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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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 Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 7:41 am Post subject: Istanbul vs. Ankara vs. Izmir |
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| Which city should I recommend to a Korean girl that wants to live in Turkey for a while to study the language? She likes really European-type places, warm weather and dialectless Turkish. Istanbul and Izmir look to be the best but I've never been to that area so I have no idea. What kind of coffee shops are there in Izmir? Which place is least expensive? |
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Boodleheimer
Joined: 10 Mar 2006
Location: working undercover for the Man
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| Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 7:54 am Post subject: |
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been to istanbul and very briefly Izmir. heard bad stuff about Ankara-- artificial city, polluted, concrete sky.
LOVED istanbul. was only in Izmir to see Ephesus, which was better than any other ruins i'd ever seen-- i'm a classicist, and a bit nerdy, but in a sexy way. |
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Woland
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 8:00 am Post subject: Re: Istanbul vs. Ankara vs. Izmir |
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| mithridates wrote: |
| Which city should I recommend to a Korean girl that wants to live in Turkey for a while to study the language? She likes really European-type places, warm weather and dialectless Turkish. Istanbul and Izmir look to be the best but I've never been to that area so I have no idea. What kind of coffee shops are there in Izmir? Which place is least expensive? |
She can skip Ankara, where I lived for seven years, as it gets damn cold in winter.
Both Izmir and Istanbul have European styliings mixed in with their Turkishness and both are quite cosmopolitan cities. Izmir is warmer, but Istanbul only rarely gets very cold in the winter (although I have pictures of a blizzard from the last time I was there). There will probably be more organized language learning opportunities in Istanbul, but I'm reasonably certain that TOMER has a language course going in Izmir as well. Costs will probably be about the same, maybe slightly higher in Istanbul, depending on where she lives. Coffee shops will also be the same - easy to find, with good coffee if you order properly and instant crap if you don't. I find Istanbul easier to get around in than Izmir, but she may find Izmirites more welcoming of strangers. There is a small Korean population in Istanbul, along with one adequate Korean restaurant (behind the Blue Mosque). There probably aren't any Koreans to speak of in Izmir.
I don't know what else to add. Either place she goes, have her contact me and I can put her in touch with some former students of mine who may be able to help her. |
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J.B. Clamence
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 12:46 am Post subject: |
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Ankara is a hole. No scenery, ugly buildings -- very depressing. Izmir is a very beautiful laid-back seaside city with lots of easy access to beach areas in summer and ancient city sites. Being on the west coast, it's more open and progressive than the interior, but it's not that big a city (compared to Istanbul or Ankara) so facilities and such that foreigners may crave are relatively limited. Istanbul is the city of cities. It's four times larger than Ankara with tons to do and lots of places to go. As far as "European-type", half of Istanbul is actually in Europe, and it's got a whole district which has historically been the domain of Europeans (Genoese, Venetians, etc.), which is now considered the main nightlife and general hang-out area in the city. Also, a Korean would stand out least in Istanbul.
The Istanbul dialect is also considered the standard dialect of Turkey, although Ankara and Izmir aren't really any different. You don't have to worry about dialect differences unless you go east into central and eastern Anatolia or up along the Black Sea coast.
Basically, Istanbul is the place to be in Turkey. |
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