From scratch!
Ders 1

Lesson 1. Letters and sounds. Greetings.

Turkish alphabet

Letters Turkish alphabet	Russian letters alphabet, designation approximately the same sounds	Transk- ription	a brief description of Turkish sounds
A a	A	[A]	More open, wider than Russian
B b	B	[Bae]	Less sonorous than corresponding Russian
C c	*	[Jae]	A sound that can be conveyed by a combination of Russian letters "j"
Ç ç	H	[Chae]
D d	D	[De]
E e	E, E	[E, E]	Not noted in the original, but "e" may sound like: - English /æ/ before l, m, n, r - /e/ - in final position - /e/ - in all other cases
F f	F	[Fe]
G g	G	[Ge]
Ğ ğ	*		This letter is not readable in words; it lengthens the previous vowel and gives it a guttural sound.
H h	X	[He]
I	Y	[s]	More posterior than the corresponding Russian "y"
i	AND	[AND]
J j	AND	[Zhe]	Occurs in words of foreign origin
K k	TO	[Ke]	At the end of a syllable or word there is a characteristic softening, which is not observed in the Russian language
Ll	L	[Le]
Mm	M	[Me]
Nn	N	[Not]
O o	ABOUT	[ABOUT]
Ö ö	*		This sound can be conveyed by merging the Russian “o” and “e”
P p	P	[Pe]
R r	R	[D]	At the end of words it can be pronounced as "zh/sh"
Ss	WITH	[Xie]
Ş ş	Sh	[She]
T t	T	[Te]	There is some aspiration at the beginning of words
U u	U	[U]
Ü ü	*		This sound can be conveyed by merging the Russian “u” and “yu”
V v	IN	[Ve]
Y y	*	[Ye]
Z z	Z	[Ze]

Sign * indicates that this sound has no equivalent in the Russian language.

There are 29 letters in Turkish.
The vowels are - a, ı, o, u, e, i, ö, ü
The consonants are - b c ç d f g ğ h k l m n p r s ş t v y z

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Combining the letter "y" with vowels and consonants

In Turkish, when the letter “y” is combined with vowels, so-called diphthongs arise:

1. y + vowel

Y + a = ya (i):

Y + ı = yı (ыы):

Y + o = yo (ё):

No, not available

Y + u = yu (yu):

Y + e = ye (e):

1) eat, 2) food

Y + i = yi (yi):

Twenty

Y + ö = yö (yo):

Side, direction

Y + ü = yü (yu):

Cargo, burden

2. vowel + y

A + y = ay (ay):

Mirror

ı + y = ıy (th):

O + y = ou (oh):

Bay, small bay

U + y = uy (y):

Character

E + y = ey:

I + y = iy:

Good

ö + y = öy (about like ёy):

Town, village

ü + y = üy (about like yuy):

3. Combination of consonants with the letter “y”

The pronunciation of some consonants preceding “y” is softened:

İspanya - [Spain]
Estonia - [Estonia]

Accent

In Turkish, in most cases the stress falls on the last syllable of a word. The exception is some adverbs and borrowed words, geographical names.

Dàima - always		nàsıl - how
Bursa - Bursa		İ̀zmir - Izmir
Sinema - cinema		gazete - newspaper

Additional icons used in Turkish graphics

Sometimes in Turkish graphics you can find two icons:

1. ˆ - a sign of softening and continuation, lengthening. Lengthens vowels a, u, coming after consonants g, k, l:

Kâbus (nightmare), rüzgâr (wind), selâm (hello)

In some words this icon plays a semantic role. Wed:

Âlem - peace
Alem - crescent on a mosque
Dâhi - genius
Dahi - even, also

2. ` - separator. Used to separate case affixes in proper names:

