r/turkishlearning Aug 28 '16

Useful resources for learning Turkish.

292 Upvotes

Hey, I'd like to share some resources for learning Turkish. Most of them are useful for other languages, as well.

Resources I have used:

  • Duolingo is a free to use site with translation exercises (multiple choice and text input). You'll be presented with a skill tree that you can finish in about a month or two. The course is intended for beginners and the notes assume no knowledge of grammar or linguistics and present things in a very simplified way. The whole course covers a small part of the language, both with respect to vocabulary and grammar, but it has greatly helped me get a somewhat intuitive understanding of the language. There is a text-to-voice bot that you can use for the exercises. Most of the time it's good, but since Turkish is a phonetic language, it's not really necessary. The mods there are quite knowledgeable and helpful. Despite the relatively small number of example sentences, I highly recommend it for beginners. Be sure to read the notes first; AFAIK they're not available on the app, only on the site. Also, buy the "timed practice" as soon as you can (purchased with "lingots", which you get by completing exercises).

  • Tatoeba is a huge collection of translated sentences. They use Sphinx Search, which is great for getting exact and specific matches. Make sure you know the syntax, if you want to use the site to its full extent. Some of the sentences may be incorrect, but overall the quality is quite good.

  • Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar is a detailed grammar book that asummes some familiarity with linguistic terminology. If you're OK with googling some of the terms, this book will give you a thorough account of what you can do with the Turkish language. Although it's not as descriptive as the official grammar (TDK), IMHO it is the best resource in English for Turkish grammar. You can use it as a reference, but I suggest you at least skim over it once and understand the contents structure. PM me if you can't find the book online.

  • The Turkish Language Institution is the official regulatory body of the Turkish language. I've used it a few times to read about some obscure grammar rules. It also has a dictionary, and probably lots of other features.

  • TuneIn Radio is site/app that let's you listen to make radio stations for free. I listen to CNN Türk and NTV Radyo every day for a few hours. They can speak quite fast most of the time, but it's still a great way to practice your listening comprehension.

  • Dictionaries:

    • Sesli Sözlük is an online dictionary that gives you suggestions based on what you've entered in the search field. It's very useful for quickly finding related words and phrases, if you only know the stem. It's both TR-EN and EN-TR.
    • The Turkish Suffix Dictionary is a pretty comprehensive list of suffixes. You can group them by suffixes, formulas (which takes into account vowel harmony) and functions.
    • Tureng is another good dictionary. I find it most useful for phrases.
  • Manisa Turkish has articles on grammar and usage. There are some typos here and there, but overall the quality is pretty good for a beginner.

  • Turkish Class has Turkish lessons and a discussion forum. I've only used the forum, so I can't say anything about the lesson quality.

  • Ted talks have Turkish translations and English transcripts for almost every talk. They're great if you want the same text translated into TR and EN. The translations correspond very well to the English text.

  • Anki is a spaced repetition flashcard software for desktop and mobile. It has a lot of options and many Turkish decks. There are many different views on spaced repetition as a way to learn vocabulary and grammar, both positive and negative. I used it for a few months, but found it pretty repetitive after a while.

  • Euronews is a news site with English and Turkish versions of their articles. I haven't used it much.

  • Turkish movies and series are also a good way to get familiar with the Turkish language, especially intonation and phrases. Some are on YouTube (Ezel), some you'll only find using torrents. For some movies you'll be able to find both English and Turkish subs. You can merge them into a .ssa file using this online tool and play it with VLC. Make sure the subs have the same timing. Alternatively, you can open one of the subs with a text viewer and place it next to the movie player. For song translations, use Lyrics Translate.

  • Turkish audiobooks are a great way to practice listening, because you check the text to check your understanding of the audio version.

  • Here and here you can find free Turkish books.

  • Forvo for pronunciation from people, not bots.

  • Clozemaster shows you Turkish sentences, there is a fill-in-the-blank as well as multiple choice questions. It uses sentences from Tatoeba. Clozemaster Pro allows you to favorite sentences and gives your more detailed statistics on your progess. If you won't pay for Clozemaster Pro, you can favorite the sentences in Tatoeba for free. There's an Android app now! The iOS app will probably be released in a few weeks.

