How to solve the language problem in Ankara Turkey?












3















I will start studying my Master at Ankara, Turkey soon. I don't know the language and I receive strange behaviors when asking help in English:



For example,



1) I start with Merhaba (Hello in Turkish) to warm up the conversation then I ask in English then they titter;



2) I start with asking "Do you speak English?", the response is normally "no" sometimes with a little anger.



3) And when I directly ask my question in English some of them try to help e.g. showing directions with hands speaking Turkish with slow rate but I can't get most of the conversation as I don't know the language, and a majority of people answer the question in Turkish in a wired manner that they suppose as if I am a native-Turkish-speaker. (why??!)



Non of the mentioned problems happen when I am inside the university.



I am supposed to live in here for at least two years so getting a taste of the culture and understanding the people is very important to me and I would be very much happy if I can avoid any unintentional disrespect. How can I handle this situation especially the language problem?



PS With all honestly I am confused: On one hand, sometimes I am meeting very friendly people in Turkey I can't imagine they possibly have unkind intentions. On the other hand, the problem shouldn't be from my side because I didn't see similar behaviors traveling in neighboring countries (supposedly be similar cultures) e.g. Iran or Georgia and non of the mentioned problems happen within the Turkish university that I want to study in.










share|improve this question







New contributor




A Schizotypal Angel is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

























    3















    I will start studying my Master at Ankara, Turkey soon. I don't know the language and I receive strange behaviors when asking help in English:



    For example,



    1) I start with Merhaba (Hello in Turkish) to warm up the conversation then I ask in English then they titter;



    2) I start with asking "Do you speak English?", the response is normally "no" sometimes with a little anger.



    3) And when I directly ask my question in English some of them try to help e.g. showing directions with hands speaking Turkish with slow rate but I can't get most of the conversation as I don't know the language, and a majority of people answer the question in Turkish in a wired manner that they suppose as if I am a native-Turkish-speaker. (why??!)



    Non of the mentioned problems happen when I am inside the university.



    I am supposed to live in here for at least two years so getting a taste of the culture and understanding the people is very important to me and I would be very much happy if I can avoid any unintentional disrespect. How can I handle this situation especially the language problem?



    PS With all honestly I am confused: On one hand, sometimes I am meeting very friendly people in Turkey I can't imagine they possibly have unkind intentions. On the other hand, the problem shouldn't be from my side because I didn't see similar behaviors traveling in neighboring countries (supposedly be similar cultures) e.g. Iran or Georgia and non of the mentioned problems happen within the Turkish university that I want to study in.










    share|improve this question







    New contributor




    A Schizotypal Angel is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
    Check out our Code of Conduct.























      3












      3








      3


      1






      I will start studying my Master at Ankara, Turkey soon. I don't know the language and I receive strange behaviors when asking help in English:



      For example,



      1) I start with Merhaba (Hello in Turkish) to warm up the conversation then I ask in English then they titter;



      2) I start with asking "Do you speak English?", the response is normally "no" sometimes with a little anger.



      3) And when I directly ask my question in English some of them try to help e.g. showing directions with hands speaking Turkish with slow rate but I can't get most of the conversation as I don't know the language, and a majority of people answer the question in Turkish in a wired manner that they suppose as if I am a native-Turkish-speaker. (why??!)



      Non of the mentioned problems happen when I am inside the university.



      I am supposed to live in here for at least two years so getting a taste of the culture and understanding the people is very important to me and I would be very much happy if I can avoid any unintentional disrespect. How can I handle this situation especially the language problem?



      PS With all honestly I am confused: On one hand, sometimes I am meeting very friendly people in Turkey I can't imagine they possibly have unkind intentions. On the other hand, the problem shouldn't be from my side because I didn't see similar behaviors traveling in neighboring countries (supposedly be similar cultures) e.g. Iran or Georgia and non of the mentioned problems happen within the Turkish university that I want to study in.










      share|improve this question







      New contributor




      A Schizotypal Angel is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.












      I will start studying my Master at Ankara, Turkey soon. I don't know the language and I receive strange behaviors when asking help in English:



      For example,



      1) I start with Merhaba (Hello in Turkish) to warm up the conversation then I ask in English then they titter;



      2) I start with asking "Do you speak English?", the response is normally "no" sometimes with a little anger.



