Week 11: A2 Turkish reading
7 easy storybooks from acevokuloncesi.org
This has been a busy week so I mostly reviewed older material, but here is a link to some short storybooks for children. I only read "Televizyoncu Ali", which is probably at the A2 level. The other books are all easier.
https://www.acevokuloncesi.org/kaynak-dokumanlar/hikaye-kitaplari/
Week 12: A2 Turkish listening
7 Niloya story books on youtube
The "Niloya" cartoon series is popular in Turkey and some other countries. I don't like the squeaky cartoon voices but if they don't bother you there are lots of episodes on youtube. If you don't like squeaky voices either, here is a link to seven "Niloya" storybooks with text and audio.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyhMzyW9Hd-3uAGPjsufO7QK4nhYVnWy_
Week 13: A2 Turkish reading
A Harun Yahya children's book
Harun Yahya/Adnan Oktar has a youtube channel and websites all over the internet. In his materials for children, his mission seems to be to promote intelligent design and to refute Darwinism. Whatever you think of his beliefs, his children's books make good study materials for language learners at the A2 and B1 levels. Here is a link to a flip book about beavers for learners at the A2 level.
Hmm, the link didn't work. If you go to issuu.com and type in 'harun yahya', you should get a page with lots of books. It might not be worth your while, but you can scroll down the page and look for the book covers that look like children's books - they are pretty easy to spot. There are also lots of other books that are useful but they are mostly at a B1 level.
I'll try one more time - let's see if this link goes to the book.
https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https://hy-kitap.github.io/assets/Harun-Yahya-Kitaplar/BB/odt/becerikliBarajInsaatcilariKunduzlar_5b_tr.odt
Week 14: A2 Turkish reading
Another Harun Yahya children's book
I haven't had time to do much except for reviewing things I had previously listened to, but here is a link to a Harun Yahya book about honey bees,
https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https://hy-kitap.github.io/assets/Harun-Yahya-Kitaplar/KK/odt/balarisicocuk3bsk.odt
Week 15: A2 Turkish listening
Here are four videos for practice listening at the A2 level, some with subtitles, some without, and some spoken quite a bit more slowly than others.
Three of the videos are from Ali Yilmaz's youtube channel, which has quite a few videos at the A2 level.
Cimri
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9LTL34ctBQ
Turkish for foreigners A2 level
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arqex_V2h-o
A Nasrettin Hoca story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkIzpCNEV1c
Two Farmer Brothers story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz-GO_Ou52s
Week 16: A2 Turkish reading
Harun Yahya booklet about ants
Merhaba arkadaşlar. Yine bir Harun Yahya hikayesi ile karşınızdayım. Bu seferki hikayenin adı “Küçük Dostlarımız Karıncaların Dünyası.” Tabii ki karıncaların yaşantısını ve özelliklerini anlatıyor. Çocuklar için yazılmış ama hikayenin büyükler için de faydası var - yani Türkçe öğrenmek isteyen büyükler için.
Bağlantı aşağıdadır. Mutlu okumalar.
https://hy-kitap.github.io/viewer/web/viewer.html?file=https://hy-kitap.github.io/assets/Harun-Yahya-Kitaplar/KK/pdf/kucukDostlarimizKarincalarinDunyasi_4b_tr.pdf
Week 17: A2 Turkish listening
Here are four more videos from the Ali Yilmaz channel on youtube. They are a bit slow , but you can always change the playback speed.
Tereyag
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XesYaAbNukc
Alzheimer's Disease
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18d0J6fAqhw
Tennis player
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYO9_xGUTS8
Zebra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O62e5Q7Ed9o
Weeks 18 and 19: Turkish A2 listening and reading
Here are two playlists from the Ali Yilmaz youtube channel. The first is about basic grammar and is good for basic listening comprehension. The second one introduces a number of verbs - the speaking is faster and it is more fun to listen to.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiZmHvJy_nJ-HdQuT92GeoDlVDLXsXsax
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiZmHvJy_nJ8KqO_eFClo0zegaWSNfM9M
And here are two more Harun Yahya booklets. These are longer booklets but consist of lots of very short stories.
https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https://hy-kitap.githu
https://hy-kitap.github.io/viewer/web/viewer.html?file=https://hy-kitap.
And finally, here is a web page with links for lots more Harun Yahya books. These are longer and probably suitable for high A2 or B1 learners.
