www.exploreturkish.com has closed

A visitor posted a comment to let me know that www.exploreturkish.com has closed.

If it has moved to a new location, no information to that end is available in the advertising that now appears in its place. If anyone has any information on its fate, please post a comment and let me know.

In any event, I've removed the ExploreTurkish link from my links (on left side of this page). Sigh.

Update 11/06/08

Victoria asked in a comment to my Manisa Turkish post if I will be posting any more. Yes, I will continue. And I apologize for the long dry spell in my posts.

The reason for the dry spell is that I have been happily focussed on a new job. At the same time, my residence has been in happy flux. Now, I'm finally nearing the point where I can get back into some kind of steady routine.

During this long process, I've been doing two things related to my ever intensifying interest in Turkey.

• Finished reading Andrew Mango's biography of Atatürk
• Listening to Pimsleur's Turkish language tapes on my way to and from work

I stopped writing (for now) in my blog about what I was learning in Mr. Mango's (or Andrew Bey's, to use the Turkish form) biography of Atatürk because of time constraints, especially since so much to me was both new and fascinating.

Contributing to my time constraints has been a much longer commute to work. However, I've been using that to my advantage. Specifically, this is where the Pimsleur tapes come in. Since the road has me, in effect, as a captive audience, I'm making the most of it—listening and repeating the Turkish phrases of each lesson.

Initially, I felt a bit robotic, listening and repeating and replaying entire lessons as needed. However, I've been making a point of stopping the tapes at times and testing myself—e.g., asking myself what's the difference between "what would you like to eat?" and "would you like something to eat?" in terms of how it's said in Turkish. In this sense, my listening skills a being seriously challenged, which I welcome.

Of course, at the same time, I'm being very careful not to get myself killed on the highway! Hmm, perhaps I should learn to swear in Turkish. With that thought, I found Allah kahretsin or simply kahretsin (both of which apparently mean "Damn!") at my favorite online Turkish-English dictionary. I need to start bellowing out such words more when I get cut off. Apart from being good practice, it may also keep me out of trouble when English speakers overhear me. ;^)

On all this, I must thank and commend my Egyptian visitor, moro85, for his/her comment to my Turkish grammar on the web post. So, you're Egyptian and have learned some English and now wish to learn Turkish too? Wow. Go for it!

As far as tips, I can only offer what I've already posted here so far. Personally, I've been enjoying the Pimsleur tapes (really CDs, but you know what I mean). My goal is to be able to speak Turkish intelligibly as well as understand my Turkish hosts and I find Pimsleur very practical when you are pressed for time. And popping my Pimsleur CD into my car stero during drive time is an ideal time for me to practice and talk to myself [I'm quite a good listener, if I say so myself :^) ].

Manisa Turkish

A friendly visitor (thank you! teşekkür ederim!) commented on one of my blog entries, referencing this site as another online resource to check out. After a short review, I like what I see enough to add it to my blog's favorite links (look to your left under the picture of Turkey's flag.

Scroll down the home page to learn a little about Manisa.

The importance of independent thought

Andrew Mango's exhaustive review of the events leading to the establishment of modern Turkey makes clear why its capital ended up in Ankara, far from Istanbul. In the post World War I era, it was hard (poor roads) and dangerous (bandits) to get to. Istanbul was occupied by the Allies.

With hundreds of years of Ottoman roots planted in Istanbul, it's understandable why Atatürk would want to make some other city the new seat of government even after independence was one. It was an effective way of marking the start of a new era.

Speaking of independence, Atatürk said in a speech in Ankara 1920 "that while one had to work form the roots upwards to build a solid organization, at the start one had no choice but to work from the top downwards, since until individuals had learnt to think for themselves, masses could be manipulated."

Quite true.

A National Secret

I'm taking a break from the tedious work of tiling a closet. Technically, this kind of tiling—peel and stick—is easy. However...the closet is not a perfect square or rectangle. Plus, the threshold from the living room threw off my line of attack, forcing an additional set of cut tiles to fit neatly along the wall. Then there was the chore of cutting pieces to fit around a hot water tank.

