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03

Jul 03, 2013 By Tags:,

How to express ‘katılmak’ in English

__________ the lesson. Attend, join, participate, agree with or support? Which is correct?

The verbs ‘to join’, ‘to attend’, ‘to participate in’, ‘to agree with’ and ‘to support’ can all be expressed in Turkish by ‘katılmak’.

This is the another post in our category ‘In English, how to express …?’ where we discuss language concepts that our Turkish students often struggle with in English. Today, katılmak.

In the following sentences, Turkish speakers can use ‘katılmak’ to express the following actions:

  • Last week he attended the conference in Ankara.
  • I’ll join the lesson this evening.
  • She participated in the managers’ meeting this morning.
  • I agree with your position on the subject.
  • I support your view on this subject.

First, to attend: to go to an event or a place:

  • Would everyone who wishes to attend the dinner let me know by Friday afternoon?
  • All pupils are expected to attend school assembly.
  • I don’t think there’s any need for all of us to attend the meeting.

Secondly, to join: to get involved in an activity or journey with another person or group:

  • He joined the tour to Central Anatolia.
  • Would you like to join us for dinner tonight?
  • You must join the queue to buy tickets for the movie.

Thirdly, to participate in: to take part in or become involved in an activity:

  • We encourage members to participate in the meetings.
  • I don’t like to participate in team sports.
  • Many countries participate in the Olympic Games.

Lastly, ‘to agree with’ or ‘to support’: to have the same opinion, or to accept a suggestion or idea:

  • I agree with your idea.
  • I support the government’s decision not to cut down the trees.
  • I support her position on the death penalty.

Now your turn. Practice using these verbs:

(if you prefer a video lesson, check out our  Ingilizce Dersleri library!)

Choose the best possible answer for each sentence:

For example:

Question: It was already 8pm. Murat was tired and did not want to attend/participate in/support the meeting. All he wanted to do was leave the office and return home.

Answer: Murat did not want to attend the meeting. (He did not want to go to the event)

Your turn

1. ‘That’s a terrible idea. There’s no way that anyone else is going to attend/agree with/join what you think.’

2. Although Gökçe joined the meeting on time, she really did not want to support/to participate/to agree with it and she stayed silent during the entire meeting.

3. ‘Uğur and Nil are getting married next week. Even though they are not close friends, we are planning to attend/to join/to agree with the ceremony.

4. ‘Uğur and Nil are getting married next week. Uğur is my best friend and so he asked to me to attend/to participate in/to support the wedding ceremony. I will read a speech.

5. ‘OK… we are going to cinema at 6pm tonight to see the new zombie movie. Do you want to support/to join/to participate in us?

6. Canberk failed his final science exam and now he must agree with/support/attend summer school.

As always, please let us know what you think and if there are any other topics you would like us to cover!

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27

Jun 27, 2013 By Tags:, , ,

İngilizce Türkiye’de: Eleos Istanbul

eleos-beyoglu-istanbul

eleos-beyoglu-istanbul

Welcome to the second post in our İngilizce Türkiye’de series. In our first post we introduced a great place for traditional Turkish breakfast, or kahvaltı, called Van Kahvaltı Evi. In our second post we will highlight Eleos Restaurant with two locations in Istanbul.

eleos-istanbul-beyoglu

eleos-istanbul-beyoglu

In our İngilizce Türkiye’de series we highlight establishments across Turkey that offer great service as well as great command of the English language. Eleos has two locations in Istanbul, one in Beyoğlu and one in Yeşilköy. On a recent trip to the Beyoğlu location we were impressed with the food, the view and the service offered in English to our foreign colleagues.