His books have been very useful but I'm a bit tired of his style, so it's probably time for me to move on to something else for a bit.
https://harunyahya-kitap.github.io
Week 20: A2/B1 Turkish reading
When I started this project, I had hoped to reach a solid B2 level in reading and listening within 12 months. Although that might still be possible, it no longer seems like a good idea. For the project to remain fun and not become too tiring (and not encroach on time I need for other things) . it seems like a good idea to stick with A2 materials for a bit longer and get to the point where I can use them almost effortlessly, processing grammar and much of the vocabulary automatically.
During this period of consolidation, I probably won't use any new listening materials, instead revisiting previously used materials, sometimes redoing them as dictation or listen-and-repeat exercises.
Reading will also consist mostly of reviewing previously used materials, but for a bit of a challenge I will also use these A2/B1 children's articles from the Milliyet newspaper's website:
https://www.milliyet.com.tr/cocuk/
And I will also continus with the grammar lessons at the elon.io site. These lessons have turned out to be a really good review of most of the basic grammar. In fact once I have finished all the lessons, I might go back and redo lessons 100-181.
https://elon.io/learn-turkish/lessons
Then in two or three months the push for a solid B1 level will begin (I hope). I've already found lots of good materials but need to resist the temptation to use them until I am ready to make the most out of them.
Sounds like a good plan. It's interesting reading about your progress here!
Learning Italian every day!
Week 21: Nothing to do with Turkish
No new materials to post this week as I am recycling previously used materials for review. However, here are links to two nice Arabic music videos that have been released in the last few weeks. What does this have to do with learning Turkish? Nothing, but I hope somebody out there enjoys the music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh1c_DzpCm8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGYh57mlBcQ
Week 22: A2/B1 Turkish reading
Hi Tombik. I might take you up on the offer to chat later, but for now my time is so limited that I need to stick to just reading and listening. Thanks.
At the start of this project the plan was to use only what was available for free on the internet, but the time has arrived for a break from internet reading. so I've bought some books. They're kids' books so what can I say - they try a bit too hard to be cute, but so far they have been very useful and mildly interesting, and they were used so they weren't very expensive. For an A2 learner they might be a bit of a slog, but for a low to mid B1 learner they are more like reading than studying.
Richard and Florence Atwater - Boyacinin Penguenleri
Erich Kastner - Noktacik ile Anton
And here are links to two more music videos that make a nice break from studying:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbKNVfZcWts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch6gcWrekrE
Week 23: A2/B1 Turkish reading
It's been a struggle finding time for Turkish, but I did manage to read three children's books. All three were useful but the last one was both most enjoyable and most difficult.
Nilgun Ilgaz - Cocukluk Limanima Siginan Foklar
Bilgin Adali - Zaman Bisikleti
Sevim Ak - Ucurtmam Bulut Simdi
And here's another music video for when my brain is overheating:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXoVIW6JflI
Week 26: Trying to get started again
I love travelling, but for some time now that has not been possible, initially because I suffered a life-changing head injury and now because I am taking care of a 92-year-old relative. But I can watch youtube, and the most fun travel vlog I have seen is Drew Binsky's. After having stopped his travels for several months because of covid, he has just posted a video from Hatay, Turkey.
I love almost everywhere I have been in Turkey, but my favorite places are the the eastern Black Sea coast, the city of Urfa, the city of Mersin and Hatay province - I love Antakya, the capital of Hatay, so much that since 1980 I have been there about 15 times. The people, the culture, the food, the history, the architecture, the natural beauty - there is just nothing about Antakya that I don't love.
Hatay province was once a part of Syria but became a part of Turkey in 1939. The province is a mix of both cultures. The diversity is made even greater because of the the mix of Sunni Turks and Arabs, Alevi Arabs, Orthodox Christian Arabs and a smattering of Sunni Kurds (with just a few Roman Catholics thrown in for good measure). The covered bazaar in Antakya can't compare to those is Aleppo or Damascus, but the hummus, kunufe and shwarma are even better than those in Syria or Lebanon (imho). So without further introduction, here is Mr. Binsky's video from Hatay - a bit disappointing considering how much there is to do in the city, but one full of great memories nonetheless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZtD8BNvUiQ
Just about the only thing about Turkey I don't much like is the pop music, so here are some sunny, cheery songs from north eastern Africa to blow away the covid blues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDOYMpS6N9E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjUlUsqYT7g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v_9pf_tc8Y
