Job Discussion Forums

[thrifty]

I am so fed up with shite from waiters in restaurants when you speak to them in good Turkish. Example:

Lunchtime in kebab restaurant. I go in and order soup and d�ner in perfect Turkish without any problem. Halfway through eating the waiter says would you like to drink something in Turkish and I say tea please. He looks at me increduously and says "tea" in apallingly accented English. I say tea, now please so he understands that I want it with my meal and not afterwards. He says "tea" again in English and other people are starting to give me crazy foreigner looks so I raise my voice and say "�ay tea yes" several times and he walks away shaking his head but does bring me the tea.

It is humiliating when they speak crappy English despite the fact that you order in perfect Turkish and then everyone around you either stares at you or joins in.

I am just glad he didn't ask for English lessons.

[Henry_Cowell]

The description "perfect" is itself quite telling. The waiter probably thinks his English is "perfect" as well.

[tekirdag]

I have heard many teachers complain of the same. Teacher speaks Turkish, Turkish person tries to speak English. Makes it harder to improve one's Turkish, I guess.

I am sitting in the opposite corner. I get no English spoken to me. Ever. I get little old ladies asking me to read the prices on jars of pickles because they don't have their glasses. I often get asked for directions. School's secretary asks me to translate to the other teacher...and so on...blah blah

I figure Turks are determined to keep me here. They all had a meeting or something and decided to make me learn Turkish whether I wanted to or not. Noone is letting me be lazy. It is good for me, I s'pose! I tried to resist. Resistance is futile. I will become Turk.

[thrifty]

[justme]

Once the coach got me lost in Greece by skipping the stop I'd requested (or, more likely, assuming that I was wrong in my request and in fact wanted to go to Athens). Admittedly it was in not the best Turkish, but I'd been discussing the problem and it's possible solutions with the driver for about 10 minutes, ignoring the woman 3 rows back who kept 'helping' in 'English' that was way crappier than my Turkish. Suddenly after 10 minutes the driver suddenly asked if I spoke Turkish.

I've started getting the same as tekirdağ even though I don't look remotely Turkish. A few months ago I ran the scale the scale in bulk foods section of the market for awhile-- no employees were there and I couldn't be bothered to wait so as I was finishing weighing my walnuts, 5 or 6 other people had lined up, pushing their bags at me. It was the automatic kind of scale, where you enter the type of food and it gives the price. Even though I had to ask the name of the food I was weighing they still assumed I knew best. It was kind of cute.

At least you got the tea, thrifty. Sometimes they get so amused with the exchange, they forget what you were asking for.

[dmb]

I think taxi drivers are the worst. They have this mental block.foreigner so I can't understand So when you tell them you want to go to somewhere really difficult to pronounce like.... Taksim they just look at you as if you have horns in your head.

[justme]

Yeah, or they just assume you want to go to Taksim no matter what you actually say. Apparently, 'Beylikd�z�,' 'Hadımk�y,' or 'Bah�elievler' all sound very much like 'Taksim' to the taxi driver ear...

[dmb]

I actually got in a taksi once and did want to go toTaksim(from Besiktas). He understood me. Told me he had heard of Taksim(had seen it on the tv) but didn't actually know the way!!!

[thrifty]

[justme]

[yaramaz]

I once had a great conversation in Turkish with a taxi driver- learned all about his wife and kids and extended family and we discussed all sorts of pressing matters in global politics and I was marvelling at how he didnt once interrupt me in English or misunderstand half my Turkish until I realised he was actually Iranian and had been here about as long as I have and spoke no English at all.

[Golightly]

After a tiring and emotional night, I tried to get back from Bakirkoy to my gaff in Atakoy. The taxi driver was from the south east and had an extremely harsh accent.
Me: Atakoy'ye gidiyoruz
Driver: Nuuuuuhh?
Me: Atakoy'ye gitmek isitiyorum!
Driver: Nuuuuuuh???! Nu'Diyon, yaa?
Me: (slowly) Atakoy'ye! A-TA-KOY!
Driver: Nuruhsi ya?!
Me: Atakoy!
Driver: (a light bulb appearing over his head) Ah, H'Atakhooy!
Me: Evet. Dokuzuncu Kisim.
Driver: Nuuuuuh????
Me: Oof. Dokuzuncu kisim!
Driver Nuruhsi?
Me: Dokuzuncu! Dokuz! Birikiucdortbesaltiyedisekiz DOKUZ!
Driver: Haa, Dokkkhooz!
Then he advised me to learn Turkish.

Once when I was being all touristy in the Galata Tower, I found myself speaking Turkish while the wiater insisted on speaking English, and was getting increasingly annoyed at me.

edit: sorry for the absence of umlaut 'o's and 'u's and undotted 'i's

[yaramaz]

I cant begin to list the number of dialogues I have had in restaurants where I am speaking only Turkish and the waiter is speaking only English...

[Baba Alex]

Recently I was in a chemist trying to find the one medicine that my dad had forgotten to bring with him on holiday. I managed to describe teh symptoms, the name of the brand my father normally uses, and loads of other stuff. I spoke with the chemist for about 25 minutes until I said one thing to my Dad in English, then the chemist suddenly started talking to me in very bad English. I asked how much teh medicine was a she said in english

"Sixty"
"Altmiş" I said "�ok Pahalı, eminmisiniz"
"No no" she said "sixty"
"Altmiş veya on altı" I said.
"sixty"
"yazabilirmisiniz" Said I
and she wrote it down. It was indeed 16.

[dmb]