Turkish language. Turkish for Beginners

This is the ninth post dedicated to a selection of good language resources on the Internet (Links to the rest will be opened in the coming days:)

This post is the fruit of the collective wisdom of the participants of the Language Heroes project - the guys and I are exchanging really good, favorite, active and proven resources (and not just some selection of website addresses).
So - hand-picked for you by Language Heroes (Babylon!), thanks to my beloved Babylonians and special thanks Alena And Tanya

All books on grammar by Eyup Genish (in Russian)
Olga Sarygoz “Turkish language grammar in tables for beginners” and “Turkish language grammar in tables final course”

http://www.labirint.ru/books/148223/ Oleg Kabardin: Turkish language. Self-instruction manual for beginners. The most easy-to-follow Turkish tutorial with good selections of vocabulary on topics, ideal for beginners
An excellent and interesting course “Turkish for the (not) particularly gifted” from a girl who teaches Turkish herself and guides us. The lessons are written in lively language and are often based on song analysis. 3 courses have already been released, we are waiting for 4. Hurry up! The author promised 1001 lessons, and after that she will “erase everything”, since she considers this project as an adventure that happens once in a lifetime)) On June 13, 2016, a new lesson was posted under number 329. Here are the links to all 3 courses, do not go through by: http://turkish4dummies.com
Istanbul textbook series A1, A2, B1, B2, C1-C1+ - at the moment, the most professionally compiled textbooks, suitable for beginners and intermediate students for independent study. Up to B2 can be found in contact, paper copies can be ordered from amazon.com
Hardcore for those who already speak German - textbooks from the Kolay gelsin series! levels A1-A2 and B1 from the German publishing house Klett - well-written, communicative methodology, smooth presentation of the material. If you're ready to read about Turkish grammar in German, this is for you. You can find it on amazon.de

https://www.seslisozluk.net/ The translation is mainly Turkish-English, the dictionary itself is very good and complete, everything is there, it works offline with a limited set of words.
http://www.ruscasozluk.gen.tr/index.php?lang=ru This dictionary is adequate, which is rare in the Turkish-Russian pair, but it is very small and often does not find words. But if there is a word in it, then everything is fine.
Another Turkish-Russian dictionary https://ru.glosbe.com/tr/ru/
http://slovari.yandex.ru
http://www.tdk.gov.tr/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=1 - official state reference-dictionary of the spelling of Turkish words

https://eksisozluk.com - a forum-encyclopedia beloved by the Turks themselves, where you can find information about everything down to the etymology of certain words and expressions.
http://www.zaytung.com is again the favorite “online newspaper” of the Turks, ridiculing events from all over the world. We recommend reading by first installing the Readlang extension in your browser so that unfamiliar words can be immediately highlighted and translated in the text.
The Gate magazine http://www.tavhavalimanlari.com.tr/en-EN/Publications/Pages/Gate.aspx - bilingual Turkish-English magazine, it’s like reading according to Ilya Frank’s method))
https://vk.com/turkcem?w=wall-62013260_19482- all Harry Potter in Turkish
“15 stories for home reading” by O. Mansurova - slightly adapted stories by famous Turkish writers (children’s, intended for primary and secondary schools) + consolidation exercises

Turkey has become practically your native country, but you cannot master the local language for one reason or another? Don't have enough time, skills or experienced instructors? The situation can be solved: you can start learning Turkish for free now under the guidance of specialists from the Dialogue language center!

Our experts have developed a special program that allows you to achieve amazing results in learning the Turkish language from scratch in a fairly short time.

We adapt to each of our listeners and provide the most comfortable conditions that allow them to learn Turkish in any convenient way.

Today we offer:

individual sessions,
training in mini groups,
Turkish language lessons from scratch online.

It’s up to you to decide whether to study in a cozy training center or sitting at home at your personal computer!

How are classes going?

Classes at our center are fun and easy, and we learn Turkish with you! Experienced mentors fluent in Turkish and Russian will help you overcome the barrier that separates these two cultures. By attending classes, you will learn about all the features of the Turkish language and master basic grammar in just 32 lessons! At the same time, our course will allow you to study not only written Turkish, but also spoken language. Such a two-pronged approach is guaranteed to ensure success during your next trip to Turkey. After all, you will be able to communicate with local residents almost on equal terms!

