Turkish is spoken by over 200 million people and is the world’s 7th most widely used language, out of over 4000. Today’s Turkish has evolved from dialects known since the 11th century and is one of the group of languages known as Ural-Altaic which includes Finnish and Hungarian. It can be quite difficult to get to grips with Turkish. Words sound unfamiliar and even the way they are written appears strange. The key, however, is the Turkish version of the Latin alphabet – the same one which is used for English with the addition of 6 different characters. Turkish is unusual in that it is completely phonetic each letter of the alphabet has only one sound, so each word sounds exactly how it is written. During Otoman times Turkish was written in Arabic script, which few people could write, so in 1928, Atatürk, founder of the Turkish Republic decided to switch to the new alphabet to improve levels of literacy. Once you get the hang of the sounds of the letters (see page 91 for tips) you can improve your vocabulary with a few basics such as taksi, çizburger and ketçap – the ç is pronounced as ‘ch’ so just try saying them out loud! Although English is widely spoken in tourist areas, it will stil be appreciated if you make the effort to learn a few phrases. Turn to page 92 of this guide for some suggestions.
The official language is Turkish. English and German are widely spoken in major cities and tourist resorts, and you will find that most Turks welcome the opportunity to practise their language skills and will go out of their way to be helpful. Foreign visitors who attempt to speak even a few words of Turkish, however, will definitely be rewarded with even warmer smiles. It is not an easy language to learn, however, it does have one huge advantage in that it is completely phonetic. Unlike English, each letter of the alphabet has only one sound and is always pronounced in exactly the same way, apart from in combination with ‘y’ or ‘ÄŸ’. Even foreign words used in Turkish are adapted into Turkish phonetic spellings, which can offer some clues towards pronounciation – try saying the following out loud: ket軋p, taksi, futbol, ofsayt. Turkish is based on the Roman alphabet and most letters are pronounced as in English. There is no ‘q’, ‘w’ or ‘x’ in Turkish and there are some additional characters. The accent usually falls on the first syllable in the word. The following should give you a rough guide to pronounciation:
a_ a cross between a long and short ‘a’ somewhere between the ‘a’ in ‘man’ and the ‘a’ sound in ‘are’
c_ pronounced as our ‘j’ as in ‘jam’
ç_ pronounced ‘ch’ as in ‘church’
e_ a short sound as in ‘egg’
g_ is a hard ‘g’ as in ‘go’
ÄŸ this character is silent but elongates the vowel to either side of it
ı_ pronounced like the ‘er’ in ‘number’
i_ a short sound as in ‘ink’
o_ pronounced as in ‘off’
ö_ pronounced as in the ‘or’ sound (with a silent ‘r’) in ‘word’
s is a hissing sound as in ‘seven’
ÅŸ pronounced ‘sh’ as in ‘shut’
u pronounced as in the ‘oo’ in ‘cool’
ü pronounced as in the
‘u’ sound in ‘fuse’
‘y’ is generally used to separate vowels and creates some slightly different sounds in combination as follows:
‘ay’ pronounced ‘eye’;
‘ey’ pronounced as in ‘they’;
‘iy’ pronounced ‘ee’
One of the difficult things about Turkish is that even the everyday words are quite complicated so we have tried to choose the easiest alternatives in the list below. The pronounciations we have shown are not exact, but we have tried to find the nearest approximation to the Turkish sounds, which are easy for English-speakers to pronounce whilst still enabling you to be understood. If you look at the pronounciation guide for individual letters above, that will give you some extra tips.
Some useful words and phrases:
Hello Merhaba (mare-hah-bah)
Good_Morning G・aydin (goon- eye-din) (said on meeting)
Good_Day Ä°yi g・ler (ee-yee goo –n-ler) (said on meeting or parting)
Good evening Ä°yi akÅŸamlar (ee-yee ak-sham-lar) (said on meeting or parting)
Good night Ä°yi geceler (ee-yee gedge -e-ler) (said on meeting or parting)
Please L・fen (lute-fen)
Thanks TeÅŸekkurler (tesh-e-k・– ler)
Yes Evet (e-vet)
No Hayır (higher)
I want Ä°stiyorum (ist –ee-your-um)
When? Ne zaman? (nay za-man)
Today Bug・ (boo-goon)
Tomorrow Yarın (yah-run)
Where? Nerede (ne’re-de)
My name is ……. Ä°smim …… (is-mim)
England Ä°ngiltere (in-gill-terre-e)
Ireland Ä°rlanda (ear-landa)
Scotland Iskocya (i-scotch-ya)
Wales Galler (gal-ler)
Water su (sue)
Milk sut (suit)
Beer bira (beer-a)
Wine Sarap (shar-ap)
Tea Cay (ch-eye)
Coffee kahve (car-vay)
Food yemek (ye-meck)
Be careful! Dikkat!
Numbers
1 bir (beer)
2 iki (icky)
3 uc (ooch)
4 dort (dirt)
5 beÅŸ (besh)
6 altı (al-ter)
7 yedi (yea-dee)
8 sekiz (seck-is)
9 dokuz (dock-uz)
10 on (on)
Days of theWeek
Monday Pazartesi
Tuesday Salı
Wednesday ﾇarşamba
Thursday PerÅŸembe
Friday Cuma
Saturday Cumartesi
Sunday Pazar
Improving your Turkish
There are a number of phrase books and language guides, some with audio cassettes or CD’s, which are widely available. There are also evening classes as well as school and university courses available in London and other major cities in the UK and Ireland. Alternatively TOMER, the Turkish & Foreign Language Research & Application Center, which is part of the University of Ankara runs courses for foreigners wishing to learn Turkish throughout Turkey and has recently launched an online learning centre. |