All that in a tight, cramped space. It made me feel better about the good money I paid professionals to tile my kitchen and bathroom. Well worth it!

Anyway, on to my topic tonight.

Andrew Bey reports...

Mustafa Kemal said in 1927 that it was immediately clear to him that the monarchy would be the relentless enemy of the national will. But to spell out the...inevitability of a republic...would frighten people who found the prospect contrary to their traditions, their mental capacity and their mentality. In order to preserve unity in the struggle for independence, Mustafa Kemal was obliged to keep to himself as 'a national secret the great capacity for development which I discerned in the nation's conscience and future.'

The philosopher-king idea and its problems come to mind. The report continues...

In a conversation which occupied the night of 7/8 July (1919), Mustafa Kema is said to have allowed Mazah Müfit to note down five long-term objectives:

• the proclamation of a republic
• 'appropriate treament' of the dynasty
• abolition of Islamic dress for women
• and a ban on wearing of the fez by men,
• and the introduction of the Latin alphabet

Personally, I appreciate the last item. At the same time, I look forward to learning about what must have been a tumultuous period while the nation's language was changed!

Mobilizing Resistance

In 1919, Mustafa Kemal faced a number of obstacles to building resistance. At the same time, he also had some opportune factors. Andrew Bey reports...

The army had a cadre of patriotic officers ready to defend the country. But although they were united by a common ideal, they were divided by personal and professional jealousies. The forces at their disposal were woefully weak and ill-equipped. What is more, officers were conditioned to obey orders, ultimately from Istanbul. Fortunately, the general staff was sympathetic to the national cause. Fortunately also, the best officers had developed a spirit of initiative, first in the revolutionary struggle against Abdülhamit and then in foreign wars. The civil service too did not lack patriotic officials, but initiative had been sapped out of them. To survive, they had to lie low and do as they were told.

There is much more to the report, of course. I highlight this passage because the part about initiative being sapped out of a group of people, of lying low and doing as they're told echoes what I see too often in the modern American workplace. It takes a special effort to maintain a spirit of initiative, to stand up to the forces that seek to stifle that spirit. It's difficult but well worth the effort.

Now, that's on the tiny scale of my particular career experience. When I pause to think about it on the historic scale of Mustafa Kemal's effort for Turkey, I am in awe.

Bulgarian Transformation (circa 1913)

At the time of Mustafa Kemal's arrival in Sofia, the Bulgarians "had been generally regarded as among the most backward of the sultan's subjects." [page 130 of Mango's biography] Yet something happened to transform them, which "amazed the Turks". Mango reports that this transformation has been attributed to the work of "'popular enlighteners'—nationalist teachers who imparted new learning as they went out to the people in the spirit of the Russian narodniks (populists)."

Mango reports that the Bulgarian transformation made a deep impression on Mustafa Kemal, "who was later to adopt populism (halkçılık) as one of the six basic principles of the Turkish republic."

I'm not familiar with populism as an explicit idea. The Wikipedia link defines it as "a discourse which supports 'the people' versus 'the elites'." In the post-serf era in which the Narodniks were born, that definition is understandable. How exactly does that term applies to the Turkish context? I look forward to learning.

In the meantime, what's important here is the impression his Sofia experience made on him and its eventual impact on Turkey.