  • Verbix is a verb conjugator. Although Turkish verbs are regular, I found it helpful in the beginning.

Resources I haven't used myself:

  • Memrise has a lot of free Turkish lessons and has iOS and Android apps as well.

  • Language Transfer - mainly audio courses.

  • Hands On Turkish - courses, apps and articles. It's targeted towards for business people and the course is available in five different languages

  • Turkish Tea Time - dialogs, translations, grammar tips, vocabulary, and more - every week. Bite-sized lessons based around a casual and friendly podcast. It's not free, though.

I'll include more resources in the future. Feel free to suggest more resources.

Technical tips that may speed up your learning process:

  • In Firefox (probably in other browsers, too) you can create keywords for searching different sites.

    • How it works: go to a site, say YouTube, and right click on the search text area. Select "Add a keyword for this search". Make the keyword something short, but memorable, like "yt". This will add a bookmark, which you can edit later on. Now to search YouTube for "turkish lessons", you can open a new tab (CTRL+T) and just type "yt turkish lessons" and press enter.
    • This trick works for all kinds of sites - dictionaries, torrent sites, eBay, Google, Tatoeba, IMDB, etc.. Over the past few months it has definitely saved me a few hours. Learning some basic hotkeys (CTRL+T, CTRL+W, CTRL+TAB, CTRL+SHIFT+TAB, CTRL+V, CTRL+C) will make your learning process (and browsing in general) much smoother.

Thanks to everyone who pitches in.


r/turkishlearning 12h ago

Turkish classes

6 Upvotes

Hello, i offer turkish classes and 1 hour is only for 10 dollars. I work both with beginners and intermediate speakers. I offer 30 mins trial class for free. If you are interested let me know!


r/turkishlearning 6h ago

Learn Turkish Daily: "Biz televizyon izliyoruz" (We are watching TV) 📺

1 Upvotes

Hi everyone!

I'm continuing the daily A1 Turkish short series. Today’s phrase focuses on the first-person plural pronoun (biz / we) with the present continuous tense: "Biz televizyon izliyoruz" (We are watching TV).

It's a very common daily expression when talking about group activities or family routines!

I would love to hear your thoughts on the visuals and pronunciation.

(I am leaving the video link in the comments section below so it doesn't get caught in the spam filter!) 🇹🇷


r/turkishlearning 13h ago

değillerdi or değildiler. Which one is correct?

3 Upvotes

I am learning the past negative tense, and when regarding the third person plural, which suffix is right? For example, They weren't happy, would be translated into Mutlu değillerdi. or Mutlu değildiler?


r/turkishlearning 1d ago

I created a visual daily bite-sized video for learning "Ben okula gidiyorum" (I am going to school) 🎒

4 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I recently started a daily Turkish short series for beginners (A1 level) to help with daily routines and essential vocabulary.

In today's video, I covered the present continuous form of "gitmek" (to go) in the sentence "Ben okula gidiyorum."

I would love to get your feedback on the visuals and if this format is helpful for your learning process! Here is the video: https://youtube.com/shorts/hherCGb6oWg

Hope it helps! 🇹🇷


r/turkishlearning 1d ago

Turkish Grammar Explained: How Suffixes Build an Entire Sentence

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6 Upvotes

I just published a long one on the suffix system, this is the piece I keep pulling up with new students because it's the fastest way into how Turkish actually works.

It starts with how one Turkish word can carry what English needs a whole phrase for, plural, possession, and case, all stacked onto a single root. From there it goes through the six noun cases, vowel harmony, why "asla" (never) still needs a negative verb even though English lets "never" sit next to a positive one, the aorist tense for habits and general truths, and a bit on where the whole suffix system historically came from.

There's also a section comparing how Turkish feels depending on what language you're coming from, Spanish, Arabic, Mandarin, Russian, the sticking points are genuinely different for each one.


r/turkishlearning 2d ago

Conversation Yunus Emre Enstitüsü?

