Speaking Turkish w/ the students of NSLI-Y

[vimeo width=”640″ height=”360″]http://vimeo.com/48667985[/vimeo]

Learning another language has never been my strong suit. Every time we are working abroad I have this sense of shame when I can’t greet someone in their own tongue, instead reverting to silence or worse “Hello”.

But language is more than just a way to order food or ask for directions, it’s the first real step towards the deeper understanding so often absent in the world. This struck me more than ever a few months ago when we were shooting a video for NSLI (a State Department sponsored language exchange program) in Northern Turkey.

We saw how learning a language like Turkish can unlock family connections, life long friendships and a rarely understood culture. The above video is about the language learning adventure of American exchange students in a truly beautiful country.