Gökalp

Occasionally, Mustafa Kemal listened, and to no one more carefully than to Ziya (Gökalp), an intellectual born in Diyarbakır, in the Kurdish area.... Like many of his contemporaries, Gökalp was strongly influenced by French writers, in his case particularly by the sociologist Emile Durkheim (1858-1917), from whom he derived his notion of religion as social cement. Religion, Gökalp believed, inspired culture, which was specific to individual national societies, while civilization, meaning primarily science and technology, was universal. Like other members of the CUP, Gökalp started by defending the concept of a common Ottoman patriotism. But, before long, he became the chief ideologist of a Western-oriented Turkish nationalism, based not on ethnic origin, but on common culture and language.... Mustafa Kemal learnt from him 'the ideals of nationalism and of populism, which were to inform the republic of Turkey...'.[page 95/96 of Andrew Mango's biography]

Continuing his report of the "intellectual ferment" (and how!) of this period, Mr. Mango reports: "An influential literary review, Genç Kalemler (Young Pens), campaigned for a simpler Turkish language, relying more on its own vocabulary than on borrowings from Arabic and Persian. It was in Genç Kalemler that Ziya Gökalp published his celebrated poetic manifesto of Pan-Turanianism, the romantic ideology which sought the union of all Turkic-speaking peoples:

The country of the Turks is not Turkey, nor yet Turkistan,
Their country is a vast and eternal land: Turan!

Fascinating.

Ali Fuat on the French Revolution

Mr. Mango reports (on pages 48-49) that Ali Fuat wrote the following about the feelings of the cadets in Atatürk's class in military high school:

Sultan Adülhamit II, in whose honour we had to shout 'Long live our Padishah' several times a day, gradually lost lustre in our eyes. We were indignant at the treatment of young enlightened supporters of freedom in the medical school who were sent into exile and whose careers were ruined. One day we might meet the same fate. As we heard that the government worked badly, that corruption was rife, that civil servants and officers did not receive their pay, while secret policemen and courtiers, covered in gold braid, received not only their pay but purses full of gold, our confidence in the sultan, which was not strong at the best of times, was totally shaken. We saw that delivered into incompetent hands, the army was losing its effectiveness and prestige...But no one dared ask 'Where are we going? Where are you taking the country?' Afraid of the sultan and his secret policemen, people were plunged in abject oriental resignation...There was no freedom in the country. As young students in the War College, we had read in secret and learnt the importance given to human rights and freedoms in the declarations of the French Revolution.

Mr. Mango reports that Alex Jevakhoff, Atatürk's French biographer, that the French Revolution and its Declaration of Human Rights "was to be 'the supreme point of reference' throughout his life."

This information was news to me. Fascinating.

At the same, it's not too surprising given Mr. Mango's report in his introduction on page 6: "The Ottoman's connection with the French was old. It went back to the alliance concluded in 1541 between Sultan Süleyman I (Suleiman the Magnificient) and Francis I of France against the Habsburg emperor Charles V."

My appreciation of Mr. Mango's work increases with each page I read. It's expanding my knowledge of an important part of world history. I welcome learning more about Atatürk and, in effect, about modern Turkish history.

Dancing

Mr. Mango reports on page 41 ("The Making of an Ottoman Officer"):

Mustafa Kemal's determination to succeed...drove him to acquire not only professional skill, but also social graces. He dazzled his friend Ali Fuat with his ability to waltz. Dancing, he declared, was an essential accomplishment for a staff officer.

I especially like this aspect of Atatürk.

Turkish: Then and Now

Mr. Mango reports on page 41 ("The Making of an Ottoman Officer"):

...It was thus at the school in Manastır that Atatürk began acquiring his mastery of literary Ottoman, a euphonious and euphuistic idiom, where Arabic abstract nouns crowd together in alliterative groups of synonyms to raise the emotional tone rather than to clarify the meaning.

Good epistemological food for thought. I've filed it away for future reference.

Mr. Mango's report continues:

Atatürk became an effective writer and speaker of this artificial tongue, which served him well in his public appearances. Unfortunately, it is now incomprehensible in its original form to Turkish readers, for whom translations into simple Turkish have to be provided.

This I had heard during my studies of Turkish. Ironic.

7 April 1913

Mr. Mango reports:

On 7 April 1913, Ahmet Izzet Paşa informed the Composite Force in Gallipoli that Muslim clergy were to be sent to raise the morale of the troops [following the fall of Edirne]. Mustafa Kemal sent a curt reply the following day, saying his brother officers and regimental chaplain were giving the troops all the advice that was necessary and that the despatch of extra preachers would serve only to propagate the view that the soldiers were demoralized, and that the authorities were reduced to prayerful supplications.

