First off, you´ve come to the right place.This forum is wonderful for Turkish learners. There´s many very helpful tutors here, and they´re glad to help learners.
By the way, reading your post is like looking into a mirror. Ive been doing self paced learning Turkish for over a year now as well but i have to juggle it between my job and graphic design classes. Have you been able to take any Turkish classroom classes?
Read
After a year I will guess you are already very familiar with vowel harmony, the alphabet, sentence structure and the main suffixes and tenses? And maybe started to study the more intermediate level ones? If so, now is the time you can begin to practice translating. Easy sentences of course. Find a children´s story in Turkish and go word by word, keeping in mind the correct grammar. Or try to figure out a Turkish newspaper headline.
And you can always ask here if you´re unsure about anything. Also read the language and translation posts here, by both the native speakers and other learners. Another learner´s question can become a good little mini lesson.
Listen
Listen to shows, music, or films in Turkish. If you´ve been doing this from the start, it´ll continue to help reinforce in your mind how to pronounce the letters and use them in words. Also by now I´m trying to understand the rythem of the language, how to speak the words with the emphasis on the correct parts.
Speak
One of the bits of advice I still need to make a method for myself. But just like a skill or hobby, you get better by practicing. And I understand its no different for learning a language. I´ve found the hardest part is just starting. You can arrange to practice on Skype or something but for me at least, the inner fear of looking like a fool, causes me to forget when it comes down to actually talking.
Write
Any chance you get, try witing thoughts or sentences down in Turkish. For example, sometimes I think something, and then wonder how would I express that in Turkish? While I am thinking of it, I try to jot it down on paper. Though you may find another method that is better suited to you.
I can also share of the online resources I have found or that have been shared with me, in the last year. If you are interested in those, let me know
|