The Turkish Listening Library

Hello everyone. Today's post is a bit difffernt and will be in English only. I am set to release the Intermediate Edition of The Everyday Language Learner's Guide to Getting Started and as part of that offering I'll be including a 20 Lesson audio series. This post is the introduction to tht series and will give you a taste of what's to come. To get the whole series, stop by the Everyday Language Guides site and pick up the Intermediate Edition of the Guide.

Well, I am back after a bit of a break. I am not planning on posting every week this spring, but will shoot for two shows a month. A bit slower, but I think we have a good core of material up on the site to get everyone started with. I did want to announce that I have a new website at The Everyday Language Learner. Check it out. Today’s podcast is of a journal I wrote just three months after getting to Turkey. You will hear that the sound quality isn’t as good as later recordings, but I think it has a lot of great elements in it. The summary goes like this: After I begin telling about listening but not being able to understand anything on the radio I write about the nice spring weather and our plans as a family to go to the seaside where we will drink tea while the kids play. If the kids play well, I will study a bit of Turkish. But if they don’t then I will enjoy playing with them anyway. And while I watch the kids, my wife will go for a run. That evening we are having our neighbors over for dinner. Consuelo is planning on making my favorite food, a Bolivian dish, so I am very excited. Our neighbors can help us learn Turkish and they are really kind and warm. It will be a fun time.

In todays show I tell about our quest to fight the Istanbul heat a few summers back. Cold showers, ice cream at Carrefor, large plastic buckets full of cold water for the kids to play in were just some of the things we tried. Stop by the website to download just the Turkish of the podcast. As well, I will be taking a break from the podcast until after the New Year. See you in 2011.

Today's show is about calling home. Or about trying to call home. This is a bit of a chore living overseas with time differences, etc, but my wife and kids came to the office I was renting space at that time to use the vonage phone. Anyway, this episode has a few glitches. First my voice is a droning nasil sound because of a cold or alergies (See my story "Am I Alergic to Turkey" at Stories for Turkey). Second there is an eternal silence right after the intro. Not sure what happened, but the show picks up and continues as normal. Sorry about that - I'm still learning. Anyway, kolay gelsin!

Today's podcast is a retelling of arguably one of the funniest stories I have ever heard in my entire life. Really. Squirrel Cop was part of a series called This American Life and the weeks episode was about first days on the job. Two cops in Chicago respond to a call about a noise in the attic. The ensuing mayhem will make you cry with laughter. Listen to the story first. You can find the link at the website. Then listen to the Turkish. This one is a bit different I know - but I listened to it again and lauaged so hard I thought it would be good therepy for all of you Turkish learners. Next weeks show will be back to normal. Enjoy and as always get just the Turkish audio at the website. Squirrel Cop Link: http://vimeo.com/6442040

In today's podcast I tell about the time that I broke my wrist working on a school project with some friends back in high school. Ouch! Find just the Turkish of the podcast at The Turkish Listening Library's Handcrafted Audio Page and be sure and leave a comment about the show here or at itunes where you can find the show by searching the itunes store for "Turkish Listening". I am still looking for the podcast's second review - it could be you! Thanks for listening and good luck on your language learning journey. Kolay Gelsin!

In today's show, I discuss my first time sitting down at the bookstore for a few hours of great conversation. As always, visit The Turkish Listening Library to download just the Turkish audio, to find other listening materials, and to find great language learning tips and ideas. Until next week, Kolay Gelsin.

I have to apologize to begin with for missing a week. I have tried to get these out regularly every Tuesday, but last week sort of fell apart. Anyway, here is the next podcast. Today's show is a journal I wrote about September 11th. It is mostly a recollection of what I was doing and what it seems to have meant for Americans. I hope it is enjoyable to listen to and more importantly helpful for your Turkish learning journey. Be sure and stop by the website, The Turkish Listening Library, to download just the Turkish audio. Enjoy the show!

In today's podcast I offer up a personal retelling in Turkish of a story a I heard that acts as a bit of a critique of the greed of Western capitalism. In the story, a western businessman vacationing on a tropical island comes across an obviously poor fisherman resting in the shade of his boat on the beach. The interaction between the two reveals some of the futility of the western businessman's quest for wealth, power and prestige. While he is working 50 - 60 hours a week so that he can enjoy one week of vacation on the beach each year, this poor fisherman works five - six hours a day so that he can buy enough food to live and spends every day relaxing on the beach. It is one of those modern parables that perhaps you have heard before. Well, now it is in Turkish too. As always, visit the Turkish Listening Library to download just the Turkish of the podcast. Then you can listen again and again.