Impressive.

Printing Press Delay

Andrew Bey writes (page 5; introduction)

...It was not until 1727 that a Hungarian from Transylvania, who had converted from Unitarianism to Islam, was able to set up in Istanbul a first printing press using Arabic characters. It was closed down after a few years, and printing had to be reintroduced later.

Interesting.

Rulers vs unbelievers

In Mr. Mango's (Andrew Bey) introduction to his biography of Atatürk, he writes (on page 5)

Since [the Ottoman rulers] possessed revealed truth which had shown its worth during the expansion of Ottoman power, they were reluctant to turn to unbelievers for anything other than technical advice. When they did so, they had to disguise their purpose. In any case, the official ideology of the state was an obstacle to innovation.

This report fascinates me. In substance, it echoes the same experience many have in modern American business. That is, many managers and executives conduct themselves as if they possess revealed truth. Most who report to them are deemed, in effect, unbelievers to whom they turn only for technical advice. Though, in this case, their purpose is not disguised. What is often covered up or glossed over is the significance of the immense dedication needed to acquire and develop the specialized knowledge that produces competent technical advice. In any event, the unofficial ideology of the current state of common American management is an obstacle to innovation.

Atatürk biography

In a Sante Fe, New Mexico bookstore, I found a copy of the biography of Atatürk by Andrew Mango. It's excellent. It's rich with details of the context in which Atatürk (and, in effect, modern Turkey) was born. As if I didn't already have enough motivation to learn Turkish, this fine biography has added fuel to the fire.

Michael Doran, Washington Post Book World, writes that Mango's biography is "the best in the English language." I can't judge that for myself since it's the only biography I've seen so far of Atatürk. Though I'm only 106 pages into it, I can say that's it comprehensive, even going into the Enlightenment era French philosophy that influenced Atatürk and his contemporaries.

As my schedule permits, I'll be posting some excerpts from the book.

Consonant harmony!

Something interesting I came across follows. First, some context.

David and Asuman Pollard's wonderful textbook Teach Yourself Turkish shows how Turkish handles to, at, and from as follows:

• -de indicates there's no movement to or from
• -e indicates there's movement towards
• -den indicates there's movement away from

The example provided is simple:

English	Turkish
house	ev
at the house	evde
to the house	eve
from the house	evden

Now, here's the interesting part (or what I call a curveball): a d can become a t! The Pollards explain it as follows:

Question: What do the words maç, dolap, beş, sokak, and raf have in common? Answer: They all end in a 'whispery' (unvoiced) consonant. The d in the ending becomes t in order to be whispery too. This is similar to vowel harmony, but with consonants!

Consonant harmony!? Very cool. Çok serin.

Apart from that interesting and logical twist, it also helps me feel less bewildered when I see words that don't show up in Turkish dictionaries and which I can't parse with the other rules I've learned so far.

Again, very cool. Tekrar, çok serin.

www.ataturk.com

This site showed up on my radar today. I found it interesting enough to add to my favorite links off to the side of this page.

Games to reinforce learning

I like word games where letters are scrambled and your object is to reassemble them into as many words as possible. Well, while indulging in one, I thought: "Wouldn't it be cool if I could play this in Turkish?" So, a Google search brought me to this small site.

Nice idea. If you know of any similar sites, please drop me a note. Thanks!

Turkish Class & Pimsleur

My favorite online Turkish dictionary recently posted a link to an online Turkish class. It looks promising and it's free. I just signed up to check it out.

Two friends bought me a wonderful gift—8 hours of Pimsleur Turkish audio instruction. Unlike my other tapes, the Pimsleur tapes (CDs) are 100% audio. A major virtue in that is that I can exercise and learn at the same time. So, I've been out jogging, weight training with heavy hands), and learning Turkish all at once. Talk about mind-body harmony! ;^)

The only "down side" is getting used to "talking to myself" in Turkish as I jog and follow along in each 30 minute lesson. As my girlfriend observed, it's not like speaking Spanish, which passersby could at least recognize. It's Turkish, which is truly exotic where I live.