İstanbul`da - in Istanbul
Ahmet`in arabası - Ahmet's machine

Lesson vocabulary

abla- elder sister, address to elder sister
ağabey- elder brother, address to elder brother
aile- family
anne- mother, appeal to mother
Araba- car
arkadaş- Friend
baba- father, appeal to father
cetvel- ruler
Santa- bag
ciçek- flower
defter- notebook
ders- lesson, activity
dolap- closet

ev- house
insan- Human
kalem- pen-pencil
kapı- door
kedi- cat Kitty
kitap- book
köpek- dog
masa- table
oğul- son
öğrenci- pupil, student
öğretmen- teacher
pencere- window
sıra- desk
sokak- Street
şehir- city

Exercise 1.1. Read the words:

Sözlük, köpek, köşe, köy, öğrenci, dört, göz, ödev, gök
Dünya, gün, düğme, büyük, güzel, üç, bütün, müdür, ülke, güneş, gün
Cetvel, pencere, ceket, gece, cam, öğrenci
Çiçek, çanta, kaç, çok, çocuk, uçak, çam
Oğul, değil, öğretmen, ağabey, öğle, dağ, buğday, yağmur, ağaç
Arkadaş, hoş, yaş, kuş, şimdi, şaka, meşe, akşam
Arı, sıra, silgi, balık, kız, iş, ılık, ışık, deniz, yıldız, sınır
Yıl, yalan, ay, yoğurt, terbiye

Exercise 1.2. Read the words:

Baba, anne, adı, araba, sözlük, cetvel, sıra, mektup, pencere, kedi, köpek, tahta, insan, an, kuzu, ders, aile, abla, defter, dünya, masa, ev, kapı, söz, çiçek, arkadaş, oğul, şehir, dolap, sokak, oda, kalem, kitap, yıldız, deniz.

Exercise 1.3. Translate the words into Turkish:

Book, door, table, mom, dad, older sister, teacher, closet, window, dog, lesson, house, bag, ruler, family, student, son, flower, cat, street, city, pen, family, older brother, Friend.

Demonstrative pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns are used to denote objects and phenomena in Turkish. bu, şu, oh.

Bu Araba. - This is a car. (close)
Şu Santa. - This is a bag. (a little further)
ABOUT pencere. - This is a window. (far)

The peculiarity of these demonstrative pronouns is that when denoting objects (living and inanimate) and phenomena, they indicate the degree of distance of the object from the speaker, i.e. pronoun bu denotes an object located in immediate, visible proximity to the speaker ( verbatim This). Pronoun şu indicates something that is a little further from the speaker's eyes ( verbatim That). Pronoun o points to objects located in a field of vision distant from the speaker. ( verbatim over there). Pronoun o is also a personal pronoun of the 3rd person singular - he she it .

Dialogues

Merhaba Ahmet! (Hello, Akhmet!)

Merhaba Ali! (Hello Ali!)

Nasılsın? (How are you?)

Teşekkür ederim. İyiyim. Sen nasılsın? (Thank you, I'm fine. How are you?)

Ben de iyiyim. (I'm fine too.)

The Turkish alphabet consists of 29 letters. Of these, 21 letters are consonants, 8 are vowels.

The modern Turkish alphabet provides a one-to-one correspondence between letters and characters; Each sound has a different letter, and each letter represents a different sound.

This is why Turkish words are read the way they are written and written the way they are read.

№	Capital letter	small letter	In Russian	Reading a letter
1	A	a	A	A	A
2	B	b	B	Be	Be
3	C	c	(1)	Ce	(1)
4	Ç	ç	H	Çe	Che
5	D	d	D	De	De
6	E	e	(2)	E	(2)
7	F	f	F	Fe	Fe
8	G	g	G(*)	Ge	Ge
9	Ğ	ğ	(3)	Yumusak "g"	(3)
10	H	h	X	He	Heh
11	I	ı	Y	I	Y
12	İ	i	AND	i	AND
13	J	j	AND	Je	Same
14	K	k	TO(*)	Ke	Ke
15	L	l	L(*)	Le	Le
16	M	m	M	Me	Meh
17	N	n	N	Ne	Not
18	O	o	ABOUT	O	ABOUT
19	Ö	ö	(4)	Ö	(4)
20	P	p	P	Pe	Pe
21	R	r	R	Re	Re
22	S	s	WITH	Se	Xie
23	Ş	ş	Sh	Şe	She
24	T	t	T	Te	Those
25	U	u	U	U	U
26	Ü	ü	(5)	Ü	(5)
27	V	v	IN	Ve	Ve
28	Y	y	(6)	Yes	(6)
29	Z	z	Z	Ze	Ze

1) C - c: The name of this letter is "Ce" (je).