Lets begin with the most important part: the food

The food at at Eleos is that of a fish mezze house but with a more distinct Greek flare than your traditional Bosphorus fish restaurant. Like a typical Istanbul fish restaurant there was a three-course approach to the meal – cold mezze (vegetarian and fish), hot mezze (fish and seafood) and fish (grilled or fried whole fish). What separates Eleos’ food from other fish restaurants in Istanbul is the variety of ingredients. For example, we tried Oyster mushroom mezze, lobster in yoghurt, fried sole stuffed into peppers and fish kokorec. The lokanta is dressed up as an Agean Greek fish restaurant, with blue and white tablecloths, wood paneling and al fresco ambiance. If you book ahead, be sure to ask for a table on the heated patio in order to get a commanding Bosphorus view over Beyoğlu.

At Eleos there are many thoughtful touches that make the dining experience more enjoyable than at a typical restaurant. Several mezze dishes are brought out “on the house”. A welcome aperitif and an extensive desert tray are delivered to the table as “compliments of the chef”.

Now for the second most important part: İngilizce Türkiye’de

As always in our İngilizce Türkiye’de series, we like to commend establishments with strong command of the English language. The service level in English was of a very high standard. Not only were the servers almost fluent in English but they also adjusted their service for a western sensibility. The service was less abrupt and assertive than in most Istanbul restaurants. In addition, significant time was allowed between each course. For this week’s İngilizce Türkiye’de post we will highlight some of the English service terms and their Turkish equivalents:

  • rezervasyon var mi?   ‘do you have a reservation?’,
  • ikram   ‘on the house’, ‘with our compliments’,
  • afiyet olsun   ‘enjoy your meal’,
  • bir şey değil   ‘you’re welcome’ or ‘my pleasure’
  • ‘iyi akşamlar’   ‘good evening’, ‘see you again’ and ‘thank you for coming’ are all appropriate in this context

Whether you are a Turkish native speaker who wants to practice English or a foreigner visiting Turkey, TurksLearnEnglish.com recommends Eleos for its great food and great service. Details:

Beyoğlu

Address: İstiklal Mh., 34440, Beyoğlu

Phone: +90 212 244 9090

Yeşilköy

Address: Yeşilköy Mh., Yeşilbahçe Sk No:9, Bakırköy

Phone: +90 212 663 3911

As always, if you know of any establishments that should be commended for their İngilizce Türkiye’de, please let us know.

 

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24

Jun 24, 2013 By Tags:, ,

İngilizce Türkiye’de: Van Kahvaltı Evi

van-kahvalti-evi-İngilizce-Türkiye'de

In our İngilizce Türkiye’de series we highlight establishments across Turkey that offer great service as well as great command of the English language.

We think the series is a good way to discover great restaurants, destinations, attractions and services, as well as highlighting establishments in Turkey where English speakers can get service in the global language.

On a recent morning walk in Cihangir, myself and my co-founder found ourselves very hungry. Both of us are big fans of an Aegean breakfast. As we walked towards Taksim we noticed a Kahvaltı Evi that was packed at 9 am on a Thursday. We decided to check it out.

Van Kahvaltı Evi is not an Aegean kahvaltı but hails from the eastern parts of the country. The Kurdish regions of Turkey take their kahvaltı very seriously. There are many similarities to an Aegean Kahvaltı with some key differences including Van cheeses, tangy cacık (thick yogurt spread) and murtuğa, a heavy wheat flour porridge. Of course, you will find the typical tomatoes, cucumbers, olives and white cheese of an Aegean kahvaltı. The food at Van Kahvaltı Evi is generous in portion, very fresh and reasonably priced.

What we were most impressed with is the service. Both of our waiters, and the man who brought us our bill spoke a great level of English. Additionally, both had commanded some of the finer elements in translation of Turkish service to English.

One of the more difficult aspects to learning English is wordy question forms:

While in Turkish it’s quite acceptable to simply use a single noun in isolation, such as ‘bread?’, ‘tea?’, ‘bill?’ for example, it usually grates on the ears of a native English speakers as it can border on rudeness.

English, requires a more expansive question. Not too hard to learn but at a minimum service staff are better off using:

  • Would you like anything else?
  • Would you like more tea / bread…
  • Can I get you anything else?

