language.
ReplyDeleteYes, maybe in the end I will just go this route!
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