For example: Cam, cevap, cıvcıv, cımbız, coşku, cuma, cömert, cüzdan; sac, gece.

2) E - e: The name of this letter is "E". This letter at the beginning of a word is read as “E”, and in the middle and at the end of the word as “E”.

For example: Emir, dev, ne, ekmek, sevgi, ders, kemer, elma, ekin, erik.

3) Ğ - ğ: This letter is called "Yumuşak G" (ge soft). In most cases, this letter is not read, but only adds length to the preceding vowel. Sometimes it is read very soft, almost like the letter Y. There are no words in Turkish , starting with this letter.

For example: Ağ, değer, iğne, ığdır, oğul, öğle, uğur, düğme.

Despite the fact that this letter is practically unreadable, you need to pay attention to it. Incorrect reading may result in an error.

For example: Dağ (mountain) - da (and, too); ağrı (pain) - arı (bee); eğlenmek (to have fun) - elenmek (to drop out.).

4) Ö - ö: This letter denotes a sound that is intermediate between our sounds “o” and “e”. The lips are rounded and extended forward in a tube (slightly narrower than when pronouncing the letter “o”), while the tongue is motionless. This letter never appears at the end of words.

For example: Örnek, öpmek, özlem, Ömer, ötmek, övmek, ölmek; göz, ​​göl, börek, bölmek

5) Ü - ü: When pronouncing this sound, the lips are also extended forward in a tube (even narrower than when pronouncing “ö”; the tongue is also motionless). The main differences when pronouncing the sounds “ö” and “ü” are that when pronouncing “ü” the lips move further forward and are almost closed. This sound is also pronounced as a cross between the Russian "u" and "yu".

For example: Üç, ün, ülke, ümit, üst, üye, üstat; gül, tül, kül, Betül, güven, ütü, üzüm, gürültü

6) Y - y: This letter is called "Ye" (e). It is read differently depending on the letters surrounding it. Y is a consonant.

1) ...y (...th): bay, bey, tay, rey, ney, çay, köy, toy, duy.
2) Ya... (I...): yatak, yan, yalan, yanın, yastık, yanş.
3) Ye... (e...): yemek, yem, yelek, yetenek, yer, yeşil.
4) Yı... (yy...): yılan, yırtık, yıkık, yıldırım, yıldız, yıkamak.
5) Yi... (yi...): yine, yirmi, yiyecek, yiğit.
6) Yo... (yo...): yol, yok, yorgun, yorgan, yoksul, yokuş.
7) YÖ... (yo...): yön, yöntem, yöre, yönetmen, yörünge.
8) Yu... (yu...): yurt, yuva, yukan, yulaf, yumruk, yumurta
9) YÜ... (yu...): yün, yüzük, yük, yüksek, yürek, yüz.

In addition, in Turkish, each of the letters “g”, “k” and “l” corresponds to two sounds: soft and hard. However, in writing they do not differ.

(Türk Alfabesi)

	big letter	small letter	in Russian	reading letters
				Yumusak “g”

1) C – c: The name of this letter is “Ce” ( je).

For example:

Cam, cevap, civciv, cımbız, coşku, cuma, cömert, cüzdan; sac, gece, etc.

2) E – e: The name of this letter is “E” ( uh). This letter at the beginning of a word is read as “E” and in the middle and at the end of the word as “E”

For example:

Emir, dev, ne, ekmek, sevgi, ders, kemer, elma, ekin, erik, etc.

3) Ğ – ğ: This letter is called “Yumuşak G” ( ge soft). In most cases, this letter is not read, but only adds length to the preceding vowel. Sometimes it is read very softly, almost like the letter Y. There are no words in Turkish that begin with this letter.

