Turkish
Turkish — Turkic family, about 85 million speakers (estimate, Ethnologue). Script: the Latin alphabet with six letters of its own: ç, ğ, ı, ö, ş, ü. This site has 4057 words and 29 letters with audio.
Where to start
First words
Every conversation starts with them — and so does the first impression: one greeting in the local language and you stop being a stranger within a second.
- merhabahelloAn Arabic loanword that fits any time of day and any company — the one safe greeting everywhere, halfway between formal and friendly.
- selamhiCasual, for people on familiar terms; use merhaba with strangers and elders. Same root as "salaam" and "shalom" — literally "peace".
- teşekkürlerthanksş sounds like "sh" in "ship"; ü like German ü, say "ee" with rounded lips: teh-shewk-KEWR-lehr
- lütfenplease (for requests)Only for asking for something. The answer to "thank you" is "rica ederim".
- hoşça kalgoodbyeSaid by the one who leaves: "stay well". The one staying answers güle güle — "go with smiles".
- güle gülebye (said by the one staying)The other half of the farewell pair with hoşça kal: whoever stays behind is the one who says this.
- nasılsın?how are you?"nasıl" is "how" and -sın is the "you" ending — there is no separate "you" word in the phrase, it lives inside the verb.
- nasılsınız?how are you (formal)?The same word wearing the -sınız ending — polite and plural at once, your "how do you do".
How it sounds
Five words spoken aloud: click the speaker and pick the translation. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.
- What is this word?
It is merhaba — hello.
- What is this word?
It is güle güle — bye (said by the one staying).
- What is this word?
It is ben — I.
- What is this word?
It is adın ne? — what is your name?.
- What is this word?
It is evet — yes.
About the language
| Native name | Türkçe · Türkçe |
| Official in | Türkiye and Cyprus |
| Also spoken in | Germany, Bulgaria, Northern Cyprus and Azerbaijan (a close relative) |
| How many speakers | about 85 million speakers (estimate, Ethnologue) |
| Family | Turkic family, Oghuz group |
| Writing | the Latin alphabet with six letters of its own: ç, ğ, ı, ö, ş, ü |
| Writing direction | left to right |
Hard: words growing endings in long chains, with the verb sent to the end.
Easy: spelled exactly the way it sounds, no gender, rules with almost no exceptions.
What Russian speakers most often take it up for: relocating, resorts, property, work.
How lessons work
A lesson is up to half an hour a day, split into three to five short sessions. A word comes back not on the course's schedule but at the moment you are about to forget it: the interval is computed by an algorithm from your own answers.
- The longer you want to keep a word, the rarer its repetitions should be. To hold it for a week, review every day; to hold it for a year, about once a month.checked many timesCepeda et al., 2008, Psychological Science 19(11) · Over 1,350 participants, tested after delays of up to a year. The best gap is about 20% of the target interval on a horizon of weeks, and 5–10% on a horizon of a year.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- Pay someone to study and they study less, not more. Praise and a clear explanation of their mistakes do the opposite — they help.checked many timesDeci, Koestner & Ryan, 1999, Psychological Bulletin 125(6) · 128 experiments. Material reward: d = −0.40 for taking part, −0.36 for finishing. Praise and feedback: +0.33.
Frequently asked
Where to start learning Turkish?
With the script: 29 letters are worked through in a week or two, and after that words stop being pictures.
How many people speak it in Turkish?
About 85 million speakers — an estimate from Ethnologue. Nobody runs an exact census of languages, and sources disagree by noticeable amounts.
Is Turkish hard?
Words growing endings in long chains, with the verb sent to the end. At the same time, spelled exactly the way it sounds, no gender, rules with almost no exceptions.
Where is it spoken in Turkish?
An official language in: Türkiye and Cyprus. Noticeable communities: Germany, Bulgaria, Northern Cyprus and Azerbaijan (a close relative).