Thanks for the tip.

We will order the book for our bookshop in IStanbul (Greenhouse)

Marion

"Believe in God! Do it!"

The fool has said in his heart there is no God.

Have you ever wondered whether we could ask the question the other way round: Should God believe in me?

Yes that is a good book too. It is an anthology of stories from various women. For those who prefer to read in Turkish it is published by Doğan Yayıncılık in Turkey with the name Türkçeyi Sevmek.

My Turkish teacher once explained the difference between kalp, gönül and yürek to me like this:

Think of the word when we add sız to the end (this ending means without):

kalpsız - means heartless. kalp is the tender, kind side to the heart. Place where kind thoughts and feelings grow.

gönülsüz - means unwillingly. gönül is the will, or desire, side to the heart. Place where our wants and desires are formed.

yüreksiz - means cowardly. yürek is the brave and strong side to the heart. Place where we "take heart", where our determination and courage lives.

Does this help?

I have found living in Turkey that the language you use often marks you out by class, social or political outlook etc.

I had a colleague who would take a piece of Turkish I wrote and cross out all of the old words (e.g. sene) and replace them with the new pure Turkish words (e.g. yıl). She took pains to tell me I hadnt written it wrong. Just she, as middle class, pro Ataturk,lady preferred the pure Turkish words.

Those who are more religious and less secular may prefer the Arabic words.

Interesting, huh! Makes it more hard for us foreigners learning Turkish.....!!!

My personal favourite, that has lots of regular up-to-date comment on life in Turkey is by Bea Vanni.

The site is called Turkey & My Foreign Perspectives.

Bea describes her aims as follows:
One-half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other. Jane Austen. Exploring differences in living and working in Turkey from a foreigner's view. Provide resources for the country of Turkey. Encourage comments to provide more sides to a story.

Beablog