For example:

Ağ, değer, iğne, ığdır, oğul, öğle, uğur, düğme, etc.

ATTENTION! Despite the fact that this letter is practically unreadable, you need to pay attention to it. Incorrect reading may result in errors.

For example:

Dağ ( mountain) –da ( and also); ağrı ( pain) – ari ( bee); eğlenmek ( have fun) – elenmek ( drop out) etc.

4) Ö – ö: This letter denotes a sound that is intermediate between our sounds “o” and “e”. The lips are rounded and stretched forward in a tube (slightly narrower than when pronouncing the letter “o”), while the tongue is motionless. This letter never appears at the end of words.

For example:

Örnek, öpmek, özlem, Ömer, ötmek, övmek, ölmek; göz, ​​göl, börek, bölmek...

5) Ü – ü: When pronouncing this sound, the lips are also extended forward in a tube (even narrower than when pronouncing ö; the tongue is also motionless. The main differences when pronouncing the sounds ö and ü are that when pronouncing ü, the lips move forward further and when This sound is also pronounced as something between the Russian “u” and “yu”.

For example:

Üç, ün, ülke, ümit, üst, üye, üstat; gül, tül, kül, Betül, güven, ütü, üzüm, gürültü...

6) Y – y: This letter is called “Ye” ( e). It is read differently depending on the letters surrounding it. Y is a consonant. Below are examples of words in which it appears next to various vowel letters.

For example:

1) ...-y (...th): bay, bey, tay, rey, ney, çay, köy, toy, duy...

2) Ya... (I...): yatak, yan, yalan, yarım, yastık, yarış...

3) Ye... (e...): yemek, yem, yelek, yetenek, yer, yeşil...

4) Yı... (yy...): yılan, yırtık, yıkık, yıldırım, yıldız, yıkamak...

5) Yi... (yi...): yine, yirmi, yiyecek, yiğit...

6) Yo... (yo...): yol, yok, yorgun, yorgan, yoksul, yokuş...

7) Yö... (yo...): yön, yöntem, yöre, yönetmen, yörünge...

8) Yu... (yu...): yurt, yuva, yukarı, yulaf, yumruk, yumurta...

9) Yü... (yu...): yün, yüzük, yük, yüksek, yürek, yüz...

ATTENTION! In Turkish, the letters “g”, “k” and “l” each have two sounds: soft and hard. However, in writing they do not differ.

Why does it make sense to learn Turkish? Because Türkiye is a bridge between East and West. Turkish is a unique and fascinating language that has enriched many languages ​​with new words. You are definitely familiar with the words balaclava, baklava, caftan, pilaf, yogurt, sofa, odalisque and many others. By learning Turkish, you discover a rich culture spread from Bosnia and Herzegovina to China. If you speak Turkish, you can communicate with people living in almost any part of this vast area.

Why learn Turkish - reasons and motivation

There is a Turkish saying: “Bir lisan bir insan, iki lisan iki insan! “A language is a person, two languages, two people.” In other words, a person who knows a foreign language becomes two people when he learns the culture and traditions of other peoples. Learning a foreign language is a gateway to the worldview of different societies, systems of thinking and values.

Everyone who begins to learn a new language is motivated by certain factors. In most cases, this is related to finding new jobs or being able to communicate clearly when visiting the target country or even living in it as an expat. In order to learn Turkish from scratch, there are also some special factors.

Türkiye is strategically and culturally connected to Central Asia and the Middle East. This is a country with a rapidly developing economy, which allows it to be placed on the international business map. Turkey is becoming increasingly influential politically and economically, and knowledge of the Turkish language is a good asset for research institutes, government agencies, NGOs and various corporations operating in the region. Learning Turkish from scratch online or in courses is very important for both corporate representatives and individuals interested in doing business in this large country.

Indeed, career opportunities in Turkey are varied in different fields - from government to business, law, cybersecurity, technology, finance and service services.

