One of the first Turkish phrases you will hear when you come to Turkey is “Hoş geldiniz!” (hosh gel’-dee-neez), which means “Welcome!” I heard it from the stewardesses and pilots when we were getting off the plane. [Let me just add an aside here to say Turkish people absolutely love children. The pilot of the plane came out and pinched our little three-year-old's cheeks when we were leaving the plane.]

We also hear it when we enter someone’s home or a restaurant.

If you want to impress your host, you can reply, “Hoş bulduk,” (hosh bull’-dook), which means, basically, “came well!”–at least I’m guessing it means that.