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Addressing people
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1.       bod
5992 posts
 18 Jul 2006 Tue 02:49 pm

When I go to Turkia (only 4 weeks now - *BouNCe*) I am very keen to practice the little Türkçe that I know and to practice it straight away......so I am trying to make sure I am well prepared!!!

One of the books I have says that it is common to address officials as "memur bey". So when I approach the passport desk at the airport, would it be appropriate to say "merhaba memur bey"?

Then we have a 2 hour transfer from airport to hotel by minibus. Last year the driver spoke no English. I am going to try and sit at the front again......would it be appropriate to address the driver with "selam şoför bey"?

2.       Roxy
209 posts
 18 Jul 2006 Tue 03:11 pm

Quoting bod:

When I go to Turkia (only 4 weeks now - *BouNCe*) I am very keen to practice the little Türkçe that I know and to practice it straight away......so I am trying to make sure I am well prepared!!!

One of the books I have says that it is common to address officials as "memur bey". So when I approach the passport desk at the airport, would it be appropriate to say "merhaba memur bey"?

Then we have a 2 hour transfer from airport to hotel by minibus. Last year the driver spoke no English. I am going to try and sit at the front again......would it be appropriate to address the driver with "selam şoför bey"?



Yes it would be appropriate to address the driver with "selam şoför bey" and "merhaba memur bey" to officals at the passport desk...

3.       erdinc
2151 posts
 18 Jul 2006 Tue 03:13 pm

Quoting bod:


One of the books I have says that it is common to address officials as "memur bey". So when I approach the passport desk at the airport, would it be appropriate to say "merhaba memur bey"?



Evet, gayet iyi olur.

Quote:

Then we have a 2 hour transfer from airport to hotel by minibus. Last year the driver spoke no English. I am going to try and sit at the front again......would it be appropriate to address the driver with "selam şoför bey"?



"Selam" and "bey" don't go very good together. Selam is informal and bey formal.

"Merhaba şöför bey" is a little better but this time you are calling a "şöför" as "bey" which will immediately catch attention. It is too polite. The "söför" only expects to be called like this by females.

Especially if the driver is the kind of person who listens some arabesk he might even start laughing.

Professional drivers are famous to be tough mannish guys. Taxi and dolmuş drivers have their special slang. There are some books written about this slang language. If a guy looks too mannish you must not talk to him too politely.

Dolmuş drivers get easiliy angry with other drivers in traffic. Usually they start swearing or making some signs in return to the ones who are too slow. Mostly what happens is that they expect some support from the person sitting in front. It is actually fun watching something like this. I can imagine a situationn where the dolmuş driver starts swearing and other guys are mumbling something like "yeah, what a fool that was" and then the female passengers start feeling uncomfortable and after a while you hear a very polite female voice saying "şöför bey, is it possible to drive a little bit slower, lütfen?"

Anyway, "merhabalar" would be a good start.

4.       bod
5992 posts
 18 Jul 2006 Tue 03:33 pm

Quoting erdinc:

"Selam" and "bey" don't go very good together. Selam is informal and bey formal.

"Merhaba şöför bey" is a little better but this time you are calling a "şöför" as "bey" which will immediately catch attention. It is too polite. The "söför" only expects to be called like this by females.



Is there a less formal version of "bey" which could be used?
Or could just "merhaba soför" be used?

Quoting erdinc:

Especially if the driver is the kind of person who listens some arabesk he might even start laughing.

Professional drivers are famous to be tough mannish guys. Taxi and dolmuş drivers have their special slang. There are some books written about this slang language. If a guy looks too mannish you must not talk to him too politely.



The situation I am thinking about is not a taxi or dolmus but a minibus transfer operated by the tour operator......I doubt the soför would start laughing - but I shall bear this in mind as I will certainly be travelling by taxi and dolmus whilst in Turkia!!!

5.       SuiGeneris
3922 posts
 18 Jul 2006 Tue 03:37 pm

you can call them as "kaptan" and they like to be called as that way
sleam kaptan or merhaba kaptan could work for you

6.       deli
5641 posts
 18 Jul 2006 Tue 03:56 pm

when ever i go through customs at the airport in always say ,merhaba memur bey to the passport controller, and then i end getting into converstions but the more times i say it the quicker my responses are coming

7.       fish
75 posts
 18 Jul 2006 Tue 05:55 pm

i am going to belek soon my friend said the taxi drivers tried to rip him off, is it best to order from the hotel, and how in turkish is the best way to deal with this, teşekkürler

8.       Ade1
0 posts
 18 Jul 2006 Tue 06:03 pm

i don't know the best way to deal with taxis in Turkiye but i do know one thing keep an eye on the meter,there are two tariffs one for night and one for day,a frequent practice is to use the more expensive night tariff in the daytime,just watch the meter it should say 'gunduz'for the day tariff and 'gece' for the night.
Hope it helps

9.       fish
75 posts
 18 Jul 2006 Tue 06:14 pm

well i didnt know that thanks ade,
afferdersiniz su tariff yanlis mi
excuse me thats the wrong tariff isnt it-dogru?

10.       bod
5992 posts
 18 Jul 2006 Tue 06:23 pm

Quoting fish:

well i didnt know that thanks ade,
afferdersiniz su tariff yanlis mi
excuse me thats the wrong tariff isnt it-dogru?



Afedersiniz, şu yanıs tariff değil mi?

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