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FSI Turkish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Lemus Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6379 days ago 232 posts - 266 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Japanese, Russian, German | Message 1 of 7 14 June 2007 at 7:16pm | IP Logged | ||
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I recently started FSI Turkish and was wondering if someone, especially someone who finished it all the way, could answer a few questions about it. How far does it take you? Will the age of the course be a big factor in your ability to read or communicate? Any suggestions on supplementary materials or what to use after finishing to "complete" Turkish?
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| Kleberson Diglot Senior Member Great Britain Joined 6416 days ago 166 posts - 168 votes Speaks: English*, Portuguese Studies: Italian, Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin | Message 2 of 7 15 June 2007 at 5:40pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't know for sure, but apparently the German FSI will take someone into "basic fluency", and that's with only 24 units. So I would imagine that the Turkish one, with 50 units would take someone to at least basic fluency, taking into account that this website claims that both languages (German and Turkish) are the same difficulty level. Edited by Kleberson on 15 June 2007 at 5:44pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| daristani Senior Member United States Joined 7142 days ago 752 posts - 1661 votes Studies: Uzbek | Message 3 of 7 15 June 2007 at 7:26pm | IP Logged | ||
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If you go through the various different threads at the http://fsi-language-courses.com/ website, you can see various comments, by myself and others, on the FSI Turkish course. Since I didn't learn my Turkish from it, I'm not sure how to answer the question as to how far the two volumes will take you; in general, I think it's an issue more of how much time and effort you put into the course, rather than what's in the course itself.
I think it could be an error to try to see too much comparability among the various FSI courses. The FSI Turkish course doesn't contain as much drill material as the French or German courses, and Turkish is more "foreign" for English speakers than either of those other two languages. So I think that trying to draw conclusions in terms of the level one might reach in another language may be deceptive. That said, I think that the FSI Turkish course is quite good, and that the value lies not only in the drills, which form a smaller part of this course than the other FSI courses, but also in the grammatical explanations and example sentences. The structure of Turkish is substantially different from many other European languages, and while you "gain" in terms of a phonetic alphabet and simple pronunciation, lack of genders, lack of irregular verbs, etc., you "lose" in terms of the alienness of the way the language works, so that forming an even semi-complex sentence can be a real exercise in mental gymnastics. This is a difficulty of Turkish, but also, at least for me, one of its most appealing aspects. It's frustrating to learn, but very satisfactory when you come to realize you're finally beginning to "get it". What this all means is a bit unclear, I guess, but I think the course is good, and I'd advise anyone with a serious interest in Turkish to try to work through it, and to pay close attention to the grammatical explanations in the various chapters. The mere ability to repeat the sentences in the drills doesn't mean you can form those sentences on your own in speech, or understand sentences of similar structure when spoken to you, and so I think a lot of "overlearning" and repetition are key. I think the age of the course is irrelevant; a few of the words are a bit old-fashioned, but the language itself hasn't changed all that much. (Again, see the relevant threads in the website above, one of which deals with just this question.) As for additional materials, I would be sure to get a copy of Geoffrey Lewis's "Turkish Grammar" and study it closely if you're serious about Turkish. There's also a third FSI volume (a reader) which is available in some university libraries. There are some other useful books for advanced learners, such as "A Dictionary of Turkish Verbs in Context and by Theme", by Ralph Jaeckel and Gulnur Doganata Erciyes, as well as "Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar", by Asli Goksel and Celia Kerslake". (The latter will be pretty heavy going unless you're pretty well grounded in linguistics or have a very good knowledge of Turkish; work your way through the Lewis book above first.) I've always thought of Turkish as "an easy language that's hard to learn", and both aspects of that statement are, I think, quite valid. In some respects, Turkish "spoils" you in terms of other languages, given its regularity, etc., but the ability to form, or even to comprehend, complex sentences and the various nuances of the many verb forms, doesn't come easy. So it's a very long road before one becomes "fluent", whatever that may mean, but in my view, the FSI course, which is now available for free on-line, is a very great help along the path. Good luck. 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Lemus Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6379 days ago 232 posts - 266 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Japanese, Russian, German | Message 4 of 7 15 June 2007 at 8:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for the input. I will see if I can get my hands on some of those books you mentioned.
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| Emms Newbie United Kingdom Joined 6365 days ago 11 posts - 11 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, Turkish | Message 5 of 7 20 June 2007 at 9:21am | IP Logged | ||
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How much vocabulary does the first 30 units have in it? I cant say for sure, but I heard there were only 475 words, does that sound right?
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| Lemus Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6379 days ago 232 posts - 266 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Japanese, Russian, German | Message 6 of 7 20 June 2007 at 10:11am | IP Logged | ||
The inside cover of volume one says that there are 475 high frequency words covered. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 magister Pro Member United States Joined 6601 days ago 346 posts - 421 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Turkish, Irish Personal Language Map | Message 7 of 7 20 June 2007 at 4:35pm | IP Logged | ||
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And Vol. II introduces some 2,000 more vocabulary items.
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