Don't be afraid of apparent difficulties. Of course, learning Turkish is a process that requires some effort. But this is your goal! Therefore, strive for it, and you will succeed!

Obtaining a certificate

An additional incentive for successfully completing the Turkish language course from scratch will be the issuance of an official certificate of completion. Of course, after you pass the final test. After all, we must be sure that you have correctly mastered the material we have provided.

Learning Turkish can be your hobby or a necessity in life. The reason for such a desire is not particularly important. The only important thing is your desire to learn Turkish.

Training at the Dialogue center is the key to solid knowledge!

We guarantee the success of your training. The developed course is available to all students, including beginners, i.e. from scratch. If for some reason you cannot understand this or that material, we will organize an additional lesson especially for you. After all, studying requires mandatory consolidation. And who, if not experienced mentors, understands this! Our teachers will be happy to teach those who are not indifferent to Turkey and want to learn the Turkish language.

You will not be alone on this path. We train beginners in learning this amazing language, again and again plunging into the wonderful world of cultural traditions of a great country.

A selection of useful sites for learning Turkish. Save it for yourself so you don’t lose it!

turkishclass.com. Free English language website for learning Turkish. Turkish language lessons include sections: pronunciation, vocabulary, chat, stories, poetry, site rules and contacts. The site is convenient for practicing vocabulary. In addition, there is a lot of information about Turkey, photographs, detailed reports from students and travelers, sketches and essays. The user must log in and then select a lesson from one of the teachers on the desired topic. There is both theoretical material and homework for the lesson. The site will be of interest not only to students, but also to teachers. After authorization, the teacher can post his version of the lesson.
turkishclass101.com. Free English-language site. The material is divided into levels - from zero to intermediate. The menu contains the following sections: “Audio lessons”, “Video lessons” for pronunciation training, and a dictionary for vocabulary. There is a support service and user instructions. It is possible to take notes in a special form during the lesson. Lessons in PDF can be downloaded. There are iPhone, iPad, Android Apps free. Content is divided into free and paid. To work with the say, authorization is required. Quick user registration is available.
umich.edu. English language site. The University of Michigan has prepared a selection of electronic lessons, textbooks, tests, training exercises, here you will also find literary works and reference materials. You can download audio and video files that are used in different universities around the world when studying the Turkish language. There are a lot of materials, there is content for learning the Old Turkish language.
sites.google.com. An English-language site that contains theoretical information on Turkish grammar. There is an interesting application that conjugates Turkish verbs.
lingust.ru. Free Russian-language site, suitable for beginners and beginners. Theoretical material is arranged by lesson, which makes it easier to find the desired topic. There are no training exercises, but there is audio support and lessons from Radio "Voice of Turkey" (TRT-World).
cls.arizona.edu. An English-language online textbook developed by the University of Arizona for learning Turkish from beginner to advanced levels. After authorization, the user works with DVD lessons; after each video there is a training exercise on grammatical topics, pronunciation or understanding of what was heard.
book2.de. English and German language site. Simple and convenient interface. You can use the main services of the site for free and without authorization. The main sections are vocabulary, pronunciation examples, flash cards for strengthening vocabulary, you can download audio for free for work. There is an iPhone App and an Android App . The textbook can be purchased. Suitable as additional material.
internetpolyglot.com. Free website, Russian version of the menu is available. It is an interesting and convenient additional tool in language learning. The site offers to memorize words and expressions by performing lexical games. There is a demo version. Authorization will help you track your success and allow you to post your materials on the site.
languagecourse.net. A free website for learning Turkish with an intuitive interface, suitable for vocabulary training. Ukrainian and Russian language versions of the site are available. Suitable for vocabulary training. Levels from beginner to advanced. You can choose the desired topic for training - work, travel, transport, hotel, business, romance/date, etc. When registering, success is tracked and learning results are saved. Training material is available for downloading and working on a PC. The service also offers to buy a language trip to the country or pay for a course at a language school anywhere in the world.
franklang.ru. Russian-language free site, extremely easy to use. It contains a lot of useful information - Turkish language textbooks in PDF, a library of texts in Turkish, Turkish language via Skype with teachers from the I. Frank school, texts for reading using the I. Frank method and useful links to Turkish channels, radio stations, TV series.
www.tdk.gov.tr. A free Turkish site where you will find different types of dictionaries, publications by Turkish bloggers and an online library of works of various genres.
www.w2mem.com. A free site with a Russian menu, but before you start you need to log in. Very simple interface. The site was created for practicing vocabulary - you compile your own dictionary, and then consolidate your knowledge by completing tests.
languages-study. A free site that contains links to services that allow you to study the Turkish language from all aspects - grammar, aphorisms, poetry, crosswords, different types of dictionaries.
seslisozluk.net. Free online Turkish dictionary. Working languages: Russian, Turkish, German, English. Services that are provided for in the rules for using the site - translation and decoding of words and expressions, text editor, correspondence, pronunciation. The site offers training exercises in the form of online games to reinforce vocabulary.
onlinekitapoku.com. Free Turkish site where you will find books, reviews, overviews, information about the author. Quick search available. The site contains electronic and audio books of different genres.
hakikatkitabevi.com. Free Turkish-language site where you can find and download free audio books in Turkish.
ebookinndir.blogspot.com. A free resource where you can download books in Turkish in PDF format in different genres.
www.zaman.com.tr . Website of a daily Turkish online newspaper, the main headings of the publication are politics, sports, economics, culture, blogs of public and political figures, video reports.
resmigazete.gov.tr. The site of a Turkish online legal newspaper that publishes laws and bills, legislative acts and other legal documents.
evrensel.net. Official website of the Turkish newspaper. Lots of sections, reviews and applications.
filmifullizle.com. Free Turkish site where you can watch or download films with Turkish translation or dubbing. Each video has a short description of the plot. A review section is also available.