      3) And when I directly ask my question in English some of them try to help e.g. showing directions with hands speaking Turkish with slow rate but I can't get most of the conversation as I don't know the language, and a majority of people answer the question in Turkish in a wired manner that they suppose as if I am a native-Turkish-speaker. (why??!)



      Non of the mentioned problems happen when I am inside the university.



      I am supposed to live in here for at least two years so getting a taste of the culture and understanding the people is very important to me and I would be very much happy if I can avoid any unintentional disrespect. How can I handle this situation especially the language problem?



      PS With all honestly I am confused: On one hand, sometimes I am meeting very friendly people in Turkey I can't imagine they possibly have unkind intentions. On the other hand, the problem shouldn't be from my side because I didn't see similar behaviors traveling in neighboring countries (supposedly be similar cultures) e.g. Iran or Georgia and non of the mentioned problems happen within the Turkish university that I want to study in.







      turkey language-barrier english-language






      share|improve this question







      New contributor




      A Schizotypal Angel is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.











      share|improve this question







      New contributor




      A Schizotypal Angel is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.









      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question






      New contributor




      A Schizotypal Angel is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.









      asked 5 hours ago









      A Schizotypal AngelA Schizotypal Angel

      162




      162




      New contributor




      A Schizotypal Angel is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.





      New contributor





      A Schizotypal Angel is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.






      A Schizotypal Angel is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.






















          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes


















          4














          One way you can help these situations is:




          • Start by asking whether they speak English, in Turkish. I don't know any Turkish, but Google Translate says it's "İngilizce biliyor musunuz?" Make sure you get the pronunciation correct enough, so you don't end up asking whether their hovercraft has any eels.

          • If the answer to the first question is no, then learn enough basic Turkish to conduct whatever business you need (purchasing goods, asking directions, etc).






          share|improve this answer
























          • Google Translate is actually right (it means "do you know English?"). It's basically pronounced like "ingliz-jay bili-yor moo-soonooz"

            – Crazydre
            4 hours ago






          • 1





            Another good sentence might be, "I'm sorry but I don't speak Turkish."

            – mkennedy
            3 hours ago











          • I am flagging this record because it is scratched.

            – Robert Columbia
            2 hours ago













          Your Answer








          StackExchange.ready(function() {
          var channelOptions = {
          tags: "".split(" "),
          id: "273"
          };
          initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

          StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
          // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
          if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
          StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
          createEditor();
          });
          }
          else {
          createEditor();
          }
          });

          function createEditor() {
          StackExchange.prepareEditor({
          heartbeatType: 'answer',
          autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
          convertImagesToLinks: false,
          noModals: true,
          showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
          reputationToPostImages: null,
          bindNavPrevention: true,
          postfix: "",
          imageUploader: {
          brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
          contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
          allowUrls: true
          },
          noCode: true, onDemand: true,
          discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
          ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
          });


          }
          });






          A Schizotypal Angel is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










          draft saved

          draft discarded


















          StackExchange.ready(
          function () {
          StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2ftravel.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f131314%2fhow-to-solve-the-language-problem-in-ankara-turkey%23new-answer', 'question_page');
          }
          );

          Post as a guest















          Required, but never shown

























          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes








          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes









          active

          oldest

          votes






          active

          oldest

          votes









          4














          One way you can help these situations is:




          • Start by asking whether they speak English, in Turkish. I don't know any Turkish, but Google Translate says it's "İngilizce biliyor musunuz?" Make sure you get the pronunciation correct enough, so you don't end up asking whether their hovercraft has any eels.

          • If the answer to the first question is no, then learn enough basic Turkish to conduct whatever business you need (purchasing goods, asking directions, etc).






          share|improve this answer
























          • Google Translate is actually right (it means "do you know English?"). It's basically pronounced like "ingliz-jay bili-yor moo-soonooz"

            – Crazydre
            4 hours ago






          • 1





            Another good sentence might be, "I'm sorry but I don't speak Turkish."

            – mkennedy
            3 hours ago











          • I am flagging this record because it is scratched.

