Problems for Learners in Turkey Turkish is an agglutinative language,
Turkish is an agglutinative language, where numerous endings are tacked on to simple roots. For example, k'''msenmemeliydiler can be broken down as follows: K'''k = small Mse = regard something as N = passive/reflexive Me = negative Meli = should Ydi = past Ler = they
Turkish has a word order based on: a) adjective stands before noun, adverb before adverb; b) the finite stands at the end of the sentence.
English word order can be a major stumbling block for Turkish students, especially long, complex sentences. Turkish students have to overcome a number of potential obstacles when learning English. Some of the primary ones include: Phonology Vowels: eg ' as in back is difficult for Turkish-speaking learners, lying as it does between their /e/ and /'/. They often substitute /e/: set for sat. Consonants: /θ/ and /'/ do not occur in Turkish, and they give a good deal of difficulty. Learners often replace them by over- aspirated /t/ and /d/; The Turkish alphabet does not contain the letter w, and loan words containing w are written with v. Students can find the two sounds confusing ' eg 'suwiwe' for survive and 'vait' for wait.
Rhythm, stress and intonation The rhythmatic pattern of English, with its stretched-out stressed syllables and hurried unstressed syllables with their reduced vowels, is very difficult for Turkish-learners. Sentences like There was considerable confusion in all, where only 'sid- and ' fu- are stressed, need much practice. Also unfamiliar is the fall- rise with its connotations of warning, incompleteness of information. Many Turkish speakers, particularly men, find this pattern embarrassing. Grammar Word order: Turkish is a 'subject-object-verb' language, where qualifier precedes qualified, topic precedes comment and subordinate precedes main (departures from this are normal in common speech and lively writing). Turkish students continue to have difficulty in complex English language structures. The position of pronoun objects with phrasal verbs is a problem ' eg I saw that the light was still on, so I turned it off. Verbs: The English verb forms cause great difficulty to Turkish-learners. There is no independent verb to be in Turkish ' eg my uncle mechanic. To have does not have direct Turkish equivalents. For instance, I've got a bicycle translates as 'Bicycle my there is'. Questions and negatives Yes/no interrogatives and negatives are constructed in Turkish by inserting particular particles into the verb. Learners find both inversion and the use of do difficult ' eg You are tired'/I not think we can finish it today.
Time, tense and aspect Differences in the coverage of Turkish and English verb forms result in a number of difficulties, including: a)Students may use the present progressive inappropriately with stative verbs such as know and for habitual actions ' eg I am knowing her. I am seeing everyday. b)Students have predictable difficulty with the multiplicity of structures that exist in English for referring to the future. For example, the simple present may be used instead of the will future, especially in requests, offers and promises, and when referring to conditions and inevitable outcomes ' eg 'Will you bring one''/Yes, I do'/ 'don't drop it - it breaks'. c)Learners tend to overuse the past perfect, substituting it for the simple past in cases where a past event is seen as being separated from the present by a long time lapse, a delay, or intervening events -eg This house had been built 100 years ago.
Passives present no conceptual difficulties, but structurally the English passive strikes Turkish speakers as clumsy. Complex forms like the present progressive or present perfect passive cause particular difficulty. Turkish learners have serious learning problems, furthermore, with English participle and clause structures. They are organised very differently in Turkish; Turkish forms do not show tense and hence students may have difficulty getting tense right in English subordinate clauses ' eg in indirect speech constructions. Concerning nouns, the plural is less used in Turkish and mistakes are continually made - eg I spend the afternoons writing letter/We saw a few animal. Among the conjunctions that cause special difficulty for Turkish speakers are even if, however and whether 'or.
The only lexical common ground between English and Turkish is a body of borrowings from French ' enflasyon (inflation) and kalitie (quality). In Turkish you give decisions, finally, pull photographs and trouble, you throw a swindle and your victim eats it, it comes (seems) to me that'; you see education, work and duty; you become an illness, injection or operation.
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