Some Turkish Turkish isn’t an easy language to learn, but it's worth picking up a few words and phrases to amuse yourself and to astonish and delight Turks! Despite oddities such as the silent 'g'(?) and undotted i (?) , Turkish is phonetic and simple to pronounce. In a few minutes you can get the hang of the sounds, and then you're ready to start talking. Most letters are said just as they're written: but here's a list of the tricky ones: A,a short, as in 'ant'. E,e short as in 'bell'. I,i as 'ee' in 'bee'. I,i 'uh' like the 'e' in 'open'. Ö,ö as German 'ö', or 'fur'. U,u short as 'oo' in 'moon'. Ü,ü same as German 'ü', or 'pew'. C,c is a 'j', as jam. Ç,ç 'ch' is in 'chin'.G,g always hard, as in 'get'. G,g: not pronounced, lengthens preceding vowel, ignore it! H,h always pronounced, as in 'hat'. J,j as in French 'j', or 'rouge'. S,s always 'ss', never 'z'. S,s 'sh' as in 'ship'. X,x not used, Turks use 'ks' instead. Source: http://www.turkeyrealestate.co.uk/Speak_Turkish/speak_turkish.html |