Merhaba Slavica,

I dont think your friend should be in danger if he is a regular soldier.
In Turkiye regular soldiers are not send from a city to another but they complete the service where they have started it.
There is a basic training of one month when you join the army. Afterwards you are assigned to your permanent place and you will complete your obligation there.

If he isnt in east or south-east of Turkiye there is completely no danger.

From time to time in east and south-east of Turkiye special forces figth against terrorists. If he serves in east or south-east Turkiye but isn't in special forces or isnt a commando there shouldnt be any danger as well.

Hi slavica,

like in any other country in Turkia there is a wide range of musical taste and I see that you have covered a good part of it with your new albums.
İlhan Şeşen is very different than İlhan İrem but he isnt so bad also.
Zeki Müren is a huge figure in the history of Turkish Music. He had a great voice and although the music will be very different than the rest of your albums, because this is another kind of music (Sanat Müziği), you might like it.

I think it was a very good idea to buy the 60's and 70's album. Musical taste among Turks has been dropping sharply since the early 80'. Unfortunately there has been the influence of arabic music (arabesk) which I really hate.

Since 80's more and more people have immigrated from small villages to big cities and they have created thier own suburban areas. They have also created thier own kind of culture and the arabesk music plays an important role here.

Turkish music isnt only İbrahim Tatlıses, Müslüm Gürses, Mahsun Kırmızıgül, Sibel Can... etc. nor Turkish food only consists of döner and kebaps. Also people should know that the oryantal (belly dance) has nothing to do with Turkish Culture.
As someone grown next to mediterranean I couldnt hate more the Arabic influence on Turkish Culture.

The main point about military obligation in Turkia is that you must do it whereever they send you and you dont have the option not to do it. If you are disabled or permanently ill a military hospital needs to approve your situation so practically there is no way to cheat.

Normally it will take 15 months.
If you have a university degree of an education of 4 years or more you will do either a long period of 12 months or a short period of 6 months. With the short period you are almost like others without a degree with the exception that you are a 'sergeant'. You will eat at the same places, you will sleep at the same places and you wont be able to out anytime but weekends or when you get permission.
The long period is much easier and much more comfortable. You get paid and the sallary is good enough. I think they pay you more than a teacher or a doctor would earn in civil life when employed my the government. Also its like a job for you and when time is up you go home in the evening.

The 5112 Euro thing is different. This is only for male Turkish citizenz who are living abroad permanently. For instance for the Turkish workers in Germany. They pay the money and do the military thing in 21 days. This option isnt available for Turkish citizens who are not living permanently in another country.

Sometimes, each 10 years or so the government might decide for a shorter and paid service. This will be available for all who can pay. Again the service will be only 21 days but this shouldnt be mixed with the other short one.
It will cost much more than 5000 Euro. Probably it will cost 4 or 5 times more than this so only the rich will be able to make use of it. The problem is that you cant wait for the paid service which might never come. Also if you are not in education in a graduated program there is no legal way to postpone the military service.

Hi slavica,
here it is:

"Çok teşekkür ederim. Biz de sizi özledik. Size bu akşam e-mail ile fotoğraf göndereceğim. HoşÃ§akalın."

"Thanks a lot. We miss you too. Tonight I'll send you pictures via e-mail. Good-bye."

Merhaba Bliss,
çabuk iyileş olur mu? Seni özledik.

Merhaba slavica,

sms messages sometimes can be tricky. Thanks Ali you already know the meanings and I will put them into correct forms so you will understand them better.
HoşÃ§akal.


Selam, nasılsın?

İnan herkes sizlerden bahsediyor.

"Çok iyi insanlardı" (diyorlar).

İnan sizleri özledik.

Herkesden selam, kendine iyi bak.

Hello anto,
welcome to the TurkishClass Forums.

i. stands for isim (noun)
s. for sıfat (adjective)
f. for fiil (verb)

For information on how to pronounce a Turkish word please see check this page. Turkish has a phonetic alphabet which means Turkish letters remain the same sound everytime. There are also some mp3 files on the page that you can listen.
http://www.turkishlanguage.co.uk/alphabet.htm
http://www.turkishlanguage.co.uk/alphabet.htm

The dictionary you are using here has been created by the administrator of this website himself. While there might be space to improve still it is very usefull I think. I think Fatih (admin) is a computer genius and I'm sure he welcomes any comments on these technical issues.
Unfortunately the dictionary here doent have a sound feature. If you really need such a dictionary for a particular word, you might want to visit this website:

http://www.seslisozluk.com
This one has the sound thing but it lacks on other aspects. For instance try the word "göz" in both dictionaries and you will see the difference.

HoşÃ§akal,
erdinç

Hi Lauren,

there are some good websites which have also the pronounciations as audio files. Links to these websites can be found right here. Now scroll down on this page and on the bottom-right click on "Turkish Language". This pahe will open:
http://www.turkishclass.com/turkish-language.html

Now lets click for instance on the second link, "University of Arizona" and this page will open:
http://cali.arizona.edu/maxnet/tur/

Here you can choose the lessons. İf you would like to listen to the sentences on the left of the page click on "Turkish Sentences" and than click on the underlined sentences to listen them. Smillarly you can listen to words only.

There are whole stories as audio on the "Turkish in Princeton" pages as well.
http://www.princeton.edu/~turkish/

Unlike English in Turkish letters remain the same sound almost anytime. So if you learn the sound of a letter it should be easier to remember it the next time. I hope this helps.

Hello Fatih,
didnt realise your post. I was busy with the translation.

mmm,
sory I thought you were new here. Didnt realise it was your 14.th message. Cheers.

hello mmm,
welcome to the Turkishclass Forums. Hhere is the information you want. Anything else?

Song: TIPIŞ TIPIŞ

Artist: Berksan

mp3 link: http://www.mp3kurdu.com/Full_Album/Berksan/Mp3Kurdu_com_Berksan_Tipis_Tipis.mp3

Part of translation:
TIPIŞ TIPIŞ
you are on everywhere and eveything
It wont stop this pain will hurt
days dont turn into the night
it doesnt happen whatever I want
my god is there no way out

noone belived me when I've told
it doesnt matter being apart
Come and see me now, how I'm
in a dark lonely place
and in cold lonely ways
...

TIPIŞ TIPIŞ
her yerde sen herşey de sen
geçmiyor dinmiyor bu acı
gün geceye kavuşmuyor
ne istediysem olmuyor
Allahım yok mu ilacı
sensizlik artık koymuyor
desemde kimse inanmıyor
gel gör ki bak ne haldeyim
karanlık kuytu bir yerde
ıssız soğuz caddelerde
ağlamakta kederdeyim
gülüm benim içim sızlar
bunu anlamak için yürek ister
üzülmüşÃ¼m neye yarar
beddua edemem yeminim var
sen de birgün benim gibi seveceksin
evin heryerinde hayalimi göreceksin
için yana yana ah nerede diyeceksin
başın öne eğip tıpış tıpış geleceksin