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Ece Öyken Ece Öyken was born and brought up in Istanbul, Turkey. She holds a BA in Sociology from the Marmara University in Turkey and an MA in UNESCO: World Heritage Studies from the Brandenburg Technical University in Germany. She is a PhD candidate in Interdisciplinary Information Studies at the University of Tokyo in Japan. Coming from a family with a long teaching tradition, Ece takes every opportunity to teach with great enthusiasm and motivation. When she was working at a private museum in Istanbul, she designed an education package for students by integrating elementary school curriculum with museum artifacts. She is very glad to be working with the TurkishClass101.com team, and hopes that the listeners will enjoy her work as well. |
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Gül Sevin Pekmezci Gül Sevin was born in Bursa, Turkey. She is a native Turkish speaker, and also speaks English, Italian and Japanese. She completed her undergraduate in Astronomy and Space Sciences along with two co-majors in Physics and Mathematics at the University of Ankara, and her postgraduate degree in Environmental Sciences with a thesis at Kandilli Observatory of Bogazici University in Istanbul. Currently she’s doing her doctorate in Planetary Sciences at the University of Rome. Her first book, a scientific-philosophical-psychological novel, has been published in Turkey. She is content to be part of the team, and writing for TurkishClass101.com is a pleasure for her rather than work. |
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Feyza Seyfi Feyza Seyfi was born and raised in Turkey. She is now a PhD student at the University of Tokyo, in the Graduate School of Medicine. Feyza is a native speaker of Turkish, is fluent in English and Japanese, and has also studied French and German. Currently, she is teaching Turkish at companies in Japan. She enjoys singing, dancing, and yoga. |
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Mehmet Faruk Mehmet Faruk Ciftci was born in Tekirdag in Turkey. Majoring in Japanese language and literature at Ankara University, Mehmet is a native speaker of Turkish, and also speaks Japanese and English. Currently, Mehmet is an undergraduate student and has been living in Japan for eight months, as an exchange student at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. He is very interested in Japanese culture and society. He is also an illustrator and graffiti artist. |
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Elif Sercen Nurcan Elif was born and raised in Ankara for the most part, and is currently an exchange student at Waseda University. She is hoping to finish her undergraduate studies in 2016, then return to her home university, Bogazici University. She’s been studying Political Science and Economics and working as a tutor of English, Turkish, and Japanese, and a freelance translator (English-Turkish) since 2011. She’s fluent in English, Turkish, and Japanese; Korean, Italian, German, and her ancestral language Circassian are the other languages she knows. Having lived in Washington DC for three years, she’s seen the sakura on both the Potomac and Sumida rivers. For now, she’s set her sights on becoming a scholar and continuing to help people learn new things. |
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Serdar Tuncay Serdar was born in Izmir, which is one of the most beautiful cities on the west coast of Turkey. Before moving to Japan in 2012, he lived in Istanbul for fifteen years. He has also spent time living in Fortaleza, Brazil. Serdar speaks Turkish (native), English (advanced), Japanese (intermediate), and Portuguese (intermediate), and studied at a Japanese language school for fifteen months. In July 2014, he passed the JLPT N3 (Japanese Proficiency Level Test). He graduated from the Hotel Management and Tourism High School in Kusadasi, and worked in the hospitality business for a long time. He likes Japan, its people, culture, language, and food, and is passionate about languages, finding them very interesting to learn and teach. Currently, he gives private Turkish classes in Tokyo. |
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Roza Talantemur Roza was born and raised in Sanliurfa in Turkey. She is an undergraduate student at Bogazici University in Turkey, majoring in Economics. Currently, she is on exchange at a university in Tokyo. Roza is interested in anime and manga, so she has been learning Japanese for two years. She enjoys helping people learn Turkish at TurkishClass101.com. |
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Selin Öztürk Selin was born in Antalya, Turkey. She studied Business Administration at Yeditepe University in Istanbul, Turkey, and obtained her master’s degree in International Business and Development Studies at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan. She doesn’t only speak Turkish, her native language. She also speaks English, Japanese, and German.
She is interested in dancing, especially Japanese idol dancing. She even won a notable idol dancing competition, the so-called Unidol, in 2014. |
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İpek Türköz Born and raised in Izmir, Turkey, Ipek is also a citizen of the USA. She is an industrial engineer who has worked at many different international companies as a manager and a consultant before deciding to change her career path about seven to eight years ago. Since then, she has been working as a translator, a Turkish/English tutor, and a writer. In addition to writing articles for TurkishClass101, Ipek also loves spending time with her daughter, going ice skating, and traveling. |
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Seda Sürel Seda Sürel is a true lover of culture, language, and nature. Born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey, she also spent some time in the United States before returning to her beloved hometown. Seda has always been passionate about exploring different cultures and languages, which led her to pursue a degree in Comparative Literature at Bilgi University and later, History at Istanbul University. Her interests in cultural studies and her love for fauna and flora eventually drew her towards studying Agriculture, where she enjoys working with plants and learning about the natural world.
Seda’s diverse experiences and interests have also led her down various career paths, including teaching Turkish for over seven years, working as an English teacher, editor, and copywriter. She has a natural talent for communicating with people and sharing her knowledge and enthusiasm for different subjects. She is a lifelong learner who enjoys exploring new opportunities and experiences. |
