Selden
New Member
Merhaba
I stumbled on Turkish Living this morning while trying to figure out what to say to a friend whose brother-in-law had just died. When I was a student at Robert College 1964-66, I had little need to know such vocabulary.
Istanbul was a much smaller place then, with about 3.5 million people. Thanks to John Freely and Hilary Sumner-Boyd, I was able to explore much of the city as they gathered material for what eventually became their guide book, Strolling Through Istanbul.
Last year, my wife and I planned a return trip, intending to rent a car and spend two weeks driving around Anatolia. The coronavirus pandemic upended our plans. In preparation for that trip, I returned to studying Turkish, which I am still doing. It remains my favorite language after my native tongue, English. In some aspects Turkish is "easy" because of its regularity, but the syntax and word order remain challenging for an American. Studying Arabic and Persian since 1968 provided context for some things that were previously inexplicable when I first started learning Turkish. My wife and I still hope to finish our trip in 2021 or 2022.
I am looking forward to picking up new things in this forum.
Finally, my name, Selden Deemer, while it makes some sense in Turkish, has absolutely no connection.
Istanbul was a much smaller place then, with about 3.5 million people. Thanks to John Freely and Hilary Sumner-Boyd, I was able to explore much of the city as they gathered material for what eventually became their guide book, Strolling Through Istanbul.
Last year, my wife and I planned a return trip, intending to rent a car and spend two weeks driving around Anatolia. The coronavirus pandemic upended our plans. In preparation for that trip, I returned to studying Turkish, which I am still doing. It remains my favorite language after my native tongue, English. In some aspects Turkish is "easy" because of its regularity, but the syntax and word order remain challenging for an American. Studying Arabic and Persian since 1968 provided context for some things that were previously inexplicable when I first started learning Turkish. My wife and I still hope to finish our trip in 2021 or 2022.
I am looking forward to picking up new things in this forum.
Finally, my name, Selden Deemer, while it makes some sense in Turkish, has absolutely no connection.
