Transliteration of Turkish
A correspondence table between the Turkish script and Latin letters: 29 letters, with names and sounds. The rendering is practical — it exists so you can read aloud and be understood, not to meet a scholarly standard.
Turkish character → Latin
| Character | Name | In Latin | How it sounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| A a | a | a as in “father” | A pure open a, steady as in father |
| B b | be | b as in “book” | An ordinary b |
| C c | ce | j as in “jam” | Always j as in jam. Never k and never ts |
| Ç ç | çe | ch as in “church” | An ordinary ch |
| D d | de | d as in “door” | An ordinary d |
| E e | e | e as in “bed” | A plain e as in bed, never a ye-glide at the start of a word |
| F f | fe | f as in “fun” | An ordinary f |
| G g | ge | g as in “go” | Always a hard g as in go — it never softens before e and i |
| Ğ ğ | yumuşak g, the “soft g” | no sound of its own (lengthens the vowel) | It has no sound of its own: it stretches the vowel standing before it |
| H h | he | h as in “hat”, but breathier | A light breathy h — it is never dropped the way the h of “hour” is |
| I ı | ı without a dot | uh (the lax vowel of “undo”) | A lax uh, duller than the u of “cup” and made without lip-rounding |
| İ i | i with a dot | ee as in “see” | A plain ee as in see |
| J j | je | zh as in “measure” | As in measure or vision. Found only in loanwords |
| K k | ke | k as in “kite” | An ordinary k; next to front vowels it softens toward ky |
| L l | le | l: dark in “la”, light in “le” | A dark l next to a, o, u (like the l at the end of “full”); a light l next to e, i, ö, ü (like the l of “lit”) |
| M m | me | m as in “map” | An ordinary m |
| N n | ne | n as in “no” | An ordinary n |
| O o | o | o as in “more”, without the r | A pure o; in an unstressed spot it never decays into “uh” |
| Ö ö | ö | the “e” of “her” without the r | Say the “e” of “bed” and round your lips |
| P p | pe | p as in “pen” | An ordinary p |
| R r | re | r: a single tap | One tap of the tongue, like the tt of American “butter”; at the end of a word it often fades toward a breath |
| S s | se | s as in “sun” | Always the s of sun — never z |
| Ş ş | şe | sh as in “ship” | An ordinary sh |
| T t | te | t as in “top” | An ordinary t |
| U u | u | oo as in “food” | A pure oo, without a glide |
| Ü ü | ü | “ee” with rounded lips | Say “ee” and round your lips tightly, keeping the tongue forward |
| V v | ve | v, lighter than English v | A soft v: the lips barely touch, close to the w of “window” |
| Y y | ye | y as in “yes” | Always the y of yes — never the oo of “put” and never a vowel |
| Z z | ze | z as in “zoo” | An ordinary z |
How practical transliteration differs from the scholarly kind
Any script has several Latin renderings, and they solve different problems. The scholarly one (ISO, GOST) is reversible: the original spelling can be restored character for character — which is why it is full of marks that are not on any keyboard and that nobody ever reads aloud correctly.
The practical one solves the reverse problem: a person reads it aloud and is understood. That is what the table above uses, and that is what our courses use.
What to watch out for
Eight vowels instead of five. The whole grammar rests on them: an ending bends to the last vowel of the stem (vowel harmony). Back vowels — a, ı, o, u; front vowels — e, i, ö, ü.
Consonants of their own. Three signs Latin does not have: ç, ş and the “soft” ğ, which has no sound of its own. The fourth letter here is c — an ordinary shape, but it reads as the j of jam.
Familiar letters, foreign sounds. They look European and read differently — this is where reading a sign aloud trips.
Read the way they look. Twelve letters with nothing to learn.
Frequently asked
How to write Turkish text in Latin letters?
Using the table above, character by character. The practical rendering records sound, not spelling, so the original text cannot always be restored from it backwards.
Why do transliterations differ across sources?
Because they solve different problems: the scholarly one is reversible and precise, the practical one is readable, the passport one is fixed by the country's rules. They are not required to agree.