I am trying to learn a few basic phrases before I go to Turkey in October. Is there any web site I can find where I can hear the word as opposed to using the pronounciation guide in the guide books? Robin
Posted by
Corsicana, Texas, USA
354 posts
You might find the BBC website helpful:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/other/turkish/guide/phrases.shtml
It provides audio for twenty common Turkish phrases.
Posted by
Martinez, CA, USA
1506 posts
We used Turkish 101 on Youtube by the Travelling Linguist. They have several topics and 3 levels of learning so you can increase your proficiency. The videos are free and easy to follow. We were able to memorize several words and phrases and apparently we said them fairly well as some people thought we actually spoke Turkish, even though the phrase was "Do you speak English, I don't speak Turkish". You can check this link to see if the videos will be useful for you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs_9TfWhpww
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
I found Pimsleur very helpful. You can get a free lesson from their website: http://www.pimsleur.com/Learn-Turkish?subscribe=Learn-Turkish.
Turkish really is phonetic, and I found that if I followed the pronunciation rules, taxi drivers could understand my pronunciation of place names. The rules aren't that hard, and there aren't too many differences from English (certainly compared to Polish, which is also phonetic, but has so many differences from English I couldn't keep them straight).
Posted by
OP
wasaga beach
11 posts
Thanks everyone. I hope with your help I can at least manage please and thank you.
Robin
Posted by
Land of La
8648 posts
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong and since I gave my RS Istanbul guidebook away I can't check myself. Aren't there a page or two of phrases in book along with the phonetic translations? Just a thought.
Posted by
Istanbul, Turkey
14 posts
There are lots of ways to thank in Turkish:
1)Teşekkürler: Thanks
2)Teşekkür ederim: Thank you
3)Sağol: Thank you (impolite)
-Sağolasın (another one)
-Sağolun (polite)
-Sağolunuz (plural form-polite)
4)Mersi (it's like merci in French which is simple way for foreigners to say)
Please is simple: Lütfen
Posted by
Martinez, CA, USA
1506 posts
Claudia - you're right but even with the phonetic translations it helps to hear the pronunciation. We also had a Berlitz Turkish phrase book and found that Travelling Linguest was more help. Travelling Linguist has the English word/phrase, the Turkish, the phonetic, and the audio so it was a great help and supplement to RS.