It’s a small thing but these couple of phrases make such a difference to the quality of service.

Whether you are a foreigner visiting Turkey or a Turkish resident, we hope that you will check out Van Kahvaltı Evi for a great breakfast and great service in English (if required). Details:

Address: Defterdar Yokuşu No: 52.A, Cihangir
Telephone: 212-293-6437

As always, if you know of any establishments that should be commended for their İngilizce Türkiye’de, please let us know.

 

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20

Jun 20, 2013 By Tags:, ,

İngilizce Türkiye’de series

Introducing our new blog series: İngilizce Türkiye’de

service-establishments-turkey

service-establishments-turkey

TurksLearnEnglish.com is excited to announce the launch of our series: İngilizce Türkiye’de. In this series we will highlight great venues across Turkey, such as restaurants, galleries, tourist attractions and entertainment facilities.

We will focus on establishments where the Turkish staff has a strong command of the English language. Our inspiration for this series is both to highlight great establishments for residents and visitors to Turkey, and also praise establishments with a strong command of the English language. We will also use this series to highlight language lessons related to the service industry. For a Turkish native speaker to adapt to a service culture in English, there can often be challenges. Much of the time, literal translations from Turkish into English don’t work well.

There are several elements of Turkish service language that should not be literally translated into English when providing service. For example:

‘Başka istediğiniz var mı’ should translate to:

  • Is there anything else?
  • Do you need anything else?
  • Would you like anything else?

Likewise, the often used ‘isim?’ when requesting someone’s name in Turkish needs to be a much longer to sound polite in English:

  • Can I have your name?
  • Can I take your name?

Unfortunately, the very question ‘Name?’ used by Turkish Starbucks staff is not polite English.

And for staff who look up from the counter and see a chance to use English, where you would normally use ‘buyurun’, why not try:

  • Hi, can I help you?

We hope that you will enjoy our İngilizce Türkiye’de series. If you know of any establishments across Turkey that should be highlighted for their great command of the English language as well as providing a great service, please let us know! Whether it be a restaurant, an entertainment venue, guide or tourist attraction we would be happy to hear from you!

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16

May 16, 2013 By Tags:, ,

How to express ‘izin almak’ and ‘izin vermek’ in English

izin almak

The concept of ‘izin’, often translated as ‘permission’ or ‘consent’ in English, is a word with a wide range of meanings in Turkish.

In this post, the second in our ‘In English, how to express… ‘ series, we’ll look at the most common ways in English to express the concepts of ‘izin almak’ and ‘izin vermek’.

If you prefer a video lesson, why not check out our Ingilizce Dersleri video library. We have a series of great lessons in a video format.

First, let’s look at a few ways to express ‘izin vermek’.

To allow

The verb ‘to allow’ makes it possible for someone to do or not to do something:

The boss allowed me to take the afternoon off to see the doctor.

The government would not allow him to enter the country.

You’re not allowed to speak during the exam (Note that ‘to be allowed’ is a commonly used in English).

The phrase ‘to give permission’ can be used in a similar way, though it is usually used for a specific time or event, and it is more formal than ‘to allow’:

The boss gave me permission me to take the afternoon off to see the doctor.

The school gave her permission to take the exam again.

The IT department would not give him permission to access the files.

The verb ‘to let’ is very common in English. It is used to allow something to happen by giving your permission’:

When I was young my parents wouldn’t let me stay up late.

My boss let me take the afternoon off to visit my father in hospital.

They let me take a 10-day vacation in August.

Can you let me in? (i.e. Can you open the door?)

Now let’s look at ‘izin almak’.

In English the simplest way to express this concept is with ‘to get permission’.

I couldn’t get permission to access those files.

He got permission to leave work early so he wouldn’t miss the plane.

We got permission to enter the building after we showed some personal ID.

Note: Don’t use ‘to take permission’. It’s Turklish and not natural English!

I took permission to leave early.