Episode 10 feels a bit like a milestone. It of course is not. 100 may be, but 10 is not. But today's podcast is about my going with my language helper, Mehmet, to a Galatasaray Match. We were going to go by bus, but a friend of his gave us a ride in his car instead. Before the match, we stopped in one of the local restaurants for Kokorech, my first try with this Turkish delicacy, and it wasn't too bad. After dinner, we had tea and then headed into the stadium. The place was a mad house of energy and excitement and it is hard to imagine what a Fenerbahce match might be like. The crowd filled the air with chants and cheers and we never really sat down during the entire match, which was a very exciting 2-0 win. Our first goal came on a corner kick from Lincoln to Harry Kewell. Our second goal came with some fancy footwork by Lincoln. It was a great experience and I hope I can go again some day. As always, find just the Turkish at the Turkish Listening Library's Handcrafted Audio Podcast page. And think about leaving a comment and a rating for the show here at Podbean. It would be much appreciated. Until next episode - Kolay Gelsin.

In this weeks podcast, I talk about my plans to visit Balikkayilar Canyon just east of Istanbul. You can get there without a car, though it is difficult. It is a canyon with a creek down the middle, small waterfalls, cliffs that local climbers frequent. I heard about it from some local outdoor sports shops and am excited to go and saw lots of great pictures of it on the internet That is the summary of this weeks show. As always, stop by the website to download just the Turkish audio. You can find the website link on the sidebar. It would be great too, if you are visiting this page, if you could leave a rating and a comment about the show. How can I make it better? Thanks for listening and Kolay Gelsin! Note: The canyon is amazing, a great place to get away and quite easy to find. But getting there without a car is difficult a best. You could get a minibus to Tavsanli, the nearest town, but it would be a 3 mile hike from there or you could hitch hike - probably pretty easy to do on a weekend morning.

Today's episode goes back to the 2008 European Cup in which Turkey did great and gave us amazing excitement when they scored three goals in the last fifteen minutes of their match against the Chech Republic. I talk about my son's growing excitement, his favorite player (Petr Chech, the goalie for the Chech Republic who wears a black helmet/hat) and of our going down to Carrefore to purchase a new soccer ball. Upon returning home, we flipped over the love seat in our living room to serve as a makeshift goal and my son proceeded to score 10 goals (9 with his right foot and 1 with his left). Either I was a terrible goalie or he is going to be the next Ronaldo. Anyway that is the summary for today's podcast. As always, visit the website at www.turkishlisteninglibrary.com to download just the Turkish and I hope this will be another piece to your Turkish learning journey. It has been for mine. Kolay Gelsin!

Today’s podcast again visits Ramazon but this time its an early morning show. Early morning because that is when the Ramazon drummer passed through our neighborhood our very first Ramazon in Turkey. It was one of those exciting moments, realizing that what you have read about and what you have heard about is actually true. My son woke up crying but thankfully went back to sleep quite quickly and in those early morning hours, my wife and I made plans to catch this event on video the next morning - which we did. Enjoy the episode and as always check out The Turkish Listening Library to download just the Turkish of today’s episode. While you are there check out the other great listening features, the blog and some of the great articles about language learning as well.

Today's show is being posted probably about a month and half later than it should have been. Ideally, it would have been posted just before Ramazan began. Ideally. But today is its day. The show is about our first Ramazon in Turkey. I had been reading chapter in a book about its practice in Turkey and learning about all the special customs and practices that make the way Ramazon is observed in Turkey special. I was excited for this great opportunity to learn more about this important religious and cultural event. As always, visit our website, The Turkish Listening Library, to download just the Turkish audio from the show, to read the TLL Blog and find other great listening resources. You can also learn about a new opportunity, to have a Turkish language learning coach. I also wanted to take a moment to point you toward another resource for learning about Turkey. I have recently created a blog found at www.atasteofturkey.blogspot.com Next week's show will be about our first experience with the tradition of the Ramazon Drummer - at 4:00 am. Until then, Kolay Gelsin!

In today's show, I diverge a bit from the style of the first few episodes. They were journal entries about the day to day life of a language learner living in Turkey. Today's show is a story. It is a story I heard first in English, perhaps a traditional story that many of you have heard, a modern day parable with a message. The story goes like this: There is a man, walking through the woods who happens upon another man working tirelessly with a saw to cut down a tree. After a few minutes of observation, the first man, seeing the immense effort with little actual progress questions the tree cutter, "Did you sharpen your saw before you started?" The tree cutter's response, "I didn't have time, I needed to get this tree cut down." It is of course a lesson, highlighted in today's episode by a quote from Abraham Lincoln: "If I had ten hours in which to cut down a tree, I would use the first six sharpening my saw." The lesson of course is the importance of preparation. As always, you can cruise on over to The Turkish Listening Library to download just the Turkish audio from the show. Kolay Gelsin!