Nieng Zhonghan wrote:Chung wrote:Turkic challenge is still on. It's Uzbek until Sep. 30 and then Kazakh from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31.
I was about to put an entry in my log today about my first impression of Uzbek, but well...
How does the Turkic challenge work?
I am not specifically interested in reading the collaborative writings (the one you wrote about Turkic languages) of yours. Could you post here the resources and its reviews related to both Turkish and Azeri?
Depending on resources availability and their prices, I may add a Turkic language next month.
Here's an excerpt from the opening post in the Turkic challenge's thread. We're following Sequence A) that's mentioned below.
Yürükler - Call to the (fool)hardy ones in 2015 wrote:
The goal of the challenge is to gain as much structural knowledge of several Turkic languages other than Turkish as desired. Nevertheless, I will not discourage anyone from studying Turkish as part of the the challenge. Because of the high similarity between Azeri and Turkish and potential difficulties from cross-interference for beginners who study these two languages in the same period, I will allow participants to substitute Turkish for Azeri.
Studying to fluency is not a priority. Each language is to be studied for no more than the time allotted to maintain discipline and in acknowledgement of the paucity of learning material (be it free or for a fee) and low probability (for most of us) in being able to interact with native speakers.
I have drawn up two sequences, both of which extend into late 2016 if one chooses to study every language, at the least.
Sequence A) (progressively less mutual intelligibility with Turkish - sort of. This does not assume sufficient passive knowledge of German and/or Russian before starting)
2015*
Dec. 15, 2014 to Mar. 31, 2015: Azeri (Turkish)**
Mar. 15 to Jun. 30: Turkmen
Jun. 15 to Sep. 30: Uzbek
Sep. 15 to Dec. 31: Kazakh
2016*
Dec. 15, 2015 to Feb. 29, 2016: Kyrgyz
Feb. 15 to Mar. 31: Tuvan
Mar. 15 to Jun. 30: Tatar
Jun. 15 to Sep. 30: Bashkir
Sep. 15 to Oct. 31: Crimean Tatar
Oct. 15 to Nov. 30: Chuvash
Sequence B) (progressively more mutual intelligibility with Turkish - sort of. This assumes sufficient passive knowledge of German and/or Russian before starting)
2015*
Dec. 15, 2014 to Jan. 31, 2015: Chuvash
Jan. 15 to Feb. 28: Crimean Tatar
Feb. 15 to May 31: Bashkir
May. 15 to Aug. 31: Tatar
Aug. 15 to Sep. 30: Tuvan
Sep. 15 to Nov. 30: Kyrgyz
2016*
Nov. 15, 2015 to Feb. 29, 2016: Kazakh
Feb. 15 to May 31: Uzbek
May. 15 to Aug. 31: Turkmen
Aug. 15 to Nov. 30: Azeri (Turkish)**
* So far I believe that it's better to be a little flexible on the starting date for each language rather than the ending date. For example, in Sequence A, one could start learning Turkmen on Mar. 16, 2015 rather than wait until Apr. 1 but one must finish learning Azeri by Mar. 31, 2015. For up to two weeks, one could juggle Azeri and Turkmen although I'm not sure if that will be always that manageable.
** As noted previously, one may study/dabble in Turkish instead of Azeri despite my preference that participants take on the latter to gain awareness of lesser-known Turkic languages.
The different sequences also take into account one's background in other languages, if applicable. For those who already have a background in Turkish, sequence A may be a double-edged sword in that one will generally be able to maximize the "discount" at the beginning by starting with Azeri (which seems to diverge from Turkish roughly as much as Slovak does from Czech or Norwegian from Swedish) but he/she also faces the risk of substantial interference. For better or worse, sequence A does not have a requirement for someone to know at least some German or Russian since I've found several resources in English that shouldn't be exhausted in 3 months' worth of studying/dabbling. On the other hand, sequence B starts with Chuvash which diverges strongly from all of the other Turkic languages and so the risk of interference is low. For better or worse, this sequence does impose a requirement for someone to know at least some German or Russian at the start since almost all of the materials that I have found in Turkic languages used outside Central Asia aren't in English.