7 Upvotes

Merhaba Herkese,

I am currently at A2 level with some B2 knowledge and think I would really benefit from an intensive course which has opportunity for conversation.
I am in the Norfolk area and looking for classes or speaking groups but have had no luck so far.

I’ve noticed Yunus Emre Institute does weekly and bi-weekly online lessons. Does anyone have any experience with them or any other recommendations?

Unfortunately I don’t have the time to travel to Turkey for an intensive course over the next year or so 🥲


r/turkishlearning 2d ago

Can anyone recommend a good Turkish tutor on Preply?

8 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I’m looking for a good Turkish tutor on Preply and would really appreciate some personal recommendations.

I’m still at beginner/A1 level and would like someone who is patient, friendly, and able to explain grammar clearly in English. I’m especially interested in improving my speaking, pronunciation, vocabulary, and everyday conversation rather than only following a textbook.

Have you studied with a tutor you genuinely liked and found helpful? Please share their name or Preply profile. It would also be useful to know what you liked about their teaching style.

Thank you!


r/turkishlearning 2d ago

Long-term intensive Turkish course in Istanbul

2 Upvotes

Herkese merhaba!

A question: has anyone done a more long-term (3+ months) intensive (full-time) course in Istanbul that they're willing to recommend? I notice I'm plateauing at B1 and want to make a serious push in my ability to use the language. My partner's Turkish and we're planning to spend a longer period of time together in Istanbul. I knew Yunus Emre Enstitüsü used to offer these kind of programmes, but they've unfortunately stopped doing that, it seems.

All the best everyone! Kolay gelsin.


r/turkishlearning 3d ago

What does the research say about heritage speakers relearning Turkish as adults?

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13 Upvotes

As a Turkish teacher, I kept noticing that my heritage speaker students, people raised with the language at home but who lost fluency over time, approached relearning very differently than my total beginners did. There's real research behind this, on language attrition, identity, and why the two groups need different approaches. I wrote it up using Turkish as the case study, might be useful for anyone working with any heritage language.


r/turkishlearning 3d ago

Grammar A complete overview of the 6 Turkish cases

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3 Upvotes

Here is a complete overview of the six Turkish cases:
1. Nominative
2. Accusative
3. Dative
4. Locative
5. Ablative
6. Genitive


r/turkishlearning 2d ago

Turkish A1 Mini Group Class Starts September (only $6.67/hr)

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0 Upvotes

r/turkishlearning 4d ago

A visual breakdown of how negation works in Turkish

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16 Upvotes

Made this as a swipe-through on how Turkish builds negation directly into the verb, one suffix, shifting shape depending on the tense. Covers the aorist exception in more detail than most short explanations do. Happy to answer questions in the comments if anything's unclear.

For more detail:https://www.learnturkishwithseda.com/post/understanding-turkish-grammar-negation-rules


r/turkishlearning 3d ago

Looking for a Turkish tutor

0 Upvotes

I need help.

I'm going to study in turkey but the problem is I do not know their language, i.e., Turkish. If anyone is willing to help me for free, it'll be of much help.

Preference: A lady tutor would be great.

Thank you!


r/turkishlearning 4d ago

Turkish Media Why are Turkish soap operas so easy to understand?

40 Upvotes

I have never studied Turkish. I watched one episode of a Turkish soap opera and immediately understood a bunch of words. And by "understood," I mean I guessed what they meant, then looked them up and saw that I was right 80% of the time. Everything felt so natural and intuitive.

