My New Language Obsession

Nathaniel Worthman
Professor. Dadak
Writing 101
21.3.19

My new obsession: Türkçe (Turkish!!!) So how did this happen and what does this mean for my love of Latvian? First of all, Endişelenme (Don’t worry,) Latvian is still safely one of my favorite languages in the world. Because I’m a huge language nerd I’m always searching the internet for the next best song regardless of language and country of origin. In all honesty it’s probably more interesting if it’s in a language I know little to nothing about so I have something I can learn about. 
So, who did I become obsessed with Turkish? Well, a friend of mine told me she used to listen to a song in Turkish and was wondering if I knew any Turkish music. Unfortunately, at the time I really didn’t but luckily, she was about to change that for me. The song is called “Bangır Bangır” by the artist Gülşen. (If you haven’t heard the song or are unfamiliar, I suggest this song to get you acquainted my language log will still be here while you search it up on YouTube!) Without an understanding of the Turkish language just the music is itself is extremely interesting, and for whatever reason made me feel empowered. 
To me, the Turkish language was extremely interesting because I could understand some words that were sung in the song from being able to understand Greek, Italian and some common Arabic phrases. Because of this alone, I can see the influences I’m sure these countries have had with the Turkish language. Additionally, there were some sounds I have never heard before and this obviously intrigued my inner language WONK. 
When I first heard the song, I had little to no understanding of the Turkish language and most of the words from the song sounded to same. After I took the time to sit down and learn some basic Turkish as well as analyze the lyrics of the song I was actually able to understand some of the song! Now I’m super interested in learning more of the Turkish language and I hope to be able to update you guys on my progress with the Turkish language! Teşekkür (Thank you) and güle güle (goodbye.)

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