The languages chosen reflect the quality of resources that I've been able to find. See the resource list for more information and comments. Azeri, Kazakh, Turkmen and Uzbek have blocks lasting up to 3.5 months while the others have shorter blocks.
Regarding participation, I do not insist that one study every language on the list nor do I plan to draw up extra quarterly challenges for individual languages since each of us might not develop the same familiarity or grasp in every language. It's perfectly acceptable to study any language on the list as long as the timeline is respected to maintain at least some aspect of a team effort. For example, someone could study Azeri, but skip Turkmen, among others, but then "come back" by studying Chuvash when the time comes. Another person may be content to study just Kazakh with us and skip the rest. I expect to be the only one who'll delve into each language.
Here are the resources that I was able to scrounge for Azeri and Turkish. It's just a list without comments on the quality or suitability of the material.
Yürükler - Call to the (fool)hardy ones in 2015 wrote:
Azeri
Courses / Supplementary learning material (including literature)
- Brief Introduction to the Azerbaijani Language (with audio) (Peace Corps) [English]
- Essentials of Azerbaijani: An Introductory Course (Andrew H. Siegel) [English]
- Learn Azerbaijani, the easiest-to-learn Turkic dialect! (Neise.0rq.in) [English]
- Körpü - Köprü: Reading in Azerbaijani Using Turkish as a Bridge (Suzan Özel) [English]
- GLOSS Modules (80 lessons) (DLIFLC) [English]
- Language Survival Kit (DLIFLC) [English]
- Lessons of Azeri [Russian]
- 21 Online Lessons of Azeri [Russian]
- Playlist of 35 lessons of Azeri [Russian]
- DLIFLC - Legends and Folktales [English - scroll down to Azerbaijan to hear “The Dove and Peace” in either English or Azeri accompanied by subtitles]
- 22 Azerbaijani Tales for Children [Azeri, English]
- Scientific Tales for Children (Farid Alakbarov) [Azeri, English]
- Electronic Library of Azeri literature (Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty Azerbaijan) [Azeri]
- National Virtual Library (National Cultural Project) [Azeri]
- Speak Azerbaijani (blog about studying Azeri) (Colleen MacDonell) [English]
- Learn Azeri (blog about studying Azeri) (Azad Tərcümeçi) [English]
- Elementary Azerbaijani (Kurtuluş Öztopçu) [English] COMMERCIAL
- Teach Yourself Azeri (Telman Khudazarov) [English] COMMERCIAL
- Azerbaijani-English Dictionary (Patrick A. O'Sullivan, Mario Severino, Valeriy Volozov) COMMERCIAL
- Azerbaijani Texts with Parallel English Translations (Valeriy Volozov) COMMERCIAL
- Azerbaijani Newspaper Reader (John D. Murphy) COMMERCIAL
- Aserbaidschanisch Lehrbuch (Nemat Rahmati, Korkut Bugday) [German] COMMERCIAL
Dictionaries / Reference Material / Phrasebooks / Word-lists
- Azərbaycan Türkçəsinin Nəhvi (Grammar of (South) Azeri in modified Perso-Arabic script) (Mohammed-Taqi Zahtabi) [(South) Azeri]
- Azeri - English / English - Azeri Online Dictionary (azerdict)
- Azeri - Turkish / Turkish - Azeri Online Dictionary
- Azerbaijani - English / English - Azerbaijani Dictionary and Phrasebook (Nicholas Awde, Famil Ismailov) COMMERCIAL
- English - Azerbaijani / Azerbaijani - English Concise Dictionary (Seville Mamedov) COMMERCIAL