Oh well, live and learn, in every sense of that wonderful expression.

Apostrophe

The Explore Turkish site has a nice summary of apostrophes (kesme işareti) in Turkish.

I was already familiar with how it's used in proper nouns, especially as it pertains to locations. For example, from Boston would translate to Boston'den while at Boston would translate to Boston'da.

That same page has an example that underscores the importance of precision in your writing. Karın means stomach while kar'ın means "of snow" and karı'n means "your wife". Same letters with totally different meanings depending on where you use or don't use an apostrophe. Interesting!

Explore Turkish

This site was brought to my attention in a comment on my December 4 entry. Thank you, whoever you are!

I like what I see so far: good information and enthusiasm. That bought it a spot on my "My Links" list.

It's a good day when resources are brought to me as opposed to me having to go out a look for them. Nice! Hoş!

Mutlu Yıllar!

Yes, friends, with the new year, I want to try different things. As of today, I'm trying out this particular template because it's light, spread out nicely across the entire page (as opposed to being bunched up in the center), and things like my pic of Atatürk have been moved over to the left.

Hoşçakal.

Saat iki

Rosetta Stone continues to drill me on time. As a part of reinforcing that, I decided to see how many hits I'd get by punching "saat iki" (2 o'clock) into a Google search. Among the 1.2 million hits (!!), I found this—http://www.hikayeler.net/yazilar/saat-iki/.

Among other things, this site includes a poem called, yep, Saat İki. Seeing it gave me the thought of trying to parse through it as opposed to parsing through a Turkish news article. Would it be easier or harder? I don't know. I do know, however, that it's less important what I try to parse than the parsing effort itself, within reason.

The poem's a bit long so I don't know if I can parse it all in one sitting (i.e., post). But here goes.

"Takvimlere yine yenik düştü günler"

Takvim means calendar. -lere? I don't recognize the suffix. The closest thing to it I recall is -leri and -ları, which means their. "Their calendar" then? Maybe. Maybe not. Moving on for now. Let's see if the context answers the question.

Yine means "1. again, once again, once more. 2. still, nevertheless, even so".

Yenik means partially eaten, eroded, defeated. Hm, doesn't look like this will be a perky poem.

Düştü has me stumped. It's not listed in the online dictionary. Düş means dream but that doesn't seem to fit here. As I browsed the dictionary, I noticed that words starting with düş seem related to falling (düşmek).

Günler means days. No mystery there!

So, that first line seems to say something like "It's that time of year again, eroding, fallen days..." Autumn?

We'll see. I've got to sign off for now.

iki adam ata biniyor

Man, I do admire Rosetta Stone (RS). However, I wish they had an answer key for some of these tougher phrases.

"Iki adam ata biniyor" is one of them. RS just shows me a picture of two men atop horses, riding them slowly across a field (nice idyllic image, though the image presented here is from a great John Ford movie named The Searchers). Parsing this was a little confusing:

• iki means 2, of course
• adam means man/men
• ata, on the other hand, can mean father or ancestor or be short for Atatürk. After a while, it dawned on me that perhaps this is one of those cases where a vowel was tacked onto at (horse). Doh! Lo and behold that's the case here. If this is an instance of the vowel harmony rule, its application escapes me in this case. What does the -a mean here?
• biniyor's root apparently is binmek: to know how to mount a horse or to know how to ride one.

So, my working translation is "two men riding their horses".

Hold up—I just found "ata binmek" at my favorite web-based Turkish dictionary declaring the definition of "ride a horse" as "ata binmek". Oddly enough, if I look up "ata binmek" there, it says it means only "ride".

In any event, close enough for me! So, the -a tagged onto "at" is, apparently, not a vowel harmony application but just some kind of exception. Noted. :^)