About Barış Karakuş

Why Did I Create This Page?

Hi, I’m Barış! This is my personal website where I write about topics that have truly inspired me—primarily linguistics, but also anthropology, history, and culture. For now, I mainly publish articles, but in the future, I plan to create podcasts, YouTube videos, and explore other storytelling mediums. (By the way, if there’s a topic you’d like me to cover,  feel free to send me a message! I’d love to write about it—and if it’s something I’m not familiar with, I’ll gladly research it and share what I learn.)

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Who Am I, and What Have I Done So Far?

Now let’s answer the big question: “Who am I?” Honestly, this is the first time I’m writing my own autobiography, so I’m a little excited! :)

 

I was born on November 2nd, 2000 in the Üsküdar district of Istanbul, though my family originally comes from Sivas, a city in Central Anatolia. After completing elementary and middle school, I started high school. In Turkey, students choose a specialization after two years of high school, and with both my own interest and my brother’s encouragement, I decided to pursue the language track.

 

During high school, I had many opportunities to improve myself, especially in foreign languages. I participated in many English-speaking activities, met people from different backgrounds, learned their cultures, the way how they live and continually worked on my English. Of course, I also had to prepare for the university entrance exam, which doesn’t test speaking or listening skills. So, I spent a lot of time practicing and taking mock exams to get ready.

 

Eventually, I achieved the score I wanted and was accepted into Yeditepe University’s English Language and Literature program. University was a turning point in my life—it opened so many doors for me.

 

 

 

 

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During these years, I developed new hobbies, like camping! I traveled across many parts of Turkey, camping and hitchhiking along the way. I even completed the Lycian Way trek (highly recommended!).

 

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To get back to the point: yes, I learned so much in university, both academically and socially. I won’t go into every detail (otherwise, this would never end!), but I want to highlight a few key experiences.

 

During the pandemic, I worked at my university’s Department of Corporate Communication as a Student Assistant, which allowed me to stay in the dormitory while most people were stuck at home. The campus was off-limits to outsiders, so I had this unique sense of freedom—I was living on campus while the world outside stood still.

 

At that same time, I landed my first real job: I became an online English teacher for a Sweden-based language school, despite only being a freshman. Surprisingly, I already had a lot of students—I’m still not sure why… (Just kidding—it was probably because I had dreadlocks back then, and everyone was curious about me, so they all wanted to take lessons from me!)

 

After leaving that job, I started working as an English teacher at a language school in Istanbul. I gained valuable experience there, but after 1.5 years, I decided to move on. Inspired by these experiences, a friend and I even tried to start our own language school, but eventually, we went our separate ways.

 

Here comes the most exciting academic part: I started taking Chinese classes at university, and by the end of the spring semester, thanks to my professor, my classmates and I received scholarships to study at Nankai University in China. After returning to Turkey, I worked for nine months as an assistant at the Confucius Institute. (It was the first time I ever had my own office!) This was my first experience of the academic professional world.

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Later, with the support of my father—a real estate consultant with 35 years of experience—I made a big shift and found myself working in real estate. I chose not to work directly with my father because, although he had decades of experience, he had become set in his ways and I wanted a more structured, corporate environment. So, I joined a corporate real estate firm. Unfortunately, I never really enjoyed this field, but I learned as much as I could before leaving.
Today, I’m not entirely detached from real estate—I continue to help my father and work alongside him in the business.

 

A Few More Things About Me

I’m a Scorpio (though I don’t know my rising sign—I should probably ask!). I’ve always been a social person. I love listening to people, learning from them, and sharing knowledge. Thanks to this, I’ve met all kinds of people throughout my life and learned so much from them.

 

Honestly, it reminds me a bit of learning to drive. Sure, you can pass a theoretical and practical driving test, but you don’t really learn how to drive until you get behind the wheel and start navigating real roads. That’s when you encounter courteous drivers, reckless ones, and everything in between—those are the real teachers.

Anyway, back to the point: I love traveling. I’ve visited many places around the world, especially in East Asia (I prefer this term over “Far East” since locals don’t like the latter). As I mentioned earlier, I went to China for education, and I’ve traveled to Thailand, exploring Buddhism and Eastern philosophy along the way. I’ve had incredible experiences and grew so much from them.

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I’ve also been to Iran multiple times—on my first trip, I hitchhiked 5,000 kilometers! I used Couchsurfing to stay with locals and shopkeepers, meeting amazing people, hearing unforgettable stories, and immersing myself in their lives. My trip to Kazakhstan was also eye-opening, especially in terms of learning about Turkic languages and culture, and it sparked my desire to visit more Turkic countries in the future.

 

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My Life Goal

I believe life is very difficult without a sense of purpose. But life can’t revolve around just one single goal—we can have both short-term and long-term goals.
I won’t list them all here, but I can tell you what they all have in common:
“To be someone who contributes something meaningful to the world and humanity before I die.”
I truly think that should be the shared foundation of all our goals.

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My Motto

“Everything happens for a reason.”
We’re all human. Yes, bad and painful things happen. But we must remember that life goes on. Every experience teaches us something. I always ask myself:
What lesson can I take from this? Was it an inevitable outcome? Why did it happen? What led to it? How can this benefit me?
That’s how I try to approach life—and I highly recommend it.

Why I Created a Patreon, and Why Your Support Matters to Me

If you believe in my sincerity, trust that I’ll create meaningful work, or simply enjoy my content, you can support me by subscribing to my Patreon account above.
With your support, I’ll be able to sustain myself and move forward toward my goals with confidence.