- Azerbaijani Vocabulary for English Speakers (Andrey Taranov) COMMERCIAL
- Aserbaidschanisch Kurzgrammatik (Angelika Landmann) [German] COMMERCIAL
Media / Culture
- Azerbaijan Television [Azeri, English, Russian]
- İdman Azerbaijan TV [Azeri]
- Public Television and Radio [Azeri]
- Azerbaijan News Service [Azeri]
- Space TV [Azeri]
- Lider TV [Azeri]
- ANS Radio [Azeri]
- TRT Azərbaycan (Turkish Radio and Television Corporation in Azeri) [Azeri]
- BBC Azərbaycanca (BBC in Azeri) [Azeri]
- Voice of America Azerbaijan (radio) [Azeri, English]
- Azadlıq Radiosu (Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty Azerbaijan) [Azeri, English, Russian]
- Tribute to composer Uzeyir Hajibeyov including some audio, and dual-language lyrics and libretti (Azerbaijan International) [Azeri, English]
- Danışan kitablar (BBC - Podcast Series) [Azeri]
- Azadlıq (newspaper) [Azeri]
- Azərbaycan (newspaper) [Azeri]
- Şərq Qapısı (newspaper [Azeri]
- LangMedia CultureTalk Azerbaijan (Five Colleges) [Azeri, English, Russian]
- Vikipediya (Azeri Wikipedia)
Turkish
Courses / Supplementary learning material (including literature)
- FSI Turkish Basic Course (Lloyd B. Swift & Selman Ağralı) [English]
- FSI Turkish Basic Course - Graded Reader (Selman Ağralı et al.) [English]
- GLOSS Modules (13 lessons) (DLIFLC) [English]
- Language Survival Kit (DLIFLC) [English]
- Headstart2 Turkish (DLIFLC - free registration required) [English]
- DLIFLC - Legends and Folktales [English - scroll down to Turkey to hear “The Legend of Troy” in either English or Turkish accompanied by subtitles]
- I'm learning Turkish [English, Turkish]
- Nasrettin Hoca Stories (texts with audio) [English]
- Elementary Turkish (Kurtuluş Öztopçu) [English] COMMERCIAL
- Get Started in Turkish (formerly “Teach Yourself Beginner's Turkish”) (Asuman Çelen Pollard) [English] COMMERCIAL
- Complete Turkish (formerly “Teach Yourself Turkish”) (Asuman Çelen Pollard) [English] COMMERCIAL
- Beginning Turkish (Critical Language Series) (András J. E. Bodrogligeti) [English] COMMERCIAL
- Intermediate Turkish (Critical Language Series) (Jessica Tiregol) [English] COMMERCIAL
- Advanced Turkish (Critical Language Series) (Jessica Tiregol) [English] COMMERCIAL
- Assimil Le Turc (Dominique Halbout) [French] COMMERCIAL
- Türkisch: Lehrbuch für Anfänger und Fortgescrhittene (4. überarbeitete Auflage) (Margarete I. Ersen-Rasch) [German] COMMERCIAL
- Türkisch: Übungsgrammatik A1-C1 (2. überarbeitete Auflage) (Margarete I. Ersen-Rasch) [German] COMMERCIAL
Dictionaries / Reference Material / Phrasebooks / Word-lists
- Manisa Turkish (John Guise) [English]
- Sesli sözlük [English, Turkish]
- Milet Comprehensive Dictionary (Birsen Çankaya and Gordon Jones) [English] COMMERCIAL
- The Larger Redhouse Portable Dictionary (Serap Bezmez and Richard Blakney) [English] COMMERCIAL
- Langenscheidt Standard Dictionary Turkish (Resuhi Akdikmen) [English, Turkish] COMMERCIAL
- Turkısh: An Essential Grammar (Aslı Göksel and Celia Kerslake) [English] COMMERCIAL
Media / Culture
- TRT (Turkish Radio and Television Corporation) [English, Turkish]
- BBC Turkish [Turkish]
- Amerika'nın Sesi (Voice of America) [Turkish]
- Deutsche Welle (Deutsche Welle) [Turkish]
- LangMedia Turkish in Turkey (Five Colleges) [English, Turkish]
- LangMedia CultureTalk Turkey (Five Colleges) [English, Turkish]
- Vikipedi (Turkish Wikipedia)