Learning a new language might get tricky sometimes, because we try not to learn only the language, but also, the culture of this language’s country. The best that we can do is travel to a country that speaks this language. Learning any language will be at its best when we live in a country that speaks that language.
Living in Turkey while learning Turkish language is a great advantage, people in Turkey are very warm-blooded, they like to engage and talk to foreign people.
The first tip I am going to recommend is to meet a friend, a neighbor, create a small network and try to break the shell. Believe me, it is okay to make mistakes while talking, people are going to fix and correct your speaking mistakes or grammar no problem, and always remember, practice makes perfect and it is free and available everywhere, markets, restaurants, shops, the gym you name it. Just encourage yourself and start to practice.
The second thing that I am going to add and do is to watch more Turkish movies and series. The major advantage of watching is that you will keep yourself busy learning and practicing the language even on your couch at home. In movies and series, as you might already know, the language used is not perfectly the formal language, usually, in movies and series they use the language of the normal street that they speak between them, the advantage from that is you will start to adapt you ear and reinforce your subconscious mind to understand the words that are pronounced a bit differently from the formal pronunciation. For people who are like which are into the American movies and series you can search the internet for the Turkish Dubbed version of that movie and series, in that situation you are already familiar with the dialogues and subjects and now you are practice again in a different language. Also, the importance of the movies and series rises the most when learning idioms and proverbs, I recommend you to grip a pencil or a pen and start to write them down in order to ask your teacher or Turkish friends about it. I promise you if you are using subtitles right now for movies and series, you will never need them in just 2 to 3 months and you will notice a massive difference in talking.
The third thing I strongly recommend is to listen more to Turkish music, the first time you like a Turkish song I recommend to search Google for the lyrics, try to do some lip sync while listening to the song. We know that songs are a bit faster from the normal spoken language, not only Turkish but English as well, that is why in few weeks you feel more comfortable while talking and speaking and you will reinforce your self-confidence as well.
The last but not least is to buy some Turkish books, start with Turkish children’s tales, and then try to sit and finish a Turkish novel or an international novel that you like but translated into Turkish language. This will really help you a lot to improve your formal language and vocabulary capacity and you will start to feel the difference in the Turkish classes as soon as possible.
As you see, learning Turkish or any language does not stop in your classroom, you can pursue every possible method and way to improve, and remember, practice will always make perfect.