REFERENCE. The US government identifies Turkish as a critical language. A government initiative created the Critical Language Scholarship, an intensive language and cultural immersion program abroad for American students designed to promote rapid language acquisition. This is critical to national security and economic prosperity. CLS plays an important role in preparing students for the globalized 21st century workforce and increased national competitiveness. In addition to Turkish in the list of critical foreign languages: Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Hindi, Bangla, Azerbaijani, Punjabi, Urdu, Arabic, Persian and Portuguese. The Critical Languages ​​Fellowship Program is funded by the U.S. Department of State with funding from the U.S. Government.

For the historian

Knowledge of Turkish is especially valuable for those studying history, archeology or anthropology. The historical archives of Turkey contain an unimaginable amount of unique information and amazing documentary evidence that relates to various ancient civilizations: Ottoman-Turkish, Islamic, Byzantine, Roman, Persian, Hellenistic, Assyrian, Hittite...

For the linguist

Knowing Turkish will help in learning other Turkic languages ​​such as Uyghur, Tatar, Kazakh, Uzbek and Kyrgyz: today they are called strategic languages ​​because they are spoken in strategically important regions of the world. The national language of the Turkish Republic can become a stepping stone to older linguistic forms, in particular the literary language of the Ottoman Empire.

How to study - study methods

Learning Turkish for beginners is somewhat difficult, but very interesting. Being part of the Turkic language family, Turkish is classified as an agglutinative language. This means that its structure is rich, highly abstract and has an intriguing, almost mathematical pattern. Much of grammar is expressed through suffixes added to nouns and verbs. For example, the word evlerden (from houses): ev (house), -ler (plural suffix), -den (initial case, answering the questions: from where, from what, from whom); gidiyorum (I am coming); git (go) -iyor (present continuous), -um (1st person singular – I).

Thanks to suffixes, a phrase can be expressed in one word. For example, Gerçek (adjective), real. We add suffixes to it and form a sentence that consists of just one word Gerçekleştirilemeyenlerdir - something that cannot be done. Although in Turkish it is not customary to overuse long words, as is often the case in German.

A characteristic feature of the Turkish language is vowel harmony (most suffixes follow this rule); in practice, the vowels of the suffix change according to the last vowel in the root. For example, evler – at home; evler den– from houses, but başlar (heads) – başlar dan from the heads. Vowel harmony is also common in some other languages, notably Korean and Hungarian.

Likewise, Turkish is a phonetic language. Once you learn the alphabet, mastering the pronunciation of words is not difficult. Each letter corresponds to a specific sound. Some words, usually borrowed from Arabic and French, are pronounced differently from how they are written, but the differences are minor and have little impact on those in the process of learning Turkish.

The sentence order is similar to that of Japanese or German: subject–object–verb. Adjectives and possessive nouns precede the noun they describe; the meanings of “behind”, “for”, “like/similar to” and so on are expressed (postpositions) after the noun, and not by prepositions before it.

We learn Turkish from scratch on our own: there are only six cases, the endings of nouns depend on the law of vowel harmony (the table demonstrates this rule).

Case	Ending (forms)	Examples		Meaning
Nominative (nominative)	Ø	köy	ağaç	village/tree
Accusative (accusative; attributive)	-i -u -ı -ü -yi -yu -yı -yü	köyü	ağacı	what, whom
Dative (directive)	-e -a -ye -ya (the consonant y is used when the root ends in a vowel)	köye	ağaca	“towards” (where, to whom, to whom, to whom, to what, to what, to what)
local	-da / -de / -ta / -te	köyde	ağaçta
Ablative (Original negative)	-dan / -den / -tan / -ten	köyden	ağaçtan	movement from the starting point (from); from where, from whom, from what
Genitive	-ın / -in / -un / -ün; -nın / -nin / -nun / -nün	köyün	ağacın	indicates the ownership of an object: whose, whom, what

The accusative case is perhaps the most difficult case, but to give a general idea, we can say that it is necessary whenever the object that is subject to the action expressed by the verb is indicated. For example, sevmek - to love; phrase Ben Carla'yı seviyorum - I love Carla. To “Carla” we add the “accusative case”, because the verb I love must answer the question who I love (“Carla” becomes an object that “twitches” the action and must be defined).

