Job Discussion Forums

[lovelace]

It's pretty depressing when you're learning Turkish and you manage to say something completely correct in a shop or restaurant only to have the assistant look at you like you're from another planet. Sometimes I have to repeat one word very slowly so my alien accent (and I'm told it's alright, actually, not unintelligble at all) doesn't confuse them. Which kind of destroys the point of trying to speak in whole sentences. And can they not work it out from the situation? I've finished my meal, I'm sitting there with my money, waiting - how many different things could I be possibly be asking for?
Or as soon as you open your mouth, they start calling for someone who speaks English. That cracks me up. It happened the other day and the 'English speaker' could only say hello/how are you etc, so we had to conduct the conversation in Turkish anyway. And he understood.
Despite those kind of frustrations (!) I do think that in general Turks are more patient and understanding when foreigners don't speak the language very well, like me, and are holding up a queue or trying to explain something in pigeon Turkish and stupid actions.

[tarte tatin]

Where I live, most people do a pretty good job at understanding my very elementary Turkish. So few people speak English anyway they have no choice. They never guess I am English, they think I am from Azerbaijan or Romania or some such place, I guess they cannot imagine that someone from the UK would actually settle here.

I have found that people who do speak English are either professionals like doctors or lawyers (never teachers unless they are English teachers) or people who work in shops and cafes. The middle sector i.e. secretaries, government workers etc. just don't have a clue.

[dmb]

[lovelace]

What? Did I spell it wrong?!

[dmb]

Not at all. I was referring to the fact the only time Turks queue is when they have to take a ticket from Q-matic.

How many times have been in your local shop and someone just shouts an order at the bakalci- he stops serving you and gets on with dealing with other people, etc.

mind you. The arabs are worse at queuing, they don't even get out there jeeps.

[lovelace]

Ah, true. I was really proud of myself the other day for challenging a pusher-in who walked straight past the queue that he must have seen - and I said it in Turkish! But then he seemed really apologetic and I felt like a stupid foreigner who over-reacted..pah.

[dmb]