Language
Growing up my favourite lesson at school was English, I loved language and how it could be used artfully to evoke emotions and reactions. I had a niche for writing poetry and short stories, at the age of 11 I had one of my poems chosen to be published in a primary poetry school book which seasoned my love for creative writing and language. Even as a child the sight and smell of a book shop or library would be my idea of heaven, and that still stands to this day. Standing in a building with shelves upon shelves filled to the brim of books, each with a new adventure waiting or new knowledge to be learned about the world it was what made me long to have my own book one day stand on these shelves for others to delve into. Again this dream of mine still stands and has become partly true, after completing my degree I decided to publish a short story and it has helped me to have a taste of what it is like to publish your completed work.
Coming back to a language I have always been interested in learning languages and rather enjoyed learning French and German at school. Once meeting my husband I was eager to learn his language and decided that when we would have children they would be brought up bilingual. When people ask me if I speak any Turkish they are always surprised by my speaking abilities and I am always met with the same question "How did you learn?". Through my teaching courses, I have learnt that learning a new language requires you to listen and use new words even if you feel embarrassed or use the words in the wrong way. Mistakes are the BEST way of learning.
When I began to learn Turkish my husband would write one or two words on a sticky note and place it on a kitchen cupboard. I would see that word every day and would be reminded of the word every time I was in the kitchen (usually most of the day!), then I would usually be able to notice the words being used by my husband or his family. Once I was able to hear this word being used I would try to listen to the sentence they would use it in. Or another way was hearing the words in music, I would listen to Turkish radio such as Kral FM, there are albums of Turkish hits on Spotify for free now too. Turkish music has lots of word repetition and so is a great resource for learning. Watching Turkish Dizi's (soap opera's) was another way of picking out familiar words and listening to how the actors spoke and in what contexts. There are free Dizi's on Youtube these days too, I will list my recommendations at the bottom of this post to help if you're interested in learning Turkish. After a good few months, I was able to use my collection of newly learned words into sentences and could answer questions and give my opinions on some subjects. I found the best way of learning was listening. Another top tip for learning a language is that it is important NOT to google translate everything, just use it as you hear it. Not all words can be translated into the English language and some translations are not always well matched to their meaning. An example could be the word 'iste'/'iste boyle', iste literally means 'that's how it is / like that'. You cannot translate the word 'iste' directly into English and there are many recommendations on the meaning.
Historical fact!
The Turkish language is an Altaic language, of the Turkic language branch. The origin of the Turkish language can be located around 1300 years ago, in Central Asia. This is when the first written records of Turkish began to emerge, though this was in Ottoman Turkish. Ottoman Turkish was used as the administration and governmental language of the Ottoman Empire, which spread across much of this area. Originally, the Ottoman script was used for the Turkish language, but in the early 20th century, this was replaced with the Latin alphabet.
The Turkish language is spoken in a lot of countries all around the world, such as Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Northern Cyprus, Kosovo, the Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Syria, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. It is also spoken by immigrant communities in Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K., and the U.S. It is the most common of the Turkic languages, with around 40% of the speakers of Turkic languages being fluent in Turkish. Essentially, the language is spoken mostly where the Ottoman Empire used to exist.
In total, there are around 83 million speakers of the Turkish language around the world, with the majority of those speakers, around 74 million, being native speakers. It is not only an official language in Turkey but also Cyprus. It is a recognized minority language in Kosovo, Macedonia, Romania, and Iraq. In Kosovo and Macedonia, however, they are regional languages, and not used much in the city. The Turkish language is regulated by the Turkish Language Association.
Raising Bilingual Children
Another benefit of learning Turkish for myself was also so that I could raise bilingual children. This was so important to me as I strongly believe that being brought up speaking two fluent languages could only but benefit children's lives. Children who are brought up as bilingual are able to learn other languages quicker than monolinguals and has even been proven to provide better memory skills* and most importantly would also enable them to maintain a connection between extended family culture and history, and being able to make stronger friendships with other children from different backgrounds by being able to have the advantage of understanding two different cultures. It will also benefit them for employment and travel as adults.
My children are aged 8, 4 & 1 and what I have found and learned through my teaching is that it is always better to let the child learn the 'foreign' language first. For example, we live in England so I have taught my children to speak Turkish first. This is because once the children start nursery and school they will be socialising with native speakers and will prefer to speak this language due to using it more than they will the language being spoken at home. It is proven that children after the ages of 5 will find it difficult to learn more than one language as a native language, so if you wish for your children to learn more than one language it is best to teach it before the age of 5. This being said my children all mix their learnt languages (English & Turkish) and we call this 'Turklish'. It is a natural effect response of being bilingual and is called 'code-mixing' and proves their abilities to be able to switch between two languages to express themselves.
Another common thing I found with my children is that once they start school I noticed that they would begin to stammer on words when trying to express themselves. This again is another sign of their code-mixing ability, they are searching for the correct vocabulary that fit what they're trying to say and translating it between their learned languages. The stammer seems to disappear after the age of 5.
What language should I speak to my child?
As a native English speaker, I would, of course, speak in English to my children if I didn't know how to say what I needed to say in Turkish, but I feel it should be encouraged to speak as much of the foreign language (Turkish) as much as possible first but it would depend on where you're living. If you live in Turkey then it would be better for you to speak only English to your child. Children are amazing and are able to soak up more information than you could imagine.
Encourage and embrace the beauty of language and share it with your children if you're able.
I'd love to hear your experiences of raising bilingual children.
Lucy
*Influence of bilingualism on memory generalization during infancy.
Dizi recommendations:
Youtube: Kara Sevda, Ezel, Istanbullu Gelin, Ay Lav Yu (film),
Netflix: Ertegurel, Leyla Everlasting, Miracle in Cell No.7, Ethos,
Music: Aleyna Tilki, Tarkan, Hadise
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