Sophie B.

Language Institute and Level: MEDLI / Elementary Turkish

Why do you choose to study at WISLI? What motivated you to choose our program?

As a rising senior at UW-Madison, WISLI provided me with the unique opportunity to acquire valuable new language skills in the city I have called my scholarly home for the past three years. In addition, WISLI was recommended to me by UW’s Language Program Office as well as a fellow linguistics student, and its academic rigor and community-building emphasis have proven as excellent as I had heard. 

How has learning a less commonly taught language enriched your personal and professional life? 

On a personal level, learning a less commonly taught language—in my case, Turkish—has empowered me to recognize the value of being wrong. Learning Turkish without previous Turkish language experience is challenging, particularly in an intensive environment. However, to my surprise, that challenge has often come not from the grammatical and vocabulary content itself but from my fear of being wrong and/or embarrassing myself. When speaking a new language, you are bound to mess up, butcher your pronunciation, and say something unintentionally silly—I certainly have on most days. But the mistakes are also what you learn from, and I have come to appreciate that mantra after learning Turkish.  

Learning Turkish has also enriched my academic interest in second language acquisition. I decided upon Turkish because I was interested in Turkish as an agglutinative language. My first-hand struggle to master certain elements of Turkish syntax while acquiring others with relative ease has raised new and exciting research questions in second language acquisition. Indeed, I will explore one such question next year in my senior thesis, which will examine the acquisition of motion verbs by Turkish-English bilinguals. My newfound knowledge of elementary Turkish will help me interact with my participants and thus more fully explore one of the many questions raised by differences in Turkish and English syntax that I hope to help answer.  

What about WISLI/UW-Madison stands out to you? 

WISLI is more than a language course—it is a rewarding environment that foregrounds cultural enrichment and career development as well as language proficiency. WISLI’s excellent programming provides students the opportunity to learn less commonly taught languages, the cultures, countries, and people being those languages, and how to market their newfound language skills. As a result of that trifecta, I feel that I am not only walking away with elementary proficiency in Turkish but also enhanced cultural awareness and appreciation for how my language-learning experience can be harnessed for my future ambitions. And, of course, I would be remiss if I did not comment on UW-Madison’s excellent faculty, staff, and facilities, which have made such learning possible! 

How do you plan to apply proficiency of your target language and cultural skills to your personal/professional journey? 

I plan to harness my newfound elementary Turkish proficiency for my academic interest in second language acquisition. I entered WISLI fascinated by second language acquisition in the abstract but without having intensively learned a language previously. Thus, learning Turkish at WISLI has enriched my interest in and understanding of second language acquisition. In fact, my senior thesis will explore the acquisition of motion verbs by Turkish-English bilinguals, a topic I settled upon after noting the different ways in which Turkish and English motion verbs encode path (e.g., enter, exit, up, down) and manner (e.g., run, jump, skip, swim). 

In addition, I am continuing my Turkish studies next semester in third-semester Turkish at UW-Madison, and I hope to teach English in Turkey via the Fulbright U.S. Student Program after graduating. After living and teaching in Turkey, I plan to pursue a Ph.D. in linguistics, with an emphasis on agglutinative languages such as Turkish.  

What have been some of the highlights of your program? What events have you particularly enjoyed? 

A primary highlight of my WISLI experience has been getting to know my classmates and instructor. My instructor, Emre, has fostered an academic environment unlike that which I have previously encountered in my academic career, and everyone is friendly, hardworking, and engaged. As a result, the classroom environment is both vibrant and supportive, and I leave each day knowing that I have the community support to tackle the often difficult process of learning a language.  

I especially enjoyed cooking a Türk kahvaltısı. I had not enjoyed a Turkish breakfast previously, and cooking it with my classmates while receiving instruction in Turkish was an educational yet fun introduction. And, of course, enjoying the fruits of our efforts afterward did not disappoint! (See photo attached). I also enjoyed speaking with students from Istanbul’s Sabancı Üniversitesi. I was pretty nervous going into the Zoom, but the two students I chatted with were very gracious and friendly, and we connected over a shared love of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. They also requested me on Instagram afterward, and it was cool to think that I had already began building a community (though small) of Turkish speakers.  

What role did the WISLI Tuition Scholarship award play when you were making decisions? How would you encourage other students who might be interested in the scholarship to apply? 

The WISLI Tuition Scholarship award has allowed me to focus fully on my studies and involvement while learning Turkish, which has been invaluable to my ability to get the most out of the intensive learning environment. Had I not received the WISLI Tuition Scholarship, I likely would be working a part-time job, and I would be unable to dedicate the time and attention that I currently do to my Turkish language and culture studies.  

I would encourage everyone considering summer language learning at WISLI to apply for the Tuition Scholarship award! I went into WISLI without any previous experience learning a language at the college level, so I felt that I was not the most competitive applicant. However, I was pleased to find out that I was awarded the Scholarship, and you could be too!  

What advice would you give to students who want to study the same language as you? 

I would encourage students hoping to study elementary Turkish to embrace being wrong. I have found that learning Turkish involves a different thought than other undergraduate courses; learning a language requires not merely completing readings and homework but a deeper, more nuanced understanding of terms and concepts in order to generalize patterns across disparate examples. As a result, being wrong is inevitable. And that’s ok! Being wrong—and accepting that you are wrong—is a space where much personal growth occurs.  

I would also advise elementary Turkish students to remember their “why.” When coursework gets difficult, it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking: What am I doing? If  you have an end goal, it makes it easier to ground yourself, put your struggle into perspective, and remember that your language learning is part of a larger process!  

What is your favorite expression in the language you studied this summer?

My favorite Turkish expression that I have learned is kolay gelsin, meaning good luck but literally translating to may it come easy. Certainly, I hope that learning Turkish comes easy, but even when it does not, the teaching staff, faculty, and peers at WISLI have equipped me with the tools to tackle any hurdles I encounter.