Turkish (Beginners): Ben Foster

Ben, a member of the public, studied Beginners' Turkish at the University Language Centre (ULC).

Why did you choose to study a language at The University of Manchester?

I had known a few people who had been to The University of Manchester and they had nothing but praise for it, so thought I would give it a try once I had found the course I was looking for.

Apart from class time, how much time did you spend a week on your studies?

Around 8-10 hours a week. I try to listen to as much Turkish music as I can, and my tutor also gave me a few different Turkish TV series to watch so I try to spend some of my time watching those as well.

How did you find your course in terms of level?

As it was a beginners' class, I felt that everything was fairly simple to get my head around once it had been explained. There were a few challenging exceptions but I enjoyed working those out.

I imagine it's the same with all new languages - the more you learn, the more difficult you might find it - but that's all part of the fun.

What did you most enjoy about your course?

I met and made some great friends, we had some good laughs.

I enjoyed expanding my knowledge of the language and learning more about Turkish culture. Each time I came away from a class I found myself more and more motivated to learn and remember what we had been taught.

When it came round to the exams, I really wanted to be as prepared as I could by using the new learned knowledge.

Have you been able to put your newly acquired language skills to use outside the classroom? If so, please tell us how.

I speak Turkish to my girlfriend quite often, although she's Australian and doesn't understand much.

I've got a few friends on Facebook that I speak to in Turkish and they were really impressed at how much I had learnt during the course. I'm travelling to Turkey over the summer so I'm sure I'll be able to use what I have learnt there.