Pronouncing the Turkish Alphabet -- for Brits n' Aussies
Our Australian friend Phil sent us a message letting us know that American-pronunciation of Turkish has certain limitations!
[Actually he's not the first to point that out, but we've been dodging the truth...]
So, we asked him to prove it!
And, he did!
See below...

Letter	Türkçe Telaffuz (Turkish Pronunciation)	"Real" English Pronunciation (If you're in search of the Real Turkish pronunciation, your prayers are answered -- on the The Spoken Turkish Alphabet page...)
A a	a	as the a in the French avoir -- somewhere between the u of sun and the a of father. Not as long as the a in Pa...
B b	be	as the b's in Buttered bread is best...
C c	ce	as the j sound in jam, and That jockey is a joker!
Ç ç	çe	as the ch in church.
D d	de	as the d in Deadly and dangerous...
E e	e	as the short e sound in Ready, get set...
F f	fe	as the f 's in Fowl feathered friends... or should that be foul feathered friends?
G g	ge	as the g in Go get gaiters...
g g	Yumusak G (soft g)	This letter is soundless. It's purpose is to elongate the nearest preceding vowel. As a capital letter, it is only seen in words that have been written in all capital letters -- such as company names. And when written in upper or lower case it never starts a word.
H h	he	as the h in Hang on -- help is on the way...
I I	I	as e in glasses, or the a in serial. Try spreading the lips to say easy then say cushion -- this gives the Turkish word kIsIn; in the season of winter...
i i	i	as the short i sound in hit, kit, bit, sit...
J j	je	as the s in treasure, and measure for measure...
K k	ke, ka	as the c and the k in a couple of kittens...
L l	le	as the l 's in lot's of lovin'
M m	me	as the m 's in Mary Martin
N n	ne	as the n 's in Not nice, Nellie, not the ng sound of pink...
O o	o	as the Oh in the French Oh la la! -- like the short English o in You're a hotshot, Scott!
Ö ö	ö	as the 'oe' sound in Goethe, or the ir in bird -- the English word dirt is very close to the Turkish word for four -- dört
P p	pe	as the p 's in Pretty in pink...
R r	re	as the r 's in Red Rooster...
S s	se	as the s in So long, Sam...
S s	s	as the sh 's in Short Sweet Sherry...
T t	te	as the English t in tongue, but with the tip of the tongue behind the front teeth rather than at the top of the mouth.
U u	u	as the u in put or the oo in foot, not like the u in butter...
Ü ü	ü	like the ü in Führer, or the French u in tu. Say itch with rounded lips (really rounded as if to say 'oo') and you have the Turkish word for three - üç.
V v	ve	as the v 's in very vexed virgin -- except that it is sometimes much softer than the English v, especially between vowels...so that tavuk; chicken is almost pronounced tawuk.
Y y	ye	as the y 's in Yes, it's yellow...
Z z	ze	as the z in zip

Also, notice how Turks -- when speaking English -- have a tendency to pronounce W as V and vice versa. Try to emulate that when you speak Turkish. As an additional note of interest, observe that Turks can't naturally pronounce th -- there's not an equivalent sound in Turkish. So when they are just beginning to learn English, they have a tendency to drop either the t or the h. Instead of Thank you, they may say Tank you; instead of This is the one, they may say, Dis is de one. But English speakers can't pronounce the Turkish I, so I guess we're even!

PHRASES...

SENTENCES...

Please email us and tell us how we can improve the Learning Practical Turkish Web site.