In many ways it is extremely logical, consistent and understandable, despite the fact that it differs significantly from the system of European languages that we are accustomed to and therefore at first glance seems frighteningly confusing. Today we will look at those aspects of Turkish that are easiest for those who start from a “zero” level, and we will tell you how to make your life easier in mastering Turkish.

A beginner's guide to learning Turkish

I spent several days looking through textbooks and manuals from the point of view of understandability for someone learning a language from scratch, and I realized that, undoubtedly, the best option would be “Colloquial Turkish: The Complete Course for Beginners” (authors Ad Backus and Jeroen Aarssen).

This textbook provides the most necessary grammar and basic vocabulary in all areas and topics in a logical sequence, which allows you to read full-fledged original passages in Turkish after the first chapters. In addition, the focus is precisely on, in contrast to the formal “academic” version of the language.

This manual does not repeat answers and translations of what has already been explained or analyzed once, which encourages you to turn to information that has already been studied and assimilated.

Reading Turkish is very easy

The first thing to note is that Turkish is a phonetically written language, and modern Turkish uses the Latin alphabet. Before the Atatürk Revolution and the reform of 1928, during which the Latin alphabet was adapted to Turkish pronunciation of sounds, the Turkish language used the Arabic alphabet.

So, in Turkish, each letter corresponds to one sound, there are no combinations of consonants (such as sh, ch, ght), so each letter is pronounced separately. Pronunciation generally matches what you see in written text, with the following exceptions:

- c pronounced like English j (j am), so the word sadece(only, only) pronounced like sah-deh-jeh.

- ç pronounced like English ch (ch arge), not to be confused with French ç , which is pronounced like s.

- ğ – unpronounceable letter (lengthens the previous vowel sound)

- ş pronounced like English sh .

- ı - looks like i without a dot. What's confusing is that Turkish capitalizes ı - this is I (like I is capitalized in English), but capitalized in Turkish I- This İ , so the city where all the tourists end up is not I stanbul (Istanbul), and İ Stanbul. ı pronounced as a neutral vowel sound.

Umlauts ö/ü pronounced as in German.

Once you know these rules and exceptions, you should be able to read something in Turkish, although be prepared for the fact that locals may pronounce words slightly differently. For example, I discovered that the letter “e” in words was pronounced by many as “a”.

You already know many Turkish words

I was very happy to find many familiar words in Turkish that I recognized instantly. As with all languages, you typically start with a base of thousands of words before you even begin learning the language. Turkish has borrowed many brand names and technological terms from English, as have most other languages.

