Word for the Travel Wise (12/11/06)

My trip to Turkey just this past August was too short and not sweet enough. I had a five hour layover and took advantage of the little time to see the city with a friend of a friend who met me at the airport. It became apparent early on that I would need to return for an extended period of time if I were going to see any real action or experience the nightlife. I’m told to go back in May when the weather is nice in the day and perfect for night crawling. If you are planning some time out on the town when darkness surrounds the city and street lights flicker to keep it aglow; check out this list of Istanbul nightlife options from Frommers.

Today’s word is a Turkish word used in Turkey:

gece – night

Prepare ahead of time by visiting this Turkish Class site. Membership is free and you’ll get a lot more than some of the basics they already have listed. Online Turkish is good too, but you’ll have to register and pay to get anything more than hello, how are you and I love you. Stick to the first site and check out this Turkish vocabulary list of body parts. Wiki has an excellent starters piece on background, history and a short list of words. Scope out phrasebooks from Rough Guides, Lonely Planet or grab both.

Past Turkish words: merhaba, iyi volculuklar, sabirsiz, lokanta, ezan

Word for the Travel Wise (10/11/06)

With it being the Islamic holiday of Ramadan this month I figured this word should come-in-handy if you aren’t already familiar with the term. To learn more about the holiday and the religious practice of fasting and what it means check out this Wikipedia piece. For all those celebrating – Have a happy Ramadan! (I think that’s safe to say?)

Today’s word is a Turkish word used in Turkey:

ezan – the Muslim call to prayer

Prepare ahead of time by visiting this Turkish Class site. Membership is free and you’ll get a lot more than some of the basics they already have listed. Online Turkish is good too, but you’ll have to register and pay to get anything more than hello, how are you and I love you. Stick to the first site and check out this Turkish vocabulary list of body parts. Wiki has an excellent starters piece on background, history and a short list of words. Scope out phrasebooks from Rough Guides, Lonely Planet or grab both.

Past Turkish words: merhaba, iyi volculuklar, sabirsiz, lokanta

Word for the Travel Wise (08/30/06)

So today I’m out and headed for Tajikistan by way of Istanbul. I can’t tell you how very excited I am after weeks of waiting. As always I will do my best to report from the road, but you can assure I’ll provide full detail afterwards. In the meantime I’m hoping to make good use of my long layover in Istanbul. Hmm, a hamam perhaps? Or maybe just a bite to eat somewhere… I’ll be sure to let you know.

Today’s word is a Turkish word used in Turkey:

lokanta – restaurant

Prepare ahead of time by visiting this Turkish Class site. Membership is free and you’ll get a lot more than some of the basics they already have listed. Online Turkish is good too, but you’ll have to register and pay to get anything more than hello, how are you and I love you. Stick to the first site and check out this Turkish vocabulary list of body parts. Wiki has an excellent starters piece on background, history and a short list of words. Scope out phrasebooks from Rough Guides, Lonely Planet or grab both.

Past Turkish words: merhaba, iyi volculuklar, sabirsiz

Word for the Travel Wise (04/21/06)

Earlier today I gave a brief mention to Rough Guides phrasebooks which I just
stumbled upon and still strikes me as odd when I’ve been to their site so many times in the past. Were my eyes not
open? Did I not care? In any event I decided to bring them up again for this evening’s travel word session. If you took
note I said the publishers offer a tasty piece of language audio to feast your ears upon in their online catalog. FREE
language learning audio is like finding treasure folks, so when you discover a resource to learn even one or two words
for FREE you must and I do mean must jump on the opportunity to enhance your multi-lingual dictionaries.

Today’s word is a Turkish phrase used in Turkey:

iyi yolculuklar – have a good
trip

Prepare ahead of time by visiting this Turkish
Class
site. Membership is free and you’ll get a lot more than some of the basics they already have listed. Online Turkish is good too, but you’ll have to register and pay to get
anything more than hello, how are you and I love you. Stick to the first site and check out this Turkish vocabulary list of body parts. Wiki has an excellent
starters piece on background, history and a short list of words. Scope out phrasebooks from Rough Guides, Lonely Planet or grab both.

Past Turkish words: merhaba