Culture - Language – Grammar The Role of Polish and Turkish Proverbs in Teaching Turkish

Abstract

As it is well known cultural life and mindset of a country is reflected in a specialway in proverbs. There are proverbs in all languages. Proverbs show not only theability to speak, but also the view of the world and the culture experienced in a givensociety using a particular language. In this paper I will examine the role of proverbsin teaching the Turkish language. On the one hand, Turkey's culture and value systemwill be discussed, on the other - the structures of the Turkish language used in proverbs,and of course the methods of using proverbs in the process of teaching Turkish.Language contains all the cultural activities. It is possible to find proverbs, and ofcourse the methods of using proverbs in the process of teaching Turkish.in languagesimple everyday conversations, scientific terms, prose and poems, courtesy words,proverbs, prayers, rituals and songs. So a language can be perceived as a nation'scultural archive. In such context proverbs play a very important role. They are meansof commenting and evaluating, of passing on to the new generations the values of theculture, of preserving the rules and logic of a language, and preserving the languageitself with its vocabulary and grammar. Therefore, proverbs are an indispensableaspect of language instruction.The oldest form of the language and the most important elements of one's cultureare found in proverbs. Through the proverbs it is possible to recognize and learn theculture one lives in, the lifestyle of the ancestors, thoughts and values . Every societyusing their own language expresses its history, traditions and culture and does it inthe most beautiful way the language allows. But proverbs include other information aswell. Proverbs show the structure of a language and literary styles. The most Turkishproverbs use present simple tense, imperative, or gerunds.Even if proverbs appear simple, they contain many different literary stylisticcharacteristics, affirmative and negative sentences, use phrases and rhyme, rhythm orintricate structures and meaning. The primary target of a teaching a foreign languageis, by using all of the features mentioned, to show and transmit to the students thebeauty and power of the language and the elements of culture which are expressedin it.