Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

I had known that German is the second language for quite a few older people in Turkey. Many of them went to Germany as guest workers to help rebuild the country after World War II. Many stayed, of course, but many also returned.

This evening I went across the street to eat at a little restaurant that bills itself as Turkish home cooking. The cook and proprietress is a dear woman, mother of two children. However, I’ve always seen an older woman floating around in the background, helping. And a gentleman always takes your money as you leave.

I’d kind of given up going there for dinner because the lunch at school is so filling. However, today a new faculty member, an economist from Canada, moved into the building. He was looking for someone to go eat with him, since he had nothing in his apartment. He also wanted to borrow our communal mop, bucket and broom to clean out his apartment and needed some basics like water, milk, shower squeegee and asked me to accompany him to our corner store. Kind of funny that I’ve become an expert.

Anyhow, I went to the restaurant, and the older woman said something to me in German. I answered back in German. I think she wanted to say something in English but didn't know any English. So she did the next best thing -- used the little German she knew. It turns out she lived in Germany for 11 years, and her daughter teaches German in a high school in Gaziantep. Then when the gentleman came in to take our money, he also spoke German. In fact, he had a very good accent and a better grasp of the language than the woman I assume is his wife. He apologized, saying he’d been back in Turkey for 30 years, but I was amazed at how well he did. They said to come back tomorrow to speak with their daughter. I’ll do that. Small world. Maybe I’ll trade German conversation for some VERY BASIC Turkish conversation