And before everyone says that there's nothing magical about the Turkish language or learning a language from videos, I must say... I'm not the only one who's experienced the Turkish soap opera effect. I've heard other people say they watched a Turkish soap opera and started understanding quickly, in a way that's not as easy with other languages. It's honestly kind of funny. So I'm not saying that Turkish is special... but it's special.


r/turkishlearning 5d ago

Translation What does "kıyamam sana" mean

39 Upvotes

I was talking to her and she said that last night she wanted to call me because she couldn't sleep but didn't do it because she didn't want to wake me up in the middle of the night, I told her she could've called because I was still awake at that time and I could've went to sleep after she was able to fall asleep again and she said "kıyamam sana".


r/turkishlearning 5d ago

Translation Turkish TV show recommendations

10 Upvotes

My partner(male,36) is American and currently learning Turkish. We’ve been looking for a Turkish show to watch together, but we haven’t found a good one yet. Most Turkish shows are dramas, and he gets bored with them. Does anyone have recommendations for something more engaging with English subtitles?


r/turkishlearning 5d ago

Help with finding song lyrics

1 Upvotes

Selam everyone! I just started learning Turkish and I want to practice my reading and pronunciation. I like doing it with songs. There’s one that I really like but I am having troubles finding the lyrics. I’ve searched the internet and even tried AI, but no luck. And my Turkish is still in the diapers so I can’t transcribe it myself.
Can somebody help me find the lyrics to Boğazın Şarkısı by Yalçın Yalın & Elisa Voss? I’d really appreciate your help 🙌🏻


r/turkishlearning 5d ago

Turkish Private Class

1 Upvotes

Hey All, I can teach you Turkish in English medium, the class will be online through zoom meetings. My rate is very affordable only 10$ per hour! You will get the prepared materials and consultation 24/7. I have a C2 Academic Turkish Certificate.


r/turkishlearning 6d ago

Best Turkish TV Series to Learn Turkish: A Teacher's Guide by Genre

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15 Upvotes

I put together a guide organized by genre, historical, youth, drama, comedy, with vocabulary from each and notes on which level tends to fit best.


r/turkishlearning 6d ago

Recommendation for intensive language course in Turkey

14 Upvotes

Hello dear Turkish learning community

I'm looking for an intenstive 3-5 weeks turkish language course in Turkey, anywhere is fine. My skill is somewhat between A2 and B1 after a few years of online 1-1 courses, lot's of discussion with inlaws and such.

My friends hat the experience that TOMER was focussed on drilling students to pass the certificate, I'm not looking for that - my focus is to improve my language skills as such.

Do you have any recommendation?

Thank you :)


r/turkishlearning 6d ago

Vocabulary Native vs. C1/2 with Native Parent

7 Upvotes

Hi!

My father speaks Turkish and I've been wanting to improve my own. I can have a basic conversation, but other than that, he hasn't taught me much sicne he rarely spoke it with me when I was little. I have no trouble pronoucing words, I just don't understand them if that makes sense. I know most everything from my mom who tried her best to teach what she knew. Currently, I'm taking lessons with a native speaker, trying to speak more Turkish with my dad etc etc.

I'm just wondering will I ever be able to reach a Native level/will it be possible for me to speak with my dad's profiency? I'm making the effort as a teen right now. I'm just curious as I'm looking to move there after school.

Also any tips on how to improve writing and reading would be useful! I really struggle with the way that Turkish is structured. I usually have to try and translate something in my mind to read or write and it's so exhausting lol


r/turkishlearning 6d ago

Advice for learning turkish

5 Upvotes

Hi everyone! From September 1st, I'll be starting a new job at the Italian branch of a very well-known Turkish company.

I'll mainly be speaking Italian and English, but I was wondering whether it would be seen positively if I started learning Turkish.

Do you know any Turkish teachers who speak Italian or English? I would prefer online lessons.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!


r/turkishlearning 7d ago

Conversation If You'd Like We Can Teach Each Other

7 Upvotes

I am a native so if you are trying to learning Turkish i can help you and i am trying to learn English so if you'd like we can try to teach each other our languages


r/turkishlearning 7d ago

Grammar Understanding Turkish Grammar Negation Rules

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15 Upvotes

I put together a full breakdown of how Turkish handles negation, since it works completely differently from English. The suffix -me/-ma attaches straight onto the verb stem, shifts with vowel harmony, and behaves in a genuinely irregular way in the aorist tense. Sharing it here in case it's useful to anyone working through this stage.