QUOTE(substance @ Dec 21 2006, 10:03 AM)

hey Dayna? are you Turkish-American? or you just studied Turkish for a reason. I have never seen an American(not the ones living/lived in Turkey) who speaks Turkish. If he doesnt speak english, your turkish should be fluent. Can you tell us more about your story if you dont mind? it sounds interesting:)
my wife is Turkish - American from Turkish parents. thats how she speaks Turkish fluently but I went to the US for school at young age and lived there long I have 2 tongues(Turkish & English) as well. We speak English when with people , not to be rude but we speak Turkish when we need privacy lol you will enjoy this once he learns english too lol
good luck with the process
Hi substance,
I'm American, and how I learned Turkish is a longggg story...
A couple of years ago, I was working for a company that was owned by a Turkish family here in USA. I became good friends with one of my female
coworkers, who was from Bursa. She returned to Turkey and had invited me to come visit her. Before my trip to Turkey, I got a job as a waitress
in a Turkish restaurant to learn some of the language and foods. I spent hours of studying Turkish language books, listening to tapes, and practicing at work. I made some new friends with my Turkish coworkers and customers, one of which became my best friend. He later introduced me to his cousin via telephone, who is now my husband, Ali.
I went to visit my friend in Bursa, and learned some more words/sentences. When I got back to USA, it was when I was introduced to Ali.
I had seen photos of him and thought he was very handsome. My Turkish wasn't very good at this time, but Ali didn't know English and I wanted to get to know him better. I would study for an hour or so before I would call him, making a list of questions in Turkish to ask him. Eventually, I picked up on how Turkish grammar worked. Later on, Ali and I would chat on MSN, but I always had seslisozluk.com in an open window to help translate any words between us.
After a few months, I went to Turkey to meet Ali. The first couple of weeks was very difficult for us, my English-Turkish/Turkish-English dictionary always open. That lasted a couple of weeks. But soon after, we didn't need the dictionary as much because I had learned enough words that we could communicate, even though my Turkish grammar was terrible! LOL
This year, I spent 6 1/2 months total in Turkey (1/2 in Istanbul, 1/2 in Giresun), with my husband and his family, and nobody spoke English. So, I had to learn quickly in order to talk to his family if he wasn't there. Plus, all that time with only Turkish tv and everyone speaking Turkish around me, all I could do was sit there and listen and try to understand. I've learned a lot of phrases/slang which you won't ever find in the language study books I found here in USA bookstores. I even learned how to recognize accents or slang within Turkey... someone is from Trabzon/Black Sea region or West/Istanbul area.
My husband is from a small hazelnut village near Giresun, so he also taught me some village Turkish! LOL
BUT, I wouldnt say that I am 100% fluent. My Turkish is good enough to communicate effectively with Ali, his family, in restaurants, markets, etc... but I
do have problems understanding if someone is speaking too fast.
I do agree that speaking Turkish together is a good tool for privacy. I started a new job a few months ago, and I would talk on the phone with my husband in Turkish. My coworkers were curious of what language I was speaking and who was I talking to... I would just say I was only nagging my husband in Turkish so that no one could understand! LOL
It's great! I can complain about the people around me and they have no idea! LOL
Or if I'm in public with my Turkish inlaws, we can make private comments to each other and the Americans around us don't have a clue!
What is also very funny to me, is that because my inlaws here in USA all speak English, I don't speak Turkish around them that much. Mostly because
I feel a little embaressed, they like to correct my errors. They think I don't understand and will speak Turkish, but then translate everything to me
even though I understood everything.
Well, that's my story!