But what I found much more interesting was that Turkish has a huge number of borrowed words from other languages, the most surprising (and useful for me) being borrowings from French. One source I found claims that there are approximately 5,000 words in Turkish that come from French. By comparison, 6,500 words came from Arabic, 1,400 from Persian, about 600 came from Italian, 400 from Greek and about 150 from Latin. In many cases, a loanword has a Turkish counterpart, which is considered preferable in everyday communication, but in some cases the loanword is the only designation of a word or concept, and sometimes both words are used (as şehir And kent for "city", where şehir is a non-Turkish word).

Loanwords that I have personally encountered include kuaför, şans, büfe, lise (lycee), bulvar, asensör, aksesuar, kartuş, ekselans, sal ...and I'm sure there are many more. Of course, they are sometimes difficult to recognize, because they are written in accordance with the rules of Turkish transcription, but when pronounced they are very similar to French words (although they do not have French nasals). Even if you don't speak French, you will certainly recognize many of these words, since many of them are well established in English.

It's funny that I even recognized the Spanish word banyo in Turkish!

As for the vocabulary, which is unique and originally Turkish, it can be mastered surprisingly quickly if you simply apply effective memorization methods or download a selection of basic vocabulary, load it into the application for memorizing and practicing words and run it regularly to get the fastest possible results. get used to new combinations of sounds. The roots of words in Turkish, as a rule, are short, which makes them even easier to remember and then, based on them, to decipher more complex derivative words.

Suffixes will help you expand your active vocabulary

Returning to derivative words, it is important to note that a key skill in working on expanding your vocabulary will be an understanding of how the structure of a word works and how the language “works”. In this regard, vocabulary and grammar are quite closely related to each other: you will not be able to look up most words in the dictionary as they are written in the text, but if you know the basic grammatical structures, you will immediately determine the root of the word and be able to look up its meaning in the dictionary.

One of the fastest ways to expand your vocabulary is to memorize standard suffixes. Many of them perform important functions: turning nouns into adjectives (or vice versa) or verbs (infinitives ending in -mek/-mak), or designation of a person who belongs to a particular profession, for example, using suffixes -ci/-ci (öğrenci– student from the verb öğrenmek- study).

Another important suffix is the possessive formation suffix. You will encounter it everywhere, so learn to recognize it. For example, Istiklal is the name of the main street/avenue, or cadde, next to which I lived, so the street is called Istiklal caddesi. Suffix -si here reflects the meaning of possessiveness, and the word Istiklal means "independence". (Consider the English example: it turns out that in Turkish they prefer to speak Avenue of independence, but not Independence avenue). In the same way, the names of all universities (üniversite) in the city have university si .

Thus, Turkish suffixes express meanings that in other languages would be conveyed by separate words, for example, prepositions.

Another important observation regarding all suffixes and words in general: the laws of vowel harmony, which you just have to get used to. I also encountered this in the Hungarian language, but in other languages this phenomenon practically does not occur, so it is necessary to accustom yourself to a completely different way of thinking. Like many other aspects of Turkish, vowel harmony is easier than it seems, but takes time to develop the habit of arranging the vowels in a certain order. By the way, at the initial stage in the conversation you will still make mistakes, but in most cases people will still understand you.

Put words and sentences together like a jigsaw puzzle

One point that requires some “restructuring” of thinking with an orientation towards the Turkish language is that the usual verbs “to be” or “to have” simply do not exist in the Turkish language. This may sound absurd, but once you get a little used to saying “my car exists” instead of “I have a car”, you will understand what's what.

Another "weird" aspect of Turkish is word order. For example, verbs tend to come at the end of sentences. So, you say: Türkçe öğreniyorum- “I’m studying Turkish.” In my opinion, this is even more logical than in English, because what you study is more important than what you study it. It is very important to remember that languages have different ways of “processing” information, and not to panic if something in the language does not fit into our usual thinking model.

Once you think about some of the designs and understand how they work, they will become logical and obvious. For example:

Nerelisin(iz) means "Where are you from?" Let's look at it in parts: Ne-re-li-sin(iz): -sin= you, -siniz= you (polite/plural form), -li= from, place suffix, -ne= what (or just nere= where). Because there is no verb be, the meaning of a phrase consists of individual significant components of the word.

The same is the case with the word nereye, which means “Where to?” ( nere+ e (To) and letter "y" to separate two vowels).