            – Robert Columbia
            2 hours ago


















          4














          One way you can help these situations is:




          • Start by asking whether they speak English, in Turkish. I don't know any Turkish, but Google Translate says it's "İngilizce biliyor musunuz?" Make sure you get the pronunciation correct enough, so you don't end up asking whether their hovercraft has any eels.

          • If the answer to the first question is no, then learn enough basic Turkish to conduct whatever business you need (purchasing goods, asking directions, etc).






          share|improve this answer
























          • Google Translate is actually right (it means "do you know English?"). It's basically pronounced like "ingliz-jay bili-yor moo-soonooz"

            – Crazydre
            4 hours ago






          • 1





            Another good sentence might be, "I'm sorry but I don't speak Turkish."

            – mkennedy
            3 hours ago











          • I am flagging this record because it is scratched.

            – Robert Columbia
            2 hours ago
















          4












          4








          4







          One way you can help these situations is:




          • Start by asking whether they speak English, in Turkish. I don't know any Turkish, but Google Translate says it's "İngilizce biliyor musunuz?" Make sure you get the pronunciation correct enough, so you don't end up asking whether their hovercraft has any eels.

          • If the answer to the first question is no, then learn enough basic Turkish to conduct whatever business you need (purchasing goods, asking directions, etc).






          share|improve this answer













          One way you can help these situations is:




          • Start by asking whether they speak English, in Turkish. I don't know any Turkish, but Google Translate says it's "İngilizce biliyor musunuz?" Make sure you get the pronunciation correct enough, so you don't end up asking whether their hovercraft has any eels.

          • If the answer to the first question is no, then learn enough basic Turkish to conduct whatever business you need (purchasing goods, asking directions, etc).







          share|improve this answer












          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer










          answered 4 hours ago









          Greg HewgillGreg Hewgill

          25.6k26897




          25.6k26897













          • Google Translate is actually right (it means "do you know English?"). It's basically pronounced like "ingliz-jay bili-yor moo-soonooz"

            – Crazydre
            4 hours ago






          • 1





            Another good sentence might be, "I'm sorry but I don't speak Turkish."

            – mkennedy
            3 hours ago











          • I am flagging this record because it is scratched.

            – Robert Columbia
            2 hours ago





















          • Google Translate is actually right (it means "do you know English?"). It's basically pronounced like "ingliz-jay bili-yor moo-soonooz"

            – Crazydre
            4 hours ago






          • 1





            Another good sentence might be, "I'm sorry but I don't speak Turkish."

            – mkennedy
            3 hours ago











          • I am flagging this record because it is scratched.

            – Robert Columbia
            2 hours ago



















          Google Translate is actually right (it means "do you know English?"). It's basically pronounced like "ingliz-jay bili-yor moo-soonooz"

          – Crazydre
          4 hours ago





          Google Translate is actually right (it means "do you know English?"). It's basically pronounced like "ingliz-jay bili-yor moo-soonooz"

          – Crazydre
          4 hours ago




          1




          1





          Another good sentence might be, "I'm sorry but I don't speak Turkish."

          – mkennedy
          3 hours ago





          Another good sentence might be, "I'm sorry but I don't speak Turkish."

          – mkennedy
          3 hours ago













          I am flagging this record because it is scratched.

          – Robert Columbia
          2 hours ago







          I am flagging this record because it is scratched.

          – Robert Columbia
          2 hours ago












          A Schizotypal Angel is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










          draft saved

          draft discarded


















          A Schizotypal Angel is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.













          A Schizotypal Angel is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.












          A Schizotypal Angel is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
















          Thanks for contributing an answer to Travel Stack Exchange!


          • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

          But avoid



          • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

          • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


          To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




          draft saved


          draft discarded














          StackExchange.ready(
          function () {
          StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2ftravel.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f131314%2fhow-to-solve-the-language-problem-in-ankara-turkey%23new-answer', 'question_page');
          }
          );

          Post as a guest















          Required, but never shown





















































          Required, but never shown














          Required, but never shown












          Required, but never shown







          Required, but never shown

































          Required, but never shown














          Required, but never shown












          Required, but never shown







          Required, but never shown







          Popular posts from this blog

          Liste der Baudenkmale in Friedland (Mecklenburg)

          Single-Malt-Whisky

          Czorneboh