Old photographs in Turkish
Two people going through old photos and reminiscing in Turkish. 8 phrases that the conversation is made of: «Bu fotoğraf kaç yıllık?» — How old is this photograph?; «Elli yıllık. O yıllarda burada tren yoktu.» — Fifty years. In those years there was no train here. Every line can be played right on the page. The conversation is predictable: few lines, and almost all of them repeat from one exchange to the next.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: two people going through old photos and reminiscing. The conversation is short and predictable — which is exactly what makes it good for a first try: few lines, and almost all of them repeat from one exchange to the next.
- Bu fotoğraf kaç yıllık?How old is this photograph?
- Elli yıllık. O yıllarda burada tren yoktu.Fifty years. In those years there was no train here.
- Şu adam kim? Yüzü hâlâ gözümün önünde.And who is this man? I can still see his face as if it were now.
- Dedemin arkadaşı. Duyduğuma göre köyün ilk öğretmeni.My grandfather's friend. I've heard he was the first teacher in the village.
- Bu evin yerinde şimdi ne var?And what stands on the site of that house now?
- Yıkmışlar. Yerine yeni bir bina dikmişler.They tore it down, I hear. They put up a new building in its place.
- Yazık. Bunlar artık mazide kaldı.A pity. All of that is in the past now.
- Öyle. Ama fotoğraflar duruyor, o da bir şey.Yes. But the photographs remain, which is something.
Lines one by one
| Turkish | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Bu fotoğraf kaç yıllık? | — | How old is this photograph? |
| Elli yıllık. O yıllarda burada tren yoktu. | — | Fifty years. In those years there was no train here. |
| Şu adam kim? Yüzü hâlâ gözümün önünde. | — | And who is this man? I can still see his face as if it were now. |
| Dedemin arkadaşı. Duyduğuma göre köyün ilk öğretmeni. | — | My grandfather's friend. I've heard he was the first teacher in the village. |
| Bu evin yerinde şimdi ne var? | — | And what stands on the site of that house now? |
| Yıkmışlar. Yerine yeni bir bina dikmişler. | — | They tore it down, I hear. They put up a new building in its place. |
| Yazık. Bunlar artık mazide kaldı. | — | A pity. All of that is in the past now. |
| Öyle. Ama fotoğraflar duruyor, o da bir şey. | — | Yes. But the photographs remain, which is something. |
How to prepare for a conversation like this
Memorizing the lines is not enough: the other person will say their own thing, not what is written. What helps more is catching the key words by ear and keeping three rescue phrases ready: “I don't understand”, “repeat, please”, “slower”.
And one more thing phrasebooks do not mention: awkwardness gets in the way more than not knowing the words.
- Fear of making mistakes gets in the way of learning a language, and it gets in the way badly. It is one of the most reliably measured findings in the entire field.checked many timesTeimouri, Goetze & Plonsky, 2019, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41(2) · 19,933 participants from 23 countries; correlation with results r = −0.36.
- That fear can be dealt with — the methods have been tested and they work.checked many timesXiong et al., 2024, Journal of Language and Social Psychology · 37 studies, anxiety reduced by −0.61. Of the seven conditions examined, only age turned out to matter.
Frequently asked
How do you start a conversation in Turkish in this situation?
“Bu fotoğraf kaç yıllık?” — How old is this photograph?. The first line in such a conversation is almost always the same, and that is the one worth learning: the other person will carry it from there.
What if you did not understand the reply?
Say “I don't understand” and “repeat, please” — both are in the rescue set. Admitting your language is still shaky almost always makes the other person more patient.
Should you memorize the dialogue?
No. It is more useful to catch the key words by ear: the other person will say their own thing, and a memorized line will not always fit their reply.