The grammar will seem extremely logical to you

How it happened to me. There are so few exceptions in the language, and the conjugation and word formation are so consistent, that the system of grammar is very easy to get used to: simple past tense, two present tenses (one similar to the English continuous tense, the other is the standard present tense), future tense, etc.

One example of the formation of the present tense using the ending -er there will be a verb donmek(turn), which in the third person singular sounds familiar to everyone doner.

Yes, there are differences with English or Russian, but based on my experience of learning other languages, Turkish has far fewer exceptions and completely unimaginable and illogical constructions.

In addition, Turkish has no grammatical gender, no definite or indefinite articles, and no irregular plurals (in some cases you don't even need to add a plural suffix -ler/-lar, if the meaning of the plural is clear from the context, for example, when used with a numeral).

The only case that may cause you some problems at the beginning is the accusative, which has already frayed a lot of my nerves in German. If the very idea of the accusative confuses you, then I strongly recommend that you study Esperanto for at least a few weeks: using the accusative in Esperanto helped me understand it better than any theoretical explanation in Turkish or German, plus it is almost the only “difficult” » to understand grammatical construction throughout the language.

Using ĉu in Esperanto also helped me intuitively understand the suffix/particle issue mi/mı/mü in Turkish. This particle is added to questions that require a simple yes/no answer (in English we would simply show this difference using intonation). It's actually very easy to understand, but not easy to get used to, so learning it in a simpler language first can really give you a "jump start" in your understanding.

For example, the word çalışıyor means “it works” and çalışıyor mu? - "she works?"

Do you want to learn Turkish? We have put together a selection of useful resources for those who are learning or want to learn this interesting language. Add links for learning Turkish to your favorites so you don’t lose them!

http://www.turkishclass.com/ - a free resource for learning Turkish online. Several groups are available for language learning, both beginner and intermediate levels. There is a forum where you can get advice on the correct translation of phrases and expressions into Turkish. Additionally, you can work with the dictionary and pronunciation, as well as speak Turkish in a special mini-chat.
http://www.umich.edu/~turkish/langres_tr.html - an invaluable collection of different ways to learn Turkish from the University of Michigan: electronic lessons, educational materials, exercises and tests, dictionaries and modern literary works. The resource also allows you to learn in the form of various games - from making up words to practicing counting skills.
https://sites.google.com/site/learningturkishsite/Home - a resource for learning grammar that explains many different grammar rules, but the most valuable one is the application that can automatically conjugate verbs online.
http://www.turkishclass101.com/ - learning Turkish at all levels through podcasts. Here you can find audio and video lessons (which can be immediately discussed on the forum), detailed lesson notes in PDF format, as well as various tools for expanding your vocabulary. The developers have released both mobile applications and a computer program.
http://www.hakikatkitabevi.com/turkce/sesdinle.asp - free audiobooks in Turkish that you can listen to online or download to your computer in MP3 format.
http://ebookinndir.blogspot.com/ - a resource containing a large number of free books in Turkish, which can be downloaded in PDF format. On the blog you can find various writers - from Dostoevsky to Coelho and Meyer.
http://www.zaman.com.tr/haber - Turkey's main daily newspaper. The newspaper covers regional and world economic, sports, cultural and other news. Public and political figures also blog on its website. Some materials are also presented in video format.
http://www.filmifullizle.com/ - a resource where you can download films in Turkish. By following the link, you will find both the latest film releases and cinema classics.
http://filmpo.com/ is a resource that has collected both new and old films in English with Turkish subtitles. Links to films will take you to Youtube, where you can watch them online or download them in various qualities.
– online Turkish language textbook from the University of Arizona. Its main feature is that almost all Turkish words in the lessons are recorded by native speakers and are available for listening.
http://www.tdk.gov.tr/ is a website of the Turkish Linguistic Society, which provides users with a variety of dictionaries, including a dictionary of terms, proverbs and sayings, Turkish dialects, and even gestures. This site contains the latest scientific publications and other, very different information for enthusiasts, for example, about foreign words in the Turkish language.
http://www.seslisozluk.net/?word=care&lang=tr-en – an excellent Turkish dictionary with pronunciation of words. Translation is available both from English (USA/UK/Australia) to Turkish and vice versa. Works better than Google Translate J