Modern Turkish (Türkçe, İstanbul Türkçesi, Türkiye Türkçesi) is a rich and beautiful language spoken by around 63 million people in Turkey and Northern Cyprus, as well as minorities in Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece, Germany, Kosovo, Romania, Syria and Iran. Knowing Turkish will open the doors to the cultures and peculiarities of the Turks, the Balkans, and the Silk Road of Central Asia, where the cultures, people and landscapes will enchant, enlighten and kidnap you.
Take the opportunity to learn the language to make your travels even more enjoyable. If you are going to work with Turkey or the Northern part of Cyprus, it will be of great help to learn the basics of the language.
Modern Turkish is the descendant of Ottoman Turkish, different in vocabulary and alphabet, and is very similar to Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Al Qashqai and Gagauz, as well as Central Asian and Siberia Turkish languages such as Kyrgyz, Kazakh, Uzbek, Uyghur, Tuva, Tofa, Tatar, and Crimean Tatar.
Steps
Step 1. Consider the fact that Turkish is one of the most flexible languages in the world, and that words make sense even if you don't pronounce them in the correct order
This is a great advantage if you have difficulty learning the logical order of a language.
Step 2. Always put the verb at the end of the sentence
It is easy to remember but requires a lot of practice.
Step 3. Try to speak to native Turkish speakers in person
You can talk to people who know Turkish on MSN, Skype, etc. You can also find them in chat rooms and on many other websites, such as the Turkish version of wikiHow.
Step 4. Try the online lessons
You have many choices available, complete with examples of pronunciation from native speakers. Repeatedly imitating phrases you hear is a great way to learn.
Step 5. Install Turkish operating systems
This will force you to learn the words of the programs and activities you perform on your computer every day. A great way to learn by tricking your brain!
Step 6. Visit Turkey and Northern Cyprus
This will inspire you to accelerate learning, especially when it comes to hotels, shopping, hygiene and food.
Step 7. Watch Turkish soap operas
They are a great teaching tool and are also a lot of fun.
Step 8. Read books in Turkish
Start with children's books and gradually work your way up to more advanced ones.
Step 9. Listen to Turkish pop and folk music
Music is a perfect tool for improving intonation, and repeated choruses are great for getting sentences into your head.
Advice
- Listening is very important in learning Turkish, because verbs are very difficult to learn. Try to learn how to pronounce verbs before testing yourself with Turkish grammar.
- The Turkish spoken outside Istanbul is characterized by many different accents and dialects. Don't worry if you can't understand what you are told in the beginning. Spend some time, and devote your attention to listening to the speaker's dialect. Before you know it, your ears will get used to the language and you can understand everything!
- Turkish is a language that is read as it is written. Each sound is expressed with a letter. Therefore the pronunciation is rather easy.
Warnings
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Don't be discouraged if a young Turk wants to practice his Italian with you while you try to speak to him in Turkish. Keep insisting on speaking Turkish and eventually you will be satisfied! Two useful phrases that might help you include:
- "Hadi Türkçe konuşalım." - We speak Turkish.
- "italianizce bilmiyorum" - I don't know Italian.
- Learning Turkish takes a long time if you are not used to the nature of Turkish languages. Turkish is a language that uses suffixes, and it is possible to create very long and complex words by adding suffixes to other suffixes and roots to create words and verbs with new meanings.