We teach ourselves from scratch at home

Turkish is one of the most established languages ​​in the world. For beginners who want to acquire basic skills in modern Turkish, the do-it-yourself approach involves:

• mastering reading and writing skills;
• spoken language, everyday topics;
• reading simple texts;
• writing topics on everyday topics;

Many texts that make learning Turkish easier are based on ancient stories. If we are learning Turkish on our own, it is important to refer to sources such as Dîvânü Lugati’t-Türk (Divan Lugat at-Turk). This is a comprehensive dictionary of the Turkic language, written by the lexicographer Mahmud al-Kashgari in 1072, and later edited by the historian Ali Amiri. Reading texts in Turkish is necessary: ​​it is easier to understand parables, idioms, figurative meanings.

Textbooks and tutorials

1. Turkish language textbook Ebru – Turkish language lessons for beginners.
2. Turkish in three months to Bengis Ron.
3. Learn Turkish with the study guide Adım Adım Türkçe (Turkish Step by Step), Level A1–C Phrasebook.
4. Self-instruction manual (in English).
5. Everyday Turkish Shahin Cevik.
6. Sesli Sözlük – online dictionary (translation into English and Turkish-English dictionary).
7. Turkish Studies at University of Michigan - an exclusive collection of Turkish textbooks, reference books, dictionaries, texts, literary works, including audio files, for anyone who wants to learn Turkish from scratch at home, from the University of Michigan.
8. Grammar and – Turkish grammar website. Like the entire group of Turkic languages, including Turkish, which is spoken today in Turkey, it is an extremely regular language with few exceptions. For this reason, Turkish served as the grammatical basis for artificial languages ​​such as Esperanto. In other words, you can learn grammar quite quickly.

Applications on smartphones

To study 1000 words, you can use the Anki app, which uses a spaced repetition system and has proven to be an effective way to retain vocabulary in memory. Download ready-made decks and transfer them to your smartphone.

1. Beginner Turkish - Turkish language from scratch for beginners

All methods are justified when a beginner is trying to learn a foreign language. But the main condition is constant practice, which includes reading and listening, writing, but, above all, speaking skills. This is the most interactive way to apply your knowledge.

Foreign languages ​​are more often studied in an emotionally neutral academic environment. Simply put, during the lessons we only get some idea of ​​phonetics and pronunciation. But there is a so-called “folk” language, which is definitely lacking when learning a language in the classroom. The effect of the vernacular language can only be felt in a conversation with a native speaker, when we get the opportunity to listen and imitate the accent, and try to learn the correct pronunciation. People learning a foreign language should pay attention to details that are important to native speakers. They include not only the correct pronunciation of words, but also the use of intonation and pauses (this is practically not given attention in lessons).

Communication with native speakers benefits writing, reading and listening skills. We have the opportunity to ask for help if something is unclear, because some concepts are completely alien to our native language and culture. Understanding culture is critical to learning a foreign language. This promotes the student's cultural awareness, broadens their horizons, helps develop communicative competence and ensures intercultural dialogue. Classroom instruction includes some lessons that specifically focus on cultural studies, but in this way we learn about culture passively. By communicating with a native speaker, we have the opportunity to immerse ourselves in this culture, ask a person who is in this cultural environment every day, explain to us some of the features.

It's normal to feel awkward when overcoming a language barrier. The beginning is accompanied by emotions, which, as a rule, prevent you from thinking correctly, and there is always a chance of forgetting what you know. Advice: we need to try to remain calm, because no one can judge if we don’t know something yet. There are still many opportunities to practice words and phrases and after a few conversations the thought of trying to be perfect often goes away, even if you spend some time finding/remembering the right words.

