WOOOOO congratulations Susie K ....
that happened to me whilst I was in Turkey too...I had only been there a few days and haven't studied the language before so when I shouted at two boys for being so rude to my family (in turkish so they couldn't understand) I was suprised I understood them and that it all came out.

Everyone was like including me! after that I realised how much I learnt in the short space of time and in the end my holiday consisted of sometimes talking to the natives and translating for my family .
It was a great feeling when the natives was like OMG your Turkish! I thought you were English! and I would reply I am English

Well done Susie k

Your an inspiration to us all , and have probably given some of us (well me definately) a bit of a boost !!

For me its good and bad. Of course, i speak my best turkish with people that speak no english. And there is usually no discussion that we cannot have. So for me, since all my friends speak good english (they all take it in school so of course they do), its just easier to speak english.

Now the bad....
No matter what I do, I will never lose my accent. So even the turkish I know perfectly, I will never even come close to speaking it like a native...
So I admit, when I am out, and people have to ask me to repeat myself...I get a little discouraged...
my pride is too big...