Foreign-origin words popular among ‘smart’ Turkish students: Research

Esra Ülkar – ISTANBUL

Students with high IQs and special talents prefer to use words of foreign origin instead of their Turkish correspondences, according to a research conducted by a teacher of Turkish language and literature.

The research studied 48 students aged between 12 and 14 and its findings were included in a magazine issued by the Education Ministry.

The research showed that 40 percent of the surveyed students prefer to use “bye bye” compared with eight percent who use its Turkish correspondence “güle güle.” Also, 47 percent of students use the word “full,” whereas only 1 percent uses its Turkish correspondence of “tam,” the research said.

When asked about the reason for this, some students said that when they use the words’ Turkish correspondences, they could not be completely understood by their friends. Others, on the other hand, said the use of words of foreign origin was “cooler.”

Some 84 percent of the surveyed students see their use of more words of foreign origin as “natural.”

When asked if they pay attention to spelling and punctuation rules while texting others, 92 percent said that they take such rules into consideration only when messaging their elders. But this figure falls to eight percent when they text their friends, the research said.

The survey was undertaken by teacher Sibel Selçuk who is employed at Beşiktaş Art and Science Center in Istanbul.
“Surveyed students said that for Turkish to be used more correctly, consciously and beautifully, media and role models’ language should be improved, and rote-learning based education system should be avoided,” Selçuk said.