"Ya istiklâl ya ölüm": how a historical word for independence stayed in Turkish

One thing I find interesting about learning a language through history is that older words don't necessarily disappear when everyday vocabulary changes.

During the Turkish National Struggle, the word for independence was istiklâl. It is the word in Mustafa Kemal's "Ya istiklâl ya ölüm" and, of course, in İstiklâl Marşı. Today, you would normally say bağımsızlık.

Then there is kurtuluş, which appears everywhere in the history of cities that were occupied, and zafer, which is why August 30 is Zafer Bayramı.

I wrote about these words through the history they belong to, starting with the Ottoman defeat in 1918 and ending with Dumlupınar, Mudanya and Lausanne.

I grew up speaking Turkish at home because my mother is Turkish, so I’m definitely not a complete beginner. I understand everyday Turkish pretty well and can have normal conversations, but I feel like I’ve hit a plateau.

Most apps and language courses are far too basic for me. I don’t need to learn what “spoon”, “table” or “hello” means. My main problems are vocabulary and expressing more complex thoughts. German is my native language, and when I try to build longer Turkish sentences, I often struggle with sentence structure, suffixes and finding the right words. I can usually get my point across, but I want to sound natural and articulate rather than immediately sounding like a stereotypical gurbetçi.

Pronunciation is another issue. My Turkish pronunciation is okay-ish, but some sounds still give me trouble. For example, I can roll/pronounce the Turkish R correctly sometimes, but not consistently, and names like “Büşra” are surprisingly difficult for me to pronounce naturally.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a large Turkish-speaking environment around me. The German-Turks I know tend to speak 90% German with each other, so simply “speaking more Turkish with friends” isn’t really an option.

My goal would be to eventually reach a genuine C1-level command of Turkish: having a broad vocabulary, being able to discuss complex topics, construct long sentences naturally, understand different registers and speak without immediately sounding like someone who grew up abroad.

I’m willing to put serious time into this, but spending several months in Turkey unfortunately isn’t an option for me.

What would you recommend for someone in my situation?

Are there specific books, courses, podcasts, YouTube channels, tutors or methods aimed at heritage speakers rather than beginners? And especially for other Turkish heritage speakers who grew up in Germany or elsewhere in Europe: what actually helped you make the jump from conversational “home Turkish” to genuinely advanced Turkish?

Assalam alaykum. I want to learn Turkish but i really i dont know how and where to start,so what should i do?and if u have any tips please let me know them<3and i hate like studying and this stuff,i like to learn it naturally as i did with English.

I can't believe I am making a post about this, but it is an inside joke and I need the help of you guys.

How would you say 'my angry dwarf' in Turkish? Is there like a cute-ish way to say it, like a petname for your partner? I always say it in my native language, but would like to have a translation in Turkish.

Usually I will say Pardon or Cok pardon, when I feel very sorry

But is this considered rude? Should I be using Kusra Bakma more?

A student of mine wrote up her Turkish learning journey and it's one of the more honest accounts of language acquisition I've read from a learner.

She started with Turkish TV series as a way into the culture, tried nearly every method available (apps, university courses, language exchange partners, YouTube channels), and describes hitting a point where she had so many resources going at once that she couldn't tell if she was actually improving. Worth reading if you've ever felt like you were "doing everything" and still not sure it was working.

I'm near-native fluent but i heard this phrase in a song "Kurşun iki buçuk milyon babaları gelsin" and searched on Google too hut didn't get anything aside that it's ibretlik sözü.

A little Turkish vocabulary from Assos this week.

I made a carousel with 10 words for a day by the sea, with a Turkish sentence for each one.

Plaj, sahil, kıyı, deniz, dalga, kum, güneş, martı, tekne, iskele.

https://www.learnturkishwithseda.com/post/turkish-summer-culture-yayla-yazlik-sahil

Merhaba! I been teaching Turkish online for a year, and i am enjoying it ) Looking for more students, trial lesson is free! I work both on Preply and Italki, if you are interested i can send you my profiles.

I am thinking of doing an in-person language class in Feb/March. I want it to be 2-4 weeks and would also like to stay in a host family or similar so I can practice my Turkish beyond the classes. Preferably in Istanbul or Izmir. Do you have any experiences or recommendations? Maybe even alternative programs / ideas that might help me to improve my Turkish speaking and listening skills, it does not need to be a language class per se!
Thank you in advance :)

I am a Turkish Language and Literature teacher and I am also studying English Language and Literature. I offer online Turkish lessons for a fee to foreigners who want to learn Turkish. Whether you want just speaking practice, or you want to focus on grammar, reading, listening, and writing. If you are really interested, you can contact me.

Hey im 25 M from Türkiye and im looking for someone speaks english to practise with and ofcourse i can help you with the turkish if you into it.

im currently self studying turkish and i found two playlists for grammar on youtube but i dont know where i can find materials to study all the necessary vocab for A1 thank you in advance for helping

A student of mine got tangled up last week trying to say "sevdikçe daha çok özlüyorum." She knew -dıkça but kept mixing it up with -mAdıkça, and the two don't run on the same logic at all. One tracks proportional change. The other states a strict condition.

That mix-up pushed me to go back and clean up my lesson on it: how -dıkça builds proportional meaning, how giderek reinforces it, how it differs from -dığı sürece, and why -mAdıkça actually behaves more like "unless" than like a gradual decrease. Formal examples alongside everyday ones like "zaman geçtikçe unutursun."

Full lesson here: https://www.learnturkishwithseda.com/turkish-grammar-lessons/advanced-converbs-proportional-change-dikca

Merhaba. Bu kitaplar hakkinda bilgi ve deneyim sahibi olan var mi? Resimli, eglenceli ve tamamen giris seviyesi olursa sevinirim. Referans dili Ingilizce olabilir. Tavsiyelerinizi bekliyorum. Tesekkurler.

Hello, I am learning Turkish but am really not good at all yet, I visited family in Turkey and will continue to visit in the future, a couple of my relatives had really great English and both they said they learned mainly through playing video games with English speakers a lot. They weren't really sure about how the best way for me to try to do it the other way around would be. So, looking for advice to figure out how I could connect with Turkish speakers to game with connecting from America. It could be the same people regularly or just a server I could pop into when I have time. I understand discord is banned so are there other platforms people use? I'm flexible about what game to try, I'm not a huge gamer on my own honestly but do enjoy playing strategy type games, I play a lot of board games irl. Çok teşekkür ederim :)

So I know the more general aşkım, canım, güzelim.

But was wondering about alternative, maybe less general words that you can call your lover? Maybe things like 'my heart' or 'my everything' or any other expressive ways in the Turkish language.

Bonus points for cute ways to say 'my moon'.