Pen pals in Türkiye

If you have been writing "Turkey" on your envelopes, your pen pal will not mind, but it is worth knowing why the spelling on this page is different. In Turkish the country has always been Türkiye, and in 2022 the government asked the United Nations and other international bodies to use that name in every language. Many people abroad still say Turkey in conversation; using Türkiye in a letter is a small, friendly signal that you have paid attention.

A second thing worth getting right early: Istanbul is the largest city, the one most visitors know, and the one that straddles Europe and Asia across the Bosphorus, but the capital is Ankara, in the middle of the country. Plenty of outsiders mix the two up, and a pen pal from Ankara has almost certainly been asked about it.

Breakfast, tea and the shape of a week

Weekday mornings are as rushed as anywhere, but a weekend kahvaltı (breakfast) can be a long, sociable event: cheeses, olives, tomatoes and cucumbers, eggs, honey and clotted cream, bread, and tea poured again and again into small tulip-shaped glasses. Tea is offered at home, in shops and at work so routinely that refusing every glass can seem a little cold. Asking a pen pal what their family's weekend breakfast looks like is an easy, revealing opener.

The school year runs from September to June in two semesters, with a winter break of about two weeks in late January and early February.

Good first questions

• What does a weekend breakfast look like in your house?
• Which city or region are you from, and what is it known for inside Türkiye?
• How does your family spend Bayram?
• What did you do for 23 April when you were younger?

Seasons that depend on the coast

Türkiye is big and the climate shifts sharply across it. The Aegean and Mediterranean coasts have hot, dry summers and mild winters; the Black Sea coast is green and rainy, known for tea and hazelnuts; and the central plateau and the east have proper winters with heavy snow. A pen pal in Antalya and one in Erzurum will describe January in completely different terms.

The language of daily life is Turkish, written in the Latin alphabet since 1928 with a few extra letters: ç, ş, ğ, ö, ü and a dotless ı alongside the dotted i. Turkish builds words by adding suffixes, so one long word can do the work of a short English sentence; learners often find that fascinating once the first shock wears off. Kurdish is also spoken by a large community, and several other languages are used in particular regions and families. A simple "Merhaba" works as a greeting anywhere.

The holidays people look forward to

• Ramazan Bayramı, also called Şeker Bayramı (the sugar holiday), follows the fasting month of Ramadan. Families visit relatives, younger people traditionally kiss the hands of their elders, and children are given sweets and sometimes a little money.
• Kurban Bayramı, the Feast of the Sacrifice, comes about two months later. Both follow the Islamic lunar calendar and move around eleven days earlier each year.
• National Sovereignty and Children's Day on 23 April is dedicated to children, with school performances and events.
• Republic Day on 29 October marks the founding of the Republic in 1923, with flags and evening celebrations in cities.

Customs vary by family and region, so it is better to ask than to assume; our guide to writing across cultures has some practical pointers for doing that gracefully.