I got permission to leave early.

They allowed me to leave early.

They let me leave early.

They gave me permission to leave early.

Now it’s your turn!

For each situation below, form a sentence using each of the verbs.

For example:

You want to attend a conference on Friday. You ask your boss but he says that you have to work.

(to allow) He won’t allow me to attend the conference.

(to give permission) He didn’t give me permission to attend the conference.

(to let) He won’t let me attend the conference.

(to get permission) I didn’t get permission to attend the conference.

1. You made an appointment to see the doctor at 3pm tomorrow. Your boss agrees that you can leave work at 12pm.

2. You asked your mother if you could go to the cinema with your friends tonight. She said ‘no’ because your grandparents are coming to visit.

3. Your best friend arrives in town tomorrow afternoon. You haven’t seen him in three months so you ask your boss for a day off. She says ‘no’.

4. You want to borrow your dad’s car to drive to Ankara tomorrow. He say’s that it’s fine. as long as your drive safely.

As always, please let us know what you think and if there are any other topics you would like us to cover!

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missing in English
13

May 13, 2013 By Tags:

How to express Kaçırmak in English

The concept of ‘failing to do what you planned’ … as in kaçırmak: uçağı kaçırdım, dersi kaçırdım, randevuyu kaçırdım, can be tricky for Turkish students in English.

This is the first post in our category ‘In English, how to express …?’ where we discuss language concepts that our Turkish students often struggle with in English. Today, kaçırmak.

For example:

  • You couldn’t get to the conference in Ankara because the plane was delayed, or maybe you couldn’t meet your friends because you got stuck in traffic for hours and hours…
  • Sometimes, because of bad weather, heavy traffic, too many appointments or just maybe even because of laziness, life does not go as planned. You cannot do everything in your diary.

This post provides the English to express yourself when you:

  • Fail to do something that was planned, such as a lesson
  • Arrive late for a bus, train or aircraft

 

1. When you have something planned in your diary, but you are not able to do it, or failed to do it, you use ‘to miss’.

For example:

  • On Wednesday morning you had a doctor’s appointment at 10am. You were in traffic until 10:50am When you arrived at the doctor’s clinic, it was no longer possible to see the doctor.
  • You missed the doctor’s appointment (because you were stuck in traffic).
  • Or, your homework was due yesterday at 5pm. You give the homework to your teacher the following morning.
  • She did not accept the homework because you missed the deadline. (You failed to hand in your homework on time)

 

2.  When you arrive late for a bus, train or aircraft, you also use ‘to miss’

For example:

  • Your plane departed at 15:10. You arrived at the airport at 15:30.
  • You missed the plane.

Now your turn! Practice ‘to miss’:

Look at each of the scenarios and use ‘to miss’ in a sentence:

For example:

Question: Umut’s flight to Ankara left at 6pm. He arrived at the airport ay 6:15pm because of bad weather.

Answer: Umut missed his plane because of bad weather.

Your turn

1. Murat couldn’t attend his biology exam because he was sick.

2. Kaan didn’t go to his dentist because he got stuck in traffic on the F.S.M. bridge.

3. The outdoor concert started at 20h00 but Aslı didn’t attend because the weather was terrible.

4. The snow was so heavy that Yiğit couldn’t drive his car to go to the meeting in Levent.

5. The plane left for Bozcaada at 12pm. Unfortunately, Pınar got stuck in bad traffic and she didn’t take the plane.

6. The lesson started in Beşiktaş at 6pm. Ali was still in the office at 6:50pm!

 

A little note about Turklish:

Don’t say ‘He didn’t catch the lesson’. It is not natural English in this situation.

Say, ‘He missed the lesson’.

Keep in mind, that if you prefer video learning exercise we have a library of video learning exercises waiting for you in our Ingilizce Dersleri section! These videos are available to you at all times and are a great compliment to written exercises and live conversation classes.

As always, please let us know what you think and if there are any other topics you would like us to cover!

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