Of course, immersion in real situations with native speakers is the best way to learn any language, but if this is not possible, you should mobilize every conceivable substitute that the Internet offers: listening to the radio, exchanging conversations on Skype or even singing songs.

Watching movies, listening to audio, reading books

A surefire way to increase your learning curve is to follow news in Turkish. The same can be said about advertising; on national television and in local newspapers. This is a satisfactory way of using basic vocabulary and grammar.

Films and TV series:

1. Hope(Umut) Umut is the story of an illiterate man and his family, whose existence depends on his income as a chaise driver. When one of the horses dies under the wheels of a car, and it becomes clear that neither justice nor mercy will prevail, the man played by Güney Yilmaz gradually falls into despair. On the advice of a local saint, he goes into the desert in search of a mythical treasure, going further and further into that final and inevitable moment when hope itself becomes a terrible delusion.
2. Laughing eyes(Gülen Gözler) – comedy; Yashar and his wife Nezaket do not give up hope of having a boy. But they only have daughters, whom they call by male names. The time comes when they need to find suitable rich husbands for their daughters.
3. My untouched island(Issız Adam)
4. Magnificent century(Muhteşem Yüzyıl) is a historical television series inspired by real events that occurred during the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.
5. Kinglet - songbird(Çalıkuşu)
6. Forbidden love(Aşk-ı Memnu)
7. Resurrected Ertugrul(Diriliş Ertuğrul)
8. Ezel television crime drama (an adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo) set in modern-day Istanbul.

Is it possible to learn Turkish quickly with a tutor?

First of all, languages ​​essentially cannot be taught, they can only be studied, or better yet, mastered. Responsibility for the educational process lies entirely with the student, and the teacher is the guide who should motivate, especially if he develops an individual curriculum to achieve specific goals. One-on-one training with a tutor takes into account a completely individual learning background and gives you more chances to work on your speaking skills. Unlike group classes, where the teacher must pay attention to many students, tutoring often produces faster results.

The question is not whether it is better to learn a language online, with a tutor or in a group. There are two problems with group classes. First, learning progresses at the speed of the slowest learner. Secondly, learning a language is a very personal process. Some students learn topics more easily and quickly than others, but courses cannot meet each student's personal needs or even do so in a timely manner. Then, learning a language using a grammar-oriented method is unlikely to lead to good results. Or rather, it will lead to a result, but we will get only a weak idea of ​​​​how to work with language, without having experience in real conversations.

Based on such experience, you need to choose schools or courses that are the best in terms of quality of teaching, professionalism of teachers and relevant teaching materials. We can recommend:

Dilmer – courses for all levels (from intensive to weekend courses). The teaching method here is mainly communicative and places students in active situations to develop communication skills.

Tömer, organized by Ankara University, is possibly the oldest school. The certificate issued by Tömer is valuable both in educational institutions and when applying for a job. The school is focused on traditional learning, with a lot of space devoted to detailed analysis of grammar.

Among smaller schools, the KediCat program, which has an informal approach, is a good choice. Also courses at the Türkçe Atölyesi center.

The difficulties in learning Turkish are the same as in any other foreign language; if the native language is structurally different. But the main thing is that learning a language goes beyond learning the rules of grammar. Turkish grammar is indeed regular and predictable, but the underlying mentality of the language is different. The associations that surround certain words and phrases are completely different for a Turk. Trying to translate literally can create monstrous sentences. Although various idioms and proverbs are similar in Turkish and Russian. In general, it is very important to know more about the culture so that you can participate in conversations.

Here is what the Russian Turkologist, literary translator Apollinaria Avrutina says about this: “...difficulties can exist in culture. Sometimes some social facts, such as Islam, for example, may be incomprehensible to Russian speakers...”

Learn a new word every day; make a simple sentence or construction with an adjective using this word. Start with the 100 most common words, and then make sentences with them over and over again.

Read texts in Turkish (even if it is initially an easy text or a children's book), even if you are unfamiliar with most of the words, but try to understand the essence of the story yourself. The point is that the brain is trained in the process: words, phrases, statements become more familiar. Reading is one of the most beneficial aspects of the learning process.

