Turkish Lessons-2

Never Say "tesekkurler" in Turkey unless you want to starve!

Underlying meanings of words

Dictionaries are good but every time you look up for a word, do they give what we need, not necessarily. It's not possible to find the cultural aspect or underlying meaning of the words and sentences this way. Here I disclose one, very important one. That would help you not to end up with no food when you are speaking in Turkish. 

Direct Translation is not always a great idea

What not to say!

One mistake we all do directly translating a sentence or a word. Being a bit more specific here, someone or a waiter asks you whether you want coffee,tea or food.

 In English you can say "thank you" to accept the offer. But in Turkish direct translation of this as "tesekkurler" would be understood as "(no) thank you" and the waiter or your in-laws would pass you and ask someone else. Until you learn this information you might think weather they are ignoring you or forgetting your orders!

Don't miss the food/drink offer

What to say!

I established above that thank you is associated with "no" and considered refusing politely. As we are very sensitive direct and simply "no" to an offer wouldn't be as polite. So thank you softens the rejection. Then what you should say if you want to accept the offer?

Say "please=lutfen" which is like "yes please" therefore use please (lutfen) for accepting any offer and use thank you (tesekkurler) to refuse any offer.

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Watch Turkish TV Series

Simple and fun way to learn Turkish culture, gestures, underlying meanings of language watch Turkish TV series. This blog would help you to follow Turkish TV series with Turkish script and translations. I disclosed one, watch series and discover the others yourself! Start watching now .