There are more than 70 million people who speak Turkish, primarily living in Turkey, Northern Cyprus, and Cyprus. There are other Turkish speakers throughout Europe and Central Asia. If you want to learn Turkish, in this blog I have shared unique ways to learn Turkish effectively. 

Step by step

Alphabet repetition 

Whenever we start learning a new language we start the lesson through learning the alphabet. We are always curious about how they look and how those letters will be pronounced. For Turkish learners there is an advantage phonetic language that means all words are read as written except for a very few exceptions. So after knowing the letters and trying to read, write and speak everyday. 

There are 6 letters in the Turkish alphabet that are not included in the English alphabet, for a total of 29 letters.

• Classify vowels as front or back, open or closed, and rounded or unrounded and consonants as hard or soft. 
• There are many unique features like vowel harmony, consonant harmony etc. Learn all the features step by step
• Turkish is an agglutinative language. Agglutination refers to the process of adding suffixes to a root-word, so that a single word can convey what English would take a complete sentence to say. Learn to harmonize suffix vowels with the final vowel of the root word. 
• Add suffixes to change the grammatical features of a root word.

Read children’s books in Turkish

Children’s books are designed to help beginners learn to read, and will include basic vocabulary in simple, easy to read sentences. The pictures in a children’s book put the words in context so you can better understand the meaning of unfamiliar words.

Listen Turkish podcast, music and watch Turkish dramas 

Listening to Turkish music and podcasts enables you to hear the fluidity and musicality of the language. Once you can hear this, you will be able to understand and pronounce words better.

Watching Turkish dramas helps to understand native speakers’ facial expressions for particular phrases.

Learn a different word every day

Instead of  concentrating on memorizing lists of random words, try to check on words and phrases relevant to a specific field of interest (e.g., gardening, cooking, travel, hobbies, business, etc.). Read and repeat. 

Use translator/dictionary 

Whenever you are curious about your target language you can use a translator or dictionary to clear your doubts. 

Consistency is important. The best way to be consistent in language learning is to form a habit and stick to a routine. When you are just starting out, it will be difficult to be consistent because language learning is anything but a habit.

Make funny and interesting ways to learn. Make flashcards, give yourself one goal for each day, that’s how you will be able to learn Turkish Effectively.

Don’t forget to love yourself. Happy reading ! 🙂