Listen to Turkish songs and sing (finding lyrics online will not be a problem). It's like talking to yourself and is great practice for developing your pronunciation skills. Onun Arabası Var(She's Got a Car) is a song popular in the 1990s with memorable lyrics.

Listen to Turkish news: The Turkish language used in BBC Türkçe is correct and carefully edited. Listen to podcasts in Turkish: the same exercise as listening to the news.

Often discussions about how to learn a language turn into discussions about so-called traditional approaches to technology. But the question is not so much what is better: online - offline or app - book. It is important to collect the necessary elements of language for a specific purpose, present them in a form convenient for yourself in order to understand. Ultimately, learning takes place within us, regardless of what or who is in front of us - a computer, a book or a teacher.

They say that it is more difficult for an adult to learn a new language than for children. This is a key language myth. In fact, adults and children learn differently. Languages ​​are both organic and systematic. As children, we assimilate them organically and instinctively; as adults, we study them systematically.

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The modern Turkish alphabet was introduced into use only in 1928. It comes from Latin. Before this, Turkey used a different writing system, reminiscent of Arabic script. Undoubtedly, the new alphabet greatly simplifies our learning of the Turkish language.

Turkish alphabet

Today you can find a lot of resources online for learning Turkish online. On many sites you will find how the letters of the Turkish alphabet are written and pronounced. You will even find special lessons for children that adults can easily follow because they are very interesting and easy to learn.

Letters of the Turkish alphabet	Letters of the Russian alphabet denoting approximately the same sounds	Transcription	Brief characteristics of the sounds of the Turkish language
A a	A	[A]	More open, wider than Russian
B b	B	[Bae]	Less sonorous than corresponding Russian
C c	*	[Jae]	A sound that can be conveyed by a combination of Russian letters "j"
Ç ç	H	[Chae]
D d	D	[De]
E e	E, E	[E, E]	Not noted in the original, but "e" can sound like: - English /æ/ before l, m, n, r er, em, en, el there is no vowel. The sound can be heard in cetvel, ders in the lesson dictionary below, in güzel, etc. this sound is also heard. /e/ - in the final position e, pencere voiced below. But not always, compare, for example, with aile, güle güle. /e/ - in all other cases
F f	F	[Fe]
G g	G	[Ge]
Ğ ğ	*		This letter is not readable in words; it lengthens the previous consonant and gives it a guttural sound.
H h	X	[He]
I	Y	[s]	More posterior than the corresponding Russian "y"
i	AND	[AND]
J j	AND	[Zhe]	Occurs in words of foreign origin
K k	TO	[Ke]	At the end of a syllable or word there is a characteristic softening, which is not observed in the Russian language
Ll	L	[Le]
Mm	M	[Me]
Nn	N	[Not]
O o	ABOUT	[ABOUT]
Ö ö	*		This sound can be conveyed by merging the Russian “o” and “e”
P p	P	[Pe]
R r	R	[D]	At the end of words it can be pronounced as "zh/sh"
Ss	WITH	[Xie]
Ş ş	Sh	[She]
T t	T	[Te]	There is some aspiration at the beginning of words
U u	U	[U]
Ü ü	*	This sound can be conveyed by merging the Russian “u” and “yu”
V v	IN	[Ve]
Y y	*	[Ye]
Z z	Z	[Ze]

How many letters are in the Turkish alphabet

The Turkish alphabet contains both vowels and consonants. It is noteworthy that the new alphabet has 8 vowels, whereas the old one had only three, which significantly complicated the Turkish language. There are also 21 consonant letters in the Turkish alphabet. The letters of the Turkish alphabet are quite easy to learn. Pronouncing them will not be difficult. By the way, you won’t have any particular difficulties reading it. Basically, all words are read as they are written.

Turkish alphabet with transcription

Many letters of the Turkish alphabet are very similar to Russian letters. Here is a table that presents the Turkish alphabet with pronunciation in Russian, as well as information about which Turkish letters have analogues in Russian.